Chapter 450 Extra: Modern Arc 6 (Meng Wan x Song Tingzhou)

Chapter 450: Extra Story - Modern Chapter 6 (Meng Wan x Song Tingzhou)

This meal was indeed somewhat awkward. Meng Wan felt he had been projecting his own pettiness onto a gentleman, having been on guard for so long when Song Tingzhou had no intention of abusing his power.

He was busy these days anyway, figuring he'd skip the meal invitation—once the payment came in, he'd just send a gift. However, the other party's position was sensitive, and something too expensive probably wouldn't be appropriate either.

Zhang Yu finally got his driver's license after two months of studying. He earned a decent salary working under Meng Wan, and at his young age, he even held a manager position. His uncle's family was thrilled.

Zhang Yu had gained more experience and now had a voice at home. When the family was picking oranges in December, he suggested they get into selling online. Meng Wan knew a few shipping companies in Lingzhou County, and after communicating with them, shipping turned out not to be troublesome at all.

As for the sand and gravel supply route, Meng Wan had worked at it steadily for over three months, going from a total newbie to seeing all the final payments for Jin Jun's contract sections settled. With a total of over two million yuan, his own cut came to over six hundred thousand. Clutching this huge sum in his hands, Meng Wan was genuinely excited for several days.

The Pinglu Canal project still had a long way to go, and Meng Wan had recently been in contact with other winning companies. Jin Jun had also kindly introduced him to two more, just waiting for work to pick back up after the New Year.

When Meng Wan had free time, he'd head back to the village to help his uncle pick oranges. But it was exhausting work, and his uncle said since he was a big shot now, he shouldn't be doing heavy lifting, so he put Meng Wan on packing duty instead.

Zhang Yu set up the livestream equipment, and when the camera turned to Meng Wan, the comments immediately blew up. Within a few days, Meng Wan almost became an internet sensation.

"Yeah, I'm not the boss, I just work here."

"That's right, Guangxi's crawling with handsome guys, come on down."

Meng Wan chatted idly while packing, because Zhang Yu had begged him with puppy-dog eyes.

"Hmm? You got a bad piece of fruit?" Meng Wan casually glanced at the person who'd been spamming the chat for ages. Normally, if someone actually got a bad fruit, they'd hit up customer service first, and they'd get a refund.

"As you can all see, we pack and ship right here on the spot. We don't ship to far-flung areas, and at most, it takes three days to arrive. Bad fruit rarely happens, but if one does go bad, we'll refund you."

Meng Wan explained once, but the person kept at it. That was a bit strange. The aunt packing with Meng Wan started to get anxious, and the vibe in the livestream got weird.

Meng Wan kept packing, totally unfazed. "You got a whole box of bad fruit? Hmm... tell you what, check if there's a green piece of paper at the very bottom of the box."

A "yeah" floated across the screen.

Meng Wan saw it and immediately asked, "What does it say on it?"

"Oh, the words got washed off by the fruit juice, huh?"

"No worries, it doesn't matter anyway, because we never put any card in the packaging in the first place."

Meng Wan's eyes crinkled at the corners, his lips curling into a sly grin. His eyes said everything he wanted to say.

The livestream chat froze for a second, then the next second it was all "hahaha" and people roasting the scammer, mixed in with people drooling over Meng Wan's god-tier face and offers to chip in three mao to get Meng Wan into the entertainment industry.

"Cousin!" Zhang Yu jogged over with Meng Wan's phone, mouthing silently: "Secretary Song's call."

Meng Wan got up and gave up his spot, letting Zhang Yu take over his work, then ran out with his phone to take the call.

"Brother Zhou, what's up?"

They hadn't talked in a while. Occasionally Meng Wan would send Song Tingzhou a couple of messages, and Song Tingzhou would answer politely, or Song Tingzhou would remind him about bad weather and tell him to be careful driving to the construction site.

Lingzhou County was pretty small, and Song Tingzhou also had to go to construction sites. They'd bumped into each other a few times and got along like friends, but with a layer of vague, unspoken tension beyond ordinary friendship.

"I'm in town for a meeting today, thought I'd come by and see you. Can you come out?" Song Tingzhou's voice sounded deeper on the phone than usual, with a magnetic hoarseness.

Meng Wan lowered his head, his long, thick lashes shielding the emotions in his eyes. "Sure, I'll come find you then."

"I'm at your uncle's front door."

Hearing this, Meng Wan greeted Zhang Yu and went out. They were working in the factory shed at the foot of the mountain, and it was already afternoon. After going out, Meng Wan walked another five or six minutes before reaching home.

The man standing at the door of the two-story building wore a crisp black overcoat, with a stand-collar jacket and black trousers underneath. His back was aloof, his chin slightly raised, staring motionlessly at the second-floor window, clearly thinking Meng Wan was upstairs.

Meng Wan stood not far away, laughing to himself. If he thought he was upstairs, why not go in and ask?

"Brother Zhou." Meng Wan called out to him.

The voice came from behind, and Song Tingzhou was clearly surprised. He paused briefly before turning around. Meng Wan, wearing a gray hoodie, had already jogged up to his side. "Let's go inside first. I forgot to put on a jacket, I'm freezing."

Guangxi's weather was unpredictable. A few days ago it had rained, nearly freezing Meng Wan to death, and then the next day at noon it was seventeen or eighteen degrees again.

A heavy overcoat was draped over Meng Wan's shoulders, carrying the man's body heat and a faint scent of alcohol. Meng Wan instinctively grabbed the fabric on his shoulder and turned to look at Song Tingzhou, who was now only wearing a jacket. He lowered his head and muttered quietly — really, this man was easy to fall for.

The first floor of his uncle's house had no air conditioning, so Meng Wan brought Song Tingzhou up to the second-floor room he stayed in whenever he visited. The long overcoat hung on the coat rack. At 1.78 meters, Meng Wan wasn't short, but wearing Song Tingzhou's trench coat, it was still wide and long on him.

"Did you go help pick oranges?" Song Tingzhou had already figured out why Meng Wan appeared from behind him.

Meng Wan brought over a pot of hot water and poured a cup for each of them in disposable paper cups. "I can't help much anyway. I have some free time lately, so I came back to stay a few days." He liked the village environment and enjoyed hiking to see the scenery.

There was no chair in the room, so Song Tingzhou could only sit on the edge of the bed.

"Did you drink in town?" Meng Wan suddenly asked.

Song Tingzhou held the cup, the paper cup slightly dented from his grip. The steam warmed his eyes with a layer of tenderness. "Just a little. Did the smell bother you?"

Meng Wan took a sip of hot water. "It's not that strong. I just caught a hint of it on your coat. Did you park at the village entrance?"

"Xiao Wan, I brought a driver." Song Tingzhou genuinely smiled this time. He rarely smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling slightly, his whole demeanor softening.

Meng Wan smiled too. "Then I was overthinking it. Wait for me a moment." He circled around the room and pulled a fairly large box out of the duffel bag at the head of the bed.

Song Tingzhou's smile faded, bitterness creeping back to his lips. "I told you, Jin Jun's matter wasn't something I specially helped you with—"

"I bought you a white shirt. Brushed cotton, suitable for winter."

Meng Wan knew he had misunderstood and didn't bother explaining. He simply shoved the rectangular box into Song Tingzhou's arms. "I don't know if you'll like it, but you always wear white shirts, so I probably didn't pick wrong?"

Far from picking wrong — with clothing items, unless given by an elder, there was inherently a layer of intimacy to it. Song Tingzhou was stunned by the sudden surprise. Meng Wan, who had always been on guard against him, wasn't drawing a line with expensive luxury goods, but giving him an article of clothing?

The rectangular box in his hands had some weight to it, and the packaging was extremely refined. A certain luxury brand's logo, understated and elegant. While it wasn't a sky-high custom piece, it had still cost Meng Wan over eight thousand yuan.

The amount wasn't the issue. The ambiguous point was that Meng Wan had personally selected it, and it was something Song Tingzhou would wear on his body.

"You didn't pick wrong. You..." Song Tingzhou's Adam's apple bobbed, and his usually steady voice was somewhat tight. "What made you think of giving me this?"

Meng Wan was much calmer. He dragged over a small stool and sat down, holding the paper cup with both hands to warm himself. "Last time I treated you to a meal, you ended up paying anyway. I figured you didn't have time to go shopping, and I went to Yongzhou a few days ago. When I saw it, I thought it would suit you."

Loving someone was too hard to hide. Even someone as reserved as Song Tingzhou, ever since he had hung his heart on Meng Wan, had been tossed back and forth, rising and falling, without a moment's peace.

The room fell quiet for a moment. The last trace of sunset was swallowed by the night. Meng Wan stood up to turn on the light, but before he even reached the door, Song Tingzhou, sitting on the edge of the bed behind him, could no longer hold back.

"I've never been in a relationship, and I've never had any messy entanglements. I come from a single-parent family. After college graduation, I came out to my mom." Song Tingzhou was inherently a decisive person. All his careful probing had been spent on Meng Wan. He said all these words in one breath, then lowered his voice to the softest.

"Meng Wan, I... may I pursue you?"

Meng Wan was stunned. A rational person like him, faced with a hopeless romantic, found all his schemes and calculations met with nothing but sincere honesty, and it completely threw him off.

According to his thinking, although society is relatively open now, Song Tingzhou's position was special. They should go through a few years of mutual probing and understanding, gradually opening up to each other, trusting each other, and naturally starting a secret relationship.

The Pinglu Canal was a major career-boosting achievement. After Song Tingzhou completed it, he would definitely be promoted. Maybe he'd end up somewhere else, and they'd both just silently agree to break up. Having dated a County Party Secretary who helped him rise, Meng Wan figured he'd already gotten his money's worth.

Who would have thought Song Tingzhou would lay all his cards on the table right off the bat, even bringing up their parents!

Meng Wan found himself in a tough spot.

He liked the hottie.

A handsome guy in the government was just as tempting.

His sincerity, his eyes full of love for him—it was all so overwhelming that he couldn't bear to turn it down.

This was a now-or-never moment!

"Well then... why not give it a shot?"

The black car drove away from the village. When his cousin-uncle's family came back, Meng Wan was busy cooking in the kitchen. His aunt came over to take over the cooking, "Awan, go upstairs and get warm. I'll handle dinner."

Meng Wan was plating the food, "No, no, no. You and Uncle have had a long day. Let me handle it. It's almost ready. Wash your hands and come eat."

Zhang Yu helped carry the dishes to the table, "Hey, cousin, did Secretary Song stop by? I saw his car leave. Why didn't you ask him to stay for dinner?"

Meng Wan washed his hands and sat at the table, his steps feeling oddly light, "He had things to do, so he left first."

Zhang Yu glanced at him twice, feeling like something was off but not being able to put his finger on it. It wasn't until he was drifting off in the middle of the night that it finally hit him.

The way his cousin talked about Secretary Song sounded different than before.

A few days later, once the oranges were mostly harvested, the two of them drove the van back to the county seat. Meng Wan's rental in the county was right near his company, a two-bedroom, one-living-room place, with Zhang Yu in the other room.

They put the few free-range chickens the uncle's family had given them into the fridge and gave the place a quick clean. Zhang Yu hated housework the most, so after finishing his share of the cleaning, he ran downstairs to buy rice noodles. Meng Wan hung around the washing machine doing the sheets.

The video call ringtone was louder than the washing machine's hum. Meng Wan dried his hands and walked back to his room, deftly answering the video call.

The background behind Song Tingzhou was a clean, simple office. He held a pen, occasionally writing on documents on the desk. The moment he saw Meng Wan on the screen, his dark brows eased slightly, "You're back?"

"Yeah, arrived a little after one." Meng Wan wasn't lacking in emotional intelligence; he was sharp-tongued in business, but now he couldn't help feeling a bit shy.

After all, it was his first relationship. Who could stay completely at ease while dating? That was for seasoned players.

These days, they video-called frequently. Song Tingzhou would always call rather than text when he could.

"Tired from driving? Going to the company tomorrow?" He had excellent eyesight and never wore glasses. Even through the lens, his gaze at Meng Wan showed deep affection.

Meng Wan felt a thrill, sitting on the bed and wrapping himself in the blanket like a cocoon, only his head poking out, hair messy, a blush spreading across his porcelain-white face, "Not tired, Zhang Yu drove. I'll head to the company tomorrow first. It's almost New Year, so I need to settle the commission from the previous project for the staff."

Finding his appearance utterly adorable, Song Tingzhou's heart went soft, his voice even gentler, "About what time will you be free? I heard from people at work that several new movies have come out recently. Want to go see one together?"

"I'll be done in half a day. I'll follow your schedule."

Outside, Zhang Yu had bought two portions of rice noodles and was about to speak at the door of Meng Wan's room when Meng Wan cut him off with a gesture.

After chatting with Song Tingzhou a bit more to finalize the time, Meng Wan hung up and went out to eat the noodles.

Most rice noodle shops in Lingzhou County were delicious, rarely disappointing. The one near them not only had great noodles but also salt-baked chicken that was Meng Wan's favorite. After driving for half a day, they were starving, and they finished two bowls of noodles and half a chicken cleanly.

The next afternoon, Meng Wan left the company and, seeing it was still early, simply walked to the county government to wait for Song Tingzhou. He didn't get too close to the government entrance, instead finding a milk tea shop to wait. In business, he'd only ever drunk alcohol, and in college, he'd been poor, so Meng Wan really hadn't had milk tea in a long time. After Song Tingzhou's message came through, Meng Wan bought two more cups.

"How long have you been waiting? Why didn't you come in to find me?" Song Tingzhou saw the young man walking toward him with two cups of hot drinks, smiling, and quickly got out to open the passenger door for him.

The car had heating, so Meng Wan temporarily set the milk tea in the cup holder and buckled his seatbelt, "Didn't wait long. Isn't this convenient too?"

Afraid the milk tea might spill, he picked it up again after buckling up. The car wasn't started, and he looked at Song Tingzhou in confusion.

Song Tingzhou frowned slightly, leaned over to take the milk tea from his hand, and placed it back in the cup holder, speaking to Meng Wan seriously, "Xiaowan, I don't want to hide our relationship. Civil servant evaluations look at virtue, ability, diligence, performance, and integrity—only behavior, not orientation. No one will make a big deal out of this."

The milk tea cup was too big for the small cup holder, at risk of falling at any moment. But Song Tingzhou didn't care. It was just a car; if it got dirty, he'd wash it.

Meng Wan stared at the two mismatched cups of milk tea for a moment, then suddenly smiled.

"Alright, next time I'll come in and wait for you."

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