Ning Zhen was completely satisfied.
She pulled back from his embrace, sat up straight again, and stopped paying him any attention, focusing on scrolling through the photos on her phone instead.
She picked out a few photos that looked especially affectionate and posted them in the family group chat: 【Had breakfast at home. Xianwen was worried I'd be late, so he deliberately took a detour to drive me to work =w=】
The group was currently very lively.
Mostly because of her—every day she posted photos and videos to show off her romance to the two elders and report on how the relationship was progressing.
Apart from that, Uncle Meng was also persistently posting his farming achievements.
As a result, she could clearly sense that under the bombardment of these two magical forces, Aunt Xiao's replies were getting slower and fewer.
They had left early today, so they arrived at Shenggdu Tower even earlier. After Xiao Ding parked the car, Ning Zhen checked the time and nearly fell apart, muttering under her breath, "I've been coming to Shenggdu for work, and this is the first time I've clocked in at 8:20. Boss probably thinks I've lost my mind."
Being this eager to get to work—what else would you call it but crazy?
Meng Xianwen caught the complaint in her tone and didn't even lift his eyelids. "Tomorrow, you'll go to work by yourself."
"Hey, hey, hey, don't!"
Ning Zhen was already about to push the door open and get out, but upon hearing that, she quickly scooted back and grabbed his arm. "Look at you—I didn't even say anything. Besides, don't you cherish these ten-plus minutes we spend together each morning?"
"Get out."
He raised his hand and turned the watch face toward her, signaling that 8:20 was early for her, but late for him—he still needed over half an hour to get to Hengxing.
"Then promise me you'll drive me to work again tomorrow."
Xiao Ding in the driver's seat gripped the steering wheel tightly, struggling hard to hold back his laughter.
Although he didn't know exactly what was going on, from what he'd observed recently, the relationship between Miss Ning and Mr. Meng had indeed improved a lot compared to before.
She didn't mind wasting time, but Meng Xianwen did. He pushed away the head she'd leaned in close, "Hurry up and get to work."
Ning Zhen beamed.
She knew that meant he agreed. "You're the best."
"If you don't get out now, I'll take you to Hengxing."
"Bye!"
Ning Zhen let go of him, pushed open the door, and got out with smooth, fluid movements, as if she genuinely feared he might have a sudden impulse to bring her to work at Hengxing.
After getting out, she didn't even look back, walking briskly and lightly toward the building entrance. Last night had been studded with stars, and today was indeed a beautiful day—the morning sunlight cast a soft glow over her flowing hair.
Meng Xianwen watched for a moment, then pulled his gaze away. "Let's go."
Xiao Ding acknowledged and gently pressed the accelerator, the car smoothly merging into the road.
Ning Zhen had indeed broken her personal professional record—she was practically the first person in the office to clock in. She opened the paper bag, which was full of untouched breakfast items. She distributed them according to her coworkers' tastes and placed them on their desks.
Before long, her colleagues came dragging in with gloomy faces.
At first, they all looked half-dead, but upon seeing the delicate breakfasts at their workstations, they perked up, craning their necks and saying, "Thanks for feeding the poor, beautiful lady."
Ning Zhen couldn't help but laugh: "Buy me coffee at lunch!"
Probably because Fang was leading the group, their team didn't have the office politics that other groups had—they joked around every day. That was also the reason she constantly cursed about her low salary but never actually thought about switching careers.
…
The fact that Meng Xianwen once again arrived late, around nine o'clock, didn't spark any discussion in the assistant's office.
Today's headline figure was Xu Lai.
The model worker who never arrived late and always stayed late to work overtime—today he hadn't shown up even after nine. Xu Lai was well-liked, and within less than three minutes of his tardiness, assistants, secretaries, and even a senior executive had all called to check on him.
Assistant Wang said with concern, "He didn't seem right during the hotpot yesterday. I think he needs to go to the hospital, just in case he actually ends up in the news—that would be a disaster!"
Meng Jiaran yawned as he came over to listen in. "Tired out, maybe?"
He was just about to add a few more words of concern when the landline on his desk rang. After picking up, he found it was his brother calling through the internal line, asking him to come to the office.
Meng Jiaran had no idea what it was about, but he went over as quickly as possible.
As soon as he entered the office, he saw his brother sitting on the sofa, holding a bottle of juice that was nearly finished, seemingly staring at the label with a serious expression.
Hearing Meng Jiaran come in, Meng Xianwen lifted his eyes and tilted his head slightly. "What's that?"
Meng Jiaran followed his gaze. "The safe."
"Who told you to move it into my office?"
Meng Xianwen felt a headache coming on.
One after another—they really knew how to cause him trouble.
"Then where should I move it?" Meng Jiaran was both lost and confused. Not that he wanted to bring it up, but since the topic had come up, he was full of questions. "Brother, seriously, why did you have me move that safe from the Royal Garden to here?"
Meng Xianwen fell silent.
After a long pause, he lost the patience and interest to explain to his younger brother, and his tone grew impatient: "Forget it. It's none of your business. You can leave."
Meng Jiaran: "..."
He was utterly baffled.
For the first time, he deeply felt that there might truly be a generation gap between him and his brother. He walked in for no apparent reason and walked out for no apparent reason. But before he had taken two steps, he ran into Xu Lai, who was rushing in to work looking flustered.
The two came face to face.
He asked with concern, "Assistant Xu, are you alright?"
Xu Lai gave a gentle, warm smile: "I'm fine, thank you for your concern."
-
At the Meng family's old residence.
The photos and messages Ning Zhen posted in the group were seen by Xiao Xuezhen and Meng Jingshan almost immediately. They had just finished breakfast not long ago and were strolling around the artificial lake. Both their phones rang with WeChat notifications at the same time.
"..."
"..."
Xiao Xuezhen and Meng Jingshan exchanged awkward glances, both seeing discomfort in each other's eyes.
Logically speaking, their son's relationship progressing smoothly was a good thing. But as parents, seeing their son and future daughter-in-law's intimate photos day after day was frankly quite complicated emotionally.
Several times, Meng Jingshan had nearly blurted out, "Will you cool it—stop posting."
"You see." Xiao Xuezhen rubbed her forehead.
Meng Jingshan could only unlock his phone and open the group message. He squinted, complaining with his mouth while his fingers very honestly saved the photos. "She posted breakfast, and she said Xianwen drove her to work," he clicked his tongue, sounding sour. "Your son, so considerate."
Xiao Xuezhen leaned over as well.
Her gaze naturally landed on her son's face in the photos first. "Xianwen does look like he has better color now. Seems like living at Zhenzhen's place is working well enough for him."
"How could it not?"
Meng Jingshan put his phone away and said grumpily, "Even if it's ninety square meters, or sixty, or thirty—I bet he'd be happy to squeeze in."
Xiao Xuezhen frowned and lightly patted her husband's hand.
A few seconds later, she relaxed her brow. "I already told Zhenzhen that I'd get her a new car and arrange a driver."
With that, she sent Ning Zhen a message: 【Zhenzhen, do you have time today, or we could wait until Saturday—how about we go pick out a car you like?】
All the way across the city, Ning Zhen received the message, and the stone that had been weighing on her heart finally hit the ground.
This really needed to be taken care of as soon as possible—every extra day of waiting made her more anxious.
She immediately replied: 【Aunt Xiao, I'm free today. Actually, I was hoping to talk to you about Xianwen's health】
They agreed to meet at noon.
Xiao Xuezhen had the housekeeper arrange for a driver. Before she left, Meng Jingshan called out to her and said in a low voice, "She's timid too. With Xianwen in trouble this time, you saw how scared she got... Anyway, once the car is booked, don't rush to hit the road. I'll have someone look into modifying it—don't let her get bumped or bruised."
"Fine."
Xiao Xuezhen nodded, then shot him a look. "What do you mean 'timid'? This isn't a small matter."
Meng Jingshan was left speechless and waved his hand before walking off.
Ning Zhen had practically worn her lips out begging, but Fang Li finally gave her two hours of personal leave, plus her lunch break, totaling four hours. She had no idea if that would be enough. After meeting up with Xiao Xuezhen, she was overjoyed and went to look at cars.
"I don't really know what you young girls like."
Sitting in the car, Xiao Xuezhen flipped through the brochure, felt dizzy just looking at it, and handed it to Ning Zhen. "You take a look. Whatever you like is fine."
Ning Zhen scanned through the pages, her heart thumping wildly.
She didn't know what it felt like to fall in love for the first time, but she was sure it couldn't be more wonderful than this moment.
"I don't have anything I especially like." Ning Zhen's face broke into a sweet smile. "Aunt Xiao, I have an idea. Don't laugh at me, okay?"
"What is it?"
Xiao Xuezhen asked with a smile. "Go on."
"Ning Zhen paused, then said in a tiny voice, "Xianwen and I have matching couple mugs, couple slippers... I want to get a couple's car with him."
She didn't want to browse. She wanted to go all in and go straight for a Rolls-Royce.
She'd ridden in one plenty of times lately and was very satisfied.
The only thing she wasn't satisfied with was that it wasn't hers.
Xiao Xuezhen was taken aback, a strange feeling rising in her heart. She had a more tangible sense now that her son had found his future partner.
As a mother, she felt a twinge of melancholy, because she and her husband were no longer the most important people in her son's life. But at the same time, she felt comfort, because her son had found the most important person in his.
"Aunt Xiao..."
Ning Zhen had been laying it on thick, but when the carriage fell silent, her heart gave a jolt. Oh no, had she overdone it?
Well then...
If it wasn't going to be a Rolls-Royce, a Bentley would do, right?
"Alright."
Xiao Xuezhen reached out and placed her hand over Ning Zhen's, her touch warm and gentle. "Whatever you like is fine."
Ning Zhen's eyes lit up with sheer joy, and she nodded emphatically. "I love it!"
Xiao Xuezhen laughed. "Then we'll order the couple's one you mentioned."
...
In the afternoon.
Like every workday, Xu Lai organized the day's itinerary and the documents that needed signing, then headed to the general manager's office.
Meng Xianwen lifted his gaze from the computer screen and looked steadily at Xu Lai.
Xu Lai instinctively held his breath, every muscle in his body pulled taut like a bowstring drawn to its limit.
Before he'd even received the offer from Hengxing, he had already heard the name Meng Xianwen mentioned in class. Unlike some of the second-generation heirs in North City, Mr. Meng was a true successor with real power, impeccable skill, and sharp judgment.
After actually working with Mr. Meng, looking back at those evaluations and the media reports, they all seemed far too one-dimensional.
Absolute control. Absolute confidence. Absolute assertiveness.
"I heard you were late today."
Meng Xianwen's eyes held a hint of amusement as he sized up his special assistant. "Not feeling well, or something at home?"
"No."
Xu Lai shook his head calmly. "I worked late yesterday and overslept."
"Good to hear it's nothing."
The moment those words left Meng Xianwen's mouth, the phone on his desk lit up several times, cutting this exchange between superior and subordinate short.
Meng Xianwen picked up his phone. It was a message from Ning Zhen.
[I have good news, and even better news. Which do you want to hear first!]
[Forget it, you're probably busy. Eye roll]
[I'll just tell you both. Good news is I have a new car]
[Even better news—it's the same model as yours. Sunglasses emoji]
He scrolled through each message one by one, and a faint, almost imperceptible smile tugged at his lips.
It wasn't the calm smile he gave his subordinates, nor the easygoing one he offered family and friends.
It carried a quiet, barely noticeable pleasure.
Xu Lai raised his head without a sound, then lowered his eyes, expression unchanged.
