Though Xiao Xuezhen wondered why the information had to be recorded on a paper napkin, she was never one to pry into things, so the topic was quickly brushed aside. She rarely had the chance to help her son pack his luggage, so she was especially meticulous and thorough.
"Don't say those kinds of things to Zhenzhen anymore."
Holding Meng Xianwen's suit jacket in her hands, Xiao Xuezhen recalled her conversation with Ning Zhen that afternoon. She frowned and spoke with earnest concern, "Think about it—you're six years older than Zhenzhen. She's even younger than your younger brother. You're always lecturing her with all that moral talk. She likes you now, so she's happy to listen, but over time? She won't put up with it."
Meng Xianwen paused in drying his hair. "What kind of things?"
"I almost forgot—you have amnesia."
Xiao Xuezhen stepped forward and touched the porcelain bowl with her finger. The calming herbal soup was still very hot. "Anyway, don't say things about her needing to toughen up or endure hardship anymore. Honestly, even I find it annoying hearing that, let alone a young girl in her twenties."
Meng Xianwen was silent for a moment before restraining himself with a quiet "Mm."
He wasn't sure if he had actually said those things, and he was even less sure if Ning Zhen had embellished them. But whether it was with family or in public, he wouldn't contradict her.
She had gone to pay respects to the Buddha today. His best hope was that the Buddha had heard her prayer—either he would never regain his memory, or she would stop slipping up. Otherwise, he wouldn't mind teaching her that, at the very least, a person should be honest.
"It's getting late."
There wasn't much left to pack in Meng Xianwen's suitcase. Xiao Xuezhen picked up his suit jacket and left the room, pausing at the door to remind him, one last time, "Get some rest soon. If your father sees your light on when he comes back from his evening walk, he'll give you a good scolding."
"I know."
The door closed, and the bedroom fell silent again.
Meng Xianwen sat on the armchair for a long while. By the time the calming soup had gone cold, he picked up the bowl and walked out of the room, knocking on the door of the adjacent room—Meng Jiaran's.
Meng Jiaran pulled off his headphones and hung them around his neck, still holding his phone and playing a game, the sound effects crackling. "Bro, what's up?"
"Take this."
With that, Meng Xianwen handed the porcelain bowl to him.
Meng Jiaran was distracted, clearly caught off guard. By the time he snapped back to reality, the calming soup was already in his hands. He stared blankly. "Bro, what is—"
His answer was the sound of the door closing.
"..."
Meanwhile.
Ning Zhen got out of the car at the entrance of Guo Xia's neighborhood. Familiar with the place, she circled around to another gate. In the evening, quite a few street vendors had set up shop, filling the air with all kinds of aromas. She walked past each one, and by the time she entered the neighborhood again, her hands were full of takeout bags.
Guo Xia was waiting early at home.
As soon as the door opened, she threw open her arms dramatically to hug Ning Zhen. "Baby, long time no see!"
Ning Zhen's lips curled up, but her words were teasing. She let out a light snort and pretended to be dismissive. "Not that long! It's only been eight days!"
She and Guo Xia had been classmates in middle and high school.
At first, they were just ordinary classmates—not particularly close. It wasn't until they were filling out their college applications that they accidentally discovered, in the class chat, that they were planning to attend the same university. They added each other as friends and spent entire days and nights chatting.
That summer, they often made plans to wander around North City University together.
Eating ice cream, watching movies, singing karaoke.
Throughout their four years of university, even though they weren't in the same faculty, they'd meet up every few days. Gradually, they became incredibly close friends—best friends, confidantes.
They also fought. The worst fight was the one two years ago.
Ning Zhen found out that Guo Xia had started dating. At first, she was genuinely happy for her best friend—until she realized that Guo Xia's time no longer belonged to her. She couldn't stand it. Little by little, she found herself disliking, then hating, Guo Xia's boyfriend.
Every time Guo Xia fought with her boyfriend, Ning Zhen would fan the flames. "Break up, you have to break up. What are you waiting for, New Year's?" She meant it every time, and Guo Xia, sobbing and sniffling, would say, "Okay, I swear I'll break up with him." But the next day, she'd make up with him again.
Ning Zhen felt betrayed. She cried silently at home, and her words to Guo Xia became sharp and barbed. Over some ridiculously small issue, they had a blowout fight—almost deleting each other and cutting ties completely.
It was Guo Xia who, as always, was the one to forgive her.
But Ning Zhen seemed to understand, overnight, that sometimes a person had to rank friendship behind romantic love.
"It feels like longer to me." Guo Xia warmly pulled her inside, grabbing a pair of slippers from the shoe cabinet. "Come on in. I washed the grapes you like."
"Here, take these."
Ning Zhen shoved the takeout bags into Guo Xia's hands and sat down on the shoe bench to change her shoes. Her gaze swept casually to the side.
Coming here this time had definitely been the right call.
Thinking this, she quickly unlocked her phone and typed a note into her memo: [Couple's slippers]
"What's wrong?" Guo Xia walked back to the entrance and found Ning Zhen crouched down, studying the shoe rack. "Are you about to have an upset stomach or something?"
Ning Zhen stood up calmly and walked inside. Her eyes made a sweep of the place. Guo Xia and her boyfriend had rented a two-bedroom apartment—about sixty square meters—filled with traces of another person. Even though he had been temporarily kicked out, his presence lingered. His body was gone, but his "spirit" remained.
Guo Xia was full of questions.
She followed behind Ning Zhen, watching her flit around with a serious expression. Ning Zhen stood in front of the fridge, staring fixedly at the photos held up by magnets; then she sat at the dining table, propped her chin in her hands, and gazed, as if deathly determined, at two cute-looking mugs.
"Zhenzhen, what's wrong? Don't be like this..." Guo Xia said nervously. "You're giving me the creeps."
"Can I go see your bedroom?" Ning Zhen turned around to ask.
Baffled, Guo Xia quickly made a "milady, please" gesture. "Be my guest. My home is your home."
Ning Zhen didn't stand on ceremony. She walked straight in.
Guo Xia and her boyfriend had been living together for almost six months. This was the first time in half a year that Ning Zhen had come to Guo Xia's rented place. Back then, before the cohabitation, she was here all the time. Now, looking around the apartment, at first glance looked no different from when Guo Xia lived alone. But if you looked more closely, it had undergone a complete transformation.
"Oh, is this the Bonnie Bunny I gave you?"
Ning Zhen picked up the stuffed rabbit placed beside the pillow and turned to ask Guo Xia, "This is it, right?"
Guo Xia smiled and nodded. "Yeah, my nineteenth birthday present. But seriously, what's gotten into you today? You're acting so strange," she thought for a moment, then ventured a guess. "Did you have a fight with Mr. Meng?"
"Don't get me started on him. Just thinking about him gives me a headache."
Ning Zhen silently noted the layout of the master bedroom and didn't want to stay a second longer. She pulled Guo Xia out to the living room, where they sat cross-legged on the floor in front of the coffee table. They put on disposable gloves, ate and drank, and Ning Zhen showed Guo Xia the photos and videos she had taken in South City.
As Guo Xia watched, she muttered curses. "I had no idea the hotel rooms were this big! These rich people!"
Ning Zhen burst out laughing. "Presidential suite. Next time we go to South City, we're staying in one of those, too."
They enjoyed their late-night snacks and chatted comfortably.
Just as Guo Xia was about to keep looking at that damn fabulous rich-people life, her phone suddenly vibrated. The screen lit up with an incoming call from Meng Xianwen. She jumped and shoved her phone toward Ning Zhen. "Your husband."
Ning Zhen wiped her fingers with a tissue, spat out the chicken bone, and after finishing her preparations, she answered the phone. “What’s up?”
“Where are you?”
Meng Xianwen’s calm voice came through the receiver.
“I didn’t go home. I had Uncle Liu drive to my place to drop off the stuff.” Ning Zhen took a moment to drink some water and reported her whereabouts dutifully—if she didn’t say it, Uncle Liu might mention it after returning to the Meng residence. “I’m at Guo Xia’s place—my friend, you’ve met her a few times. She had a fight with her boyfriend, and she’s feeling down, so I came over to keep her company.”
Guo Xia looked blank for a few seconds.
Catching Ning Zhen’s subtle cue, she immediately sniffled and began whimpering, providing faint sobbing as background noise.
She even thought about throwing in a few lines, opening her mouth to say “That bastard,” but Ning Zhen popped a cherry tomato into her mouth, manually silencing her.
Meng Xianwen didn’t seem particularly concerned about this, either.
He wasn’t exactly familiar with the name Guo Xia, so he responded casually, “Do you need me to arrange a driver to take you home?”
“No need.” Ning Zhen chuckled lightly. “What made you think to call me?”
“Didn’t I used to?”
“If I said you didn’t, would you change?”
She countered, “If I said you did, would you keep up the good habit?”
There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the line, then he let out a faint laugh. “Fine, I won’t ask.”
Ning Zhen raised one hand to cover her mouth, afraid she’d lose her composure and start laughing.
God knows how hard she was holding it in.
“Alright, do you miss me?” she asked, beaming, actually enjoying the rare pleasure of chatting with Meng Xianwen on the phone. “I used to keep you company every night, didn’t I? Now that you can’t see me, you’re not used to it, right?”
Guo Xia shuddered at these words.
Was she supposed to be hearing this?
On the other end, Meng Xianwen also fell silent for a moment. After a few seconds, he asked with amused interest, “But are you sure your friend really had a fight with her boyfriend?”
Ning Zhen’s expression shifted slightly.
He was mocking her—daring to laugh so happily while her friend was supposedly crying.
Ugh, she was going to strangle him one of these days.
Meng Xianwen let it drop at that.
But before hanging up, he offered an ambiguous piece of concern: “You’ve had a tough few days. Don’t stay out too late. Come home early.”
Ning Zhen ended the call with a cold face.
…
Meng Xianwen put away his phone and walked downstairs.
As dusk settled, the old estate, far removed from the city’s hustle and bustle, became eerily quiet in the night—so quiet you could hear the sound of the pendulum clock ticking. He stopped in front of a guest room on the first floor. Since the two elders of the household had passed away one after another, the number of visitors had dwindled, and almost no one stayed overnight anymore, except for one person: Ning Zhen.
Creak—
The half-closed door seemed to swing open with a gust of wind.
Meng Xianwen stepped inside slowly.
The first-floor guest room was nearly half the size of the bedrooms on the second and third floors. Once inside, the furnishings were clear at a glance. He scanned the room calmly, and as he turned to leave, his gaze swept over the cabinet, then paused.
On the cabinet stood a bottle of milk.
A tissue was pressed beneath the glass bottle, its corner dampened by the fine droplets of condensation.
With the light filtering in from the hallway, Meng Xianwen read the words written on the paper: 【Sleep early, okay? OvO】
He looked at it idly for a while, then suddenly smiled.
-----------------------
