 Chapter 12
** Was He Avoiding the Room Because Rong Ci Was There?**
The old lady felt somewhat helpless. She thought Rong Ci simply wasn’t assertive enough, that she was overly submissive and indulgent toward Feng Tingshen, missing many opportunities, which was why after so many years, there had been no progress between them.
But since Rong Ci had said so, she didn’t force the issue.
When the meal officially began, everyone chatted while eating, creating a fairly pleasant atmosphere.
Rong Ci spoke little, quietly eating with her head down.
From the time Feng Tingshen had entered until now, over ten minutes had passed, and the married couple hadn’t exchanged a single word.
In fact, there had been no communication between them at all.
This was the norm between them.
Everyone was used to it by now, so they didn’t notice anything unusual.
When Feng Jingxin wanted something to eat, in the past, Rong Ci would have taken care of her. Now, she was accustomed to asking Feng Tingshen to serve her.
However, when she wanted to eat some prawns, she looked at Rong Ci instead.
Because in the past, when eating prawns, Rong Ci would take the initiative to peel them for her and Feng Tingshen.
“Mommy, I want to eat the prawns.”
Rong Ci wanted a divorce and had no intention of fighting Feng Tingshen for custody of Feng Jingxin.
Even so, Feng Jingxin was still her daughter. She had the duty and responsibility to be good to her and to meet her needs as much as possible.
So now that Feng Jingxin wanted her to peel prawns for her, Rong Ci responded, “Okay.”
She put down her chopsticks and started peeling prawns. The old lady looked at her hands and suddenly paused: “Xiao Ci, where is your ring?”
As soon as she spoke, everyone â including Feng Tingshen â looked at Rong Ci’s hands.
After the wedding, even though her married life with Feng Tingshen was as cold as ice, Rong Ci had always worn the wedding ring that Old Madam Feng had prepared for them.
In contrast, Feng Tingshen had never worn his even once.
His wedding ring had been tossed somewhere unknown.
Over the years, Rong Ci had worn her ring everywhere, unwilling to take it off.
Everyone was used to it.
Feng Tinglin had often mocked her for it over the years.
She wasn’t wearing her ring today. No one had noticed at first â after all, no one would deliberately stare at her hands for no reason.
So if the old lady hadn’t mentioned it, the others really wouldn’t have noticed.
Rong Ci’s prawn-peelingĺ¨ä˝ paused almost imperceptibly, then she said calmly, “I was in a hurry this morning and left it at home.”
In truth, she had already taken off the ring when she prepared the divorce agreement.
She had put it in the envelope along with the divorce papers.
But she and Feng Tingshen weren’t officially divorced yet, and she knew the old lady would never agree to their divorce. If she brought up the divorce now, she suspected that, for the time being, they wouldn’t be able to go through with it.
So Rong Ci didn’t tell the old lady the truth.
Hearing this, the old lady smiled and said, “So that’s how it is.”
After that, everyone continued eating as usual.
After the meal, everyone moved to the living room to eat fruit and dessert while chatting.
The old lady still wanted to matchmake Rong Ci and Feng Tingshen.
She again had Rong Ci and Feng Tingshen sit together.
Feng Tingshen still wouldn’t even glance at Rong Ci.
Rong Ci didn’t want to sit next to him, but she couldn’t keep refusing the old lady, so she sat down beside Feng Tingshen.
This was the closest they had been in months.
Rong Ci could clearly smell the faint, familiar scent of men’s cologne on Feng Tingshen.
But her heart was now as calm as still water. She only ate small bites of the fruit pudding in front of her, with no intention of trying to initiate conversation with Feng Tingshen.
The old lady, however, was very pleased. She looked at the two of them and smiled: “What a perfect match.”
He was tall, handsome, and striking; she was quiet, gentle, and very beautiful. Just looking at their appearances, they did indeed make a fine couple.
But they were only compatible in appearance.
In terms of other qualifications, Rong Ci still fell far short.
Still, seeing how happy the old lady was, Feng Tinglin and Sang Qian, though unimpressed, didn’t spoil her mood to her face.
That night, they stayed overnight at the old residence as the old lady wished.
Just past eight o’clock, Feng Tingshen went to the study with the old lady to discuss business matters. Feng Jingxin took Rong Ci’s hand and said she wanted to take a bath and go to sleep.
Rong Ci went upstairs with her to give her a bath.
Sitting in the small bathtub, Feng Jingxin looked at Rong Ci and asked tentatively, “Mommy, are you⌠busy tomorrow morning?”
Although she could compromise and let Mommy take her to school tomorrow morning, deep down, she still would have preferred Aunt Wu Wu to accompany her.
So if Mommy happened to be busy tomorrow morning, that would be great.
Rong Ci shook her head: “No, I’m not busy. Why?”
Hearing this, Feng Jingxin pursed her lips in disappointment and said, “Nothing.”
Since she didn’t say anything, Rong Ci didn’t ask.
After Feng Jingxin finished her bath, Rong Ci gently dried her hair.
As soon as her hair was dry, Feng Jingxin said she wanted to go to sleep.
Rong Ci saw her eyes fixed on her phone and knew she still wanted to play with it. She said, “You can look at it for a little while, but then you have to sleep. Don’t look too long, okay?”
“Got it.”
Since Mommy was free tomorrow, she would have to tell Aunt Wu Wu about this.
Afraid that Lin Wu might be sad or disappointed, Feng Jingxin kept thinking about how to break it to her.
She was already feeling annoyed, and Rong Ci’s nagging only made her more impatient. She pushed her toward the door: “Mommy, go out now. I’ll turn off my phone and go to sleep after 9:30.”
Feng Jingxin was indeed self-disciplined in this regard.
Hearing this, Rong Ci said goodnight to her and left the room.
Feng Jingxin immediately closed the door and locked it.
Rong Ci had barely taken a step before she heard the sound of the lock clicking.
Rong Ci didn’t think she was guarding against anyone else.
The only person she was guarding against was her.
The reason she was guarding against her was probably that she wanted to discuss something with Lin Wu.
And indeed, that was the case.
As soon as she locked the door, Feng Jingxin ran back, opened her phone, found Lin Wu on WeChat, and sent her a message: [Aunt Wu WuâŚ]
Rong Ci had no way of knowing what they talked about.
She didn’t dwell on it, nor could she be bothered to.
She turned and went back to her room.
The old lady liked her and often invited her back for meals.
Over the years, she had accumulated quite a few daily necessities here.
She found a set of pajamas and went into the bathroom to take a bath.
After her bath, she sat down on the side of the bed she usually slept on. Seeing that it was still early, she picked up the book she had placed in her bag earlier and read quietly.
She wasn’t sure how long passed before her eyes started to hurt. She closed the book and checked the time. It was already 11:30.
But Feng Tingshen still hadn’t come back.
In truth, even though Feng Tingshen had initially believed she had schemed against him, by the third year of their marriage, although he still wasn’t very close to her, their relationship had improved compared to before.
But not long after that, Lin Wu appeared.
He fell in love with Lin Wu and began keeping his distance from Rong Ci again.
From then on, he had almost never touched her.
So she didn’t know whether Feng Tingshen hadn’t returned to the room because he didn’t plan to, or because he was busy with something.
As she was thinking about these things, Rong Ci unconsciously left the bedroom and went downstairs.
Just then, a voice came from not far away.
“Everyone is asleep. It’s so late, and you’re still not going back to the room. Is it because Rong Ci is there, and you don’t want to go back?”
