Ning Zhen hadn’t expected Meng Xianwen’s words to be directed at her, either.
Her eyes left her phone screen and turned to him standing at the foot of the bed. Since he had gotten out of his car to stop her earlier that night, this was the first time she had truly looked at him.
He did not look any more presentable than the injured Meng Jiaran lying in the hospital bed.
His shirt and trousers were clean, but he wasn’t wearing a watch.
Perhaps because of the sleepless night and the exhaustion that had drained most of his strength, his deep-set eyes were bloodshot. His expression was cold and hard, his thin lips pressed tightly together. So his calm composure had only been something she imagined. It seemed she had worn him down quite a bit as well.
“Oh, I’m not sleepy.”
She shook her head and put away her phone, suddenly losing all interest in documenting Meng Jiaran’s pathetic state.
“Mm.”
Meng Xianwen’s gaze swept over her before finally settling on his younger brother in the hospital bed. His brows drew together, his expression a mix of pain and anger.
“Are you a teenager or an adult in your twenties? Do you never think about the consequences before you act?”
Ning Zhen curled her lips.
She suspected he was taking a swipe at her by proxy.
After all, he had said the exact same thing to her earlier today.
But Meng Jiaran was not Ning Zhen. He immediately surrendered and admitted his mistake. “Brother, I was wrong.”
Ning Zhen turned to look at him, her face full of disdain. Why did this guy get to be the center of the universe?
Where was his backbone? He had been throwing punches hard enough to draw blood earlier—so why did he cave so quickly in front of his brother?
“Your parents may not be kept in the dark,” Meng Xianwen said as he slowly walked over to the bed. Looking at the injury on his brother’s head, he was still unable to suppress his anger. “There were quite a few people there, and some took photos and videos. I’ve already had people deal with them, but even if we can get rid of the footage, we can’t stop people from talking. By morning, this will definitely get out.”
Ning Zhen immediately looked at Meng Jiaran with sympathy.
Getting into a fight was one thing, but ending up in the hospital on top of that—in the eyes of bystanders, didn’t that mean he had lost?
Sure enough, Meng Jiaran stared at the ceiling with a look of utter despair.
He was still angry, though, and stubbornly said, “I don’t care if I embarrass myself. As long as Yuqing doesn’t get fooled by him, that’s enough.”
“The Song family won’t thank you for it,” Meng Xianwen said gravely.
“They might even think you’re meddling where you don’t belong,” Ning Zhen quickly added.
Meng Jiaran: “…”
Seeing his dispirited expression, Ning Zhen couldn’t bring herself to be too cruel and added, “But Yuqing definitely won’t.”
Meng Xianwen glanced at her.
“Can we keep her from finding out about this?” Meng Jiaran asked, his face twisted in pain. “I don’t want her to know what that person said!”
Whether he was hurt did not matter. He just did not want her to hear those filthy words.
“…”
“…”
Ning Zhen and Meng Xianwen fell silent.
A moment later, Meng Xianwen’s phone screen lit up. There were still many matters demanding his attention. After telling Ning Zhen that she could rest in the hospital room next door, he left in a hurry.
Ning Zhen’s lower back ached, and she did not want to remain standing, so she went over and sat on the sofa.
“Did you and my brother have a fight?”
Meng Jiaran listened carefully for a moment. Once he was sure his brother had gone far enough away, he asked in a low voice.
“Mind your own business!”
Ning Zhen snapped.
“Come on, tell me. Don’t be stingy.” Enduring the pain, Meng Jiaran joked with her. “Isn’t it especially satisfying to make my brother so mad he’s practically dying, yet still unable to say a word? I’ll never get to experience that in this lifetime, so tell me what it’s like.”
“When has he ever been unable to say anything?” Ning Zhen gave a soft snort. “He’s got plenty to say!”
“You know what my brother’s like.” Meng Jiaran added fuel to the fire. “I thought that was exactly what you liked about him.”
Ning Zhen sat up straight and shot another look at his head, as if she were about to crack it open. “Shut up. Lie down and rest. Don’t talk!”
She unlocked her phone, hesitated again and again, then opened a food delivery app.
Even though his hand had only briefly pressed against his stomach in the elevator, she had noticed. Her feelings were impossible to untangle. She was still angry, still hurt—by the things he had said, and by the fact that he would rather sit perfectly still in his office and wait than call or text her.
Like everyone trapped by love, as she drove around aimlessly, one thought kept circling in her mind:
He didn’t care about her that much.
Otherwise, when everything had been laid bare, why was she the only one at a loss while he remained unmoved?
She would rather he did not care about her at all.
Then she could pull away quickly and treat him as if he meant nothing. Ning Zhen would never spare a second glance for a man who did not hold her in his heart.
And not only that—she would do exactly as he wished and rush to the company without delay to put on a performance of, “Brother, I’m just a child in my twenties,” complete with repentance. She would keep acting until he was satisfied.
But the problem was, he did seem to care about her. At least a little.
She pressed her lips together, scrolling through the screen as she ordered several stomach-warming dishes to be delivered to the first floor of the hospital. Delivery drivers were not allowed up to the ninth floor. After placing the order, she looked somewhat regretful. Her gaze drifted to the person in the hospital bed, and she cleared her throat.
“Jiaran, are you okay? Is there anything you want to eat?”
Meng Jiaran opened his eyes and looked at her strangely. “What’s gotten into you?”
“What do you want to eat? I’ll order delivery for you.”
He immediately felt awkward.
But then he thought that perhaps Zhenzhen felt sorry for him too, and warmth rose in his heart. “I’m not hungry, but thanks!”
Ning Zhen lay on the sofa for about ten minutes. When her phone showed that the courier was on the way and getting closer, she stood up. Seeing that Meng Jiaran was dozing, she did not wake him. She quietly left the hospital room, walked down the silent corridor, and took the elevator to the first floor.
It was that hour between midnight and dawn.
There was no one in the elevator, and no one on the first floor either.
The courier had not arrived at the hospital yet, so Ning Zhen could only sit on a bench in the lobby, idly playing on her phone.
…
Meng Jiaran was afraid of pain. He had stitches in his head, and the pain made it impossible for him to sleep. He could only doze fitfully for a while when, suddenly, he keenly sensed that the atmosphere had turned heavy.
He opened his bleary eyes and was so startled that he nearly jumped. “Bro, you—”
“Where is she?”
Meng Xianwen’s expression was icy.
He had been gone for less than an hour, perhaps. There were quite a few matters to deal with, one phone call after another. Worried that the calls would disturb her rest, he had not dragged her out with him. But when he hurried back, she was nowhere to be found in the hospital room.
The room next door was empty too.
“Zhenzhen?” Meng Jiaran pushed himself up with one elbow and looked toward the sofa in confusion. “Huh? She was just here. Where did she go? She didn’t say anything to me.”
“Go back to sleep.”
Leaving him with those words, Meng Xianwen turned and walked out expressionlessly. His steps were less steady than usual. Under the corridor’s cold, white lights, the hard lines of his face looked even more severe, a vein faintly visible at his temple. As he pressed the button for the elevator, he used what little reason he had left to force his emotions back under control and dialed her number.
The instant the elevator doors opened, her phone began to ring.
He looked up and stared heavily in her direction.
Ning Zhen was holding several takeout bags and looking down at her phone screen. Sensing someone’s gaze, she raised her head—and found the man calling her standing right in front of her.
She froze for a moment. “...What?”
He stared at her, his cold, rigid expression easing considerably. “Where did you go?”
“Downstairs to get the takeout.” Ning Zhen answered automatically, then immediately regretted it. She said nothing more and quickened her pace back toward the hospital room, still acutely aware of his gaze following her the whole way.
Meng Jiaran craned his neck.
Watching Ning Zhen and his brother enter one after the other, he let out a long breath of relief, picked up his phone, and furiously messaged Cai Zechuan:
【You might as well have called my parents.】
Of all the people he could have summoned, he had to bring his brother and Zhenzhen here.
If the two of them were all sweet and affectionate, he could simply close his eyes and pretend not to see.
But if they were fighting, wouldn’t he be the one caught in the crossfire?
His head had just been stitched up and bandaged. He was a patient, for heaven’s sake!
“The takeout’s here.” Ning Zhen went over to the table and unpacked the containers one by one. The fragrant smell of chicken-noodle soup filled the room. “Jiaran, are you eating now, or later?”
Meng Jiaran recalled what he had said earlier. “Didn’t I say I—”
Wasn’t hungry?
Ning Zhen interrupted him softly. “All right, then you can eat later.”
“...”
Even the slowest person would have realized what was going on by now. Meng Jiaran’s gaze moved back and forth between her and his brother, and the wound on his head seemed to ache even more.
“Bro, Zhenzhen ordered too much. Why don’t you two have some too? It can be a late-night snack or an early breakfast.”
Meng Xianwen gave a quiet hum and came to stand beside Ning Zhen.
Neither of them said a word.
He pulled over a chair, sat down, and picked up the bowl of chicken-noodle soup closest to her. He ate in silence. The discomfort in his stomach gradually faded, and his expression eased from tense to calm.
Ning Zhen curled up on the sofa again, absently scrolling through her phone while sneaking a glance at him from the corner of her eye.
After finishing the soup, Meng Xianwen glanced at the time.
Outside the hospital-room window, the sky had shifted from pitch-black to deep blue, then begun to lighten faintly. At last, this chaotic night was over.
“The room next door has been cleaned up.”
He looked at her. “Go get some sleep.”
Ning Zhen had already passed the point when she was most tired and was no longer particularly sleepy. The problem was that her lower back ached, and the muscles on the insides of her thighs were sore from clinging to his waist for so long and with such force. Her whole body felt as if she had just gotten into a brawl with someone—which, in a sense, she had.
Right now, all she wanted was to lie down and recover her strength, just in case she needed it again.
“Oh.”
She nodded dully and followed him into the room next door.
Meng Jiaran lay back down and let out a long, suffering sigh. What had he done to deserve this?
“Go to sleep.”
As they entered the hospital room, Meng Xianwen closed the door behind him. The bed was naturally narrower than the one at home, and he had no intention of sleeping here with her. He went straight to the sofa, leaned back, and closed his eyes for a brief rest.
The air-conditioning was turned up high. Ning Zhen pulled the blanket over herself and quietly glanced in his direction.
Her chest gave a faint, dull ache, perhaps because of the way he had bitten and devoured her so roughly.
All of this was his fault.
Her gaze wandered, and her thoughts ran wild. When they landed on him again, she grew annoyed all over again. He could actually sleep? She should never have let him have his fill.
Knock, knock, knock.
Once it was fully daylight outside, a very soft knock sounded at the door. Ning Zhen immediately closed her eyes. Her hearing was unusually sharp, and she heard him get up, open the door, and say to the person outside in a lowered voice, “Come in and talk.”
Lu Yuan entered quietly, stifling a yawn.
He glanced around and saw Ning Zhen sleeping soundly in the hospital bed. He instinctively lowered his voice. “Zhenzhen’s asleep. Don’t wake her. Let’s go outside to talk.”
Ning Zhen buried her face in the pillow and frowned at that.
Go outside to talk again?
Had these two canceled their late-night heart-to-heart sessions and started sneaking around to talk behind everyone’s backs in broad daylight instead?
Who knew what schemes they were plotting to deceive her with this time?
“No need.”
Meng Xianwen’s expression remained calm. “She’s a deep sleeper. She won’t wake up.”
Lu Yuan didn’t understand, but he still said, “All right, then. She knows everything anyway. So, did you two make up after your argument, or are you still fighting?”
“We didn’t really argue.”
“It’s perfectly normal for her to be angry.” Lu Yuan sighed. “What you did was completely reckless.”
Meng Xianwen did not deny it. Though he was speaking to Lu Yuan, his eyes remained fixed on the woman in the bed. “Do you think I don’t know it was reckless? Before, I thought that as long as we maintained the status quo, our lives wouldn’t change.”
Ning Zhen held her breath, her fingers curling slightly.
Lu Yuan didn’t understand, but by now he had grown accustomed to it. Whenever this subject came up, he felt as though communicating with Meng Xianwen was impossible. “What about now? Have you and Zhenzhen reached a decision?”
“She’ll accompany me to the hospital for a follow-up examination.”
The worry hanging over Lu Yuan’s heart finally lifted. Though he had already guessed this would be the outcome, he still couldn’t help sighing emotionally. “Zhenzhen really is something else.”
Then he lowered his voice and cursed, “Are you even human? Your buddy tried every possible argument, and it still wasn’t as effective as one word from Zhenzhen?”
Meng Xianwen smiled, a trace of helplessness in his voice. “She really is something else.”
