After the divorce, I started to transfer

Chen Feng ultimately couldn't bring himself to refuse Xiao Panpan's kindness and nodded in agreement to stay and have dinner with her.

The two then naturally began to talk about their families. Since Xiao Panpan had openly revealed her family's dirty laundry, Chen Feng, seeing her curious inquiries, couldn't hide anything any longer and told her more or less about his family situation.

Although Xiao Panpan already knew that Chen Feng came from a rural area in Lushi and had worked his way up from the bottom, she was still filled with curiosity about his unknown past.

Furthermore, since she had lived in a bustling metropolis since childhood and had never experienced rural life, and Lushi was not a popular tourist city, she had never been there before.

Therefore, as Chen Feng narrated and introduced the place, her interest in Lushi grew stronger, and she immediately expressed that she must take some time to go there and have a good look around. Of course, it would be best if Chen Feng could accompany her and act as her guide.

But Chen Feng had no time or inclination for that. Even if he did have free time, he wouldn't accompany her to stroll around Lushi, especially his hometown of Qingpu, which he would never take her there.

Therefore, Chen Feng simply smiled at her suggestion and did not respond.

A fleeting hint of disappointment flashed in Xiao Panpan's eyes, but she quickly concealed it and did not press the matter. In this respect, she had always been a sensible person.

However, the two had a very comfortable and pleasant conversation overall. Chen Feng answered all her questions, which showed her a great deal of respect.

As the two chatted and laughed, time flew by unnoticed. It wasn't until the Michelin restaurant's delivery person called that Xiao Panpan realized that it was almost dusk outside the window and the time was already five o'clock in the afternoon.

Xiao Panpan ordered an extremely lavish spread of dishes, with over a dozen dishes filling the table, along with fragrant white rice. It was quite rare to find such a combination, especially since the restaurant specializes in refined French cuisine.

This shows that Xiao Panpan must have frequented this restaurant many times before, and was definitely a VIP customer.

The food at the Michelin-starred restaurant was undoubtedly delicious, but the portions were rather small. Of the twelve dishes on the table, at least two-thirds ended up in Chen Feng's stomach. Even so, he only felt about 70% full, which was just right.

After dinner, Xiao Panpan continued chatting with him, and of course, there were many intimate gestures such as hugging and rubbing against each other. Chen Feng, however, remained as virtuous as Liu Xiahui, unmoved by her advances.

Ultimately, Chen Feng was quite patient with her and had some affection for her; otherwise, he wouldn't have spent so much time with her, and even stayed for dinner.

However, after staying with her until 7 p.m., Chen Feng ignored her repeated attempts to persuade him to stay and resolutely got up to say goodbye.

Xiao Panpan could only reluctantly see Chen Feng off to the garage, and then reluctantly opened the garage door for him, quietly watching him reverse the car and smoothly drive it out of the parking space, before waving goodbye to her, turning the car around, and driving away.

Soon, Chen Feng returned to Zijinyuan. Wu Mengting and Sun Xiaorui were not in the living room downstairs at that moment.

Chen Feng went straight upstairs, took a shower in his room, changed into comfortable loungewear, then walked to the opposite side, knocked symbolically on the door, and then turned the doorknob and pushed the door open.

Sun Xiaorui was indeed in her room, leaning lazily against the headboard looking at her phone.

"You're back. Have you eaten?" Upon seeing him, Sun Xiaorui immediately put down her phone and asked with concern.

"We ate out."

"That's good." Sun Xiaorui replied, a relieved smile on her face.

"Is Mengting still in seclusion writing?" Chen Feng asked casually.

"Yeah, she's really hardworking. She even squeezed in time to write during breaks from work at the office today. After getting off work, she quickly ate a few bites of food and went back upstairs to continue her work. Compared to her, I seem so lazy." Sun Xiaorui's tone was tinged with admiration and self-deprecation.

"How could that be? You help with housework every day, washing dishes, cleaning, taking out the trash—aren't you the one who takes care of all those chores?" Chen Feng said dismissively.

“This little bit of housework is nothing, it doesn’t create any value, and it can’t make money for the company,” Sun Xiaorui argued softly.

“Your thinking is wrong. You know I’m not short of money now, and I don’t actually need Mengting to work hard to make money for the company. So, in my eyes, the fact that you take care of my daily life and keep the house in good order makes me feel that you are more useful to me.”

Sun Xiaorui really didn't expect Chen Feng to say that, because facing Wu Mengting, who seemed to be able to crush her in every aspect, she had always felt somewhat inferior and even a little self-conscious.

Sun Xiaorui smiled somewhat awkwardly and said softly, "I'm not as good as you say. I can't compare to Mengting at all. She can bring in hundreds of millions of yuan in revenue for the company with just one TV series, while what about me?"

Chen Feng shook his head and said seriously, "This can't be measured by money. No matter how much money she earns, it doesn't really mean much to me. Because I really don't need her to earn money. What I need more is someone like you who is gentle, considerate, obedient, and always thinks of me."

Upon hearing this, Sun Xiaorui felt a surge of warmth in her heart and was so moved that she was speechless for a moment.

After Chen Feng sat down on the edge of the bed, she moved over to him and hugged him tightly, pressing her cheek against his warm chest.

After a while, Sun Xiaorui said in his arms in a muffled voice, "Although I like to hear you say that and I am happy to hear it, it is a bit unfair to Mengting by your evaluation of her. She is so tolerant of you, and she has worked hard to help you manage the company and create wealth for you and the company, but you are not grateful. It is really... really not fair."

Chen Feng smiled upon hearing this and retorted, "I didn't say she was bad. What I meant was that you and she are both very important to me. I can't live without the gentle you, and I can't live without the capable her either. My affection for you is the same."

Hearing Chen Feng say that, Sun Xiaorui felt incredibly sweet inside. If Chen Feng had actually praised her as more important or more capable than Wu Mengting, she would have felt immense pressure.

But now, when Chen Feng says she's just as important as Wu Mengting, she feels incredibly pleased.

Because this at least guarantees that she will always have a place by Chen Feng's side in the future.

The two lingered for a while, but ultimately avoided anything too out of line. After all, they were an old married couple, and their tacit understanding was beyond words.

After saying he was going to check on Wu Mengting, Chen Feng left Sun Xiaorui's room.

Arriving at Wu Mengting's room, Chen Feng knocked symbolically once more before opening the door and going in.

As expected, Wu Mengting sat upright in front of the computer, her fingers flying across the keyboard, typing intently. She only looked up when she heard him, giving him a brief, indifferent glance.

Chen Feng touched his nose, a little embarrassed, and asked, "Did I disturb you?"

Wu Mengting gave him a charmingly disdainful look and said succinctly, "Get to the point if you have something to say, otherwise don't bother me while I'm writing."

"Nothing special, just came to see you."

"Then you watch, just don't make a sound."

After speaking, Wu Mengting refocused her gaze on the computer screen, and her ten fingers began to move nimbly once again.

Seeing her aloof attitude, Chen Feng didn't want to make a fool of himself, so he wisely turned around and left.

The door was gently closed, and Wu Mengting's beautiful eyebrows furrowed slightly, her hands, which had been flying across the keyboard, stopped.

Actually, she didn't dislike Chen Feng staying; even if he occasionally talked to her or changed the subject, she enjoyed it. But Chen Feng's comings and goings stirred up a strange emotion within her.

He's been nowhere to be seen all day, not even coming home for lunch or dinner. It's obvious to anyone that he's out with other women.

Now that I've finally gotten home, I just come over for a quick, fleeting look and then disappear.

Is this place still a home?
Having lived together for so long, Wu Mengting had long considered this place where she and Chen Feng shared their home as their true home. Even though they weren't married and had no children, in her heart, this was their home. It was precisely to protect this home, coupled with Chen Feng's damned terminal illness, that she had been so tolerant of him before, tacitly allowing him to have so many female companions outside.

It was also in order to protect this family that she was so eager to marry Chen Feng legitimately, and then drive those women away from Chen Feng one by one.

So far, her battle to protect her family has made no progress. Her plan to gain status through a child and have a baby with Chen Feng is also not going smoothly. Despite having slept together several times, her belly remains completely flat.

This is one of the reasons why she has become increasingly immersed in her work recently, because she has even begun to doubt whether there is something wrong with her body.

Chen Feng's fertility is beyond doubt, after all, he already has two children, and his ex-wife Shen Lin is also pregnant.

Shen Lin, as Chen Feng's ex-wife, is a thorn in her side that she can't get rid of, and is now her most troublesome rival, yet she has no good solutions to this problem.

In any case, Wu Mengting was plagued by one problem after another in her love life and family. She wanted to leave but couldn't, and she was unwilling to give up. She wanted to intervene and solve the problems, but she didn't have any effective solutions.

Therefore, she could only devote most of her time and energy to her work, using busyness to numb herself and avoid being disturbed by those troublesome things.

As for Chen Feng, she could only continue to turn a blind eye.

……

After leaving Wu Mengting's room, Chen Feng went straight back to his own room to rest and did not go to see Sun Xiaorui again.

The next morning, the weather was clear and a gentle breeze was blowing. Chen Feng ran into Xiao Panpan again while jogging in the neighborhood.

Xiao Panpan looked radiant today, her eyes crinkling with smiles, clearly in a great mood. After greeting Chen Feng, she didn't say much, but silently followed beside him, running for another four or five kilometers.

After finishing the run, she, as usual, held her knees and panted for a while. Chen Feng waited for her to catch her breath before speaking, "You don't have to run the whole course with me. For a girl like you, running two or three kilometers a day is enough. Running too much is actually bad for your health."

"I know. But I've been running this for many years. At first, it was indeed difficult to run more than four kilometers in one go, but after persisting for the past few days, I think I can overcome it. After the run, I didn't feel too uncomfortable, so don't worry." She explained with a smile after catching her breath.

Seeing her insistence, Chen Feng stopped trying to persuade her, waved to her, and turned to go home.

Xiao Panpan watched his retreating figure with a bright smile until he pushed open the door and went inside, then reluctantly turned her gaze away.

It feels good to be able to see him every day and run with him.

Most importantly, Chen Feng's words yesterday reassured her. As long as she didn't cause trouble or leave on her own initiative, Chen Feng wouldn't break up with her.

Chen Feng hadn't planned to go out in the morning, but around nine o'clock, Qin Zhen called, inviting him to his home for dinner. He also asked Chen Feng to buy some groceries on the way, preferably cooked or braised dishes, because he didn't have much food left at home and his cooking skills were just average.

This guy really is a good buddy; he didn't even bother with formalities.

Chen Feng strongly suspected that this guy was simply taking a day off today. He woke up naturally in the morning and found there was nothing to eat at home. He was too lazy to go out, so he thought of Chen Feng as a "deliveryman".

However, Chen Feng felt a pang of sympathy for this guy, who was now living alone with his pregnant wife in America awaiting childbirth.

Compared to Qin Zhen, Chen Feng's life now is truly enviable, like neither a loving couple nor an immortal.

So Chen Feng took pity on him and readily agreed to his request to "feed" him.

He quickly tidied himself up, changed his clothes, and drove out. He first went to the nearest vegetable market with convenient parking and did a lot of shopping, buying a whole bunch of things, including pig ears, smoked chicken, chicken feet, roast duck, braised beef, fried lamb chops, and so on.

Then, he drove quickly to Qin Zhen's house.

Sure enough, when he arrived, he saw that the guy was still wearing wrinkled pajamas, with a stubble beard, looking like he hadn't woken up yet, and it looked like he hadn't even washed his face.

Qin Zhen's eyes lit up when he saw the large and small bags of cooked food that Chen Feng was carrying. He immediately ran over like a hungry wolf to snatch them, grabbed them, and stuffed them into his mouth, looking like he was starving.

Chen Feng couldn't help but chuckle and tease, "Does your wife know about your behavior?"

While chewing a large piece of pig's ear, Qin Zhen mumbled, "Of course she doesn't know."

"Have you been very busy lately? You look so tired." Chen Feng looked him over.

"I just finished a big case, and I didn't get to sleep until the early hours of yesterday morning. Luckily, I can rest for two days, otherwise my body really wouldn't be able to take it," Qin Zhen sighed.

Chen Feng shook his head and said, "If you ask me, you're working so hard and you're not getting promoted, you might as well just quit."

"Resign? If I resign, will you support me?" Qin Zhen rolled his eyes.

"Sure," Chen Feng replied with a smile.

"Screw you! I still have to support my family and raise my kids. This job is at least a stable income, and I can earn twenty a year."

Chen Feng complained, "If you come to my company as the security captain, I'll give you twenty of them."

"Damn it, this is a blatant insult to my sacred job! I'm a deputy director, and you've assigned me a security captain?" Qin Zhen said, feigning anger.

"Then the security manager, that should be about right, right?"

"Almost...bullshit! I can earn that much as a policeman, why would I want to work as a security guard like you? Can you even compare?"

"It's easy. At least I don't have to work day and night, travel frequently for cases, or face any life-threatening danger," Chen Feng listed.

"...Hearing you say that, I'm actually a little tempted. But unfortunately, being a soldier and a policeman are both my ideals, and I can't give them up." Qin Zhen's tone became serious.

Can ideals put food on the table?

"Sure, my annual salary, bonuses, and allowances add up to about twenty, which is more than enough to support a family of three."

"On average, it's only 16,000 to 17,000 a month, and sometimes that money is earned by risking your life. Is it worth it?"

"You heartless, evil capitalist, I can't be bothered arguing with you," Qin Zhen said, somewhat embarrassed and angry.

Chen Feng, on the contrary, burst into laughter.

Qin Zhen gave him the middle finger without any hesitation.

Chen Feng retaliated without backing down.

Then, the two looked at each other and couldn't help but burst into laughter. (End of Chapter)