Chapter 13: The Helpless Zhang Yanran

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Shi Wenjing’s home was located within an old residential complex. Nearby, there was an elementary school, so the property prices were not cheap—after all, it was a school district housing. However, Shi Wenjing and her husband had never planned to have children, making their purchase of a school district property somewhat wasted. Beyond their daily expenses, they also had to bear a substantial mortgage. If both of them worked, the pressure was almost negligible. But if only Shi Wenjing worked while her husband slacked off, the financial burden was undoubtedly heavy.

At dinner time, the lights in the apartments throughout the complex were all on. Chu Feng placed a shopping bag on the table and noticed the mess scattered on the floor, frowning slightly.

“Sorry to embarrass you. I’ll clean it up,” Shi Wenjing quickly fetched a trash bin and began picking up the broken pieces from the floor. Her back was turned to Chu Feng, and wearing her professional attire made her silhouette appear remarkably slender—her waist was narrow, yet her hips were full, giving her figure a captivating curve.

“This morning, he lost his temper, slammed the door, and even broke the TV—it was a brand new plasma screen,” Shi Wenjing said with a choked voice. Chu Feng stepped forward, patting her shoulder in comfort.

Shi Wenjing placed her hand on Chu Feng’s and said, “It’s okay. I can earn money too. I’ve come to terms with it. From now on, we’ll earn and spend our own money. As for having children… he can forget about that.” She stood up, smiling gently at Chu Feng. “Shall we eat first, or…”

“Let’s eat first. Do you have a laptop?” Chu Feng asked.

“Yes, it’s in the study, but I usually use it just for watching dramas. Its specs might not be great.” She assumed Chu Feng wanted to play games, as gaming was the favorite pastime for men his age.

Chu Feng didn’t explain further and simply said, “Call me when you’re ready.”

“I’ll make sure you have a feast today!” Shi Wenjing stood on tiptoe, kissed Chu Feng on the cheek, then tied on her apron and went to the kitchen to get busy.

Chu Feng wasn’t reserved either—he took out a chilled bottle of cola from the fridge and headed to the study. The study was narrow but filled with many books, including quite a few accounting textbooks. Out of curiosity, Chu Feng picked up some and began to browse, only to find a document slip out from between the pages.

“Accounting certification?” Chu Feng examined it and realized it was Shi Wenjing’s certificate. It seemed she had majored in accounting before switching to sales.

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After all, accounting was a fixed-salary job. If someone was in their forties, it would be a decent choice, but at thirty, still in their prime working years, settling too early wasn’t suitable. He didn’t linger, opened his laptop, downloaded a few programs, and started monitoring his investment in Carter Coin. Indeed, Carter Coin had been stable these past few days, with only slow growth.

Ding!

Chu Feng noticed a flicker on his messaging app avatar. Opening it, he found a message from Zhang Yanran.

“Are you there? Where did you go yesterday?” The message was accompanied by an angry emoji.

Chu Feng had no intention of replying, especially since the tone was clearly upset. But after some thought, he realized it was best not to let things sour with Zhang Yanran. Besides, the message was sent earlier that morning.

“I’m working, earning tuition,” he replied briefly, then logged off.

After browsing some stock market websites, Chu Feng caught the aroma of food and logged off. Before leaving, he deleted all his browsing records.

Shi Wenjing’s cooking was excellent—three dishes and a soup, rivaling the quality of a restaurant. Perhaps Chu Feng’s recent increased appetite led him to finish everything on the table.

“I’m going to take a shower,” Shi Wenjing said as she untied her apron.

Chu Feng noticed a small blue box on the table and smiled faintly. “Together?”

“No way!” she replied playfully.

…

Yu Xiaoyu was Zhang Yanran’s close friend. Zhang Yanran had spent the last couple of days at Yu Xiaoyu’s house.

“Did Chu Feng reply to you?” Yu Xiaoyu approached Zhang Yanran, noticing the red marks still lingering on her face. She said sympathetically, “Your father really went too far.”

Zhang Yanran hugged her knees and buried her face in them.

“Lately, I feel like Chu Feng doesn’t take me seriously anymore,” Zhang Yanran said sadly. “He used to be so obedient to me, but now…”

Yu Xiaoyu pursed her lips and embraced Zhang Yanran. “Yanran, actually, all of us girls have been watching what’s happening between you two.”

“Huh?” Zhang Yanran looked up at her.

“We joke that if Chu Feng ever stops chasing you, we’ll be the ones to chase him,” Yu Xiaoyu teased with a mischievous smile.

Zhang Yanran was stunned. “Chase him? Him?”

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“Yeah. Actually, Chu Feng isn’t bad-looking, and he’s utterly devoted to you. What kind of man has the patience to pursue a girl for so many years? Everyone scolds Chu Feng for being careless, but deep down, they all envy you.”

“You don’t have to buy breakfast yourself, nor worry about having no one to confide in. And Chu Feng is always there when you call!” Yu Xiaoyu said.

Hearing this, Zhang Yanran suddenly realized she couldn’t find many faults in Chu Feng.

“He doesn’t drink, but this time he drank himself under the table! Still, he must have known he shouldn’t have drunk, yet he forced himself… Tell me, how many people could do that?” Yu Xiaoyu looked at Zhang Yanran and said.

Zhang Yanran bit her lip. “Are you saying I treated him badly?”

Yu Xiaoyu sighed. “More than badly. You never truly saw Chu Feng as a person before. Someone might be foolish for a moment, but they can’t stay that way forever. Maybe this incident helped him wake up.”

Indeed.

A woman like Li Xueli, with such high standards, was impossible for a naive young boy like Chu Feng to handle. He would likely be crushed completely in no time.

Even Zhang Yanran’s own father, Zhang Fuqiang, had been helplessly captivated by Li Xueli, spending millions to win her affection.

Such a woman was a natural nemesis to men.

Chu Feng, a young inexperienced boy who had never been in love, how could he cope?

Zhang Yanran suddenly realized that sending Chu Feng to toast was itself a huge mistake. It was her fault.

“Do you think he will… leave me?” Zhang Yanran suddenly felt as if something precious had been taken from her. It was like a child tightly clutching a toy doll every night, only to have a cousin’s child snatch it away one day.

“Actually… you could try being a little kinder to him. After all, everyone has a heart of flesh,” Yu Xiaoyu said gently.

Zhang Yanran said nothing but quietly etched this moment in her heart.

She took out her phone and looked at the chat history with Chu Feng. Almost all the conversations were started by him.

When she replied, it was only occasional and mostly perfunctory—“Ah,” “Oh,” “Mm,” “Yes.”

The chat window still displayed Chu Feng’s last message: “Working to earn tuition.”

Zhang Yanran bit her lip. “Chu Feng now… must be very lonely.”