Ning Zhen sat by the window. By the time the ice in her cup was nearly melted, she took a deep breath, hesitated once more, and took the initiative to send Meng Xianwen a message: 【Let me know when you're done [eye roll]】.
So what if she was being presumptuous? It wasn't as if he hadn't teased her about it before.
She thought she'd have to wait there for ages, but within two minutes of sending the message, she got his reply—a simple question mark, coldly asking what she wanted.
Ning Zhen bit back the curve of her lips and took a sip of her lemon tea, typing quickly: 【Nothing much, I'm at the café downstairs with my coworkers grabbing food. They've all left now. If you want anything to drink, you can come over—our boss is footing the bill [sunglasses]】
“Mr. Meng.”
From a distance, Xiao Ding spotted Meng Xianwen stepping out of the elevator, immediately pushed open the car door, and walked to the back seat to open it. Meng Xianwen had three people behind him: Assistant Wang, Song Yue, and Song Tao’s assistant.
Meng Xianwen glanced down at the message, the corner of his lips curling up. He paused mid-step to reply with a second question mark.
“Get in the car first,” he said, tilting his head slightly and speaking in a low voice to Assistant Wang. "I have something to take care of—have Xiao Ding drive up to street level."
Assistant Wang nodded promptly, shot Xiao Ding a look, opened the passenger door, and before getting in, politely bid farewell to Song Yue and the others.
Song Yue’s mind was completely numb by now, all his usual quick-wittedness gone. Song Tao’s assistant, however, having no idea what had happened from start to finish, remained as warm and respectful as ever: “Mr. Meng, is there anything else you need?”
“No, go ahead and get back to work.” Meng Xianwen put away his phone, a look of helplessness on his face, yet mixed with a trace of amused contentment. “My girlfriend came by the office today. She wants me to meet her.”
Song Tao's assistant understood immediately.
Every secretary and assistant on the twentieth floor had a strong impression of Ning Zhen—first, because she was a close friend of the young miss, and second, because she was Mr. Meng's girlfriend.
Song Yue instinctively looked at Meng Xianwen, and when he caught that half-smiling gaze, goosebumps crept up his arms. If he'd known neither of them would play by the rules, he would have walked straight past Ning Zhen with his eyes dead ahead when he ran into her in the restroom corridor that day.
No, that wasn't right. If he'd ignored her, who knew what kind of pillow talk she'd whisper into Meng Xianwen's ear—she'd probably claim he didn't even have the courtesy to acknowledge her presence.
Accompanied by Song Yue, Meng Xianwen took the elevator down to the first floor. This time, he politely and graciously declined the two men's company and, under their watchful gazes, strolled out of the Hongxin building as if taking a leisurely walk.
Ning Zhen stared at the question mark in the chat window and aggressively stabbed a fork into a piece of cake. Thanks to Meng Xianwen, her tolerance for awkward situations and her patience had both improved considerably.
She calmly ignored the question mark and opened her chat with Guo Xia. Today they got off work early for once, so they could meet up for a meal. She hadn't even finished typing her message when she felt the prickling sensation of someone's gaze. She turned her head, and her eyes met Meng Xianwen's through the floor-to-ceiling window.
For a split second, her heart skipped a beat, then pounded even faster. Startled and uncertain, she pressed a hand to her chest and shot him a fierce glare. If he ever scared her half to death one of these days, she'd park herself outside Hengxing's entrance with a protest banner!
Meng Xianwen didn't seem bothered in the slightest. He strode into the café at an unhurried pace, came over to her table, pulled out a chair, and sat down. Pretending not to already know, he asked, “Your coworkers all left?”
As he spoke, he cast a glance at the small round table, which could barely fit two people, and gave her a look that said more than his words.
Ning Zhen nodded without flinching: “Mm, they're all gone. What would you like to drink?”
“No need.” Meng Xianwen shook his head in refusal, cutting to the chase. “What did you want to see me about?”
Ning Zhen had no choice but to wave over a waiter and order him a glass of water. Now that they were sitting face to face, she suddenly grew tongue-tied, turning the words over in her mouth several times before blurting out directly: “Did you come today because you wanted to stand up for me?”
Before he could answer, she immediately added, lifting her chin stubbornly, “Yes or no—just say it. It's not like I care that much. I'm just asking casually!”
Meng Xianwen's gaze lingered on her flushed cheeks for a moment. He picked up his glass, took a couple of sips of water, and said, “Standing up for you? Not exactly. But my affairs are none of the Song family's business to interfere with.”
Ning Zhen let out an “Oh” and dropped her head, silently butchering the cake with her fork.
“Although I don't think Song Yue will ever be foolish enough to bully you again,” Meng Xianwen paused, then added, “but if there's ever a repeat of anything like that, tell me immediately.”
Ning Zhen jerked her head up to look at him, a smile spreading across her eyes. “Still saying it's not standing up for me! Fine, fine—I don't want to hear any more of that. Are you off work now?”
“Not that free.” Meng Xianwen checked his watch. "I have to get back to the company. If you've got something to say, say it quick."
Ning Zhen's lips curled wildly upward. She only heard what she wanted to hear—whatever his intentions were, the fact that he'd shown up today was, in her eyes, him standing up for her, and that was enough. He was her boyfriend. Whether the relationship was real or fake, once he held that title, he had to be unconditionally on her side.
He passed today's test, barely!
She raised her chin: “Then be a dear and wait ten minutes for me.”
Ning Zhen scanned the QR code and, as fast as she could, placed an order for a drink and a wagyu sandwich. She had the staff pack it to go, then handed the bag to Meng Xianwen, copying his casual, carefree tone: “Don't mention it.”
Meng Xianwen stared at her for a few seconds, took the paper bag, and left with ease.
Only after she was sure he was truly gone and not lingering somewhere to spy on her did Ning Zhen drop the act. She rested her chin on both hands and giggled to herself for a moment, then quickly covered her mouth so she wouldn't scare anyone nearby.
She had to admit—she couldn't deny it—she loved this feeling.
Meanwhile.
At a charity auction she was attending with her mother, Song Yuqing met Meng Jiaran in a corner spot. The two were holding auction booklets and chatting when Song Yuqing's phone lit up. She turned slightly, out of habit, always cautious with messages in any public setting.
It was from her assistant: 【Mr. Meng came to the company and just left. Chairman Song called for President Yue to accompany him.】
Song Yuqing stared at the message, a quiet sense of relief washing over her—it had finally come.
So her father was indeed no longer young. He'd actually thought that after how openly their cousin had mocked Ning Zhen, he could just let it slide unscathed.
The reason the past period had been so quiet wasn't because things were okay—it was because Ning Zhen and her Soundscape team had to come and go from Hongxin frequently, to work with them. The quieter and more restrained Meng Xianwen acted, the more serious he was about this.
She had reminded her father more than once: since this all started with their cousin, he ought to go and sincerely apologize to Ning Zhen himself. But her father didn't seem to take it seriously.
Her father really wasn't young anymore. He'd repeatedly assumed that because the alliance between their families hadn't worked out, the Meng family owed the Song family something. Even she knew that was a mutual agreement between willing parties—but her father couldn't seem to grasp it.
Song Yuqing opened her chat with Ning Zhen and thought for a moment before sending a message: "Zhenzhen, I just heard that Mr. Meng stopped by the company—is everything okay? I'm out right now and can't get back."
Ning Zhen sent back a selfie, the background showing the coffee shop below Hongxin Tower: "He just passed by, already left. Had to rush back to work."
Then another message followed: a meme captioned "Too busy working to remember to hang myself.jpg"
Song Yuqing let out a soft laugh at the silly sticker. Meng Jiaran, sitting beside her, had been secretly watching her reaction the whole time, and now he was fidgeting like he was sitting on pins and needles. He was dying of curiosity—who on earth was she chatting with so happily?!
He deliberately coughed a few times, but it didn't even catch her attention.
Meng Jiaran couldn't take it anymore. He scooted closer, and when their arms brushed, Song Yuqing finally looked up from her phone, puzzled. "What's wrong?"
"Who are you talking to?" Meng Jiaran forced a smile. "Just asking, you know. Man, this auction is so boring."
Song Yuqing didn't hide anything. She turned her phone screen toward him. "I'm chatting with Zhenzhen. She's so fun—really funny, and she has tons of great memes. I really enjoy talking to her."
Meng Jiaran glanced at the screen, pretending to be casual.
But hearing her say that, his heart sank. All those memes Zhenzhen used were stolen from him!
A few years back, he'd been at dinner with Ning Zhen and the others, and he'd overheard her and Guo Xia ranting about guys—something about how guys using anime profile pictures were losers, how men who overused emojis had zero sexual tension, and how guys who sent "good morning, good night, you there?" texts should be dragged out and shot.
Ning Zhen was his closest female friend, and since she was a woman herself, he figured he should listen to her advice. So when texting Yuqing, he always held back—no memes, hardly even the built-in WeChat stickers.
And now Yuqing was saying Ning Zhen was fun, funny, hilarious??
He swallowed his frustration and squeezed out a smile. "Haha."
-
Ning Zhen had been in high spirits these past few days. Next year was her zodiac year, and this year's luck had been so good even she found it hard to believe. The biggest stroke of fortune was naturally Meng Xianwen's memory loss, followed closely by work going smoothly.
A while back, Guo Xia had gleefully shared some great news—after posting and reposting every single lucky draw on Weibo, day in and day out, all 365 days of the year, she'd finally hit the jackpot: two tickets to an amusement park, along with two nights at the park's hotel.
Ning Zhen had been to the amusement park once before, but she was thoroughly pleased that Guo Xia's first instinct was to share this with her instead of Ye Chuyang.
She agreed without a second thought. The two of them picked a travel date, each managed to sweet-talk their bosses into approving leave, and after booking their flights, they counted down the days. The day before their departure was a Friday. The moment it hit six o'clock, Ning Zhen didn't linger for even a second—she clocked out and bolted out of the office.
As for Meng Xianwen's reaction to her leaving Beicheng for a few days, she was satisfied with that too.
He'd thought it over for a moment, and under her expectant, hint-filled gaze, he said, "Fine. I'll be busy those days anyway. I'll stay at a hotel suite near the office."
Bad behavior called for punishment; good behavior deserved rewards. Ning Zhen firmly believed in that principle. She left Shengdu Tower and headed straight for a nearby mall, buying bags full of snacks, then took a cab to Hengxing to pick him up from work.
Ning Zhen rarely visited Hengxing, but thanks to Meng Xianwen having set a precedent for her, she breezed right through to the 23rd floor.
She didn't go straight to the general manager's office. First, she dropped off snacks for the assistant and secretary who were still working overtime, then peeked around. Spotting Xu Lai with his warm smile, she asked, "Meng Jiaran already left for the day? Wow, he's really on top of things."
Xu Lai chuckled. "No, the Young Mr. Meng went out for dinner."
Ning Zhen dragged out her words. "Can't he ever take it easy for once? Ah, whatever. I won't wait for him. Give him this box of cream puffs for me—and make sure to tell him I queued for ten whole minutes to buy them."
"Will do."
Satisfied, Ning Zhen gave him a little wave, then turned and headed toward Meng Xianwen's office. A moment later, under Xu Lai's gaze, she slipped inside and the door closed.
Inside the office.
Meng Xianwen was focused on finishing up his work. When she came in, he glanced up briefly, then returned to his documents.
Ning Zhen took a drink out of her shopping bag and set it beside his hand, not bothering him, and was about to settle onto the visitor sofa with her phone when her eye caught a familiar safe tucked off to the side.
She paused, then whispered before she could stop herself: "Why did you bring that into the office?"
Did he have some kind of problem? She'd just managed to completely bury that memory, and now all her embarrassment came flooding back. "You're so annoying!"
Meng Xianwen took a sip of the cold drink she'd brought and turned his head to meet her accusing gaze. He said lightly, "Oh, is that so?"
"Yes—"
Just as the words left her mouth, he said calmly, "I was going to say—if you manage to open it, everything inside is yours." A beat. "Annoying? Fine, forget it."
Ning Zhen spun to face him. "Wait, what? What?!"
Meng Xianwen acted as if he hadn't heard, flipping through his papers again.
Ning Zhen's suspicious gaze wandered over his face. She had a feeling he was just trying to mess with her, to toy with her, but her curiosity was already drifting toward that safe. She hesitated, and hesitated some more. "Fine, I'll give it a try."
She was too curious to resist. Crouching down by the safe, she quickly glanced back to check if Meng Xianwen was watching—but he didn't even lift his eyelids, just kept signing documents with his fountain pen, making scratches across the pages.
"..."
Ning Zhen knew the safe allowed three password attempts before locking temporarily. Her logical mind told her it was either empty or contained something infuriating—like those handcuffs. But she was also a deeply curious person.
She tried the original default password from last time. Error.
So he really had changed the password! That only fired up her competitive streak. She bit her lower lip and held her breath. Granny Wang's birthday was definitely not the answer—no way he'd be that generous with giveaways.
Whose birthday could it be? A few names flashed through her mind—even Meng Jiaran's annoyingly smug face made a cameo—but she shook her head and vetoed them all.
No, no. Meng Xianwen was too sneaky. He would definitely set something unexpected.
Ning Zhen pressed her lips together and tapped in the digits one by one. She entered her own birthday. Beep—error.
Her face flushed. She whipped around, and seeing that he wasn't watching her, quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
This jerk! Fine. Only one try left. If that safe held something actually valuable, was he trying to kill her? She'd looked it up online before—his brooch was apparently worth several million.
Ning Zhen turned back a few more times, growing more certain she needed to take this seriously. But she had zero ideas. No way around it—she had to go fish for a hint.
She took a deep breath, marched over to the big desk, and poked his arm. "You have to give me at least one hint," she demanded matter-of-factly.
Meng Xianwen smiled, but still didn't answer her.
"Tell me now."
Ning Zhen was relentless in her pestering—poking him one moment, tugging at him the next, then leaning over in an attempt to block his computer screen with her outstretched palm.
Just then—
"Bro, I heard that Zhenzhen—"
Meng Jiaran was used to breezing into his brother's office without knocking, and since the "Do Not Disturb" indicator wasn't lit, he burst through the door in high spirits.
He'd flung the door open and called out in excitement so suddenly that even Ning Zhen jumped. Meanwhile, Meng Xianwen—trying to pull her away from the screen—lunged forward and grabbed her by the arm. Caught off guard, she plopped straight down onto Meng Xianwen's lap.
Taking in the scene, Meng Jiaran went silent for a full two seconds, opened his mouth as if to speak, then shut it. With a blissfully composed expression, he backed out and slammed the door shut.
-----------------------
