Liang Meng stumbled along in a daze, as if she were drunk.

But the world is far fiercer than any wine.

Buzz — buzz —

Her phone vibrated. Liang Meng truly couldn’t imagine who would be calling her at this hour.

Just moments ago at the villa, she had already battled through every person in her social circle.

“Hey, wanna come out and hang? Barbecue?”

It was Wang Zaiwu.

His voice was bright and clear, cheerful to the core — clearly someone without a care in the world.

Of course. Longquan was already his family’s now.

On the list of things Wang Zaiwu would one day inherit, another entry had been added in bold — Longquan Group.

“Zaiwu, I…” Liang Meng’s voice cracked.

She sucked hard at her nose and crouched down at the roadside.

“What’s wrong?”

In an instant, Wang Zaiwu could tell something was off.

He couldn’t explain why, but it was as if he always had some kind of telepathic connection with Liang Meng.

Any flutter in her world could set off waves in his heart.

At that moment, something — or rather someone — walked over and handed the glass at the booth to Wang Zaiwu.

Wang Zaiwu raised the phone, and with his free hand casually waved it aside.

“Where are you?”

He lowered his voice and asked with full seriousness.

“Zaiwu, I just came out of the villa.” Liang Meng’s tears finally couldn’t be held back and streamed down her face. “I’ve got nothing left…”

“Stay exactly where you are!”

Wang Zaiwu grabbed his jacket and strode out of the nightclub.

“Don’t move, don’t hang up. You hear me.”

The Wang Zaiwu who was always sunny and carefree revealed his commanding side for the very first time. He gave his orders.

Ten minutes later.

On the downhill road from the villa.

The roar of a Lamborghini’s engine, from far to near.

Wang Zaiwu spotted Liang Meng — hunched at the roadside, arms wrapped tightly around her knees, sobbing.

Hazard lights on, brakes, open the door, get out — Wang Zaiwu did it all in one fluid motion.

He ran to Liang Meng’s side and without a word scooped her up sideways, then without hesitation — as if loading a parcel — shoved her into his passenger seat.

Door shut.

Wang Zaiwu leaned in to fasten her seatbelt, and said, “Talk. What happened.”

Liang Meng felt as though both her body and soul had been hollowed out. She let out broken, stifled sobs. “I… I’ve got nothing left…”

Wang Zaiwu was anxious too. He smacked the steering wheel. “Stop saying useless things! What exactly happened?”

Liang Meng looked up through her tears and first confronted Wang Zaiwu with a question: “Did you know about what happened with Longquan?”

Wang Zaiwu looked down, subdued. “I knew. My dad bought most of the shares.”

Liang Meng heard that and broke into tears again!

The whole world knew Longquan no longer belonged to her. Of course Wang Zaiwu would know.

What was she even doing, asking the victor how he felt in her moment of downfall.

“Alright, let me take you somewhere to calm down first.”

Wang Zaiwu pressed the accelerator, taking Liang Meng away from this heartbreaking place called Tanshan.

He wasn’t sure how to comfort Liang Meng. As the heir apparent of Wanheng, he was inherently compromised, and besides, he genuinely couldn’t understand Liang Meng’s mindset — someone who valued her career above her own life.

But some things still had to be said.

“Hey, I know you’re really upset right now. But I’ll just say something — take it or leave it.”

The Wang Zaiwu speaking today was completely unlike his usual devil-may-care rich kid persona.

When he turned serious, his cold, sharp features made him look a little like a young Jiang Han.

Why did everyone seem to have two faces?

Liang Meng felt increasingly disoriented.

“I’m not defending my family. Honestly, my dad buying up the shares isn’t necessarily a bad thing. You still hold 15% of Longquan. Whether you learn from your sister and sell it off, or keep it and collect dividends — what you’d get would be more than enough for several lifetimes.”

Liang Meng understood what Wang Zaiwu was getting at. “There you go again.”

Wang Zaiwu only wanted to remind her: she was far from having nothing. As long as she was willing, they could be carefree, indulgent heirs who ate well and lived comfortably.

“This is actually a perfect opportunity to step down from the Longquan CEO role and hand off the weight.”

Wang Zaiwu continued, casually drifting the steering wheel.

“I won’t make any other promises, but my dad does have a good eye for choosing professional managers. Over the next year or two, take the opportunity to cash out. Then make some investments, enjoy passive returns, and take it easy — isn’t that a good life?”

“It isn’t.”

Liang Meng, still in tears, didn’t even have to think about it before she obstinately refused.

Wang Zaiwu felt he was truly bewitched. What on earth was so magical about that wretched Longquan, that it captivated Liang Meng more than the thrill of spending money?

“Then tell me — why are you so determined to hang yourself on this one tree called Longquan? It’s already come to this! You can kick up as much fuss as you want — it won’t change the outcome!”

Men are always short of patience. Faced with a problem they can’t solve, they can sometimes be more impulsive than women.

Wang Zaiwu didn’t mean to pour salt in the wound, but he genuinely had no way to help with what was troubling Liang Meng right now.

Liang Meng sat in Wang Zaiwu’s car and gradually grew calmer.

She finally found the composure to speak, clearly, the words she had long buried in her heart.

Not only as an answer to Wang Zaiwu, but as a reckoning with Longquan itself — a disclosure to her own past.

“Longquan is not just a company to me — it’s a connection. My parents died very early. My memories of them are blurry. My sister once told me that Longquan was the most important thing to my parents when they were alive — sometimes it even came before me. Holding onto this ideal is like carrying forward some kind of spirit and commitment that belonged to them. Without it, I truly cannot feel, in this world, where I came from or where I’m going.”

“I’m a person with almost no family bonds to speak of.” Liang Meng said. “When I was small, I grew up in the Longquan factory. Those faces are all deeply familiar to me. They weren’t just my parents’ employees — they were my neighbours, my community. They watched me grow up; I watched them grow old. They are the whole of my social world. To lose Longquan is to lose everything. Zaiwu, I’m not making much sense. Can you understand any of this?”

What Liang Meng said was true. Without Longquan as her lifeline to hold onto, she was like duckweed — drifting with the current, no anchor.

Not knowing where she had come from; even less knowing where she was going.

She was like a child cast away and forgotten by the heavens.

“Longquan is also the thread connecting me and my sister.” Liang Meng rested her chin on her hand and gazed out the window. “Zaiwu, you don’t understand. Two people with no blood relation — if they have no shared ideal, the only thing that can hold them together is shared interests. This time my sister sold her Longquan shares, I didn’t openly object, but deep inside I was devastated. Wang Zaiwu — tell me — isn’t her doing that a signal that she wants to cut ties with me?”

When it came to the topic of her sister, Liang Meng couldn’t say much to Jiang Han. But discussing it with Wang Zaiwu posed no problem at all.

“Cut ties? Come on.” Wang Zaiwu turned the wheel and said without concern, “Does cashing out need a reason? In this world, cashing out and cheating on someone are the two things that require the least justification — it’s just human nature!”

The words human nature suddenly brought a flash of clarity to Liang Meng. Wang Zaiwu had never been immature — he was perceptive.

And the word cheating triggered it — Liang Meng couldn’t hold back anymore, and out tumbled, one by one, the things she had just witnessed at the villa.

“Screech—”

The sharp sound of brakes!

And Wang Zaiwu turning to stare in stunned disbelief.

“Don’t look at me like that. It’s real.”

Time is a remedy. Face to face with reality, Liang Meng was slowly beginning to accept it.

She gave Wang Zaiwu a look that was both resigned and certain.

“You’re saying — Jiang Han and Lin Qing?” Wang Zaiwu’s mouth fell open wide enough to unhinge his jaw.

Was Jiang Han collecting a harem now?

“Yes. So I can’t make sense of it.” Liang Meng was utterly dejected. “Overnight, Longquan is gone. And the people around me are a complete mess.”

Wang Zaiwu was young, after all. He didn’t know what to say anymore.

He put himself in Liang Meng’s shoes for a moment — that would drive anyone to madness.

Wang Zaiwu took Liang Meng to an indoor hot spring in the city, accompanied her through a steam sauna, a bath, a spa treatment, and a meal.

Liang Meng didn’t resent Wang Zaiwu.

She understood — when Wang Xiancheng had set his sights on acquiring Longquan, no one could have stopped him.

“So what are you going to do now?”

Coming out, Wang Zaiwu twirled his car keys and asked Liang Meng.

What he meant was: where can you even live now?

“With things between everyone in such a state — maybe you shouldn’t go back there either.” Wang Zaiwu suggested. “I have a large, open-plan apartment in the city centre. I barely go there. Why not stay there for a couple of days?”

Liang Meng thought about it for a moment, then shook her head.

She had learned her lessons and was taking stock.

After the falling-out with Liang Xing and Jiang Han, she had moved out of the villa. After parting ways with Lin Qing, she would have to move out of the apartment again. The world was vast — where was home?

Even if she accepted Wang Zaiwu’s kindness right now and kept on running away —

What if, down the line, she and Wang Zaiwu had a falling-out too? She’d have to move again.

Their current positions and circumstances were awkward. A falling-out was only a matter of time.

What’s more, Wang Xiancheng had acquired Longquan — he was now half an enemy to Liang Meng.

How could she move into an “enemy’s” home?

“Forget it, no need. I’ll go back to the apartment.” Liang Meng walked down the steps toward the car. “The place belongs to Lu Zhou — not to Lin Qing. I’ve been paying her rent every day. I can stay there with my head held high. From today, I’ll just transfer the rent directly to Lu Zhou. If Lu Zhou also kicks me out, then I’ll move.”

“That… works too.”

Wang Zaiwu thought about it and didn’t push any further.

He drove Liang Meng back, then thought about it downstairs and felt uneasy, so he parked the car and went up with her.

Lin Qing’s mother, unaware of everything that had happened, was at home tidying up, waiting for Liang Meng and Lin Qing to return.

Liang Meng walked through the door and came face to face with Lin Qing’s mother.

She was cold, said nothing, and turned to walk straight into her room.

Lin Qing’s mother looked at Wang Zaiwu, who had followed Liang Meng in, with curiosity. “Oh! Who’s this? Such a handsome young man. Liang Meng, why did he come back with you?”

Wang Zaiwu glanced at Lin Qing’s mother and changed his shoes without a word, then went inside.

Lin Qing’s mother found Liang Meng suddenly ignoring her baffling, but still shamelessly followed along into the room.

“Little Meng, are you feeling unwell somewhere? How come you’re back so late today.”

As she spoke, Lin Qing’s mother naturally reached out and pressed her hand to Liang Meng’s forehead.

She didn’t expect it — but the moment she pressed her hand there, she found Liang Meng genuinely had a fever.

“You’ve got a fever!” Lin Qing’s mother was startled.

Liang Meng thought of what Lin Qing had said today.

Did you think my mother genuinely cared for you? It was only because I was your subordinate and needed that salary that we had no choice but to put on a show — my mother accompanying me in flattering you and putting on a smile. Just because you were my boss.

Ha.

Liang Meng’s heart was cold as ice.

She raised one hand and pushed Lin Qing’s mother away, coldly throwing out: “Stop putting on a fake act.”

Lin Qing’s mother was taken aback, then immediately retorted: “How am I putting on a fake act?”

Lin Qing’s mother had always had a direct temperament. Over all these years, the moment anyone showed her disrespect, she would fire right back.

Otherwise, a mother and daughter on their own — they’d have been pushed around and bullied to death long ago.

Although she had always had a good impression of Liang Meng, and genuinely felt for this girl —

The sudden rudeness still felt like something Lin Qing’s mother had to address: “Little Meng, you have a fever, and I’m concerned about you. How is that wrong?”

“I don’t need your concern.”

Liang Meng turned away, dismissing her.

Lin Qing’s mother walked out in a huff, and came face to face with Wang Zaiwu.

She directed all her frustration at this unfamiliar young man.

“It’s so late — a boy your age staying here is not appropriate! Hurry back home!”

“This isn’t your place.”

Wang Zaiwu thought of what Lin Qing had done to Liang Meng, and how Lin Qing had then gone to latch onto Jiang Han. Towards the woman standing before him now, he had no goodwill at all.

As the saying goes, a beam follows the way its ridgepole is set. If Lin Qing could behave as she did today, who was to say it wasn’t the result of parents with warped values and no proper upbringing?

“You…!!!”

Lin Qing’s mother was furious and flustered, and those words had left her speechless.

Reason carries the day.

And Wang Zaiwu hadn’t said anything wrong.