Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Wen Meimei attended the city's best international private kindergarten, where bilingual education began from the early years.

Those who managed to enroll in this private kindergarten were either from wealthy or influential backgrounds.

However, bilingual teaching started from the middle classes; Wen Meimei, who was still in the younger class, had not officially begun learning English yet.

The younger class focused more on play-based learning.

There were only about a dozen students in a class, and with summer vacation approaching, the teachers took the opportunity to gather all the parents together. This would likely be the last tea party before the end of the younger class term.

This kind of tea party-style parent-child gathering was completely different from what Jiang Yiyan had imagined.

Well, all the preparations she had made at the last minute were for naught.

In the classroom, there were couples present, as well as single parents. There were also a couple of grandparents attending because their children's parents were unavailable.

Jiang Yiyan sat at the back of the classroom. She observed the other parents, whether they were mothers, fathers, or grandparents, all dressed impeccably.

The women were all exquisitely made up, while the men wore formal and tasteful attire.

It seemed that she was the only one dressed casually.

A woman in the front row kept turning around to look at Jiang Yiyan with unfriendly eyes.

Initially, Jiang Yiyan didn't pay much attention, but after being stared at so intently, when the woman cast another malicious glance, Jiang Yiyan seized the moment and glared fiercely back.

After glaring, she deliberately gave her a slow, exaggerated eye roll.

Although she didn't know who this woman was yet, it was clear that she had ill intentions, so there was no need for Jiang Yiyan to tread carefully or submit to her.

The woman was taken aback for a moment before rolling her eyes in return. However, after that, she didn't look at Jiang Yiyan again.

Jiang Yiyan didn't bother with her anymore.

The so-called parent-child gathering was essentially a large-scale social event.

After the teacher gave a brief introduction and left, it was time for the parents to socialize and exchange pleasantries.

Jiang Yiyan wasn't interested in these interactions. Seeing that the teacher had left, she planned to take her daughter home immediately.

At that moment, the woman who had exchanged eye rolls with her earlier suddenly stood up and walked towards Jiang Yiyan.

She was holding the hand of a little boy, around four or five years old.

The boy must be her son, as they shared a striking resemblance in facial features and expressions.

"Yiyan, why are you here alone today? Where's your husband?" Jiang Yiyan didn't recognize her, but from the tone of her voice, it was clear that she was familiar with the original Jiang Yiyan.

Not just familiar, but their relationship seemed quite strained.

Since the woman had come with ill intent and continued to provoke her, Jiang Yiyan saw no reason to be polite. She retorted, "Are you very interested in my husband? Otherwise, why should it matter to you whether he comes or not?"

Wu Jingmeng gritted her teeth.

Her next words were less restrained, and Wu Jingmeng openly displayed her hostility and dissatisfaction towards Jiang Yiyan.

"It's only because Shu Yao is soft-hearted and kind that she chose to quietly leave this sad place after you stole her love and bullied her, rather than strongly condemning and retaliating against you. If it were me, I would have stayed to fight you to the end. Everything you have now, you've taken from Shu Yao. But your peaceful days won't last long, because Shu Yao is coming back."

With that, Wu Jingmeng smiled smugly, ready to watch Jiang Yiyan's downfall.

Jiang Yiyan didn't care about what she said, but from her words, she could roughly guess her identity.

If she guessed correctly, the woman standing before her was none other than Wu Jingmeng, the best friend and confidante of the book's protagonist, Shu Yao.

Also, what did she say about Shu Yao returning to the country?

Previously, Jiang Yiyan had only roughly understood the timeline, knowing that Shu Yao hadn't returned to the country during this period, and the events described in the book involving the original Jiang Yiyan had not yet occurred. However, she wasn't sure exactly when Shu Yao would return or how far along the story had progressed in the current timeline.

But now, the presence of Wu Jingmeng provided the answers she sought.

Jiang Yiyan was no longer the original Jiang Yiyan, and she didn't care about Shu Yao. Therefore, the news brought by Wu Jingmeng had no effect on her except to inform her of Shu Yao's approximate return date.

Jiang Yiyan remained calm and said, "Oh, Shu Yao is coming back? That's great."

After saying this calmly, she couldn't resist mocking Wu Jingmeng, "Your big supporter is coming back, you must be the happiest."

Wu Jingmeng had been childhood friends with Shu Yao, and they had grown up together.

Both had lived in the tenement buildings in the city center, neither having good family backgrounds or growing environments. After Shu Yao's mother remarried into the Jiang family, Shu Yao became the eldest daughter of the Jiang household, and her former friend Wu Jingmeng naturally benefited greatly from this.

The greatest benefit Wu Jingmeng received through her connection with Shu Yao was marrying into a higher social class, becoming the wife of a wealthy man. After giving birth to a son, she embarked on a life of leisure as a wealthy socialite.

In the original book, Wu Jingmeng was very grateful, and thus had a sincere devotion to Shu Yao.

She was straightforward and hated injustice, which earned her some fans in the novel who appreciated her frank personality.

When reading the novel, from Shu Yao's perspective, she had some fondness for this Ms. Wu Jingmeng. But now, assuming the identity of the original Jiang Yiyan and standing in opposition to Shu Yao, she naturally found this meddling Ms. Wu increasingly disagreeable.

If she didn't provoke her, they could coexist peacefully. But if she continued to challenge her without restraint, Jiang Yiyan wouldn't allow herself to be bullied.

But speaking of deep hatred, there really wasn't any.

After all, she wasn't the original Jiang Yiyan.

At most, she would indulge in verbal sparring, refusing to let her get away with anything.

"You, you..." Wu Jingmeng was left speechless with anger.

She did rely on Shu Yao for everything she had now, but it was better left unsaid—she still had her pride.

Jiang Yiyan couldn't be bothered to respond further, and amid the other woman's seething resentment, she departed with satisfaction.

Having gained no advantage in their verbal sparring, Wu Jingmeng immediately sat back down and pulled out her phone, typing out a long string of words—complaints and grievances—all aimed at Jiang Yiyan.

The target of her venting was none other than Shu Yao, currently far away in the United Kingdom.

It was morning where Shu Yao was, and she had just finished washing up and was seated at the dining table for breakfast.

Her phone, resting at one corner of the table, chimed. Shu Yao picked it up promptly.

Seeing that it was a message from Mengmeng, Shu Yao's lips curved upward instinctively.

But as she opened the chat and read through the lengthy text, her smile froze slightly.

What she had with Mochuan was a thing of the past, when they were both still young and inexperienced. She and Mochuan had feelings for each other back then, but even when the incident happened, they never crossed that line.

After he married Yiyan and she chose to study abroad, years had passed in the blink of an eye—five or six years, to be exact.

Over these five or six years, she had gradually let go, but Mengmeng seemed to continue fighting her battles. Occasionally, she would vent about Yiyan to her.

Especially after Yiyan's daughter and her son started attending the same class in kindergarten, they interacted more often. In the past year, Mengmeng had been increasingly vocal about her disapproval of Yiyan.

Shu Yao didn't reply to Wu Jingmeng's message right away. Instead, she waited until she finished her breakfast before making a video call.

At that moment, Wu Jingmeng had just left the kindergarten and was sitting in her car.

"Yaoyao." Upon answering the video call, Wu Jingmeng immediately brought her son into the frame. "Say hello to your godmother."

.

On her way home, Jiang Yiyan received another call from Wen Mochuan.

As this wasn't the first time, Jiang Yiyan was no longer as flustered or tense when she saw his incoming call.

She even told her daughter, "It's Daddy," before answering the call.

As soon as the call connected, Wen Meimei shouted into the phone, "Daddy!"

Wen Mochuan had just left the airport and was getting into a car heading back to the city.

If there was no traffic, it would take around forty minutes to get back, and he would definitely arrive at the kindergarten by five o'clock.

But by then, the activities at the kindergarten would likely be over.

Wen Mochuan thought that even if he couldn't participate in the parent-child activity, picking her up would still make his daughter happy.

Hearing his daughter's crisp voice calling him "Daddy," Wen Mochuan's lips curled into a gentle smile.

"Daddy is already on my way back from the airport," Mr. Wen said warmly and softly. "How about you? Are you having fun?"

Wen Meimei's eyes lit up. "Has Daddy come back?" Then she added, "But Mommy and I are already on our way home." She felt a little disappointed that her father hadn't arrived in time for the school event.

But she quickly consoled herself, saying aloud, "It doesn't matter! At least we can have dinner together tonight!" It was as much for her own reassurance as it was for her father on the other end of the call.

Hearing that his daughter was already on her way home, Wen Mochuan covered the phone's speaker and instructed the driver, "Head straight to Cuiming Water Garden." Then, he told his daughter on the phone, "Forty minutes. Daddy will be home for sure."

Wen Meimei responded cheerfully and pushed the phone back to her mother who had handed it to her.

She even shouted loudly, "Daddy, Mommy wants to talk to you."

Jiang Yiyan: "…"

On the other end, Wen Mochuan was also silent.

Jiang Yiyan cleared her throat quietly and asked through the phone, "What do you want to eat tonight? I'll ask Feng Ma to prepare it when I get home."

Wen Mochuan wasn't particularly picky about food. He simply said calmly, "Anything is fine. You decide."

Jiang Yiyan responded indifferently and hung up the call directly.

Aware of her unusual behavior recently, Wen Mochuan didn't want to delve deeper. He would find out what she was up to when he got home.

He had taken a brief nap on the plane and wasn't feeling sleepy. With at least half an hour left in the car ride, Wen Mochuan, fresh off closing a deal, wanted to relax a bit.

So after ending the call, he didn't put his phone away immediately.

He browsed some political news for a while, then opened WeChat and aimlessly clicked into his Moments feed.

Coincidentally, the first post he saw was from Shu Yao.

A simple photo of him at his doctoral graduation, captioned: The moon is brightest at home... Finally coming back.