Volume 1, Chapter 7: For Sleeping

Shu Wan seriously suspected that her uncle’s greatest pleasure was not scaring her, but treating her like a punching bag for his own amusement.

The plane never did arrive. By the time the guard helped stuff the giant plush toy into the trunk, they nearly could not even get the hatch closed.

Meng Huaijin clearly did not understand why she liked fluffy things so much; his brow had been furrowed the entire time.

On the way back, Shu Wan caught the faint scent of alcohol on him again and could not help glancing at him a few more times, thinking to herself that he had not been drinking when she left—so how had he managed to start in the space of a quarter hour?

The man, of course, had no idea what elaborate complaints were unfolding in her head. He only asked slowly, “You like dancing?”

Shu Wan nodded. “Mm.”

“What else can you do?”

She did not hide it. “I know a little piano and painting too.”

The way she said it, though, made it clear it was not just “a little.” Meng Huaijin knew very well what kind of person his elder sister was: strong-willed and capable. She would certainly never allow her daughter to become mediocre and idle.

“Do you want to develop in that direction in the future?” Meng Huaijin asked again.

Shu Wan shook her head. “It’s just a hobby. I’m not a candidate for entrance exams in the arts.”

So she was much the same as the younger girls in the family—music, chess, calligraphy, and painting all learned. But the way those girls moved was nowhere near as polished or impressive as hers.

Meng Huaijin glanced sideways at her. “Still want to keep learning?”

Their eyes met, and Shu Wan quickly lowered hers. “School is about to start. I should focus on my studies.”

In truth, she simply did not want to spend too much money.

Meng Huaijin saw through her little thoughts at a glance and said no more.

The car stopped below the apartment building. The guard went to park, and Shu Wan found the huge plush toy a bit unwieldy on her own.

Just as she stood there at a loss, the weight in her arms suddenly vanished, and a suit jacket landed against her chest.

By the time Shu Wan looked up, she saw Meng Huaijin already striding toward the elevator, gripping the plush toy by the neck with one hand.

The man was at least six feet tall, his bearing stern and imposing. Held that way, the oversized stuffed animal in his grip somehow looked small and delicate, almost like a finely made figurine.

Shu Wan stood dazed for a moment before hurrying after him with his jacket in her arms.

As soon as they stepped inside, Meng Huaijin made himself clear. “No keeping these things in the common areas.”

“I know. Put it on my bed.” Shu Wan opened her bedroom door on her own.

He walked over and tossed the toy onto her fragrant bed, still looking unconvinced. “What is it for?”

“Uh... probably for sleeping.”

“...”

Meng Huaijin gave her a silent sideways look, then, as always, went into the study to handle official business.

Just like the night before, Shu Wan went to the kitchen, boiled a bowl of hangover soup, and brought it to him.

He was signing several official documents stamped with red headers. The ink carried a faint fragrance, and his handwriting was all soaring strokes, vigorous and forceful, much like the razor-edged severity of his whole person.

“Uncle, you should really drink less in the future.” Shu Wan pushed the bowl a little closer and, gathering her courage, offered her advice.

Meng Huaijin turned his head. His deep eyes reflected the girl’s clear gaze. One brow lifted, and that half-smile at the corner of his mouth only made him seem wilder. “You’re trying to manage me now?”

Days of living together had gradually let Shu Wan return to herself. She was still afraid of him, but no longer as careful as before.

Shu Wan pressed her lips together and stood by her opinion. “In any case, drink less. Too much is bad for you.”

Meng Huaijin looked at her for several seconds. In those eyes lay a sea of still, unruffled depth; experience and sharpness met her bright, deer-like clarity, and the moment strangely felt like punching cotton.

In the end, the man said nothing, picked up the bowl with a blank expression, and drank it all at once. Then he issued his dismissal. “Go rest early.”

Satisfied, Shu Wan took the cup away, washed it in the kitchen, then collapsed onto the sofa. Listening to the sounds drifting out from the study, she soon fell asleep.

The next day, she again woke up in bed.

There was still some warmth left in the breakfast on the dining table, but Meng Huaijin himself was already gone.

He was not the sort to leave notes or send messages saying where he was going, and it was even less his place to report such things to Shu Wan.

Besides, his position in North City was crucial; naturally, there were endless matters demanding his attention. Shu Wan did not dare call to ask.

She had only just finished breakfast when the doorbell rang.

After confirming through the peephole that it was Meng Chuan, Shu Wan opened the door.

Today Meng Chuan was dressed in a blue suit flashier than his Lamborghini, and he had even slicked his hair straight back with oily precision—an unmistakable portrait of a carefree playboy.

“Uncle Meng Chuan.” Shu Wan smiled in greeting.

“Little Shu Wan.” Meng Chuan came in and plopped down grandly on the sofa. “Hurry up and get ready. I’m taking you to dance class.”

“Dance class?”

“You didn’t know?” Meng Chuan looked puzzled. “Your uncle didn’t tell you?”

Shu Wan shook her head. They had chatted a little in the car yesterday, but back then he had not said he would sign her up for dance lessons, nor that he would send her to practice.

Even after getting into Meng Chuan’s car and heading to the studio, Shu Wan still found it somewhat unreal.

Meng Huaijin had said that whatever standard of living she had in South City before, it would be the same here as well.

That was no lie. For a while, Shu Wan spent her days at the dance studio. It was located in the very heart of the central district of North City, and both the environment and the teachers were internationally renowned.

When she had studied dance in South City before, the place had not been bad, but compared with the capital of North City, there was still a gap.

The class Meng Huaijin enrolled her in was the most expensive one, with the best teacher.

Not long after, another piano appeared in the apartment—brand new, and by touch and tone alone, unquestionably expensive, even better than the one Shu Wan had used at home before.

Shu Wan asked Meng Chuan how her uncle’s modest salary could possibly be enough to buy all these things, and where his money came from. Surely not—

Meng Chuan smiled and lightly tapped her head. “What exactly is in that little brain of yours all day? That salary really wouldn’t even be enough for him to smoke. But Brother Jin is the sort of person who, if he doesn’t properly serve as a public official, has to go home and inherit billions. The Meng family doesn’t only have people in politics; there are businessmen too. Didn’t your mother ever tell you?”

Shu Wan shook her head.

Her mother seemed reluctant to speak of the Meng family. Aside from this younger brother of hers, who had joined the army and later entered politics, she had told Shu Wan nothing at all.

Meng Chuan went on, “In short, your uncle could just shake his fingertips and still let you keep living like a princess.”

Shu Wan had long since ceased to be a princess, and she did not want to be one. She only felt guilty that the more he gave, the less she had with which to repay him—though perhaps he did not need her repayment at all.

“What about that one?” the girl asked opportunistically. “There’s a very sharp and beautiful lady. I heard people call her Prosecutor Jiang. What is her relationship with my uncle?”

“Jiang Jie-jie?” Meng Chuan thought for a moment, then gave an ambiguous answer. “Family friends. Their ties run pretty deep.”

Family friends, deeply tied... there was plenty to ponder there.

As for Meng Huaijin, though he had never explicitly said he would move back into the apartment, in truth he was basically always somewhere Shu Wan could see him at night, aside from work and business trips. He also set many strict rules for her.

For example: without permission, she was not to enter his room at will; she was not to go to bars; she was not to come home past the prescribed hour; she was not to, not to...

Shu Wan seriously suspected that he had never gone through puberty. Oh, right—he actually had not. At that age he must have been in the army, and had already made a name for himself.

Under the man’s endless rules of “not allowed,” Shu Wan ushered in her senior year of high school. Since it was the graduating class, school began a week early.

The school Meng Huaijin found for her was one of the best in North City. On the first day of term, because of his status, he could not take her to register; once again, it was Meng Chuan who brought her.

As soon as school started, there was a placement exam. Shu Wan’s score ranked tenth in the class.

She thought it was pretty decent, but after seeing the report card, Meng Huaijin’s comment was: “I’ve never scored that low.”

Shu Wan: “...”

After that, it often happened that while Meng Huaijin was reviewing official documents, a round little head would peek in from the doorway.

The girl would hug her workbook and ask with a sweet smile, “Uncle, are you free? I can’t do this question.”

The result of tutoring her was that nine times out of ten, it ended with her lying on the desk asleep beyond all hope of waking, and in the end her books and his documents would all be mixed together.

Because of that, on several occasions during meetings, Meng Huaijin would pull out what he had prepared, only to find a copy of Five Years of College Entrance Exams, Three Years of Mock Papers covered in labels instead. It made his subordinates want to laugh but not dare.

He relied entirely on his formidable memory to deliver the material almost word for word, without notes.

Shu Wan was not so lucky.

One Monday, for the flag-raising speech, when she opened the script, it turned out to be materials on “political and legal team ideological rectification” that had belonged to her uncle!

Her mind went blank. Facing the entire school, she could only improvise under pressure, wracking her brain. In the end, she still spoke in a complete mess, embarrassing herself and the class alike.

“Uncle—”

The day before National Day, Meng Huaijin happened to pass by the school gate and saw that it was not far from the time Shu Wan got out of class, so he parked by the roadside to wait.

Just as he was about to light his second cigarette, he saw the girl in a white school shirt and black skirt running toward him from the school gate. She had not reached him yet, but her voice reached his ears first.

Breathless from running, Shu Wan grabbed the driver’s-side window and shouted again, “Uncle! Why were your documents in my backpack again? I really made a fool of myself this morning!”

Fine beads of sweat clung to the broken hair at her forehead. Her fair face, flushed from running, was tinged with red, and tiny fragments of light glittered in her eyes. She did not look foolish at all.

Meng Huaijin had witnessed all the changes she had gone through in these months, and one could imagine what kind of bright, carefree girl she had been before the Shu family’s disaster.

He withdrew his gaze, tossed the cigarette case and lighter into the storage compartment, and then said flatly, “Whose fault do you think that is?”

Shu Wan opened the passenger door and got in, staring at the uniform shirt he was wearing, somewhat lost in thought. The deep blue, under the afternoon light, had turned almost black, making his tall and upright figure seem even more heroic.

Hearing no answer, the man turned his head slightly. Shu Wan looked away, buckled her seat belt, and grinned shamelessly. “My fault, my fault. What are we having for dinner?”

Starting the engine, Meng Huaijin tipped his chin toward the back seat. “I brought you a meal from the office cafeteria. I have something to discuss tonight.”

The girl turned and saw several separate boxes of food. A little disappointed, she said, “It’s National Day holiday. Can’t I go with you?”

“No.” The refusal was decisive. “You can go out with classmates to have fun. As for which places you’re not allowed to go, do I need to repeat myself?”

Shu Wan shook her head and heard his uncompromising order: “You must be home before ten.”