When Meng Ting returned home, Shu Yang was sitting on the sofa watching a game.
“Where’s Shu Lan?” she asked.
Shu Yang turned around, a hint of surprise appearing on his usually cold face. He had recently noticed that Meng Ting’s attitude towards Shu Lan had gradually changed. Before, she was very kind to Shu Lan, even calling her Xiao Lan as their father did. But lately, Meng Ting had been keeping her distance from Shu Lan, as if she were a stranger.
Shu Yang replied coolly, “In her room.”
Meng Ting pressed her lips together. She didn’t go to find Shu Lan first but instead returned to her room to take out the box.
As soon as she opened it, she found that the box had been rummaged through.
The ballet dress was crumpled into a ball, and the small gold medal was missing. Meng Ting moved the wrinkled dress aside and found that the white feathered long dress was also gone.
Shu Lan had good taste indeed.
Among the items in her box, that white-feathered long dress was the most precious.
It was a dress that her mother had spent half a year making. Zeng Yujie was beautiful but came from a humble background, born in a small village. Meng Ting’s maternal grandparents taught in that small village, but Zeng Yujie fell in love with the wrong person in her youth.
She didn’t accept the arranged marriage her family had set up, instead eloping with a man from out of town.
After leaving her hometown, Zeng Yujie didn’t have an easy life, working as a female worker in a textile factory. Later, the man abandoned her, and she was pregnant with Meng Ting. She was a strong woman who never thought of suicide, instead focusing all her energy on raising her daughter well.
When Meng Ting was ten years old, she made this dress by hand.
Zeng Yujie was skilled with her hands. In those days, many wealthy ladies prided themselves on wearing clothes she made. Later, she stopped making clothes, just as she told Meng Ting, she no longer loved that man.
The last piece of clothing Zeng Yujie made was a white feathered dress.
Pouring all her motherly love into it, she embroidered the colorful feathers stitch by stitch. When the white skirt moved, it was a beautiful display of flowing light and color.
It was a dress with a touch of Republican-era style.
Even by modern standards, it was very valuable and beautiful.
Zeng Yujie doted on Meng Ting. Her daughter was an angel bestowed by heaven, so she made her a dress for when she grew up. It was originally meant to be a gift for Meng Ting’s coming of age, but after Zeng Yujie’s death, Meng Ting buried it at the bottom of the box, until that fire in her previous life.
Not only did the fire burn this dress, but it also destroyed Meng Ting’s face.
Meng Ting closed the box and got up to knock on Shu Lan’s door.
When Shu Lan opened the door and saw it was her, she looked away uncomfortably, “Sister.”
Meng Ting held out her hand, “My dress and gold medal.”
Shu Lan’s eyes widened, “Sister, how can you wrongly accuse me? Even though you’re my sister, I’ll get angry if you keep this up.”
Meng Ting looked at her.
The girl before her was seventeen, the same age as her, only a month younger.
Meng Ting had been good to her for an entire lifetime, protecting her with all her might. If it wasn’t for saving Shu Lan, she wouldn’t have been disfigured in her previous life. Shu Lan was good at pleasing people. The year Meng Ting lost her mother, Uncle Shu was awkward and didn’t know how to comfort her. As for Shu Yang, there was no need to mention him. Only Shu Lan sweetly called her “sister” all the time.
She had said, “We will always be sister’s family.”
Meng Ting had never seen through her and had been good to her for a lifetime.
But in this life, she would no longer look after Shu Lan.
Meng Ting’s eyes were calm, “You like Jiang Ren, so you took my gold medal to please him.”
Shu Lan was furious with embarrassment, “What nonsense are you talking about!”
“But that dress is a keepsake from my mother, and that gold medal contains the last photo of me and her. You can have the other things from before, but you can’t take those two items.”
Shu Lan hadn’t expected the usually soft-natured Meng Ting to be so insistent this time.
She got angry too and decided to admit it, “What’s wrong with borrowing your dress to attend someone’s birthday party? If I had nice dresses, would I look at your things? It’s because of your eyes that our family is so poor. My dad’s salary isn’t low, but it’s all used to pay off your debts!”
Meng Ting clenched her fists, and then after a while, she let out a light sigh.
“Shu Lan.”
Shu Lan looked at her, feeling inexplicably uneasy. Meng Ting was still the clean and gentle Meng Ting, but something was different.
“I remember everything I owe Uncle Shu. But I don’t owe you anything. Before, I gave you almost everything I had.”
Meng Ting could play the piano, and Shu Lan also clamored to learn. But she wasn’t very talented and only learned for two years, barely scratching the surface. Knowing the family’s financial difficulties, Meng Ting never learned piano again. At that time, her mother was still alive, but the family could only afford the learning expenses for one child.
Meng Ting could dance, many types of dance.
Shu Lan also made a fuss about wanting to learn. To give her this opportunity, Meng Ting gave up learning from teachers and practiced on her own.
However, Shu Lan was still disappointed. Her body wasn’t flexible, and she couldn’t bear the pain of stretching. After a month, she gave up on her own.
Meng Ting said, “If you can’t return my things, I’ll go ask Jiang Ren for them myself.”
Shu Lan had never seen Meng Ting like this before.
She was also about to explode with anger, “Go ahead and ask! If you do, I’ll tell Dad how you’re making his biological daughter miserable.” With that, Shu Lan slammed the door shut. Anyway, the gold medal couldn’t be retrieved. She didn’t know there was a photo behind it. At that time, everyone in the class was talking about He Junming’s birthday on Tuesday. Although that group was rough, they were all rich second-generation kids. Shu Lan also wanted to be invited.
So she threw Meng Ting’s gold medal down from upstairs.
He Junming indeed remembered her.
Shu Lan, blushing, said it was an award she got for dancing. He Junming picked it up and saw the photo that had fallen out.
He was stunned for several seconds, then whistled and asked Shu Lan about the person in the photo, “Who is she?”
Shu Lan’s face immediately turned pale. She could only force a smile, “A small celebrity I liked a few years ago. She’s long retired from the industry now.”
He Junming was a bit disappointed, “She’s quite pretty. Give it to me. I’ll invite you to come play tomorrow night.”
Shu Lan’s eyes lit up, and she immediately agreed.
That dress was also beautiful, not just beautiful but special.
Anyway, Meng Ting wasn’t wearing it, what’s wrong with her wearing it?
Just thinking about how others would look at her at He Junming’s birthday party tomorrow, Shu Lan got excited. If Jiang Ren became interested in her…
She didn’t believe Meng Ting would go ask for it back. After all, Meng Ting had always been obedient since childhood, almost without any edges, just soft and docile. If there was a possibility that Dad might be sad, Meng Ting would never let the sisters become disharmonious.
When Meng Ting went to school the next day, Shu Lan still hadn’t returned the items. She knew she could only go ask for them herself.
She would no longer unconditionally give in to Shu Lan.
The photo was also a keepsake from her mother. It couldn’t become a plaything for He Junming and his friends to joke about.
It was already 5:30 PM when No. 7 Middle School let out.
Meng Ting packed her schoolbag and said to Zhao Nuancheng, “You go home first.”
“What about you, Ting Ting?”
“I have something to do.”
Zhao Nuancheng was simple-minded, “Alright then, see you tomorrow, Ting Ting.”
“See you tomorrow.”
Meng Ting had originally thought that the two schools had the same dismissal time. When she went to ask for the dress, Shu Lan surely wouldn’t have had time to change into it. Shu Lan wouldn’t return it at home, but fearing a scene at school, she naturally wouldn’t insist on wearing that dress.
However, when she arrived at Shu Lan’s classroom, a girl in front of Shu Lan’s seat, holding a small mirror, looked at her curiously, “Shu Lan? She left early. Today is He Junming from Class 12’s birthday. She skipped Teacher Zhang’s class and went directly.”
Meng Ting frowned. She hadn’t expected these people to skip class directly, “Thank you. Do you know where He Junming’s birthday party is?”
The girl thought Meng Ting’s soft voice sounded nice, so she told her, “Over at Anhai Pavilion.”
Meng Ting was a bit troubled.
But thinking of Shu Lan’s personality and that the dress might be damaged, she finally got on the bus to Anhai Pavilion.
She knew about Anhai Pavilion.
It was the most expensive area in this city, by the sea, with restaurants, internet cafes, and KTVs.
They were all properties of the Jiang family’s Junyang Group.
The after-school period happened to coincide with the evening rush hour.
When Meng Ting got off the bus, the sky had darkened somewhat.
Winter nights came early, and it was already pitch black now.
Meng Ting walked through the main entrance of Anhai Pavilion. A man and a woman at the front desk greeted her politely, “May I ask who you are?”
At that time, Meng Ting was still wearing the uniform of No. 7 Middle School, ordinary canvas shoes, her hair tied in a ponytail, and a pair of dark-lensed glasses on her nose bridge. She looked quite out of place.
Meng Ting felt a bit awkward, “Can I find my sister?”
The female receptionist smiled, “Student, we can’t let you up without an invitation.”
Meng Ting was stunned. From upstairs came someone’s singing, which could be described as a cacophony. She knew this party was very lively. In this situation, if Shu Lan didn’t cause trouble, she wouldn’t be Shu Lan.
Meng Ting wasn’t here to clean up after her; she couldn’t let her dress be ruined.
“I’m also…” she rarely lied, her cheeks turning red, “He- He Junming’s friend. I’m late.”
The female receptionist laughed, “Little sister, it’s not good to lie.”
Her eyes glanced at Meng Ting’s glasses, and the male receptionist also looked somewhat disdainful.
It was clear they thought Meng Ting was lying.
Meng Ting knew why.
Jiang Ren’s group of friends were all either rich or noble. He Junming liked people with good looks, and wouldn’t have such a “shabby” friend.
Meng Ting hesitated for a long while, then raised her hand to take off her glasses.
The two receptionists fell silent for a moment.
The young girl’s cheeks were slightly flushed, “I am… their friend.” The lobby lights were too bright, and she blinked uncomfortably, her eyes glistening slightly.
Yet she was unbelievably beautiful. That kind of pure beauty was even more striking than all those who had gone up before.
The male receptionist’s face turned red. After a while, he cleared his throat lightly, “I’ll ask for you, student.”
Meng Ting put her glasses back on, feeling nervous.
The call connected, and the male receptionist asked her, “They’re asking for your name.”
Meng Ting had no way out, “Meng Ting.”
He Junming, dizzy from drinking, had just finished singing when he received a call. His alcohol tolerance wasn’t good, and when he heard “Meng Ting” on the other end, his first reaction was to doubt if he had heard correctly.
“Damn? Meng Ting!”
Jiang Ren, playing cards on the sofa, looked up.
“Ren Ge, want to continue?”
Jiang Ren pushed the high stack of chips and cards in front of He Junming, “I’ll buy your phone.” The 56,000 yuan in chips wasn’t a small amount in those days.
He stood up, and He Junming’s phone was already in his hand.
The receptionist said, “Yes, this student says her name is Meng Ting.”
A young man’s pleased low laughter came from the other end of the phone.
The receptionist didn’t know the person had changed, “Should we let her come up?”
“Tell her to take the stairs. Say the elevator is broken.”
He waited at the corner of the third floor, unable to help but curve his lips into a smile.