Chapter 90 Wanting to possess you is instinct, I want you…
While Jin Zhao and Teacher Tan were chatting, the bank staff had already seized the opportunity to identify her as a high-quality potential customer. As soon as Teacher Tan turned to apply for a card, the staff immediately approached Jin Zhao and tried to persuade her: "Teacher, are you going to the UK soon? That's perfect! We recommend our multi-currency international credit card. It has no annual fee with no conditions, zero foreign exchange fees, and foreign currency spending is billed and repaid in RMB. If needed, you can also use the one-click card locking function on the app to prevent credit card fraud. As you know, credit card fraud is rampant overseas these days."
Teacher Tan, who was conducting facial recognition at the front, said with great empathy, "Yes, the card locking function is a must. My credit card has been stolen before."
Jin Zhao said helplessly, "I didn't actually extend the application. I planned to apply again in two years."
"Why?" Teacher Tan turned around in surprise.
The bank employee's tablet immediately emitted an alarm: "Facial recognition failed!"
Teacher Tan said "sorry" and went back to redo the facial recognition: "What I mean is, it's a bit of a pity."
Jin Zhao wasn't used to explaining, so he just smiled and said, "I think that would have been more appropriate."
The little dumpling is not even six months old yet, and Meng Yanxi and she are newlyweds. With Meng Yanxi's temperament, he definitely won't want to leave her. He'll be traveling back and forth with the baby, and he's already busy enough. He'll also have to take the baby, who is not even a year old, on long-haul international flights. She'll feel a little bad for the father and son to go through all that trouble.
Moreover, she still has a deep-rooted self-confidence, just like when she was young she firmly believed that she would stand taller than the people who bullied her. She felt that she was able to get approved under the circumstances last year, and now that her development is going well, there should be no problem with applying in two years.
Teacher Tan disagreed: "The environment can change in an instant. Who knows what the situation will be like in two years? If I were you, I would go this year. The sooner the better."
The bank employee was a young man, looking like he'd just graduated from university. His face was full of ambition for his performance, and he enthusiastically persuaded Mr. Tan, "Yes, when it comes to building a career, the younger you are, the better. The younger you are, the higher your ceiling is. It's the same with credit cards; the earlier you apply, the better, and the bigger the deals are. If you apply for an international card and a domestic card now, I'll give you two 30-inch suitcases as a gift. Even if you're not going abroad anytime soon, you can use them when you go on trips with your husband and kids. I'll also give you two years of JD Plus membership. It's a great deal. You can cancel it anytime you don't want to use it anymore. Teacher, why don't you apply for one?"
Since they'd gone this far, and he couldn't refuse their kind offer, plus the promotion was indeed quite generous, Jin Zhao sat down and applied for a credit card together.
The bank staff were very efficient and completed the process in less than ten minutes. They also added Jin Zhao on WeChat: "The physical card and gift will be sent to your home address according to the address you provided. Please be sure to sign for it when you receive it. If you have any other questions, you can contact me on WeChat at any time. Just call me Xiao Chen."
Jin Zhao: "Okay, thank you."
After leaving the School of Foreign Languages, Professor Tan continued to attend a meeting in the academic lecture hall, while Jin Zhao went home.
The wedding is in a week, and Meng Yanxi has been unusually energetic lately. During the day, he's tirelessly overseeing the wedding details, and at night he keeps her up at night, exhausting her. Jin Zhao is starting to feel overwhelmed by him and asks if he's tired. He retorts, "Aren't you too excited to sleep?"
Meng Yanxi has a talent for roasting people; back in high school, he taught her how to bite back. Jin Zhao was inexplicably made to feel guilty by his question.
Meng Yanxi continued in a teasing tone, "Have you ever been so excited about something that you couldn't sleep?"
Jin Zhao didn't dare to speak.
Meng Yanxi: "I have it. I'm so excited right now that I can't sleep."
Jin Zhao: "..."
Considering where he is "now," Jin Zhao suspects that he is using a double entendre to deliberately bully her and act like a scoundrel.
As the wedding approached, Jin Zhao felt a growing sense of nervousness. However, she confidently believed in her calm personality; after all, she was the kind of student who could take a deep half-hour nap during her college entrance exams. She figured she was simply being influenced by him. Seeing his daily excitement, like a teenager wholeheartedly anticipating the day, she was afraid something might suddenly happen to spoil his mood, and the greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment.
After all, Meng Yanxi may appear gentle and refined, but deep down she is somewhat stubborn and domineering, and she can be quite a handful when she gets going.
So much so that when the suitcase was delivered the next day, she subconsciously broke out in a cold sweat.
At that time, she was at home trying on makeup. Recently, her little dumpling had become clingy and would look for her if she couldn't see her for a while. With the wedding approaching and many things to do, Meng Yanxi arranged for staff to come to her home for everything so as not to distract her.
She sat in front of the mirror putting on makeup. The little boy played downstairs for a while and then started looking for his mother. So the nanny carried him upstairs and put him on the bed. The little boy crawled around on the bed for a while, then sat up and stared at his mother in the makeup mirror from afar.
Jin Zhao looked up and saw the little dumpling sitting on the bed, wearing a blue romper that revealed his chubby, white arms and legs. He sat there quietly, neither crying nor fussing, staring at her. Her heart melted instantly. Looking at her baby in the mirror, she smiled and said, "Mommy will come and hold you in a little while."
The little dumpling has been good at providing emotional value since she was little, always responding to everything. She looked at her mother with her bright eyes and let out a "whoosh".
Jin Zhao said helplessly, "I don't even know if you understood."
The little dumpling responded again.
The makeup artist standing nearby laughed and said, "What a smart baby! I think he can definitely understand."
No mother dislikes her baby being praised, but Jin Zhao remained relatively restrained, stating objectively, "He probably understands some of it, but not others."
The little dumpling heard its mother speak and made another "click" sound.
"He's so cute!" The staff member, a young woman, was completely charmed by him. If she hadn't been holding a makeup brush, she would have wanted to hug the little guy. "He's arguing back!"
"No, he just talks too much," Jin Zhao said helplessly.
Meng Yanxi said that his son is a chatterbox.
The aunt chuckled and said, "Our little dumpling is quite aloof when he goes out to play; he just likes talking to his mom and dad."
Just then, they heard a noise downstairs. The aunt said, "It sounds like Daddy's back. Little dumpling, shall we go downstairs and see Daddy?"
The little dumpling made a "Bang!" sound.
Jin Zhao laughed uncontrollably, teasing the baby through the mirror: "Can you really understand?"
But this is destined to be something only Schrödinger could understand, because the baby couldn't answer her, although he did cooperate when the aunt picked him up.
More than an hour later, the makeup was finally done. Meng Yanxi did not go upstairs, but Jin Zhao came downstairs and saw two large cardboard boxes piled up in the living room.
She paused for a few seconds before realizing that the two 30-inch suitcases that came with her membership card had arrived. 30-inch suitcases are already large, and after being packed in a cardboard box, they became even bigger; stacked together, they looked like some newly purchased large household appliance.
Meng Yanxi was on the phone in front of the French windows, his back to her. He was tall and had long legs; his back was handsome and angular. The little one was crawling on the playmat at his feet. After a while, the baby crawled to his legs and then hugged them. Meng Yanxi switched hands to hold the phone, bent down, and picked up the baby with one hand.
When Jin Zhao saw this scene, he felt both warm and nervous.
Although she had promised him that she would tell him if anything came up, the gift she received for opening a bank account was such a small thing that she hadn't even thought about it and forgot about it as soon as she turned her head. It wasn't until the two huge suitcases were placed together that she realized how visually striking it was, and she wondered if he knew that she had another opportunity to go to England in September.
Meng Yanxi has always been incredibly well-informed, beyond her wildest imagination. She wondered what he thought.
The man in front of the floor-to-ceiling window quickly finished his call, turned around, and met her gaze.
He looked at her, his face expressionless, and Jin Zhao's heart skipped a beat.
Today she tried on her full makeup and changed into a wedding dress. The crown she wore was set with 1,119 diamonds, the main diamond being 72.1 carats. She stood on the stairs, one hand holding the railing, the long train of her wedding dress trailing behind her, the diamonds on her head reflecting a dazzling fire, sparkling brilliantly.
She lifted her skirt, intending to walk over to him and talk to him about the suitcase.
"Don't move."
Meng Yanxi spoke up, handed the baby in her arms to the aunt beside her, and walked towards her.
He was dressed entirely in black, his black shirt highlighting the pristine white of her wedding dress as he approached her. He stopped two steps below her. He was 1.86 meters tall, she was just over 1.6 meters, he was more than 20 centimeters taller than her, and now, standing below her, his gaze was lower than hers.
He reached out his hand to her.
Jin Zhao placed her hand on it, and he closed his palm around her, enveloping her in his warmth.
She glanced at the two large cardboard boxes in the living room with some concern and explained, "I went to school a couple of days ago, and there was a credit card promotion that gave me two 30-inch suitcases as a gift."
Meng Yanxi: "I know."
"You know?" Jin Zhao asked, somewhat surprised.
The man's dark eyes stared at her: "I received a call from the property management on my way back."
In their community, for large items like these to be delivered to the door, the property management needs to call the resident to confirm first, then the property management will collect the item on their behalf, and staff will deliver it to the door. He was almost home when he received the call, so he brought it back with him.
"The moment I saw '30-inch suitcase' written on it, my heart skipped a beat, no exaggeration," he said self-deprecatingly. "I thought you were leaving again, just like back then, suddenly disappearing and I couldn't find you anywhere."
"How could that be?" Jin Zhao grasped his hand and chuckled.
"Yeah, I realized it a second later. How could that be? After all, I have a name and status now, unlike back then when I was just an unknown classmate of yours."
Jin Zhao: "..."
I wonder if Mr. Meng has noticed, but he's becoming increasingly taciturn. Still no name? Meng Yanxi hasn't been unknown since kindergarten, has she?
Meng Yanxi said without any hesitation, "To confirm whether it was a wrong delivery, I called the sender on the courier slip back. The other party said that for the card you applied for before, only a suitcase was originally included, but considering that you will be going to the UK in two months, an extra suitcase will be included, and the air fryer will not be included."
Jin Zhao's brow twitched, and he blurted out, "No. On the day I applied for the card, I met Professor Tan from the same department. She had just returned from a visiting scholar program in the UK and didn't know the situation. She thought my visiting scholar program had been postponed to September of this year, so she chatted with me for a bit. The staff member was right next to me at the time. He overheard a bit but didn't understand and misunderstood."
She held Meng Yanxi's hand and explained softly, "I don't plan to go to England in two months. If I were to go, I would definitely prepare in advance and tell you beforehand."
Meng Yanxi rubbed her soft palm with her fingertips and asked curiously, "Why don't you go?"
Jin Zhao was taken aback.
She thought Meng Yanxi would be angry for packing two large suitcases for her for no reason, so she nervously explained to him. She had expected him to be unhappy, but she didn't expect him to react like this.
Her personality has always been such that once she makes a decision, she takes full responsibility for it and doesn't make excuses, otherwise it would seem like she's asking others to bear some kind of consequence for her. But in reality, from the moment she makes a decision, the reason is only herself.
She felt that her desire to stay wasn't because of Meng Yanxi or Xiao Tuanzi, but simply because she couldn't let go of them for the time being. If she could let go, she would go regardless of whether they were there or not.
So when Meng Yanxi asked, she thought for a moment and simply said, "I'd like to go in two years."
Meng Yanxi raised an eyebrow: "Teacher Lingling is so confident, will she still be able to get accepted in two years?"
Jin Zhao: "..."
He chuckled lightly: "I'm sorry, Mrs. Meng, it's not that I don't believe in your abilities."
Jin Zhao numbly exposed him: "You just don't believe me."
“No,” Meng Yanxi shook her head. “If it were me, I would seize the opportunity and go this year. What I mean is, if I want to go myself, then I can’t think of any reason why you wouldn’t go.”
Jin Zhao's gaze shifted slightly.
A breeze blew in from outside the window, and a corner of the sheer curtain in front of the French windows was gently lifted.
Jin Zhao was drawn over by Yu Guangli's movements, and the moon-white gauze curtains fluttered in the wind.
She looked at Meng Yanxi and asked softly, "What if it's me who can't bear to part with you and the baby?"
Meng Yanxi stood at the bottom of the steps, looking up at her slightly. In her dark pupils, she saw a pure white wedding dress, embroidered with starlight and adorned with diamonds, magnificent and dazzling; the crown on her head was dazzling and sparkled under the lights.
He stared straight at her, his Adam's apple bobbing silently.
After a long pause, he suddenly chuckled and asked, "So you plan to go again in two years because you don't plan to love anymore after two years?"
Jin Zhao: "?"
*
No result was reached on the same day.
The fact is, there was no discussion at all.
After someone's sassy, tea-like remarks, the conversation completely stalled.
However, Jin Zhao was indeed swayed by Meng Yanxi's words.
Although she never made excuses for her decisions, she had to admit that Meng Yanxi and Xiao Tuanzi were indeed within her considerations. After all, if she were all alone now, she would definitely go without hesitation.
She had initially thought Meng Yanxi wouldn't want her to go; these days, he sometimes wanted to take her along on even slightly longer business trips. She admitted that she did indeed want to avoid disappointing him. This was unavoidable; as long as she wasn't alone, she would always consider the feelings of those around her. Unexpectedly, Meng Yanxi's attitude surprised her. His words, "If I myself want to go, then I can't think of any reason why you wouldn't," gave her a sense of encouragement.
Jin Zhao ultimately decided to make a decision after the wedding, as the wedding was currently keeping her too busy to attend to anything else.
Before the wedding, they also visited Jinjue Town.
Meng Yanxi accompanied her mother to her grave in Jinjue Town to sweep the tomb and tell her deceased mother about their marriage.
When Meng Yanxi first met his mother-in-law, he was very serious. He didn't take the high-speed rail, but drove for five or six hours to get there himself, with a large bouquet of flowers and many offerings in the trunk.
The photo on the tombstone shows a young woman who bears a resemblance to Jin Zhao, but unlike Jin Zhao's composure and determination, the woman in the photo has a faint sadness lingering in her eyes.
The inscription below the photo reads: "Tomb of Ye Shulan".
Jin Zhao paid respects to her mother at her grave, and Meng Yanxi joined her in the ceremony.
Jin Zhao looked at Ye Shulan in the photo and felt strange. It is said that people's feelings will fade with time, but more than 20 years have passed, and every time she sees those eyes, her eyes still involuntarily sting.
She said to Ye Shulan, "Mom, I'm getting married. It's to the person you see right in front of you. His name is Meng Yanxi. He's a good person, and I think you'll like him."
Meng Yanxi: "I'm sorry, Mom, I should have come when we got our marriage certificate last year."
Meng Yanxi's "Mom" came out so naturally that Jin Zhao was even a little unaccustomed to it and turned her head to look at him.
Meng Yanxi said calmly, "I heard that the custom in Jinjue Town is that a wedding ceremony is required to be considered a marriage, so thank you, Mrs. Meng, for agreeing to hold the wedding. Otherwise, I would feel ashamed to come and see you."
Jin Zhao was surprised: "Where did you hear that exaggerated? Who told you that?"
Meng Yanxi looked at her and said, "That's what the older generation says."
Jin Zhao: "...You even went to ask the older generation."
Meng Yanxi: "Weddings are a tradition. If we don't ask the older generation, are we going to ask Teacher Lingling?"
Jin Zhao remained silent for a second, then turned to the photo on the tombstone and complained, "Mom, he's mocking me."
“That’s good. Now you have someone to rely on. After all, you used to just call me mean.” Meng Yanxi nodded, then suddenly remembered something, looked at the photo on the tombstone, and her attitude changed in an instant. “Of course, this is just a misunderstanding. My mouth isn’t actually mean. If you listen carefully, it’s even a little sweet.”
Jin Zhao: "?"
Meng Yanxi has a sweet tongue; this is the most venomous thing Jin Zhao has heard this year.
But in front of Ye Shulan, she didn't want to expose him; she still wanted him to leave a good impression on his mother-in-law.
Jin Zhao stepped forward to wipe Ye Shulan's tombstone, and Meng Yanxi took the handkerchief from her and offered to do it for her.
"Sorry, I was just joking. I hope you don't mind," Meng Yanxi said to Ye Shulan in the photo.
His face was unusually serious, and Jin Zhao couldn't help but ask, "Why are you suddenly so solemn?"
"Is this serious? It's impolite to speak recklessly in front of elders, and an apology is appropriate."
When Meng Yanxi was young, he had a mature air about him when he was serious. Over the years, that maturity seems to have been mixed with awe.
Jin Zhao: "My mother is very easygoing and never holds back with younger people, so she won't be angry with you."
Meng Yanxi: "Yes, I can see that."
Jin Zhao: "How did you figure that out?"
After wiping the tombstone, Meng Yanxi stood up and turned to look at her: "Your good personality didn't just appear out of nowhere."
Okay, I take back what I just said. If you listen carefully to what Meng Yanxi says, sometimes it really is quite sweet.
“My mother had a great influence on me.” Jin Zhao looked at Ye Shulan’s tombstone. “She was the person who loved me the most in the world. She loved me unconditionally and without reservation. She was thinking about me until the last second of her life.”
Meng Yanxi, unusually willing to remain in the background, didn't speak, but looked at Jin Zhao, gesturing for her to continue.
But there are so many things a mother is willing to do for her daughter, so many details that you could talk for three days and three nights and still not finish, so Jin Zhao couldn't possibly tell him everything. She thought for a moment and asked, "Do you know why I love dreaming about getting rich so much, and why I became a university professor?"
Meng Yanxi: "Why?"
Jin Zhao: "I made a promise to my mother before she passed away."
Jin Zhao looked at Ye Shulan: "When I was little, my grades weren't very good. While other students got full marks in Chinese and math in elementary school, I only got in the nineties, and sometimes even in the eighties. What I mean is, I wasn't the kind of kid who was particularly gifted in academics. My mom planned ahead for me, which is why she sent me to dance lessons. Later, she got sick and paid for 300 private lessons for me all at once, which was a huge sum of money back then. I asked her why she was doing that, wasn't she afraid the dance studio would go out of business? She said she didn't know what she was doing, or what she should do."
"I was young then and didn't understand the helplessness in her two short sentences, nor did I know about the sleepless nights she spent planning for me."
Jin Zhao's eyes felt a little hot, and he looked up at the sky.
The summer sun was scorching, but it was surprisingly cool on the mountain. The sun hid behind snow-white clouds, providing a rare shade.
"Later, she deposited a sum of money for me in my name, which was the money I used to pay for university and my studies in England." Jin Zhao looked at Meng Yanxi. "In her final moments, when she was no longer lucid, she kept holding my hand and repeatedly told me to promise her that I would not give the money in that card to anyone who asked for it, and I would not lend it to anyone who asked. No matter who it was, I was not allowed to spend it recklessly. It could only be used for my studies, except to save my life. She told me to promise her that no matter how difficult things became or how much I didn't want to study, I had to continue studying and become a university teacher when I grew up. Otherwise, I wouldn't need to come to sweep her grave."
Jin Zhao smiled bitterly: "Actually, as I grew older, I gradually understood her true intentions. I think even if she were still alive, she wouldn't necessarily insist that I become a university professor, since she had never shown such an obsession before. It was probably just that she foresaw a certain possibility and deliberately said something to restrain me, so that even if I encountered difficulties in the future, I wouldn't give up on myself. You can give up many things, but you can't give up on yourself. Of course, it was indeed very difficult at first, but later it became a habit, and I actually became a university professor."
Meng Yanxi looked at Jin Zhao and saw that her quiet eyes were slightly red.
From the time they met in their youth, he noticed a clear serenity in her eyes, seemingly calm yet full of strength. He had never known where this feeling came from, how a girl who lost her mother in childhood could have such unwavering conviction.
Now he knows the answer.
He reached out and pulled Jin Zhao into his arms, looking at Ye Shulan's name on the tombstone: "Thank you for entrusting such a wonderful Jin Zhao to me. I assure you, she will only get better from now on."
A breeze blows from afar, causing the flowers in front of the grave to sway gently, and filling the air with a clean, sweet fragrance.
The sun pierced through the clouds, illuminating the photograph on the tombstone. In the light, the corners of Ye Shulan's mouth seemed to curve slightly upward, as if a smile was spreading across her face.
*
The two had lunch in Jinjue Town.
In recent years, the cultural and tourism development of Jinjue Town has been booming, and commercialization is inevitable. Many fast food restaurants have put up the guise of local delicacies, and Yiwu wholesale small commodities have also been transformed into local handicrafts.
The two of them left the central tourist area and found a local restaurant. The location was rather remote, the shop was small, and there weren't many customers. It was run by an elderly local couple, but the food was very authentic and the place was very clean.
While waiting for the food to be served, the aunt called via video, saying that the little dumpling had woken up and was crying for her parents.
The little boy didn't cry much when he was little, but as he grew up, he started to cling to his parents, especially his mother, since his father sometimes had to compete with him for attention.
On the phone screen, the little one was being held in her aunt's arms, crying until her eyebrows were red, tears streaming down her face. She twisted her little body, reaching out her two tiny hands, wanting her mother to hold her, and kept making sounds like, "Mama, Mama..."
He's getting better and better at calling out "Dad" and "Mom" now.
Jin Zhao's heart melted at his crying. She wished she could hug him through the screen and gently coax him, "Baby, be good, don't cry. Mommy and Daddy will be back soon, okay?"
The little dumpling kept twisting its body and calling out, "Mama, baba—"
Meng Yanxi took the phone from her hand and video-chatted with the little dumpling, saying nonchalantly, "You weren't like this when you were little. Who taught you to cry so much? Stop crying, I'll pick some mushrooms for you, okay? Have you ever eaten mushrooms? Some of them grow in the mountains and some are poisonous, while others aren't. If you don't cry, I'll give you the non-poisonous ones, and if you cry, I'll give you the poisonous ones."
Jin Zhao was shocked. Is this how you coax a baby?
They blame the little dumpling for crying so much, but who did she learn to cry like that from? It's so hard to guess.
"Meng Yanxi, what kind of father are you?"
Meng Shixu came to see the little dumpling and happened to witness this scene. He couldn't help but get angry and grabbed his phone to scold Meng Yanxi.
Meng Yanxi was surprised to see Meng Shixu and raised her eyebrows, saying, "What brings you here?"
Meng Shixu said irritably, "If I hadn't come over, I wouldn't have known that you usually threaten your son like this."
Meng Yanxi bluntly exposed him: "You've threatened me a lot before, haven't you? It's just about tearing umbrellas generation after generation. I learned that from you."
Meng Shixu was so angry that he cursed him: "You bastard!"
The father and son joked around like they were performing a comedy routine. The little boy seemed to find it funny, and stopped crying. He watched the fun from the sidelines and started giggling again. When Meng Shixu saw his beloved grandson laughing, he stopped scolding Meng Yanxi, picked up the little boy, and comforted him tenderly.
The video call ended, and all the dishes were served. Each person in the restaurant received a complimentary drink. The owner, behind the counter, called out to Meng Yanxi and Jin Zhao what they wanted: "We have raspberry juice, double-skin milk pudding, cucumber juice..."
While Jin Zhao was still hesitating, Meng Yanxi had already chosen without hesitation: "Strawberry Juice".
Jin Zhao gave him a strange look: "Don't you dislike drinking raspberry juice?"
Meng Yanxi remained calm: "Really? You're mistaken."
Jin Zhaocai wouldn't be mistaken, so she helped him recall: "Yes, at the beginning of the second semester of my junior year, I brought raspberry juice to school. Luo Heng wanted to share it with you, but you said you didn't like sour drinks."
Meng Yanxi looked at her amusedly, not expecting his wife to have such a good memory. After all these years, she still remembered this embarrassing part of his past so clearly.
He retorted defiantly, "Is it possible that the point isn't the strawberry juice, but rather that Luo Heng gave it to me? Why didn't you give it to me yourself?"
Jin Zhao was stumped by his question.
But how could she possibly be so embarrassed back then? She had to hide those girlish feelings so carefully and painstakingly.
Meng Yanxi said slowly and deliberately, "The things you don't give me are sour, bitter, or spicy."
Jin Zhao: "..."
In the end, Jin Zhao also chose the raspberry juice, just like Meng Yanxi.
"Alright, two bottles of wild raspberry juice!" the owner ordered loudly in his dialect. (The shop assistant...)
It was only then that Jin Zhao belatedly realized that the owner had been speaking the local dialect of Jinjue Town ever since they entered.
The dialect of Jinjue Town is not easy to understand, making it quite difficult for outsiders. Meng Yanxi is not a local and speaks Mandarin, but she seems to be able to communicate with the boss without any problems.
Jin Zhao: "You understand dialects?"
Meng Yanxi nodded demurely.
Jin Zhao was surprised: "How could you understand that? Didn't you grow up in Suiyi?"
Meng Yanxi said proudly, "It's not difficult. You'll figure out the pattern after listening a few more times."
His reserved yet unreserved demeanor made Jin Zhao inexplicably think: Damn it, he's fooled me again.
But then a terrible memory suddenly came to mind.
When they first met in Jinjue Town, Grandma Zhang asked her in front of him if she was bringing her boyfriend home to meet her parents... Jin Zhao's brow twitched, and she asked cautiously, "When did you learn to understand the Jinjue Town dialect?"
Meng Yanxi: "I knew how to do it when I was little."
Jin Zhao's heart sank, but she asked, unwilling to give up, "How small?"
Meng Yanxi stared at her with his dark eyes, seemingly lost in thought, but it looked like he was plotting something wicked.
Jin Zhao's girlish intuition made her want to stop immediately, but Meng Yanxi was one step ahead and said coldly, "If you're asking about the neighbor I met in Jinjue Town back then, who asked you if you brought your boyfriend home to meet your parents, then it must have been much earlier than that."
Jin Zhao: "..." What a vicious mouth.
What a terrible memory.
It's such a small thing, yet he's remembered it for so many years.
Even after so many years, when recalling the past, Jin Zhao couldn't help but feel embarrassed and covered his face: "Then why did you pretend not to understand back then?"
"When did I pretend not to understand?" Meng Yanxi enunciated each word clearly. "I was tacitly agreeing."
Jin Zhao: "..."
This answer, which came ten years late, was something she never expected.
At this moment, a commotion came from outside the shop. At first, the owner said something to the people outside the shop, and then the owner's wife lifted the kitchen curtain and rushed out angrily.
"Sister Niu, you can't do this every time! We collected these cardboard boxes ourselves, and you always just come over and take them when we're not looking!"
The proprietress's voice was loud, and Jin Zhao turned her head to look.
A blue shed was set up on the open ground to the right of the shop entrance, with several shelves of parcels piled up under it. This area is far from the tourist attractions and is almost entirely populated by locals, with a small permanent population. Many shops also serve as Cainiao Post Stations while operating their regular businesses.
The shop owners are a frugal couple; they collect and sell unwanted express delivery boxes from customers.
The woman called Sister Niu was short and small, wearing a faded gray T-shirt and tight pants. She had her back to the shop and seemed not to have heard anything. She was about to leave with a bundle of cardboard in each hand when the shop owner rushed up to her and grabbed her, scolding, "Don't go! Put it down! This is stealing! I'll call the police, you believe me!"
"What are you stealing? What are you stealing? What did I steal from you? Aren't you just picking up what others don't want?" Sister Niu turned around and scolded fiercely.
The woman looked to be around fifty years old, with sallow skin, high cheekbones, and deeply sunken temples.
As soon as she turned around, Jin Zhao recognized her.
—Aunt Niu, the postpartum nanny Lin Yao hired back then.
The person who blamed her for being too sensitive and cursed her to get depression was currently outside the door fighting with the shop owner over cardboard boxes. Thanks to the shop owner's help, he ultimately lost and left cursing.
His mouth was as vicious as ever: "A piece of scrap paper worth a few cents, is it worth robbing? Did you die and have no money to bury your own family? What a piece of junk!"
The proprietress wasn't one to be trifled with either. She stood with her hands on her hips at the door, yelling, "Watch your mouth! Otherwise, I'll spread all your dirty laundry and make sure you can't stay in business!"
Sister Niu slunk away.
But it seemed there was no need for the proprietress to publicize it; Jinjue Town wasn't very big, and news spread easily. A customer at the next table chuckled and said, "The Zhang family is really unlucky to have married such a thing. They even said she was a city woman when they got married."
The other guests at the table said bluntly, "So what if she works as a nanny in the city? She's just from the next town. She was messing around with people since junior high, had a child before she was eighteen, and then got divorced twice. I heard she had a daughter before she married into the family."
People at another table asked, "You just had a baby, so why are you getting a divorce?"
"He's dishonest, it's an old habit. I heard he switched the LV bag his sister-in-law bought for his mother-in-law, replacing the real bag with a fake one. He stirred up trouble between his mother-in-law and sister-in-law, causing them to argue every day. His brother's family even got divorced. Later, his in-laws found out, and now they can't live together anymore."
The customers chatted idly, and the owners, a husband and wife, were quite considerate and didn't interrupt. Just as the proprietress was about to return to the kitchen, she suddenly noticed Meng Yanxi and went up to greet him in Mandarin: "Young man, long time no see! Visiting your classmates again?"
The proprietress of this place has an exceptional ability to recognize people. She can recognize a customer after just one visit, let alone someone like Meng Yanxi, whom she can spot at a glance no matter how many years have passed.
Meng Yanxi nodded politely, and the proprietress greeted her before returning to the kitchen.
Jin Zhao's heart stirred, and he leaned closer, tentatively asking, "Do you have any classmates here?"
Meng Yanxi stared at her, then suddenly laughed: "Yes, the classmate who brought prickly berry juice for everyone else but not for me."
Jin Zhao's mood did not ease because of his sarcasm. Her throat suddenly felt a little dry. She swallowed and asked softly, "You came to see me before?"
"What, are you surprised?" Meng Yanxi raised an eyebrow and asked, "I've been wondering, Jin Zhao, when exactly do you think I started liking you?"
To be honest, she didn't know.
When we were naming Meng Jue, he did mention that he fell in love at first sight in Jinjue Town. So I must have met him here during the winter break of my second year of high school, but as far as I can remember, nothing particularly special happened back then.
Jin Zhao asked, "Is it because I danced that dance randomly?"
Meng Yanxi: "No."
Jin Zhao: "Is that picking mushrooms?"
Meng Yanxi: "It's all because of you."
The two spoke at the same time.
While Jin Zhao was still ruling out possibilities, Meng Yanxi had already given her the answer.
“It has nothing to do with dancing.” Meng Yanxi looked directly into her eyes. “It’s just because of you.”
Jin Zhao's chest suddenly bumped.
Meng Yanxi chuckled self-deprecatingly, "I don't remember much about picking mushrooms, except that I used my sister as a comma in order to talk to someone a little more."
*
It was already evening when they got home, and the little dumpling was still awake. After finally waiting for her parents, she fussed to play with them. Meng Yanxi went to hold the baby and told Jin Zhao to take a bath first.
After Jin Zhao finished washing his hair and taking a shower, his phone, which was on the dressing table, suddenly rang with a "whoosh".
That's the notification sound for an email.
She developed a habit during her student days of enabling push notifications for emails.
She didn't check it immediately. She followed the routine of drying her hair and doing her skincare, and only picked up her phone when she was applying a face mask.
The moment I opened my email, my gaze froze—
Subject: Confirmation of Adjusted Visiting Scholar Programme Start Date
It was sent from Cambridge.
Jin Zhao's heart suddenly started racing, and he read the entire email in a flash.
An email written in an academic style, every sentence official and formal, left Jin Zhao deeply moved, his gaze lingering on the opening sentence:
Your request to postpone the start of your visiting scholar program at the University of Cambridge until September has been approved.
Your request...
But she never brought it up; she was still considering its feasibility.
So who helped her submit the application to Cambridge?
*
Meng Yanxi finally managed to get the baby to sleep.
As I went upstairs and entered the bedroom, a soft, warm body bumped into me. The sweet scent of gardenias filled my nostrils.
Meng Yanxi was surprised to receive such treatment right away and was a little flattered. She quickly glanced in the direction of the bathroom and said in an overly charming manner, "Wait for me, three minutes."
He then prepared to let her go and quickly wash himself clean.
Jin Zhao hugged his waist tightly and buried her head in his chest.
Meng Yanxi realized with some disappointment that it wasn't the hint he was thinking of.
He asked, amused, "What's wrong?"
Jin Zhao sniffed and asked, "Was it you who contacted Cambridge?"
Meng Yanxi raised an eyebrow: "They replied to you? It was approved?"
Jin Zhao nodded.
Meng Yanxi's feelings were actually a bit complicated; he wasn't as willing as he seemed.
Jin Zhao asked sullenly, "Why?"
Meng Yanxi paused for a moment: "I just happen to be free and have nothing to do."
Jin Zhao looked up at him and said, "Didn't you say that you have a deep possessive desire for me?"
He countered, "Didn't you say it was my problem and I needed to change it?"
Jin Zhao: "So you changed it?"
Meng Yanxi frankly said, "I have reflected on my actions and am making improvements."
The implication is that nothing has been changed.
Jin Zhao chuckled: "Then why did you apply for it for me?"
Meng Yanxi looked down at her.
His eyelashes were long, his pupils were dark, and his gaze softened as he looked at her eyes and brows.
After a long pause, he said, "Wanting to possess you is instinct, and wanting you to be good to me is too."
-----------------------
Author's Note: I apologize to all readers. This chapter has been completely rewritten. I hope it hasn't affected your reading experience.
I read every single review for this chapter carefully. Some were positive, some were negative, and I understand them all. I wanted to write this myself, but I had a gut feeling the plot wasn't good. So, I should have written this chapter much earlier. But because I knew the plot wasn't good, I intermittently added sweet moments to ease everyone's emotional tension. Why did I keep wanting to write this? Because ever since I started writing, I've had a strange obsession with creating a major conflict before the ending. You'll notice in every book I write that I always have to arrange a major conflict before the ending. I don't know where this habit came from, and I never thought there was anything wrong with it before. It wasn't until yesterday, when a reader commented that the current ending of this book is too similar to my sister's "Rich Man," that I suddenly realized this problem. I often deliberately create a major obstacle for the male and female leads to highlight their growth, as if you wouldn't notice their progress without it. However, I overlook the fact that their growth is inherent in every word. By the later stages, they should have already matured considerably, and creating a conflict feels like forcing them back to square one. It also makes readers feel like I'm padding the plot, while I myself struggle more and feel wronged. Therefore, I've removed the major conflict that was already difficult to write smoothly, and I'll gradually revise the small foreshadowing elements I planted (they don't affect the overall narrative; they're just a sentence or two, and many people didn't even notice them). Now, I'm directly connecting to the ending. In fact, while writing, I realized that without this major conflict, their growth felt more natural. They are inherently wise, appreciative, and powerful individuals—both the female and male leads are like that. Moreover, the male lead's personality and precociousness don't require any conflict to force his growth.
Writing this has definitely given me a sense of clarity. Avoiding major conflicts, the main story can be concluded in the next chapter or the chapter after that. I will write some side stories, but not many. Leave a comment below if you have any requests for side stories, and I'll pick a few that everyone wants to see and write them~
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
