North City.
Half an hour ago, having finally wrapped up a day of business, Meng Xianwen at last had a moment to properly look at his phone.
He stepped into the elevator car, opening the chat with Ning Zhen. The messages were still stuck at yesterday — her flight had landed on time around noon, and as for what happened after landing, he still hadn't heard from her. He assumed she was simply having too much fun to check in.
She updated her Moments every day, but today, there wasn't a single post.
As the elevator doors slid shut, Meng Xianwen raised a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. He hadn't slept a wink all night — his body and nerves had been running on high alert, and he knew he should stop and rest. Maybe her leaving for a while was a good thing. The feeling of his rationality teetering on the edge wasn't pleasant, and it was far too unfamiliar.
When the elevator reached B3, he walked over and patted Xiao Ding on the shoulder, who was standing by the car. "Thanks for the trouble."
Xiao Ding grinned. "It's my job."
Meng Xianwen got into the car without another word, settling into the back seat. He leaned his head against one hand, about to close his eyes and rest, when his peripheral vision caught the cashmere scarf lying beside him.
He hesitated for a few seconds before reaching out and picking it up.
A faint trace of fragrance still lingered on the scarf, making him pause, lost in thought.
"Mr. Meng, where to?" Xiao Ding asked as he got into the driver's seat.
The moment the words left his mouth, Xiao Ding felt a strange sense of déjà vu. He'd grown used to the car being noisy and lively, and to driving straight to Ms. Ning's place after Meng finished work these past few weeks.
But Ms. Ning wasn't in North City these days.
So where would Mr. Meng go?
"Hold on."
Meng Xianwen unlocked his phone, vaguely recalling that during his video conference that afternoon, the screen of his office phone had kept lighting up — not with her messages, and not from other friends either. He tapped into the SMS inbox and, with a single glance, let out a soft laugh.
One message after another — all purchase notifications from his supplementary card.
She was clearly having the time of her life.
"Head up to street level first," he said, tucking the phone away.
Xiao Ding nodded, stepped on the gas, and drove from B3 up to the ground. The high-rises around Hengxing were all lit up with floodlights, the night fully settled in as darkness enveloped the city. Meng Xianwen had him find a convenient spot to park.
As soon as the car came to a stop, he got out slowly and followed the memory of a previous visit to the coffee shop nearby.
The place catered mostly to office workers, and since it was Saturday, only a few customers were there. Meng Xianwen let his gaze sweep the room and, in the end, took a seat by the window. Not feeling particularly hungry, he ordered a light meal, then called over the waitress to pay with his card in advance.
"Here's your receipt, sir."
The waitress printed out the receipt and placed it on the table along with the bill.
Meng Xianwen had just nodded to say thanks when, in the next second, the person who'd been silent all day finally sent a message, practically demanding: [You used my card??]
A faint smile tugged at the corner of his lips as his brow relaxed. He replied: [That was me. What about it?]
Ning Zhen: [What was that purchase?! The SMS didn't show the details!]
Meng Xianwen stretched out his arm, slid the bill over, and casually snapped a photo to send her. [Got a minute for a call?]
"Seriously!"
Ning Zhen opened the photo, and under Guo Xia's watchful gaze, she let out a muffled laugh, her mood lifting like clouds parting after rain. "Alright, fine, this meal's on me. God, I can't believe I'm paying for two meals today."
Guo Xia flashed a victory sign with two fingers.
But only she knew it wasn't about who was picking up the tab. It was about seeing Ning Zhen happy again.
"Two meals? Let me guess — who's the other one?" Guo Xia teased. "So hard to figure out."
Ning Zhen scooped a spoonful of ice cream into her mouth, found it too sweet, and quickly washed it down with a sip of water. But the sugary taste still lingered across her tongue. "He hasn't sent me a single message all day. I've already cursed him through eight hundred cycles of reincarnation in my head."
"Get to the point."
Guo Xia looked at her with amused composure.
Ning Zhen immediately grabbed her hand and gave it a little shake. "I'm just stepping out to take a call. Ten minutes—no, five minutes, and I'll be right back."
"Go, then!" Guo Xia rolled her eyes. "I'll start counting down the second your right foot crosses that door. If you go even a second over five minutes, you'll see what happens."
Ning Zhen beamed.
She picked up her phone and walked out, her steps light and breezy.
Guo Xia followed her with her gaze, unable to suppress a smile. Since the two of them had known each other, Ning Zhen had never lacked suitors, but she'd turned every single one down. Whenever she brought them up, she'd be fuming, her tone implying that how dare they pursue her—didn't their own homes have mirrors?!
Some people said Ning Zhen had impossibly high standards.
But that wasn't it at all. From a friend's perspective, Guo Xia felt that Ning Zhen just hadn't woken up to love yet—or rather, she hadn't met the person who could wake her up.
Now that person had appeared.
And that was a wonderful thing.
Ning Zhen stepped out of the shop, deliberately looping around to the floor-to-ceiling window. Multicolored lights flashed across her, dazzlingly bright. She raised her hand and waved at Guo Xia inside. After they exchanged a look, she finally lowered her head and, as if squeezing this in between a hundred other matters, leisurely typed a reply: [Okay]
She waited a moment. Her phone rang.
It was a call from Meng Xianwen.
Ning Zhen swiped her finger across the screen and answered, speaking to him just as she always did, as if that night of barely contained chaos had never happened. "Don't tell me you're just getting off work?"
"Yeah."
His calm, steady voice came through the receiver.
"Busy as all that?" Ning Zhen mumbled. "But even if you are, shouldn't you have at least messaged me to ask if I'd made it home safely?"
Meng Xianwen paused for a few seconds, then replied in a flat tone, throwing the question back at her: "Since you know I'm busy, you could have taken the initiative to tell me yourself—am I right?"
Ning Zhen had always been the one to argue with righteous indignation, never letting a point go even when she knew she was wrong.
She'd finally met her match—someone with thicker skin and calmer composure than her.
Even she was caught off guard by his words, but she quickly recovered and fought back. "So, because I have more free time than you, I have to cater to you? Since when did that become the rule?"
"Can you answer one question for me first?"
His voice was gentle, full of patience and reason, but Ning Zhen immediately snapped to full alert, not daring to let her guard down for even a second. "Go ahead."
"Who did you send your 'arrived safely' message to today?" There was a faint, cool amusement in his tone. "Answer honestly."
Ning Zhen fell silent and closed her eyes.
Her hand, hanging at her side, clenched into a fist.
That infuriating man!
He was utterly impossible to defend against. The slightest slip, and you'd fall straight into his verbal trap.
No matter how she answered, she'd be wrong.
Because she had, in fact, sent "arrived safely" messages to quite a few people—including Uncle Meng and Aunt Xiao in the "Loving Family" group chat.
Even if she'd sent a message to just one person, he'd smile and ask her: since she'd bothered to message everyone else, how could she possibly have forgotten her own boyfriend?
Was it intentional? Or an oversight?
If it was intentional, he'd follow up with a quiet, relentless inquisition into the reasons.
If it was unintentional, fine then — it meant she didn't care about him in her heart. Sure, it was all fake after all!
"Hey, hey, hey—"
Ning Zhen moved the phone away from her ear. "Huh, can't hear you, bad signal—"
She hung up promptly, but he didn't seem willing to let go of his chance to corner her, sending a message: 【I'll let you off this time】
Ning Zhen read that message word by word several times, then couldn't help but curl her lip.
She decided to reply with a deliberate non-sequitur: 【The credit limit is only ten thousand, spend it wisely!!】
...
By the window, Meng Xianwen was eating his meal at a leisurely pace. He glanced at the chat window, as if the text message had a voice, chattering and buzzing right next to his ear.
He was about to type a reply when a call popped up on his screen.
It was the family doctor who looked after his parents' health at the old estate. His brow furrowed slightly as he picked up, saying, "Dr. Li."
A calm female voice came through: "Mr. Meng, I'm sorry to bother you. Do you have a moment now? If so, could we talk for a few minutes?"
"Go ahead."
Dr. Li had retired a few years ago and had since been leading a team of young doctors to provide care for the Meng family. She was highly skilled and exceptionally observant. "Here's the thing — I've noticed that your parents, especially your mother Ms. Xiao, haven't been sleeping well lately, and she's been hiding her emotions from me. I'm worried that if this goes on for long, it could affect her health. So I wanted to ask you — has something happened recently?"
Meng Xianwen was momentarily stunned.
He said, "They haven't mentioned anything to me."
Dr. Li sighed. "I did ask the housekeeper, and he told me it might be related to your grandfather's death anniversary approaching. But last year, there was no similar situation."
Hearing this, Meng Xianwen fell into deep thought.
His grandfather had passed away many years ago. It was unlikely his parents would be tossing and turning at night just because the death anniversary was near.
Unless it was stirring up certain memories.
"Mr. Meng, I've been serving your family for several years now. If I say something I shouldn't, please don't take offense," Dr. Li said gently. "My guess is that the only thing that could make your parents so worried, affect their emotions, and keep them from revealing the reason — it would have to be you and your younger brother."
Meng Xianwen's expression shifted slightly.
He thought, he'd probably found the root of the problem.
"From a doctor's standpoint, I hope your family can take your parents' physical and mental health seriously," Dr. Li said. "The older they get, the more careful you need to be. When a problem is still small, it's best to resolve it as soon as possible."
Meng Xianwen said in a low voice, "I understand."
After hanging up, he lost his appetite. He sat alone at the table for about ten minutes, then sent Lu Yuan a message: 【Where are you?】
Lu Yuan replied quickly: 【At home, what's up?】
Meng Xianwen: 【I'm staying at Lanting today. I need to discuss something with you】
Lu Yuan: 【okk】
...
Lu Yuan lived at Lanting, and Meng Xianwen had a place there too. The two of them were practically upstairs-downstairs neighbors.
Xiao Ding drove all the way to the underground parking lot without any obstacles.
After watching Meng Xianwen step into the elevator, he started the engine again and drove off.
With a ding.
Meng Xianwen stepped out of the lift. He looked up and saw Lu Yuan leaning casually against the entrance door of his apartment. The two exchanged glances and both smiled. Lu Yuan looked him up and down, teasing in a gossipy tone: "First tell me — are you staying one day, or staying a while?"
"What do you think?" Meng Xianwen replied nonchalantly.
“I knew you were enjoying yourself.” Lu Yuan grinned knowingly, straightened up, walked over, and slung an arm around Meng Xianwen’s shoulder as they headed inside. “Thank goodness for Zhenzhen—now that she’s out of North City, you finally remember your old buddies.”
Meng Xianwen’s steps faltered slightly, and he asked in a slow voice, “How do you know she’s not around?”
“How would I not know? Everyone on her WeChat Moments knows.”
Lu Yuan unlocked his phone, scrolled through it, and handed it over.
Meng Xianwen took it. The screen was on a post Ning Zhen had made ten minutes ago—still a nine-grid layout of photos: eight of them were shots of her and Guo Xia together, and only one stood out, placed last.
It was a little blurry.
A bill from a meal.
Caption: 【Starting long-distance (three-day limited edition) — cloud-raising my boyfriend [cheers]】
