Ning Zhen was reluctant to listen to Meng Xianwen's lectures anymore.
She was extremely annoyed and had had enough of them. Now that the one - year agreement had expired and she had received the check, she had nothing to do with him anymore. She didn't need to endure those words. Before he could open his mouth, she said all the unpleasant things, feeling much more relieved.
Meng Xianwen slowly looked at her.
He had drunk alcohol and already had a headache. Not only did she make a fuss, but she also kept chattering in his ear. His face instantly turned cold.
Ning Zhen didn't care about his reaction at all. She pulled up her collar, opened the door and was about to get out of the car, but was suddenly yanked back by a force and hit the back of the seat. Before she could regain her senses, a stronger smell of alcohol assailed her, enveloping her tightly. She looked at him in shock.
He was expressionless and kept approaching. His high - bridged nose almost touched the tip of her nose. She held her breath until her face turned red. Her hands didn't know where to put and curled up uneasily. Her eyes were flustered. "What, what are you doing?"
"Is this what you want to say to me?" He stared at her intently, his eyes deep. "Don't you have anything else to say?"
Ning Zhen couldn't say a word at all.
She was completely suppressed by him, unable to move and didn't dare to move.
"Isn't this what you want to hear?" Her voice was very low. If they weren't so close, he wouldn't have been able to hear it. "Let me go quickly. Let go. Are you crazy?"
Today was indeed the day when she saw him drink the most in the past year.
Even on the night of the release of the project he valued most, he only took a few sips and was very sober. He was so sober that he tortured her, not allowing her to leave. He dragged her to take the drunk Meng Jingshan back to the old mansion in the middle of the night.
It rained heavily that night. By the time they arrived at the old mansion, it was already very late at night.
The housekeeper, Uncle Yang, tried to persuade them to stay, and Aunt Xiao Xuezhen also invited them. So she and Meng Xianwen had no choice but to stay overnight.
He was such a jerk. He was narrow - minded and very vindictive. He always wanted to remind her of her scheme against Meng Jiaran. She even wanted to tear his mouth apart.
Aunt Xiao clearly and tactfully told him that she could sleep in his room and he could sleep in the guest room on the first floor. He promised well on the surface, but as soon as they went up to the second floor, he changed his mind. He looked at her, then at Meng Jiaran's room, and smiled softly, but there was no smile in his eyes.
Without saying a word, he unreasonably dragged her downstairs and pushed her into the guest room. "You'd better stay in this room. Don't go upstairs unless you have something urgent to tell me. Got it, Zhenzhen?"
She was so angry that she kicked him and slammed the door shut.
Both him and Meng Jiaran were extremely annoying as long as they drank alcohol. They were annoying when they were sober, and even more annoying when they were drunk.
Especially today, she didn't know which word had offended him.
He gave her a deep look, sneered mockingly, but also let go of her and leaned back again. In a tone of exhausted patience, he said, "It's very late. You can go."
Crazy!
Completely crazy!!
Ning Zhen glared at him, wishing she would never see him again in her life. She also imitated his sneer and got out of the car without hesitation for a second. Originally, she wanted to slam the door shut like she did in the afternoon, but as soon as she got out of the car, the cold wind made her shiver. She turned back and gave him an angry look.
She just wouldn't close the door.
She hoped he would freeze to death, catch a cold and have a fever!
Ning Zhen was fuming and quickly walked into the apartment building. In the silent night, her footsteps were hasty but also a bit flustered. She didn't know why she was flustered. She took the elevator upstairs quickly, as if there were evil spirits chasing after her, and rushed into her home in a hurry.
As soon as she closed the door, she leaned against it without even turning on the light and gasped for breath.
In the darkness, Ning Zhen's rapid heartbeat finally calmed down. She turned on the light with a click. Her eyes, which had already adapted to the darkness, were stung. It took her a while to get used to it. Her body was trembling stiffly as if it had been blown by the sub - zero cold wind. She mechanically changed her shoes and walked in, then fell back on the sofa.
Was it really over like this?
Great, great. This was a relief, right?
She finally got a bit more energetic. She opened her bag carefully and took out that envelope. She poured out a check from it. She opened her eyes wide, looked at the words on it carefully, and let out a sigh of relief.
He was still trustworthy.
Ten million, neither a single cent more nor a single cent less.
Downstairs.
Most people had already gone to sleep. There were only a few windows with lights on in the residential buildings of the community. The temperature was so low that the air seemed to freeze. Only the headlights of this black Rolls - Royce were on. Xiao Ding in the driver's seat was at a loss. Mr. Meng had drunk a lot today. Was he sleeping in the back seat?
Should he remind him?
But the partition in the back seat was up, and he had no idea what was going on.
Just as he was hesitating, the partition went down. The next second, a dull voice came, "Xiao Ding, let's go back."
-
The next day was the last rest Sunday before the Spring Festival.
Ning Zhen had become a small - scale wealthy woman. She invited Guo Xia out for shopping and dining. She was in a good mood the whole day. How could she not be happy? She had received a reward of ten million. She was smiling at everyone. It wasn't until she passed by the brand counter where Meng Xianwen had bought her earrings and bracelets yesterday that her expression froze for a few seconds.
Her emotions seemed to be half a beat slower.
The pain that felt like being pricked by a needle suddenly came from the earlobe that had been pulled yesterday. She reached out and touched it, and only then did she remember a small episode from yesterday.
When they got to the store.
When she was happily trying on earrings, he seemed to stop her and whispered to the salesgirl, "Her ear was just pulled. Please be gentle."
Ning Zhen's mind was in a mess. Absent - mindedly, she and Guo Xia entered the shopping mall cinema. They picked up the tickets, bought Coke and popcorn, and took their seats. There were still ten minutes before the movie started. She took a photo of the two movie ticket stubs and posted it on her Moments.
Within a few minutes, Chang Yi commented: [I asked Lao Meng out, but he pretended to be busy and said he had no time. It turns out he was accompanying his girlfriend to watch a movie. [Vomit]]
She read the words one by one, not knowing how to reply.
The lights in the movie theater went out. She quickly put away her phone and stuffed it into her bag. The tickets were bought by Guo Xia. Guo Xia was chattering on and on, and she only caught a few words. It seemed to be a very touching movie. But today, for some reason, she just couldn't concentrate and didn't watch the movie seriously. Even after an hour of the movie starting, she was still confused about the characters and the plot.
"Here."
After Guo Xia blew her nose, she casually took out a few tissues and handed them over.
Ning Zhen took them hesitantly. Looking around, under the influence of the movie's background music and the tearful expressions of other audiences around her, she stared blankly at the screen. The dim light shone on her blank face. She didn't know what was wrong with herself. Maybe it was because she had been exposed to the cold wind last night and caught a cold.
It must be a cold.
Otherwise, why would her nose be so sore?
Tears welled up in her eyes instantly and fell one by one. She cried so hard that she was out of breath. She used up a whole pack of tissues with her tear - blurred vision.
Her head was buzzing.
The two - hour movie ended quickly. When they walked out of the movie theater and into the brightly lit area, Guo Xia only then noticed that Ning Zhen's eyes were swollen from crying. She joked, "Your tear - jerking threshold is even lower than mine now. I saw you crying so badly."
Ning Zhen covered her eyes with the back of her hand and retorted, "You still have the nerve to talk about me. Everyone in the movie theater heard you blowing your nose, and your nose is all red!"
The two of them stared at each other and burst out laughing at each other's puffy eyes.
It wasn't a big deal.
On the way home by car, Ning Zhen turned on the Bluetooth music and sang loudly along with it. It wasn't a big deal. She just regarded it as having a cold. It would be cured in at most seven days. With her good physical condition, it wouldn't even take seven days!
The car drove into the community and stopped downstairs.
She didn't turn off the engine right away. She sat in the car for a while, took out her phone to reply to the comments on her Moments, and also replied to Chang Yi: [Don't throw up. Swallow it back. I went to the movies with a good friend!!]
It was easy to figure out that the Spring Festival was just a few days away.
No matter what, Meng Xianwen wouldn't tell his family and friends out of the blue that he and she had "broken up" at such a critical moment. He would surely need some time to lay the groundwork and then gradually inform them, so as to minimize the impact.
She had nothing to do with him anymore, and she had no obligation to cooperate with him in acting out the role of a loving couple.
From today on, he wouldn't appear in her Moments anymore.
After crying in the movie theater, the emotions that had been clogging her chest evaporated along with the tears. Ning Zhen felt much better. When she got home, she plunged into the bathroom to take a shower. The sound of the shower water completely drowned out the ringing of her phone.
In the living room, on the sofa, the screen of the phone in her bag kept vibrating.
"Why isn't anyone answering?"
As this call automatically hung up, Auntie Qian murmured to herself. Being in her late forties, she was used to going to bed early and getting up early. Just like every other day, she went to bed before ten o'clock last night and had absolutely no idea what had happened at the Royal Garden in the early hours of the morning.
This morning, she got up and divided the work of preparing breakfast with another aunt. She waited and waited, from seven o'clock to nine o'clock, but Meng Xianwen didn't get up and come out. At that time, her heart skipped a beat, and she had a bad feeling.
Since Meng Xianwen returned to China to take over the group, it had already been several years, and it was always Auntie Qian who took care of his daily diet.
She knew his schedule very well. She had never seen him get up later than eight o'clock, and nine o'clock was even more unprecedented. Since there was only the door of the master bedroom separating them, she didn't feel it appropriate to go in directly. So she had to call him first to ask about the situation. To her surprise, his voice was hoarse, and it was obvious that he was sick.
She quickly called the family doctor. Only then did she find out that he had drunk a lot at the annual meeting. After returning to the Royal Garden, he opened another bottle of wine and sat on the open-air viewing balcony for an hour.
It was the coldest season of the year, the depth of winter. How could he not catch a cold?
Auntie Qian was both anxious and angry. She looked at Xiao Ding.
Xiao Ding groaned in distress, "I tried to persuade him, but I couldn't..."
Could he really persuade him? He was just the driver, and Mr. Meng was the boss!
A cold wasn't a big deal, but when it came to Meng Xianwen, it wasn't a trivial matter either. After thinking it over for a moment, when Auntie Qian brought porridge to his study, she asked for his opinion in a consultative tone, "How about I call the old mansion?"
"No need. It's just a minor thing. There's no need for that."
Meng Xianwen didn't have much of an appetite, but he still took the porcelain bowl and drank the porridge calmly. As the end of the year was approaching, he was even busier. A cold really didn't count for much. He didn't follow the family doctor's advice and stay in bed. After simply taking the medicine, he came to the study to work overtime.
Auntie Qian looked at him helplessly.
Among the people living in the Royal Garden now, there was no one whose words he would listen to, and no one who could or dared to control him.
But he was sick. It wouldn't hurt to take a day off and have a good rest. She had watched him grow up, and she knew that he was a man of his word. She was both worried and anxious. Just as she was about to persuade him some more, she suddenly thought of someone.
"Then I'll call Zhenzhen and ask Xiao Ding to pick her up?"
As soon as she finished speaking.
Meng Xianwen, who was sitting at the table drinking porridge, stopped. There was no expression on his face.
Seeing that he didn't flatly refuse, Auntie Qian took his silence as tacit approval. She felt relieved and said, "I'll call Zhenzhen right away. It's Sunday today, and she's also on holiday. I'll cook a few more dishes she likes."
Saying so, she unlocked her phone and dialed the number.
After dozens of seconds, the phone automatically hung up.
Meng Xianwen lost his appetite completely. He put down the porcelain bowl, which made a soft but distinct sound as it hit the table. He said calmly, "Auntie Qian, I said no. Don't mention this to anyone."
