Chapter 9: Fulfilling the Duty of a Husband

Before leaving, Jiang Ning mentioned to Su Chanzi that her sister had lost money and they had a falling out, parting ways. She told him to give her the money he earned from selling the goods, as she was still in debt.

Leaving the alley slowly, Jiang Ning glanced at the still clear sky and headed straight for the station.

This place was a bit remote, and she walked for a long time before she saw a main road. The station was not far away on the road.

Although she was a bit tired from walking, Jiang Ning had a light smile on her lips, looking very happy.

Unlike her demeanor in Su Chanzi’s courtyard, she was truly happy, joyful, and pleased now.

She had come with a tentative mindset, but unexpectedly found a good thing.

Su Chanzi, it has to be said, was indeed impressive. There were many good things in his house, but unfortunately, he was still too young and had no background.

Unlike Jiang Ning, she had seen countless good things since she was a child, and she had an eye for them. But she wouldn’t have been able to tell the real deal from a fake at first glance. After all, she wasn’t a seasoned expert.

But perhaps because she had entered the script and had a certain amount of luck, or some strange magnetic field effect, when she first saw the tea bowl lid, she just thought it was worth a closer look. But when she pretended to casually brush her fingertips over it, Jiang Ning suddenly felt a certainty – it was the one.

She had to take this thing today.

From buying the jade Buddha in the beginning, to insisting on taking the jar, it was all a scheme.

Her target was always this tea bowl lid and those few books.

It was also thanks to Jiang Ning’s role as a vicious female supporting character, her naturally spoiled and brainless persona. Su Chanzi didn’t have any guard against her.

Moreover, she had spent a full twenty-five yuan on the jade Buddha, a month’s worth of living expenses!

Poof, gone!

Jiang Ning wasn’t not heartbroken, but she wanted to work with Su Chanzi in the future, so she couldn’t let him lose too much in their first encounter.

She planned to go to the antique shop in the city tomorrow to see how much she could sell this tea bowl lid for.

She waited for the bus for a long time, and Jiang Ning saw someone selling things from a cart not far away. She went over to take a look out of curiosity.

At the same time, a car drove down the road.

The driver was a young man who happened to see Jiang Ning’s face as she turned around from the side of the road through the car window.

He had been with Lu Dingquan for quite some time and naturally recognized the famous “factory manager’s wife.”

The car slowed down, and he tentatively reminded him, “Factory Manager, that seems to be your wife waiting for the bus.”

The man in the back seat looked out the window with calm black eyes, naturally seeing her as well.

Shi Feng thought he was being too nosy when he heard him say nothing.

Everyone knew that the couple’s relationship wasn’t good. Just yesterday, his wife had gone to the factory to make a scene about divorce!

The next second, he heard Lu Dingquan say, “Turn back.”

His tone was neither good nor bad, and Shi Feng quickly turned the car around, regretting even more that he had mentioned it.

Who knows, maybe the couple would be arguing in the car later. Should he listen or not?

Jiang Ning bought half a pound of fresh mulberries from the cart, asked for some water to wash them, and was just putting them in her mouth when a black sedan stopped right in front of her, startling her.

“Ouch.” She flinched, her hand shaking, and the mulberry hit her face.

The car window slowly rolled down, and Jiang Ning was about to get angry when she saw the face inside.

“You have…”

Why was it Lu Dingquan?

He was actually here too?

So the words at the tip of her tongue turned into, “…what’s the matter?”

It was obvious that Lu Dingquan had seen her silly demeanor, staring at her with indifferent eyes. He didn’t ask why she was in such a remote county suburb, just saying, “Get in.”

“…Okay.”

Get in, she didn’t even bother to squeeze onto the bus.

But she was particularly curious. She didn’t expect Lu Dingquan to have a private car! It was not easy in this era, he was actually so rich?

Why was there no mention of this in the original owner’s memory?

Good heavens, this man was hiding his wealth well!

Jiang Ning hesitated for a moment, not going to the passenger seat, but pulling open the back door and getting in.

Shi Feng glanced in the rearview mirror and nodded respectfully, “Sister-in-law.”

Jiang Ning remembered this person, he seemed to be from Lu Dingquan’s factory.

Ah right, wasn’t he the one who pushed the door open when she made a scene about divorce in the office yesterday…

Cough.

She calmed down, smiled gracefully, and responded, “Oh, hello.”

Lu Dingquan sat on the left side of the back seat, even in a sitting position, his body was exceptionally tall and upright. After all, he was from the army, and every move was precise.

He glanced at Jiang Ning at this moment, with a clear presence. Although he didn’t have any expression, she felt like she saw mockery in his eyes.

Jiang Ning’s grace froze at the corner of her lips.

She cleared her throat and found a topic to ask, “What a coincidence, Old Lu, how come you’re passing by here too?”

Lu Dingquan naturally saw the bulging things in her bag, retracted his gaze, paused for two seconds, and said calmly, “I should be asking you that.”

?

Before Jiang Ning could answer, Shi Feng in the front quickly gripped the steering wheel.

He quickly glanced at the rearview mirror and hurriedly retracted his gaze, honestly shrinking his neck.

He knew it, he shouldn’t have been so nosy and reminded him. Listening to the factory manager’s tone, maybe the couple was really going to argue in the car?

Jiang Ning thought Lu Dingquan’s words were inexplicable. She looked at him and said, “I’m here to take care of some business, what’s wrong?”

She didn’t forget her spoiled persona, her tone was aggressive.

Unexpectedly, Lu Dingquan didn’t get angry, but instead replied, “Taking care of business? You’re working hard.”

Jiang Ning: “…”

Okay, you’re really good at chatting.

How come this calm and quiet tone sounded like sarcasm, implying that she could have legitimate business to take care of?

In just two short days of interaction, Jiang Ning felt like she couldn’t quite figure out this man.

It was strange.

Soon, the car was about to reach the fork in the road. Shi Feng was supposed to drive directly back to the factory on this trip, but now, under these circumstances?

He glanced at the rearview mirror and had no choice but to ask cautiously, “Factory Manager, should we go to…”

“East Street.”

Oh, so he’s still going to drop off his wife first.

Shi Feng quickly agreed, “Okay.”

Jiang Ning heard that East Street was where she lived, and she felt a little more comfortable.

After thinking for a moment, she still frankly brought it up, “The debt I owed from the small business my second sister and I ran, you don’t have to worry about it, I have my own way to pay it back.”

“I came here today to find an acquaintance, I want to start a small business together in the future.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Lu Dingquan also turned his head to look at her.

He gave a low, “Hmm,” neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

Jiang Ning certainly didn’t need him to express his opinion. She just needed him to fulfill his duty as a husband and provide her with living expenses. This was her golden thigh, and she had to hold on tight.

Actually, she had thought about it last night.

Lu Dingquan would definitely be a big shot in the future. His career path would take off after their divorce. She didn’t want to get divorced for now, but she didn’t want to hinder his wealth and success either. So, what should she do?

There was only one way.

She could completely elevate their husband-wife relationship to a revolutionary friendship!

Lu Dingquan had originally married her out of a sense of responsibility, due to his reputation. He didn’t have any feelings for her.

In this way, the two of them will continue to live together and lead a life like a couple on the surface. The difference is that in order to curry favor with him… bah, for the sake of the great revolutionary friendship, Jiang Ning can restrain her troublemaker personality and never trip up Lu Dingquan or hold him back.

Of course, things like betraying him and wearing a green hat were absolutely impossible.

They would each do their own thing. He would focus on his career path, and she would slowly manage her own small bridge. They could help each other out with anything in life, and her living expenses would still be in her pocket…

How good was that, a win-win!

She even wanted to swear brotherhood with Lu Dingquan for this kind of relationship!

In the future, when he became a big shot, he wouldn’t be able to ignore her!

The premise was that Lu Dingquan could understand her heartfelt efforts.

Thinking about this, Jiang Ning’s eyes flickered, glancing at the man.

As if sensing that she had something to say, Lu Dingquan’s eyelashes blinked gently. His sitting posture remained as steady as a mountain, but he noticed that she had been secretly staring at him.

Jiang Ning was indeed thinking about how to open her mouth.

It was strangely quiet in the car, and there were outsiders. Maybe she should wait until she got home tonight.

But, did she have to sleep on the sofa again tonight?

No, no, her back ached from sleeping on the sofa last night. It seemed like the most urgent thing now was to earn money to buy a bed…

She kept staring, and she couldn’t help but turn her face to peek at him.

The setting sun shone through the car window, and she saw Lu Dingquan’s profile as if it were painted with a layer of light gold, like a person in a painting.

His facial features were sharp, especially his nose bridge.

The ray of light from outside, as if playing on the man’s straight nose bridge, kept playfully sliding back and forth with the changing scenery.

His eyelashes were also thick and black, always faintly concealing the emotions in his eyes. When they were dyed with the glow of the setting sun, they appeared even more aloof and unpredictable.

This man was really good-looking.

Jiang Ning retracted her gaze and silently touched her own eyelashes, wanting to know whose were longer.

To be honest, Jiang Ning felt that Lu Dingquan, her ex-husband, had more of a male protagonist aura than the Meng Zhiqing she met yesterday.

Of course, this was no longer a script, but a world derived from the script, so there was no talk of protagonists and supporting characters.

They were all living people.

“Lu Dingquan, I want to…”

Jiang Ning thought about her words, just about to say that she had something to talk to him about tonight.

“Screech—”

A sharp sound suddenly came from her ear, and the car braked and swerved violently at the same time.

Jiang Ning hadn’t even had time to react when she was thrown out by inertia, tumbling to the left!

Fortunately, the car quickly regained its stability, and Shi Feng’s surprised voice came from the front, “There was a little kid who suddenly jumped out in front, almost hit him! Factory Manager, Sister-in-law, are you okay?”

There was no sound from the back seat.

Shi Feng focused on the road, and after a few seconds, he felt something was wrong and looked at the rearview mirror.

“…” Cough!

What was this situation?

He didn’t dare to look any more, his scalp tingling. He quickly pretended to be deaf and dumb and focused on driving.

Jiang Ning felt dizzy, her whole body was stunned.

The back seat of the car was spacious enough, she felt like she was suddenly thrown out.

In a daze, she raised her head and found that she was fine, she had been intercepted by Lu Dingquan, a tall and sturdy human-shaped sandbag. Otherwise, she would have hit the car window.

Only…

The interception position seemed to be a bit wrong.

…No, how come she was lying on his lap?

Her hands were still clutching his clothes, almost pulling his shirt out of his belt.

That’s right, Jiang Ning’s nose was right above Lu Dingquan’s hard…belt buckle.

She felt a bit embarrassed.

No, very embarrassed.

Especially when she raised her head in a daze, she saw the man’s sharp Adam’s apple move, and the deep gaze he cast down on her revealed a subtle hint.