Liu Fen had no idea why Tang Hongen suddenly came to Beijing.

She thought he was here for meetings, but Tang Hongen said without hesitation: “I just suddenly missed you, so I bought a ticket to come see you.”

What he’d said to his rival wasn’t false – there was no need to lie. He truly came to see Liu Fen and didn’t bother making excuses about meetings. At their age, it was better to be direct.

Liu Fen dared not say more.

When discussing dinner at Quanjude for roast duck, Grandmother Yu said her teeth were bothering her:

“I’ll just have some porridge at home. Young Wang, I see your mouth is inflamed too, why don’t you stay for porridge? Bitter gourd porridge helps clear heat!”

Young Wang touched his perfectly fine mouth, admiring Grandmother Yu’s ability to lie so brazenly.

“Thank you, I’ll stay for porridge then.”

Was he that foolish? If Grandmother Yu wasn’t going, why would he go be a third wheel?

So only Tang Hongen and Liu Fen went for roast duck… Liu Fen felt uncomfortable that people kept pushing her and Tang Hongen together, especially Grandmother Yu who was particularly enthusiastic. As if she couldn’t find anyone better than Tang Hongen.

Well, it was true that someone with Mayor Tang’s qualities wasn’t easy to find, but she didn’t necessarily need to remarry.

Last month, Tang Hongen had held her hand in front of his ex-wife and everyone at the Western restaurant. Liu Fen was too shocked to pull away.

In that situation, she was quite angry at Ji Ya and didn’t want to pull away.

Was that acceptance?

It was a moment of impulse, and now she had to face the consequences. Even she thought it would be shameless to say she regretted it now.

“What are you thinking about? You seem troubled. Is it because of that police officer today?”

Liu Fen’s personality was rather soft – sometimes when she rejected people, they didn’t take it seriously. Tang Hongen certainly hadn’t, gradually getting closer to Liu Fen through persistence.

Regardless of why they held hands last time, Liu Fen not pulling away meant they had established a relationship.

They just hadn’t spoken about it explicitly – everything was progressing naturally.

Hearing Tang Hongen mention Station Chief Ma, Liu Fen felt inexplicably guilty:

“No, Station Chief Ma is a good person. Xiaolan first met Bank Director Wu, who then introduced us to Station Chief Ma. He’s helped me a lot.”

Liu Fen explained Ma’s background clearly, and Tang Hongen understood:

“Are you worried I’ll misunderstand? I won’t. You’re not that kind of person.”

So he was just a police station chief. The “help” Liu Fen mentioned must mean watching over her clothing stores.

A woman doing business alone in Beijing, with good sales – seeing her going to the bank to deposit daily earnings this afternoon – could indeed easily become a target.

He hadn’t thought of this before.

Of course, now that he had, they wouldn’t need Station Chief Ma’s help anymore.

Liu Fen blushed deeply at Tang Hongen’s words. Used to be a leader, and his conversation skills were impressive – words took on new meaning in his mouth, inexplicably becoming intimate.

There was really nothing to it, but Liu Fen didn’t know how to explain, so she simply stopped talking!

Tang Hongen didn’t mind, smiling as he wrapped some duck meat for her:

“When I was young, I made a fool of myself the first time I ate roast duck. Fortunately, my leader then was magnanimous and didn’t let me lose face. I’m still very grateful. Later I realized there aren’t many rules to eating roast duck – if you like meat, add more duck; if you like stronger flavors, use more sauce. Many rules in this world are self-imposed troubles. If you worry about them, you’ll be constrained everywhere. Once you let go, you’ll find it’s best to just live happily!”

The duck meat Tang Hongen wrapped was bulging in the pancake – she’d need to open her mouth wide to eat it.

To eat the duck meat, Liu Fen would have to forget about maintaining appearances in front of him.

His intentions were good, and Liu Fen wasn’t foolish – she caught his deeper meaning.

Was Tang Hongen telling her not to care about others’ opinions?

She wished she could live so freely, but how could anyone in this world not be affected by their surroundings?

Tang Hongen saw her thoughtfulness and didn’t push her. People change gradually – he wasn’t in a hurry.

“Let’s not talk about other things. I came today just to treat you to roast duck, so let’s enjoy our meal properly.”

He stuffed duck into his mouth, and following his example, Liu Fen began eating heartily too. Tang Hongen usually ate only until 80% full to protect his stomach, but tonight dining with Liu Fen, he couldn’t help having a few extra bites.

After the duck meat, they had a bowl of soup made from the duck bones. Tang Hongen felt satisfied in body and soul.

One duck didn’t have much meat – two people could finish it. Tang Hongen was pleased to see Liu Fen had eaten well too. He was thinking about taking a night walk around Beijing with Liu Fen when still settling the bill, he saw several people enter.

What a coincidence – it was Ji Lin!

Ji Lin came to Quanjude to entertain foreign guests, having booked a private room earlier. They were arriving late after climbing the Great Wall.

He hadn’t expected to see Tang Hongen at Quanjude.

The woman with Tang Hongen looked familiar, like someone he’d seen before, though she looked different now… Was she Xia Xiaolan’s mother?

Had Tang Hongen gone mad, bringing a village woman to Quanjude, not even using a private room? How many acquaintances would they meet during one meal? Tang Hongen didn’t even care about face – this was clearly deliberate, publicly acknowledging his relationship with a village woman!

Ji Lin’s feet wavered, nearly stumbling.

“Ji-“

“It’s nothing, I just saw a friend.”

With colleagues and foreign guests watching, Ji Lin inexplicably added: “He’s the mayor of Peng City Special Zone.”

His colleagues’ faces lit up, and the foreign guests looked at Ji Lin differently.

Ji Lin was suffering in silence.

Tang Hongen wasn’t his friend – he was his former brother-in-law.

His sister had such bad luck, marrying Tang Hongen back then. When Tang Hongen was sent down, he almost implicated the Ji family.

Now things were different – without the old man, Ji Lin felt workplace discomfort.

Tang Hongen had risen rapidly, but the one enjoying it all wasn’t his sister Ji Ya, but some inexplicable village woman!

Though Ji Lin was irritated and bitter, he dared not provoke Tang Hongen.

Having bragged earlier, he had to force himself to greet Tang Hongen.

He’d barely said “Tang” when Tang Hongen, long familiar with the Ji family’s inability to speak decently, couldn’t be bothered with Ji Lin’s small talk and walked right past him.

Ji Lin was about to go crazy!

His colleagues and the foreign guests were watching from a few meters away!

Tang Hongen was being too insulting!

Liu Fen also recognized Ji Lin. Seeing his face purple with anger like an eggplant, she couldn’t help asking Tang Hongen after leaving Quanjude:

“Is it okay to ignore him?”

Tang Hongen nodded, “Of course it’s okay. If you acknowledge him, you’re giving him face. If you don’t want to give him that face, there’s nothing he can do about it. I told you before, that once we’re together, you won’t need to give a face to many people anymore. Whether you want to talk to them depends entirely on whether they can make you happy!”