Meng Shuyao and Winnie stood on either side of Mia, tugging her along as they asked about what had happened.
“Were you okay in there?”
“Did you get hurt?”
Mia shook her head. “Don’t worry, I’m fine. They just tried to scare me.”
Those policemen had wanted to convict her without even asking what had happened. Fortunately, she hadn’t grown up being easily frightened.
Winnie patted her chest. “We were worried to death.”
“I suppose I got to experience what it feels like to go into a police station.” Mia took a deep breath. “The air outside is still better.”
Behind them, the inspector personally escorted Zhao Hesong to the entrance.
“It was all a misunderstanding. Blame my subordinates for not investigating properly. I’ll definitely give you an explanation for this.”
Zhao Hesong kindly reminded him, “Your subordinates really should be straightened out. If they can’t even handle matters impartially, I’m afraid your path to promotion in the future won’t be very easy either.”
The inspector nodded repeatedly. “Of course, of course. I’ll rectify things as soon as I get back.”
“All right, then we’ll be leaving first.”
“Very well.”
Zhao Hesong took his car keys out of his pocket. “Ladies, I’ll take you back to school.”
It was hard to get a cab at this hour, so Meng Shuyao didn’t refuse. “Thank you, Mr. Zhao.”
“No need.” Zhao Hesong opened the car door and got into the driver’s seat.
Winnie and Mia got into the back, while Meng Shuyao sat in the passenger seat.
The Porsche’s engine started, and the car drove off at a steady speed.
Winnie asked curiously, “Mr. Zhao, you even know the police inspector?”
Zhao Hesong smiled. “We’ve had dealings before, but I don’t have that much influence.”
Whose influence it was went without saying. It could only be Pei Yuzhou’s.
The Hells family had always had a political background. Here, even the governor had to show him some courtesy, let alone a mere police inspector.
“What happened to the redhead?” Mia remembered to ask.
The moment he was mentioned, Winnie got angry. “He’s doing just fine in the hospital. Scum. Degenerate. People like him should be castrated, chopped up, and fed to the dogs, so he won’t come out and hurt anyone else!”
Hearing that, Zhao Hesong in the front instinctively clamped his legs together.
She looked like such a delicate, petite girl, yet she was actually this ruthless.
Mia curled her lip. “Even dogs would think that thing of his is dirty.”
“That’s true.” Winnie felt disgusted just thinking about it. “If Yaoyao hadn’t stopped me today, I would’ve beaten him up again.”
Mia said, “We have to think of a way to make him delete those slanderous posts. A bunch of men banding together to defame someone—vile.”
Winnie couldn’t help agreeing. “Men are all no good.”
Meng Shuyao gave a light cough. There was still a man in the car.
Winnie reacted and hurriedly tried to salvage it. “Um, I didn’t mean it like that.”
Her expression turned awkward. “Mr. Zhao is naturally different from other men.”
Zhao Hesong kept one hand on the steering wheel, raised his eyes to glance at the rearview mirror, and followed her words. “How am I different?”
Winnie said ingratiatingly, “You’re different in every way. How could that kind of person possibly be compared to you?”
Zhao Hesong raised an eyebrow and said nothing more.
Meng Shuyao leaned against the car window, opened her phone, and sent Pei Yuzhou a message: “My friend has already come out of the police station. Thank you, Mr. Pei.”
He only replied with one word: “Mm.”
Meng Shuyao: “Can you tell me the next time you come to Chicago? If you’re free, can I treat you to a meal?”
Pei Yuzhou: “We’ll see.”
Meng Shuyao didn’t dare disturb him further. “All right.”
It was already very late when they reached the school.
After a whole day of turmoil, the girls said goodbye to Zhao Hesong and returned to their dorms to rest.
-
The slanderous posts on the forum were deleted clean overnight.
Not only that, the poster even publicly apologized to Meng Shuyao.
“Yaoyao, the posts are gone!” Winnie came to share the good news. “I heard that redhead dropped out. This is so satisfying!”
Meng Shuyao was surprised. “He dropped out?”
“His character was too awful, so the school advised him to withdraw.” Winnie had just heard the gossip. “Someone exposed that he’d deceived girls’ feelings and was two-timing multiple people at the same time, ruining our school’s reputation. Dropping out is already getting off lightly.”
Meng Shuyao found it very strange. He had still had that attitude yesterday, so why was he suddenly willing to apologize today?
Had Mr. Pei helped resolve it?
Aside from him, it seemed no one else had the ability to settle everything completely in such a short time.
Winnie had another matter on her mind, her expression worried. “I don’t know where my pendant fell yesterday. I remember it was still there when I came out of the hospital, but I only realized it was gone when I was showering last night.”
Meng Shuyao guessed, “Could it have fallen in Mr. Zhao’s car? I’ll help you ask.”
“Okay.” Winnie sighed. “It cost tens of thousands. It hurts to lose it.”
Meng Shuyao didn’t have Zhao Hesong’s contact information, so she could only look for Pei Yuzhou. “Mr. Pei, could you give me Mr. Zhao’s contact information?”
A few minutes later, the other side replied with a punctuation mark: “?”
Meng Shuyao explained, “My friend’s necklace might have fallen in his car. We’d like to ask him to help look for it.”
A moment later, he sent over a string of numbers.
Meng Shuyao: “Thank you.”
Meng Shuyao: “By the way, did you help me deal with the posts?”
Pei Yuzhou: “What do you think?”
Meng Shuyao: “Thank you, Mr. Pei.”
She even sent a “you’re the best” hugging sticker.
She hadn’t expected this matter to be resolved so easily on his end.
-
The storm passed, and life went on as usual.
With finals approaching, they entered the dull revision period.
Whenever it came to theory exams, Winnie’s head would ache. She had always hated memorizing texts the most. The words went in one side of her brain and out the other; she couldn’t remember a single thing.
Every exam, it was all thanks to Meng Shuyao summarizing the key points for her that she barely scraped past the passing line and avoided failing.
At last, after finishing the exam for Introduction to Western Art, she let out a huge sigh of relief.
“I want to go out and have fun. My brain’s about to explode. I need to recover.” Winnie scrolled through her phone and remembered something. “Tomorrow night is Mr. Zhao’s birthday party. Are you going?”
“Birthday party? How do you know? Since when did you two get so close?” Meng Shuyao asked three questions in a row.
Winnie curved her lips. “Didn’t he help me find my necklace last time? I treated him to a meal. A few days ago, he asked if I wanted to go have fun. I haven’t replied yet.”
Meng Shuyao stared at her expression. “You don’t… like him, do you?”
Winnie admitted it frankly. “Oh, come on. Who doesn’t like a good-looking face?”
Zhao Hesong did indeed fit her aesthetic. His personality was also quite witty; he could catch any joke thrown at him.
“He said Mr. Pei will probably be there too. Let’s go together. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
With those words, Meng Shuyao decisively nodded.
Mia was going to Portland with her family this weekend, so they didn’t call her.
The birthday party was held at Zhao Hesong’s own villa, and he had invited quite a few friends.
It was a residence in the best location in the city center, a semi-circular building. Along the central axis, water spouted from the fountain pool, light spilling out from beneath the water.
The interior was decorated in French classical style, with high-luxury furniture. Even the ceiling lights were custom-made by LV, very much in line with Young Master Zhao’s temperament.
As soon as Meng Shuyao and Winnie entered, Zhao Hesong walked over. “The two young ladies have arrived.”
Today, he wore a floral shirt, his tie loose, a silver chain pinned across his chest. His hair had been carefully styled, and paired with that roguish, refined face of his, he was indeed eye-catching.
“Happy birthday, Young Master Zhao.”
“Happy birthday, Mr. Zhao.”
Winnie and Meng Shuyao gave him their gifts.
Zhao Hesong curled his lips. “Didn’t I say you didn’t need to bring gifts?”
“It would feel a bit awkward to come empty-handed.” Winnie blinked. “The gift may be modest, but the sentiment is sincere.”
Zhao Hesong nodded with a smile. “I understand.”
He raised a hand in invitation. “Go in and have a seat. Help yourselves to whatever you’d like.”
Meng Shuyao asked, “Has Mr. Pei arrived?”