Chapter 112

The scene was too sad, so Chen Fei started to cheer and tell them to go home and be mushy.

Amidst the cheers and jeers, the two were pushed and pulled apart by their friends, each going their own way into their respective friendship camps. Lin Rui, once again unable to keep his mouth shut, embellished the story of Jiang Li leaving with nothing, spreading it far and wide.

Everyone laughed at Jiang Li for going all out to win over his wife, but he himself was quite nonchalant and self-righteous in his approval.

Amidst the laughter and joking, Chen Fei suddenly came over, placed the fruit plate in front of her, and said casually, "By the way, you there, I asked you to pass on a message."

As for who "that person" is, they both know perfectly well.

Guan Nan was somewhat taken aback: "Me?"

“Hmm,” Chen Fei nodded, grabbed a piece of watermelon and stuffed it into her mouth, puffing out her cheeks as she said, “She asked me to apologize to you.”

Hearing this, Guan Nan forced a smile and said calmly, "I don't blame her."

She didn't blame her, nor had she ever blamed her.

After all, she encountered the wrong people and ended up with no good outcome.

Guan Nan raised her glass and clinked it with hers, smiling with relief at her words: "It's all in the past."

It wasn't until the afternoon that the group finally dispersed.

Today is October 31st, and they walked out of the coffee shop as usual.

Just like the previous times, but what was different this time was that they were holding hands and stepping out of the coffee shop together.

As soon as I stepped outside, I noticed several children in the shopping street carrying woven bamboo lanterns covered with orange-yellow paper. Their faces were painted with messy yet cute makeup, and their hands and pockets were filled with various candies in the lanterns.

Only then did she realize that it was Christmas Eve.

"Trick or Treat!" The child in the lead looked up, walked over, and hugged her leg, his eyes watery.

Guan Nan's heart softened. She looked down and rummaged through her canvas bag, but there were no candies in the pockets, only chocolates. After putting in two chocolates, the little boy following behind the other child politely and innocently asked her to speak.

"Can I have some candy?"

But she didn't have any extra in her bag. After thinking for a moment, she carefully took one back from the two chocolates she had given out, put it in the little boy's tray, and whispered, "Is that OK?"

"Yep!"

“ths~”

She watched as the children happily thanked her and ran off to the next house.

Guan Nan couldn't help but laugh, but the result was in the next second.

The person she liked appeared in front of her holding a strawberry-flavored Alpenliebe ice cream, and with a pop, it was like setting off a firework for her. "Happy Christmas."

This time, without her saying "Trick or Treat," the man appeared before her with candy.

Guan Nan opened her mouth and put the candy in it, stubbornly saying, "I'm not a child anymore."

“Why not?” Jiang Li said lazily, his fingers intertwined with hers.

Guan Nan: "No, it isn't."

"that is."

"·····"

"Even at eighty, you're still a child."

"·····"

"When the time comes, even if I have to use my cane, I'll still buy you candy and say 'Happy Christmas' to you."

Guan Nan was stunned after hearing this.

She thought they must live to be a hundred years old, so that she could keep saying 'Trick or Treat' to Jiang Li until she was buried in the yellow earth.

When they are all old and can no longer see or hear, they can still count the years that have passed.

In the blink of an eye, it's December. Guan Nan and Chen Fei have been busy recruiting experts for their business license and other qualifications since they embarked on their entrepreneurial journey again.

As for the studio, it was only finalized at the end of last month. It's located in an emerging startup park, which is large and has a good environment. Most importantly, the price is reasonable. They also successfully signed a new artist.

The new employees had just terminated their contracts with the company, and now they're being offered a 20-year contract.

"..." Chen Fei glanced at him and said irritably, "I know you're rich, no need to show off."

Zhang Hong laughed and said, "Let's sign a 20-year contract. I'll sell myself to you."

Hearing him speak gave Chen Fei goosebumps, and she made her stance clear, firmly refusing: "I don't want to."

"Senior," Zhang Hong said with a smile, "please give me a chance."

Upon hearing this, Guan Nan glanced between the two of them in disbelief, clearly unaware of the situation.

Zhang Hong continued, "Didn't you say you liked celebrities? I'm practically a celebrity myself now, aren't I?"

"I don't like people younger than me," Chen Fei said coldly.

"How do you know I'm small?" Zhang Hong raised an eyebrow slightly, and seeing that she was about to change her expression, he immediately changed his attitude and became serious. "When we grew up together, you never complained that I was small."

The two went back and forth, seemingly determined to prove who was superior. In the end, the contract was signed, and Zhang Hong stopped hiding anything, diligently picking up and dropping off Chen Fei every day, becoming her constant accomplice.

Thinking about this, Guan Nan couldn't help but feel a little sad, but also relieved for her friend.

Then, just before the holiday, news spread from somewhere that, coincidentally, the number of school places had been reduced this year, leading to inflated housing prices, and even the apartment in Tangzi Lane saw its price rise accordingly.

When Guan Nan opened the app again, many buyers found her through the posts she had made before. By the time she saw the message, it was already mid-December.

Guan Nan selected a few replies, and immediately someone asked her for her contact information.

After understanding all the issues, the other party immediately paid the deposit, and the house was sold smoothly.

Before selling the house, she specifically told the buyer why someone was still living there, and the seller said they understood and might be able to resolve the issue.

Seeing that he didn't mind the trouble, Guan Nan didn't say anything more.

But less than a week after the house was sold, someone called her saying there was someone lying in front of her house. Guan Nan didn't think much of it at first, so she contacted the person who bought the house, but the person told her that there was no one at the door.

Only then did she realize that the person was at the door of 5-13.

When Guan Nan arrived at the scene, Zhang Guilian was standing arrogantly at the door with her arms crossed, while Sheng Weimin was lying on the cold floor, convulsing, wearing not-too-thick clothes in the early winter weather.

"What are you doing?" she asked Zhang Guilian coldly after only one glance.

"What are you doing?" Zhang Guilian still had the same haughty demeanor she remembered. "I'm giving your dead father back to you. You'd better serve him properly yourself!"

The problem is definitely not that simple.

Guan Nan looked at her coldly: "What do you want?"

"What do I have to do with this?" Zhang Guilian laughed angrily. "You've been wearing my clothes and eating my food for so many years, and now that you've grown up and have your wings, you sell the house without a word and dare to ask me what I have to do with this! If I had known you were such an ingrate, I wouldn't have given you all those things even if I fed them to the dogs!"

As if she had heard something outrageous, Guan Nan couldn't help but laugh out loud, "Wear your clothes, eat your food?"

Zhang Guilian, with her hands on her hips and an air of self-righteousness, questioned, "What have you been doing all these years if not wearing my clothes and eating my food? Haven't I been serving you all so comfortably all these years?"

"Where's the money?" Guan Nan didn't waste any time with her and simply held out her hand.

"What money!" Zhang Guilian roared, "I have no money!"

Guan Nan twitched her lips, her smile somewhat sarcastic. "After all these years of wearing your clothes and eating your food, shouldn't we settle some accounts? The house in Tangzi Lane is mine. You haven't paid me any rent all these years, have you? At the lowest market price, it's 2,000 a month, 24,000 a year, and 240,000 over ten years."

"Shouldn't you settle this score before asking me for money?"

Zhang Guilian was so angry that her face turned red and her neck bulged. She couldn't speak for a long time, so she pointed at her nose and cursed, "You little brat, you're just like your slutty mother!"

"Watch your mouth when you speak." Guan Nan frowned, her tone turning cold.

"You little bastard, who told you to sell the house?!" Looking at her face, which bore a striking resemblance to Ran Mingju's, Zhang Guilian gritted her teeth in anger, her chest heaving as she shouted at her, "Who gave you permission to sell that house? If you hadn't sold it, would we have had to kick you out? I don't care anymore, you either give me the money or find me a place, or I'll make you watch your dead father die here!"

Seeing that the person was acting a bit crazy, Guan Nan decided to ignore her and lowered her head to take out her phone to report the incident.

But Zhang Guilian was faster, reaching out and grabbing her hand from the other side. Her fingers trembled and turned white from the force, her expression frantic and somewhat ferocious. "What are you doing? You want to call for help?"

"Come on, call your men! Call your men and see if you can kill me!"

"I don't believe you, you little bitch, can summon anyone!"

As she got carried away with her tantrum, as if that wasn't enough, she loosened her grip a little. Guan Nan forcefully flicked her wrist away and saw her sit down on the ground, leaning against Sheng Weimin. After turning back and cursing him fiercely as "short-lived devil," she began pounding the floor with both hands and shouting at the top of her lungs.

"I'm going to die, I'm going to die! What sins did I commit in my past life to end up with this family of yours!" Tears streamed down Zhang Guilian's face.

Thanks to Zhang Guilian's tireless efforts, many people came out of Building 26, especially those downstairs who stopped playing cards and craned their necks to look up at the building.

“Hey,” someone said, “this is Ranran’s.”

"Yeah, what happened? Did they get into a fight?"

Sighs and exclamations came from downstairs. At the same time, someone rushed upstairs in two or three steps, followed by a woman. After going upstairs, they walked straight upstairs.

Before Guan Nan could even react, someone had already stepped in front of her.

The woman who caught up glanced at Guan Nan, then walked straight towards Zhang Guilian without expression. She squatted down in front of Zhang Guilian, who was still babbling incoherently, and swiftly and accurately slapped her across the face.

Zhang Guilian was stunned by the beating, and her words about "psychopath" and "murderer" trailed off halfway through.

"Don't let me see you at Hecang Garden, or I'll beat you every time I see you," Zhen Xiaoya stared at her sharply, exuding a sense of oppression. "Didn't I say that?"

Just moments ago, Zhang Guilian had been swaggering around arrogantly, but now she was shrinking back in fear, unconsciously shaking her head and nodding at her, as if she were terrified.

Through that gap, Guan Nan felt Jiang Li's damp hand, which tightened its grip on hers.

This is the real meaning of "meeting the parents".

Godmother, stepmother, biological father.

But the scene was so messy and somewhat comical.

Guan Nan raised his head, staring at the straight and stiff back of his neck and the neatly trimmed back of his head. He couldn't understand why he always felt ashamed, unable to hold his head up, and embarrassed by his family, which he couldn't be proud of, would suddenly appear before him at an unexpected moment.

Fate seemed to be playing tricks on her, tearing away her meager covering bit by bit, layer by layer, time and time again, leaving her exposed to the public for all to see.

Her gaze shifted to the people squatting, sitting, and lying on the ground, and Qiangzhen suddenly felt powerless.

“But, but,” Zhang Guilian said tremblingly, looking frightened, “you can’t just abandon your father.”

"dad?"