Chapter 5: Do Not Alert the Enemy

Ming Zi looked again and again, changing angles to look, and then felt a bit suspicious of her own eyes, "It seems a bit familiar; I must have seen it somewhere."

Perhaps it was inadvertent, but she could not recall it at this moment no matter what.

"Rongrong, what do you plan to do?"

Ming Zi felt heartache for her from the bottom of her heart; ever since they met in university, Si Rong had been like a little princess in her eyes.

She had envied her, but was not jealous.

Because Si Rong herself was a very good girl; back then, among the three in the dormitory, only her living conditions were the worst. Coming from a rural background, her family could only help her scrape together tuition, and they were unable to help with living expenses.

Every time they ate, Si Rong would ask her to eat together, and there was always an extra portion sent by the servants from home.

Not just her, even Li Xuan had eaten quite a bit of it too.

If it weren't for Si Rong, she wouldn't have known how she would have made it through those four years of university.

No one had ever mentioned these favors, but Ming Zi had always remembered them.

Such a good girl, and that bastard Shen Lan actually dared to do something to betray her?

Although her own rich second-generation husband also kept women on the side, this was different.

Back then, she had been after her rich husband's good family background, and she had long been prepared for the fact that her husband would not be devoted to her for a lifetime.

So all these years, with her husband having one mistress after another outside, she had turned a blind eye, focusing all her energy on raising her children and controlling the majority of her husband's assets.

But Si Rong was different.

As the little princess of the Si Family, she had had so many excellent suitors back then; Shen Lan was merely one of the mediocre ones among them.

If it weren't for benefiting from so many advantages of the Si Family, could he have climbed to his current position as Deputy County Magistrate?

Now that he has money and power, he wants to play around?

Si Rong is one year younger than her, and is now nearly forty years old.

Ming Zi felt a pang of heartache as she watched Si Rong shake her head in helplessness.

She just let her lean on her shoulder and comforted her, "It's okay, no matter what you want to do, I will help you."

Tearing apart a mistress, she's in!

Scolding Shen Lan, she's in for that too!

Anyway, wherever Si Rong points, she will strike!

"I want to know who that woman is."

Si Rong thought for a long time, "Once I figure all this out, I will divorce Shen Lan."

Ming Zi was greatly shocked, but expressed her understanding; Si Rong and Shen Lan had truly loved each other, and she had always been someone who could not tolerate any sand in her eyes, so choosing to divorce was a normal psychological reaction.

It was just that, now that Shen Lan was already a Deputy County Magistrate with the help of the Si Family, Si Rong divorcing him like this would really be letting that mistress off too easily.

"Right! Let's find out where that shameless woman lives! Then you stand aside, and I'll go up, scratch her face, pull out her teeth, and pluck her hair bald! Let's see how she'll seduce men in the future!"

Ming Zi was very familiar with this process; if her husband didn't want a certain mistress anymore, he would indulge her in making such a scene, and no matter how clingy the mistress was, she wouldn't dare to pester him again.

Si Rong:...

She hadn't actually thought of doing that, but it sounded very satisfying.

"By the way, do you want to tell Li Xuan about this?"

Ming Zi asked again.

The friendship between the three of them had lasted until today all because of Si Rong.

In her view, Li Xuan had received quite a bit of care from Si Rong over the years just like her, so she should be like her and go to the front lines when Si Rong needed them.

"Better... not."

Si Rong thought of Li Xuan's profession, "She is a teacher and has always been respectable; it's better not to tell her about this kind of thing!"

Besides, when she was just suspicious yesterday, Li Xuan's reaction had made her feel uncomfortable.

Like everyone else, she was certain that Shen Lan would not cheat.

She preferred Ming Zi's reaction.

Unconditional trust and favoritism toward her.

"I'm thinking, should I call it?"

Si Rong felt both sad and incredibly curious, feeling restless; what kind of girl could Shen Lan have taken a fancy to?

Younger than her? Or prettier than her?

"Not yet," Ming Zi advised her, "You'll alert the enemy if you do that."

"Did Cui Lili look up this phone record for you?"

Si Rong nodded.

"I wonder if she can find the installation address for this phone number on her end."

Si Rong shook her head, "Not yet; if Cui Lili finds out, I expect all our classmates will know."

She still held onto a glimmer of hope that perhaps this was all just a misunderstanding.

The phone call was a figment of her imagination, a blunder, and this phone number was just for official business.

"Then let's do this: we'll stay put for now, and when Shen Lan goes on another business trip, we'll follow him and catch him in the act!"

Ming Zi felt this was the best method for now.

"But Shen Lan's business trip schedule isn't fixed," Si Rong frowned, and she didn't even know how to get along with Shen Lan during this time.

Waiting for such things was a very agonizing process; from yesterday to today, she had already waited in great pain.

But she couldn't think of a better way.

Today is Sunday, and Shen Yuan is coming home from school early.

That child is impatient and will definitely ask her about the concert tickets.

Si Rong didn't really want to go home; she just felt agitated and troubled.

"Ming Zi, tell me, can an adopted child ever be truly raised to be one's own?"

Si Rong rested her chin in her hands, thinking once more of that phone call from yesterday evening.

The voice had been somewhat hoarse, filled with a sense of finality amidst the sorrow.

"That's hard to say," Ming Zi, who had given birth to three children herself—two boys and one girl—replied, "Hearts are won with hearts; rest assured, since Shen Chi and Shen Yuan were raised by you personally from such a young age, they are no different from your own flesh and blood."

Ming Zi had seen with her own eyes just how much Si Rong doted on those two children.

Come to think of it, Si Rong worried no less than she, their own mother, did.

The memory that stood out most was when Shen Chi had meningitis and was in critical condition; Shen Lan was busy with work, so it was she who stayed with Si Rong at the hospital, keeping watch over the child without closing her eyes for a single night.

When Shen Yuan was little and nearly snatched by human traffickers while out with Nainai, it was Si Rong who begged the two elders of the Si Family to pull strings and seal off all the major traffic arteries of Huaiyang City to find her.

Si Rong had once thought the same, but now she found it hard to believe.

After chatting with Ming Zi for a long time, they parted ways, with Ming Zi suggesting that if staying at home felt unbearable, she could come stay at her place for a while.

Si Rong thought so too.

Ming Zi had even thought of an excuse for her: she could say that Ming Zi's husband had found someone else, and she was too heartbroken to be alone and needed company.

Ming Zi urged her repeatedly not to alert the enemy prematurely.

But on the way back, when she passed a phone booth, all of Ming Zi's warnings were cast to the back of Si Rong's mind.

She checked the string of numbers, inserted a one-yuan coin, and dialed.