By the time Meng Xianwen arrived home, Ning Zhen had already left.
Xiao Xuezhen and Meng Jingshan both wore troubled expressions. Worried that father and son might get into an argument, Xiao Xuezhen gave her husband a meaningful look. Once only she and her son remained in the living room on the first floor, she let out a sigh and asked, “What exactly is going on between you and Zhenzhen?”
After a moment of silence, he asked, “What did she say?”
The lighthearted mood he had woken up with that morning had been replaced by helplessness and bewilderment.
He could hardly call himself angry. He wasn’t about to lose his temper over something so trivial. Still, her little stunt made it clear that she truly wanted to cut ties with him. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have driven over by herself when she knew everyone at the old residence assumed she would be going home with him, then left less than half an hour later.
“She refused to say anything.”
Xiao Xuezhen looked at her son with an expression that was difficult to describe. “I pressed her a few times before she finally said that everything was her fault and had nothing to do with you. She told me not to blame you. She also said that you’re usually very busy with work, working overtime until late every day, and that you have it hard.”
She paused, still unable to understand. “No matter how busy you are, you still have to make time for your girlfriend. Otherwise, what’s the point of dating her if you’re just going to leave her hanging?”
Meng Xianwen listened quietly and tugged at the corner of his mouth.
And she called that saying nothing?
She had clearly said everything. Just last night, she had angrily accused him of having too many tricks up his sleeve. Today, in preparation for their “breakup” a month from now, she had already started acting her part. It sounded as though she had even prepared her reason for breaking up in advance: he was too busy with work and didn’t spend enough time with her.
“And you’re still smiling at a time like this?” Xiao Xuezhen tried her best to remain calm, ready to properly advise her son that work was important, but so was life. Yet when she saw the faint smile on his face, her anger flared. “You’re driving me crazy!”
Meng Xianwen lowered his eyes. “Mom, this is between Zhenzhen and me. Don’t worry about it. We’ll deal with it ourselves.”
Xiao Xuezhen was already upset, and seeing him only made her angrier. Her face turned livid as she spun around and went upstairs.
Meng Xianwen stood there for a moment. Then, as though deep in thought, he turned toward the guest room and walked over.
The door was ajar. Although it was a guest room, Ning Zhen had been the only person to stay there in the past two years.
Two red envelopes had been left on top of the cabinet.
She hadn’t even tried to hide them. The moment the housekeeper came in to clean today, the open door would make them visible at a glance. It was as though she were silently provoking him: So what if you know I’m putting on an act? You can only choose whether or not to play along.
If he didn’t play along, the housekeeper or Uncle Yang would spot the red envelopes within two days and report them to his parents.
This was nothing less than an open declaration of a breakup.
If he did play along, he would have to put the red envelopes away.
Meng Xianwen pondered for a long time. His reason told him that the former option would be more suitable and more convenient. He could take advantage of the situation and let his parents know they had parted ways. The engagement with the Song family had long since gone nowhere and was no longer possible. He no longer needed a girlfriend in name only.
…
Ning Zhen waited patiently for twenty-four hours.
Every day, plenty of people messaged her to chat. When she remained as active as usual on her Moments and received likes from Aunt Xiao and Uncle Meng, she lounged lazily in her beanbag chair.
If she hadn’t been afraid of disturbing her parents downstairs, she would have laughed out loud just imagining that sly, treacherous man Meng Xianwen hiding the red envelopes in the guest room.
Just as she had expected.
As expected of him—he knew when to yield.
She didn’t even need to guess. She knew that during the New Year holiday, or at least throughout the first lunar month, he definitely wouldn’t want to cause a scene over a personal matter. For now, he wanted to keep things as peaceful as possible. She could see exactly what he was planning.
To minimize the impact, he intended not to explain, refute, or respond.
As for her, she wouldn’t mention him on her Moments or accompany him to any social engagements. Once people gradually began to wonder, “Wait, have those two already broken up?” someone who had noticed earlier would surely answer, “You didn’t know? They broke up ages ago.”
And just like that, the outcome would be settled.
Actually, if Meng Xianwen had been even a little more polite, she wouldn’t have been unwilling to cooperate.
Unfortunately, his matter-of-fact, unconcerned attitude the day before had irritated her. She had to stand her ground and make sure he didn’t get too pleased with himself.
—
The seventh day of the Lunar New Year.
Guo Xia, who had spent the entire Spring Festival holiday rushing around, finally had time on the first day back at work to ask Ning Zhen out for hot pot and a movie. The two of them linked arms affectionately as they went to eat.
They had just taken their seats and ordered the broth and dishes. Before the server had even finished bringing everything to the table, Ning Zhen eagerly raised her phone to take pictures.
She had a little scheme of her own. While Guo Xia watched in confusion, Ning Zhen left only one place setting on the table and captured the scene.
She put together six photos and posted them on her Moments.
Caption: “Eating hot pot alone is actually pretty great too. [Cheers]”
Guo Xia leaned against her shoulder and asked mournfully, “Alone? Am I a ghost?”
Ning Zhen placed her phone face down on the table and shot her a sidelong glance. “I’m human, and you’re a fairy. Happy now?”
“Say more of that.” After laughing, Guo Xia drew out her words dramatically. “Why does your breakup look like a celebrity breakup? You’re even doing a whole promotional buildup?”
“…” Ning Zhen nearly choked. “You don’t understand. There’s a lot more to this than meets the eye!”
For the past few days, whenever she closed her eyes, she saw Meng Xianwen standing by the window, agreeing to her request so readily.
He was simply impossible to guard against.
She had no doubt that if she obediently waited for him to make a move a month later, he would turn around and give her an enormous surprise.
It wasn’t as if this had never happened before. If she still didn’t learn her lesson, who knew what spectacular breakup excuse he might come up with?
Guo Xia shook her head. “Why do I feel like you two haven’t broken up?”
Ning Zhen sighed inwardly at that.
Sharp. Far too sharp.
She and Meng Xianwen obviously hadn’t broken up. They had never even officially been together.
“Then what do you think it looks like?” Ning Zhen had just managed to get one over on Meng Xianwen, and her appetite had immediately improved. She blithely dipped some lamb into the broth and asked through a mouthful of food.
“I can’t really say.”
“Then don’t. Just talking about him is annoying. Eat!”
They rolled up their sleeves and dug in with gusto. Ning Zhen had come fully prepared; she even took a tablet out of her bag, propped it up on the table, and found an anime they had both loved during their school days to watch while they ate. Every so often, they would burst into silly laughter.
The hot pot meal lasted two hours.
If Ning Zhen hadn’t bought tickets for the ten o’clock showing, they could have stayed at the restaurant even longer.
Guo Xia picked up her phone and tried to scan the code to pay, but the payment failed. “That’s strange. It keeps saying there’s an error.”
Ning Zhen bit into a slice of chilled watermelon and said casually, “Go ask at the front desk. And remember to grab me a handful of those mint candies to freshen our mouths.”
Guo Xia hummed in acknowledgment, frowning as she got up and headed to the front desk.
Ning Zhen lowered her head and scrolled through the comments on her Moments post, perfectly satisfied. Even Chang Yi, who loved teasing her most, seemed to have sensed that something was off. He had joked in the comments:
“Ordering this many dishes for one person? Have you given up on life? If you can’t finish them, let Lao Meng clear the table.”
She curled her lips, preparing to joke back, when Guo Xia returned with a strange expression.
“What’s wrong?” Ning Zhen asked suspiciously.
Guo Xia was silent for several seconds. “I asked at the front desk. Apparently, someone already paid for us.”
Ning Zhen froze. “What?”
“A Mr. Meng.” Guo Xia looked her up and down with even greater confusion. “I don’t have any friends or coworkers surnamed Meng. It was him, wasn’t it?”
“How could it be!”
Ning Zhen was startled too and instinctively denied it. “He didn’t even know I was—”
She stopped mid-sentence as she remembered the post she had uploaded to her Moments two hours earlier. Her voice cut off at once, and she stared at Guo Xia in disbelief. “No way…”
The two of them looked at each other.
“Two hours. No, not even two hours,” Guo Xia said softly. “He found out where you were from a photo you posted, paid the bill, and left. What kind of idol drama are you two acting out?”
As she spoke, she slapped her forehead and picked up where they had left off. “It really doesn’t look like a breakup.” She paused, momentarily unable to think of the right word. “It looks like… he’s trying to win you back. Yes, that’s it—he’s trying to win you back!”
Ning Zhen: “?”
Without thinking, she said, “Impossible.”
But her own mind was in turmoil. His utterly unexpected move had left her baffled, and it took her a long while to process it. She got to her feet and hurried to the front desk, asking the staff to print out the receipt.
She wanted to ask what the person who had paid looked like and what he had said, but the staff member was busy, so she had no choice but to swallow all her questions. Heavy-hearted, she walked out of the hotpot restaurant and looked around at the entrance.
Every face was unfamiliar.
Guo Xia tapped her on the shoulder from behind. “Are you looking for him? I just searched the whole restaurant for you. I didn’t go into the men’s restroom, but I checked everywhere else. He’s not here.”
Ning Zhen forced a smile.
On the way from the hotpot restaurant to the cinema, her thoughts were a tangled mess. She made occasional small talk with Guo Xia, but her mind was entirely fixed on her phone. Whenever it rang, her heart leaped—only to find that it was the parcel station calling to remind her to pick up a delivery. Whenever a WeChat notification chimed, her heart jumped again. It was her parents, a coworker, or Meng Jiaran—but never him.
By the time they had taken their seats in the theater, Guo Xia could no longer stand watching her distracted state. Lowering her voice, she said, “If you really don’t understand, just send him a message and ask. How big a deal is it?”
“You wouldn’t understand.”
“Fine, fine. The waters of your wealthy family are too deep.” Guo Xia popped another piece of popcorn into her mouth and snorted. “Us ordinary people wouldn’t understand.”
“Hey!”
Guo Xia made her laugh. Ning Zhen squeezed over and snatched some of her popcorn, the sweet flavor spreading across her tongue.
With the movie still not yet started, she unlocked her phone and opened her chat with him. She typed:
Was it you who paid the bill?
Just as she was about to send it, her gaze paused. She immediately deleted the message.
No. That wasn’t right.
If she sent it, he would reply: “Eating hotpot alone?”
“Xiaxia.”
Ning Zhen put away her phone and turned to Guo Xia, her expression solemn and serious.
“It’s not him trying to win me back.”
What was he trying to win her back for?
“Then what is it?” Guo Xia asked.
“A provocation.”
Ning Zhen pursed her lips. He had gone all the way to her home to confront her over a Moments post visible only to dogs. Paying her bill now was nothing more than a way of telling her that he had seen through her little act.
Guo Xia swallowed her popcorn and fell silent. She shook her head in a daze. “Fine. The waters here really are too deep. I don’t understand.”
The movie, which had earned rave reviews online, held no appeal for Ning Zhen at that moment.
For the entire two hours, she racked her brains over how to strike back.
A hotpot dinner had only cost three or four hundred yuan. She was a multimillionaire—did she really need him to pay for her?
But transferring the money to him through WeChat seemed too meek, and would make it look as though she had taken the initiative to contact him. It would put her at a disadvantage.
…
Yuyuan.
Once again, Meng Xianwen’s gaze shifted from the computer screen to his phone. It was already close to midnight, and the hotpot restaurant had long since closed.
She was still completely silent.
She hadn’t called or sent him a message demanding to know whether he had been the one to pay the bill.
Suddenly, the phone screen lit up again after going dark. A text message appeared:
Dear customer, your mobile number ending in xxxx was successfully topped up with ¥376.00 at 23:52:18 on April 2. Thank you for using our service.
