She quietly stood there and looked at him.
Strangely, the anxious and dark images that had kept flashing in her mind moments ago suddenly vanished.
Meng Chu looked at his tall, broad back.
He was like a beam of light.
Just by being there, she no longer felt afraid.
“How come you’re up so early?” Cheng Jinyu said as he put the fried eggs onto a plate.
He turned and saw Meng Chu standing at the door.
“I couldn’t sleep,” Meng Chu said.
Cheng Jinyu glanced at her but didn’t ask further, only said, “Good timing, my breakfast is almost ready.”
He took the bread toasted in the bread maker out.
“Try the eggs I made. Do they meet your standards?” Sitting down together, Cheng Jinyu lifted his chin slightly.
Meng Chu looked down at the fried egg on her plate and nodded slightly. “Looks pretty good.”
She took a bite and was surprised. “Did you put sugar in this?”
“Yes, a little,” Cheng Jinyu said softly.
Meng Chu smiled. “At home, my mom always fried eggs like this. But when I got to school, my dorm mates were shocked that I put sugar on my fried eggs.”
“So that’s how you eat them in your hometown?” Cheng Jinyu asked.
Meng Chu nodded.
Cheng Jinyu smirked slightly, thankful he’d looked it up online recently.
After breakfast, Meng Chu followed Cheng Jinyu to take Momo for a walk.
She wasn’t sure if it was the holiday or what, but surprisingly there were quite a few people.
Especially kids who had been playing downstairs since early morning.
When a child around ten years old bumped into her, Meng Chu instantly froze with a tremble.
She suddenly looked at the child with a shaky but fierce gaze.
Frightened, the kid stopped on the spot, not daring to move.
Cheng Jinyu noticed immediately and pulled her into his embrace.
His arm wrapped around her shoulder as he whispered, “It’s okay, I’m here.”
Meng Chu snapped back to herself—she had just reacted instinctively.
“You—” Meng Chu knew it was her own reflex, and was about to tell the kid to go.
But Cheng Jinyu’s face grew serious as he said to the kid, “If you bump into someone, you have to apologize.”
The kid stammered, “Ah…”
Before he could finish, Cheng Jinyu interrupted, “Apologize to the lady.”
“Sorry, sister,” the kid immediately corrected himself, speaking clearly.
After the apology, Meng Chu said, “Go play. Be careful not to bump into anyone else.”
As the kid ran off, Meng Chu turned to Cheng Jinyu and couldn’t help but laugh.
“Did you go a bit too far?”
“Hm?” Cheng Jinyu raised an eyebrow, apparently not understanding what she meant.
Meng Chu pointed at herself. “You actually made such a young kid call me sister?”
The kid was probably about ten years old, calling her aunt would have been fine.
Instead, Cheng Jinyu suddenly interrupted and made him call her sister—it felt a bit… over the top.
“Pretty people should be called sister,” Cheng Jinyu said, staring right at her casually.
Meng Chu rolled her eyes, never expecting such a thing to come from Cheng Jinyu.
Yet somehow, in her shock, she inexplicably believed him.
After all, he often said surprisingly unexpected things to her.
The interruption lightened Meng Chu’s mood considerably.
Even though she still had subconscious fear and trauma from last night.
She knew it was only because the incident had just happened.
As long as she persisted, she would get better.
She definitely would.
———
At home, Meng Chu had nothing to do, a rare break from work.
She played on her phone and even started watching a drama that didn’t require much thought.
In the afternoon, she sat in the living room waiting for Cheng Jinyu, who was in the study having a meeting.
Even on a holiday, he had endless meetings.
She finally found someone worse off than herself.
When she sat watching TV and scrolling her phone, Cheng Jinyu finally came out of the study.
“Done with the meeting?” Meng Chu asked.
Cheng Jinyu looked at the TV in the living room, frowning slightly. “Is the TV broken? There’s no sound.”
Meng Chu laughed at his teasing. “I didn’t turn on the sound—you were in a meeting.”
“Then what’s the point of the TV?” Cheng Jinyu bent down to get the remote and turned the volume up.
At that moment, the TV was showing a scene of the male and female leads arguing.
Meng Chu glanced and saw that just a second ago, they had been fighting fiercely and breaking up.
The next second, the male lead cupped the female lead’s face and kissed her forcefully.
No.
What era is this? Still playing that forced kiss trope?
Meng Chu stared dumbfounded at the screen.
Thankfully, the female lead pushed the male lead away in frustration, just as she expected.
Good.
Meng Chu silently gave the female lead a thumbs-up.
But then the scene shifted, and the female lead suddenly threw herself at the male lead, grabbed his clothes, and kissed him passionately.
Huh?
This time, Meng Chu’s eyes widened, and her mouth slightly opened.
She couldn’t understand this crazy drama or why it took such a turn.
After a while, the chaotic story seemed to end as wildly as it had started.
She was about to grab the remote to turn off the TV when she realized the remote was still in Cheng Jinyu’s hand.
He had stood there quietly watching the show with her for twenty minutes.
Just then, he slowly turned to her.
His eyes, which had first flashed confusion and shock, slowly shifted to understanding.
He nodded slightly and said thoughtfully, “So this is what you like.”
What?
Meng Chu thought she’d misheard.
Without hesitation, she said, “No, I don’t.”
Seeing Cheng Jinyu’s doubt, she explained again, “I was just watching randomly.”
“Well, better not watch that stuff. It’ll rot your brain,” Meng Chu said as she snatched the remote from him and turned off the TV.
The colorful images on the screen immediately went black.
Seeing Cheng Jinyu still staring at her, she made an excuse: “I’m going to the bathroom.”
She left, and Cheng Jinyu watched her back with a low laugh.
———
Meng Chu returned after a long time to find Cheng Jinyu still sitting on the living room sofa.
She said, “I want to go home for a bit.”
“Now?” Cheng Jinyu had been on his phone but looked up immediately when she spoke.
Meng Chu nodded.
Though Cheng Jinyu knew going back now wasn’t a good idea—and he even wanted her never to return there—he also knew that constant avoidance wasn’t a solution.
“All right. I’ll come with you to pack a bit. As for the rest, I’ll ask Wu Shan to help you move. She’s very careful and will handle it well,” Cheng Jinyu said.
Meng Chu sighed, “I hope Wu Shan doesn’t hate me. I feel like I’m making her do a lot of extra work.”
“Not at all, because I’ll give her a raise,” Cheng Jinyu said casually.
Now Meng Chu felt no psychological burden and even complimented him, “You’re a conscientious capitalist.”
Cheng Jinyu: “…”
This time, he drove Meng Chu home himself.
He had imagined last night’s events in his mind before, but when Meng Chu opened her door and he saw the mess in the living room, a suffocating feeling gripped his heart.
It was like a hand suddenly clutching his heart tightly.
Meng Chu was a little surprised by the chaos in the living room.
Seeing Cheng Jinyu’s grim expression, she knew he must be thinking the worst.
She quickly explained, “Actually, don’t look at the mess. Last night wasn’t that bad.”
“Now is not the time to comfort me,” Cheng Jinyu said in a low voice, staring at her.
Meng Chu lowered her eyes. “I’m not trying to comfort you either.”
The things scattered all over the floor were many because in her panic last night, she grabbed a spanner from the workbench, messing the whole thing up.
Small parts that had been neatly arranged on the workbench were now strewn across the living room floor.
It looked like a complete mess.
Meng Chu suddenly saw the small robot lying on the ground.
She bent down, gently picked it up, and carefully examined it.
She found its LCD screen by the eyes was broken.
Every time Meng Chu came home, the little robot’s eye-shaped LCD screen would light up, but now it wouldn’t turn on anymore.
“It’s broken,” Meng Chu whispered.
Cheng Jinyu stepped forward and looked at the shattered LCD screen.
He said softly, “You’ll fix it.”
“Last night, when I kept reaching for something to hit the man who attacked me, I caught the little robot,” Meng Chu said, looking down at the robot, her voice suddenly choking.
She used the little robot to make the man loosen his grip, giving her the chance to grab the spanner.
In the end, she saved herself.
Cheng Jinyu raised his hand and gently patted the little robot’s head.
“Thank you for saving Chu Chu.”
Hearing him speak to the robot, Meng Chu’s sorrow eased considerably.
Yes, she would definitely fix it.
She would save it.
She looked up at Cheng Jinyu, and he was looking at her too.
His voice was especially soft and resolute: “Now it’s my turn to protect Chu Chu.”