20 Learn How the World Works
When he got off his seat and went to the window to stretch, his eyes shot up to the opposite building; precisely towards Qian Meng's office.
He burst into laughter as he saw what she had done. God knows how long it had taken her to pull it through, but she had written 'No!' on her window. Worse, she had ensured that it was big enough that every person who could see her window from far away would know what it said.
He shook his head and went back to his phone.
[Message received] He texted her.
He smiled as he got back to work, shaking his head.
On the other hand. every employee that entered Qian Meng's office was confused. Li Min was the worst of them. First, the binoculars and now notes on the wall? Her boss really had some strange ideas.
- - - - -
Qian Meng felt a rush of desolation evade her as she saw her childhood house grow bigger and bigger in front of her eyes. As she parked in front of the house, she took a moment to collect her thoughts. The days seemed to blur and she had to come over to this house more often than she liked.
She handed the keys over to the butler and quickly went inside. The house was as cold as usual, filled with people who seemed foreign to her. As she made her way to the living room, a number of servants came up to her in greeting. She nodded in acknowledgement despite knowing that none of them liked her being there. In the end, they were on the side of the lady of the house and in corelation against her.
Her father was planted at the head of the set of sofa's in the room, reading the newspaper despite it being evening. He had no use for the news for that day, so she wondered who he was pretending for. Or was it that he hated to talk to his family, so he pretended to busy himself to dodge any interaction with them.
For a man who obsessed over showing off his familial love and how perfect his family was, he sure was a hypocrite.
"Good evening, father," she bowed as she stood in front of him. Her stepmother came out of the kitchen area, looking chirpy as usual.
"Qian Meng, you're finally here!" she exclaimed as she scurried forward and grasped her hand. Qian Meng tried her best not to recoil from the touch and gave a slow and indistinct nod. "Come, I'm personally cooking today. Help me in the kitchen," she said. The slow smile on her face reached her eyes for some reason.
Qian Meng had a suspicion that something would go down that evening and decided to be on her guard.
"I'll have to excuse myself. I cannot cook." She would rather listen to her father's beratings than to go into the kitchen and pretend to help her stepmother. It would only spell trouble. Who knew what this woman had in store for her. It could be anything from spilled hot soup on her hands to an accidental killing. Her constant pleading to help her in the kitchen didn't bode well.
"Well, you should learn now. Married women should know how to cook," Jian Xin said, patting the back of Qian Meng's hand. She visibly frowned as Jiang Xin turned to Yun Sui Bo for support. "Honey," she called in a nasally voice.
Qian Meng refrained from rolling her eyes as her father looked up from the newspaper. "Yes, don't be a useless wife." The meaning was clear. The sentence would have been shortly followed by 'like your mother' if his second wife wasn't in the room.
"We have servants for that. No need to cook," she gritted through her teeth as she stared at her father.
Yun Sui Bo folded the newspaper to stare sternly at his daughter. "I've pampered you too much. You don't know how to conduct yourself," he claimed as he put the newspaper down. "Servants will be around to do everything for you. Why don't you make them help you out of bed and carry you around, as well?" The remark was meant to be biting but instead amused Qian Meng immensely.
"Now that you've given me the idea, I'll try to implement it. I'm thinking of getting one of those handmaidens from ancient palace dramas. Help me bathe and put on my clothes for me." She pretended to think for a moment before deciding that she would try to anger her father more. Little joys in life, she reminded herself. "Should I hire a man to do it? That would be more fun." She raised a brow, taunting her father.
He fumed, slamming his hand into the table as he stood up.
"You singlehandedly want me to die from anger, don't you?" he accused. "What did I say wrong for you to treat me this way? To treat your family this way?"
"You'd think from the way you were talking that you were a model father," Qian Meng retorted, feeling a bubble of anger in her heart.
"I was the best father you could have gotten!" he shouted, throwing his hands up. "I took care of you when your mother abandoned you and married a woman who would love you like her own." From his side, his wife whined for him to stop. "No, don't take her side. She needs to learn how the world works. Just because she is a little successful, she thinks she can get away with anything."
Qian Meng gritted her teeth. Through her teeth, she felt the words escape. Words that she had never thought she would say. "Being negligent enough that your wife leaves you and not even fighting for your daughter is not the definition of a good father."
