Meng Shuyao returned to the restaurant downstairs.
Winnie waved. “Yaoyao, you’re finally back.”
Mia was busy editing the photos they had just taken. “We’re all full. Have you eaten?”
“No.” Meng Shuyao pulled out a chair and sat down.
“Hm?” Mia put down her phone, puzzled. “Didn’t you go look for a friend? You didn’t eat together?”
Meng Shuyao shook her head lightly. “We ran into each other by chance and just chatted a little.”
“If we’d known, we would’ve waited for you.” Winnie handed her the menu. “Hurry and see what you want to eat.”
“It’s fine, no need to wait for me.” Meng Shuyao called over a server and ordered a pasta and seafood soup.
Mia asked curiously, “What friend? How come I’ve never heard you mention them?”
Meng Shuyao didn’t know how to answer.
That had merely been an excuse she’d come up with on the spot. How could she possibly be qualified to be Mr. Pei’s friend?
Winnie seemed to guess something. “It couldn’t be… him, could it?”
Meng Shuyao tacitly admitted it.
“Who?” Mia couldn’t understand the riddle they were speaking in and immediately became unhappy. “What’s that supposed to mean? You two have secrets you’re not telling me?”
“No.” Meng Shuyao explained briefly and succinctly.
“It’s okay, baby. I’ll introduce you to someone better,” Mia comforted her. “They’re just men. There are plenty of them. No need to hang yourself on one tree.”
Winnie chimed in, “Agreed.”
Meng Shuyao understood the logic, but she had her own difficulties.
Only someone of Mr. Pei’s status could help her out of her predicament.
Mia spoke with feeling. “If you ask me, men only have one use: satisfying physical needs.”
Meng Shuyao wanted to cover her mouth. “Keep your voice down.”
Mia had no scruples. “What’s there to be afraid of? They can’t understand Chinese anyway.”
Meng Shuyao really wanted to say that there was someone who could understand Chinese, and he was right upstairs.
She looked up at the terrace above. Seeing that there was no one there, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Mia had immigrated to America with her family when she was in her teens and had received an open-style education here, so she was very relaxed about relationships between men and women.
Just then, the server happened to come over with the food, and the topic ended there.
-
Meng Shuyao hadn’t received a call from the Meng family for half a month.
After what happened last time, there had been no further movement. She had thought Meng Zhenhua would force her to apologize to Allen, but unexpectedly, the matter had simply fizzled out.
She heard that Meng Yan was about to get married. Perhaps they were busy preparing for the wedding, so Meng Zhenhua had no time to deal with her for now.
That day, when she was scrolling through WeChat Moments, Meng Yan had posted photos of herself trying on wedding dresses, and had intentionally or otherwise revealed a rare Hermès bag—one of the recently sold-out styles in the wealthy wives’ circle.
Someone commented asking where she’d bought it, and she said her fiancé had brought it back for her from a business trip abroad.
Her desire to show off, both overtly and covertly, was impossible to hide.
It made some people unhappy, and they complained about her privately in a group chat.
「Isn’t it just a Birkin? If she’s so capable, have her husband give her the White House.」
「Forget it. Her husband doesn’t have any real power in the corporation anyway. He’s just an idle second-generation rich kid. Would he really be willing to spend two million on a bag for her?」
「I don’t get it. What’s there to be proud of when a man gives it to you? If she earned it herself, then I’d be impressed.」
「Nothing can be done about that. Who told her to be so incapable?」
「Just let her have this. After all, it wasn’t easy for her to finally marry into the Zhao family.」
「Correction: they haven’t gotten the certificate yet. Whether this thing works out in the end is still uncertain. Who doesn’t know Second Young Master Zhao has a white-moonlight ex-girlfriend?」
「I’d forgotten if you didn’t mention it. Second Young Master was deeply devoted to his ex-girlfriend. If his family hadn’t objected, when would it ever have been her turn?」
Meng Yan was usually ostentatious and loved being in the limelight, so quite a few socialites in the circle couldn’t stand her and seized every chance to make snide remarks.
Meng Shuyao had forgotten how she’d gotten into this group. She silently lurked and watched them curse people out. It was quite entertaining.
This period of time was calm and uneventful.
At the end of March, the school had a one-week spring break.
Mia had been looking forward to the holiday early on, and on the first day, she invited Meng Shuyao and Winnie to go have fun at a bar together.
A new bar had opened on Michigan Avenue, and it was said to be very popular.
After eight o’clock, it was at its liveliest, the noise practically overturning the heavens.
As soon as they entered the bar, a restless, blazing atmosphere rushed toward them.
The lights were glamorous and modern, the domed ceiling cut into irregular shapes, and the spatial design was unique.
There was a band performing onstage, the rock music surging with passion.
Except the handsome guys singing and dancing weren’t wearing shirts. Each of them had a male model’s physique, their muscle lines distinct as they thrust their hips with effort, their postures seductive.
The audience’s screams were about to pierce through eardrums.
Meng Shuyao hadn’t expected it to be this kind of style. “This doesn’t seem like a proper bar.”
Mia was full of enthusiasm. “This is exactly the kind of bar we girls should come to. Drinking while appreciating handsome guys dancing—how wonderful.”
Winnie nodded vigorously. “It is pretty good.”
In truth, Meng Shuyao preferred quiet bars. Places that were too noisy were torture for the ears.
But since they were already here, she didn’t want to dampen the mood.
Mia had reserved a booth in advance, close to the bar counter.
After finding their seats, they ordered a few special cocktails, a fruit platter, and three small desserts.
Winnie and Mia watched the handsome guys dancing with great interest, discussing which one had the best body.
Only Meng Shuyao wasn’t very interested. She focused on scrolling through her phone with her head lowered.
Winnie nudged her hand. “Yaoyao, how can you just play with your phone in a place like this?”
Mia blinked. “You don’t like abs?”
“They’re all right.” Meng Shuyao didn’t feel much. In her eyes, they weren’t much different from a lump of flesh.
Compared to exposed muscles, she admired physiques that could give a shirt a mature charm more.
Having had the fortune to see someone like Pei Yuzhou, everyone else fell a little short.
Later, Mia and Winnie got tipsy and went to the dance floor to dance with everyone else.
Meng Shuyao knew her own alcohol tolerance and didn’t dare drink too much. Among the three of them, someone had to stay clearheaded.
After staying inside for a long time, she took her phone and went outside for some air.
As soon as she stepped out the front door, someone suddenly crashed into her head-on. That person shoved her hard and ran inside in a panic.
Before Meng Shuyao could even see the other party clearly, she fell heavily to the ground, sucking in a breath from the pain.
Her phone also smashed onto the ground, the screen cracking.
A burst of hurried footsteps approached.
She looked up and saw four or five burly bodyguards in black chasing this way.
Meng Shuyao had no idea what was going on.
As the bodyguards passed by her, she saw the bulging outlines at the backs of their waists.
Guns!
Terrified, she picked up her phone from the ground and stood up, frantically pressing the power button, but the screen stayed black and wouldn’t turn on at all.
Chaotic shouts came from inside.
Meng Shuyao couldn’t care about anything else and prepared to go in to find Mia and Winnie.
Just as she turned around, someone suddenly called out to her.
“Miss Meng, why are you here?” Mark strode over.
Meng Shuyao was extremely anxious. “My friends are still inside.”
Mark reminded her, “Don’t go in. It’s very chaotic inside right now. Your friends won’t be harmed.”
With those words from him, Meng Shuyao felt a measure of reassurance. “Those bodyguards—are they your people?”
Mark nodded. “Yes.”
Meng Shuyao didn’t dare ask more.
The more one knew, the more dangerous it was. That was how it always went on TV.
Her foot was still hurting, so she quietly crouched at the side and rubbed her ankle.
Last time it had been her right foot that got twisted. This time, it was again.
In less than twenty minutes, several bodyguards escorted out a man with a face full of beard.
Mark instructed, “Take him to see Sir.”