TIL - 24

Wen Huo felt that Han Bailu was a bit off, yet this incoherent way of speaking was just like her own impulsive self. Could it be that Chen Cheng was so perverse that he drove her crazy?

She put away her phone, ended a full day of studying, and opened her wardrobe to pick out a dress.

After changing into her dress and doing her makeup, Wen Huo looked at herself in the full-length mirror and suddenly thought of a question: Would Chen Cheng genuinely fall in love with her?

Chen Cheng married Han Bailu and even had a child with her, but Han Bailu still wanted to divorce him, meaning she felt no affection from Chen Cheng whatsoever. So, for her, Wen Huo, who was merely Chen Cheng’s illicit mistress, not even as good as Han Bailu, would he like her?

For a moment, Wen Huo actually felt that she wasn’t the one in control of this game.

She felt a shiver down her spine.

At this moment, Wu Guo sent her a message. Yang Yinlou had been showing his face more often recently, meaning he had probably moved on from Guan Xinlei’s death. That meant she could ask him about meeting his mother.

There were too many uncertainties staying with Chen Cheng. Wen Huo didn’t like this feeling of mistakenly believing she had the upper hand.

The three words “mistakenly believing” were deadly; they would blur much of her judgment.

After a bout of chaotic thoughts, she sat down and sent Chen Cheng a WeChat message: “Teacher Chen.”

Chen Cheng replied half an hour later: “Speak.”

Wen Huo thought for a moment, not directly stating her purpose, and sent him: “I want to eat fish.”

“What?”

“I’ll dance for you, and you buy me a fish? The one from that place you bought from before, I don’t know where to get it.”

“I don’t really want to watch you dance.”

“Striptease.”

“Then even less.”

“Oh.”

“Anything else?”

“No.”

Chen Cheng stopped replying.

Wen Huo put her phone aside and looked at herself in the mirror again. She had to find a way for Chen Cheng to see her like this; if he saw her, he should want her.

Thinking this, she pulled down her camisole, revealing half a shoulder, pressing her arms against her chest, turning sideways, and biting her collarbone, she took a photo. After taking it, she felt it wasn’t alluring enough, so she deleted it, adjusted her bra to make the cleavage more obvious.

She took another photo and sent it.

Chen Cheng looked at the photo she sent, showing no reaction. He locked his phone and put it aside.

While waiting for his reply, Wen Huo opened the photo again. This was her most daring photo yet. She didn’t believe Chen Cheng wouldn’t react; he simply couldn’t resist her provocations.

Chen Cheng casually clicked his mouse, and the computer screen lit up, but he had nothing to do. He stared at the blank screen for a while, then picked up his phone, typed a line of text, but deleted it before sending.

Wen Huo tapped her fingers on the table, waiting for his reply.

Chen Cheng’s phone was right in front of him. He clasped his hands beneath his chin, watching the screen go black, then he tapped it, and Wen Huo’s photo appeared. He stopped interacting with it, the screen went black again, and he tapped it once more... This repeated.

Wen Huo didn’t get a message from Chen Cheng, thinking her efforts weren’t enough. She sent a voice message: “Teacher Chen, Huohuo wants to eat fish.”

Chen Cheng opened the voice message. Wen Huo had deliberately lowered her voice, with a hint of coquetry. She was very good at being coy.

She sent again: “Or how about, Teacher Chen, you tell me where that shop is, and I’ll buy it and come find you?”

The screen lit up. Chen Cheng looked at Wen Huo’s message, deliberately waiting over ten minutes before replying: “No need.”

Wen Huo felt that Chen Cheng was a bit unusual today. She suddenly remembered Qiu Mingyun’s guess about whether he would go to the film festival. She subconsciously blurted out, “Teacher Chen, are you tired of playing with me and want to go back to your family?”

Chen Cheng didn’t reply.

Wen Huo didn’t get his message and simply took off her dress. Anyway, she wasn’t that eager to dance; who wanted to please an old man? It was just right.

Wen Huo spent another half-night immersed in the research institute, only leaving when her neck started to ache.

On her way back to the dorm, she opened her chat history with Chen Cheng. Chen Cheng still hadn’t replied, so he must be going to the film festival with Han Bailu.

Han Bailu had just sent her a message, urging her to seduce Chen Cheng, which meant there was no chance of their relationship warming up again. And Chen Cheng not answering her question meant he really had considered reconciling with Han Bailu.

If he reconciled with Han Bailu, what would she be? She didn’t want to end up as the villain, not making money and taking the blame for being the third party.

Thinking this, she felt she couldn’t let Chen Cheng accompany Han Bailu to the film festival.

She called Chen Cheng, who was still on a work call, and he directly hung up.

Being hung up on made Wen Huo even more uncomfortable, a little scared of how this plot would unfold. Chen Cheng and Han Bailu could reconcile, but not while she was working with Han Bailu. If they reconciled, Han Bailu would sell her out. Given Chen Cheng’s petty nature, she wouldn’t get off easy, and he definitely wouldn’t give her money. If she didn’t earn money, all this time, effort, and physical exertion would be for nothing.

The more Wen Huo thought, the faster she walked. Back in her dorm, she changed back into that dress.

She sent Chen Cheng a WeChat message: “Teacher Chen, I’m waiting for you at Fanyue.”

Chen Cheng saw the message but didn’t reply.

His business partner, seeing him frequently checking his phone, thought he had an urgent matter and asked him, “Teacher Chen, do you have another appointment?”

“My little dog has worms in her stomach. I’m planning to deworm her tonight.”

“Teacher Chen raises dogs?”

“Yes.”

“What breed?”

Chen Cheng didn’t answer.

His partner didn’t ask further, and the conversation returned to business.

Chatting about work during entertainment made time fly by. Before they knew it, half the night had passed, and it was past 2 AM when they finished. Chen Cheng bid farewell to several seniors and went home instead of Fanyue 108. A few hours earlier, the doctor had told him Yiyi had a slight fever.

The housekeeper apologized profusely: “I’m sorry, Teacher Chen, I didn’t take good care of Yiyi.”

Chen Cheng stroked Yiyi’s face, tucked her blanket in, and walked out, saying as he went, “What classes did Yiyi have today?”

The housekeeper reported: “She had French class, played the piano, played Sudoku for an hour, and watched two Oscar-winning animated films.”

Chen Cheng walked to the laundry room, took out the clothes Yiyi had worn during the day from her special washing machine, unfolded them, and stared at the watercolor pen marks spread on the cuffs, saying, “There was no swimming class, no watercolor class. How did these clothes get like this?”

The housekeeper panicked.

Chen Cheng turned around, walked towards the nanny’s room, found a case handled by his firm, and threw it in front of her: “The doctor said Yiyi hasn’t been feeling well recently, probably because she didn’t have a nap.”

The housekeeper’s shoulders began to tremble.

“Why didn’t she nap? Because you, who were supposed to be coaxing her to sleep, were looking at my cases.”

The saliva in the housekeeper’s mouth became viscous, and her eyes didn’t know where to turn.

Chen Cheng continued: “You didn’t coax her to sleep, and you gave her watercolor pens to play by herself. As a result, she accidentally fell into the flower pond, her clothes got wet, and she developed a fever.”

The housekeeper lowered herself as much as possible, apologizing to Chen Cheng: “I’m sorry... Teacher Chen... I’m sorry...”

Chen Cheng disliked people who thought they were clever: “No matter how many of my projects you look at, you can only be a housekeeper. The threshold for working with me is too high; you can’t reach it.”

The housekeeper’s cleverness backfired, her move placing herself in a dead end with no possibility of turning back.

Chen Cheng could allow people around him to slack off a little, as long as they knew their limits. Although this housekeeper often made small moves indicating she wasn’t content with her situation, she had been quite diligent in taking care of Yiyi, so Chen Cheng had always turned a blind eye.

But this time, she had crossed Chen Cheng’s bottom line. Chen Cheng could not keep her any longer.

Chen Cheng stayed at home all night, only leaving the next day when the secretary brought the new housekeeper to start work.

Fanyue 108, Chen Cheng’s apartment.

Wen Huo waited for Chen Cheng all night, but he never came. She looked at the messages she had sent him in the middle of the night; he hadn’t replied to a single one. She didn’t know why things suddenly turned out this way. Was he really going back to his family?

She tugged at her clothes, ready to leave.

Just then, Chen Cheng opened the door and entered, carrying two paper bags. On the paper bags were fish drawn with a black pen, the logo of that fish hotpot restaurant.

Wen Huo just stared at him.

Chen Cheng placed the bags on the table, took out two sets of cutlery from the Western kitchen, arranged them, and looked up at her: “What are you standing there for?”

Wen Huo still didn’t move. She had waited for him all night, she felt wronged, she didn’t want to move.

Chen Cheng served the fish into a plate for her: “Didn’t you want to eat?”

Wen Huo stood still: “Are you tired of me?”

Chen Cheng put her chopsticks down, leaned his hands on the edge of the table, and looked at her: “What do you think?”

Wen Huo said: “I think you are.”

Chen Cheng asked her: “Then why did I still buy you fish?”

Wen Huo didn’t know: “Yeah, why?”

Chen Cheng saw she wasn’t coming over, so he went and led her to the table, saying, “Because you wanted to eat.”

Wen Huo pursed her lips.

As the two were silent, Chen Cheng’s phone rang. He answered it, and his secretary’s voice came loudly through the receiver: “Teacher Chen, you haven’t slept all night. Should I reschedule your morning meeting to the afternoon?”

He worked all night?

Wen Huo frowned.

Chen Cheng softly hummed in response, hung up the phone, and handed the fork to Wen Huo.

Wen Huo held the fork and said, “I sent you messages all night. You could have at least replied to me so I wouldn’t have kept waiting.”

“I turned off WeChat. I didn’t see any of your later messages.”

“Why?”

“Because I had work, and what you sent me was very distracting.”

Wen Huo asked knowingly: “How did it distract you?”

Chen Cheng opened his phone and showed her the photos she had sent him, which were practically explicit: “How can I work when you’re seducing me like this?”

Wen Huo mumbled softly: “Then you should have told me! I kept waiting for you, kept waiting. I thought you were going back to your family, I thought you were going to take Han Bailu to the film festival, I thought you didn’t want me anymore...”

“Are you upset?”

Wen Huo nodded: “You don’t even want to watch me striptease anymore, that means you’re not sexually attracted to me, doesn’t that mean you want to break up with me?”

Chen Cheng asked her: “Weren’t you very stubborn before, wanting to break up with me?”

Wen Huo wiped her tears on him: “Those were just angry words. I finally managed to seduce you, why would I want to break up with you?”

Chen Cheng got to the point: “You’re in love with me, Wen Huo.”

Wen Huo was very smart: “What about you? You worked all night and still thought about buying me fish. You must be madly in love with me, Teacher Chen.”

Chen Cheng didn’t respond to her statement, saying: “I will go to the film festival with Han Bailu.”

Wen Huo’s flawless composure was torn open, but it quickly repaired itself. She said: “What if I don’t want you to? What if I don’t want you to go with her?”

Chen Cheng let go of her: “Then you need to give me a reason.”

Wen Huo stared at him intently. He was determined to make her say she loved him.

“Think carefully. Why don’t you want me to take her to the film festival?”

“No reason.”

“Very well. Not only will I take her, but I’ll also walk the red carpet with her, from beginning to end.”

“Do as you please!”

Chen Cheng had left Wen Huo hanging all night. Even if Wen Huo could hold her temper, she would still be awkward. He wasn’t in a hurry.

Wen Huo thought for a moment, then walked over and tugged at his clothes: “Teacher Chen, can I dance for you? Please don’t take her, okay?”

Chen Cheng told her: “She is my wife.”

Wen Huo’s voice was very small: “Then what am I?”

“I told you, tell me why I can’t take her. Give me a sufficient reason.”

Wen Huo’s mind, after an entire night of incessant churning, wasn’t as quick. She almost cried out: “Because you’re my man! I just don’t want you to take her, I just don’t want to!”

Chen Cheng was satisfied. He extended his hand to her: “Come here.”

Wen Huo placed her hand in his and was pulled onto his lap.

Chen Cheng put his arm around her waist: “And what else?”

Wen Huo lowered her voice: “I like you. I don’t want you to appear in public with other women. I’m just narrow-minded, I’m selfish, I don’t care if you’re someone else’s legal husband.”

Chen Cheng hadn’t actually planned to take Han Bailu to the film festival anyway: “Then, can I take you instead?”

Wen Huo froze.