The plane landed at the airport right on schedule in the early hours of the morning.
Most of the passengers stepped out of the cabin looking exhausted. Ning Zhen, on the other hand, was bright-eyed and brimming with cheerful excitement. Everyone who passed by seemed to be infected by her happiness. They glanced back at the couple holding hands, shrugged with a smile, and continued on their way.
The trip had been incredibly sudden, but somehow, no matter how unexpected something was, Meng Xianwen could always arrange everything perfectly.
A business van was waiting in the parking lot.
Once Ning Zhen got in, she leaned close to Meng Xianwen and whispered in his ear, “I’m so jealous of you!”
How could his life always go so smoothly, as if he had never once experienced an embarrassing or miserable moment?
Meng Xianwen paid no attention to her complaint. He slipped an arm around her, patted her head, and said softly, “There’s still a while before we get to the hotel. Can you be quiet and get some sleep?”
He was utterly resigned to her.
She had not stopped talking since he picked her up from work.
“I can’t sleep!” Ning Zhen replied in a breathy voice. “It’s all your fault. You didn’t give me any warning, so I still haven’t recovered from the shock.”
“Did you give me any warning?” he countered.
If Xu Lai had not been so attentive, that postcard might have been buried among a pile of unimportant letters until it gathered dust, then been sent into a shredder and reduced to scraps.
Ning Zhen caught the implication in his words and gave a soft snort. “So you had to get revenge on me?”
Meng Xianwen had long since grown accustomed to her turning things around on him.
Did she even know what revenge meant?
Or had she already decided that no matter what she did, he could never bring himself to do anything about it? Otherwise, how could she have dared to come up with such a brazen scheme to pass off fiction as truth after learning that he had lost his memory? She knew he would never seriously hold it against her.
As he recalled everything that had happened recently, he let out a complicated laugh.
There really weren’t many truthful sentences that came out of that mouth of hers.
She had wept as she told him that from then on, she would listen to him and be as obedient as could be. Yet the moment something happened to him, she had immediately bared her claws, fearless and utterly confident that he would indulge her.
She certainly had skill—and she certainly had courage.
“What are you laughing at?” Her tone turned dangerous. “Did I hit the nail on the head?”
Meng Xianwen neither confirmed nor denied it. He simply covered her mouth, manually making her quiet.
The city streets were extraordinarily peaceful in the middle of the night. After driving for nearly an hour, the vehicle came to a stop beneath the hotel’s entrance canopy. The manager in charge of the presidential suite hurried over to greet them, then led them inside and up to the top floor in the elevator.
Ning Zhen noticed a large suitcase sitting in the living room.
She turned and questioned Meng Xianwen with her eyes.
“I had someone prepare clothes in your size.” He pressed a hand to his forehead and casually picked up a bottle of water. “You’ll have to make do for the next couple of days.”
If she had not deliberately worked late just to make him wait for her, his original plan had been to go home, pack a few things, and then leave.
Ning Zhen wanted to laugh. She lifted her chin proudly. “It really is a hardship.”
This was only her second time staying in a presidential suite, but her curiosity had not diminished in the slightest. After the manager left, she excitedly ran all over the several-hundred-square-meter room, happiness radiating from her—even from the ends of her hair.
Meng Xianwen sat leaning back on the sofa. Whenever she appeared in his line of sight, his gaze followed her. Whenever she disappeared from view, he listened to whatever sounds she made.
A person’s mind and body were often at odds.
He had never agreed with that saying before. Now, however, it had been proven true in his own case.
The firm resolve he had built over twenty-nine years was gradually crumbling.
It was all because of her, so she had to fall apart along with him.
…
Perhaps because her mind had been too excited before bed, Ning Zhen slept restlessly. She woke in a daze in the middle of the night and instinctively tried to burrow into his arms, only to find nothing there. When she opened her eyes, she saw that she was alone in the large bed.
He was gone.
She propped herself up on one elbow and looked toward the master bedroom.
Still no one.
Half her drowsiness vanished, replaced by confusion. Hadn’t the project already launched? Logically speaking, his busy period at work should have come to an end for the time being. At the very least, he ought to have had a chance to catch his breath. Besides, they had left in such a hurry that he had not even brought his computer.
Yawning, Ning Zhen threw off the covers and got out of bed. The hotel slippers were soft, making almost no sound as she walked. She left the bedroom and crossed the study, then suddenly stopped.
He was standing before an entire wall of spotless, crystal-clear windows.
The weather in this city was much better than in Beicheng today. Stars filled the sky, and the moon shone bright and pure.
His figure seemed weighed down by gloom and loneliness.
She tilted her head as she looked at him. Could this damned man have fallen into the so-called emptiness that came after success?
If so, he was being awfully melodramatic.
Meng Xianwen was staring blankly at the city landmarks outside, so close they seemed within reach. Suddenly, he felt a body press against his back and wrap its arms around him. He lowered his eyes to the hands clasped across his waist.
She lifted her face, her warm breath brushing his ear, and whispered, “Why aren’t you sleeping? What are you thinking about?”
“You wouldn’t understand even if I told you.”
“Hey!”
She punched him in the back. Her mind was still a little foggy, and she said whatever came to her. “You’re always telling me not to overthink things. That advice suits you even better. You’re the one who shouldn’t think so much. Whether it’s matters of business or life in general…” She seized the opportunity to tease him with a smile. “Have you ever stopped to consider what gives you the right to expect everything to be perfect?”
Meng Xianwen probably wasn’t feeling empty.
But with his exacting personality and his pathological need to outdo everyone else, perhaps he was reviewing the entire project in his head, wondering whether there had been any shortcomings.
“…”
Meng Xianwen was silent for several seconds. Her words had, in a way, accidentally hit the mark.
He turned around.
Ning Zhen naturally released her arms as he did so. Only then did she notice the glass of liquor in his hand. When he turned, the ice cubes inside knocked against the glass, making a crisp sound.
The corners of her mouth twitched. “You’re drinking again.”
His tolerance was probably much better than Meng Jiaran’s—someone whose drinking ability was far inferior to her enthusiasm for alcohol. He would not get drunk after just a few glasses. Still, lately, Meng Xianwen seemed to have become rather careless with his own health. Staying up in the middle of the night to drink—could that count as an act of recklessness in his life?
“I barely had any,” he explained in a low voice.
The next second, Ning Zhen grabbed his wrist and brought the glass to her lips. The drink was icy against her mouth, and she sipped it slowly. So slowly that, in the dead of night, the sound of her swallowing could be heard clearly.
Meng Xianwen’s eyes instantly darkened.
Ning Zhen’s lips left the rim of the glass. She blinked, wearing an expression that said, “What else can I do with this damned man? I can only spoil him.”
“Fine, I give up on you. Do you even know what time it is? How about this? I’ll take one sip, and you take two. Once it’s finished, we go to bed!”
He said nothing.
She took that as agreement.
She pushed the glass toward his lips, signaling for him to drink.
The glass of liquor passed back and forth between them until it was empty, leaving only the ice cubes that had not yet melted. The drink was smooth, but its aftereffects were not mild. A glimmer of moisture rose in Ning Zhen’s eyes as he pressed closer, his figure enveloping her.
The entire city was asleep.
Only the two of them were entwined in a lingering kiss before the floor-to-ceiling windows.
—
At dawn, sunlight filtered through the sheer curtains. Ning Zhen slowly woke, frowning as she raised a hand to rub her eyes. Her sleep mask was nowhere to be found. She turned her head toward the other side of the bed and, sure enough, saw that he had stolen it.
That man had plenty of annoying habits.
He loved stealing hers, yet whenever she bought one for him, he refused to wear it.
Could hers really be that much better?
She was grumbling inwardly when it suddenly struck her that something incredibly rare had happened. What was going on? She was already awake, yet he was still asleep!
Holding her breath, she quietly reached out and grabbed the phone lying beside the bed.
She tapped the screen.
Her eyes widened in disbelief. It was already eight-thirty!
Ning Zhen sleeping until eight-thirty was perfectly normal. For him, however, it was unprecedented—as if he had finally set down his burdens for a while and fallen into a deep sleep.
He really did deserve a good rest.
With that thought in mind, Ning Zhen suppressed her urge to bother him and decided, in a rare act of mercy, to let him experience the pleasure of sleeping until he woke naturally. Her eyes darted around, moving from his face to the ceiling as she took in every piece of furniture in the bedroom. But in the end, she simply couldn’t resist the urge to play with her phone.
Life without a phone was so boring.
She unlocked the screen and saw that only five minutes had passed. Worried that the sound of typing might wake him, she slowly edged toward the side of the bed and turned her back to him. As usual, she opened WeChat first and started chatting with Guo Xia.
Guo Xia was putting on an exaggerated display of jealousy: “This man has ulterior motives! How dare he try to overwrite the happy memories we made not long ago!”
Ning Zhen replied with a grin: “Exactly! Men are all so calculating! I didn’t want to come—it was only because he coaxed and tricked me into it!”
“Who coaxed and tricked you?”
She was chatting away happily when that voice suddenly sounded beside her. Startled, she immediately stuffed her phone under the pillow. There was no way she could let him see everything she had said to her friend.
When she turned around, he was looking at her with an amused, knowing smile.
Ning Zhen was speechless.
She had meant well and hadn’t wanted to disturb his sleep, yet he had secretly read her conversation with someone else and was now mocking her for it.
Angry, she pounced on him. He caught her with ease and pulled her into his arms, and the two of them began play-fighting and whispering high above the city.
By the time they left the hotel, it was already noon.
Since she had visited not long ago, Ning Zhen didn’t want to play tourist. And she certainly didn’t want to take Meng Xianwen to the amusement park. A dreamy place like that was only suitable for coming with her best friend, getting up close for photos, and having fun together.
As for him? Forget it.
The two of them strolled around at an unhurried pace.
Just as they were preparing to queue for ice cream, Meng Xianwen’s phone rang. Ning Zhen angrily held up two fingers, reminding him that this was the eleventh time today. Ever since they had gone out, his phone had been ringing on and off—text messages, WeChat messages, phone calls. It was beyond annoying!
Meng Xianwen pinched her cheek. “I’ll take it. It won’t take long.”
Even a powerful CEO couldn’t simply ignore every call.
Ning Zhen pushed his hand away and nodded perfunctorily. Soon, it was her turn. She bought a vanilla ice-cream cone and took a huge bite, only to wince at the cold. She planned to make Meng Xianwen pay for it, so she hurried over to him, taking three steps at a time. She still wanted to try the sneak-attack routine.
She heard him politely say to the person on the other end, “No need. I’m not here for business this time. I’m just spending the weekend with my girlfriend.”
As if he sensed her presence, Meng Xianwen turned around while still on the phone.
His eyes lowered to the ice-cream cone in her hand, and he immediately understood. She loved playing these childish tricks—waiting until he was on the phone, then feeding him something he disliked.
He wrapped his hand around her wrist and guided it toward his mouth, managing to do three things at once.
He took a bite of the ice cream, kept his eyes fixed on her, and continued making small talk with the person on the phone. “As for dinner, let’s do it next time. When you come to Beicheng, it’ll be my treat. We’ll have a few drinks.”
Ning Zhen: “…”
For a moment, she couldn’t tell whether he had fallen into her trap or she had fallen into his.
But it didn’t matter. The day wasn’t over yet, and she still had her trump card. Thinking about what she planned to do that evening, she almost couldn’t stop herself from smiling mischievously.
When she noticed Meng Xianwen studying her suspiciously, she immediately went on the offensive. As long as she spoke loudly enough, he wouldn’t be able to think straight.
“You said you were spending the weekend with me, but your phone keeps ringing! Is that fair? I don’t care—from now on, if you get even one more call, you’re taking my next shift!”
“That’s awfully loud.” He glanced at her and smiled. “What are you feeling guilty about this time?”
Ning Zhen couldn’t keep a straight face.
That was the downside of living under the same roof and seeing each other every day.
She was getting to know him better and better, and he was getting to know her just as well.
So she resorted to the most direct method and shoved the ice cream into his mouth, silencing him. “Just eat!”
After dusk, the city shimmered with brilliant lights.
Ning Zhen had rehearsed the plan in her head countless times. In the end, she managed to make it seem completely casual as she led Meng Xianwen past the same small bar they had visited before. She made sure he didn’t get a clear look at the sign, then used being tired from walking as an excuse to go inside.
A young server led them to a table in a corner.
Her gaze lingered on Ning Zhen’s face. The woman looked familiar, but she couldn’t remember where she had seen her before.
Ning Zhen couldn’t help laughing. She gave the server a playful wink.
The server immediately returned her smile brightly. “There’s a QR code on the table. You can scan it to order. If you’re unsure about the alcohol content, just press the call button and I’ll come over.”
“Okay, thank you.”
The server left the table and had only taken a few steps toward the bar when inspiration struck. Her mind suddenly cleared, and she finally remembered where she had seen the beautiful woman before!
She didn’t even know why she was getting so excited, but she turned around and came back, tentatively calling out, “Miss Ning?”
An incident in which someone paid for the entire bar was something that happened only once in several years. Even one such occasion was enough to give everyone plenty to gossip about over tea.
Meng Xianwen was scrolling through the menu on his phone, trying to order Ning Zhen a sweet drink with a low alcohol content. When he heard the server call her name, he frowned and looked up.
Across from him, Ning Zhen rested her chin in her hand and smiled. “You remember me!”
“I do! I just didn’t recognize you at first.” The server’s gaze shifted, and her eyes lit up. She hadn’t seen the male lead last time, but now she finally had. “Is this Mr. Meng?”
Meng Xianwen: “…”
A look of awkwardness flickered across his face, but after only a few seconds, he returned to his usual composure. “Hello.”
Ning Zhen watched his expression. If her inner laughter had been audible, it probably would have echoed all the way down the street.
Fortunately, the server had only wanted to confirm their identities out of curiosity. Soon, looking completely satisfied, she left their table without disturbing them any further.
“Well?” Ning Zhen leaned toward him, gloating as she looked at him. “Thanks to you, everyone in that bar teased me that night!”
It was his turn to suffer public embarrassment for once.
The light swept across her face and lingered there, revealing every one of her true emotions. Her lips were complaining, but her eyes were full of affection.
For an instant, it seemed as though time had turned back.
Meng Xianwen could clearly see how happy and carefree Ning Zhen had been that night.
Then, on a sudden impulse, she had changed her ticket to an earlier flight and gone back to see him, intending to surprise him.
“What, cat got your tongue?”
When she saw Meng Xianwen staring at her in silence, Ning Zhen waved a hand in front of his eyes. “I was just teasing you. Don’t tell me you’re actually embarrassed?”
He was thick-skinned enough. There was no way he would get angry over a little prank like this. In fact, she had hardly ever seen him angry.
“You—”
She stopped speaking at once.
He had seized her hand and was gripping it tightly.
-
Beicheng.
Chen Jinghe had not been back in the country for very long—not even a full year, all told. Over the past few months, he had spent most of his time working shifts at the hospital. Whenever he finally got a day off, his family arranged yet another blind date for him.
In a dazed and helpless mood, he finished dinner and watched a movie.
When he left, he hadn’t known he was going on a blind date. Given the traffic congestion in Beicheng, he hadn’t driven. The other person, however, had come by car and had politely offered to take him home.
He quickly declined, then went to Gate 8, where there were fewer people and fewer cars, and prepared to book a ride through an app. Just then, a white Mercedes pulled up in front of him.
Xu Lai lowered the window, looking a little surprised. “Brother Jing, are you waiting for a ride?”
Chen Jinghe bent down and looked into the car, smiling. “Yes. What are you doing here?”
“Brother Jing, get in first. I’ll give you a lift—I’m free anyway.”
“All right.”
He didn’t stand on ceremony with Xu Lai. He opened the door, sat in the passenger seat, and fastened his seat belt. “What a coincidence. You came here too?”
“I had dinner with some colleagues.” Xu Lai entered his address into the navigation. “I also stopped by the mall to buy some luggage and other things for a trip.”
“A trip?”
“Yeah. I’ve been so busy this year, working overtime all the time. I’m exhausted. I want to take my parents somewhere during my vacation so they can relax.”
After finding out where Xu Lai was going, Chen Jinghe leaned back and said wistfully, “I’d like to get away and recharge too. People in our line of work have to be on call at any time. We might just get off a plane when a phone call comes in, ordering us to rush straight back.”
Xu Lai laughed. “That can’t happen very often, can it?”
“Hard to say.” Chen Jinghe paused, then continued, “A few days ago, our department director was on vacation when she got a call in the middle of the night, telling her to return to Beicheng as quickly as possible. Apparently, an important patient needed immediate treatment. The whole hospital was thrown into chaos overnight, only for them to say yesterday that it was no longer necessary. Luckily, there’s been heavy rain in Beicheng these past few days, and many flights were canceled, so her vacation wasn’t ruined after all. That was fortunate.”
Xu Lai’s brows drew together.
His hands tightened around the steering wheel, but his voice remained calm. “An important patient? Were they admitted to the hospital?”
Chen Jinghe shook his head, and the subject was quickly dropped.
Half an hour later, the car arrived at the destination shown by the navigation. Xu Lai got out as well and watched Chen Jinghe walk into the residential complex. His smile faded. He took two steps back and leaned against the car, lost in thought.
Could the important patient Brother Jing had mentioned be Mr. Meng?
It didn’t seem likely.
The project launch had been two days ago. Last night, Ning Zhen had posted on her social media. Mr. Meng had taken her out to relax.
It probably wasn’t Mr. Meng.
Xu Lai slowly exhaled. He stared at the night sky for a moment, his eyes beginning to ache, then returned to the car. He didn’t start the engine immediately. Instead, he unlocked his phone and habitually opened Ning Zhen’s social media page, his finger moving slowly as he swiped past the photos one by one.
“Oh my God, so many people liked it!”
On the circular sofa, Ning Zhen was curled up in Meng Xianwen’s arms. She was sorting through the day’s photos and videos, choosing a few of the most natural-looking ones to post. In the comments, she bantered cheerfully with Chang Yi, Meng Jiaran, and the others.
Meng Xianwen didn’t have weekends off.
Even while he was away, he had a pile of business matters to deal with.
“Every time I post vacation photos, they bring so many people out of the woodwork, including college classmates I haven’t seen since graduation.”
Ning Zhen casually tapped on the latest like and discovered that Xu Lai had liked her post a few minutes earlier. She turned her head, wanting to tell Meng Xianwen. The two really were alike—boss and subordinate, with nearly identical habits. Both of them only ever liked her posts; neither left comments.
But when she saw that he was seriously replying to work emails on his phone, she swallowed the words.
Ning Zhen loved taking pictures, and she was good at it too. Photos and videos occupied most of her phone’s storage. Every so often, when she remembered, she would back them up to a cloud drive.
“Those are all old photos?”
His lazy voice sounded behind her ear.
She tried to turn around, but he pulled her even more tightly against his chest.
“Yeah.”
“Let me see.”
Ning Zhen hesitated for two seconds.
Of course, there had been a time when her fashion sense had been all over the place. Back then, she had thought she looked breathtaking. Looking at those pictures now, even she could find a few in her enormous photo library that were simply too embarrassing to bear.
Then she thought about it.
She had known Meng Xianwen since she was six. Although they hadn’t seen each other very often over the years, they had met at least once or twice every year.
In short, he had seen her at every stage of her life.
“All right…” She swept away her hesitation and eagerly opened the photos from high school. In the first one, she stood in front of her bedroom mirror, posing proudly. Her lips were pursed, and she held up a V sign. She wore a white T-shirt and jeans, and her face still had the freshness and innocence of youth.
Meng Xianwen gave a brief laugh, the vibration traveling through his chest.
“Don’t laugh. If you laugh again, I won’t let you look anymore!”
“Keep going.”
Ning Zhen’s three years of high school had followed the same pattern as most students’ lives: a straight line between home and school, with nothing but exams.
At that time, Meng Xianwen was thriving during his studies abroad.
The night felt strangely wonderful.
As he followed Ning Zhen through those photos, Meng Xianwen seemed to be getting to know her all over again. She told him what had happened in each picture, gesturing as she spoke, and through her descriptions, he retouched the Ning Zhen preserved in his memories.
“You must have had a lot of free time in high school,” he said blandly. “You had time to take so many pictures.”
Her three years of high school alone had produced more photos than his twenty-nine years of life.
“Do you know what making the best of a bad situation is?” She deliberately bumped her head against his chin and, as she wished, heard him let out a muffled grunt. “Are you going to look or not? If you are, then keep quiet.”
There were even more photos from college.
Meng Xianwen vaguely remembered visiting Beicheng University one year. He had accompanied his mother to a charity gala, where many prominent figures had gathered and several celebrities had been invited to perform.
His mother had asked the driver to pick up Ning Zhen at Beicheng University.
Seeing his confusion, she had smiled and explained, “There’s a celebrity Zhenzhen likes. She wants to go.”
He had looked out the window. She had come running over, breathless with excitement and happiness, but the moment she saw him in the car, she immediately straightened her back and sat properly, quietly calling out, “Brother Xianwen.”
It was also Ning Zhen’s first time taking such a detailed look back at her old photos. Her four years of college had been full and happy.
Suddenly, she swiped her finger across the screen, and it stopped on a particular photo.
She froze as well, trying hard to remember when it had been taken.
Xu Lai was wearing a birthday hat. She stood beside him, holding a birthday cake in both hands, and the two of them were looking at the camera.
After a brief moment of stunned silence, Meng Xianwen’s calm expression turned cold, his features tightening.
A fragment of the past surfaced in his mind at the most inappropriate moment—something he should have forgotten long ago.
If he remembered correctly, he had seen this photo in Xu Lai’s wallet several years ago. But at first glance, the picture had shown only Xu Lai wearing the birthday hat. There had indeed been a crease in it, as though part of the photo had been folded back.
So the part that had been hidden was Ning Zhen, holding the cake.
