Chapter 20: Marrying a Good-for-Nothing in My Past Life

“That’s right.” His tone was light and breezy, with a hint of the future big shot’s air about him.

Jiang Ning，however, was thinking back to the mall, when he had called her “Xiao Ning” in front of Meng Yuanbin.

And in front of that old political commissar, he had called her that too, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

It was all rather subtle, really.

Two people who were not truly a couple, having to put on a show of intimacy in front of others.

But she had a feeling, a faint one, that the atmosphere between them had changed since they came back from the city.

She couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

Not being able to figure it out, she simply pushed it to the back of her mind. She still wanted to have a good talk with Lu Dingquan about her own thoughts.

But as soon as they got back to the county, he rushed home, grabbed a change of clothes, and was off to the factory again.

The head of the factory, he was a busy man. Taking her out to restaurants and shopping malls in the city must have taken away from his precious free time.

Jiang Ning was happy to be alone at home, able to hog the bed. Once she got home, she excitedly counted the money she had earned, carefully putting it away.

Then, she stood in front of the mirror, admiring herself, checking out the color of the lipstick on her lips.

It wasn’t just a pure bean paste red, but had a layer of very fine shimmer. It was noticeable when the sun shone on it.

Her lips looked sparkling under the sheen. Actually, Jiang Ning didn’t really like lipsticks with shimmer, but apparently, this style was very fashionable and hard to find.

Since it didn’t look bad on her, she decided to keep it. After all, Lu Dingquan had paid for it.

The next day, Jiang Ning woke up late, planning to eat lunch out.

Her neighbor across the hall suddenly opened the door and rushed out. It was a young girl, fourteen or fifteen years old.

As soon as their eyes met, Jiang Ning stopped the pear she was about to put in her mouth, her gaze a mixture of surprise and amazement.

The girl was quite pretty, of average height, very thin, but with a good figure. Her slender back was straight.

Jiang Ning didn’t have much interaction with her neighbors. This girl looked exactly like her mother, always giving her that same expression.

She smiled as a greeting, but the girl seemed very shy. In a small voice, she said, “Hello, sister,” and then walked down the stairs lightly and quietly behind her.

When Jiang Ning left the apartment building, the girl walked slowly, still looking at her from afar.

When their eyes met, the girl froze for a moment, then blushed, shyly smiled, and quickly turned around and ran away.

Jiang Ning couldn’t help but touch her face. Was it really that bad?

She had changed a lot, but was she really that good-looking, enough to make a little girl stare at her like that?

Oh, she had put on that lipstick this morning, before it had faded.

Maybe the girl liked her lipstick?

Jiang Ning really didn’t expect a lipstick from Guangzhou to cause so much attention.

First, it was being snatched up by people at the mall, and now it was making a little girl unable to take her eyes off of it.

As a result, when she finished her noodles and went out for a walk at noon, she found someone waiting for her.

“Xiao Ning, where did you go this afternoon?”

There was a young woman at her door, her hair styled in a cornrow perm, wearing a pink silk new-style blouse and jeans. Her face was flushed, and she was carrying a leather bag and a mesh bag.

It was Fang Yanling, the original owner’s best friend.

She and the original owner had grown up in the same village, played together since they were little, and could be considered brainless best friends. They had fought and played together, but their relationship had always been good.

When the original owner got married, she had asked Fang Yanling to be one of the three sisters, which meant bridesmaid in their village.

However, unfortunately, the original owner didn’t know that it was all thanks to this good friend that she had ended up in the wrong bed.

Yes, they had all grown up together in the countryside. The original owner liked the intellectual youth, Meng Zhiqing, and naturally, Fang Yanling had a secret crush on him too.

But she didn’t say anything. Instead, she silently stayed by Meng Yuanbin’s side, protecting and supporting him. When the original owner decided to take a chance and climb into the male lead’s bed, the first person she told was Fang Yanling.

Fang Yanling pretended to be very supportive and said she would help, but in the dark of night, things went wrong, and the original owner ended up in the wrong bed. It was Fang Yanling who had planned it all.

After the original owner got married, Fang Yanling went out to work and they hadn’t had much contact since.

Jiang Ning thought that as she walked closer from the hallway, Fang Yanling pretended to complain, but when she saw her up close, her eyes widened in slight shock.

“I finally found out where you live. I wanted to come find you at noon, but I waited for ages and you weren’t home. Where did you go to eat?” Fang Yanling asked, her face full of feigned anger.

Jiang Ning let out an “ah” and, seeing her good friend, was happy. She smiled and quickly opened the door, “Oh, what am I supposed to eat alone at home? I just went out to grab something. Why are you suddenly here, Yanzi? Come in!”

Fang Yanling looked around the room curiously. “You’re alone? Where’s your husband?”

Jiang Ning poured her a glass of water, casually leaned back on the sofa, and said nonchalantly, “He’s busy.”

“Oh…” Fang Yanling’s eyes flickered slightly, and she understood.

It sounded like they weren’t getting along very well as a couple. That’s how it was.

She looked at Jiang Ning，wearing a ginger yellow blouse tucked into white trousers. Her legs were long and slender, her hair flowing, her face like a lotus flower. She looked even better than she had when she first got married.

Fang Yanling’s eyes suddenly lit up, and she leaned in to take a closer look. “Your lipstick is so beautiful! It’s sparkly, from Guangzhou, right?”

Jiang Ning smiled, deliberately showing off. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it? It even smells good.”

Fang Yanling sat down next to her and sighed. “I was wondering. We haven’t seen each other in so long, how come you’ve changed so much? You seem to be living a pretty comfortable life. Your… Lu Factory Manager,”

She paused, deliberately observing Jiang Ning’s expression. “It seems like your Lu Factory Manager is really good to you!”

Jiang Ning had been acting for so long, she could easily read those micro-expressions.

She was even more convinced that her former best friend wasn’t just here for a reunion.

She lazily snorted, not answering directly, and asked Fang Yanling, “Yanzi, why did you suddenly come back? I heard your mom say you were working in An County?”

Fang Yanling sighed. “I came back.”

“What about that guy in An County? I heard your mom say you found someone in An County, and he was pretty good?”

Fang Yanling shook her head. “We broke up. His family was too poor, and he had a bunch of younger siblings to support. His parents weren’t easy to get along with either. They were all smiles on the surface, but they were more calculating than anyone else! If I had really married him, I would have been screwed.”

She was telling the truth.

In her past life, she had married that good-for-nothing, hadn’t she?