Chapter Twenty-Three
Li Tiancheng had a vague feeling that something was not quite right.
First, last night he wanted to make love with Tengzhi, but Tengzhi refused, saying that she found out she had her period while taking a shower.
Li Tiancheng did touch the cotton pad. At first, he didn't think much of it. But when he went out this morning and was on his way to the company, he remembered that Teng Zhi had her period about half a month ago.
Tengzhi wasn't feeling well for a few days and didn't cook, ordering takeout for several meals in a row.
Later, Li Tiancheng thought about it and realized that his wife's menstrual cycle had been irregular for many years. Maybe her period had come early?
Next, Yang Jiawen didn't reply to his messages.
To prevent Teng Zhi from finding out their chat history on WeChat and QQ, he and his mistress communicated through Alipay.
It has to be said that young people do have a different way of thinking. Liu Ni taught him this, and he taught Yang Jiawen.
Because he had blocked app push notifications, Li Tiancheng didn't see Yang Jiawen's message until he was washing up in the bathroom before going to bed.
He replied to her, "I'm getting ready to sleep."
Then he asked her, "Do you miss your husband?"
But Yang Jiawen didn't reply, and Li Tiancheng assumed that her boyfriend was with her and it was inconvenient for her to reply.
He still hadn't received a message from Yang Jiawen when he woke up in the morning.
The car pulled into the office building's parking lot, and Li Tiancheng parked in his spot before making a phone call to Yang Jiawen.
After a few beeps, the call was answered, and Yang Jiawen's voice was weak and listless: "Hello..."
"You just woke up? You can answer the phone. He's not home?"
"……Um……"
What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?
Li Tiancheng thought for a moment and assumed that Yang Jiawen was unhappy because he had neglected her a little this weekend, so he coaxed her gently, "Are you still angry with me? I told you before that I have to spend time with my wife this weekend, so I can't reply to your messages on time."
He didn't mention to Yang Jiawen that his wife wouldn't be in Guangzhou on the weekend, fearing that Yang Jiawen and Liu Ni's schedules would conflict.
Li Tiancheng wanted to coax her: "How about I have lunch with you? What would you like to eat? Japanese food or dim sum?"
There was a long silence on the other end of the phone, so long that Li Tiancheng thought the signal was bad. He said "hello" a few times before he heard Yang Jiawen say, "Let's not meet for now, and let's not send any more messages."
Li Tiancheng was momentarily taken aback: "Why... why are you suddenly saying that?"
Yang Jiawen lay on the bed, rubbing her aching temples, her voice weary: "My boyfriend might be starting to doubt me, I need to behave myself lately."
Li Tiancheng's heart sank, and he frowned as he asked, "Does he know about what happened between you and me?"
Yang Jiawen felt a little guilty.
What Ye Yin discovered last night was another person she was flirting with, but she naturally couldn't let Li Tiancheng know that she was still flirting with others, so she had to make up another lie: "Well, he found out yesterday that I sent you a message... Luckily, I cleared the previous chat beforehand, and luckily you didn't reply to me, so I made up an excuse to get away with it."
Although Li Tiancheng had never met Ye Yin, he had heard Yang Jiawen describe his appearance and personality before.
He's a rough, uncultured man, somewhat like his brother-in-law.
With his heart pounding, Li Tiancheng asked Yang Jiawen one more time to confirm, "Does he know who I am?"
“He didn’t ask…” Yang Jiawen said impatiently, “Even if he had asked, I definitely wouldn’t have admitted it. There’s no solid evidence, it’s just a piece of information.”
Li Tiancheng sensed her emotions and patiently reassured her, "Okay, don't worry. Let's do as you said and not contact each other for now. Let me know when you've dealt with things on your end."
He offered a few more words of reassurance and then ended the call.
When Li Tiancheng returned to the company, his mind was filled with reviewing his recent meetings and interactions with Yang Jiawen, wondering if he had given himself away. As a result, he didn't even glance at Liu Ni when he passed by the office.
The young woman had been showing off to her colleagues that morning that she was spending the weekend at her "boyfriend's" house. But at that moment, her heart, which had been floating in mid-air, plummeted, becoming a piece of rotten meat thrown into a garbage dump, turning sour and smelly.
With tears welling up in her eyes, Liu Ni opened her phone's photo album and looked at the "secret" photos she had taken a couple of days ago. She found it increasingly difficult to control the dark and complex emotions surging within her.
Meanwhile, Yang Jiawen slipped on her slippers and went into the bathroom to wash up. Her face looked haggard from not sleeping all night, and there were faint dark circles under her eyes.
Ye Yin didn't sleep at home last night.
He didn't interrogate her about the suspicious information on her phone. He just picked up his car keys with a disappointed look and said he would go to his parents' house to sleep that night.
He said that if she didn't want to believe it, she could call Ye's parents directly.
Yang Jiawen was in a panic all night and sent many messages to Ye Yin.
One moment he was "explaining" that the app's push notification wasn't what he imagined; the next he was implying that his paranoia stemmed from Ye Yin's whereabouts being unknown tonight; then he was using a feigned retreat to advance, first apologizing to Ye Yin and mentioning that his birthday was in half a month, asking if he wanted to go on a short vacation to an island together.
Ye Yin only replied, "The Canton Fair is coming up, the store will be very busy," and then sent the location of his parents' house, saying that he was too tired from driving and was going to sleep, and that they could talk about it when he had time.
The cold, impersonal words annoyed Yang Jiawen, who felt like she was being snubbed.
But she tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep, constantly thinking of ways to cover up one lie after another.
Unlike his girlfriend, Ye Yin slept incredibly soundly and comfortably. The alarm clock couldn't wake him up until his older sister rushed into the room and slapped him across the face, at which point he sprang up like a carp leaping out of bed.
Ye Zi, with her fiery temper, grabbed her younger brother by the ear and yelled, "You little rascal, did you lend me your money again last night?!"
Ye Yin quickly understood, letting his older sister tug at his ear, her voice hoarse: "Yang Jiawen is looking for you again?... We're siblings for life, don't be so petty. Didn't you tell me not to mention you in front of Adong?"
Ye Zi let go of his hand, not wanting her parents outside to worry, and asked in a low voice, "What's going on between you two now? Is everything completely broken up?"
Ye Yin yawned before saying, "There's nothing we can do. Although your brother is currently a green ATM, he can't be used up and used again."
This finally piqued Ye Zi's curiosity: "Just how green is the hat Jiawen put on you, after forcing you to this point?"
Ye Yin rolled his eyes: "You're such a gossip."
"I'll tell you, we're siblings in this lifetime."
Ye Yin sighed: "In short, it's not just one."
"Hahahaha—" Ye Zi laughed without any restraint, gloating, "Ye Yin, you've finally met your match."
After all, she had known this girl for many years, so Ye Zi gave her some leeway, telling Ye Yin to go ahead and break up with her if he wanted to, but not to use any dirty tricks.
The elders of both families know each other, so the best outcome would be a peaceful parting of ways; let's not make it too ugly.
Ye Yin grabbed the cigarette case, tossed one to his older sister, took a bite himself, and mumbled, "Cicada."
Ye Zi leaned against the desk, lit a cigarette, and then asked gossipily, "Hey, who did you take to the Divine Spring? Even I can't know?"
Ye Yin exhaled a puff of white smoke, deliberately using a high-pitched, androgynous voice: "Yeah, that's my little secret."
I was wondering, what is that guy doing now? Is he at the law firm?
Were you bullied by Li Tiancheng last night?
————Author's ramblings————
Key points:
1. "Let me cross the bridge" = "Use me to achieve certain goals"
2. "Gu Bao" = winning back a relationship after a breakup
It's the multi-perspective I like, hehe~~
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