Chapter 173: The Ex

In the parking lot to the left of the Seafood House, the streetlights cast a hazy, dim, and golden glow.

Crouching down beside a commercial van, Cheng Feng craned his neck, peering back and forth toward the sports coupe parked in the corner.

He recognized that car; it belonged to Sister Xian.

He watched as Xiao Mingyu dragged Rong Xian, shoving her into the back seat, and then bent down to get in after her.

The next second, Cheng Feng caught sight of the man pressing the woman down beneath him inside the car...

Due to the distance, he couldn't make out any more details of the interior, but judging by what he observed, there couldn't have been any fierce "battle" taking place, seeing as the car body wasn't bouncing up and down.

Inside a private dining room of the Seafood House, steam rising from a copper hot pot coated the windows with a layer of condensation.

An Tong dipped her seafood into a small dish, nibbling on it piece by piece. Before long, she raised her eyes to look at the man beside her. "Big Sister's phone was taken by Brother Ming豫, wasn't it?"

Rong Shen had not touched his chopsticks at this moment. His left arm rested on the edge of the table, his fingertips pinching half a cigarette. "Nine times out of ten."

"He and Big Sister... are truly a pair of predestined nemeses."

The kind of scene that had just played out was something that happened almost every day back at the Yuefu Villa.

Xiao Mingyu seemed obsessed with provoking Rong Xian first, only to coax her afterward.

An Tong could never quite master this way of getting along, yet she had to admit that romantic bantering was a potent weapon for deepening affection.

Take yesterday, for instance—that single evening when the Ninth Master gave her the cold shoulder had left her feeling restless and deeply shaken, an unforgettable sensation.

Though it hadn't felt pleasant at the time, looking back, once the little spat was over, their feelings had heated up even faster and grown all the more intense.

Without knowing quite what prompted her, An Tong let a few words slip out unintentionally: "Have you ever had that kind of relationship experience before?"

The man's cigarette-smoking motion paused slightly, and he looked at her with amusement. "What kind?"

"You know... like the way Big Sister and Brother Ming豫 go back and forth quarreling."

What An Tong actually wanted to ask was: Have you ever argued with your ex?

She and Rong Shen had been together for so long without ever having a single dispute. Their mode of getting along was predominantly tender and warm—not fiery, and perhaps not even as inseparable as glued lacquer—resembling instead aged, fine wine that required time to slowly taste and savor.

An Tong could not imagine what kind of scene and experience it would be if Rong Shen were to quarrel with her.

At that moment, a brief silence fell over the private room.

Not hearing the man's response, An Tong bit down on her chopsticks and looked up, unexpectedly locking gazes with a pair of deep eyes holding a faint smile. Her heart skipped a beat.

Immediately afterward, she heard that highly recognizable, magnetic voice ring out: "Want to ask about me and my 'ex'?"

An Tong remained silent, lowering her head to eat a shrimp paste ball, her meaning abundantly clear.

Rong Shen watched her ears gradually turn red, the smile at the corners of his lips growing richer. "What would you like to know?"

Hearing this, An Tong swallowed the shrimp paste in her mouth, fixed her gaze firmly on him, and replied insincerely, "Anything is fine."

Even though... she had never expected herself to be Rong Shen's only one, hearing him prepare to broach the topic of his exes still made her feel a twinge of jealousy.

Women always liked to say the opposite of what they felt; having no expectations didn't mean she hadn't fantasized.

After all, when they met last year, he was already twenty-seven years old. A man of that age was hardly likely to have a clean romantic history.

An Tong showed nothing on the surface, locking eyes with the man unflinchingly.

She was somewhat curious: when Rong Shen was with his exes, was their dynamic just as plain as water, or was it a passionate, fearless kind of romance?

"When you say 'anything', which aspect do you mean?" The man raised an eyebrow, teasing her in a way that left much to the imagination.

An Tong licked the corner of her mouth. "Did you ever argue, or why did you break up... No special meaning, just a little curious."

This was the first time they were discussing the topic of exes. It was a thing of the past, not worth minding—just a pure desire to investigate.

In this regard, Rong Shen seemed quite open-minded. Far from showing any displeasure, he raised a hand and wiped the corner of An Tong's mouth. "Asking about me and my 'ex'—aren't you afraid it will make you uncomfortable inside?"

An Tong used her chopsticks to poke at a crab leg in her bowl, twitching the corners of her mouth as she said, "It's all in the past, what's there to feel uncomfortable about?"

Even if there was, just to fish for information, she would never admit it.

How could someone as meticulous as Rong Shen fail to see through her game? His handsome eyebrows and eyes brimmed with keen interest. "You're certainly much more broad-minded than I expected."

An Tong felt his words were ambiguous. Rolling her eyes, she calmly added, "Well, why don't you talk about it casually first? If it makes me uncomfortable inside, I'll let you know."

Before she could wait for the man to start recounting the story of him and his "ex", she heard his warm, mellow laughter instead, followed by the sound of the private room door being pulled open.

Rong Xian and Xiao Mingyu had returned.

Seeing this, An Tong had no choice but to drop her idea of probing into Rong Shen's ex.

The atmosphere between the two returnees was much more harmonious than before.

Rong Xian was clutching a mobile phone—clearly not the new model Cheng Feng had sent over—and what was even more eye-catching were her swollen, red lips and the striking red marks on her neck.

An Tong was certain that when Big Sister walked out earlier, her neck had been completely clean, with nothing on it at all.

Rong Xian had no intention of offering any explanations upon entering. She placed her phone aside, picked up her bowl and utensils directly, and said, "Let's eat."

Xiao Mingyu acknowledged this, picked up a spare dining bowl, remade a fresh batch of sauce, and asked, "Would you like some chopped scallions?"

"Less of it," Rong Xian said as she pushed the dining plate toward him, then glanced elsewhere. "And crushed peanuts."

Hearing this, Xiao Mingyu complied with every request.

The atmosphere of their interaction was quite harmonious, as if the previous confrontation had never existed.

Though she didn't know what had happened, Rong Xian at this moment possessed quite a bit of... a tamed, compromised look.

It wasn't until they were halfway through the meal that An Tong found an opportunity to speak to Rong Xian. "Big Sister, did you accept the WeChat request?"

"Oh, almost forgot."

Rong Xian put down her chopsticks and bowl, picked up her phone, and entered her passcode to unlock the screen.

During this brief period, Xiao Mingyu's sharp peripheral vision captured her lock screen password.

0727.

It wasn't Rong Xian's birthday, nor Rong Shen's birthday, and certainly not the birthday of anyone in the Rong family.

That left only one possibility: the birthday of a departed ex.

Xiao Mingyu closed his eyes and cursed silently in his heart.

No wonder she had stubbornly refused to tell him her phone's lock screen password before; so that was what it was about.

Rong Xian accepted An Tong on WeChat and removed her from the contacts blacklist.

Just as she was about to return to the main page, the man beside her leaned in and said in a low voice, "Me and your brother, too."

Rong Xian glanced at him, her brow furrowing with words unspoken.

Finally, thinking of something, she let out a hum of annoyance, but still unblocked both Xiao Mingyu and Rong Shen.

By her ear came the cold, grinding snort of someone gritting their teeth. "You really are head-over-heels devoted to Liang Cheng."

Rong Xian paused, subconsciously asking back, "How do you know about Liang Cheng?"

"Hah, wanting not to know is—"

Rong Xian: "He's not dead yet, is he?"

Xiao Mingyu: "..."

Rong Xian sighed as if deeply disappointed, gazing off into the distance at the plain white wall. "I hope the next time I hear his name, it's news of his funeral."