I was exposed for adding my female boss to my group of female friends.

Chen Sheng was clearly caught off guard by Lu Qingxuan's question and pointed frantically to the other end of the corridor, stammering:

"Ah, she's here, she's already here. It's her wedding day, and she's in the dressing room right now..."

Lu Qingxuan politely asked, "Where is the dressing room? I'd like to go say hello."

"It's just ahead. Turn left, there's a small wooden door. Push it open."

Lu Qingxuan bowed and then left.

Chen Sheng and Lu Ruixiang were both somewhat flattered. Only after she had walked a distance did Lu Ruixiang say:

"I had heard before that Lu Yuanbao's daughter was very good at handling things. I didn't know she was so polite that she even went to greet the bride."

Chen Sheng glanced back at Chen Hai and said, "Yes, unlike some people who don't even go to see their aunt when she's getting married."

Chen Hai said matter-of-factly, "The bride's beauty should be appreciated at the moment of the wedding. Isn't it impolite to disturb her now?"

Lu Ruixiang pouted and said, "Your mind is full of that young President Qin, you wish you could be rooted to the ground."

Chen Hai chuckled but didn't answer.

Just as Lu Ruixiang said, he was incredibly excited to hear that he could meet Qin Yunchu.

Chen Sheng said with emotion, "I never expected that Lu Qingxuan would actually come to visit my sister. It seems that Wei Mingzhe's job was definitely worth it; it has even raised his status in the family."

Lu Qianzi muttered to herself, "They only went because of Chen Ya, you know."

Unfortunately, Chen Sheng didn't hear it.

Chen Sheng pointed out the exact location of the dressing room, and Lu Qingxuan found it quickly. She knocked on the door, and a gentle voice came from inside:

"Please come in!"

Pushing open the door, they found only Chen Chi and a female makeup artist in the room. The makeup artist was marveling at something Chen Chi had put on.

When Lu Qingxuan pushed the door open and came in, both of them looked at her.

"Ah, you are... Miss Lu from the Lu family?" Chen Chi was still unfamiliar with Lu Qingxuan.

People say a woman is most beautiful on her wedding day, and this is certainly true for Chen Chi. She was dressed to the nines today, in a gorgeous white gown that made her look even more stunning; she didn't look like she was over thirty at all.

Lu Qingxuan nodded and said, "Today is your wedding day. Congratulations! I hope you will be happy for the rest of your life."

"Thank you!"

A few tears welled up in Chen Chi's eyes. He wiped them away with his fingers and then said excitedly, "You're the first person to say that to me today."

Today is a good day, but not so good for Chen Chi. It happens to be the birthday of Old Master Lu, and no one is paying attention to Chen Chi's wedding.

Lu Qingxuan suddenly felt a little embarrassed. Actually, she didn't come to congratulate Chen Chi on his wedding. She came to ask Chen Chi about Chen Ya.

Lu Qingxuan tilted her head and asked, "Just before I came in, I heard you guys talking inside. It sounded like you were having a heated discussion. What were you talking about?"

The makeup artist blushed and immediately said, "Oh dear, I was just talking about her wedding dress. It must have cost a lot of money, right? It's the same haute couture dress that I work with for celebrities."

Chen Chi chuckled and said, "I don't know either. My nephew gave it to me to wear."

The makeup artist said, "Your nephew is really good to you. This wedding dress must cost at least several hundred thousand, and that's an estimate."

Chen Chi raised his eyebrows in surprise: "So expensive?"

"You're being too lenient," Lu Qingxuan said from the side. "This wedding dress could easily cost tens of millions."

This number left Chen Chi somewhat incredulous: "Ms. Lu, are you kidding us?"

"I'm not kidding. A haute couture dress is already outrageously expensive. You see those celebrities walking the red carpet, their dresses aren't their own, they're all rented, and the rental fees alone cost hundreds of thousands."

The makeup artist's hands stopped, and even Chen Chi was dumbfounded.

Lu Qingxuan said, "This outfit should have been obtained by Chen Ya from Jiang Lizhi. He's the CEO of Jiang Lizhi's company, didn't you know?"

Chen Chi shook his head and said blankly, "He never talks to me about his own life."

Lu Qingxuan seized the opportunity to ask, "I remember he seemed to have said that he had a deep affection for you and that you often corresponded with each other. Did he never talk about his own affairs?"

Chen Chi said with a smile, "He did talk about it at first, but later he only asked me questions and never talked about himself. I only found out later that he left his hometown after graduating from junior high school."

After a pause, Chen Chi continued, "Perhaps he's afraid of revealing that he left his hometown and making me worry, so he never tells me about himself."

After saying that, Chen Chi smiled and said, "However, I knew he would be successful when he was young. When I saw him before, he said he was just an ordinary employee, and I didn't believe him."

Lu Qingxuan then asked, "Did he ever tell you about writing novels when he was a child?"

Chen Chi said, "Yes."

Lu Qingxuan felt a chill run down her spine.

Chapter 282 You're Destined to Regret It

“That was when he was 12 years old. He told me that he was going to write a groundbreaking novel and that he would definitely make a lot of money.”

"What groundbreaking subject matter?"

Lu Qingxuan couldn't help but think of the development of domestic literature in recent years, and couldn't think of any subject matter that could be called "groundbreaking".

Chen Chi smiled wryly and said, "I also want to know, but unfortunately, I still don't know what subject he was talking about."

"Didn't you ask him?"

Chen Chi's smile became even more helpless: "I didn't ask."

Lu Qingxuan remained silent, and Chen Chi said with a smile:

"You must be thinking, how come I'm so indifferent to this matter, how come I have no curiosity about my nephew's affairs?"

Lu Qingxuan felt a little embarrassed by Chen Chi's direct question: "No, not really..."

“It’s not that I didn’t care, it’s that I didn’t believe it at all,” Chen Chi told her. “Back then, I didn’t believe that Chen Ya could write novels, after all, he was only 12 years old at the time!”

Lu Qingxuan was speechless.

It feels like this scene is somewhat familiar.

"So you took what he said as a joke and didn't ask him? Then how did you know he actually wrote a novel?"

Chen Chi smiled, a look of reminiscence appearing on her half-finished makeup face:

"To talk about this, I need to tell you what happened in the first few years after we arrived in the capital, but this story is a bit long, Miss Lu, you have other matters to attend to..."

"I'm fine now." Lu Qingxuan's gaze was firm, and her tone was resolute. "Just think of it as a chat before the wedding to help you ease your tension."

Chen Chi looked at her gratefully and nodded, seemingly thankful for her understanding. Then, after organizing his thoughts, he slowly began to speak:

"That was when my brother brought me to Beijing two years ago. In the first year, we encountered many setbacks and suffered a lot because we were not familiar with the lifestyle in Beijing. Later, we finally settled down."

“We found a basement room with a monthly rent of 1000 yuan. Although it was dark and damp, it was big enough for three people to live in. It was much better than the rental room where we had to remind the people next to us to even stretch our legs.”

"At that time, there was a policy that some schools were specifically open to the children of migrant workers. Chen Ya and I both went to school there. Although the quality of education was not very good, at least we had a place to go to school."

“Life is tough for us. But I know that my sister-in-law, who stayed in our hometown, is having the real hardship. Our income in Beijing has increased significantly, while back home, farming already brings in meager incomes, and she also has to take care of two children. You can imagine how difficult it is for her.”

"So, all I've been thinking about is how to go out and work to earn money, and how to help my family alleviate some of their difficulties."

“I secretly found a part-time job at a restaurant and worked odd jobs every day after school. In three months, I saved up 1,000 yuan. I filled out a remittance form according to the procedure and sent it to Chen Ya. I told him to use the money to help support his family.”

"He replied very quickly, sending back the remittance slip and telling me that he had made a lot of money writing books and that his family no longer needed to worry about making a living."

Lu Qingxuan sat on a stool to the side, her hands on her knees, listening blankly to Chen Chi's story. The makeup artist applied Chen Chi's makeup with deliberately gentle movements, as if she were also listening to Chen Chi's story.

Hearing this, Lu Qingxuan's heart jumped.

Perhaps this is where Chen Ya's entire life experience began. It was from here that he started, went from the mountain village to the world, and finally successfully founded Jiang Lizhi.

Lu Qingxuan is a person who strives for excellence, and she enjoys reading biographies of famous people. Listening to Chen Ya's story, she felt as if she were reading a biography of a famous person.

Chen Chi continued, "I naturally thought that Chen Ya was just comforting me, but when I went to the bank to complete the procedures later, I found that there was an extra 5 yuan in my account. Only then did I realize that he was definitely not lying."

"So, did you ask him what novel he's writing?" Lu Qingxuan asked quickly.

Chen Chi frowned and said, "I think I asked, but I also think I didn't. It's been too long to remember. But whether I asked or not, he didn't tell me. At that time, my brother remarried and had a falling out with his family, so we had less contact. I was too embarrassed to press him for details."

Lu Qingxuan said, "Wait, you had a falling out with your family? What happened? Didn't you two..."

Her expression was somewhat taken aback. According to the bits and pieces she had heard from Chen Ya, Chen's father had abandoned his wife and children and left his hometown from the very beginning, but what Chen Chi said was quite different.

Chen Chi pursed his lips and said, "Is Chen Ya saying that his father abandoned his wife and children and left his hometown in order to marry a rich girl? From his perspective, that's true, but that's not the whole truth."

"Then, what is the truth?"

Chen Chi said, "Think about it, if he came to the capital with the intention of abandoning his wife, why would he have brought me and Chen Hai with him? He didn't intend to abandon his wife, at least not at that time."

"Miss Lu, you may not be familiar with the historical context of that time. Back then, a large number of rural people went to the city to work, and my brother was just one of them."

"Going to the city doesn't mean betraying my hometown. It's just that the countryside back then was too poor, so poor that it simply couldn't support so many people."

"The reason he wanted to take me with him was because my parents died early and I was still in school. He couldn't leave me with my sister-in-law to raise, as that would put too much pressure on her."

"He took me and Chen Hai to work in Beijing and sent the money he earned back home; my sister-in-law stayed home to raise Chen Ya and Chen Xi. This was something the two of them had agreed on from the beginning, otherwise my sister-in-law wouldn't have agreed to him leaving like this."

"From today's perspective, going to Beijing obviously means a meteoric rise to success, but at the time it was hard to say which option was better. After all, how could a migrant worker, drifting in Beijing, without a fixed place to live, be sure to have a good life?"

"It's just that fate played a joke on everyone. My brother met a benefactor, and that's when everything started to change."

Hearing this, Lu Qingxuan finally understood a little.

Chen Sheng's story is not as dramatic as Chen Shimei's; rather, it is quite ordinary.

Back then, 600 million people in China migrated from rural areas to cities, and Chen Sheng was just one of them.

He didn't come to the capital intending to abandon his wife and children. He came to the capital first, then met Lu Ruixiang, developed feelings for her, and only then did he rise to prominence.

Initially, he may have indeed come to Beijing to work in order to earn money for his family, but after experiencing more things in Beijing, his mindset changed.

Chen Chi bit her lip. She had an even deeper story in her heart, but she hesitated whether she should tell it to the eldest daughter of the Lu family in front of her.

After much thought, she felt relieved. The past was the past, and everything was different from what she had initially expected. Whether she spoke of it or not, nothing would change.

"Actually, my brother wanted to take Chen Ya away, not Chen Hai."

Upon hearing this, Lu Qingxuan immediately asked, "Really?"

Chen Chi nodded and said, "Because Chen Ya is a bit older. The idea at the time was that the two children we brought to the capital could work and earn money with their older brother after graduation, so choosing Chen Ya was the more suitable option."

Lu Qingxuan asked, "Then why did it later become Chen Hai?"

"There are two reasons: first, Chen Ya refuses to go no matter what; second, Chen Hai insists on going no matter what," Chen Chi said with a wry smile.

"..."

Lu Qingxuan hadn't expected this, and after a while she asked, "Why didn't he go?"

Chen Chi said, "When my older brother told Chen Ya about their decision at home, Chen Ya was very unhappy. No matter how my older brother and sister-in-law explained it to him, he firmly believed that it was tantamount to betrayal."

“I still remember what he said back then. He said that making money is not important, there is no need to separate family members for the sake of making money, he just wants his family to be together and live a good life.”

Lu Qingxuan said, "It sounds like something a child would say."

Chen Chi nodded with a smile: "Yes, so no one took what he said seriously until he announced that if his father really left, he would sever his father-son relationship with his eldest brother."

Lu Qingxuan raised her eyebrows.

Although she can now empathize with Chen Ya, she feels that this is a bit too extreme.

Did he really do that?

Chen Chi thought for a moment and said, "I think that even if he still regarded his elder brother as his father at the beginning, after his elder brother divorced and remarried to Sister Lu Ruixiang, their family was already dead in name only."

Lu Qingxuan noticed a detail: the "sister-in-law" Chen Chi mentioned was still Chen Ya's biological mother, while she called Lu Ruixiang "elder sister".

It is clear that in her heart, this later "sister-in-law," even though more than ten years have passed, still does not hold the same weight as the previous one.

“My older brother only went back home once during his first three years of working away from home,” Chen Chi said. “That one time was to get a divorce certificate with my sister-in-law.”

“I was very worried that time, so I went back with him. I thought Chen Ya would have a big fight with my older brother, but he didn’t.”

He just stood there coldly watching as his older brother rummaged through drawers looking for the marriage certificate, as if he had long expected this day to come.

"After finding the marriage certificate, the older brother saw Chen Ya standing to the side and wanted to touch his head, but Chen Ya walked away. This made the older brother a little embarrassed."

"His older brother suddenly said to him, 'Actually, at first, I wanted to take you to the capital, and I still think you might be more suited to the capital. But Chen Hai is too cunning; he's afraid I'll abandon him here and take you away. So he absolutely refuses to come back.'"

"You're smarter than Chen Hai, but not as cunning. Cunning is different from being smart. A smart person can figure out any problem, but a cunning person is better at seizing opportunities."

"The capital city is a place that forces people to be cunning. To survive in the capital, you must be good at seizing opportunities, because opportunities are limited. If you don't seize them, others will snatch them away and trample you down until you're crushed, so you can never compete with them again."

I know you might hate me, but I'm sorry, I really didn't have a choice. That's just the way survival is in Beijing.