Billionaire's Gold Digger - Chapter 144

After breakfast, Meng Yanchen didn’t take her straight to those malls packed with luxury brands. Instead, he said he needed to pick something up for Fu Wenying, deliberately taking a detour along the route Fan Shengmei used to take to work.

The car stopped near a row of slightly shabby street-side shops.

This place carried too many of her hardships and small hopes from when she first entered society.

Suddenly, her gaze was drawn to the window of a familiar little shop, and she stopped in her tracks without thinking.

In the glass display case of that shop, there was a pair of off-white high heels she remembered vividly–simple in style, even a bit outdated, with a small bow at the heel.

This shop was the place she frequented when she had just graduated and first came to this city to work hard.

Back then, her salary was meager, and she still had to send money home. She had no concept of luxury goods costing tens of thousands.

Many of her “battle dresses” and “battle shoes” for holding up appearances were carefully picked out here.

She remembered clearly how excited she was the first time she won the “Best New Employee of the Year” award.

She wanted so badly to be like her other colleagues, wearing beautiful new clothes and shoes, dazzling as she went on stage to accept her prize.

But that month, after wiring money home, the living expenses she had left were only enough to buy a presentable top from this shop.

The shoes she had looked at countless times and longed for, she still couldn’t buy in the end.

During that time, she would deliberately pass by the shop every day on her way to and from work, just to look at those shoes, but that was all–she didn’t even have the courage to go in and try them on.

That intense longing and the restraint born of poverty were still fresh in her memory.

Until one night, coming back from working late, she habitually glanced at the shop window, only to find the spot where the shoes had been was empty–

They had been sold.

In that moment, a wave of disappointment and grievance instantly overwhelmed her.

She stood by the bustling street for a long time, feeling sad, then made a vow to herself–a vow she would fail to keep countless times afterward:

“Fan Shengmei, from now on, if you see something you like, you must buy it without hesitation! No more regrets!”

Meng Yanchen walked over, blocking her shoulder and said,

“What are you looking at?”

Fan Shengmei snapped back, deliberately adding a hint of lightness and disdain to her tone,

“Huh? Nothing, just saw a pair of shoes I used to really like but never bought. I can’t believe after all these years, they’re still selling them… But now that I look at them, the style is so tacky, and the quality looks average. I don’t know what the shop owner is thinking, still putting them on display.”

Meng Yanchen didn’t say anything, just took her hand.

“Come on, let’s go in and have a look.”

“Hey? There’s no need…”

Before Fan Shengmei could finish, he had already led her into the shop.

“Excuse me,”

Meng Yanchen gestured to the shop owner, “Could you let my wife try on those off-white shoes in the window?”

The owner, a kindly middle-aged woman, smiled and quickly took out the shoes and handed them over.

Fan Shengmei hesitated a little, but still carefully tried them on.

The size was just right.

She stood up and walked to the full-length mirror, and a strange sense of satisfaction welled up inside her.

It was as if, through the mirror, she saw herself in her early twenties, coming to this city with dreams and nervousness.

That day, she had no regrets. She wore the prettiest clothes she could afford and her favorite shoes, held her head high, and confidently walked on stage to accept the award she had earned through her own efforts.

“They look great.”

Meng Yanchen said softly, “Buy them. Think of it as… making up for your past self. Don’t let the past leave any regrets.”

Leaving the shop, Fan Shengmei looked up and asked him, “Did you get Mom’s things?”

Meng Yanchen smiled, “I got them, but we’re still missing a chain. Ms. Fu asked us to go to the mall and pick one out for her.”

Fan Shengmei nodded, “Then let’s hurry.”

Meng Yanchen gently kissed her fingertips, with a hint of apology,

“I promised to go shopping with you today, but ended up making you help me run errands for Ms. Fu. You’re not bored, are you?”

Fan Shengmei shook her head, her eyes filled with genuine happiness,

“Not at all, really. I haven’t felt this relaxed in a long time.”

She glanced at the shoe box in the back seat, “And to think I could actually buy these shoes… I never thought I’d see them again. It feels… magical.”

Meng Yanchen looked at her satisfied expression and squeezed her hand.

“That’s good.”

“Where are we going next?”

“Ms. Fu still needs me to help pick out a necklace, so you might have to come with me to the mall.”

Fan Shengmei nodded and followed Meng Yanchen to a high-end mall, heading straight for the Possession counter.

This was the first luxury brand she had ever encountered.

Back then, she had just started working. One morning, a female colleague in the office complained about her bad luck lately, saying she was “in a bad astrological period.”

The next day, there was a delicate new ring on her index finger.

A platinum band, a spinning ring, dazzling diamonds–under the office lights, it sparkled so beautifully she couldn’t look away.

Fan Shengmei, who had just hung up on her mother asking when she’d get paid, couldn’t help but ask how much it cost.

The colleague waved it off casually, her tone as light as if she’d bought a snack,

“Not expensive, just over sixty thousand.”

Over sixty thousand.

She was stunned, even narrow-mindedly thought the colleague was bragging, and secretly checked the price on the official website.

That number left her dumbfounded–

And at that time, she was still waiting for her paycheck, calculating whether, after sending money home, she could finally replace the old watch she’d worn for over a decade and repaired countless times.

In that moment, the huge, insurmountable gap hit her like cold water, making her realize for the first time just how uneven this city was.

That night, she posted a photo of the ring from the website on her Moments,

“These two square meters shine so brightly. #AnUnattainableDream#”

Meng Yanchen finished buying the chain Fu Wenying wanted and came over to find her staring at the counter, lost in thought.

“What’s wrong?”

Fan Shengmei quickly looked away, shook her head, took his arm, and said lightly,

“Nothing, are we done? Let’s go.”

“Mm, let’s go.”

Meng Yanchen took her hand, “It’s almost noon. Let’s get you something to eat.”

Back in the car, Meng Yanchen turned to her and, like performing a magic trick, took a black velvet box from his suit’s inner pocket and handed it to her.

Fan Shengmei looked at the size and shape of the box, raised an eyebrow at him,

“Another ring? Mr. Meng, isn’t your frequency a bit high?”

There was a smile in Meng Yanchen’s eyes,

“Open it and see?”

His mysterious manner piqued Fan Shengmei’s curiosity. She took the box and gently opened it–

A dazzling platinum diamond ring lay quietly inside–the Piaget Possession “Turn for Luck” series, full diamond platinum version.

That spinning band, that brilliant shine–it was exactly the same as the picture she had posted on her Moments years ago.

She suddenly looked up, staring at Meng Yanchen in disbelief.

In a flash, all the clues connected!

The old street they’d detoured through, the “coincidentally” reappeared old shoes, and now this ring that precisely matched her secret longing from years ago…

This was no coincidence at all!

Her voice trembled with shock and deep emotion,

“Meng Yanchen… this… all of this was your plan, wasn’t it?”