Throughout the entire meal, Ning Zhen ate distractedly, her mind elsewhere.
Meng Xianwen, sitting beside her, had an unexpectedly good appetite. For the first time ever, he asked for a second bowl of rice—something that had never happened before.
Ye Junlan and Ning Hui naturally noticed this as well. The couple exchanged a glance and became even more warm and hospitable toward him.
Ning Zhen poked at the rice in her bowl with her chopsticks and stole a glance at him.
She still couldn't figure out whether he had known all along that she hadn't told her parents the truth, or whether he had just guessed it from her behavior during dinner.
After the meal.
Meng Xianwen's phone wouldn't stop buzzing. Ning Zhen shooed him up to her bedroom on the second floor to deal with work matters—she really couldn't stand listening to the business jargon coming out of his mouth; it made her feel like she was working overtime too.
She sat leisurely on the swing in the courtyard, enjoying some fruit after the meal.
This swing had been handcrafted by her grandfather when she was very little.
Over the years, her father had constantly reinforced it, but sitting on it still produced a creaking, groaning sound.
"Eating alone, are you?"
Ye Junlan returned from a short trip outside, a bag in her hand, and frowned. "Where's Xianwen?"
"He's busy."
Ning Zhen stuffed a large blueberry into her mouth, speaking with her mouth full, and before her mother could start nagging, she quickly shifted the blame. "He doesn't let me disturb him when he's working—he's very domineering. Also, he doesn't even like fruit, so giving him any would just be a waste."
Ye Junlan shot her a glare.
If Meng Xianwen weren't still in the house, she would have asked her daughter: If he's so domineering, then why are you even with him?
Every time she thought about it, she got irritated.
Meng Xianwen—or rather, the Meng family—wasn't the in-law choice she and her husband had hoped for. But as parents, they could never truly bring themselves to break up the young couple. In the end, they just wanted their daughter to be happy.
"Mom, what's that in your hand?" Ning Zhen asked.
Ye Junlan snapped back to reality. "Your father's suit. I took it to the dry cleaner a few days ago. He needs to wear it today—he's going to meet a client in a bit."
"It's a bit hot today, though."
Ning Zhen tilted her head up, looking at the sun half-hidden behind the big tree, and couldn't help but feel for her dad. "The weather app on my phone says it's thirty degrees."
"What can we do about it?" Ye Junlan said with a hint of exasperation. "You have to dress for the part. Last month, your father went out to chase a deal, but he's afraid of the cold. He didn't wear the coat you bought him, grabbed a padded jacket instead, and got left waiting all afternoon."
Ning Zhen swallowed the blueberry in her mouth, grimacing slightly at its sourness, and fell silent.
Ye Junlan had only mentioned it in passing. She carried the dry-cleaned suit into the house, and not long after, the couple's chatter drifted out—one reminding the other to drive carefully, the other cheerfully agreeing.
Ning Zhen pricked up her ears and listened for a moment, then her gaze drifted upward, settling on the closed window on the second floor.
An idea formed in her mind.
Acting on it immediately, she picked up her fruit plate, stood up, and hurried inside. Before going upstairs, she made a detour into the kitchen, grabbed a handful of cherry tomatoes and blueberries onto a plate, straightened her back, and dashed upstairs to her bedroom door. She gave a perfunctory knock, and without waiting for a response from inside, she walked right in.
Meng Xianwen was leaning casually against the windowsill, on the phone.
Hearing the door open, he turned his head briefly. Seeing it was her, he calmly looked away and continued gazing out the window.
Ning Zhen closed the door behind her.
She walked slowly toward him, leaning against the windowsill just like him, staring at him intently with a smile in her eyes.
Meng Xianwen paused slightly, unsure what kind of mischief she was up to this time.
"Yeah, go on, I'm listening," he said softly to the person on the other end of the line.
No sooner had he spoken than a blueberry was shoved into his mouth.
Meng Xianwen raised his eyes and frowned at her. He could neither eat it nor spit it out, so he could only chew it slowly and quietly while shooting her a warning look.
One blueberry down.
Without warning, she rose on her tiptoes and fed him another. This time, he was prepared and dodged to the side.
Ning Zhen followed closely—wherever he went, she chased. The bedroom wasn't small, but it wasn't exactly huge either. A man and a woman, one tall and sturdy, the other slender and graceful, silently played a game of cat and mouse around the room.
He dodged, she pursued. There was no escape.
Ning Zhen bit her lip to stifle a laugh.
By the time Meng Xianwen ended the call, she had cornered him by the door. He put away his phone, looking as though her little prank was giving him a headache, while she held up another blueberry aimed at his mouth. He grabbed her wrist in one swift motion, stopping her from succeeding.
"Do you need something from me?" he asked.
"Why did you mess with me at dinner?"
Even though his time with Ning Zhen had long since given Meng Xianwen a whole new understanding of her true nature, he still couldn't help but laugh at her shameless counterattack. "I messed with you? Zhenzhen, think before you speak, alright?"
"You already knew?"
Seeing that he didn't answer, his face calm and composed, she felt a flicker of annoyance and shot back: "Then why didn't you tell my parents just now that we're living together?"
A trace of awkwardness flickered across Meng Xianwen's brow.
He let out a sigh. "Do you think that would be appropriate?"
The fact that he had moved into Ning Zhen's place was something he absolutely could not bring up with her parents. That had to come from one person only—Ning Zhen herself.
Hearing this, Ning Zhen nearly blurted out, "Ha! So you know it's inappropriate!"
But she held it in and asked with feigned nonchalance, "Then will you—"
Will you move out?
Before she could finish, her words died in her throat under his knowing gaze.
Fine then. They were already locked in this silent battle of wills—he was waiting for her to kick him out because he couldn't take it anymore, and she was waiting for him to leave on his own. Whoever moved first lost.
Ning Zhen quickly changed her approach, instead blaming him for being inconsiderate: "I was going to come home that night to tell Mom, but my friend ran into trouble, so I got delayed. And anyway, you were the one who put me in this difficult position. How am I supposed to explain this to my mom?"
"So you chose to lie?" Meng Xianwen looked her straight in the eye. "Playing both sides?"
"How is that lying to my parents?"
Ning Zhen retorted, "Don't you dare tell me you've never lied to Aunt Xiao or Uncle Meng. Unless you've never done it once, you can't accuse me like that."
Meng Xianwen fell silent.
He switched his question: "Fine. When exactly do you plan to tell them?"
Ning Zhen was stumped.
She really didn't want to tell her parents. She had missed the best window for confessing, and now if she came clean, it would look like she had acted first and informed them later. Back when she was a kid, that would've earned her a serious whipping.
Meng Jiaran wasn't the only one with a parent-shaped fear in his life.
Every family had someone at the bottom of the food chain, and unfortunately, she played that role in her own home.
She was both the family's darling and its greatest nuisance.
And all of this was Meng Xianwen's fault!
If he hadn't insisted on moving into her place, would she be in such a bind?
Meng Xianwen pulled at her wrist. Ning Zhen lost her balance and stumbled into his arms. He asked in a low voice, "You're not planning to tell them at all, are you?"
"That's not true!" Ning Zhen insisted stubbornly. "Just give me some time. I'll tell them eventually!"
"When?"
She shot him an exasperated look—nagging, nagging, what was there to nag about, did he ever stop? But he kept staring at her without letting up, giving her the absurd impression that she was a megastar and he was her secret boyfriend, pressuring her to announce their relationship to the world.
She couldn't help it—the thought cracked her up, and she burst out laughing.
Meng Xianwen's eyes darkened instantly.
Ning Zhen thought he was angry, so she quickly held up two fingers and was about to say "two months," only to bend one down under the pressure of his sharp gaze. "One month. I'll tell them next month."
"..."
Meng Xianwen could clearly catch the sly glint of mischief flashing through her eyes.
Maybe they were standing too close, close enough that he could see right through to what she was thinking in that moment.
Whether she'd actually tell them next month depended entirely on whether he was still staying at her place.
If he was there, she might say it.
If he wasn't, she'd pretend he'd never set foot in her home.
"Fine."
He nodded in agreement, and just as the corner of her lips curled up, he leaned in slightly, brought his mouth close to her wrist, and bit down on the blueberry she was holding, staring at her fixedly as he ate it with deliberate slowness.
Ning Zhen's eyes flickered.
He released his hold on her.
Yet, instead of pulling away, she took the opportunity to grab his hand and asked softly, "Are you mad?"
Ning Zhen had never been the considerate type. Whenever she turned sweet, it usually meant trouble. Meng Xianwen kept his expression calm as he pulled his hand free and walked toward the window sill. He hadn't taken two steps before she trailed behind him, chattering like a sparrow and buzzing like a bee.
"Are you mad?"
"Really mad?"
Ning Zhen followed at his heels, craning her neck to study his expression.
She had the air of someone who would keep pestering him until he answered. Meng Xianwen glanced at her. "You're overthinking it."
"So you're not mad!" Ning Zhen bounced over cheerfully, squeezing next to him even though the window sill was wide enough for both of them. She grabbed his hand and mumbled, "Let me read your palm, okay? Wow, your career line is so clear and long—that means the project you're about to launch will go really smoothly—"
Meng Xianwen didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
But in a way, he had no way to deal with her either.
"All right, I'm not mad. Stop pulling at me."
The moment those words left his mouth, he heard a soft click as the clasp of his wristwatch came loose.
Ning Zhen slipped it off and finally got to the real point. "Meng Xianwen, can I borrow your watch for my dad to wear?"
Meng Xianwen: "..."
-
Ten minutes later.
Ning Hui was spraying hair gel on his hair in the first-floor bathroom, combing it back, when he heard hurried footsteps coming down the stairs. He leaned out and called up, "You're this old and still so careless! Watch your step coming down!"
"I could walk down these stairs with my eyes closed and not trip."
Ning Zhen dashed over to the bathroom door, hands behind her back, a mysterious grin on her face. "Dad, quick, hold out your hand."
Ning Hui didn't know what was coming, so he set down the comb.
"Don't scare your dad, I'm almost fifty." He spoke cautiously, almost instantly recalling the mischievous things his daughter had done as a child. That summer, she'd taken Meng Jiaran to climb trees and dig in the dirt. The two kids had come over with sun-reddened faces, saying they had a gift for him and told him to close his eyes and hold out his hand.
He'd gone along with it, obediently doing as they said.
Ning Zhen had flashed a wicked grin and made Meng Jiaran place an earthworm right in his palm.
Even as an adult, he'd been properly startled, and the two brats had howled with laughter.
"Dad!"
Ning Zhen's brows knitted together.
Ning Hui had no way around her, so he stuck out both hands—only to his surprise, his daughter took off his own watch and carefully fitted another one onto his wrist.
Finally, Ning Zhen reached up and tidied the collar of her no-longer-young father's shirt.
She took half a step back, looking at him with admiration and pride, snapped her fingers, and said cheerfully, "Perfect!"
