Chapter 25
Chen Huanong rested at home for four days before returning to work. On her first day at work, she encountered heavy rain and half of her body was soaked. Her assistant quickly got her a dry towel and made her a cup of ginger tea, fearing that she would catch a cold at this critical juncture.
"You're so considerate, unlike Chi Buyu, that untameable wolf cub who's always been obsessed with money. I've been back for a few days, and he hasn't even shown up. Tsk tsk tsk, how could I have brought out such a thing?"
"First, I was worried you'd catch a cold, and most importantly, I was worried you'd infect me. Secondly, you've been back for five days, and you've been home for four. Thirdly, the wolf cub was also following your instructions in discussing business. So, to sum up, it was indeed you who brought this thing out. Don't doubt it!"
Chen Huanong snorted proudly and went upstairs in her high heels to find the director. She had only been gone for a short time when her own assistant actually started speaking for Chi Buyu. His political stance was too unsteady and she was going to complain!
After she finished reporting all her work, Qin Huai just returned from court. Chen Huanong leaned against the door of her office and greeted him, "Hey, handsome, long time no see. Please do me the honor of having dinner with me!"
The assistant covered her face and wanted to change offices. She didn't have such a flattering boss. Qin Huai silently suppressed the urge to hit her, "Tell me, what do you want me to do now?"
"Help me with this." Chen Huanong seemed to be waiting for him to say this. He smiled and took out a file bag from behind his back. "Lawyer Qin, I'll leave it to you! I have a court hearing in another city this afternoon, so I'll be leaving first."
Chen Huanong's car circled the ring road again and again, the car player playing "Nothing To Fear" over and over. The third snow of 2014, her late twilight years, fell. She was on a business trip, working until the wee hours. Her tired face was reflected in the hotel window, and outside, the silvery, bleak nightscape stretched out before her. Suddenly, she felt utterly lonely. Tang Chengting had long since gone to bed, and she hadn't replied to her message immediately. The next morning, she received a music message from him, with the caption: "With you here, I have nothing to fear."
The young man who said he was cold-hearted by nature said to her, "When you come back, we'll get married!"
Now that I'm gone, can you face this lonely world alone? Are you no longer afraid?
When she first met the boy named Tang, Chen Huanong was still an ignorant girl.
That year, Chen's mother threw her to the only private high school in the city at lightning speed. She was away from all her old friends and was lost in a crowd of strangers. Looking at the students wearing the same school uniforms coming and going, Chen Huanong was scared and lonely.
Fortunately, Mo Yiyan appeared in time. The girl in her drooping school uniform hooked her shoulder and said, "You are Chen Huanong, right? We live in the same dormitory. My name is Mo Yiyan."
That year, Mo Yiyan probably never expected that because of this action, she would receive Chen Huanong's unconditional favoritism in the years to come. She also never expected that Chen Huanong, who was shy like a frightened deer at the age of fifteen, would grow up to be a devil in the future.
As Mo Yiyan was speaking, she opened the back door of the classroom. The moment the door opened, two boys bumped into her, forcing her to take two steps back. One of them landed right on Chen Huanong's instep. Chen Huanong was caught off guard and couldn't help but let out a cry of "Ah!" Mo Yiyan quickly turned around to apologize, then pulled the two boys aside to apologize to her. "You two are so blind when you walk! Look, you bumped into that little girl."
A boy apologized to her and immediately confronted Mo Yiyan, "You opened the door by yourself and didn't pay attention. You said you eat so much every day, how come your stability is so poor? You are the one who stepped on someone's foot."
"How could I step on someone if you two didn't bump into each other? Besides, I eat a lot but I don't gain weight! Which girl can withstand two guys bumping into her at the same time? You're right to do something wrong!"
"Tsk, eating so much and not gaining weight is a waste of food. I'm right, so what?"
"Zhang Xingyan, just wait. When my parents come over this weekend, I'll definitely complain to them!"
"How many times have you complained since you were a kid? Go ahead and complain, the worst that can happen is a beating! I'm tough and I've become immune to it. Besides, I have Old Tang with me this time, so I'm safe!"
This year, Tang Chengting was sixteen years old, with a clean appearance, bright eyes, a slim figure, a straight back, and a pleasant smell. He was standing just in front of Chen Huanong, just a few feet away.
Chen Huanong raised his head slightly, Tang Chengting lowered his head slightly, and their eyes met. The young man cleared his throat and said softly, "I blocked the way and disturbed the lady. It is my fault."
The four of them were silent for a few seconds, and the first to react was Zhang Xingyan, "Damn, Old Tang, your flirting has improved again! I admire you too!"
Mo Yiyan took a deep breath, shook his head repeatedly, and pulled Chen Huanong to his seat. Chen Huanong suppressed a smile and almost bit his lip as he followed Mo Yiyan. After that, Chen Huanong slowly understood the relationship between the three of them. Because of the position of the seats in front and behind, the four of them became increasingly close. By the time Chen Huanong realized that this closeness was too much, he was already deeply involved.
Before meeting Tang Chengting, Chen Huanong always believed that there were many things in this world where hard work would pay off. After meeting Tang Chengting, she realized that there were also many things where hard work would pay off. Her love, unfortunately, fell into the latter category.
After becoming an adult, Chen Huanong reflected deeply on his mistakes. After watching seven or eight tragic Korean dramas and squeezing out his tears, he suddenly realized that instead of pursuing such unrealistic and stupid things where the investment and return were not proportional, it would be better to work hard to make money and strive to support a young and strong gigolo by the time he turned forty.
At the end of the story, she didn't get what she wanted. Just when she thought she had let it go, Tang Chengting suddenly reappeared in her life without any warning. She hesitated. She spent whole nights suffering from insomnia. As soon as she closed her eyes, the scene of Tang Chengting comforting her would appear in her mind. She spent half a month thinking about what Tang Chengting meant to her. She asked herself if she could let him go.
This person was never a good candidate for love and marriage, but he was the one she could not let go of in her entire life.
On the day she decided to get married, Mo Yiyan, with a serious expression, asked her, in a rare moment of seriousness, "Do you really need him? With so many people to choose from, do you really have to choose him?"
Her expression was calm, her eyes were firm, and every word she spoke shocked Mo Yiyan.
He seems to be a seal imprinted on my life, a mark that cannot be erased. You asked me if I needed him or really loved him, I can't answer. After going through so much, I no longer know what the definition of love is. If I say I love him, then what about the relationships I had before this? If I say I don't love him, then why did I stay rooted to him without hesitation? Is it hard to let go? At this age, what kind of hardship can I still feel? Even the deepest hardship should be worn away by time, but I don't. The longer time goes by, the more I find myself relying on him. It's not that I need to rely on him when I encounter difficulties, but the existence of this person himself is a kind of motivation for me. As long as he is by my side, even if he doesn't say a word, I can be fearless and invincible.
He may not necessarily be indispensable to me, but when he came over to me, I knew that I must be indispensable to him.
On the first day of early autumn, Chen Huanong handed the divorce agreement to Qin Huai.
At the bottom of the desk drawer, at the bottom of the important documents, lay the divorce agreement Tang Chengting had sent her five months earlier. Chen Huanong slowly pulled it out, examining it word by word, as she had countless other times before. Her fatigue was reflected in the glass frame. Tang Chengting was right. Some things couldn't be accomplished simply by her effort. There were too many things in this world that were beyond her control. Time would pass, lives would fade, feelings would dissipate, and hearts would change. With a trembling hand, she signed her name, silently praying, Tang Chengting, everything will be as you wish.
Qin Huai handed the document bag to Zhang Xingyan. Zhang Xingyan patted himself three or four times to make sure he wasn't dreaming, then hurriedly called Mo Yiyan, "Chen Huanong signed. Holy shit, is she mentally normal now? Did she get kicked in the head by an elephant while she's abroad?"
"What? What was signed? Speak properly."
"She signed the divorce agreement."
The other end quickly hung up, and Zhang Xingyan wasn't surprised at all. It must have been Chen Huanong calling. He coughed twice and then called Tang Chengting. As the first to learn of the Tangs' divorce, the Zhang siblings were incredibly gossipy, so much so that Mo Yiyan's first question was, "Are you and the old man back together again?"
Chen Huanong...please speak some human language.
The first thing Zhang Xingyan asked Tang Chengting was, "Has your wife been poached?"
Tang Chengting??? Speak human language!
"Your wife signed the divorce papers! How did you convince her?"
"She is still on a business trip abroad. How can I convince her? Wait, you said Chen Huanong signed? When?" Tang Chengting was halfway through his words when he realized what Zhang Xingyan was talking about. Chen Huanong was obviously still in Kenya at this time. When did she come back and when did she sign?
"I asked Qin Huai to give it to me this afternoon. I heard he's been back for four or five days. How come you didn't know?"
What did he know? Did he know about Chen Huanong's return to China? Or did he know about Chen Huanong's sudden signing? He knew nothing. After that brief encounter that night, Chen Huanong seemed to have vanished from his life, leaving no trace. His messages fell on deaf ears, his WeChat and phone calls were never answered, and his last update to his Moments was a month ago. He knew nothing about Chen Huanong.
Tang Chengting called Chen Huanong, but still no one answered. He thought about it and sent a WeChat message to Zhang Xingyan, asking, "Are Mo Yiyan and Chen Huanong together?"
Zhang Xingyan replied quickly, "She's not here. Chen Huanong is out of town for a court hearing." He didn't get any information out of the conversation. "No one knows what's going on with your wife now."
No, that was wrong. It was the ex-wife.
Tang Chengting was sure that this sentence was meant to cause trouble, and he was too lazy to pay attention to him. He left a message on WeChat to Chen Huanong, asking her to call him back after the trial, but he felt inexplicably uneasy in his heart.
The Tang couple met again after nearly a month, and there was a sense of strangeness between them. It was already past seven o'clock when Chen Huanong got home. Before he had time to change out of his pure black suit, the sound of the door opening was heard from the entrance. The moment Chen Huanong turned his head, the two of them looked at each other, and no one spoke for a while.
After an unknown amount of time, Chen Huanong came to his senses and said, "You're back. I thought you would be late."
"Well, I'm not working overtime tonight." Tang Chengting put down his handbag, changed his shoes, and walked towards Chen Huanong. "Have you eaten? If not, let's go out for dinner!"
"Okay, I'll change my clothes." Chen Huanong took off her coat and threw it on the sofa, leaving only a shirt inside. Even though it was tucked into a skirt, it still looked a little loose. Tang Chengting didn't know if it was because he hadn't seen her for a long time, but she seemed to have lost some weight.
Chen Huanong wasn't used to the Kenyan food and had been experiencing stomach discomfort. After returning home, she'd been eating porridge for several days straight, feeling almost bland. When Tang Chengting asked her what she wanted to eat, she immediately said hot pot. Tang Chengting didn't eat much, spending most of his time boiling meat and serving vegetables to her. Chen Huanong was delighted with the service and smiled, "Director Tang, I haven't seen you in ages. You've become even more virtuous!"
"Of course not. Only you can enjoy this kind of treatment. Chen Huanong, you should be content. I treat you much better than others!"
"Don't lie with your eyes open. I remember how you treated Ke Yuzheng and the others. Ke Yuzheng's classic quote is 'If Chengting doesn't give me meat, I won't eat it.' Don't bully me because I'm old and have a bad memory. You're nice to everyone, but you're the worst to me."
"Chen Huanong, you are so heartless. I treat them well just out of friendship, it's just a small favor. But I treat you well with sincerity and dedication. Look, you don't like to manage money, so I'm the one who takes care of it. You like to spend money, but have you ever hesitated to take out your wallet when it's time? People should be content with what they have. Of all people, I already favor you the most."
At this point, Tang Chengting still didn't know Chen Huanong's intentions. He had originally harbored doubts and wanted to find a time to discuss the signing with her. However, upon meeting Chen Huanong, he was so overwhelmed that he didn't have time to think about it, and was simply busy chatting and bickering with her. Perhaps Chen Huanong's smile was so sincere, Tang Chengting mistakenly believed that they could still joke freely and without grudges as before. He even forgot to ask why she signed.
"Anyone who studies law knows that damages are divided into actual damages and mental damages. I told my mother that I'm a lawyer and I will protect myself, but only materially. But how can material things hurt people? For so many years, I pretended to be money-oriented. My mother knew that I was hurt, so she felt even more distressed. What about you, Tang Chengting? Have you ever felt sorry for me? You also know that I'm hurt, so you want to compensate me materially to eliminate your guilt. You are not partial to me. You have never been partial to me."
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