It wasn’t that she disliked him.

It wasn’t an ambiguous rejection.

Liu Fen said they couldn’t be together now, but instead of avoiding the issue like an ostrich, she asked if he could wait for her.

Tang Hongen couldn’t quite describe his feelings at this moment.

He used to think that in middle age, what was the point of talking about love? As long as two people got along well, couldn’t they just live together?

He also thought his fondness for Liu Fen was just admiration.

But if it were merely admiration and approval, his rushing to rural Yunan during New Year after receiving Grandmother Yu’s call wouldn’t make any sense.

If Tang Hongen couldn’t see his own feelings clearly then, after half a year, he should examine his heart properly now. For instance, when Liu Fen asked if he could “wait,” this divorced woman who had been hurt before, who was once insecure, had wrapped all her vulnerable parts in a hard shell for protection. Being quiet and reserved wasn’t Liu Fen’s natural disposition; she had been molded that way by her difficult past life.

Now Liu Fen was like a timid snail exposing its soft flesh, gathering courage to ask Tang Hongen if he could wait for her?

Wait for what.

Tang Hongen wanted to take Liu Fen’s hand right now and tell her he really liked her – whether it was her kind perseverance or her timid hesitation, wasn’t it all part of who she was?

He wasn’t choosing a subordinate for promotion; he wouldn’t have started pursuing her if he looked down on her.

His courtship shouldn’t put such pressure on Liu Fen.

However, if he didn’t agree now, Liu Fen, who had finally taken a step forward, might immediately retreat three steps back!

“Ah Fen, do whatever you want to do. This won’t affect us getting to know each other. You’re standing with me right now, I don’t need to wait for you… I’ll give you time to figure this out yourself, can we just continue our normal interactions?”

Liu Fen was confused by Tang Hongen’s wordplay.

The first half seemed to agree, but the latter half didn’t sound quite right.

After all this talk, the situation hadn’t changed – whenever she came to Yangcheng for goods, Tang Hongen would unfailingly appear, rain or shine.

Didn’t such a high-ranking director have his own work to attend to?

No matter when she arrived at the station, she would definitely see Tang Hongen on the platform.

Liu Fen hadn’t noticed that once she showed willingness to try, Director Tang had seized the opportunity to take a big step forward, even changing from “Comrade Liu Fen” to “Ah Fen.”

Seeing she hadn’t figured it out yet, Tang Hongen cleared his throat:

“Let’s go, we’ve finished exchanging the goods. Let Little Wang take us back quickly, don’t keep Xiaolan waiting.”

Little Wang obediently waited in the car.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to show initiative.

But being young and strong, if he carried all the clothes, how could the leader show his worth? Little Wang observed carefully and noticed the leader had even changed his trousers.

He’d left wearing black western trousers, now they were blue.

How did he end up changing trousers… Tang Hongen didn’t want Little Wang to overthink, “Earlier at the market, someone cut my pocket and stole my wallet. Give Comrade Liu Fen 25 yuan, she advanced the money for the trousers.”

Little Wang clicked his tongue.

The thieves at the wholesale clothing market were too brazen, even targeting leaders.

Now the wholesale market would definitely face regulation and reorganization.

But the thief probably never imagined that a proper director would be sweating it out with others in a wholesale market. Little Wang quickly took out his wallet to give the money to Liu Fen, commenting:

“Your work ID was in the wallet too, right?”

The thief would probably be terrified when opening the wallet.

Liu Fen refused the money. If Tang Hongen hadn’t followed her to exchange goods, he wouldn’t have been robbed. After losing the wallet, should he have to pay for trousers too?

Thinking about it now, Liu Fen realized Tang Hongen wasn’t usually so unaware – it must have been when the motorcycle passed through the crowded market, he was too busy protecting her and got his wallet stolen.

“Leader, look at this…”

It wasn’t that he wouldn’t give the money, but Liu Fen wouldn’t take it.

Tang Hongen thought, there wasn’t much difference between accepting help once or twice.

He gestured for Little Wang to keep the money and turned to Liu Fen: “I won’t stand on ceremony with you. I’ll accept the trousers, thank you! By the way, since you’re here, would you like to stay in Pengcheng for a few days? I notice Xiaolan’s been quite busy lately and looks thinner. You could keep an eye on her, make sure she doesn’t get too tired.”

Tang Hongen’s words hit exactly what Liu Fen was concerned about.

She had noticed her daughter looked thinner at first glance.

How busy was the business in Pengcheng? Her elder brother hadn’t taken proper care of Xiaolan – she’d lost weight in just these few days. Liu Fen actually didn’t want to leave immediately; in a few days it would be Xiaolan’s 20th birthday, and she wanted to celebrate with her daughter.

Her elder brother was a man, naturally not good at taking care of others. When busy, he might even forget his niece’s birthday. Liu Fen didn’t want her daughter to spend her birthday alone.

“I’ll ask Xiaolan first then.”

Liu Fen didn’t commit completely, but Tang Hongen smiled, knowing this meant she agreed to go to Pengcheng.

Little Wang first took Liu Fen to the train station to ship the goods, then met with Xia Xiaolan and Secretary Peng.

Seeing her daughter, Liu Fen felt inexplicably guilty.

Tang Hongen naturally brought up: “I hear Honey Lake is quite nice. Since your mother’s here, you should take her to see it.”

Xia Xiaolan had the same thought.

The best time to visit any attraction was while it was still new. With more people, it’s lively, and the equipment is new. Over time, aging facilities might pose safety risks.

Besides, Xia Xiaolan needed to visit Honey Lake again. Before going to Jiangcheng, she needed to survey the area around Honey Lake properly. Couldn’t she at least get a small piece of what Harold had left over?

“Just follow Uncle Tang’s suggestion and come with me to Pengcheng for a couple of days. The Beijing matters can be left to the staff, they need the opportunity to practice. Besides, there aren’t many new styles this trip, you can just tell them about pricing over the phone.”

After Xia Xiaolan finished speaking, Liu Fen glanced at Tang Hongen before nodding.

Xia Xiaolan immediately became sensitive.

What was going on?

They’d only been out for a few hours, but the atmosphere between her mother and Tang Hongen seemed different.

Full of doubts, Xia Xiaolan didn’t startle the snake in the grass.

Soon, her doubts would be answered. Back in Pengcheng, Tang Hongen said since Liu Fen rarely visited, they should all go out for a nice dinner.

Secretary Peng was quite troubled, saying he still had unfinished work and asked if Little Wang could drive him back. With these two gone, only three people remained.

Xia Xiaolan felt like a bright light bulb, powerful enough to illuminate half of Pengcheng’s sky.

Coincidentally, Pengcheng only had two or three high-end restaurants, and they went to the same place where Harold had treated George and Ji Ya to dinner.

The two groups met at the restaurant entrance. Ji Ya looked at Tang Hongen, then fixed her gaze on Liu Fen – Liu Fen looked different from when Ji Ya had seen her before, more attractive, with better-coordinated clothes.

But Ji Ya knew that no matter how well disguised, this was still a village woman.

Tang Hongen openly bringing a village woman to such a high-end restaurant. How could there be such a coincidence? He was clearly trying to embarrass her!

She smiled contemptuously:

“Having Western food, eh? Do you even know which hand holds the knife and which holds the fork? This isn’t like cutting pig feed in the village. Be careful not to embarrass yourself in front of foreign guests.”