Chapter 10
Chapter 10
Huang Yuanrui met Lao San at a business dinner. It took only ten days from adding him on WeChat to him asking her for an evening stroll, and then to them officially being together.
Lao San was married-there was no lying about that. Everyone at the dinner knew.
But as for everything else, he lied about every single detail.
He claimed he and his wife had no feelings for each other, that they fought like cats and dogs every day, and that they often got physical.
He said his parents disliked their daughter-in-law and were constantly urging him to get a divorce.
He even shared private details about his wife, claiming she had aborted two of his children and was seeing someone else on the side.
Huang Yuanrui extracted the key information from these stories: he could get a divorce at any moment.
Lao San had a lively, clingy personality, but he was emotionally unstable and acted like a little boy. Arguments between them were a daily occurrence; Huang Yuanrui would be moved to tears of frustration at least four times a week.
Despite that, he still gave her a powerful experience of being in love. Coupled with the fact that his financial situation was excellent-he was a second-generation rich kid with his own business-he frequently gave Huang Yuanrui spending money. She couldn’t help but let the hope of marrying him burn in her heart.
No matter how many flaws his wife supposedly had, she still got to drive a Bentley every day. Even if they had been at each other’s throats a moment before, she could turn around and spitefully buy a plane ticket abroad, stay in luxury hotels, and go on a shopping spree for designer bags to clear her head.
That was the life Huang Yuanrui craved.
Huang Yuanrui’s father was a repairman, and her mother sold stationery at a department store. Her parents had given her a beautiful face, but they couldn’t provide much else.
Furthermore, while her relationship with Lao San was a roller coaster of ups and downs, their good moments were as sweet as roses dipped in honey. She was certain that if they married, things would never escalate to the point of physical fights.
Xixi liked to find fortune-tellers online. Huang Yuanrui asked Xixi to recommend a diviner’s WeChat contact and specifically paid to have her future with Lao San read.
The diviner said that Lao San’s wife had a chaotic energy field and that her life would only get worse. They also said Lao San would divorce in the near future and that Huang Yuanrui would marry him.
Since the diviner said exactly what Huang Yuanrui wanted to hear, she felt the 500 yuan was well spent.
On Nian Gao’s birthday, Xixi was working overtime. Huang Yuanrui accompanied Nian Gao to a steakhouse.
Their table was in a corner of the restaurant, not very conspicuous.
The first course had just arrived when Huang Yuanrui saw Lao San walk through the door with his wife.
The coincidence made her want to laugh.
She quickly tapped Nian Gao’s arm, gesturing for her to look at the entrance. At the same time, she excitedly grabbed her phone, preparing to sneak a few photos to send to their group chat for Xixi to see.
As she snapped the photos, the smile on her face vanished.
Lao San was cutting his wife’s steak for her. He cut it into small, bite-sized pieces and fed them to her with a fork. When sauce got on the corner of his wife’s mouth, Lao San thoughtfully wiped it away with a napkin.
His wife wasn’t wearing makeup, nor had she styled her hair; she looked as if she had just stepped out for a casual bowl of spicy soup downstairs. In contrast, Huang Yuanrui spent an hour meticulously dressing up and took twenty selfies every time she came to this restaurant.
They looked very much in love.
They were clearly in love. Lao San had lied.
Huang Yuanrui finally understood that every couple has their sweet moments and their arguments. Just as Lao San would call her a “lunatic” or tell her to “get lost” when he was emotionally unstable, he had simply magnified the arguments he had with his wife to show her.
Huang Yuanrui suddenly realized how manipulative and opportunistic this man was.
The steak and foie gras on the table had gone cold; she couldn’t stomach a single bite now.
Nian Gao sat beside her, awkwardly burying her head in her food, not daring to say a word. She knew how competitive Huang Yuanrui was and how much she valued her pride.
That night, Huang Yuanrui went home alone, opened a bottle of red wine Lao San had given her, and drank nearly half of it by herself.
Feeling lightheaded, she pulled a pack of slim cigarettes from her purse and smoked two in a row.
A Polaroid photo of her and Lao San sat on her nightstand. Lao San was grinning, showing off a row of bright white teeth, looking incredibly cheerful.
She hadn’t decided what to do… whether to have a massive fight or quietly leave, whether to keep seeing him or endure the pain of a breakup. She hadn’t figured any of it out.
It was while her love life was a tangled mess that she met Qin Song on the high-speed train.
She noticed Qin Song before he noticed her.
As she stood on the platform waiting to board, she saw him through the train window.
She always bought business-class seats on the high-speed rail, hoping to find a diamond in the rough.
Her gaze acted like a scanner, piercing through the glass to perform a full-body scan of Qin Song.
Qin Song was wearing simple, understated business casual that day. Huang Yuanrui couldn’t identify the brand of his clothes, but she spotted the Hermes belt at his waist.
She looked toward his wrist, but because of the angle, she couldn’t see what kind of watch he was wearing.
Finally, she studied his profile. He looked tall and well-built, with a rugged jawline and a strong nose.
The scan was complete in less than five seconds.
Huang Yuanrui cleared her throat, smoothed her hair, adjusted the hem of her short skirt, and boarded the train with a confident sway of her hips.