Volume One, Chapter Six: Tracing That Woman
“All for you.”
Suìsuì stopped crying and opened her small hands.
Lù Juànshēn…
…
Mèng Chū was brought upstairs by the waiter whom Lù Juànshēn had arranged downstairs. As she reached the door, she felt a bit nervous.
After all, the person she was about to face was Lù Juànshēn.
The waiter pressed the doorbell, the door opened, and the waiter gestured for Mèng Chū to enter.
Taking a deep breath, Mèng Chū steeled herself and stepped inside.
Jiāng Zé led her to where Lù Juànshēn was seated. “Sir.”
Lù Juànshēn lifted his eyelids slightly and fixed his gaze on Mèng Chū.
Anxiously, Mèng Chū looked around for Suìsuì, fearing the child might be suffering in Lù Juànshēn’s care.
But she saw the little bundle sitting on the sofa, happily enjoying a handful of lollipops of various flavors.
Mèng Chū was surprised. Little darling, your mother has been frantic outside, yet you’re here eating candy.
There was no time to ponder further; she quickly approached. “Suìsuì, Mommy’s here.”
Suìsuì looked up and, upon seeing Mèng Chū, was about to call out “godmother” happily, but Mèng Chū immediately gave her a knowing look.
Suìsuì blinked, not understanding why her godmother called herself Mommy, but being very clever, she cooperated, “Mommy, you’ve finally come.”
Mèng Chū immediately lifted Suìsuì into her arms.
Lù Juànshēn’s gaze landed on them. “You’re the child’s mother?”
Under Lù Juànshēn’s intense stare, Mèng Chū’s heart pounded nervously.
She forced herself to stay calm. “Yes, I am the child’s mother. I am aware of the situation. If you have suffered any loss, I will compensate you accordingly.”
Lù Juànshēn narrowed his eyes, those eyes seeming to pierce through her, seeing the wildly beating heart beneath her composure.
“The person who just spoke to me on the phone wasn’t you.”
The voice was off.
Mèng Chū couldn’t show any weakness or she would be seen through.
“Sir, the person who just spoke to you on the phone was indeed me. Are you doubting that I am not the child’s mother?”
Lù Juànshēn said nothing, staring at her with great pressure.
“If you don’t believe me, you can call the number again.”
Suìsuì clung to Mèng Chū’s neck and asked, “Mommy, can we go now?”
“Suìsuì, wait a little longer. Mommy will talk to this gentleman and then we’ll leave.”
The child already called Mèng Chū Mommy, so naturally, Lù Juànshēn couldn’t doubt her words.
Yet he wasn’t so easily fooled. “Explain why your child wrote ‘heartless scoundrel who abandons wife and child’ on my car? Abandoning wife and child? Do we even know each other?”
Actually, Mèng Chū had met Lù Juànshēn a few times, but it was six or seven years ago; naturally, he didn’t recognize her.
“Sorry, my child mistook the car.”
“Mistook the car?”
“Yes.”
Mèng Chū took a deep breath, holding back tears as she said, “Actually, the child’s father has a mistress. When my mother passed away, he was celebrating the mistress’s birthday. After I found out, I left with the child. The clothes you’re wearing today resemble the style of the child’s father, so the child mistook you for that scoundrel.”
Lù Juànshēn frowned.
When her mother died, he was with his mistress celebrating a birthday, and she had taken the child away.
That story mirrored the time when Xià Nánzhī’s mother died, and he was with Xǔ Ruòqíng celebrating her birthday.
For a moment, he felt this woman knew something and was playing some kind of game with him.
But he didn’t have a mistress.
He didn’t know the woman before him.
So it was impossible she was toying with him; he was just overthinking.
Mèng Chū’s explanation left Lù Juànshēn with no grounds to dispute.
But when his gaze fell on the child, an inexplicable sense of closeness stirred within him.
A surge of irritation rose in Lù Juànshēn’s heart. Just as he was about to press further, Jiāng Zé entered with some investigation material.
“Sir, I found the information on the person you wanted to check.”
It was Xià Nánzhī’s data.
“Sir, have you finished your questions? I have something to do and am eager to leave with the child. I will compensate you; please let us go.”
Lù Juànshēn said nothing more, took the files from Jiāng Zé, and said, “You handle it.”
“Yes.”
Lù Juànshēn took the documents into the study.
Outside, in the car, Xià Nánzhī was extremely anxious, unaware of what was happening inside. More than twenty minutes had passed, and Mèng Chū had yet to come out with Suìsuì.
Lù Juànshēn was not easy to deal with.
She worried Mèng Chū might not be able to manage.
“Nian Nian, Chen Chen, can you find a way to see inside?”
The two children were fond of tinkering with computers; hacking into surveillance was Nian Nian’s specialty.
Nian Nian was intently looking at the computer. There were no cameras inside the hotel room, so they couldn’t see what was happening inside.
But the hallway cameras in the hotel were accessible.
Nian Nian pulled up the hotel’s surveillance footage. “Godmother went into the room and hasn’t come out yet.”
Xià Nánzhī’s worry deepened.
After a while, Mèng Chū hurried out holding Suìsuì.
Chen Chen said, “Mommy, it’s godmother and Suìsuì.”
Xià Nánzhī looked up and finally felt her heart settle when she saw Suìsuì.
She opened the car door, and Mèng Chū immediately got in holding Suìsuì.
“Suìsuì.”
“Mommy.” Suìsuì immediately buried herself in Xià Nánzhī’s arms.
Mèng Chū took a deep breath. “That was too dangerous.”
“What happened?”
“Drive first, I’ll tell you slowly.”
“All right.”
Xià Nánzhī put Suìsuì in the backseat and started the car.
Inside the hotel, Lù Juànshēn looked at the documents in his hand, the name on them glaringly clear…