My Wife Always Thinks She's Right - Chapter 4

After finishing their meal, Sun Heng brought Su Nian out from the house. The two of them slowly made their way to the entrance of the coffee shop and pushed the door open.

“Welcome!”

Sun Heng was very familiar with this place. She scanned the coffee shop skillfully, and without needing Su Nian to point it out, she saw a woman with long black hair, a slender figure, and a beautiful profile sitting by the window.

The coffee shop had a floor-to-ceiling window facing the lake. Shen Mu Ran had chosen this spot, and the combination of the melodic light music and the sunlight outside made her look exceptionally beautiful.

She seemed to notice Sun Heng’s gaze and turned her head to look over. With a light sweep of those beautiful eyes, Sun Heng felt as if everything else in her surroundings had dimmed. It felt as if only she and Shen Mu Ran existed in the world, with roses floating everywhere.

“Sister.”

Little Su Nian broke the mood, saying to Shen Mu Ran with a pitiful expression, “I am sorry. I should not have run away from home.”

Shen Mu Ran shifted her gaze from Sun Heng to Su Nian. She looked at her with her beautiful eyes and said coldly, “I am not the one you should be apologizing to.”

Su Nian had already felt wronged, and hearing this from Shen Mu Ran made her eyes turn red again. Sun Heng had watched her cry for an entire day and really did not want to see the little crybaby whimpering anymore, so she spoke up for her.

“Ms. Shen, I think that before getting to the bottom of things, you should not just blame the child, right?”

Sun Heng hooked one side of her lip into a smile, pulled her hands out of her trouser pockets to cross them over her chest, leaned against a nearby pillar as if she could not stand straight, and said to Shen Mu Ran, “She is just a young girl who ran away in the middle of the night with nowhere to go. You have not asked at all how wronged or scared she felt, yet you start by blaming the child, right?”

Seeing Sun Heng standing up for her, Su Nian reached out and tugged at her black trench coat. “Sister…”

Sun Heng signaled Su Nian to be quiet for now. Instead, she took the initiative and walked over with her long legs, pulled out the chair across from Shen Mu Ran, and sat down. Looking at the woman who should have been her online dating partner, she said, “You do not know how heartbroken she was crying when I found her. She is such a small child; if something had happened to her, how worried would your family be? Do you not agree?”

Shen Mu Ran watched as Sun Heng sat down in front of her. Her fair face showed no expression, but she blinked slightly and said, “You are right. Our family relationships are quite complicated. I have not seen Nian Nian for a long time, and I only learned about this matter this morning.”

Shen Mu Ran’s voice sounded even better than it did over the phone. Sun Heng felt that the way she spoke was like singing, exceptionally moving. She stared straight at her, completely unreserved.

Hearing Shen Mu Ran finish, Sun Heng smiled and said, “Is that so? Then I have misunderstood you.”

Shen Mu Ran also smiled and said, “Thank you for taking care of my sister. She did not give you any trouble, did she?”

“No, not at all. Su Nian is very well-behaved and sensible. She fell asleep as soon as she got to my house and did not fuss at all.”

“Mm, she is usually very well-behaved, so I did not know that she would actually run away from home.”

Hearing this, Sun Heng remembered the red slap mark on Su Nian’s face from last night and frowned. “Ms. Shen, are you aware of the fact that this child has been bullied?”

Shen Mu Ran looked up at the uneasy Su Nian and said softly, “Nian Nian, go to the waiter and order a cup of coffee. Order whatever you want to drink. I would like to talk to this lady alone.”

Su Nian looked at Sun Heng nervously, then at her sister, and whispered, “Sister, do not blame her. Running away was my own decision.”

“I know,” Shen Mu Ran said good-naturedly. “Go and place your order.”

Seeing that her sister had said this, Su Nian looked at Sun Heng, who told her, “I want an Americano.”

As soon as Su Nian heard Sun Heng wanted an Americano, she said “Mm” and went to place the order obediently. Once the child was gone, Sun Heng said to Shen Mu Ran, “What did Ms. Shen want to say to me?”

“I still do not know your name,” Shen Mu Ran said.

“My name is Sun Heng. The Heng from the word for balance.”

“Ms. Sun.”

Sun Heng burst out laughing and waved her hand. “Ms. Sun sounds so strange. We are probably about the same age, so just call me Sun Heng.”

Shen Mu Ran was not polite and nodded. “Sun Heng, then I will be blunt.”

Sun Heng lifted her eyelids and looked at her.

“I know you are Nian Nian’s online dating partner and that you must have met yesterday.” Shen Mu Ran calmly dropped a bombshell, looked at Sun Heng, and said, “In our family, both my father and I are against Nian Nian dating.” She emphasized, “Especially since she is still a minor.”

Sun Heng straightened up immediately.

“Ms. Shen, I have to explain this to you,” Sun Heng said quickly. “At the time, your sister used your information and photos to date me online. After we met, I discovered she was only seventeen. I scolded her right then and there, telling her that children should prioritize their studies and not get involved in online dating. I scolded her so hard that the child started crying.”

Sun Heng made it sound very convincing, gesturing as she continued, “I felt that I certainly could not give this child hope, so I did not reply when she sent me messages afterward, and I did not answer her calls either. Then, last night, she called me over a dozen times in a row. I felt that something was wrong; why else would she call me so many times? So, I called her back.”

“Then I discovered her phone was off. It took several attempts to get through. The child was crying and shaking, so I hurriedly took a taxi to find her and finally found her in the small park by the river,” Sun Heng said sincerely. “At the time, I wanted to take her home, but she refused to go. I thought to myself, what if she ran into bad people in the middle of the night? So, I just took her home with me.”

Shen Mu Ran lifted her eyelids and glanced at her, scaring Sun Heng into jumping up to explain, “Do not misunderstand, Ms. Shen! I did not do anything when I took her home. She slept in my bedroom, and I slept on a folding bed in the guest room. We did not have any improper behavior or contact. Really, nothing happened between your sister and me. Please, please do not misunderstand.”

“Besides,” Sun Heng added, “Su Nian is still so young; she has not even grown up yet, so how could I possibly do anything? Even if I were to date, I would have to find someone mature, steady, and close to my own age. Do you not agree, Ms. Shen?”

Shen Mu Ran frowned slightly. She watched Sun Heng calmly, and after a long while, she nodded with a smile. “Yes, I understand. You mean to say that you have no interest in my sister, so you do not intend to date her, right?”

Sun Heng exhaled in relief, sat back down, and said, “That is exactly it. Although I like women, it is not just anyone. Su Nian is too young. She cannot date now and needs to study hard to get into a good university.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Su Nian walked over with a tray, placed an Americano in front of Sun Heng, and said, “Sister, here is your Americano.”

Sun Heng’s eyes curved into a smile. “Thank you. I was just getting thirsty.”

She had barely taken a sip of the coffee before she was choked by its overly sweet, cloying taste. She nearly spat it out and looked at Su Nian in surprise. “What is this? Why is it so sweet?!”

The culprit, Su Nian, blinked and held her freshly squeezed juice. “It is Americano. I added sugar and milk.”

It was Sun Heng’s first time drinking such a sweet Americano; she could not swallow it, so she smiled awkwardly, put the coffee down, and said, “It is fine. It is quite tasty when it is a little sweet.”

“As long as you like it, sister.” Su Nian smiled happily.

The three of them chatted idly. It was mostly Shen Mu Ran and Su Nian talking, and from their conversation, Sun Heng gathered some information. It was not a very complicated situation.

Shen Mu Ran’s mother and Su Nian’s father had started a business together from scratch but eventually went their separate ways due to irreconcilable differences. Her mother took Shen Mu Ran and changed her surname, while Su Nian stayed with her father.

As the saying goes, having a stepmother often means having a stepfather who forgets about his previous children. Su Nian’s father devoted all his energy and attention to his young wife, who was nearly twenty years younger, and their newborn daughter. The stepmother was not exactly a cruel, vicious person, but she certainly favored her own daughter over Su Nian.

Shen Mu Ran said calmly to Su Nian, “If you do not want to go home, do not stay at someone else’s house either. You can come back to where I live with me later. I will go back once more to get your textbooks and homework, and you can stay at my place for the time being.”

Su Nian sat beside her sister with her head down, looking somewhat reluctant.

Sun Heng could not drink the cloying coffee, so she kept leaning back in her chair, pretending to play on her phone while occasionally sneaking photos of Shen Mu Ran. She had just taken a blurry side-profile photo of her, but it was clear enough. Hearing this, she said happily to Su Nian, “Listen to your sister. How can you not go to school now? Are you not going to university?”

Su Nian pouted and said reluctantly to Shen Mu Ran, “I understand, but I do not want to go back to my dad’s house.”

“Fine,” Shen Mu Ran said good-naturedly. “Then you can come home with me.”

Once Su Nian’s living situation was settled, Shen Mu Ran said goodbye to Sun Heng and took Su Nian away. As they left, Su Nian kept looking back at Sun Heng with longing until Shen Mu Ran pulled her directly into the car.

Before Su Nian could even fasten her seatbelt, Shen Mu Ran drove out of the parking lot. Sun Heng stood at the coffee shop entrance with one hand in her pocket, coolly waving at the departing car while secretly memorizing Shen Mu Ran’s license plate number.

Inside Shen Mu Ran’s car, the atmosphere was exceptionally oppressive. Su Nian knew that her running away had caused a lot of trouble. Shen Mu Ran looked calm, but she was definitely angry, so Su Nian shrank as much as possible to avoid attracting her fire.

Not long after, Shen Mu Ran spoke slowly. “From now on, stay away from that person named Sun Heng.”