Chapter 23
Chen Huanong was not sound asleep, and the moment the light came on, she couldn't help but whimpering. Tang Chengting approached the bedside. "Hmm, there's definitely a new crazy woman in the house." Chen Huanong turned sideways towards Tang Chengting, and before she even opened her eyes, her hands had already reached for Tang Chengting's waist. She rested her head on Tang Chengting's legs, sniffing his scent like a puppy.
"Why did you come back early? Shouldn't it be more than half a month?"
"Are you unhappy that I came back early? Did you have some wild flowers outside and were afraid I'd suddenly attack them, so you brought them to you along with the flowerpots?"
"So, do you smell anything on me?"
"Yes, the smell of laundry detergent at home, and the perfume I bought for you." Chen Huanong slightly adjusted his sleeping position to a more comfortable one. "And the smell of cigarettes! You smoked behind my back again."
"You have such a bad nose. You could smell it even though I only smoked one cigarette." Tang Chengting rubbed her hair. Even he himself didn't understand why he felt so happy suddenly.
"Actually, I peeked at your cigarette box." Although his eyes were still closed, his face was full of cunning. Chen Huanong's nasal tone from just waking up had not yet completely disappeared, but his logic was clear. "What's on your mind? You were drinking with Zhang Xingyan a few days ago. Have you been exploited by your boss recently?"
"No, don't overthink it. Zhang Xingyan heard you were away, so he stole your wine." Tang Chengting said, gently placing Chen Huanong's head on the pillow and tugging the quilt for her. "I'm going to take a shower first. You can sleep a little longer, or get up and eat something?"
Chen Huanong shook her head, refusing to get up. She hadn't slept well in Kenya, and the workload was so intense. If she'd gone with Qin Huai, she could have relaxed a bit, but with an intern, she couldn't afford to be distracted for even a moment. When they arrived at Shanghai Airport, they had originally planned to rest for the night and fly directly the next day. Qin Huai asked if she really didn't want to go home, and she said it wasn't like she had never been on a business trip before. Qin Huai also mentioned seeing Zhang Xingyan at the court the day before yesterday, and they had a casual chat. He asked, "How did you offend Director Tang again? That Director Tang was in such a bad mood, and he dragged Zhang Xingyan out drinking all night."
She followed Qin Huai's car back like this, like some mysterious creature. She was spineless, so spineless. Mo Yiyan sneered on the other end of the phone, "When have you ever had any backbone in front of Tang Chengting? You are so shameless now that you want to have backbone? Whether you have backbone in front of him or not is something that needs to be verified. If Tang Chengting sneezes, you would want to dismantle the central air conditioning in their office to vent the air. This guy is not sleeping in the early morning to talk to you overseas, can you sleep? Anyway, I don't believe it."
Chen Huanong fell into a deep sleep amidst Mo Yiyan's nagging, and was half-awakened by the noise of Tang Chengting returning. She didn't fully wake up until Tang Chengting finished washing up. When Tang Chengting came out, he saw Chen Huanong sitting on the bed in a daze, "What's wrong? What are you thinking about?"
"I'm wondering if I'm crazy. I have a flight tomorrow night, why do I have to come back and sleep over?"
"Still going?"
"Well, there's some missing documents for customs clearance over there. I came back to get them. I'll have to stay there for another half a month. I thought it was just a routine discussion, but it turned out to be quite complicated. Zhao Liangqi meant to compare prices and not rush the cooperation. The factory handover procedure is also a bit complicated."
"Then you haven't considered that someone might be using this as an excuse to let you stay longer."
Chen Huanong slowly raised his head, a hint of doubt in his clear eyes. "Are you questioning my professional ability, or are you doubting my emotional intelligence?"
"Are you angry?" Tang Chengting noticed Chen Huanong's change of mood. His temper, which had been suppressed for a long time, was about to burst out of his rationality. He immediately adjusted his mindset and said, "I'm just discussing the matter at hand. It has nothing to do with you. I only suspect Zhao Liangqi."
"Tang Chengting, you are not the kind of person who would think too much about other people's affairs. You won't waste time doubting a stranger. What you doubt is how I will deal with Zhao Liangqi, the past tense."
"If I had doubted you, I wouldn't have been behind your back. Chen Huanong, you have no idea what I've done for you! I worked so hard to protect your reputation, and yet you went abroad with him without even saying goodbye. Don't you care about your own protection?"
"You don't have to work hard. I can protect my reputation myself. Remember what we agreed on when we first got married? I won't rely on you for anything. I didn't count on you before, I won't count on you now, and I will have no expectations in the future." A sense of sadness slowly spread from Chen Huanong's heart to her limbs. She threw back the quilt, got out of bed, and brushed past Tang Chengting. "It's precisely because he and I have nothing that I dare to be so blatant. Tang Chengting, you've never truly loved someone, so you don't know at all. If there really is something, it will be carefully protected in my heart."
You don't know that only when I am willing to be calculated can others calculate against me, and I have only given such an opportunity to you.
In mid-August, the evening breeze in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River was strangely gentle. The light of the full moon, combined with the city lights, illuminated the entire city. Chen Huanong, draped in a shawl, strolled slowly along the riverside runway. She had originally planned to tell Tang Chengting what she had seen in Africa, show him the photos she had taken and the words she had written. She was at a loss as to how things had escalated to this point. Passing by a square, she saw a couple of men and women dancing ballroom dance. She found it quite amusing and sat down on the edge of the lawn, watching them twirl back and forth.
It was half an hour later when Tang Chengting found her. Tang Chengting used to dislike crowds and always felt panicky when there were a lot of people around. Chen Huanong laughed at him for deliberately trying to make her sick, but she kept pestering him to go for a walk in the park. Tang Chengting knew that this was Chen Huanong's way. She might not be good at reasoning, but she was a straightforward person. She would hold his hand, casually pointing to the building where her apartment was not far away and saying, "Tang Chengting, look, there is a light I left for you. You are no longer alone."
I don’t know which year or day it was, when they were not yet together, Tang Chengting called Chen Huanong and said, “There are thousands of lights in this city, but not a single one is lit for me. I am like a duckweed among this huge crowd. I have occasionally felt this kind of sadness recently.”
Faced with such sadness, Chen Huanong finally chose to respond with his entire fortune.
That year, Chen Huanong was still cute, innocent and lively, and occasionally childish. She would always smile when she saw him and call his name over and over again. How did he turn that kind of child into what she is today?
Chen Huanong clasped her hands around her knees, banging her head against them, like an abandoned child left on the street by her parents (Chen Huanong: "I'm not just an abandoned child, no, an abandoned woman"), and Tang Chengting's heart twisted uncontrollably. Chen Huanong watched a familiar pair of shoes appear before him, slowly raising his head. Tang Chengting's figure melted into the moonlight, just like the gentle and spoiled boy he had been all those years ago.
One day the young man said, "I blocked the girl's way and disturbed her. It was my fault."
Today's young man said: "It is my fault that I misunderstood the girl's intention and made her sad."
Chen Huanong's smile turned into a flower, the flower looked like clothes and the moon looked like her face, the past overlapped and memories surged, the boy was still the boy, and the boy was no longer the boy. Chen Huanong's tears came without warning, like a flood that broke through the dam, rolling down and burning Tang Chengting who stretched his hand in the air.
Tang Chengting hadn't seen Chen Huanong cry so clearly in at least three years, let alone in public. He was momentarily panicked. Even though Chen Huanong just stared at him blankly, without a sound, tears streaming down her face.
Chen Huanong, who was tired of crying that night, went home lying on Tang Chengting's back. Tang Chengting rarely spoke softly and gently, but Chen Huanong kept saying "hmm" in return, changing the tone of her voice to answer all of Tang Chengting's questions.
Chen Huanong left early the next morning, leaving behind a note, a beautifully wrapped gift box, and a reminder letter asking Zhang Xingyan to pay half the price for the wine.
"You're still laughing? I worked so hard to comfort you, but Chen Huanong doesn't appreciate my kindness, and you're even blaming me? You two are truly heartless and ruthless, a perfect match!"
"I don't know why Huahua always likes to pick on you. She is not friendly to Ke Yuzheng at all!"
Zhang Xingyan snorted coldly, "Don't you know? Stop playing dumb! Chen Xiaohua has been holding a grudge against me because I didn't approve of you two being together. Ke Yuzheng was the first to give her full approval, so of course she's friendly!"
"Then who made you disapprove? Woman and villain, Chen Huanong qualifies as two of them!" The implication is that you are too stupid to cause such trouble.
"No, I think your lustful expression is wrong. Chen Huanong only came back for one night, why are you so desperate? Old Tang, I really didn't expect you to be such a thirsty person."
Tang Chengting didn't respond to him, but just gave a brief account of what happened last night. He originally hoped that Zhang Xingyan, the playboy, could give him some advice, but he didn't expect that Zhang Xingyan focused his attention on something very strange.
"Who are you talking about crying? Chen Huanong is crying? Aren't you dazzled?"
Tang Chengting really didn't understand why Zhang Xingyan was so excited. It was normal for Chen Huanong to cry. When they first started dating, she was often made to cry out of anger. Once Chen Huanong cried, Tang Chengting couldn't scold her anymore and could only coax her with a stiff face. Later, both of them changed their strategies, and Chen Huanong rarely cried in recent years.
"You've never seen Chen Huanong in court, right? You've never seen Chen Huanong snatching clients, right?"
Generally speaking, people in the industry are reluctant to meet Chen Huanong in the same courtroom. Why? Why else could it be? Chen Huanong's apprenticeship was under Zheng Fengnian, a young, unruly mentor brought up by the old man. Their motto was, "If the opposing lawyer makes a mistake, be aggressive and don't give them face. Keep aggressive until they're afraid of you." Shensong's two biggest perverts were Zheng Fengnian and Chen Huanong. Zheng Fengnian had grown in seniority over the years and developed a certain respect for elders. He was quite kind in his own cases, but not when teaching Chen Huanong. Zhang Xingyan clearly heard Zheng Fengnian tell Chen Huanong at dinner, "If the opposing lawyer is older than you, you take advantage of your youth; if they're younger, you take advantage of your seniority." Listen, is that even human language? Trained in this way, Chen Huanong adhered strictly to her master's rules, arriving to court with a suitcase. Except for simple cases, court debates typically lasted over an hour, giving even the judge a headache.
In addition to its own steady caseload, Shensong also constantly seeks new consulting firms. However, the urban market is limited, and larger businesses already have their own consultants or established law firms. While law firms don't prioritize consulting firms, due to their long-standing relationships and the prevailing market conditions, few companies are willing to switch. Chen Huanong has managed to carve out a new niche in a saturated market. At Shensong's peak, they had over a hundred consulting firms annually, with each receiving an average of 50,000 yuan in fees—the kind that arrived immediately upon signing the contract. Chen Huanong personally managed over 30 of these firms, and her team over 20.
Zhang Xingyan had never seen how she talked to clients in person, but he had heard how business leaders who had worked with Chen Huanong evaluated Chen Huanong.
"Don't underestimate her because she's a young girl. The moment she sits there and opens her mouth, her aura instantly changes. She's incredibly convincing. Before you even ask anything, she'll rattle off all the problems in your company, like a fortune teller."
Zhang Xingyan looked at Tang Chengting in silence, feeling a bit embarrassed to continue. After all, it was not appropriate to talk about someone else's wife in front of her husband. Tang Chengting was not in this industry, and he rarely heard Chen Huanong talk about work at home. He rarely asked about Chen Huanong's income. Anyway, he didn't expect Chen Huanong to make money or save money. He thought Chen Huanong's income was mostly from opening a store with Mo Yiyan, and he didn't expect Chen Huanong to be so strong.
"What misunderstanding do you have about your wife's professional ability?"
"There's no misunderstanding, I just don't really understand her. When Huahua was with me before, she was more like a child who hadn't grown up. Although I always told her not to rely on me, when she was in front of me, I would unconsciously put her under my protection."
"You're protecting her? A lawyer was once in court with her and got so angry his blood pressure spiked that the court was adjourned. Go ask around at the courthouse, and everyone knows Chen Huanong!" Zhang Xingyan felt a little agitated. It was probably because Tang Chengting's words were too much of a shock, especially since the subject was Chen Huanong. "But maybe she and you have different ways of interacting. Maybe she just lets go of her true nature in front of you."
But Chen Huanong hasn't acted like a child in front of me for a long time. She has become more and more independent as I expected, so it is inevitable that we will go on the road of separation.
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