Attention Sir, I Have Your Heart Handcuffed!-Chapter 398 - 277: Women’s War (5 Updates 3)

Shi Nian was the first to greet, "Hi, Ma’am. Did Mr. Tang personally prepare the dessert? Then we’re in for a treat today."

Tang Yan Yi rubbed her hands on her jeans and merely replied with a faint "Oh."

Shi Nian didn’t know what else to say, so she raised the empty teacup in her hand, indicating she was going to pour some tea, and walked away.

A few steps away, she heard Tang Yan Yi suddenly catch up from behind: "...What information do you have on Meng Chuyan?"

"Oh?" Shi Nian was startled, stopped, and turned around.

"Ma’am, why are you asking this?"

Tang Yan Yi quickly walked up to Shi Nian, lowered her voice: "Don’t pretend to be surprised in front of me. We both know you’ve secretly investigated Meng Chuyan’s information! Even if you and Huangfu Huazhang are publicly together, women are women, they all have compulsions about matters of the heart. So you’ve definitely already looked into Meng Chuyan."

Shi Nian took a deep breath, meeting Tang Yan Yi’s gaze: "Whether I investigated or not doesn’t seem to concern you. You’re a police officer; if you want to investigate, you can do it yourself, no need to ask me."

Tang Yan Yi squinted her eyes: "There are things we police can’t conveniently investigate, but you as a reporter can. So you should have information that I don’t."

Shi Nian then laughed: "What does that have to do with you?"

Tang Yan Yi took a deep breath: "From official channels, there’s no trace of her before high school. I suspect she might have been illegally adopted. In other words, she might have been one of the child brides." Tang Yan Yi stared at Shi Nian intensely: "I’ve made myself clear, haven’t I? I’m asking you for the information on Meng Chuyan not just for personal reasons, but for the investigation!"

Upon hearing this, Shi Nian covertly sighed: "Since you are frank with me, I’ll be honest: I’ve already started investigating Meng Chuyan’s background a long time ago. Even before the scandal between Mr. Tang and Meng Chuyan erupted, I had already begun paying attention to her."

Tang Yan Yi was shocked hearing this: "What did you say?"

Shi Nian smiled indifferently: "Initially, Tang Yan Yi was rumoured with Luo Xiansheng; it was our ’Deep Throat’ entertainment reporter Joseph who wrote the article. Due to Luo Xiansheng, I was intrigued by that article, hence began investigating Meng Chuyan’s background..."

Tang Yan Yi’s eyes lit up: "What did you find?"

Shi Nian lowered her eyes: "I came to the same conclusion as you. I also worry she might have been one of the child brides. Though her abilities and conditions are excellent, she might have ceased being a child bride at sixteen but continued to make money for her hidden master in another form. Her fate seems worlds apart from Nisha, but in fact, she remains a tool for her master, still unable to regain her freedom."

Tang Yan Yi silently clenched her fists: "Scum!"

Shi Nian raised her gaze: "Don’t spare him."

Tang Yan Yi grabbed Shi Nian’s wrist: "Share the information you have with me."

Shi Nian thought for a moment and then decisively nodded: "Okay. But the information I have is just peripheral; I still need more interviews."

Tang Yan Yi took a deep breath: "Be careful. If you need the police’s help, contact me anytime."

Shi Nian smiled playfully, winking at her, "...Does this count as the start of our cooperation?"

Tang Yan Yi let go as if burned, "No personal factors involved, just for the case!"

Perhaps the two had disappeared from view for too long, Shen Wan, unsettled, came down from upstairs, saw them a bit tense, and hurriedly approached, one hand for each: "Shi Nian, Xiao Yi, what are you chatting about?"

Shi Nian understood Shen Wan’s tension, so she smiled indifferently: "Gossiping, nothing important."

Tang Yan Yi also took a step back: "Yeah, gossiping."

Shen Wan looked at them both, faintly amused, thinking since when did they become close enough to gossip together?

Finally, the dishes were served, and everyone thanked Huo Danru and Tang Yanyu, the chefs, with a "thank you for your hard work," except An Cheng who sat with arms folded, saying nothing.

Tang Yanyu naturally didn’t mind, as they had all grown up together and she knew An Cheng’s temper; but for the equally proud Huo Danru, it was hard to keep face.

Everyone reached for their chopsticks except the ones in front of An Cheng remained untouched. Shi Nian couldn’t bear it, and joked: "These dishes look familiar, didn’t I offer you the same dishes last time, Safety Check? Then you swept them all away before chatting with me. Safety Check says, in a past life, he starved to death, so this life when met with appealing food, he must eat well before feeling safe to work..."

Shi Nian’s intention was clear, and everyone joined in, exposing and reporting An Cheng’s childhood eating habits to support Shi Nian.

An Cheng became even more embarrassed, grabbing the chopsticks, but only asked Tang Yanyu: "Which ones did you make?"

Tang Yanyu was puzzled: "The dessert. I can’t cook."

An Cheng then reached his chopsticks only for the dessert, not touching a single dish.

Huo Danru’s face grew increasingly somber, finally slapped her napkin on the table, got up and left.

"You all eat, I’m full!"

The situation had escalated to this extent, and the few contemporaries couldn’t say anything, Tang Yan Sheng got up and said to Shen Wan: "Auntie, I’ll go accompany Auntie Huo."

Tang Yan Sheng was the eldest sister, back when Huo Danru was Tang Mingyi’s wife, she had a bond with Tang Yan Sheng.

The dining table cooled down, Shen Wan watched Tang Yan Sheng and Huo Danru’s receding figures, couldn’t help but say: "An Cheng, you went too far. Your Auntie Huo made all your favorite dishes today, you know her temper, for her to do this much for you, you shouldn’t treat her this way."

An Cheng rolled her eyes over: "Auntie, you’re speaking for her? Have you forgotten how she once humiliated you, always implicitly and explicitly labeled you as ’the other woman’? Auntie can forget the pain after the scar heals, but sorry, I can’t!"

Shen Wan glanced at Shi Nian and shook her head with a smile: "Even if that was the case, An Cheng, you don’t need to stand up for Auntie."

An Cheng crossed her arms and shrugged: "I’m not standing up for Auntie. Moreover, no need. Uncle Tang and Yan Qi protect Auntie well, and Tang Yan Xi is even closer to you than to her, she’s already been taught a lesson."

"I’m just feeling unworthy for my dad. She clearly still resents Uncle Tang, can’t let go, so she’s still competing with you, Auntie. To put it bluntly, you might be quarreling with Uncle Tang today, and tonight she could move back into Uncle Tang’s bed. If she still can’t let go of Uncle Tang, she shouldn’t be with my dad! What does she take my dad for, a backup? When she feels lonely or bored, she makes my dad her boyfriend; but she’s never truly loved my dad, never given up on Uncle Tang!"

"An Cheng!" Su Xi Liu also hurriedly stood up to persuade.

The glass door of the restaurant suddenly swung open, Huo Danru shook off Tang Yan Sheng’s hand, stunned at the entrance, tightly staring at An Cheng.

Everyone was shocked, figuring out what to do.

An Cheng coldly laughed, tilted her head and met Huo Danru without flinching.

"You heard it all? It’s good to hear. Want to say what you think? Don’t hesitate, speak freely."

Huo Danru’s face was pale, staring at An Cheng intensely, lips quivering for a long time, yet only uttered one question: "...Are these your thoughts, or did your dad think this way too?"

An Cheng coldly smiled: "Not only me and my dad, everyone in this room thinks so, don’t they? Auntie, your enduring attachment to Uncle Tang, who doesn’t see it among us?"

Among those present were the Tang Family members, no one could say anything.

Shi Nian saw this and stood up, "Safety Check, sorry, but I didn’t see it."

An Cheng didn’t expect this, and slammed the table angrily: "Shi Nian, whose side are you on?"

Shi Nian calmly smiled: "I’m on neither side. Frankly, my presence at today’s gathering is quite inappropriate, because Mr. Tang and I have...not the sort of relationship everyone assumed, so there shouldn’t be a place for me here today."

Shi Nian looked at An Cheng: "But I’m here today for you, Safety Check. Because I promised Lawyer Tang, and I know if I didn’t come, you probably wouldn’t either. So if you insist on asking whose side I’m on, I’m actually on your side."

An Cheng bit her lip: "Since you’re on my side, why are you speaking for her?"

Shi Nian sighed: "Anyway, since all seated here are women, I’ll speak from a woman’s perspective. I think Auntie’s unyielding attachment to Uncle Tang isn’t because she can’t let go; she’s stuck at the self-esteem barrier. She just can’t accept that with her excellence, why Uncle Tang chose Auntie over her back then."

Shi Nian said taking a deep breath: "I feel a bit embarrassed, among those present, only Auntie and I have been divorced so I can empathize with Auntie’s feelings."