Chapter 238: Not Husband and Wife, but Lovers

Chapter 238: Not Husband and Wife, but Lovers

He Shiqin knew perfectly well how strongly men were drawn to her.

She was thirty-two now, her daughter fourteen, and still there had been men who pursued her over the years.

Not ordinary men, either. Young men, wealthy men. Men younger than she was.

They pursued her without minding that she already had a child. Some, when they confessed, even swore they would take good care of her daughter, that they would do this and that for her.

A woman who had once driven Ding Ruilong mad enough to kill had no reason to think little of herself.

Past thirty, He Shiqin had kept herself extraordinarily well. Her face was still beautiful.

Her figure especially. Most young women could not compare with her.

Wu Chen, however, had never shown the least sign of interest in her. Not so much as a glance. Before he laid his cards on the table, his manner toward her had been exactly a teacher’s manner toward a student’s mother.

She also knew that Wu Chen was much younger than she was.

But walking straight into a hotel like this—no woman’s imagination would stay still.

Wu Chen’s pace never faltered. He climbed the steps as though it made no difference to him whether she followed. Only when he reached the revolving doors of the four-star hotel called Tianyue did He Shiqin finally come up the steps, unease written all over her.

She followed him in.

One after the other, they entered the hotel.

The first-floor lobby held hardly a guest in sight. Few people came to a hotel at this hour of the morning, and it was not yet time for checkout.

Wu Chen led her to the front desk.

He Shiqin looked ill at ease.

She had dressed with great care today. She had risen early and begun getting ready almost at once. Makeup. A white chiffon dress. Pink high heels with red soles.

Even her handbag had been chosen to match.

A necklace and bracelet that caught the light completed it.

The outfit alone had cost no less than a hundred thousand yuan.

He Shiqin was very wealthy. When she first came to Modu more than a decade earlier, she had invested in property, buying a good number of apartments and street-front shops back when they were still cheap. Prices then had been nothing like they were now, and the value of what she had bought had multiplied several times over. These days rent alone brought her three to four million yuan a year.

And that was only her own money. Counting nothing of the child support Ding Ruilong had paid for He Xinxin over the years, her personal net worth exceeded one hundred million yuan.

On top of which Ding Ruilong paid eight figures a year in support for his illegitimate daughter.

She was the sort of comfortably rich woman who never needed to work again. Financial freedom had come to her long ago.

Naturally she lived well. She did not spend much on food, since she cooked at home as a rule. The money went into clothes and the rest of it.

What woman does not like to dress well?

As the saying goes, a person needs clothes to set them off.

Today He Shiqin looked younger than usual, exquisitely turned out. And Wu Chen, only twenty-two, looked considerably more mature in a suit.

By apparent age alone, the two of them were quite a match.

A formally dressed young man and woman, both looking to be in their twenties, arriving at a hotel together. It would have been impossible not to misunderstand.

Wu Chen stood at the desk. He Shiqin stood a little behind and to one side, lips pressed together, and almost without thinking swept her hair back and tucked it behind her ear.

The receptionist took one look at the pair of them and wore an expression that said she understood perfectly.

“Good morning, sir, miss,” she said with a smile. “Do you have a reservation?”

“No reservation.” Wu Chen smiled. “Do you have an executive suite?”

“One moment, sir, let me check…” She checked the computer quickly, then looked up. “We do, sir. How many rooms would you like?”

As she asked, she glanced at He Shiqin, whose expression was plainly off.

To the receptionist’s eye, she only looked a little shy. Perhaps she was simply soft-natured. Women often grew emotional coming to a place like this with a man; the receptionist had seen it many times.

With people passing through a hotel every day, she had seen women of every temperament. Some were entirely unbothered. Others were far more reserved.

She even felt she could tell at a glance that the two had only recently become a couple.

They were certainly not husband and wife. A wife would not be shy.

“One room,” Wu Chen said.

“Of course, sir. May I see your ID?” Then she turned to He Shiqin with a professional smile. “Yours as well, miss.”

“I… I need to show mine too?” He Shiqin faltered.

“Yes, miss. When a man and a woman share one room, we need both,” the receptionist explained, still smiling.

“Oh… all right…”

The words sounded strange to her ear. The atmosphere grew stranger by the second. She agreed, opened her handbag, and drew out her ID card. Wu Chen produced his as well, and they handed them over one after the other.

The receptionist took them, looked them over, and compared the photographs with their faces. She was conscientious about it.

Her expression shifted slightly.

Only for an instant, and she covered it well.

In truth she was startled. She even gave He Shiqin a second look.

Dates of birth were printed on the cards.

Wu Chen was born in 1998.

He Shiqin in 1988.

Registration completed.

Payment made.

The receptionist handed both ID cards and the key card to Wu Chen.

“Sixteenth floor, sir. The elevators are just over there.” She pointed the way for him.

“Thank you.” Wu Chen smiled and led He Shiqin toward the elevators.

At this point she could only follow. She was still uneasy. But what Wu Chen wanted to discuss reached too far—it touched her life and death, it touched whether anyone would be left to care for her daughter, He Xinxin.

What else could she do?

Nothing.

All He Shiqin could do was hope that talking was all they were going to do.

In the elevator there were only the two of them, and for a while neither spoke.

Wu Chen handed her ID card back without ceremony. Then he said nothing, facing the doors as if waiting for the floor, not even glancing at her.

She put the card away and stole a look at him, pressing her lips together again.

“Mr. Wu…”

“What is it?” He glanced at her, smiling.

“Why… did you choose here?”

She got the question out, her eyes shying away from his. She swept her hair back again to cover what she was feeling.

“It’s safe here. Maximum privacy. No one will disturb us.”

Wu Chen smiled.

It was a reason He Shiqin found hard to believe. Anyone with sense knew that coming here invited misunderstanding. If safety and privacy were all he wanted, there was no need for a hotel. Any restaurant with a private room would have served. Or the car—they could simply have talked in the car.

Wouldn’t that have been easier than coming here?

She grew more uneasy still.

They reached the sixteenth floor.

This floor was finished with particular care, since every room on it was an executive suite. Carpet ran the length of the corridor.

Wu Chen checked the number on the key card and led her farther down the hall. Soon they came to Suite 1607.

He swiped the card, pushed the door open, and stepped aside, gesturing for her to go in.

She looked at him, then started forward. At the exact moment she was crossing the threshold, Wu Chen reached out and slid an arm around her waist, drawing her in with him as they entered.

The door closed.

Inside the room.

He Shiqin stood rigid in the entryway. He had put his arm around her as they came in. He had already let go.

But what he wanted seemed to require no explanation.

And in that moment the thought that came to her was not to run.

It was a fierce, tearing struggle inside her own mind.