Chapter 288 - Obscene Questions

Although there was a lot of good food at dinner, it was mainly sweets and desserts. Besides, she had to watch her image, so Changqing didn’t dare to eat too much. Changqing’s eyes lit up upon seeing the mutton skewers now.

The two dealt with the 60 sticks of skewers without any regard to their image. Jiang Duoyao licked her lips as she lay on the bed. “How delicious. I haven’t tasted anything spicy for a whole month.”

“That’s so sad.” Changqing sympathized with her. “You’re not even fat.”

“I have a new drama to shoot and the director requested for the character to be a little thinner,” Jiang Duoyao said pitifully. “My diet has been strongly restricted.”

“Luckily I became a host.” Changqing really sympathized with her. It was so difficult to be a celebrity, always having to gain and lose weight.

“Right, how are things between you and Song Chuyi?” Jiang Duoyao suddenly stared hard at her mouth.

“What are you doing?” Changqing was shocked.

“I’m trying to see if you two kissed. You two must’ve kissed very passionately after not seeing each other for such a long time. I was looking to see if maybe your lips were swollen or bitten or stuff like that,” Jiang Duoyao said with an evil look. “I was quite afraid you two were having sex just now when I came to see you. Luckily you weren’t; otherwise, I would have to hide on the rooftop to eat skewers.”

“Sex your head.” It would’ve been alright if Jiang Duoyao talked about it before, but now, all Changqing could think about was what she shouldn’t think about. Changqing glared at Jiang Duoyao as her ears flushed red. “Do I look like that kind of person with no morals who could be easily coaxed?”

“Yeah.” Jiang Duoyao nodded.

“…” Changqing braced herself as she said, “Anyway, that won’t be me this time.”

“So you’re intending to be unreasonable for a while and put on an act? I get you.” Jiang Duoyao continued to nod.

“…” Changqing was embarrassed and angry.

She simply couldn’t communicate with Jiang Duoyao. “You’re already done eating; are you heading back yet? I want to take a shower.”

“I’m not going back to sleep. I’ll sleep with you.” Jiang Duoyao crawled up eagerly. “Let’s go—I’ll shower with you.”

The two often showered together when they were living in the same dormitory. As they were showering, Jiang Duoyao suddenly asked in a very obscene way, “Can I ask you a question? Did you do that with Song Chuyi when you showered with him?”

Changqing was embarrassed. Luckily, the steam in the bathroom was hot enough and both of their faces were flushed red because of that.

She pretended to turn around to apply shower gel. “… No.”

“Aye, that’s impossible.” Jiang Duoyao stuck her head over and looked at her. “Then have the two of you showered together?”

“No. Can you stop asking such obscene questions?” Changqing glared at Jiang Duoyao, looking at her scornfully.

“You make it sound as though you’re not obscene.” Jiang Duoyao pouted. Why don’t I buy it…

After a tiring day, Jiang Duoyao fell asleep soundly like a little piglet after getting into bed and chatting with Changqing for a while.

Changqing couldn’t sleep well no matter how much she tossed and turned.

In the past, when Song Chuyi wasn’t in China, she couldn’t fall asleep because she was thinking of this person.

Now that he was back, she still couldn’t fall asleep because she was thinking about this person.

Changqing cursed silently in her heart. She hoped Song Chuchu wouldn’t be able to sleep well either.

The next day, Jiang Duoyao had a commercial shoot in Shanghai. She was woken up by her assistant at 8 am.

Changqing didn’t sleep for long before she was woken up by the sound of the doorbell.

She clambered up and looked through the peephole. The woman standing outside chased away all her sleepiness and her legs went to jelly.

She finally mustered the courage to open the door after a while and said carefully, “Auntie… Auntie Rong, I’m sorry, I overslept.”

“It’s okay, you guys did have a tiring night. I’ve disturbed your sleep.” Rong Chang was wearing a black wool coat and had a gentle demeanor. “Shall we have breakfast together?”

Changqing scratched her head, feeling awkward like she was in a difficult position.

“It’s set then.” Rong Chang didn’t give her a chance to say no. “Chuyi won’t be joining us. I’ll see you at the restaurant on the 12th floor in half an hour’s time.”

Rong Chang turned around as she walked away with a smile.

“That… Auntie Rong…” Changqing called out to her with embarrassment. “I’ll get my assistant to send the dress yesterday to the dry cleaner’s and return it to you once it’s done.”

“There’s no need,” Rong Chang said profoundly. “Just treat it as a gift for our first meeting. I’ll give it to you. That dress fits you very well. All clothes have to find an owner that suits them.”

After Rong Chang left, Changqing was in a dilemma.

Although Rong Chang was unlike Song Huaisheng and Song Chulang, her status in the industry was so high and Changqing still felt some pressure when interacting with her. It was simply as stressful as meeting your teacher on the street while you were on your way to school and then being forced to walk to school together.

Besides, she didn’t know what Rong Chang would say to her. At this time, she would rather Song Chuyi be there with them at breakfast.

After much deliberation, Changqing finally picked out a coat she felt wasn’t bad and walked to the restaurant.

She was five minutes early, but when she got there, Rong Chang was already there. She was sitting elegantly, reading a magazine while sipping coffee.

She walked over in a hurry. “Apologies for making you wait so long.”

“It’s okay.” Rong Chang closed the magazine and pushed the menu over to her. “Order some food first.”

“Auntie, you can order first,” Changqing said politely.

Rong Chang smiled and ordered a set of English breakfast.

Changqing actually wanted to eat some Xiaolongbao (1. Traditional Chinese dumplings with soup inside) and Wonton (1. A type of Chinese dumpling), but upon seeing what Rong Chang ordered, she was embarrassed and ordered the same set.

Rong Chang glanced at her and said with a smile, “Order whatever you want to have. Chuyi told me that you like to eat Shanghainese breakfast. Why don’t we get a set of wontons and crabmeat xiaolongbao?”

Changqing blushed. She didn’t expect to be seen through.

At this point, if she rejected the offer, she would seem unreasonable. She nodded and changed the topic. “Why… isn’t Chuyi here with you?”

“Were you nervous about coming here with me?” Rong Chang’s smiling eyes were filled with gentleness.

Changqing quickly shook her head with embarrassment. “That’s not it.”

“Many people get nervous when they see me. Actually, I’m just a normal person.” Rong Chang smiled lightly. “I hope we can get along simply and harmoniously. I might not be a good mother-in-law or a good mother.”

Changqing was stunned and looked at her, dumbfounded.

Rong Chang took a sip of coffee and said, “Has Chuyi not mentioned me at all in the past?”

Changqing shook her head with discomfort. “He hasn’t.”

“You shouldn’t feel upset because of this. It’s not that he didn’t want to mention me, but he probably didn’t think there was any point in mentioning me.” Rong Chang sighed softly. “In fact, when the two of you first got married, he told me about it and wanted me to come back to meet you, but I was involved in a new design project for fall at that time. I was too passionate about my own career. I said I would come when I wasn’t so busy and he was very angry because he had heard the same line from me ever since he was young. I’ve always been perfunctory to him and I’ve never fulfilled any promise I made. When he first attended primary school, I promised to take him to school. In the end, I received a very important opportunity that day which required me to submit a piece of work in three days to my tutor to take part in an award. I worked day and night, only to rush my work, and it was his father who took him to school. After that, I promised to attend their home meeting with their teacher, but because I was away on business, I didn’t make it.”

“The period when they were growing up was also the most crucial time in my career for me to go international. I missed their growth and could only apologize to my children, telling them that Mommy would definitely take them to the amusement park, travel with them and celebrate their birthdays next time when I wasn’t busy, but I seldom followed through. I didn’t even attend their university graduation ceremonies.”

Changqing felt an inexplicable sense of pain and sourness inside.

Although she didn’t have a mother, her father did a very good job. However, every time she had any parent-children activity at school or parent-teacher meetings, everyone had their parents with them while she only had her father.

Song Chuchu, on the other hand, although he had a mother, he had always been stood up by her, so he must’ve definitely felt terrible.

Rong Chang’s eyes were puckered and she said, “Because of my busy work, I often wasn’t at home and my ex-husband and I often had disputes over that. I hoped to realize my dreams, but he wasn’t supportive and problems started to arise in our marriage. When I realized that, he had already found another woman on the outside. I wasn’t sad, but at that time, I had already stepped onto the international stage, so I chose to divorce him and went to Europe. Over the years, I’ve gone further and further away, but my children have also gone further and further away from me. In the words of Chuyi’s dad, I’m just a lunatic. A lunatic who abandoned everything for her dream.”

The waitress walked over with a tray of xiaolongbao.

The two fell silent for a while. Changqing said, “Actually, it’s quite good to have dreams. Unlike me—I don’t have any dreams…”

“That’s perhaps why Chuyi likes you.” Rong Chang watched her gently. “Simplicity. Sometimes, dreams are very scary things. They’re very difficult and you always lose some things along the way.”

Changqing was silent. Actually, she was quite envious of the way Rong Chang lived her life.

Most women’s lives revolved around their husbands and children nowadays.

Which caused them to lack some life experience, making them lose their dreams and opinions.

However, it wasn’t bad for Rong Chang to divorce a man like Song Huaisheng for her dreams. If her husband truly loved her, he would’ve definitely supported her dreams silently.

Not looking for another woman on the outside without the company of his wife.

It wasn’t a pity at all to lose a marriage like that with Song Huaisheng.

However, she only dared to imagine being a woman like Rong Chang. After all, the distance between them was too large. If it was her, she would’ve chosen a plain and simple life, had a few children with the man she liked and be pampered for the rest of her life.

“Auntie, why are you telling me all this?” After a while, she asked as she came back to her senses.

“Perhaps so you can understand a little bit of Chuyi’s past.” Rong Chang leaned back slightly and was listless. “I’ve never even told my son all this before. When I regained consciousness, the first person I saw was him. The nurse said he had been taking care of me at the hospital the entire time. I felt deeply guilty then. A person like me should be alone the moment I wake up.”