Chapter 4: The Number Seems Familiar

"No, I just wanted to see if there might be any errors in your Paging Center's backend records."

Si Rong knew that over these years, Shen Lan had truly acted as a good husband, so no one around them believed that Shen Lan would betray her.

"Alright!" Cui Lili printed out the call records from Shen Lan's office and handed them to Si Rong, "Please take a look, Miss!"

"Lily, thank you today," Si Rong said sincerely.

Cui Lili turned around to attend to other customers, "We're old classmates, don't mention it. I won't see you out, let's get together again later."

After leaving the Paging Center, Si Rong opened the small stack of phone records that Cui Lili had printed for her.

Because she didn't have a job, she paid a lot of attention to Shen Lan.

She recognized the more frequent phone numbers on this list, but one string of numbers caught her attention.

It didn't appear very frequently.

Once every seven or eight days; it had appeared four times in the past month or so.

What caught her attention was the time these calls were made, all after eight o'clock in the evening.

Si Rong remembered the two most recent dates; they were both when Shen Lan was away on business, saying he was going to a neighboring county.

She continued flipping back and discovered that the other two call records were also roughly during times when Shen Lan was away on business.

Si Rong gripped the paper, her fingers exerting slight pressure, leaving faint white nail marks.

She had originally wanted to come to the Paging Center today to resolve her inner demons, but she hadn't expected that while the old demon remained, a new one had been added.

There was definitely something wrong with this phone number!

Shen Lan had a phone book that contained almost all of his important contacts.

But this number was absolutely not in it.

If she hadn't stumbled upon it today by printing out the call records from Shen Lan's office at the Paging Center.

Then she would never have known about this phone number.

Who would make Shen Lan call them every time he went on a business trip? Was he really just going on business trips?

Si Rong walked back to her home without realizing it.

The Si Family business rose rapidly after the founding of the nation; at its peak, half the households in the south used the Si Family's flour and seasonings; in '65, they were labeled as capitalists by competitors, and for a time, everyone pushed them while they were down.

Later, during the Reform and Opening-up, the two sons of the Si Family once again relied on their excellent business acumen to join forces and revitalize the Si Family.

"The young lady is back!" Li Sao was very happy to see Si Rong. After she called out, a silver-haired woman wearing a dark green wool sweater soon came down from upstairs, looking very pleasantly surprised.

"Rongrong is back, your father was just mentioning you earlier."

Si Rong tried hard to put on a happy face, "Is that so? Where did Dad go?"

"He went fishing with one of his fishing buddies."

The mother and daughter sat on the sofa and chatted for a while, and Mother Si busied herself telling Li Sao to stew snow frog, bird's nest, and donkey-hide gelatin for lunch.

"I think your complexion isn't very good, you need to nourish yourself. Have you not been eating well at home these past two days?"

Si Rong had already passed the age of being a teenager who would pour her heart out to her mother. Her mother was seventy-three years old this year, exactly the age that folklore calls "seventy-three, eighty-four, a major hurdle in life," and she had been suffering from minor ailments since the beginning of the year.

"I've been eating well, Shen Lan even bought me Quanjude roast duck to eat."

Si Rong sat beside her mother, looking at the few strands of silver hair at her temples, and suddenly her nose felt a bit sore.

The words she wanted to pour out were instantly pulled back.

She was already nearly forty years old; she couldn't let her mother worry about her anymore.

After having lunch with her mother at home, Si Rong left the house.

Walking along the roadside, her head was in a mess.

She had a slow-to-warm-up personality.

Over these years, apart from her family and Shen Lan, she didn't have anyone she was truly close to.

Aside from Li Xuan, the only other person from her naive college friendships was Ming Zi.

She passed by a post office and called Ming Zi, arranging to meet her at the 1991 Coffee House.

After graduating from college back then, Ming Zi quickly broke up with her boyfriend and married a rich second-generation heir who had been pursuing her for a long time.

Si Rong always remembered what she had said: a woman should marry someone who loves her, not someone she loves.

At the time, she only thought Ming Zi was being realistic.

But after all these years, Ming Zi had always lived a very happy life.

Unlike her own "marrying down" or Li Xuan's singlehood, Ming Zi always knew what she wanted.

A song called "Country Love" was playing in the coffee house, and Si Rong rested her chin on her hands, looking out the window.

Soon, Ming Zi, wearing a Korean-style dress, drifted in. After seeing her, she took off the oversized sunglasses on the bridge of her nose.

"Little Princess Si Rong, what instructions do you have for your handmaiden today?"

Ming Zi teased.

Back then, the three of them shared a dormitory, and they all knew how much the Si Family pampered this little princess.

Every week, Mother Si would come to the dormitory herself to help her make her bed.

Of course, she would also treat her and Li Xuan to meals, give them cosmetics that young girls liked, and ask them to take care of her little princess.

If it weren't for Si Rong insisting on staying in the dormitory, Mother Si would have been prepared to buy a house next to their school.

After the two cups of coffee were brought over, Ming Zi finally noticed her expression, which was different from usual.

"What's wrong? Did you not buy the clothes or shoes you liked? Or is Shen Lan too busy with work to keep you company, and you're bored?"

These were all the reasons Ming Zi, as a good friend, could imagine for Si Rong the little princess to be in a bad mood.

Si Rong had a good life, and she was the girl with the best fate she had ever seen.

Not only was she the darling of her maiden family, but even the small Section Chief she had insisted on marrying down to was now a Deputy County Magistrate.

"Ming Zi, I suspect that Shen Lan might have someone else outside."

Si Rong had originally thought about dialing that number when she encountered a phone booth on the road.

After all, everything was currently unverified.

But a woman's sixth sense was very strong.

Associating the various details before and after Shen Lan's business trips, Si Rong still sensed that something was wrong.

"What? Shen Lan dares to keep a mistress on the side?" Ming Zi reacted differently from Li Xuan; her first reaction was anger.

Because she knew her good friend well enough, Si Rong was not the type of person to be arrogant due to favor or to chase shadows.

Unless there was evidence.

"How about it? Did you see that mistress?"

Si Rong shook her head; she looked at Ming Zi and felt some gratitude in her heart, grateful that she did not question her and believe in Shen Lan like Li Xuan did.

"It's just that, by chance, I checked the phone bill for Shen Lan's office," Si Rong showed her the printed paper from her handbag.

"It's this call."

Ming Zi's almond eyes furrowed slightly as she carefully looked at the phone number Si Rong pointed to, "Si Rong, why do I feel like this string of numbers is somewhat familiar?"

"You've seen it?" Si Rong asked.