Chapter 6: At the Dinner Table, Beside Him—Not Me

The black Rolls-Royce had not been driving long when the phone on the center console buzzed, and Bai Cixian's soft voice came through.

"Brother Yunci, did Teacher Meng leave behind some supplementary materials? I've organized them—should I bring them over now, so as not to hold up the work?"

Meng Shutang lifted her gaze slightly, meeting Gu Yunci's eyes as he looked over.

What "left behind materials," what "afraid of holding up work"—it was clearly just an excuse to deliver documents and force her way into this business trip.

But Meng Shutang felt that Gu Yunci would not agree.

She knew him too well—he always put work first, separating public from private with almost cold precision.

At a critical moment like this, he would never give the green light for romantic entanglements; even this request from his white moonlight, so obviously tinged with personal motive, he would not agree to.

The next second, the man bit down on his cigarette, his voice flat and unruffled: "Come over."

Meng Shutang's hand holding the pen curled slightly.

So some things only applied to her—toward Bai Cixian, he showed favoritism, and every principle could shatter to pieces.

Three hours later, the Wenlüxiaozhen project base.

The person in charge, Zhang Nan, spoke urgently: "President Gu, the main display rack in the intangible heritage craft zone collapsed! The workers were very careful setting up, but it still happened."

The man's brow furrowed tight.

"A solid wood rack can be reassembled, but several master-crafted intangible heritage exhibits got chipped and damaged. Tomorrow, the tour groups and Yingxia Group are both coming to inspect—if it can't be fixed today, the entire experience zone will have to be sealed off!"

The man's gaze fell on Meng Shutang.

She said only mildly, "I'll go take a look."

In ten minutes, Meng Shutang identified the problem—

The expansion bolts at the display rack's joints were non-compliant, and the construction team had altered the load-bearing zones without authorization.

Looking at the precious ancient beads scattered and shattered across the ground, with a few stray tourists gathering to point and whisper, Meng Shutang simply explained the situation to Gu Yunci.

"Have President Zhang reinforce the display rack. I'll repair the ancient beads now. You redirect the tourists—no one enters here until the repairs are done."

"Alright."

Gu Yunci responded, then turned to Zhang Nan, his voice piercingly cold:

"The display rack is in your hands. If anything goes wrong again, get out."

A chill ran down Zhang Nan's back, and he hastily agreed.

After Gu Yunci left, Meng Shutang immediately took out her tools and bent her head into the restoration work.

From the midday sun to the dusk coloring the horizon, she finally repaired every damaged ancient bead, one by one.

Zhang Nan watched and sighed sincerely: "Teacher Meng does things with real reliability."

Gu Yunci had returned to stand to the side at some unknown point, his expression indifferent, devoid of emotion.

Just then, a delicate figure approached.

Bai Cixian, in a pink dress, came gliding over and called out sweetly, "President Gu."

The people around immediately greeted her warmly, clearly on very familiar terms.

She distributed pastries and milk tea to everyone, her tone sweet and obliging: "Everyone's worked hard. Gu Clan won't treat any of you poorly."

Finally, she walked up to Meng Shutang, whose forehead was lightly beaded with sweat, her smile shallow but her words barbed.

"President Zhou and his team are always reliable—how could a perfectly good display rack just collapse?

... Could it be that Teacher Meng provided incorrect exhibit weights?"

Zhang Nan instantly held his breath, his heart in his throat.

He had just finished praising Meng Shutang, adding that Teacher Meng did things reliably—didn't that make this accident his responsibility?

He stole a glance at Gu Yunci and saw the man's face dark, his gaze resting on Meng Shutang in the dusk; he broke a sweat for her too.

Gu Yunci had always been strict—negligence was always punished. Right now, whoever got pointed at would be the scapegoat.

But Gu Yunci said nothing. With one hand in his pocket, he turned and walked away.

Bai Cixian immediately followed, turning back to Meng Shutang with a gentle voice: "Teacher Meng, we'll go to the restaurant and wait for you. Come over when you're done."

The workers who had just been gathered around Meng Shutang, saying they wanted to learn restoration from her, now fell dead silent and hastily scattered.

No one dared to have anything to do with her.

As dusk closed in from all sides, Meng Shutang stood alone in the empty exhibition zone, her heart a desolate wasteland.

The accident had occurred in the exhibition zone she was responsible for. Before the cause was thoroughly investigated, any defense would be feeble and powerless.

She remembered something—there had been someone sneaking around suspiciously at the site today. There must be something fishy about this; she needed to have it investigated thoroughly.

She could not just take the blame for nothing.

She worked a while longer before heading to the restaurant.

The whole point was to avoid Gu Yunci and Bai Cixian.

Who knew that the moment she walked in, she saw Bai Cixian and Zhang Nan talking.

Zhang Nan: "Today—thank you, Miss Bai."

Bai Cixian: "Not at all, I only spoke the truth."

Too far away, Meng Shutang couldn't hear what they were saying. She turned to leave, because she saw Gu Yunci sitting not far off.

Before she could turn, Bai Cixian called out to her warmly: "Teacher Meng, you've been busy all afternoon—come eat with us."

Reaching the long table, Bai Cixian sat down naturally beside Gu Yunci.

Meng Shutang sat directly across from them.

During the meal, Bai Cixian bantered with Gu Yunci: "I came here, and it wasn't entirely for you... two." Saying that, she turned her eyes for a glance at Meng Shutang.

"My father's birthday is in a few days. He loves orchids, and Wenlüxiaozhen's orchids are world-famous, so I'll just buy a pot to give him."

Meng Shutang's hand paused at those words.

Her father, Meng Zhibang, also had a birthday in a few days.

Should she also buy him a pot of orchids? He also likes them.

But after thinking it over, there's no need—he must have long forgotten she was his daughter.

After Zhou Xingfan got into a car accident, he used the excuse that it was inconvenient for a father to look after his daughter, and sent her to the Zhou family.

At first he gave only a tiny sum for Zhou Xingfan's medical treatment; later, he didn't give anything at all.

She went to see him, but each time she was stopped outside by his assistant, both at the door and outside the company.

After that, she never went to see him again.

Ding, the phone on the table lit up.

Meng Shutang picked it up and answered, "Nurse Li."

Nurse Li, "Miss Meng, there are still some small fees this period; I've sent them to your phone—please take care of them when you see them."

Also, remind President Gu's side to pay the treatment fees in advance, and stop constantly having us chase them.

After saying that, Nurse Li hung up.

The man of few words tossed his chopsticks, gazed at Meng Shutang's knitted brows, and asked, "Have you put off paying your mother's medical expenses?"

He had instructed Qin Zheng about this; Qin Zheng always handles things steadily, so there could be no slip-up.

He thought Meng Shutang was doing it on purpose.

Seeing that, Meng Shutang thought, since she was already angry, she might as well use the opportunity to remind him.

After all, they haven't divorced yet, so he is obligated by the agreement to pay the medical fees on time; if they divorced, she would never unreasonably bring up this demand.

But before she could speak, Bai Cixian accidentally knocked over the water cup beside her, splashing water onto the man's cuff.

She hurriedly grabbed some napkins, saying, "Sorry, I'm so clumsy."

After wiping Gu Yunci clean, she glanced out the window and said, "It's raining, I didn't bring an umbrella—how am I supposed to get home?"

After saying that, she furtively glanced at Gu Yunci, her tone soft and coquettish.

Gu Yunci raised his hand to call the waitress, "Please bring an umbrella."

After saying that, he turned to Bai Cixian and said, "I'll see you off, on the way."

The two rose to their feet, and Bai Cixian "accidentally" bumped Meng Shutang's chair, then seemed to recall something, looking innocently at Gu Yunci.

"Brother Yunci, you're seeing me off—what about Miss Meng? She doesn't have an umbrella either, does she?"