“Don’t go!”

Jin Zhao instinctively grabbed his hand, her fingertips pressing so hard they trembled faintly.

The man’s jet-black brows and eyes fixed on her. After a moment, he let out a self-mocking laugh. “Stay for what? You don’t love me anyway.”

With a slight exertion of strength, he ruthlessly pried her tightly clenched fingers apart.

Even so, when he turned back to leave, he still uselessly reached out and smoothed the long train of her wedding dress for her, so she wouldn’t step on it again and fall.

That single gesture had already exhausted all the tenderness he had for the day. When it came to the little bun, there was no such treatment.

When he went downstairs, the little bun was stuck under the toy rack.

The fair, glutinous little baby was trying to crawl by himself. He could already crawl two or three steps now, but he wasn’t careful and got himself wedged under the toy rack—unable to move forward, unable to retreat. His chubby little body was stuck there as he turned his head to the adults for help, his tender eyebrows scrunching into wavy lines. One aunt was about to go pick him up, but an aunt from the Meng family stopped her, took out her phone to record a video, and laughed as she said, “Little bun, think of a way yourself. Crawl out on your own.”

Seeing that there was no hope of rescue, the little baby could only turn his head back, lift his chubby arms and legs, and keep crawling with grunts and huffs.

Babies at this age move clumsily and slowly; every step looked like slow motion. The aunt held up her phone to film, not missing a single moment.

Finally, the little bun found a gap under the toy rack. With a push of his arms and legs, his little body shot out.

“Wow! He’s out! Little bun is amazing!”

“So impressive! Whose baby is so smart? The Meng family’s baby, right? Little friend Meng Jue, how are you so clever?”

The two aunts praised him to the skies, pouring on the emotional encouragement.

The little bun was so pleased with himself, turning his head and giggling nonstop.

Just then, his sharp eyes caught sight of Meng Yanxi coming downstairs. The little bun immediately opened his mouth wide and let out a loud “Ang,” no one knew whether he was showing off or trying to get his dad’s attention.

He was yelling so loudly—Meng Yanxi was just in a bad mood, not deaf. Of course he heard it and looked up at him.

Encouraged, the little bun showed off even more enthusiastically, letting out several sounds in a row—

“Onna!”

“Da!”

“Ba!”

His limbs were splayed on the mat, and as he made sounds, he deliberately teased Meng Yanxi, giggling, his motive of wanting his father’s praise far too obvious.

The Meng family aunt also smiled and chimed in from the side, saying, “Little bun can crawl now. Just now he crawled out from under the toy rack all by himself.”

Little bun: “Ang!”

Meng Yanxi looked indifferently at the innocent, pink-cheeked baby. He knew he should give a response, but right now it felt as though there was a fire burning urgently in his chest. His temples were tight, and he could barely suppress the violence simmering in his heart.

He gave a flat “Mm” as a response, didn’t step forward to pick him up, and strode out of the villa.

Though the baby was young, he was very perceptive. He sensed the adult’s emotions at once. Whether he was frightened by his father’s state or hurt that his father hadn’t paid him any attention, he froze for three seconds, then suddenly his little mouth puckered, and with a “wah,” he burst into heartrending sobs.

By the time he was finally delivered into Jin Zhao’s arms, he was still crying.

This time the little one was truly heartbroken. His small arms circled Jin Zhao’s neck, his face flushed red, tears hanging on his cheeks. Jin Zhao coaxed him for a while. Nestled against his mother, once the sadness passed, his little mouth started babbling nonstop again.

Of course, he still couldn’t speak yet—just babbling and cooing, impossible to tell what he was saying—but he was extremely talkative.

The aunt could tell and laughed, saying, “Oh my, our little bun is tattling on Daddy.”

Little bun: “Ah! Oh!”

Then his babbling grew even more intense.

The baby’s face was fair and glutinous, his lips small and pink. As he babbled, his mouth opened and closed, revealing gums that hadn’t yet begun to grow teeth.

Like a toothless little tattletale.

Jin Zhao’s heart felt sour.

The aunt beside them didn’t know what had happened between the young couple. Seeing the scene, she only found it amusing and teased, “Alright, little bun, stop tattling. Daddy has something to take care of and had to go out—he didn’t ignore us on purpose. When Daddy comes back, let him apologize to little bun, okay?”

The little bun ignored her and continued tattling to his mother.

After the aunt went out, Jin Zhao gently pressed her cheek against the baby’s little face and murmured softly, “Daddy isn’t angry at you. He’s angry at Mommy. Mommy did something wrong.”

The little bun babbled, his tiny fists clenched, whether he understood or was protesting, no one could tell.

Jin Zhao didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Little bun: “Ma… ba!”

Jin Zhao suddenly caught those two sounds, her gaze shifting.

She looked at the baby in her arms in surprise. “Were you calling Daddy and Mommy?”

But those two sounds were like a fleeting epiphany. After that, the little one went on tattling endlessly, yet never mentioned Daddy or Mommy again.

The aunt sent the video of the baby learning to crawl into the family group chat, and it was immediately met with excited likes from everyone.

Especially Meng Huai and Meng Shixu—one praise after another, like a relay. The cold treatment the little bun had received from his dad was more than compensated for here.

Meng Shixu even went so far as to praise one while stepping on another, without the slightest concern for Meng Yanxi’s well-being, tagging him outright: 【Worthy of being a child of the Meng family, just as smart as his bastard of a father. @Meng Yanxi】

Meng Yanxi did not appear.

After leaving the villa, he went straight to Sui Shi. While his son was thriving in the family group chat, he had just returned to the Yunsheng-side office, an extra USB drive in his hand.

Inside were all the materials related to that student, including her exam papers over the years and surveillance footage of exams from the past half year.

There was also a paper copy of a situation statement, written by Jin Zhao.

He read it the moment he got it, then, back in his office, read it over and over again three times.

Her narration was like the person herself—rational and clear-headed, neither humble nor overbearing, devoid of emotion, even a bit like a robot.

But how could she possibly be a robot? He had so clearly seen the grievance and sadness hidden beneath her words.

His fingers tightened, nails blanching white, the paper rustling softly.

The corners of Meng Yanxi’s eyes reddened.

The office door sounded once, and Zhuang Yu hurried over.

He had originally gone out today to discuss business, but Meng Yanxi had called him back at the last minute. Having been by Meng Yanxi’s side for so many years, he could tell from his tone alone that Meng Yanxi was angry. He didn’t know what had happened, but he immediately put down what he was doing and rushed back.

“President Meng.”

Meng Yanxi didn’t make a sound. He tossed the situation statement over, stood up, and walked in silence to the floor-to-ceiling window.

Zhuang Yu skimmed through it in one pass.

The situation statement was written in great detail, and it even included the medical record of that student’s suicide attempt. Zhuang Yu could roughly grasp the source of Meng Yanxi’s explosive anger at this moment, but for now he still couldn’t figure out just how far Meng Yanxi intended to go.

Meng Yanxi remained silent for a long time, his back to him. His silhouette was jagged like a perilous peak, beneath the cold severity hidden an unseen ruthlessness and danger.

Zhuang Yu probed cautiously, “President Meng, what is Sui Shi’s current handling result on their end?”

Meng Yanxi looked down at Sui Yi beneath his feet, his peach-blossom eyes cold as ice shards. “No need to bother with Sui Shi. Isn’t she not trying to live anymore—”

“Yanxi.”

Meng Huai, who suddenly pushed the door open and entered, cut off Meng Yanxi’s words.

Zhuang Yu didn’t know what Meng Yanxi had originally intended to say. With Meng Huai’s sudden appearance, he was also called out.

As Meng Yanxi took control, Meng Huai had come to Yunsheng less and less over the past few years. Today was also a coincidence. He had just sat down when he saw the aunt post a video of the little bun in the group chat. He himself clicked it open again and again—no fewer than ten times. Meng Shixu was probably about the same. After the family finished joking around, Meng Yanxi never appeared, and Meng Shixu even tagged him.

If Meng Yanxi was a fox, then Meng Huai was an old fox. His instincts were often even sharper than Meng Yanxi’s.

Meng Huai called the aunt. In the few minutes he spent laughing and teasing the little bun, he managed to coax out the matter of Meng Yanxi having just scared his son into tears.

“Grandpa, why are you here?” Meng Yanxi turned around, surprised by Meng Huai’s sudden appearance.

Leaning on his cane, Meng Huai walked in and said with a genial smile, “I happened to come by the company. My people said you were back, so I came down to take a look.”

Jin Zhao’s situation statement was still on Meng Yanxi’s desk. Meng Huai didn’t avoid it either—he walked over and picked it up directly to read.

At Meng Huai’s age, having weathered countless storms, his mindset was steady, with little emotional fluctuation. After reading, he put it back and said with a genial smile, “Yanxi, you’re already a husband and a father. Don’t still act like an eighteen- or nineteen-year-old boy, acting on impulse. You still need to learn to rein in your edge.”

As he spoke, Meng Huai patted Meng Yanxi on the shoulder, then left with that same genial smile.

Five minutes later, the office door opened again. Meng Yanxi tossed a USB drive to Zhuang Yu. “Check the surveillance.”

Zhuang Yu held the USB drive with both hands, puzzled. “President Meng, what exactly are we checking?”

Meng Yanxi said, “Cheating. Leaking exam questions.”