The kindergarten opened at eight. Urged on by Mo Xiaobei, the delivery was successfully completed today at ten to eight. Mo Duoduo stood under the shade of a tree and waited for quite a while before she saw Gan Tiantian arrive fashionably late.
As soon as Ruru went inside the kindergarten, Mo Duoduo said, "Bestie, I have good news for you!"
Gan Tiantian: "What good news?"
Mo Duoduo: "We're neighbors now!"
Sure enough, Gan Tiantian grabbed Mo Duoduo's ear. "Well, you, Mo Duoduo! You move and don't even say a word? And you call yourself my bestie!"
Mo Duoduo: "Look, I came to find you right away, and I sincerely invite you to come over tonight to experience the tragic life I'm living under someone else's roof."
With that, she waved her hand and ran off. "I'm running late! See you tonight!"
The commute to work was a bit farther than before—ten minutes by vehicle or about half an hour on foot, which she could treat as exercise. Mo Duoduo decided to walk there today and get familiar with the surrounding environment along the way.
Since those who accept favors from others find it hard to be firm, she needed to think about what to eat tonight that would shut Tiantian's big mouth. First, she had to send tonight's menu to Granny Yao.
Mo Duoduo returned home at six sharp, and just a few minutes later, the doorbell rang. It was indeed Gan Tiantian and Ruru. "Welcome, two beauties!"
"Wow, this is nice! It's much bigger than my place, must be around three hundred square meters, right? Oh, wow, these floor-to-ceiling windows are amazing, what a great view..." Gan Tiantian could create the lively atmosphere of three people all by herself. "This kitchen is awesome too, I'm going to set mine up just like this! The ceiling design is nice as well... Not bad, Mo Duoduo!"
Mo Duoduo was speechless. "It's not even mine! I'm just a transient guest here. I was just afraid you'd be mad, so I asked you to come take a look. I won't be able to invite you over to hang out in the future, since I'm just living under someone else's roof!"
Gan Tiantian completely understood. "No worries, my place will be ready to move into next month, I'll save a room for you so you can come over anytime."
Mo Duoduo hurried to call Ruru and Xiaobei over to eat. Xiaobei was thrilled, finished his food in record time, and took Ruru back into the room to keep playing on the slide.
It was almost nine o'clock, but the two kids were still inseparable, so they finally decided to stay the night.
Mo Duoduo: "That's fine too, we haven't had a long talk into the night in ages!"
After getting the two kids settled down to sleep, Mo Duoduo opened a bottle of red wine, and they sat together on the rocking chairs on the terrace to chat.
Gan Tiantian: "We haven't had a relaxed chat like this in so long! I remember back in college, we used to walk in circles around the school playground just gossiping! We were so innocent back then, talking about nothing except celebrity gossip or trivial little things in class."
Mo Duoduo: "Yeah, time flies! Those really were carefree days. Remember the campus hunk in our class? He used to always secretly follow behind you, and one time we thought he was a pervert and almost kicked him into the lake! Haha!"
Gan Tiantian snapped defensively: "What are you talking about? He was clearly following you, okay? You said the exact same thing last time in front of Chen Chenguang, it drove me nuts!"
Mo Duoduo's smile carried a hint of teasing: "Why are you getting so worked up? Are you still afraid he'll get jealous now?"
"..." Gan Tiantian took a sip of wine, looking a bit unnatural. "Who knows? Probably just out of habit. Five years of feelings—how can you just forget them like that?"
Mo Duoduo added, "Yeah, especially since he's such a handsome guy!"
"True. Back then, if it weren't for his looks, I wouldn't have fallen for it so badly." Gan Tiantian was a true sucker for good looks. Chen Chenguang hit every single point on her aesthetic checklist. That accidental glance in the bar had sparked an immediate fire that burned out of control. She had originally thought they would go their separate ways after a single night, but instead, their feelings only grew stronger. The more they slept together, the more intense it felt, leading naturally to marriage.
Aside from being handsome, Chen Chenguang was also quite capable. He built up his small advertising company in two years. After securing the ad contracts for five subway lines in S City, his firm gained overnight industry recognition, bringing in a fortune and multiplying his net worth.
The only flaw was that he had too many friends. Born and raised in S City, having studied and worked there his entire life, his friends came in endless waves. Today there was a childhood friends' gathering, tomorrow a classmate dinner, and the day after that, a business banquet...
Before Ruru was born, Gan Tiantian had loved lively scenes, so she hadn't considered this a problem and often accompanied him to these events. However, following Ruru's birth, Gan Tiantian's mindset shifted dramatically. She wanted to pour all her time into her child and grew increasingly dissatisfied with Chen Chenguang's absence from home.
Flies don't bite uncracked eggs, and Li Jing appeared precisely at this juncture. As the younger sister of one of his childhood friends, Chen Chenguang had practically watched Li Jing grow up. They grew up in the same residential compound, and since his own family had no daughters, he had always coaxed and doted on her since childhood. When this little sister, whom he hadn't seen in years, returned from studying abroad—now breathtakingly charming and well-read—the childhood friend circle went wild. Gatherings became more and more frequent, and Chen Chenguang answered every single call.
Meeting more often, Li Jing, who was recovering from heartbreak, developed romantic feelings for this successful, tall, and handsome boy next door. She would pop up in front of Gan Tiantian from time to time. After adding Gan Tiantian on WeChat later on, she stirred up trouble every couple of days. One day it was a photo of them drinking arm-in-arm at a bar, the next it was an intimate embrace inside a car...
Gan Tiantian was furious, but Chen Chenguang patiently explained it was all a misunderstanding—just camera angles, and there were many people around at the time—so the matter was dropped.
Until one day at two in the morning, when Gan Tiantian woke up in the middle of the night and realized Chen Chenguang still hadn't come home. She video-called him, and the call was answered quickly—except it was answered by Li Jing. On the video screen, Li Jing was wearing a hotel bathrobe, flushed with excitement, with a clear lipstick mark visible on her exposed neck, while right next to her was a shirtless Chen Chenguang, sleeping soundly...
The rest of the story was cliché: endless entanglements, sophistry, painful struggles, until Chen Chenguang finally agreed to a divorce.
When problems arose in the marriage, Gan Tiantian had also constantly reflected on herself. Perhaps their relationship had started too easily, with too weak a foundation, making it unable to withstand the passage of time or childhood sweethearts. So be it...
Before long, the greater part of the bottle of wine was in Gan Tiantian's belly. Once drunk, she kept hugging Mo Duoduo, kissing her repeatedly, and shouting, "I want money! I'm going to build my career!..."
It took all of Mo Duoduo's strength to drag her into the room and get her settled.
Waking up the next day, this sister had completely forgotten everything and even blamed Mo Duoduo for not helping her take a bath and remove her makeup, or helping her brush her teeth and wash her face before letting her go to sleep, feeling like her skin had suffered tremendously.
It made Mo Duoduo grind her teeth in frustration, silently vowing that next time they drank, she would definitely have to record a video!