Chapter 23: Unaccustomed

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After thinking it over, Ning Chu still called that familiar number. Zheng Cheng answered.

“This is Ning Chu.”

“Madam—cough, Miss Ning Chu, it’s good to hear from you. I’ll put the family head on.”

Zheng Cheng handed the phone to Tantai Chao.

Tantai Chao had heard Zheng Cheng say that Ning Chu had raised her head. He took the phone.

“It’s me.”

Ning Chu was very direct. “Were you dreaming, or did something happen to your brain? Why did you transfer money to me?”

Instead, Tantai Chao said, “Ning Chu, I think it would be better for you to keep your own things in your own hands. Mr. Ning and Madam Zhou may be your parents, but you don’t have to listen to everything they say.”

Ning Chu found him very strange.

“…Have you misunderstood something?”

“I saw you just now,” Tantai Chao said. “Ning Chu, if you’re having difficulties, you can contact me.”

Ning Chu took a deep breath.

“…Tantai Chao, I don’t remember you being the sort of person who would concern himself with things like this. Besides, I only wanted to try something new. Barbecue at an ordinary restaurant is actually quite good. I’ll transfer the money back to you. I won’t disturb you any longer.”

With that, Ning Chu hung up.

Beside her, Chen Yixin asked, “Was that your ex-husband? Why did you call him?”

Ning Chu took a bite of chives, chewing slowly before swallowing.

“He apparently happened to pass by and saw me here. He thought I had run out of money and could only afford to eat this, so he transferred a hundred million yuan to me.”

“What?”

“What?”

Chen Yixin and Zhou Ran both stared at her with their mouths wide open.

“A hundred million yuan!”

They had shouted so loudly that everyone nearby turned to look. Ning Chu remained perfectly calm.

“Yes. It’s not as though I’m short of a hundred million yuan, so I’m going to return it to him.”

Chen Yixin clutched her chest with both hands.

“She doesn’t even care about a hundred million yuan! Heaven knows, I only get five hundred thousand yuan in pocket money every month! If I want to buy anything else, I still have to ask my mother for money.”

Her mother kept a strict rein on her spending money. She had it terribly hard; every now and then, she even had to borrow money from her brother.

Zhou Ran wore a look of shock.

“Five hundred thousand! Did you know I only get eight thousand yuan a month?”

Chen Yixin’s sorrowful expression vanished at once.

“Oh. I suppose you have it slightly worse. Eight thousand yuan wouldn’t even cover one of my meals.”

Zhou Ran looked even more miserable.

“Ladies of leisure, do you need a younger sister? I volunteer.”

Ning Chu thought for a moment.

“When I start a company, you can be the lawyer. But you’re a divorce lawyer. I can’t exactly open a divorce firm, can I?”

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Chen Yixin looked at Zhou Ran.

“So you’re a divorce lawyer? That’s amazing!”

“Not as amazing as you,” Zhou Ran replied. “You get five hundred thousand yuan a month in pocket money.”

“Which school did you graduate from?”

“Shengjing University.”

“Wow! You’re incredible.”

Zhou Ran’s expression turned lifeless.

“Not as incredible as you. You get five hundred thousand yuan a month in pocket money.”

Chen Yixin was indignant.

“Why don’t you say that about Ning Chu? She’s someone who doesn’t even care about a hundred million yuan.”

“Ning Chu didn’t say I was incredible.”

Chen Yixin fell silent.

Zhou Ran looked back at Ning Chu.

“Although divorce cases are my specialty, I know a little about other matters too.”

“Then wait until I start the company,” Ning Chu said.

“When you open it, hire me too,” Chen Yixin said. “I can work as your receptionist, so my mother won’t spend every day saying I do nothing useful. Just pay me the market rate.”

“What’s the market rate?” Ning Chu asked. “Eight thousand, like Zhou Ran?”

“…The receptionist at our firm earns three thousand,” Zhou Ran said.

Chen Yixin was speechless.

That amount wouldn’t even be enough to fill her car with gas.

“Is earning money really that difficult? Three thousand, five thousand, eight thousand?”

Chen Yixin had grown up in a wealthy family and had never worked after graduation. She spent her days playing with other young ladies. Before this, she had gone abroad for quite some time and had only returned after hearing that Ning Chu had divorced.

“That’s how it is for people at the bottom,” Zhou Ran said. “Are you full? I’ll pay the bill.”

Chen Yixin stood up.

“I’ll do it. After all… you only get eight thousand a month.”

Zhou Ran’s heart was wounded again and again. In the end, she still let Chen Yixin pay. When Chen Yixin returned, she was beaming.

“We only spent a little over a hundred yuan. How cheap!”

Zhou Ran was speechless.

She wanted to fight these wealthy people to the death.

“I’m going home first. I have work tomorrow. Bye.”

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“Bye.”

Ning Chu also had her driver take her home, while Chen Yixin had someone come pick her up. One by one, they all returned to their own homes.

When Ning Chu arrived home, it was already very late. She did not call her bank manager to have the hundred million yuan transferred back, deciding to deal with it the next day.

Meanwhile, after Ning Chu hung up, Tantai Chao fell into deep thought.

It was true that he had never been the sort of person to concern himself with such matters. He knew Ning Chu would never have appeared in a place as chaotic and disorderly as that.

But now…

Tantai Chao realized that, lately, he had actually become somewhat unaccustomed to things. Ning Chu was no longer at home. After work, he would never see her again.

Still…perhaps he would get used to it after a while.

Several days later, Zhou Erqin and Ning Xingxian came looking for Ning Chu again, but the security guards at the entrance of the residential compound refused to let them in.

The two of them were so furious that they nearly fainted. Recently, after news of Ning Chu’s divorce from Tantai Chao had spread, the Ning Group had been thrown into turmoil. They had spent many days working frantically before finally stabilizing the company.

They had originally intended to find Ning Chu and persuade her to rekindle her relationship with Tantai Chao, but Ning Chu would not even let them through the gate.

Ning Xingxian called her.

“You unfilial daughter! Look at what you’ve done! Are you trying to anger your parents to death?”

“If you could really be angered to death,” Ning Chu replied, “you wouldn’t still be standing outside.”

Zhou Erqin snatched the phone from him and tried a gentler approach.

“Chu-Chu, your mother is only doing this for your own good. Now that you’ve divorced Tantai Chao, life must be difficult for you, right? Everyone says you’ve been abandoned. Look at you—no one even invites you to banquets anymore. Just listen to your mother and remarry Tantai Chao. It hasn’t been long since your divorce. If you act a little spoiled, everything should be fine.”

“In your current state, anyone can trample on you. The world outside is dangerous. You’ll understand once you’ve experienced it. In the Tantai family, everyone would do their best to find you anything you wanted. But now, if you want a handbag or a piece of jewelry, you may not even be able to afford it.”

“Chu-Chu, listen to your mother. I would never harm you. After all these years, do you really think I’ve ever done anything to hurt you?”

Ning Chu burst into laughter when she heard that. Her mocking chuckle made Zhou Erqin feel a chill creep over her.

“Chu-Chu, what’s wrong?”

Ning Chu laughed until tears came to her eyes.

“Nothing. I just find it ridiculous that you said you’ve never hurt me.”

“Being beaten with a whip isn’t harming me? Locking me in confinement isn’t harming me? Preventing me from making friends isn’t harming me? Ordering me to seduce men isn’t harming me either? What, then, do you consider harm? Is it only harm if you strip me of all my dignity and turn me into a tool for your use?”