Chapter 631: Chapter 346: Two Women, Two Lives
Meeting Li Liqin again was no surprise for Chen Feng; rather, it brought him some minor annoyance. However, he didn’t pay much attention to it.
Compared to Hong Xiaodan, who had been rather persistent in pursuing him, Li Liqin had only bothered him a bit on WeChat and stopped after being clearly rejected by Chen Feng.
In this regard, Li Liqin was undoubtedly much more civilized and sensible than Hong Xiaodan.
He couldn’t understand why, ever since he got divorced, he had become so lucky in love, with one after another coming his way, to the point where even he thought it was a bit excessive. Especially since some were rather undesirable romances that Chen Feng didn’t quite like.
For instance, the young actress Zhang Jingwen had thrown herself into his bed, then brought him some trouble afterward.
Then there was Hong Xiaodan, and now, there was Li Liqin.
Actually, none of them were the type Chen Feng particularly liked. Of course, if it were just to satisfy some need, playing around with them wouldn’t be so bad; the fear was mainly about potential troubles afterward.
Chen Feng was someone who feared trouble; with women like them, he naturally kept a respectful distance.
Earlier, he had misunderstood Li Liqin, agreeing that they were just playing around, but now she wanted something real, which was frankly quite boring.
Chen Feng checked out East Lake Villa first, and because it was regularly cleaned, it was fairly tidy; when Lin Yujiao arrived, she could move in directly.
Thinking of Lin Yujiao, Chen Feng suddenly recalled that she had mentioned coming over to Xiu Zhou to see him in two days, just when he happened to be returning to his hometown.
So, Chen Feng immediately picked up his phone and sent a message to Lin Yujiao, telling her not to come over and that he would go see her in Xiu Zhou instead.
As for when exactly to meet her, that depended and would be decided later. Because this time, his mother had instructed him to bring Wu Mengting along, with her by his side, it was certainly not appropriate to secretly meet Lin Yujiao; he’d need to find a suitable opportunity.
Lin Yujiao was certainly pleased when Chen Feng proactively decided to visit her, but when she learned he was primarily returning to attend his aunt’s birthday and was bringing Wu Mengting along, she couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed.
However, she knew she wasn’t Chen Feng’s girlfriend and couldn’t demand anything from him. Besides, her current life, despite the inevitable pangs of missing him, was much better compared to before. At least her fashion store was earning decent money, and she wasn’t constantly bickering with a mama’s boy, nor had to endure any grief from a mother-in-law.
Ever since opening the store, she’s been making a net income of thirty or forty thousand every month. Something she couldn’t have imagined before.
She and her ex-husband had run a clothing shop for several years, but the location and foot traffic couldn’t compare to her current shop, and the income was at least two or three times less.
That’s why she’d hired a clerk two months ago; with business booming, sometimes the two of them struggled to keep up. She had even hesitated about hiring another clerk.
She was very satisfied with her current life, and consequently, she was also quite pleased with Chen Feng for the help he’d provided.
She had a good mindset; she never expected to marry Chen Feng one day. She knew her own limitations; she wasn’t highly educated, having started working after just junior high, married early, divorced, undergone two abortions, and might even be unable to bear children.
Meanwhile, Chen Feng was a prestigious university graduate with high academic achievement, which was secondary; the main point was that he was now wealthy and surrounded by women, especially someone of Wu Mengting’s caliber; how could she even compete?
So, she thought frankly being his kept mistress wasn’t bad. Plus, she was gradually becoming wealthy.
As long as she had money, even if Chen Feng broke up with her in the future, she would have the foundation to stand on her own, without too much worry. Even without a man, she could still live well, and perhaps even more splendidly.
After informing Lin Yujiao, Chen Feng returned to Red Villa Bay.
As the car pulled up to the entrance of No. 8 Villa, he caught sight of Liu Ying waiting there, which surprised him slightly.
"What are you doing here? Isn’t it time for work?"
Chen Feng rolled down the car window and asked her directly. It was only a little after four, usually time to clock out was at five.
Liu Ying walked over, opened the car door, and sat down in the passenger seat.
"You went abroad without telling me, and now you’re back and still didn’t inform me." Liu Ying expressed her slight dissatisfaction, looking at Chen Feng with an aggrieved face.
Chen Feng didn’t fall for her ploy, but he didn’t say anything harsh, just mentioned, "I did tell Mengting and them; didn’t they pass on the message to you? Besides, you haven’t been contacting me much these days either."
Liu Ying was momentarily speechless; she worked at the same company as Sun Wu, encountering them daily. However, her relationship with them was average, especially with Sun Xiaorui, with whom she didn’t get along very well.
There was certainly no obligation for them to tell her about Chen Feng’s trip abroad.
She only found out after purposely bringing Chen Feng’s favorite East Lake Beef Soup to No. 8 Villa, where Wu Mengting mentioned Chen Feng was abroad.
As for why she hadn’t proactively contacted Chen Feng in the past few days, she was trying to be more reserved, thinking that constantly clinging to Chen Feng might backfire. By not contacting him, she might make herself seem more elusive, while also testing how long it would take for Chen Feng to reach out to her.
As a result, three or four days went by without any word from Chen Feng, which led her to make East Lake Beef Soup and head over to find Chen Feng, only to find he was gone.
The fact that Chen Feng went abroad without informing her clearly showed he didn’t value her, which put her in a bad mood for the past couple of days.
Even when Chen Feng returned today, he didn’t notify her; she only found out by overhearing a conversation between Wu Mengting and Sun Xiaorui at the company.
Feeling isolated from Chen Feng’s life circle made Liu Ying’s mood even worse, causing her to leave work early once she heard of his return, heading back to Red Villa Bay.
Upset, she didn’t go immediately to No. 8 Villa to find Chen Feng, but stayed alone in the villa where he provided free accommodation, growing angrier and more frustrated. Several times she thought of calling or texting Chen Feng, but each time she hesitated and put her phone down.
Common sense told her that calling or texting Chen Feng to question him was the most futile approach, likely counterproductive.
It would be better to directly approach Chen Feng and express her dissatisfaction subtly, letting him understand her feelings, so he’d pay more attention to her in the future.
Hence, she came over to No. 8 Villa to find Chen Feng, only to ring the doorbell several times without anyone answering. Texts were sent but weren’t responded to either.
She hesitated to call him, worried he might be busy, and calling might irritate him.
So she stood foolishly at the entrance of No. 8 Villa, waiting for nearly half an hour, pondering whether to call Chen Feng.
By the time Chen Feng drove back, feeling wronged, she naturally voiced her slight reproachful words to him.