Beicheng Airport was bustling with travelers.
After checking in her luggage, Ning Zhen headed toward security, with Meng Xianwen following behind her as calmly as ever.
They had barely spoken on the drive from Hengxing Group to the airport. She was not the only one who needed time to process her emotions; he did, too.
For most of the journey, they had remained silent. She focused on driving, while he focused on watching her.
When they reached the airport parking lot and were about to get out, he stopped her and asked whether she needed him to arrange for someone to pick her up after she landed.
Ning Zhen knew he could arrange everything with meticulous care.
During the year they had spent together under their agreement, she had gone on one trip with Guo Xia and taken her parents on another. He had arranged both trips, which was why the people around them had been so shocked by their abrupt breakup.
In everyone else’s eyes, they had seemed like a deeply loving couple.
She shook her head and refused.
He did not press her, but his next words instantly swept away the complicated emotions stirred by those memories.
After a moment’s thought, he said, “Then lend me your car. I’ll drive it back to Beicheng and return it to you afterward?”
“…”
Ning Zhen composed her expression and refused loudly, “No!”
He did not seem disappointed or surprised by her answer. His expression remained perfectly calm.
She got out of the car, and he followed. Since cars were constantly passing through the parking lot, she could not be bothered to argue with him and did not stop him from taking her luggage.
A man who was often so busy that he vanished even on weekends naturally had no free time on a Wednesday. While she checked in her luggage, Meng Xianwen stood a few steps away with his head lowered over his phone, dealing with one urgent business matter after another. Calls kept coming in, too.
He was obviously swamped, yet he had insisted on coming to the airport.
Of course, Ning Zhen refused to admit that he had come to see her off. She was merely giving him a ride because he happened to be on her way.
“Zhenzhen.”
Just as she was about to go through security, Meng Xianwen called her again. He took an envelope from the inside pocket of his coat and held it out to her. It was exactly like the envelope in which he had placed the check on the day their agreement ended.
“I should have given this to you that day,” he said. “I was the one who chose the date for Hengxing’s annual gala this year.”
Ning Zhen froze for a moment.
She had wondered about it at the time. How could it be such a coincidence that the day their agreement ended was also the day of Hengxing’s annual gala?
A flicker of bewilderment passed through her mind. The beautiful dress that seemed tailored specifically for her, the diamond earrings and bracelet…
He paused, then gave a self-mocking smile. “Whether you believe me or not, I hoped that day would be an ending for you, and also a beginning.”
Ning Zhen’s heart stirred, but she absolutely refused to admit that she had been moved. Instead, she picked at his words with a scornful tone. “You hoped, you hoped. Why is it always what you hope for?”
Did he think she was a magic lamp, there for him to make wishes?
Meng Xianwen was silent for several seconds before asking, “Then what do you hope for?”
Ning Zhen turned her head away and said nothing.
“Take it for now.”
He stepped closer and looked down at her profile, amusement flashing in his eyes. While she was still sulking, he slipped the envelope into her pocket.
Ning Zhen knew she ought to take it out and throw it back at him.
But that bastard was far too good at keeping people in suspense, and he had piqued her curiosity.
Besides, she really could not figure out what he was thinking. What else could he possibly have wanted to give her on the day their agreement ended?
“You should go through security now,” he reminded her softly.
Ning Zhen rolled her eyes at him and turned toward the security checkpoint. After walking a few steps, she stopped. Her face was caught between hesitation and indecision, and her fingers tightened around her boarding pass. She could feel his gaze fixed on her as if it had physical weight.
She hesitated for several long minutes.
Then she took a deep breath, turned around, and walked back to him.
Their eyes met.
Ning Zhen took the car keys from her bag and tossed them at him impatiently. She immediately stepped back half a pace and said reluctantly, “I just feel sorry for Xiao Ding having to drive back and forth. It’s hard on him to chauffeur you around!”
Without looking at his reaction, she strode through security.
A moment later, she had disappeared completely from Meng Xianwen’s sight. He lowered his head and looked at the keys in his hand: a pink key cover with a little pink fox attached to it.
Once she had passed through security, all Ning Zhen could think about was the envelope in her pocket. She pretended to glance around. People passed by from time to time, and although they were all strangers, she still restrained her curiosity. She walked in fits and starts until she reached the boarding gate.
She found a spot with few people and sat down. Then, quietly and as casually as she could manage, she took the envelope from her pocket.
The envelope was not perfectly flat. It was obvious that it had been prepared for some time, rather than on a sudden impulse.
She opened it and shook out a card.
It was his primary bank card.
-
That evening.
The B3 level of Hengxing Group was silent. Meng Xianwen had spent a considerable amount of time traveling to and from the airport that afternoon, leaving a pile of work waiting for him. By the time he finally finished and was ready to leave, it was already late. Perhaps because Ning Zhen had said she felt sorry for Xiao Ding, he had let Xiao Ding leave early that evening.
The elevator gave a soft ding.
Meng Xianwen stepped out and walked toward the pink car. He opened the door and got in, but did not start the engine right away. Leaning back, he closed his eyes and rested for a moment, allowing some of his fatigue to ease. Then he opened his eyes and looked around the car.
He had not sat in her car many times. Including today, only twice.
The interior was filled with traces of her, from the decorations to the scented air freshener, and the several fluffy stuffed toys on the back seat. He lowered the sun visor and saw several photos clipped to it: her holding a coconut and smiling sweetly, her blowing bubbles while wearing a Mickey Mouse headband…
Meng Xianwen stared at them for a long while. Then, as though he were doing nothing unusual, he slipped one into his wallet and calmly pushed the visor back up.
He sat in the car for a while before taking out his phone and sending Assistant Wang a message:
[Adjust my schedule tomorrow. Try to clear two days for me. I’m going out of town.]
Another city.
After landing, Ning Zhen took a taxi straight to the hotel. She had decided to splurge this time. As luck would have it, the presidential suite was available; normally, it had to be booked well in advance. Even so, her heart ached when she paid with the card, and she took the opportunity to curse Meng Xianwen a few times.
That bastard. Why couldn’t he be less extravagant with himself?
She ran around the top-floor suite taking video after video. After spending that much money, she would have been doing herself a disservice if she did not record at least dozens of them!
After enjoying a comfortable bath, Ning Zhen lay on the large bed in the master bedroom, gripping the card with both hands as her eyes slowly scanned it.
If she still did not understand Meng Xianwen’s intentions now, she would have to be impossibly dense.
Nothing about his thoughts could escape her.
That night, he really had hoped for a new beginning. But he had not said so. Either he had been waiting for her to cling to him tearfully, unwilling to let him go, or he had figured that as long as she did not bring up the ending, he would not mention it either. They could simply let the old relationship transition into a new one without saying a word, with her changing from his fake girlfriend into his real girlfriend.
He wished!
Ning Zhen tossed and turned for a while before deciding to ask Guo Xia:
[I’m unwilling to give in, but I can’t bear to let him go either. What should I do?]
She had never felt so conflicted.
She was unwilling to start again just like that, but she could not bear to end things just like that either.
Guo Xia replied instantly:
[Torture him.]
It was the three-character wisdom passed down by someone who had been through it herself.
Ning Zhen replied:
[Master, I have seen the light.jpg]
For the next two days, Ning Zhen enjoyed a delightful trip. She had come to clear her head, but fortunately, most of the shadows weighing on her had already dispersed before the trip even began. On Friday evening, she returned to the hotel in high spirits.
The car that had brought her back had just driven away from the entrance when a black business van slowly approached.
The buildings around the hotel were lit up with floodlights, shimmering in a riot of colors.
Meng Xianwen got out of the car and looked around. He spotted the fountain Ning Zhen had posted on her Moments—the one that reflected rainbows in the daytime—as well as the city’s landmark building in the distance and the slim, refined-looking parking attendant. As he passed the young man, he glanced at him twice.
Then he entered the hotel.
This time, he had not asked his assistant to book a room. His schedule was unpredictable, so when the front-desk clerk asked what type of room he wanted, he thought for a moment, remembering something from the past.
A year ago, he had encountered an accident while on a business trip to South City.
He and his driver had suffered only minor scrapes, but his family had panicked. They had hurried over with her in tow. At his insistence, he and his parents each gave a little ground: his parents and Jiaran returned to North City, while she stayed behind to look after him.
At the time, they had stayed in his suite.
She had excitedly wandered around, chattering in his ear. “It’s such a waste for you to live in a room this big by yourself. Whenever I travel, I stay in a room with one big bed. Seriously, is the view from your room somehow different from the one I’d get?”
“Sir.” The receptionist smiled. “Would you like me to make a recommendation?”
Meng Xianwen came back to himself. “A room with one king-size bed.”
…
When his phone rang, Ning Zhen was curled up on the circular sofa in the living room, eating fruit and watching a movie. She glanced at the screen. It was a call from Meng Xianwen.
After answering, she heard his steady voice on the other end. “Zhenzhen, are you back at the hotel?”
“Obviously.”
Ning Zhen had originally wanted to ask him whether he had any idea what time it was and how late he expected her to stay out alone.
Then she reconsidered. For all she knew, he was still working overtime.
He was working overtime, while she was out clearing her head.
The thought put her in an excellent mood.
“How’s the weather?” he asked, as though he were simply trying to find something to say.
“It’s wonderful.”
As she spoke, Ning Zhen suddenly felt like doing something on a whim. She got up from the sofa and ran out onto the open-air balcony.
Meng Xianwen could hear the wind rushing through the phone. Guessing that she had gone out to the balcony, he stood as well. The room was carpeted, and his footsteps made no sound as he walked across it.
He came to the floor-to-ceiling window.
“There are more stars than there are thoughts in your head.”
Ning Zhen knew that air quality had been poor in North City these past few days, so she deliberately teased him.
Meng Xianwen gave a quiet hum and looked up at the sky glittering with stars.
He wanted to keep talking for a while longer.
But Ning Zhen seemed to have lost patience and hung up.
Leaning against the window, he rubbed his fingertip over the phone screen and smiled silently.
-
The next day.
Ning Zhen decided to check out the mountain peaks in the city. While she was waiting in line for the cable car, she received a private message from the neighbor next door.
Neighbor: “2101 is pretty polite. They must have hired someone to deliver things. They knocked on my door and gave me a gift. It looks really high-end: a box of rose tea, honey, a fruit hamper… I almost felt embarrassed accepting it [awkward].”
Ning Zhen was astonished.
How come something this nice had to happen while she was out sightseeing?
She quickly typed: “Did the other household receive one too?”
Neighbor: “I asked. They received one too.”
Ning Zhen: “[tears][tears] I’m traveling.”
Neighbor: “They’ll definitely send one to you later. I just took a look in the residents’ group chat. The profile picture for 2101 is a dog. They probably have one, so hopefully it won’t be too noisy at night [praying].”
A dog for a profile picture?
Ning Zhen froze. Something about that did not sound right. As she shuffled forward with the line, she quickly opened the residents’ group chat and checked the list of members. Her eyes went rigid when she saw the familiar profile picture.
2101 was actually Meng Xianwen?
Her brows twitched. After clicking into the profile and confirming several times that she was not imagining things, she typed out a message:
“Neighbor?? Are you serious????”
The moment she sent it, the line reached her turn. The staff member gestured for her to get in.
At that very moment, a clear WeChat notification chime sounded from behind her. She instinctively turned around. Looking past two or three people, she met Meng Xianwen’s eyes, which held a faint smile.
Each cable car could seat six people.
The staff member urged them on. “You can get in now.”
Ning Zhen hurried aboard. Two or three other people, apparently traveling together, were already seated across from her. Meng Xianwen stepped in after them and asked her softly, “May I sit beside you?”
Ning Zhen glared at him in irritation, the tips of her ears turning red.
He sat down beside her. The cable-car doors closed, and it began to move. Ning Zhen kept her head turned toward the view outside the entire time, the corners of her lips lifting.
Ding.
Her WeChat notification sounded.
Meng Xianwen replied with a double meaning: “I am.”
