Cheng You and Song Qinglan stayed at the Feng family's place until the afternoon. The old lady was very sleepy, so they took their leave.
On the way back, a woman, looking aggressive and holding a child, approached Cheng You.
Cheng You instinctively wanted to avoid her, as the woman clearly meant trouble.
Song Qinglan frowned, "Zhou Xia, why are you out and about with the child instead of resting at home?"
Cheng You understood then. This Zhou Xia was Ruan Tianyang's current wife.
She had heard that she had recently given birth and was still in confinement.
Thinking of Ruan Tianyang's character, Cheng You could only feel pity for this woman.
Zhou Xia looked thin and frail, appearing deficient in both blood and qi. She must not have recovered well from childbirth.
Her eyes, in particular, showed a hint of depression.
"You are Cheng You."
She had inquired from many people, and they said the most beautiful one was her.
Cheng You nodded and asked, "Is there something you need?"
Zhou Xia's eyes reddened. Holding her infant child, she looked utterly alone.
"I want to beg you, can you let my husband off?"
Cheng You was somewhat surprised. Ruan Tianyang was truly a man, to send a woman still in confinement to play the victim.
"Sister-in-law, it's not that I won't let Ruan Tianyang off. My demand is simple: for him to apologize to me. I'll ask you this, if you make a mistake, don't you need to apologize?"
Zhou Xia's face turned even paler, appearing frail and helpless, which even evoked some sympathy from Cheng You.
She only disliked Ruan Tianyang, not Zhou Xia.
"So, sister-in-law, you should go persuade Ruan Tianyang, not persuade me here."
Zhou Xia swayed precariously and said mournfully, "He hasn't been home for many days. I don't even know where he is."
Cheng You didn't know what to say. If she told Zhou Xia that Ruan Tianyang was most likely with Feng Xue, Zhou Xia probably wouldn't be able to accept it.
"Then go find Ruan Jichou. This matter was stirred up by her, and she should be responsible."
Zhou Xia's brows furrowed, and a hint of anger appeared on her face.
"What do you mean?"
Cheng You feigned surprise, "You don't know? The reason that news was published is thanks to Ruan Jichou stirring up trouble. Otherwise, Ruan Tianyang and I have no personal grudges; why would he harm me?"
Zhou Xia already had some past grievances with Ruan Jichou. This sister-in-law was not an easy person. Since she entered the Ruan family, the two of them had had many conflicts, big and small.
Things improved only after Ruan Tianyang applied for housing from the newspaper office, and they moved out.
Now, hearing that Ruan Jichou was also involved, anger flared within her.
"Sister-in-law, I'll tell you the truth. Ruan Tianyang publishing a public apology in the newspaper is my bottom line. Otherwise, he won't be able to return to the newspaper office."
Zhou Xia felt weary and nodded tearfully.
"I'll go find Ruan Jichou tomorrow."
It wasn't convenient to bring the child today.
Cheng You didn't say anything further.
Some things had to be discovered by the wife herself.
Watching Zhou Xia's retreating figure, Song Qinglan asked in a low voice, "Is Ruan Tianyang really involved with Feng Xue?"
Cheng You replied, "Your son told me."
Song Qinglan clicked her tongue, "How foolish. She doesn't even like Ruan Tianyang, so why would she want to ruin someone else's family?"
"Perhaps she used to like Qi Chengan, and now she's changed her preference to Ruan Tianyang's type," Cheng You guessed.
Song Qinglan shook her head, "She actually doesn't like Ah Yan either."
Cheng You always felt there was a deeper meaning to her words and looked at her a couple more times.
She didn't know much about what happened in the compound, mostly hearing things from Sister-in-law He.
But it was clear that Song Qinglan knew more.
"Then who does she like?"
Song Qinglan glared at her playfully, "I'm not telling you."
"Hey, don't keep me in suspense! Just tell me!" Cheng You chased after her.
After walking for a while, Song Qinglan secretly said, "This is something I discovered myself, and no one else knows. I think she likes Feng Xianxu."
Feng Xianxu was the most accomplished eldest grandson of the Feng family elders. However, due to the confidential nature of his work, he could not easily leave his post and had not returned to Yancheng for many years.
Cheng You had never met him.
She heard that Feng Xianxu and Feng Xue did not have a good relationship. Could it be because Feng Xue liked him?
A sparkle appeared in Cheng You's eyes. What a sensational piece of gossip!
"So, is Qi Chengan a substitute?"
Song Qinglan found the term somewhat jarring, yet she had to admit it seemed to be the case.
"Feng Xianxu and Ah Yan have similar temperaments."
Both were men of few words, the type who were inwardly passionate.
When not smiling, they had a sharp aura that was quite intimidating.
"It's like a smokescreen. Regardless, whoever she likes, it won't be Ah Yan."
If she truly liked him, she wouldn't have distanced herself immediately when Qi Chengan got into trouble.
"Don't you dare say a word of this, or your father-in-law will scold me," Song Qinglan warned.
She had said something similar before and had been lectured by Qi Shengwen for a long time.
Although Feng Xue and Feng Xianxu were not blood-related, they were siblings under the same household registration.
To outsiders, these two were like biological siblings.
Cheng You covered her mouth and chuckled, "I'll absolutely not betray you, Mom!"
She opened the door and walked in, then turned to see Song Qinglan standing frozen as if struck by lightning.
"Are you going home or coming in to sit for a while?"
Song Qinglan snapped back from her shock, stammering, "You just... you just called me..."
"Mom?" Cheng You actually found this address very unfamiliar too.
She hadn't used it before because she was sulking.
Now that Song Qinglan was visibly improving, she felt it was fine to change her address.
Song Qinglan seemed a little awkward, "You suddenly changed your address, and I don't have any red envelopes prepared. How impolite."
She deliberately hid the smile on her face, but the corners of her lips couldn't stop curling up.
She wasn't that happy at all.
Cheng You shrugged, "It's okay, I don't care about that."
She was rich, after all.
"That won't do. You wait here for me."
With that, Song Qinglan hurried away.
Zhenzhen didn't want to go home and ran off to play with her friends.
"Sister, I'm going to play with Qin Xiaoyun!"
"Okay, go ahead."
Song Qinglan rushed back home, shouting, "Lin Sao, quickly find me a red envelope!"
Lin Sao, not understanding, asked, "What do you need a red envelope for?"
"To stuff into a red envelope!"
Lin Sao rummaged through a stack of red envelope pouches from the cabinet for her.
"In such a hurry, who are you giving it to?"
Song Qinglan then realized she was being too excited. Her movements stiffened slightly, and she pretended to be reserved, "To that girl, Cheng You."
"Why give it to Cheng You?"
She said lightly, "She changed her address to call me Mom, so I have to give her a red envelope. We can't have people thinking the Qi family is ill-mannered."
She clicked her tongue as if disdainful, "Whether she changed her address or not, I don't really care. It's all the same what she calls me. But since Cheng You has changed it, I'll reluctantly accept it. I'm not particularly happy about it."
Lin Sao: "..." You should put away the smile on your face first.