Ning Zhen's social media feed was a source of joy for many people.
After a long day of work, when Shu Wei tapped on Ning Zhen's profile picture as usual, she was surprised to find that the WeChat nickname had been changed. She burst out laughing and quickly screenshotted it to send to Lu Yuan and Chang Yi. But after she'd laughed enough, she paused, realizing that something seemed a little off.
She tentatively sent Ning Zhen a message to ask: [Did you and Xianwen have a fight?]
When she received this message, Ning Zhen had just finished eating and was lying on the sofa, completely ungraceful, zoning out. When the screen went dark, she sat up and grabbed her phone. She knew perfectly well that the person messaging her could be anyone in the world except Meng Xianwen, yet the light in her eyes still dimmed for a second.
She really was pretty pathetic.
She was the one who ran away without a second thought. She was the one who hung up the phone. She was the one who told him not to look for her. And yet, she was still the one feeling lost now.
But could she really be blamed for all of this?
At the end of the day, it was his fault for losing his memory.
If he hadn't lost his memory, if he'd stayed as annoying as he used to be, things would be fine.
Yes, it was all his fault. Everything was his fault. How dare he investigate who she'd been with that night, what she'd done? And in what kind of stance did he condescendingly test her, expose her? Who did he think he was?
Damn bastard.
He spouted lie after lie, and shamelessly asked her to understand him.
But when she lied to him about working overtime, he changed his tune and told her there was no need for that.
Ning Zhen was fuming, so furious she wanted to hurl whatever she had in her hands to vent. Fortunately, her peripheral vision caught sight of the fact that this was her phone, one she hadn't even used for a full year yet. It was only June or July, and the new model hadn't even come out yet...
She snapped back to reality and stopped herself from doing something so stupid.
She grabbed the iced lemon tea from the table and took a cold sip, calming herself down a bit. She replied to Shu Wei: [Hahaha, no way, Shu Wei, why would you ask me that? (stunned)]
Shu Wei replied instantly, sending over an image.
Ning Zhen quickly tapped to open it and fell silent.
After she'd finished the call with Guo Xia, her anger had skyrocketed to its peak. If she hadn't been sensible enough to think that dirty laundry shouldn't be aired in public, she might have posted several moments on her feed already. But she couldn't keep it all bottled up either. Her head was a mess, her ears were ringing, and she'd childishly changed her nickname.
She'd changed it and immediately forgotten.
Now, she bit her lip in chagrin, and before more people could notice, she changed it back to "Ning Zhen Is Rich."
After changing it, she replied to Shu Wei: [I'm just messing around with him (embarrassed)]
A minute later, Shu Wei sent a string of ellipses.
Ning Zhen: [Delete the screenshot, don't let it get out!!!]
Shu Wei teased: [Even if it got out, he's the one who'd look bad]
Then she added: [I'm sure you two didn't fight now. You're obsessed with him]
Ning Zhen hastily sent a random emoji sticker before burying her phone under the sofa cushion, grabbing her hair in frustration. She didn't like this feeling one bit—like her heart was no longer inside her body.
...
Modern society was convenient. Even though Ning Zhen had gotten out of the car in a moment of spite, she hadn't been left totally stranded. After ordering a bunch of toiletries and essentials for delivery, she dove into the bathroom and took a shower, washing away her exhaustion and her pent-up frustration.
When she came out of the bathroom, for one second Ning Zhen thought she'd managed to calm herself down. The next second, she picked up her charging phone from the nightstand and looked at the credit card transaction notifications the bank had sent her. She froze for a moment, then let out a cold laugh.
There he goes again.
Couldn't he come up with some new tricks?
Did he really think she'd still fall for this?
Ning Zhen sat on the edge of the bed and casually tapped on one of the transaction alerts. Her gaze skimmed over the number 698, then stopped on the merchant name. It was a chain hotel.
Her heart skipped a beat.
You could hold a knife to Meng Xianwen's throat and he still wouldn't be caught dead staying at a place like that. So could this charge on her card be fraud?
The moment the thought crossed her mind, she forgot all about playing the cold, aloof beauty. Her fingers flew as she tapped into the other two messages. The amounts were different—one over five hundred, another over seven hundred—but both merchants were hotels. Ning Zhen had had a good memory since she was a kid, and the instant she realized the connection between these three hotels, the expression on her face went blank.
She shot up from the bed and ran to the window, looking down.
The city in the dead of night, bathed in the dim yellow glow of the streetlights, felt strangely quiet and romantic.
The hotel window could only open a crack, so getting a good look was nearly impossible. She couldn't even make out the cars downstairs, let alone a person.
If she remembered correctly and guessed right, all these hotels were near the Shengdu area. What exactly was he trying to do—hem her in from all sides?
Ning Zhen found that she couldn't wait another second. She desperately needed an answer. Clutching her phone, she strode out, grabbed her room card, and threw the door open with a bang.
She was so angry. How dare he spend so much of her money!
The night was deep, the long corridor completely empty, and it should have been quiet. Clad in hotel slippers, Ning Zhen stormed out of the elevator and strode toward the lobby. She looked up and froze.
A tall man, head bent low over his phone, was walking in with a hurried expression.
She was stunned for a brief moment, then stopped in her tracks.
She'd guessed it right, sure, but when he actually appeared before her in the dead of night, she felt like she was in a dream.
At that moment, Meng Xianwen, who'd been searching all this time, seemed to sense something and raised his head.
He was always so meticulous, as if he remained unflappable no matter where he was or what was happening. Today was an exception in his life.
The moment their eyes met, time and space seemed to stand still.
Ning Zhen felt an ache in her heart, a swelling sensation that was so unfamiliar to her. She'd always been able to distinguish happiness from sadness clearly. This in-between feeling—neither quite happy nor quite sad—was something she'd tasted plenty of these past few days, all because of the man standing right in front of her.
She deliberately looked away, refusing to meet his eyes. Not about to show weakness, she gave a haughty little snort and turned to walk back toward the elevator.
The hotel front desk clerk saw someone come in and thought he'd be checking in, a polite smile already forming on her face.
Meng Xianwen walked straight past the front desk and made long strides toward the elevator. Just as the doors were about to close, he actually reached out his arm to block them.
Ning Zhen's body reacted faster than her mind, and was more honest too. Flustered, she frantically pressed the open button, exclaiming, "Are you crazy? What if your arm got crushed?"
The elevator doors slid open again.
A trace of a smile flickered in Meng Xianwen's eyes, his gaze locking onto her as he stepped into the car.
Ning Zhen realized she'd been fooled again.
He'd been faking it all along—but she'd gone ahead and revealed her concern for him.
"Zhenzhen."
The walls were all mirrors, so even though Ning Zhen turned away to avoid looking at him, Meng Xianwen could still see every expression on her face.
Earlier that day, he'd thought he'd lost his damn mind.
Spending his whole night playing out some TV drama plotline of "you run away, I search the whole world for you" was utterly insane, and he'd doubted himself more than once.
But all those repeated doubts, suspicions, and moments of endurance vanished the second he laid eyes on her. His gaze flicked almost imperceptibly to the elevator buttons. She hadn't swiped her card, and no one was outside, and the car was still stopped at the first floor, not moving.
"Don't say anything yet. Let me speak first."
Meng Xianwen had a real gift—he could always get under Ning Zhen's skin with just a single sentence.
Ning Zhen glared at him furiously. "You—"
She'd barely gotten one word out when he pulled her into his arms and clamped his hand over her mouth.
"Mmph mmph mmph—"
"I didn't have anyone look into where you were." He leaned slightly forward, meeting her eyes that were even brighter from her irritation. The two of them were very close, almost forehead to forehead. "Don't worry. That kind of humiliating thing, I won't do a second time."
Ning Zhen wished she could spit in his face.
Well, at least he knew it was humiliating.
The fact that he'd used a jar of truffle mushroom sauce to have someone track down where his girlfriend was and who she was with — she could tease him about that for the rest of his life.
"Zhenzhen, you're always so confident, always so sure you know me well."
Meng Xianwen paused. "Today my goal wasn't to find you. I wanted you to know that my understanding of you runs just as deep."
"Tomorrow is Monday, so you have to work. If you needed a place to rest for the night, you'd most likely choose a hotel near Shengdu — no need to take a cab, you could just walk there." He stared at her, speaking word by word. "Am I right, Zhenzhen?"
Ning Zhen glared back at him, refusing to back down.
She would never admit she was moved.
But they were almost embracing — her warm breath, her racing heart — how could he not feel it?
"The second thing."
He waited a few seconds before speaking again, the pause stretching long, as if he didn't want to say it but had to. The conflict made him furrow his brow.
Ning Zhen went from her earlier panic to full-blown curiosity, watching him intently, waiting for him to continue.
If it was this hard for him to say, what on earth was it?
Seeing his troubled, conflicted expression, Ning Zhen grew wary. She easily slipped free from his grasp and urged, "Go on, say it."
Meng Xianwen pulled his arms back. This time, it was his turn to look away, unable to meet her eyes.
She immediately stepped around to face him. "What's the second thing?"
Meng Xianwen gave her a dark, ambiguous look, not bothering to respond. He took two steps to the side, leaning against the elevator wall. "Use your brain and think about it. Why would I randomly go looking into where you went and who you were with? I'm not that bored."
From evening until now, Ning Zhen had been completely absorbed in her own world. Hearing him speak those words as if he was reluctant to even say them, her first instinct was to sneer: "Ha! What do you mean you're not bored? You're the most bored person I know — you were bored enough to use a jar of truffle sauce—"
She stopped mid-sentence. After a brief moment of confusion, she looked at Meng Xianwen in disbelief.
Right.
She had assumed that Meng Xianwen had used the truffle sauce to trace her whereabouts first, which led to him discovering she'd lied. But as he said — was he really that bored?
What if the order was wrong?
What if he knew she was lying first, then noticed the things she'd brought back, and only then had them investigated to confirm?
"You..." Ning Zhen blinked, her voice softening. "That day..."
Meng Xianwen raised a hand to press against his forehead. If Ning Zhen had been flustered and angry earlier that evening, now he was the one looking weary with a hint of helplessness.
Lies, or half-truths, came easily to adults. The truth was what made people uncomfortable.
He said in a low voice, "That's right. That day I went to Shengdu. I wanted to pick you up after work."
The elevator fell silent.
Ning Zhen's eyes flickered, her hand at her side fumbling with her dress in unease.
So... he had wanted to surprise her that day too.
After a long moment, she said quietly, "You came to pick me up, but you didn't tell me..."
Could she be blamed for this? How was she supposed to know that a man this busy every day would come to pick her up?
Meng Xianwen wanted to retort — well, did you tell me you were coming back to Beicheng six hours early?
He looked at her with a complicated expression, then reached out and pulled her into his arms. He tightened his hold, resting his chin on the top of her head, breathing deeply. Her scent filled his senses, and some words became easier to say. "I'm sorry."
The tears Ning Zhen had been holding back all night came flooding in.
She didn't want to cry. She forced them back, breathing deeply like him, only to feel as if her heart was curling in on itself. She realized that when you hold back tears, your throat really does feel like it's filled with lead — her voice was dull and stiff. "Sorry? Is this an apology for swiping two thousand dollars from my card?"
He'd better give her card back, and fast!
"Let's just say it's that." He held her even tighter.
Within the embrace, Ning Zhen's body slowly began to soften, no longer resisting.
Ding-ding.
Ding-ding.
Ning Zhen's phone screen lit up, WeChat notification sounds filling the elevator cabin. It really killed the mood.
Meng Xianwen's brows were full of irritation, but true to the observant nature Ning Zhen had privately noted, he let out a soft chuckle and asked with interest, "I remember it used to be on silent. When did you turn the notifications on?"
"Ning Zhen nearly choked, shoving him away with force. "Mind your own business!"
She shot him a glare and unlocked her phone.
It was a message from Shu Wei:
[Are you two sure you're not fighting?]
[Chang Yi said that Lao Meng changed the WeChat profile picture he'd had for years]
[Tell me, tell me — I'm on a business trip and the night is long and lonely, I really want the tea... hurry... tempting emoji]
Ning Zhen was startled, completely sidetracked. She exited Shu Wei's chat and tapped on Meng Xianwen's profile picture.
What came into view was a photo of a potted cactus.
Beside the pot sat a figurine — a girl blowing bubbles.
