Chapter 131 - MENG BAO'S CHILDHOOD SWEETHEART IS ME?!

I brushed my hair and put on my makeup as a requirement set by Meng Bao because he said that he wanted me to look beautiful as I attended Meng Bao's proposal with his Childhood sweetheart.

Seriously though, he really had no heart. He knew exactly that I liked him, but he still forced me to dress up to meet that woman. That was just pure evil! 

But Meng Bao said that he would offer me money right after the proposal, and he would accept anything that I asked, as long as it was still in the human range.

I think he already read my thought of asking for an actual space shuttle or satellite, solely to make him broke his bank.

I sighed and decided to wear my old, light purple qipao that I used few months before to attend my old friend's wedding.. I got fatter nowadays, but luckily, it still fit me perfectly… kind of.

"Aish, my fat waist really doesn't want to cooperate ah!" I complained, but I still tried to fit it in and used tape to wrap around my fat waist before wearing the qipao. 

"Don't be naughty, you fat waist. I'm trying to make Meng Bao regretted ever leaving me!" 

After so much hassle, I walked out of my room. Meng Bao already stood in front of my door, holding a bouquet of roses, wearing a loose white shirt and a black trouser, like a proper, educated working man in his mid-twenty. 

He was so handsome, especially with his hair permed, since he was usually too lazy to even brush his hair, though he still looked handsome nonetheless.

Meng Bao's jaw dropped once he saw me. He paused for a good while until I called him, "Bao? Why are you still here? You can't let your childhood sweetheart wait for so long ah! What will happen if she gets mad!" 

"A-Ah," Meng Bao shook his head to snap out of his daze. He looked at me for a good while again and commented, "Jie, you look so beautiful."

My cheeks automatically reddened after hearing that compliment, but I looked away and chided him for hiding my embarrassment, "You're going to propose to another woman soon, and you still try to flirt with me? Meng Bao, you're too much!" 

"N—No, I didn't mean it in a bad way…." Meng Bao said. He shoved the flower bouquet to me and said, "Please hold this until you arrived there, Ying Jie. It's important for us!"

"Eh? Why me?"

"Uh… because I need someone to carry the flower? Like a bridesmaid?"

"… you seriously have no conscience, Meng Bao." 

I sighed and accepted the flower. I really had no hope for Meng Bao anymore, but somehow, he still had some way to disappoint me even more. 

"O—Okay, I will leave first. Ying Jie, all you need to do is get on the other car I've prepared for you, and my driver will take you to the designed place. I will wait for you there!" Meng Bao said. He rushed out of the house, and I could hear the voice of a car leaving the farm. 

My parents, Meili and Yanyue, were looking at me. They looked so happy. Even my parents were wearing their formal attire, which made me frown out of confusion.

"What are you guys looking at? I'm just a bridesmaid for Meng Bao's proposal to his childhood sweetheart."

"Really? You still don't realize that he's—" Meili was about to say something before Yanyue closed her mouth with her palms. 

"N—Nothing, Jie, you should go now. He is waiting for you in that place. Just don't forget to give us a share of the money after."

I laughed proudly, "Of course, don't worry about that ah. Once I helped Meng Bao to propose, he already promised that I will get a big reward! We can use it to renovate the farm, or at least buy a house in the city, that means we won't need to pay for expensive rent every month, hahaha!"

Everyone rejoiced over this, including me. I was well known to be someone brave and strong to endure through the hardship of life. So a simple heartbreak wouldn't kill me. 

"Anyway, I'm going now," I said. 

My parents were sending me off. They stood at the door as if I was the one who would be married for real. I even saw my mom wiping her tears with a tissue. 

"Seriously, they're so weird," I commented. I walked to the black car prepared for me, and the driver respectfully opened the door. 

He sat on the driver seat, and the car was leaving the farm as soon as he pressed the gas. 

The car ran smoothly, and I got bored after a while. I asked the driver, "So, where are we going? We're going to Menghuo's childhood sweetheart's house, right?"

"I—I'm sorry, Miss. But Young Master forbid me to speak or I will—"

"—Or you will be killed, alongside your family, and you will be buried under a concrete with your family's bones, right?" I snippet. The driver gulped and nodded nervously.

I rolled my eyes, "Oh, come on, you don't need to believe in Meng Bao's words. He is such a soft guy. He just said that to scare people!" 

The driver became even more nervous, "Y—Yeah, definitely… Young Master is very soft… just like my leg… haha—"

I shrugged nonchalantly. I mean, Old Fu said that Meng Bao was only soft to his loved one, and I wasn't his loved one, yet he treated me so carefully like holding a diamond.

It showed that Meng Bao was actually very kind and soft inside and outside. 

The car continued driving through the woods, and I realized that we've entered a new village, this village was quite far from mine, but I remembered it clearly because this was Mengmeng's village!

My eyes immediately looked out the window, checking many spots that I often passed with my father fifteen years ago. 

I recognized some, though plenty of the spots, like some store had been closed down or was replaced with a new one. 

"Meng Bao's childhood sweetheart lived in here?! Damn, what if she is actually someone that I know back then? What is this crazy coincidence!" I commented.

The driver kept his silence and drove through the village until they were quite far from the gate. They stopped in front of a big abandoned mansion. It should be a gorgeous mansion in the past, but not that it was abandoned. The only thing that's left was overgrown weed and ivy. It looked like a ghost mansion instead. 

But I knew this mansion really well. This was Mengmeng's late grandma's mansion until her death. Mengmeng was taken by her parents soon after, and this place had been entirely abandoned. 

It evoked such nostalgia in me, but there was no use of it because Mengmeng wasn't here, "Why are we here?" I asked the driver.

"Miss, this is the stop. Young Master told me that you should walk from here to the hill behind the mansion. You'll find him there."

"Eh?! Really?! Out of all places in this world, he wants me to walk from here?! Don't you see that I'm using my heels and purple qipao?!"

"It is an order, Miss."

"Ugh, fine!" I opened the door and slammed it. The ground was a bit muddy, so I was forced to roll up my qipao and take out my hells. I had to walk barefoot, floundering through the muddy ground while cursing Meng Bao.

"Ugh, seriously, that man. What is he thinking anyway? Proposing at the hill behind Mengmeng's mansion, don't tell me that Mengmeng is actually his childhood sweetheart?"

I halted my stop for a moment. Somehow, I just realized that everything was too staged. There was no way someone as narcissistic as Meng Bao would choose an abandoned hill to propose. 

"… no, there's no way that Mengmeng was his Childhood sweetheart. Because Mengmeng has always been with me for two years before he left the village."

I continued walking through the familiar path leading to the hill behind the mansion and then halted for the second time.

"Wait, what if… Meng Bao is actually Mengmeng?!" That idea suddenly popped out in my head. "If Meng Bao is truly Mengmeng, then I must've mistaken Mengmeng as a woman! Everything will make sense if that is true!"

"And maybe…" I stared at the rose bouquet, "Maybe the childhood sweetheart of his… is me?!"

"AM I THE CHILDHOOD SWEETHEART!?"

I was so excited, thinking that might be true. Because if that was the truth, it would explain everything about us, the familiarity, the story of love, and the natural affection between us. 

I rushed to the hill. I didn't care if my qipao was stained. I really wanted to see Meng Bao. With a smile on my face, I saw the light leading to the top of the hill.

The moment I climbed to the top, I yelled, "MENG BAO!"

…

I thought Meng Bao would stand alone, with a wedding ring in his hand, asking for my hand in marriage.

But what I saw was...

Meng Bao kissing another woman.