TIL - 30

Wen Huo woke up early, wanting to go back to school first to condense a full day’s work into one morning, freeing up time for her afternoon meeting with Yang Yinlou. She didn’t really need to be so cautious, but showing up unannounced, especially to discuss someone’s medical condition, was generally impolite.

She wanted to be thorough in her etiquette, at least to avoid being disliked.

When she woke up, Chen Cheng was already gone. After showering, he appeared in the dining room. On the table was Sukiyaki from Izu Village. She was a little surprised. Is it even open at this hour? Where did he get it?

Chen Cheng called her: “Come here.”

Wen Huo walked over and stood.

The cutlery was already on the table. Chen Cheng didn’t wait on her: “Eat yourself.”

Wen Huo sat down, wanting to ask if Japanese hotpot for breakfast would be too heavy, but Chen Cheng brought over柚子水 (pomelo water). She had nothing else to ask and sat down to eat.

Izu Yasai Village was a Japanese hotpot restaurant that left a deep impression on Wen Huo; she had gone there with Qiu Mingyun.

Before this, Chen Cheng and Wen Huo had shared meals only a handful of times.

When they were making love, to add excitement, she would say some raunchy things, mentioning what foods she liked to eat, wishing she could place all her favorite foods on Chen Cheng’s naked body and then eat them with her mouth...

Chen Cheng’s member would always swell more after her raunchy words, and his eyes would become more restless. But once they were done, it was over; they never went out to eat together, though she did give him ideas.

Once, he ordered Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, let it cool, poured it over Wen Huo, and then ate a human lunch off Wen Huo’s delicate skin.

Wen Huo thought about the past, realizing how excessive Chen Cheng truly was. His bizarre and flashy games were too many to count. Would he start pouring water into her intimate parts next? And then suck it out to drink?

Pondering him in this direction, Wen Huo became a little unhappy, her temper rising, her lips turned down.

Chen Cheng saw her displeasure while eating and asked her, “Isn’t this what you wanted to eat?”

Wen Huo looked up, still annoyed at Chen Cheng because of her own mental elaborations, and said in a bad tone, “When did I ever say that?”

“In my office.”

Wen Huo was about to say when she had ever been to his office, when a scene suddenly flashed before her eyes: herself in Chen Cheng’s office, under his desk, performing oral sex on him. His secretary or someone had come in several times, and his desk didn’t have any covering. She wondered if they had been seen.

Chen Cheng saw her expression: “Remember now?”

Wen Huo remembered. After they were done, she had said she was hungry and wanted hotpot, but Chen Cheng had acted as if he hadn’t heard and sent her away.

Chen Cheng poured her a glass of pomelo water: “Drink this. I’ll have someone take you back to school.”

Wen Huo held the glass, looked at the pomelo pulp inside, then at Chen Cheng.

He always woke up early, getting ready quickly. He most often wore suits, and he had many of them, along with many shirts. Today he wore a white one—well, strictly speaking, it was white with light blue stripes.

His muscles weren’t obvious when he was dressed. Wen Huo used to think fitness instructors in suits looked a bit like gorillas, not very appealing, but Chen Cheng was different. Chen Cheng looked slender when dressed. And his hands were beautiful. With his cufflinks fastened, looking from his arm down to his hand, she would hold her breath for a moment. She couldn’t help it; his hands were truly irresistible.

Thinking this, her gaze fell upon Chen Cheng’s hands. Lately, she found herself understanding Qiu Mingyun more and more.

She used to genuinely wonder what was so great about Chen Cheng—so old, married, and though rich, there were plenty of rich people... It turned out she was in luck and didn’t even know it. Chen Cheng, stripping away all material advantages and relying solely on his face and body, would undoubtedly be the most expensive gigolo among women, the king of gigolos.

Chen Cheng saw her lost in thought and reached over to pinch her face.

Wen Huo snapped awake, frowning: “What are you doing?”

“If you keep staring, you won’t make it to school.”

Wen Huo had things to do; she needed to go to school. She composed herself: “No more looking, no more looking. He’s just a man; our school has plenty.”

Chen Cheng was unmoved.

Wen Huo was curious: “When I say that, don’t you get jealous?”

“If you found men at your school attractive, you wouldn’t have been a virgin when you came to me.”

“Can’t I be the kind of person who just wants sex, not looks?”

“If you were that kind, you wouldn’t be clinging to me so shamelessly.”

“Who’s clinging to you shamelessly? Teacher Chen, don’t flatter yourself, okay? Why are you so confident about your appearance? Besides, if you hadn’t liked me, I couldn’t have seduced you anyway.”

Chen Cheng really wanted to pull out her row of small, sharp teeth to stop her from annoying him all day: “Are you still going to school?”

Wen Huo knew when to quit: “Yes, yes, yes!”

________________________________________

At noon, Chen Cheng had just finished his work when he received a call from Jin Ge. Jin Ge said she needed to talk to him, so he drove to the bookstore to pick her up and they went to lunch.

After ordering, Jin Ge directly asked Chen Cheng: “Yiyi is registered as a single-parent household, correct?”

Chen Cheng showed no reaction and remained silent.

Jin Ge understood her son: “You didn’t marry Han Bailu. You told a huge lie, but why did you hide it from the family?”

Indeed, Chen Cheng had annulled the registration after the ceremony; he wasn’t actually married, but no one knew, including Han Bailu.

He used his power to entice the civil affairs bureau staff to keep silent for him, then held a grand wedding, announcing it to the world. Besides being able to trample on Han Bailu more freely, he also wanted to reduce some trouble for himself.

Too many women threw themselves at him, and it was impossible to guard against them all. Moreover, the women who pursued him were at the forefront of society; they were very smart and their methods too sophisticated. He could handle them, but he didn’t want to; he found dealing with women very annoying.

So, marriage was a convenient and effective way to avoid these problems. While some stubborn ones still persisted, there were certainly far fewer.

Excellent women wouldn’t allow themselves to fall into the scandal of breaking up someone else’s family. As for those who were only moderately excellent, Chen Cheng didn’t even need to pay attention to them; even if they found a way to appear before him, they wouldn’t get a chance to speak to him.

He answered Jin Ge’s question: “I thought it was my own business, that I could make my own decisions.”

“But son, you have a mother. If you decide everything yourself, what use am I? Am I not even worthy of being a listener now?” Jin Ge was a little sad.

Chen Cheng’s expression showed a trace of emotion: “It’s not like that, Mom.”

Jin Ge recalled the past: “I know your father and I made wrong decisions before, and that affected your personality. But it was our first time being parents, our first time facing such a situation. We had to do that to protect you, and then you left for several years, with no news at all.”

Chen Cheng’s years in Canada weren’t solely due to that incident; he also wanted to find his true self. He just hadn’t expected that before he could figure it out, even greater stimuli would follow.

Jin Ge said: “Then you came back, and we thought you had figured things out. But it turns out we can’t even get a single truth from you?”

Chen Cheng held no resentment towards his parents. They loved him very much and gave him everything. He actually lived in a very happy family; however, how a person grows up is only partly influenced by family.

He felt there was nothing wrong with being so calculating; he could protect himself and those he wanted to protect. As a man, being able to do these two things was enough.

So, in his view, many things didn’t need to be known by more people, because they were useless, and useless things were nothing.

Jin Ge couldn’t eat anymore. She didn’t blame Chen Cheng’s actions; she was just sad that he had hidden it from her: “Can you tell me what really happened in Canada?”

Chen Cheng didn’t want to recall, because he wasn’t sure whether to describe that experience as disgusting or regretful: “Mom, you never used to force me.”