Meng Yanxi learned about this matter a month later.

By then it was already early June. Midsummer was visibly approaching, and there was less than a month left until their wedding. Meng Yanxi bustled about every day, riding high in life. He had even become courteous and yielding when competing for affection with the little bundle, taking the initiative to give way to his son several times.

It was just that during that period, Lu Jingyue’s romantic prospects were rather bleak. Meng Yanxi’s state was extremely stimulating to him. Master Lu, sour to the core, said, “President Meng is basking in spring breezes, spurring his horse at full gallop, seeing all the flowers of Chang’an in a single day—what is this, first place at the imperial exams?”

“The top scholar was already taken ten years ago,” Meng Yanxi said shamelessly. “After topping the list comes the bridal chamber lit by candlelight. The four great joys of life, I’ve already got them all. Master Lu, keep working hard.”

Master Lu was so sour his teeth hurt. “Get lost.”

Meng Yanxi took his car keys and went home.

The wedding dress he had custom-made for Jin Zhao had arrived, delivered to the house by the brand. When he got home, he didn’t see Jin Zhao. She was upstairs trying on the gown. The little bundle was being watched by two nannies, crawling on the living room play mat.

At this age, the baby still couldn’t crawl, only wriggle. With both hands braced on the floor, chest lifted and head raised, the little arms and legs struggled valiantly to inch forward.

The little bundle truly lived up to his name—really fair, dewy and tender like a glutinous rice ball. The chubby little thing lay under the toy rack, having wriggled for ages without moving even a meter. In the end, his hands gave out and he flopped back down onto the floor, belly pressed to the ground, drool spilling out, arms and legs still kicking about as he tried to move forward.

Meng Yanxi watched from the side and laughed heartlessly.

One of the nannies looking after the little bundle was from the Meng family, an old hand who had once taken care of Meng Yanxi and Meng Zhuxi as siblings. Hearing the sound, she turned back and smiled. “Yanxi’s back? Zhaozhao is inside trying on her wedding dress.”

Meng Yanxi responded with a sound of acknowledgment, smiling as he squatted down and lifted the little bundle high into the air.

When father and son weren’t competing or fighting, they were quite the picture of paternal affection and filial warmth. The little bundle recognized his dad and proactively wrapped his arms around Meng Yanxi’s neck, giggling happily.

The baby was pink and soft, just like Jin Zhao. Meng Yanxi couldn’t help kissing him twice and said, unable to resist, “So fragrant—how are you as fragrant as your mom?”

The little bundle babbled and laughed.

Meng Yanxi stared at him, eyes full of smiles, and added, “Look at how dazed and cute you are—who did you learn that from? Did you learn it from Lingling?”

Meng Yanxi kissed the little bundle again and carried his son to sit down on the sofa.

The wedding dress had been personally ordered by Meng Yanxi in Paris last summer. Jin Zhao didn’t know this and thought it had only been ordered after they decided to hold the wedding this year. But how could that have been in time? Just the galaxy-like trajectories embroidered on the gown had required thirty-eight embroiderers, 0.1-millimeter gold thread stitched into ivory-white satin, then adorned with 999 real diamonds, taking nearly two thousand hours to complete.

A wedding dress like this made even trying it on a major undertaking. The brand manager came with assistants to help Jin Zhao try it on, while Meng Yanxi waited patiently outside.

But even if he had patience, the little baby couldn’t sit still. Before long, he twisted and wriggled, wanting to get down to play.

Don’t be fooled by how small the little bundle was—he had great strength. He squirmed so much that Meng Yanxi couldn’t hold onto him and couldn’t help saying, “Why are you wriggling like a caterpillar? Aren’t you a little crayfish?”

“Ah-oh!”

The little bundle’s black grape-like eyes fixed on him, tender little fists clenched tight, as if he were protesting his father’s mouth.

A nanny came over and took the little bundle away. Meng Yanxi lowered his head and looked at his phone.

Lately, aside from the wedding, he had nothing important going on. Even the wedding preparations were basically done—now it was just a matter of waiting to get married. While casually scrolling through social media, he inadvertently saw a trending topic.

A student’s parent beats a teacher.

Meng Yanxi had no interest in topics that were clearly matters between individuals yet insisted on stirring up group antagonism. He was even less inclined to contribute traffic to unscrupulous media. But because there was a precious person at home who was a teacher, he still instinctively tapped into it.

It was a recently occurred piece of social news.

The teacher and a student had a clash in class. After class, the student went online and put the teacher on blast, adding fuel to the fire and smearing her. The teacher took a tough stance and directly criticized the student. The student was said to have developed depression as a result, and the parents went to the school and beat the teacher.

There were all kinds of comments below—some siding with the teacher, some siding with the parents, and even victim-blaming, telling the teacher to reflect on herself: why didn’t the parents hit anyone else but her? If she were truly that clear of conscience, why didn’t she call the police?

Clearly the victim, yet dragged onto the internet for public execution—it was simply unimaginable what the person involved must have been feeling.

Meng Yanxi swept a cold glance over it, with no interest in learning about biodiversity.

Just as he was about to exit, his gaze suddenly fixed on a comment—

“Do you think the teacher didn’t want to call the police? She was suppressed by the leadership—she couldn’t report it at all! Trash school, please learn properly from Sui University next door! Last month they also had a student threaten suicide to force graduation, shamelessly peng ci¹Peng Ci: Originally refers to deliberately staging an accident—such as throwing oneself against a car or object—to extort compensation. In modern internet usage, it has broadened to mean maliciously framing, falsely accusing, or opportunistically shifting blame onto someone to gain advantage or sympathy.] a young teacher who was still on maternity leave. In the end, Sui University still handled it fairly and justly, made the student take a leave of absence, and did not hold the teacher accountable. That’s the kind of school that truly teaches and nurtures people, okay!”

When his eyes landed on the words “Sui University” and “on maternity leave,” Meng Yanxi’s brow twitched, and an inexplicable surge of anxiety suddenly rose in his chest.

The IP address of this comment was local. There were fifty-five replies below it. With a long finger, Meng Yanxi tapped, and the comments expanded—

“You wouldn’t be talking about the teacher I’m thinking of, would you?”

“Let’s confirm with a code—young female teacher, from the School of Foreign Languages, currently on maternity leave?”

“JZ?”

The instant he saw that abbreviation, Meng Yanxi’s gaze abruptly contracted.

Jin Zhao.

His eyes immediately skimmed downward, ten lines at a glance—

“Don’t mention her name! She’s really a very good teacher. Don’t let her suffer undeserved disaster, okay? Being peng ci by that kind of scum was already unlucky enough for her!”

“I’ve taken her class. She’s very learned, full of solid content in class, and also very kind and gentle—never makes things difficult for students, always considers things from the students’ perspective. I also never expected that such a good

teacher would get peng ci like this. Fortunately, the school protected her in the end and didn’t let us feel disheartened.”

“Don’t paste gold on Sui University’s face! It wasn’t the school that protected her, it was the teacher who protected herself!”

“Leaving an ear here.”

“The student was from the School of Art. The leadership over there originally wanted to suppress it—after all, if a student suicide blew up, it could end up being criticized by the whole society and affect their career prospects. So once the Art School side got the news, the leaders rushed to the hospital immediately, wanting to join forces with the hospital to press the matter down. As for how to press it down, you can guess—dump everything on the teacher, make the teacher change grades, sacrifice the teacher’s career, just so the student could graduate smoothly… It was only because the teacher was clear-headed enough to get to the hospital a step ahead of them, first take photos of the medical records, then immediately rush back to her own school with the evidence to seek protection from the dean and the party secretary. After all, if she were sacrificed, her school would also be affected. It was because she produced the evidence first that there was what followed—leaders from other schools acting forcefully and demanding the university punish the offending student. Otherwise, what you’d be seeing online right now would be her name—she would be the one put online for public execution.”

“That’s exactly how it was! Besides her, our counselor was also implicated at the time—scared to death, lost ten jin in a week. Totally an undeserved disaster!”

“So please, in the future when talking about these topics, say whoever you mean, name them directly—don’t bring students into it! We students who just want to study properly really don’t want to be represented by a few pieces of human trash!”

……

In the blazing midsummer heat of June and July, the sun outside was scorching and dazzling, yet Meng Yanxi’s gaze was cold as ice shards.

His fingers clenched around the screen, draining it to a pale white.

So his intuition last month had been right.

Ever since he returned from his business trip, he had felt that something was off about Jin Zhao. Although she hadn’t shown anything outwardly, occasionally a single look in her eyes—like a little cat that had wandered for years, with nowhere to rely on, weathered by wind and rain, utterly lacking a sense of security. He had thought it was because she’d been chilled by the air conditioning and caught a cold, which was why that fragility had surfaced.

So that was the reason after all.

She hadn’t caught a cold from the air conditioning at all—she had been frightened.

And he had known nothing about it.

Meng Yanxi held his phone between two fingers, the corners of his eyes tinged red.

During Jin Zhao’s pregnancy, Meng Yanxi had hired a professional nutritionist team to plan her meals. Throughout the pregnancy, she had almost only gained in her belly; everywhere else, she looked just like before, at most a little fuller in certain places. Giving birth to the little bundle had actually gone quite smoothly—not much pain, and her recovery afterward was fast. So holding the wedding at this time, she had no anxiety about her appearance.

In the mirror, the wedding dress fit her perfectly. The pearl-white lace skirt hem fell like drifting clouds, its smooth tailoring outlining a waist that could be encircled with one hand. Diamonds shimmered at her shoulders and neckline, fire brilliant and radiant, like a vast and enduring galaxy.

Half a pool of starlight set off her face. Her skin looked like milk kneaded with moonlight, her naturally black hair soft and fluffy. Her eyes were clean and clear, the aegyo-sal at the corners faintly tinged with pink, still lively and pure, like when she had been a girl.

“Madam Meng is truly beautiful! No wonder President Meng is utterly smitten. If I were a man, I’d be smitten too—no more morning court from then on, hahaha!”

“That’s right, Madam Meng is really gorgeous—great skin, great figure. How do you usually take care of yourself? Teach us?”

The brand manager, with assistants in tow, adjusted the hem of her dress beside her, lavishing praise. Jin Zhao smiled lightly. She felt neither repelled nor excessively carried away.

There was a little bit of being carried away—after all, she also thought it looked really beautiful.

“There’s also a crown. We’ll deliver it to Madam Meng next week,” the brand manager said.

“A crown?” Jin Zhao turned her eyes to ask.

“Yes. President Meng ordered it together with the wedding dress.”

Jin Zhao looked at the intricate embroidery on the gown. She didn’t understand haute couture, nor did she understand the joy of the wealthy spending lavishly—but even without understanding anything, she could tell that this dress must have taken no short amount of time.

“When did he order it?” Jin Zhao asked.

The brand manager replied, “A year ago, around this same time.”

As she spoke, she confirmed it with her assistant. “I remember it was during last year’s university graduation period—the graduation season.”

Last year’s graduation season… Jin Zhao’s heart gave an inexplicable jolt.

When Meng Zhuxi graduated last year, she had apologized to her, saying she had accidentally deleted the dance video from Meng Yanxi’s phone. She had been pregnant at the time—perhaps because of pregnancy hormones, she had been more sentimental. Thinking that she would never again be able to make up a dance video for him, she had reddened her eyes and told him that she was no longer the Jin Zhao he had liked ten years ago, that now she could no longer dance “Luo Shen,” and perhaps even that dress would no longer fit her.

So because of that sentence, Meng Yanxi had gone to order a wedding dress? To tell her that she didn’t need to match herself to a dress—there would naturally be different dresses to match her.

The dance dress of ten years ago, the wedding dress of ten years later.

Different ages, different stages of life. What belonged to her would always be delivered into her hands at just the right moment.

Jin Zhao thought, lost in reverie.

When she came back to herself, the dressing room had grown quiet. The two staff members who had been helping her try on the dress had already gone out.

Meng Yanxi appeared in the mirror at some unknown moment, standing behind her, silently looking at her reflection.

At the instant their gazes met, a smile naturally rippled at the corners of her eyes.

“Does it look good?” She didn’t turn around, smiling sweetly at the mirror.

The sharpness in Meng Yanxi’s eyes was concealed within a mass of pitch-black ink. He looked at her like that for several seconds, then suddenly said, “The little bundle is hurt.”

Jin Zhao’s face turned white in an instant.

There was no mother in this world who could accept her child being hurt, and Jin Zhao was no exception. Hearing that the baby was injured, pain and panic surged reflexively. She grabbed Meng Yanxi’s hand and fired off questions in a rush: “How did he get hurt? Where is he hurt? How is the baby now? Did he cry?”

She hadn’t heard any crying. Before she could get an answer from Meng Yanxi, she swept up the intricate, heavy skirt around her and was about to run downstairs to see him.

Meng Yanxi forcefully grabbed her hand, yanking her back.

Their eyes met. Moisture was hidden in hers as she looked at him in panic and confusion, as if accusing him of not caring even though the baby was hurt.

Meng Yanxi’s gaze was so calm it felt unfamiliar to her. “The little bundle is fine. I was just joking with you.”

Jin Zhao stared at him in disbelief. Without exaggeration, her heart had just skipped a beat.

“Meng Yanxi, how old are you? Why would you make that kind of joke?”

Staring at the dampness at the corner of her eyes, Meng Yanxi said indifferently, “Who knows. Maybe I just wanted you to experience it too—the feeling of heartache.”

“After all, you only feel heartache for the little bundle.” Meng Yanxi tugged the corner of his lips in self-mockery and said in a low voice, “Other people aren’t important to you.”

Jin Zhao’s lashes trembled as she looked at him, stunned and conflicted.

Separated by the bedroom door, downstairs, the little bundle’s giggling laughter floated up, sounding both very far away and strangely close.

The little guy wasn’t old enough to talk yet, but he was extremely enthusiastic about using his voice, shouting “ah-oh, ah-oh” every day for a while, the aunties taking the opportunity to teach him to call “Papa” and “Mama.”

Jin Zhao was wearing the wedding dress Meng Yanxi had meticulously prepared for her. The diamonds’ fire was dazzling beyond compare, and she herself seemed to be carefully cradled within the light. Meng Yanxi stood before her, head lowered, silently looking at her.

She didn’t know why she suddenly thought of the incident that had happened at school last month. Clearly, Meng Yanxi hadn’t said anything—he hadn’t even hinted at it. Yet with just a look, she had a powerful intuition—he knew.

And at the same time, as if struck by sudden enlightenment, she abruptly realized that she seemed to have been wrong.

In fact, before today, before this moment, she had never felt that she had done anything wrong. But at this very second, at this very moment when their eyes met, she felt that she truly might have been wrong.

Holding Meng Yanxi’s hand, her throat unbearably dry, even drier was her abrupt explanation: “Last month, the day before you went on your business trip, a student suddenly came to see me…”

Out of habit, she took a deep breath to steady her chaotic emotions, trying to recount the matter to him with rational, objective narration. Meng Yanxi lightly cut her off. “I already know.”

Jin Zhao didn’t have time to ask how he knew. Meng Yanxi stared at her and asked coolly, “My question is, if I hadn’t discovered it myself, were you planning to never tell me for the rest of your life?”

The sharpness in Meng Yanxi’s gaze was like it had returned to his youth. Over the years, he had gradually reined it in—especially these past two years. Jin Zhao had grown used to his unsharpened  appearance, and he himself had grown used to it too.

Jin Zhao suddenly felt very sorry and explained in a low voice, “When you came back from your business trip, the reason I didn’t tell you was just because I felt the matter had already passed. There was no need to drag you into worrying over it with me all over again.”

Meng Yanxi looked at her expressionlessly. “Jin Zhao, do you still remember what you promised me on my birthday?”

Jin Zhao was so guilt-ridden she couldn’t speak.

Meng Yanxi pressed forward sharply, step by step. “Am I just someone you nod to in passing? Is that why you’re so afraid of troubling me?”

“No.” Jin Zhao lowered her eyes, her fingertips tightening around his fingers as she explained. “It’s just because the matter was already resolved.”

“The matter was resolved.” Meng Yanxi repeated her words. The redness at the corner of his eyes deepened, yet his voice grew lighter. “Then the fright you suffered in this matter, the torment and pain you endured alone through the whole process—did those not exist?”

The corners of Jin Zhao’s eyes burned with soreness.

Meng Yanxi let out a low laugh and called her by her full name. “Jin Zhao, you’d rather tell me you caught a cold from the air conditioning than tell me even one sentence—that you were frightened.”

Jin Zhao said, “No, at the time I really thought it was just because the air conditioning temperature was set too low.”

Meng Yanxi said, “Congratulations. You fooled yourself so well you even believed it.”

Today’s Meng Yanxi was uncharacteristically aggressive.

In truth, although his mouth could be sharp, most of the time he couldn’t be bothered to speak. And when it came to Jin Zhao, it was even more so—he couldn’t bear to. Aside from certain moments of intimacy, he usually yielded to her and protected her. As a result, Jin Zhao was caught off guard by this level of attack from him.

In fact, if he had been even a little gentler, with Jin Zhao’s feelings for him, even if she still couldn’t quite articulate why, she would instinctively have followed her emotions to placate him. But his sharpness made her reflexively raise her rational defenses.

She addressed the matter itself and calmly retraced it with him. “I admit that I was frightened at the time. If something had really happened to the student, I would have been finished too—I couldn’t possibly not be afraid. When I was at the hospital, I thought of similar cases at other schools and was very afraid that the leaders of the student’s college would insist on pinning the responsibility on me just to suppress the matter. On the way to find the doctor to photograph the medical records, my legs were shaking. I was afraid their college leaders had already spoken to the hospital in advance and wouldn’t let me take pictures. I even thought about what I should do if they didn’t allow it. I thought through so many possibilities, yet not a single one of them truly crushed me. Later, I realized that there is always a way to resolve things. Just like life itself—so long—it is meant for us to encounter all kinds of things. Right now, I may not yet be mature enough or strong enough, but I will grow, and I must also learn to face things on my own. I can’t rely on your protection every time something happens.”

Meng Yanxi looked at her in silence, the corners of his eyes red. After a long moment, he asked hoarsely, “But I want to protect you. I want everyone to cherish you the way the baby and I do. Was that wrong of me?”

It was as if something suddenly stung the tip of her heart. Jin Zhao’s lashes trembled rapidly.

Meng Yanxi gently stepped back, nodding with reddened eyes. “It was my fault. My fault was not understanding you—not understanding that you don’t need me. What you need, from beginning to end, is to accumulate your own strength. What you need is that one day, even if you no longer love me, you can withdraw without hesitation, abandon me, and leave. Even without me, you can still live very well.”

Seeing Meng Yanxi retreat, an unprecedented panic rose in Jin Zhao’s heart.

“Not like that…” She stepped forward two paces, wanting to grab him.

But because the skirt hem was too long, she nearly tripped.

Meng Yanxi had already intended to leave, but when he noticed her stumble, he ultimately couldn’t bring himself to be ruthless. He still reached out and steadied her.

Footnotes

• 1
  Peng Ci: Originally refers to deliberately staging an accident—such as throwing oneself against a car or object—to extort compensation. In modern internet usage, it has broadened to mean maliciously framing, falsely accusing, or opportunistically shifting blame onto someone to gain advantage or sympathy.]