Chapter 30 Chapter 30

Chapter 30 Chapter 30

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If you can sleep with me

I am willing to shorten my life by a few years

—— Justin Lo's "Kong"

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I didn’t expect to meet Hou Liping here.

Chen Li's hand still lingered on Wen Ying's scarf, and he tilted his head to greet him: "Happy New Year, Old Hou."

Hou Liping was holding a variety of toys in one hand and holding a chubby little girl in the other. A quiet woman was following behind him. "What a coincidence, from a distance it looked like you guys, and it really is you."

"Inspector Hou," Wen Ying also greeted him, and after a moment's thought, she called out, "Sister-in-law."

Chen Li's hand slid down consciously, clasping Wen Ying's hand. He smiled at the family of three in front of him, "This is my first time meeting my sister-in-law. Old Hou, you're marrying above your station."

There is no woman who doesn't like to hear such flattery.

A woman is often happier when she is told that her man is above her level than when she is told that they are a good match.

Hou Liping's wife couldn't help but lower her head and laugh, then raised her head and said, "Liping often talks about you. He is a man with no integrity. You should bear with him at work."

The little girl saw the dough figurine stall in front of her and couldn't help but want to join in the fun. Hou Liping, with the child's helplessness, turned around and winked at his wife.

Mrs. Hou understood, walked up to her daughter, took her hand, smiled and took her to see how to make dough figurines.

Hou Liping obviously had something to say. He leaned over to the side of Chen Li away from Wen Ying and whispered quickly, "Zheng Di is behind."

He took a step back and said goodbye to Wen Ying with a smile: "My sister-in-law is doing well in her career now, so I wish you a prosperous New Year." Before he could finish, Hou Liping quickly stopped and slapped his mouth, "Look at my mouth. My sister-in-law is the one who is litigating marriage and inheritance, so it's better not to congratulate you on your prosperity. I wish you all the best and win every time!"

Wen Ying pursed her lips and smiled, not minding Hou Liping's nonsense. "My wealth means that someone has escaped suffering and is heading towards freedom and happiness. I wish you all the best."

Hou Liping laughed out loud: "No wonder you were able to win such a big lawsuit, sister-in-law, I'll treat you someday and we can get together."

The child over there had already started calling for his father. Hou Liping said goodbye and squeezed in next to the child with his things in his hand.

Wen Ying asked him, "What secret did Prosecutor Hou just tell you?"

Chen Li played dumb: "What secret? There isn't any, I just complimented you on how beautiful you are today."

Before Wen Ying's smile could fully bloom on her face, she suddenly understood the content of the secret - Zheng Di was standing there seven or eight meters away.

Her eyes fell on Shen Li's face, with some surprise and unexpectedness, as if she had not expected to meet Shen Li here.

Then his eyes dropped down and fixed on the two people's intertwined hands, and Zheng Di's face darkened inch by inch.

Finally, Zheng Di's gaze pierced Wen Ying's face, as if to burn two holes through her face.

Compared to the subtle atmosphere between Zheng Di and Chen Li, Wen Ying felt that the relationship between herself and Zheng Di was even weirder.

It is said that when a girl pursues a boy, it is easy for him to succeed. It seems that Zheng Di was unlucky and she ran into her own impenetrable diamond gauze.

Chen Li nodded frankly as a greeting, and then asked Wen Ying how she was feeling and whether she wanted to continue shopping.

The sunlight was a bit dazzling, and several bright spots of light were emitted from the balloon, forcing Wen Ying to look away.

She agreed: "It's rare for me to have time to come here for a walk, and there's still such a long street ahead of me to explore." Wen Ying joked, "If you feel guilty, I can certainly go back with you."

Chen Li raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Guilty? Me?" He smiled. "It seems Wen Lu needs more practice to understand people's minds."

As they chatted, they looked up again and saw a tall man beside Zheng Di. He didn't notice them and just handed Zheng Di a bag of sugar-roasted chestnuts.

During the Chinese New Year, there is only one possibility for single men and women of the same age who don't know each other very well to visit the temple fair together.

They collided head-on, unavoidable. Zheng Di's face was a bit reserved and arrogant, and she was the first to greet him: "Happy New Year, Chen Li." She pursed her lips and said a little stiffly, "Wen Lu, long time no see."

Wen Ying said, "It's been a while since we last met. Zheng Lu looks even more radiant than ever."

As soon as she said the word "radiant", Zheng Di couldn't help but think of the last time in court when Wen Ying said that she was at the age where she should take good care of herself.

Zheng Di's face fell for a moment, but fortunately she was able to calm down, glanced at Wen Ying and stopped talking.

The man beside her seemed to understand the importance of respectability even more than Zheng Di. His smile wasn't strong, but it wasn't faint either. He reached out and shook hands with Shen Li, "I'm Han Wenqi, a friend of Zheng Di. Hello."

Shen Li shook hands back: "Hello, Shen Li, Zheng Di's high school classmate."

High school classmates were obviously more distant than friends. Zheng Di's face darkened and he kept a tight expression and said nothing.

Han Wenqi was no fool. He watched everything calmly and asked Zheng Di at the right moment, "You just said you wanted to see a magic show. It looks like it's about to start."

Zheng Di hummed, raised her head awkwardly and said goodbye.

Seeing the two walking away, Wen Ying sighed: "This Han Wenqi looks good. I hope he can win Zheng Lu's heart."

Chen Li laughed at her for being nosy. Wen Ying disagreed: "It's just an occupational disease. I can't help but want to help others find happiness."

Wen Ying was curious: "Zheng Di was your high school classmate, and she never seemed to hide her affection for you. Why didn't you consider her?"

Chen Li seemed to have heard something strange: "Does it mean that if someone likes me, I have to consider her? Wen Lu, if that's the case, then my head would be so busy almost every day that I wouldn't have time to think about anything else."

Wen Ying said he was narcissistic, but she knew in her heart that Shen Li was not lying.

Shen Li joked, then answered seriously, "Zheng Di and I are not the same kind of people."

"Why do you think so?" Wen Ying asked, "We're both practitioners of the Fa, so we should have a lot in common. Since you're not on the same page as her, then what about me?"

Chen Li didn't say anything more, only saying, "At least you wouldn't frame someone online with a trumped-up charge and start a propaganda war just to win the lawsuit." Shen Li shook his head. "The words 'unfair victory' speak volumes."

If he hadn't mentioned it, Wen Ying would have almost forgotten about it. Aside from the time after Zhou Boyu's lawsuit, almost no one mentioned it anymore, which showed how rapidly the internet was evolving.

Wen Ying was still apprehensive: "I really don't know what the situation will be like after Zhou Boyu officially announces the divorce. I'm really afraid those rumors will come back again."

Shen Li's eyes became sharper, and he held her hand tightly: "It will be fine."

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When they got home, Wen Ying put a pile of Spring Festival couplets on the floor of the living room, squatted there and carefully selected them, dividing them into groups according to categories.

Chen Li was packing up other things nearby, but his eyes couldn't help but stay glued to Wen Ying. They had known each other for twenty-two years, and Chen Li had never seen Wen Ying this side of him—relaxed, childish, and casual.

The phone rang, and Shen Li went to the balcony to answer it. It was a call from the hospital. The annual summary was to highlight the case of the retracted confession. The person who wrote the materials didn't have the specific details, and fearing that there might be something wrong, he called anxiously to inquire about the details.

Chen Li was going over the information with the person on the other end of the phone, sentence by sentence, when he heard a subtle noise behind him. Turning around, he saw Wen Ying applying window paper-cuts through the glass door.

Seeing him looking back, Wen Ying thought that her voice was too loud and disturbed him, so she stuck out her tongue embarrassedly and went to stick the window paper-cut somewhere else.

The annual summary is the most important material of the year. The person on the other end of the phone was diligent and serious. When Chen Li finally ended this lengthy conversation, the phone was already slightly hot.

He turned and went back inside, and was surprised to find that all the doors and windows in the house were covered with paper-cuts. Wen Ying was standing on a small square stool in the bedroom, pasting the last paper-cut on the sliding door to the terrace.

Chen Li came over from behind and helped her stick the window paper-cuts higher: "I finally understand why you bought so many window paper-cuts. One for each window, it's really a big project."

Wen Ying turned around and hooked her arm around his neck, using it to get off the stool. She felt a little embarrassed and said, "It's a habit I developed in Jiangcheng, and I haven't changed it for a while. But now I think it looks really lively."

Chen Li felt a pang of sadness in his heart. He didn't dare to look directly into Wen Ying's eyes. He could only glance around the room at the red scene. He curled his lips and said, "It's really lively. I feel like I'm still at a temple fair. If you smell it carefully, you can even smell the aroma of popcorn."

Wen Ying said seriously, "You're right. I forgot to buy some popcorn." She lamented, "The Spring Festival is incomplete without popcorn."

Chen Li turned into Doraemon and walked towards the refrigerator: "I really have one at home."

Wen Ying saw him take out a bag of popcorn ingredients from the refrigerator and opened her mouth in surprise: "Why is there this in the refrigerator?!"

Chen Li opened the bag with ease. "Because I know you well enough, Wen Lu," he smiled at her and put the various ingredients in the bag into the air fryer one by one. "Since you were five years old, we have had popcorn every Spring Festival. Even when you entered puberty and refused to go to the temple fair with Dad, and started to pay attention to body management and refused to eat such high-sugar and high-fat products, Dad still bought you a big bag of popcorn at the temple fair every Spring Festival. Am I right?"

"So you bought the ingredients in advance and planned to cook for me?"

"I'm just not sure if I'll have time to hang out with you during the Lunar New Year holiday, so I bought this family pack just in case," Chen Li said proudly. "It turns out that planning ahead really helps. Wen Lu really missed the popcorn."

Wen Ying said sincerely, "Thank you, Prosecutor Shen." She leaned against the kitchen door frame and looked at him. "No wonder Prosecutor Shen was so invincible in court. Not only does he have a good memory, he's also very careful." Wen Ying thought of Zheng Di's eyes again, and her tone unconsciously stained with sourness. "No wonder Prosecutor Shen is so remembered so fondly."

He looked at her from afar: "Wen Lu, I only care about you like this." Shen Li's smile became even wider. "However, I like to hear such sour teasing. Seeing Wen Lu jealous makes my heart sweeter than eating honey."

Wen Ying was so upset when he exposed her secrets that she turned around and left in frustration: "Who is jealous? You are jealous, and your whole family is jealous."

Wen Ying fled in panic, while Shen Li stood in the kitchen laughing heartily.

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