Walking the dog was a workout. By the time Ning Zhen returned to her room, she was out of breath. She took off the cashmere scarf and laid it on the sofa.
What exactly did Meng Xianwen mean?
She truly couldn’t figure it out. Picking up her phone, she began pestering Guo Xia, typing furiously as she told him everything: how Meng Xianwen had borrowed a dog from Chang Yi to pick her up yesterday, invited her to walk the dog early this morning, and even prepared a scarf for her.
Guo Xia, who had just woken up and was still lying in bed scrolling through videos, replied instantly: “If that wasn’t him trying to win you back, I’ll wash my hair while standing on my head.”
Ning Zhen didn’t quite understand.
Although his behavior had indeed been rather strange from the day their agreement ended until now, still…
While she was spacing out, Guo Xia sent another message: “He’s exactly like Ye Chuyang. Whenever I fight with him and say we’re breaking up, he acts just like this. Basically, men are all jerks. When you talk nicely to them, they don’t listen. When you ask them to do something, they won’t lift a finger. But the moment they realize you’re serious about breaking up, they panic. One word: jerks. Two words: total jerks. Three words: complete and utter jerks.”
Ning Zhen burst out laughing.
But the smile on her face slowly froze the next second.
Guo Xia knew that she and Meng Xianwen had “broken up,” but he didn’t know that, in truth, the two of them had never really started anything at all.
The year that everyone else saw as sweet and romantic had been nothing more than an agreement.
Guo Xia: “Zhenzhen, what matters is what you think.”
Ning Zhen stared at the message, lost in thought for a long while before replying: “I just don’t want him to get too smug.”
He was too smug.
He seemed to be looking down at her, waiting to see how she would react.
Even the most casual gesture from him could throw her emotions into turmoil. He must be very pleased with himself, right?
She sat in her room for a while before abruptly standing up. Grabbing the scarf, she hurried out, riding a surge of anger downstairs. She pounded on his door—bang, bang, bang. Anyone who didn’t know better might have thought a debt collector had come knocking.
Meng Xianwen opened the door. He was still holding his phone and was in the middle of a call.
When he saw Ning Zhen, a flicker of surprise crossed his eyes. He mouthed to her, “Wait.”
Ning Zhen was rendered speechless.
Who on earth had called him? They had completely ruined the momentum of her dramatic entrance!
“Fine. Okay, I’ll tell her.” He sounded as though he had lost interest in the call as well. “We’ll talk later.”
After exchanging a few more brief words, he hurriedly ended the call.
“Here. Take it back.” Ning Zhen handed him the scarf, her expression still displeased.
Meng Xianwen frowned and didn’t reach for it.
Yesterday, when he went to Chang Yi’s place, he happened to pass a shopping mall. He had caught sight of a brand she liked and stopped for ten minutes to buy the scarf, just in case she needed it.
It had come in handy that very morning.
He had bought it for her in the first place.
“It’s cold here—”
Before he could finish, Ning Zhen rolled her eyes and stepped forward, hanging the scarf directly on the doorknob. He could take it or leave it.
“…”
Meng Xianwen fell silent.
The two of them stood at the doorway, facing each other without a word.
The question Ning Zhen had wanted to ask stalled on her lips. If he hadn’t been on the phone when he opened the door, she might have asked him outright.
The atmosphere suddenly became strange.
Meng Xianwen cleared his throat and brought up the matter as though it had only just occurred to him. “Zhou Wei called me. Her grandfather will be celebrating his eightieth birthday next month. She specifically asked about you and wanted to know whether you’d go with me. Shu Wei will be there too.”
His expression was perfectly natural, as if their agreement had never ended.
Only his tone was subtly different.
Back then, he would never have asked for her opinion.
But was this his way of trying to win her back?
All at once, Ning Zhen couldn’t be bothered to remind him that their relationship was over—and that they would be announcing their breakup to the public before next month even arrived.
She curved her lips into a perfunctory smile. “Oh. I’m not going.”
As though she had only come to return the scarf, she didn’t spare him another glance. After saying that, she turned and walked straight upstairs.
Meng Xianwen’s body stiffened slightly.
He watched her retreating figure, his expression frozen.
From afternoon until dusk, the birthday banquet was lively and bustling.
Ning Zhen usually loved occasions like this, but today she was distracted. After night fell, quite a few guests left—some went to soak in the hot springs, while others hurried back to the city. Meng Xianwen also rushed back to his room; he had an important video conference.
Before leaving, he came over to the booth where she was sitting. Bending slightly, he said in a low voice, “I’ll probably be busy for a while. If you need anything, come straight to me.”
Ning Zhen was eating a piece of honeydew melon, and the corner of her mouth twitched.
Why was he putting on another performance? Was he still not out of character?
Several people nearby who knew nothing about the situation smiled at them. After he left, someone who had met her a few times kindly teased, “Come to think of it, I went to school with Mr. Meng. I really never imagined he’d be like this around his girlfriend.”
Ning Zhen thought to herself, What a seasoned actor.
Chang Yi and Lu Yuan came over carrying bottles of wine, just in time to hear that remark. He laughed. “Did Xianwen even have a girlfriend when he was in school? If you’d managed to see this side of him back then, that really would’ve been something.”
The person cheerfully nodded. “You’re right.”
Seeing the two unofficial guardians arrive, the others picked up their glasses and moved elsewhere, leaving the booth to them.
“Don’t listen to people talking nonsense.”
Chang Yi sat down beside Ning Zhen. “Xianwen never cared about this sort of thing before, and he wasn’t interested either. He was busy with school, and even busier with work. Where would he have found the time to think about anything else? You know that. Lu Yuan and I can both vouch for him, right?”
Lu Yuan leaned back. “Don’t drag me into this. I don’t have time to play peacemaker. I’m so busy every day I could die.”
Ning Zhen smiled.
Both of them claimed they didn’t want to play peacemaker, but their words clearly carried the message that she shouldn’t take Meng Xianwen too seriously.
The people still at the banquet were chatting and laughing, but Ning Zhen’s thoughts remained unsettled.
After a while, birthday girl Shu Wei came over and draped an arm over her shoulder. “Zhenzhen, why don’t you go back to your room and get changed? We can soak in the hot springs together later.”
Ning Zhen had been feeling bored, so she readily agreed.
After watching her leave the restaurant, Shu Wei withdrew her gaze. She pointed at her own eyes, then at the two men, and scornfully said, “This is a couple’s business, you two demons. Mind your own business and watch the show if you like, but stop meddling and sticking your noses in!”
“…”
“…”
Chang Yi and Lu Yuan exchanged a glance before raising their hands in surrender.
Meng Xianwen’s every move occupied Ning Zhen’s thoughts. She returned to her room, changed clothes, put on a bathrobe, and met up with Shu Wei. The two of them went to a private hot spring pool and relaxed beneath the starry night sky. Shu Wei didn’t mention anything else the entire time, only chatting about trivial matters, which helped Ning Zhen unwind completely.
She returned to her room with her cheeks flushed from the heat, then took a hot shower. She felt much better afterward—if she hadn’t unexpectedly discovered that the diamond bracelet on her wrist was missing, the evening wouldn’t have been too bad.
“Ahhhhhhh!”
Ning Zhen stared in horror. She leapt up from the bed. At least for the moment, Meng Xianwen’s name was no longer important at all. She could even forget who he was. She rushed around the room in a panic, but the more anxious she became, the less she could remember where she had lost the bracelet.
She went over everything again and again, wishing she could turn the room upside down. She even lay on the carpet and searched beneath the bed, but still found nothing.
“Oh no. Could I have dropped it in the hot spring pool?”
The moment the thought occurred to her, Ning Zhen couldn’t wait another second. She changed back into her clothes, hurried out of the room, and went to the front desk to find the resort manager. The manager immediately took the matter seriously and asked, “Before entering the hot spring pool, did you take off the bracelet?”
Ning Zhen wanted to cry.
For the first time, she began to doubt her own memory.
She felt as though she had taken it off, but the more she thought about it, the less certain she became.
She shook her head in bewilderment. “…I don’t remember.”
The manager had dealt with plenty of emergencies and remained calm. “Please don’t worry. I’ll take a few employees to search along the route. We’ll temporarily close that hot spring pool, and the supervisor will take you to check the surveillance footage. We’ll do our best to determine roughly when it went missing.”
She tactfully added that night was approaching, and since it was a private hot spring pool, the cameras certainly wouldn’t be as ubiquitous as they were outside. Searching would take time and effort, and there was no guarantee they would find anything.
“The bracelet is quite valuable. If we haven’t found it within twelve hours, please rest assured—we’ll call the police.”
Ning Zhen wore a deeply troubled expression, her head drooping as she followed the supervisor out of the lobby toward the security room.
At that moment, she had no interest in romance whatsoever. As she turned around, she didn’t even notice Meng Xianwen approaching from a distance.
“Excuse me, what happened?”
Meng Xianwen called out to her, but she was walking too quickly and didn’t hear him. He had no choice but to go to the front desk and ask with a frown.
Normally, the staff wouldn’t disclose anything involving a guest’s privacy. But this situation was different: the entire resort had been booked out, and all the guests were relatives and friends who knew one another. After carefully choosing her words, the receptionist explained what had happened.
“Okay, I understand. Thank you.”
He lowered his head to glance at his watch and fell into a brief silence.
…
Ning Zhen returned to her room, utterly drained.
She collapsed onto the sofa, her mind a complete mess. She had quickly gone through all the surveillance footage, but there was still no sign of the bracelet. In the video, when she changed and went out to soak in the hot spring, both of her hands were stuffed into the pockets of her robe. There was no way to tell whether the bracelet was on her wrist.
Even though she was a multimillionaire, losing a six-figure diamond bracelet still made her heart ache so badly she could barely breathe. Her eyes were unfocused, and her chest felt painfully tight.
She even picked up her phone and scrolled through her WeChat contacts until she found a college classmate who was very into metaphysics. Desperate enough to try anything, she wanted her friend to divine where her precious bracelet was. She sent a message:
Babe, are you there…
Less than ten minutes after the message was sent, the doorbell rang.
Ning Zhen’s brow twitched. She sprang up and rushed to the door. When she pulled it open, the resort manager smiled at her and handed over a diamond bracelet with both hands.
“Could you please check whether this is your bracelet? Our staff found it near the hot spring pool. It had some mud on it, so we cleaned it specially before bringing it to you.”
“It’s mine! It’s mine!”
Ning Zhen’s heart finally settled. Overjoyed at getting back what she had lost, she threw her arms around the manager and thanked her repeatedly.
The manager froze for a moment, then smiled.
If the manager hadn’t had other matters to attend to, Ning Zhen would have continued expressing her gratitude. She escorted her all the way to the elevator lobby, still so thankful that she hardly knew what to say.
“How about this? I’ll give you a reward to distribute among the employees who helped search for it. Consider it a token of my appreciation. Would that be all right?”
The manager paused, looking troubled as well. “I’ll have to ask…um, my superior.”
Ning Zhen nodded happily.
Back in her room, she gazed at the bracelet, liking it more and more. She paced around the room, as though everything had suddenly become clear again.
Ah, life…
She really did have luck on her side!
Her phone screen lit up. It was a reply from her college classmate:
You suddenly messaged me, so either you’re borrowing money or sending me a wedding invitation. The former is impossible—I’m warning you now, I don’t have any money either. So…oh my God, oh my God!
Ning Zhen burst out laughing.
False alarm. I found it after all. Love you so much! (I’m not getting married.)
She switched to another chat. This time, she didn’t hesitate. She took the initiative and messaged Meng Xianwen:
Talk to me when you’re done. I need to discuss something with you.
Ten minutes later, someone knocked on the door. It was Meng Xianwen.
He watched the delight she couldn’t hide from her face, his voice carrying an understated pleasure. “What happened? What’s got you so happy?”
Ning Zhen raised her eyebrows. “It has nothing to do with you.”
She hadn’t called him over to bicker. She added, “If you have time, would you like to go for a walk?”
Meng Xianwen agreed without much thought. He glanced sideways at her, seemingly infected by her good mood, and smiled silently.
They went downstairs. The temperature difference between indoors and outdoors was considerable, and Ning Zhen hunched her shoulders when the cold wind blew against her. He offered her his scarf, but this time she didn’t take it and sidestepped it instead.
They walked for a while before stopping. There was no one else around. Under the streetlamp, their shadows stretched across the ground, creating an illusion far more intimate than reality. Their bodies weren’t touching, yet their shadows overlapped ambiguously.
It was much like the relationship they had shared over the past year.
In the eyes of others, they were an inseparable couple. But they both knew the truth: a fake was still a fake.
Ning Zhen looked straight at him. Summoning her courage, she gritted her teeth and asked, “Meng Xianwen, do you want me to keep being your girlfriend?”
His expression shifted slightly, as though he hadn’t expected her to ask such a question. After a moment of silence, he said, “I’m very satisfied with the way my life is now. I don’t want anything to change.”
Several seconds of silence passed. As though the next words were difficult to say, he frowned and looked away.
“I hope you will.”
Those three words answered her question.
But the sentence before them—that was what he truly felt, wasn’t it?
For some reason, Ning Zhen felt utterly disheartened.
She asked herself, What exactly were you expecting? You already knew the answer, didn’t you?
He really was trying to persuade her to stay.
But what he wanted to keep was a girlfriend who could accompany him to social engagements, help him deal with his parents, and keep his life peaceful and quiet.
Not Ning Zhen herself.
Fine. She wasn’t going to play along anymore.
“Haha. Then stop hoping, because it’s not going to happen!”
