Chapter 629: A Third Party Interferes

She felt that she really wasn’t on the same wavelength as Sister Chen and the others, as if… they didn’t click.

Indeed, one moment Sister Chen was saying, “A woman mustn’t depend on a man for a living,” and the next moment, she lifted her bag.

“Do you think my bag is pretty? My husband just bought it for me.” Sister Chen’s smile was as radiant as a flower.

“Wow, it’s so beautiful. Sister Chen, you have such good taste. This is the new limited edition, right? I remember this model has diamonds on the zipper.”

“Xiaomei, you really know your stuff. Hmm, this diamond, it’s a ruby imported from Sri Lanka.”

As soon as Sister Chen mentioned it, several colleagues immediately crowded around to look.

“It really is different; these diamonds are stunning.”

“Yeah, yeah, my husband doesn’t even want to buy me a diamond ring.”

“Sister Chen’s husband is just better.”

…

The praises came unanimously from everyone, and Xu Chaomu bit her straw and was sweating profusely; she just didn’t quite understand the ways of these city folks.

So, Xu Chaomu echoed a few words: “Pretty, so pretty, it’s really beautiful.”

The entire conversation revolved around Sister Chen showing off a variety of items.

From houses to bags, rings, necklaces, bank cards… Of course, the most boasted about was her husband.

“Xiaoxu, you’re already married, how come there’s not even a ring on your finger?” Sister Chen asked Xu Chaomu with concern.

Xu Chaomu looked and realized it was true; she had never paid attention to it before.

After all, Shen Chi seldom gave her gifts, and he hadn’t proposed, let alone held a wedding.

Not having a ring didn’t seem odd to her.

However, her colleagues found it strange.

“Right, Xiaoxu, your husband didn’t buy you a wedding ring?”

The focus quickly shifted to Xu Chaomu, who smiled awkwardly: “It’s inconvenient to wear a ring, so I just tossed it at home.”

“Xiaoxu, your bag is pretty nice. How much was it?” Sister Chen shifted her concern to Xu Chaomu’s bag.

Xu Chaomu smiled awkwardly again: “Got it from… a street stall.”

In fact, she didn’t know how much it cost, there were many bags at home, and she just picked one at random.

But from what she observed, all the bags Shen Chi bought were custom-made by hand. Having lived abroad for five years, she knew that the price of such custom work was a minor issue; what mattered was having the clout to have top international designers design for you.

“Street stall goods are quite exquisite these days,” Sister Chen commented with a laugh.

“That’s right. Now street vendors have more sources, so there are lots of good quality and inexpensive items,” Xu Chaomu smiled.

“Xiaoxu, a girl shouldn’t always buy from street stalls. When you get your salary, buy yourself something nice,” Sister Chen advised earnestly.

Xu Chaomu nodded repeatedly: “Things are a bit tight right now. Once I get paid, I’ll go take a look in the store.”

“Ah, Xiaoxu, if you had started working in the design department earlier, I might have been able to introduce a few boyfriends to you,” Sister Chen said kindly. “But you got married too early.”

“My husband… can be pretty good at times,” Xu Chaomu said with discomfort.

“I’m telling you, I know quite a few high-quality single men. Just the other day, that guy who came to see me, though he’s a bit older, almost forty, his family is incredibly well off and he really cherishes women. At thirty-seven or thirty-eight years old, it’s the golden age. Oh, and there’s another guy, though he’s divorced, he’s really handsome, and his family is quite well off too, always with a chauffeur when going out.”

Sister Chen spoke excitedly, and the colleagues around her listened with great interest.

Only Xu Chaomu smiled awkwardly, biting her straw and staying silent.

“What a pity, you got married too early. Otherwise, I could have introduced him to you, and you would be guaranteed satisfaction,” Sister Chen said.

“I think our president is quite nice,” Xu Chaomu said, sipping her milk tea lightly.

“Young lady, you really aim high.” Her colleagues laughed.

Sister Chen also laughed, “Of course, President Shen of Shen’s is nice. Who in C City doesn’t want to marry him? But President Shen’s heart is all tied to his ex-girlfriend Bai Man, and he doesn’t have eyes for anyone else.”

“Oh, I heard that he was dumped by Bai Man,” Xu Chaomu said nonchalantly.

“How can that be called dumping, probably just lost the love,” a female colleague said.

“Oh.” Xu Chaomu rested her forehead in her hand.

Lost the love… how lofty.

“By the way, do you know where Miss Bai went?”

“No idea. She disappeared from the entertainment circle five years ago, just like she evaporated from the world.”

“Some say she got married, others say she went abroad.”

Suddenly enlightened, Sister Chen said, “Miss Bai, in every aspect, was very well matched with our President Shen. It’s just a pity…”

“Yeah, five years ago, every major newspaper’s headline was about them. I heard they were about to get married.”

“Exactly, they were so well matched. I even used to show my boyfriend the newspapers and talk about them.”

“Do you know? I heard that later a third party intervened…”

“Really? A third party intervened? Did President Shen have a new love, or did Miss Bai have a new love?”

“I heard it was President Shen. So after that, Miss Bai broke things off with President Shen.”

“Impossible. If President Shen had a new love, could there have been no reports for five years?”

“You know President Shen’s methods as well as I do. If he wants to suppress something, is there anything that can’t be suppressed?”

“But we’ve been working at Shen’s for several years, and we haven’t heard anything about President Shen having a new love.”

…

Xu Chaomu, however, was indifferent; was she that “other woman”?

It couldn’t be, could it? She had never wrecked Shen Chi’s marriage, and even five years ago, she had actively helped them.

Still, over these five years, where had Bai Man gone? Since returning to her country, she indeed hadn’t heard a thing about Bai Man.

Had she left the entertainment industry?

It made sense, as Bai Man was originally propelled to fame by Shen Chi. Once their relationship sour, she probably lost the drive to stay in the circle.

The events of five years ago were still vivid in her memory.

She remembered Bai Man asking her to choose wedding dresses together. She remembered accompanying Bai Man to the hospital for a check-up. She remembered being kidnapped onto a boat with Bai Man…

Her deepest memory was the rush of words Bai Man said in desperation.

Bai Man had told her that her mother, Xu Mengxi, was killed by Zhou Ran, and that Shen Chi was the son of the man responsible for her mother’s death.

With these thoughts, she lost interest in the colleagues’ conversation.

She stood up and said with a smile, “Excuse me, I’m going to the restroom.”

“Sure.”

Xu Chaomu hurried to the restroom. Every time she thought about the events of five years ago, about Bai Man, she still felt panicked.

Five years later, she didn’t know where Bai Man had gone, and she was afraid to see her again.

Bai Man, like Zhou Ran, loomed as a shadow in her heart.

She walked to the restroom and upon entering, she turned on the faucet.

The water from the faucet was ice-cold, and as Xu Chaomu washed her face, she forgot to turn off the faucet.

The water made a “whooshing” sound as it continued running in the sink…