Chapter 2, Page 002: "Don't you have anything you want to ask me?"...
Meng Ran and Chen Sulin had almost no interaction, at least in her memory.
So much so that when Meng Ran first heard the name "General Manager Chen," she went through all her classmates and colleagues with the surname Chen, but never thought of Zhao Yanzhou's childhood friend.
The only time she could remember meeting him was when Zhao Yanzhou took her to dinner near the CBD, where they happened to run into Chen Sulin.
At that moment, Zhao Yanzhou had his arm around her waist and, with a lazy northern accent, introduced her to Chen Sulin: "Ranran, my girlfriend."
Meng Ran smiled gently and obediently greeted them.
Presenting a gentle and harmless side in front of others is a skill Meng Ran learned from a young age, which she honed to perfection over the years.
Meng Ran remembered that Chen Sulin nodded slightly to her at that time, his gaze clearly resting on her face, but his eyes were calm and without any ripples, as indifferent as if he were looking at an insignificant tree by the roadside.
She thought that if it weren't for Zhao Yanzhou, he probably wouldn't even bother to glance at her.
At this moment, Chen Sulin, seven years later, stood in front of her. Apart from the increasingly sharp lines between his eyebrows and eyes, his face was not much different from the one she remembered. It was so familiar that it made her heart tighten.
The setting sun bathed the man in a warm, golden glow, but it did nothing to diminish his imposing aura.
In a daze, Meng Ran thought she had returned to the dusk seven years ago when she first met Chen Sulin.
The difference was that at this moment, the man's gaze no longer swept over her indifferently, but was firmly fixed on her face.
For the first time, Meng Ran truly experienced how intense a person's gaze could be, making her even slow her breathing.
She instinctively wanted to break the terrible silence, opened her mouth, and found that she didn't know how to address the other person.
"General Manager Chen" sounds too formal, while calling him "Chen Sulin" would seem abrupt.
As for the word "husband," just thinking about it made her scalp tingle.
Chen Sulin was unusually patient; she didn't speak, and he remained silent as well.
After a long pause, Meng Ran finally found her voice: "When did you get back?"
Only after saying it did she realize that her words sounded too much like a typical wife's greeting to her husband, adding a touch of subtle tension to the air.
Meng Ran was annoyed and wanted to say something to make amends, but the man didn't give her that chance.
Chen Sulin: "Five minutes ago."
Meng Ran gave a dry "oh".
The current situation is far beyond her control.
A man who was practically a stranger in her memory became her husband.
Fortunately, after answering her question, Chen Sulin's gaze softened, and he stopped staring into her eyes, lowering his eyes slightly.
Meng Ran's tense nerves relaxed slightly, and her fingers unconsciously curled up—she had already taken off her wedding ring, leaving the base of her left ring finger bare.
There was another moment of silence, then Chen Sulin asked, "Are you feeling unwell?"
Meng Ran breathed a sigh of relief: "It's okay, apart from feeling a little dizzy, I don't feel uncomfortable anywhere else."
She paused, then added seemingly casually, "I was alone in my room just now, and I was a little scared, so I called a good friend from before and we chatted for a while."
This place is nominally her home, but in Meng Ran's heart it is equivalent to Chen Sulin's territory.
Showing weakness appropriately is beneficial to oneself; this is a survival rule she learned many years ago.
More importantly, she wanted to use this question to test him—had he overheard her conversation with Jiang Yuqing? And how much of it did he hear?
Meng Ran couldn't explain why she felt so threatened. Perhaps the huge information gap put her at a disadvantage, or perhaps Chen Sulin's cold aura triggered her instinctive defensiveness.
Moreover, all indications suggest that there may be something else going on in their marriage.
She couldn't possibly be naive enough to think he was a loving husband who would joyfully welcome his wife, who had been missing for five years, home.
Perhaps he never loved her, perhaps this marriage was a transaction, or perhaps...
Countless guesses swirled in Meng Ran's mind as she gazed at the man's extremely handsome face, trying to discern some clues.
Whether it's worry, indifference, or annoyance, at least it lets her see his attitude towards her.
However, Chen Sulin simply nodded slightly, his expression barely changing: "So what did you talk about?"
A hint of disappointment flashed through Meng Ran's mind, and she replied vaguely, "We just chatted about things from the past."
Chen Sulin: "For example, Zhao Yanzhou?"
Meng Ran was stunned.
She thought that even if he heard it, he wouldn't bring the name up so quickly.
What happened to the rule that adults should maintain a proper distance from each other?
What's done is done, and there's no point in denying it.
Meng Ran composed herself and said, "Yes."
As soon as he finished speaking, a very short, almost mocking sound escaped from Chen Sulin's lips.
He looked at her, his eyes swirling with emotions she couldn't decipher: "When I heard they found you, I didn't dare sleep and took a ten-hour flight back."
"Besides Zhao Yanzhou, is there anything else you want to ask me?"
Meng Ran was stunned by the question, unable to figure out where his sudden interrogation came from.
If it were any other impatient ordinary man, she might have been able to interpret it as jealousy, but Chen Sulin was clearly not that kind of person.
Meng Ran felt that the situation was getting increasingly out of control.
She knew almost nothing about the man in front of her, couldn't fathom his thoughts, and had no idea whether he was happy or sad about her "resurrection."
I had no idea how to answer his question.
After an eternity of silence, the man's lips suddenly curved into a very slight smile.
"It's nothing," Chen Sulin said gently. "You should rest well. If you need anything, call Butler Yang."
The man's tone was gentle, as if her earlier cold questioning was just her imagination.
Meng Ran blurted out, "And what about you?"
Chen Sulin: "Go to the kindergarten to pick up our daughter and take her home."
Meng Ran stared blankly as the man's figure disappeared around the corner of the stairs.
She didn't know how much time had passed before she came to her senses.
She had long guessed that Chen Sulin wouldn't be easy to get along with, but she never expected him to be so unpredictable.
After a long while, Meng Ran stared at the empty doorway and finally couldn't help but curse under her breath.
Is this person sick?
.
"Mr. Chen." Upon hearing that Chen Sulin was going to kindergarten, the driver, Uncle Dong, hesitated for a few seconds before speaking, "Miss has been very sensible these past few days. Knowing that you are away on a business trip, she has never made a fuss and asked you to pick her up in person."
Chen Sulin looked at Uncle Dong calmly.
Uncle Dong knew he shouldn't say more, but when he heard Zhou Cheng say that Chen Sulin hadn't rested for more than twenty hours, he couldn't help but advise, "Why don't you rest for another day? Let me and Sister Zhang go today."
Chen Sulin: "No need, let's drive."
Uncle Dong dared not persuade him any further and started the car.
...
In any case, Chen Sulin's departure was a good thing, allowing Meng Ran's extremely tense nerves to be temporarily relieved.
After confirming that Chen Sulin was not home, she took a short walk on the second floor of the villa.
For the first eighteen years of her life, Meng Ran lived in a cramped old house.
Long ago, when that woman coldly said, "This is my husband's and my home. If you're not happy, get out and move out," Meng Ran secretly vowed in her heart—
One day, she will move into a bright and spacious place, a hundred times better than that old house.
Even so, Meng Ran never imagined that one day she would be living in a luxury mansion in the top-tier wealthy area of the North City.
The soft, thick wool carpet, the intricately patterned wallpaper, and the exquisite, dazzling crystal chandelier—every detail silently proclaims the homeowner's wealth.
Meng Ran thought that if she ignored the man who was so unpredictable, her situation actually seemed pretty good.
She is now a genuine socialite.
Meng Ran thought that having a wealthy second-generation heir like Zhao Yanzhou pursuing her was the only chance in her life that she might be able to achieve upward social mobility through marriage.
Even Zhao Yanzhou, after Meng Ran initially learned that his family background was far better than she had imagined, she felt that the two of them had no future.
Wealthy people always value strong partnerships, and someone with such a terrible family situation would be excluded from their dating pool from the very beginning.
Even if Zhao Yanzhou himself was willing, his parents would never agree.
But Zhao Yanzhou repeatedly assured them that he was his parents' late-life son, that his older brother had already married a wealthy heiress, and that his parents had promised him he could marry the girl he liked.
Furthermore, Zhao Yanzhou treated her impeccably well during their relationship, giving her a strong sense of security. Gradually, Meng Ran couldn't help but start to think—
Perhaps she really hit the jackpot and met a rare romantic rich second-generation?
That's human nature; even knowing that the probability of something is so small as to be almost impossible, we still can't help but hold onto hope.
Unexpectedly, seven years later, she actually achieved the low-probability event of "marrying into a wealthy family".
However, her husband was not Zhao Yanzhou, but Zhao Yanzhou's childhood friend.
Thinking of Chen Sulin, his words before he left, "Take our daughter home," echoed in my mind again.
Meng Ran hesitated for a moment before connecting to the villa's whole-house smart call system, which the housekeeper had previously taught her how to use.
Soon, the butler appeared before her.
Meng Ran asked, "May I see a picture of my daughter?"
Butler: "Of course, the photo album is in the living room on the first floor. Would you like to go downstairs to see it, madam, or should I bring it up for you?"
Meng Ran thought for a moment and said, "I'll go over there."
In any case, she will be living in this house for at least the next period of time.
Just consider it a chance to get familiar with the environment.
The two went downstairs to the living room on the first floor. The butler took out the second album from the right from a row of photo albums in the cabinet and handed it to Meng Ran: "This album contains photos of Miss when she was four to five years old."
Meng Ran stroked the cover of the photo album: "Can I look at this by myself?"
"Of course," the butler replied, and quietly withdrew.
Turning to the first page, a beautifully sculpted little girl appears before your eyes.
The little girl in the photo wears a silver crown on her head and a fluffy tulle dress, her round, black grape-like eyes looking at the camera.
A pink heart was drawn in the blank space of the photographic paper, and the words "I am 4 years old" were written crookedly next to it.
Meng Ran couldn't help but smile, and unconsciously touched the little girl's round face in the photo with her fingertips.
She wasn't mentally prepared to be a mother, but she had to admit that she felt a strange flutter in her heart when she saw the photo.
This sudden blood relation brought her not only panic but also curiosity.
However, the anxiety quickly returned.
In the little girl's eyes, her mother disappeared not long after she was born.
What if the little girl cries and screams when they meet and refuses to acknowledge her as her mother?
With mixed feelings, Meng Ran flipped through the photo album from beginning to end.
Almost all of them are solo photos of the young girl, with Chen Sulin appearing in a few of them.
Meng Ran stared at the man in the photo: he leaned slightly forward, helping the little girl straighten her crooked headband, a very faint smile on his lips.
If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, she would hardly have believed that such a gentle expression could appear on that cold and hard man's face.
Not all fathers in the world love their daughters, and it took Meng Ran a long time to accept this fact.
But at least, whatever feelings Chen Sulin had for his wife, he genuinely loved their daughter.
This realization put Meng Ran at ease.
As the photo album was turned to the last page, a noise came from the entrance of the villa.
Meng Ran looked over and met a pair of big, round eyes.
Those eyes stared at her for at least five seconds, as if trying to identify something.
Meng Ran actually started to feel nervous being stared at by a five-year-old child.
Until the little girl came up to her, looked up at her, and said in a clear, crisp voice, "Mommy."
A note from the author:
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