Chapter 3

Chapter 3

My best friend’s expression was sour, but in the end she just shook her head:

“I still think that for a couple, staying together matters most, even if it means braving wind and sun, they’d still find joy in it.”

…

I didn’t understand, and was even deeply shocked.

That there were actually people who thought like Jiang Sizhu.

But I still felt a bit down. Perhaps, in their eyes, I was the odd one out?

“I think you’ve changed. You’re no longer the Shen Tinglan I knew as a child…”

Embarrassed by my gaze, she threw out that line and stomped off in a huff.

She was right; I had changed.

At first, I would take her on trips, covering all expenses, and give her a supplementary card for various beauty treatments.

But she always felt uncomfortable, insisting I calculate costs wherever we went, unwilling to take advantage of me.

Even though I said countless times it wasn’t necessary, and Pei Lu even offered to have her accompany me more, with him covering the costs, she still refused.

When my assistant reported the discounted prices, she looked at the exorbitant fees with a pained expression and asked the assistant for invoices and receipts.

She made snide remarks, suspecting the assistant was trying to scam her.

Over time, I stopped asking her out.

After marriage, the circles I moved in became completely different.

I was very, very busy. Besides traveling for leisure, I enrolled in many classes, from flower arranging and French to financial management, studying very diligently.

Not out of interest, but so that if something ever “happened” in the future, I wouldn’t leave empty-handed.

I heard that Jiang Sizhu had broken up with that senior of hers, and she even went to work at a subsidiary under Pei Lu.

If one day Pei Lu remembered his earth-shattering first love, his “white moonlight,” and insisted on divorce, I couldn’t go into battle unprepared.

Although splitting half the assets in a divorce seemed unrealistic, I wanted to get as much as possible.

And then I’d need to learn how to manage it.

So I was busy.

When I returned from Country R, Su Yifang came over.

“Shen Tinglan, your white moonlight is back! Your first love is back! And now he’s loaded.”

You married Pei Lu for money back then, now you can divorce him and marry Lu Yanchu!

“He hasn’t come looking for you all these years, but you’ve always been in his heart!”

Coincidentally, the day I returned, Pei Lu also came home.

He heard every word.

He stood in the foyer, suit crisp, expression indifferent, eyes revealing little emotion.

Su Yifang turned around and immediately paled, hurriedly standing up with an awkward laugh:

“President Pei, you’re back… I was just joking, Tinglan wouldn’t really…”

“I didn’t take it seriously.”

His tone was calm as he walked in, still in his suit, holding a gift box he had brought back from his business trip.

“I didn’t take it to heart either.” He lowered his gaze and placed the gift box in front of me. “You mentioned last time you wanted the mille crepe from Hokkaido. I brought it.”

My eyes flickered, but my fingers didn’t move.

My itinerary assistant always reported to him; he knew I’d be back today and came home on purpose.

I knew his schedule was tight; it couldn’t have been easy for him to get away.

“…Thank you.”

I heard him give a faint “Mm,” then turn and head upstairs.

I sat on the sofa, staring at the exquisitely perfect mille crepe cake before me, and suddenly it tasted like wax.