Free Web NovelChapter 1374: Chapter 713: A Man’s Original Intention (Part 2)
"I’ve already hired a lawyer to file for divorce from Ma Wenjiang, but he doesn’t agree. Next I can only go straight to court and sue for divorce. I’ve already got evidence in my hands of his multiple affairs and his messing around with other women. The court will grant me the divorce."
Chen Feng was slightly surprised. "You’re just going to divorce him like that?"
"Or what? A scumbag, a lowlife, a con man like him has been lying to me for so many years. Now that I know, I don’t want to be his wife for even one more minute."
"Then how are you going to divide the property?" Chen Feng asked, a bit curious. Ma Wenjiang’s net worth was no small sum—at least five or six billion, maybe even more.
Zhou Qianru said stiffly, "I don’t want his filthy money. What’s his is his, what’s mine is mine."
Chen Feng was a little speechless. "Isn’t that letting him off too easy? No matter what, you’ve been with him for so many years. He’s worth tens of billions—maybe he doesn’t have to give you half, but at least a few hundred million as a breakup fee, that should be a given, right?"
Zhou Qianru shook her head without the slightest hesitation. "I don’t want to use his money anymore. These years he’s treated me very well, but he broke the promise he made to me in the beginning, he betrayed me and lied to me. I don’t have any feelings left for him. I don’t want any more entanglements with him, I just want to leave him as soon as possible. If we start splitting up the assets, the divorce lawsuit will just drag on even longer."
Chen Feng knew she was stubborn by nature. Seeing her so resolute, he didn’t keep trying to persuade her. Instead he said, "You should still have some savings on hand, right? If you’re short on money, I can lend you some for now."
"No need. I’ve saved up a bit over the years, at least a few million. And I’m not short of a place to live. This apartment was left to me by my dad back then. I’ll live here from now on."
"Alright, I’ll come over to see you when I have time."
Zhou Qianru looked at him suspiciously. "You’d better mean it. If you say it and don’t do it, I’ll curse you out."
Chen Feng hurriedly promised, "I’ll definitely do what I say. Most of the time I just hole up at home scrolling on my phone, I’ve got plenty of time. It’s not hard for me to come see you."
Zhou Qianru looked at him with mixed feelings. She wanted to reach out and touch his face, but forced herself to hold back.
In fact, with Chen Feng being her first man, how could she not remember him vividly? How could she possibly forget so easily?
That year, after that mishap between her and Chen Feng, they were drawn to each other and did have a mutual fondness in their hearts. But she was several years older than Chen Feng after all; she knew it was impossible for them to have an outcome.
On top of that, later on her dad had that sudden accident and she lost contact with Chen Feng. Then, when her father passed away and she needed someone’s comfort the most, it was Sun Yanhong, who had always been by her side, who introduced Ma Wenjiang to her.
Ma Wenjiang had a gentle, scholarly look, came from a good family, was well-read, spoke nicely—he was a rather charismatic man in his own right. He fussed over her in every possible way, did everything he could each day to make her happy. With her "good girlfriend" Sun Yanhong constantly playing matchmaker and urging her on, she eventually let Ma Wenjiang win her over.
Looking back now and asking herself honestly: did she really love Ma Wenjiang? Obviously not. Otherwise, even with his scandal coming to light this time, she wouldn’t have been so resolute about divorcing him.
Her attitude toward Ma Wenjiang had always been more admiration than liking, more dependence than genuine affection.
By contrast, Chen Feng, as her first man, was someone she had always liked in her heart. But because Chen Feng had been too young back then and she was several years older than him, and because of that sudden accident, they ultimately missed each other.
"Don’t look at me like that." Chen Feng touched his own face, then pulled a tissue from the coffee table and, very naturally, reached over to wipe away the tear tracks on her cheeks.
It took Zhou Qianru a moment to react. Then she snapped out of it, grabbed the tissue from his hand, her face a little flushed. "I’ll wipe them myself."
Chen Feng chuckled and pulled his hand back, then changed the subject. "You said you like to paint. What kind of paintings are you good at?"
Chen Feng had actually bought quite a few paintings in the past, so he was somewhat familiar with that world.
Zhou Qianru said modestly, "I wouldn’t say I’m good at it, but I especially like painting flowers and birds, and portraits."
"Do you have any of your paintings here?"
"A few. Most of them are still at the old Western-style house. I’ll get someone to move them over in a couple of days."
"Then show me some of your work."
"These two are mine." Zhou Qianru pointed at the two paintings hanging on the opposite wall, one of plum blossoms and one of orchids.
As a layman, Chen Feng stood up at once and walked over, stared at them up close for a good while, then said in a deliberately appreciative tone, "They’re really good, very tasteful. They feel like real plum blossoms and orchids."
Her paintings weren’t done in a traditional Chinese ink style, nor were they purely Western. They leaned toward realism but carried a hint of the spirit of Chinese painting—a sort of fusion of Chinese and Western techniques.
Chen Feng didn’t know whether her technique was truly good or not, but to his eye, they looked very pleasing.
It was just that, obviously, neither of these paintings had the intangible energy Chen Feng was looking for.
"I painted these when I was twenty-five or twenty-six. My technique back then wasn’t very mature yet."
"If you were painting this well back then, you must have gone up another level by now. Do you have any recent works here?"
Zhou Qianru shook her head slightly. "The paintings here are all from when I was younger. Most of my newer pieces are still at the old Western-style house, with a small part in another place. I’ll take some time in the next two days to move them all here."
Chen Feng asked curiously, "Are there a lot?"
"Probably five or six hundred pieces."
"That many? I guess you really do love painting. How about this: whenever you go to move them, I’ll go with you, okay?"
After hesitating for a while, Zhou Qianru still shook her head. "Forget it, I’ll just hire a moving company. It’s very easy."
Obviously, she still didn’t want to be seen out in public with Chen Feng.
Chen Feng didn’t insist, and instead asked, "With that many paintings, do you have enough space here to store them?"
"Enough. This place has three bedrooms and two living rooms. One bedroom will be my bedroom, one will be a study and studio, and the other I’ll use as a storage room for my paintings." freёwebnovel.com
Chen Feng looked around her apartment. It was indeed quite large, roughly two hundred square meters.
"That’s good. If you ever run out of space, I have empty apartments you can use to store them."
"Thanks for the offer, but I probably won’t need it."
Chen Feng changed the subject. "By the way, you haven’t had lunch yet, have you? Did you cook? If not, I’ll take you out to eat."
Qianru shook her head. "I don’t want to go out. Let’s just eat at home. If you don’t mind, you can eat with me."
Chen Feng didn’t stand on ceremony. "What dishes do you have?"
"Egg fried rice."
Chen Feng froze for a second, then nodded with a smile. "Sure. I’ve never had anything you cooked before."
"Then wait here."
About ten minutes later, Chen Feng was sitting with her in the dining room, eating egg fried rice.
"How is it?" Zhou Qianru asked.
"It’s okay, just seems a bit light on the salt," Chen Feng answered honestly.
"I’ll add a little more salt for you."
"Forget it, forget it. It’s better to eat lighter."
Chen Feng quickly shoveled down his egg fried rice. Seeing this, Zhou Qianru stopped eating as well. She obviously didn’t have much of an appetite, and Chen Feng didn’t urge her either—her egg fried rice really was rather bland and tasteless.
