Chapter 4

Chapter 4

That evening, Wen Meimei expressed her desire to sleep with her mother, and Jiang Yiyan finally showed some "resistance," immediately voicing strong objections.

While the child was adorable, it was fine for occasional play, but having to share a bed with her was something she could never accomplish.

Thanks to relatives, a child from one of their families had stayed at her place for a period. Because there wasn't extra space for sleeping, the little girl was arranged to temporarily share a room with her.

Initially, she thought, what mischief could a four- or five-year-old girl cause? She was an adult woman, after all, with years of experience in the workplace, dealing with all sorts of challenges. Could she not handle a small child?

But reality proved that she really couldn't cope.

She had severely underestimated the energy of a four- or five-year-old girl. A five-foot-wide bed should have been ample for both of them to sleep comfortably, but once the child was on it, there was no room left for her.

When awake, the bed would be filled with toys; when asleep, the child would sprawl out in every direction, leaving no space for her feet.

When the child was energetic, she insisted on playing together, but when Yiyan was tired and wanted to sleep, even touching her phone was forbidden. She would wake up early to the child's noise, even on weekends.

After just a few days of this, Jiang Yiyan couldn't take it anymore. In the end, she packed up and moved to stay with a close friend.

It wasn't until the end of summer vacation, when the relatives came to take the little tyrant away, that Jiang Yiyan returned home.

Since then, no children from relatives had been hosted at their home again.

And from that point on, Jiang Yiyan carried a deep shadow in her heart.

So when faced with her daughter Meimei's friendly invitation now, Jiang Yiyan didn't hesitate to refuse outright.

Fortunately, Wen Meimei hadn't held much hope herself. Though disappointed, she didn't persist.

"Okay." Her voice was low, tinged with undeniable disappointment. "Then I'll sleep with Feng Ma."

Wen Meimei occasionally slept with her parents, but more often, she slept with Feng Ma.

She wanted to sleep with her mother, but her mother seemed to prefer sleeping with her father.

There was also a separate room for her upstairs, and many of her kindergarten friends already slept alone.

But she was afraid of the dark and wasn't brave enough to sleep alone yet.

.

Jiang Yiyan went to bed with a bit of anticipation, hoping that when she woke up again, she would return to her original world.

But when she opened her eyes the next morning, what greeted her was still the spacious bedroom with its unfamiliar yet luxuriously understated decor.

Though she had hoped, she hadn't expected much. So now, Jiang Yiyan wasn't overly disappointed.

Lingering under the thin quilt for a while longer, she checked the time and saw that it was nearly eight-thirty. With that, she quickly got up.

The night before, she had looked through the wardrobe. The clothes inside were exquisite, beautiful, and expensive, but there wasn't a single piece she could wear casually.

So she had planned that if she woke up in the same place this morning, she would go shopping at a nearby mall.

To buy a couple of comfortable clothes and a few other items she usually needed.

And while she was at it, she might as well see what the outside world looked like.

Since she couldn't leave for the moment, she decided to try to accept it.

In any case, she needed to maintain a positive attitude and live her life well.

Choosing from the current season's clothes hanging in the wardrobe, Jiang Yiyan picked something she could barely accept and changed into it.

The bedroom had an en-suite bathroom. She found a new toothbrush in the cabinet, brushed her teeth, splashed water on her face, and washed it.

Facing the bathroom mirror, she carefully examined the face before her once again.

Even without makeup, her beauty remained unaffected.

It was clear that she maintained her skin well, with an excellent base. There were no blemishes or pimples on her face, and her pores were so fine they were almost invisible.

As for her features, they were impeccable.

Unlike her, who was too busy with work to manage her own skin properly. Except for work, she rarely bothered with even light makeup.

At home or when meeting close friends, she always went bare-faced.

Her mother even said she was sloppy.

No wonder she was still single at her age, with such disregard for her appearance.

But in truth... there were a few men who pursued her, including some young and accomplished ones.

However, she was fully focused on her work, thinking only about making money, and had no interest in the romantic aspects of relationships.

Everyone wanted to be beautiful, and looking at the nearly flawless beauty in the mirror, even though it wasn't her own, Jiang Yiyan was immensely excited.

Leaving the house with such a face made her proud.

Without applying makeup, she simply dabbed on some lip gloss to enhance her complexion, and that was how Jiang Yiyan planned to go out today.

There was also a dressing room attached to the bedroom. Before leaving, Jiang Yiyan pushed the door open to take a look.

The dressing room was about half the size of the bedroom, filled with various clothes and shoes, as well as neatly arranged branded handbags. Some of the brands she recognized, while others she couldn't name.

One bag was set aside, not displayed in the glass cabinet. Jiang Yiyan picked up this off-white small bag to examine it.

It seemed to have been used recently by the original owner. Inside were a few cards, a lip gloss, a cushion compact, and a small mirror.

She would need her phone when going out shopping, and carrying it in her hand wouldn't be convenient, so Jiang Yiyan decided to simply carry this bag.

She would not take everything here for granted as hers; even if she were to borrow them temporarily, she would cherish and preserve them well.

Descending the stairs, it was already 8:50.

Meimei should have gone to kindergarten, and Feng Ma was also nowhere to be seen; only Fang Fang was busy in the kitchen by herself.

Upon seeing Madam awake and downstairs, Fang Fang promptly served the breakfast that had been prepared earlier into the dining room.

Even though it was just a simple breakfast, it was still abundant. Dishes were laid out before her, and counting the plates, there were roughly five or six different items.

There were also three types of drinks: milk, coffee, and orange juice.

Was this her breakfast for one?

She definitely couldn't finish it all by herself, which seemed rather wasteful.

After some thought, Jiang Yiyan said, "Just leave the milk, toast, and fried eggs; we don't need the rest." Actually, she preferred breakfasts like soy milk, fried dough sticks, glutinous rice balls, wontons, and tofu pudding—simple street snacks. However, at a glance, all the food presented was exquisite, so she could only choose a few dishes that she could accept from these options.

Although her behavior might seem petty to the wealthy, she, who was accustomed to frugality, simply couldn't bear such extravagance. The uneaten dishes could be taken away to be consumed later, but the eaten ones could only be discarded.

Fortunately, Fang Fang didn't ask any more questions and simply followed Jiang Yiyan's instructions, which made Jiang Yiyan feel quite comfortable.

Just as she finished eating, Feng Ma returned from sending Meimei to school.

Jiang Yiyan greeted her, "I'm going out for a stroll and to buy some things."

Feng Ma offered, "Let me accompany Madam."

Jiang Yiyan shook her head. "No need, I can go alone." With that, she took her phone and grabbed her bag.

Since the employer did not require company, Feng Ma did not insist. She merely added, "Then I'll call Little Chen to come back quickly. After he dropped off Miss at kindergarten, he told me to request a two-hour leave on his behalf to handle some personal matters. I assumed we wouldn't need the car in the morning, so I agreed. He shouldn't be far, and he should be able to return within five minutes."

Little Chen was the family driver, primarily responsible for chauffeuring Wen Mochuan. However, with Wen Mochuan not at home, his main duty was naturally to serve Madam and Miss.

As Feng Ma was about to make the call, Jiang Yiyan stopped her.

"No need," Jiang Yiyan said. "Since you've already granted him leave, let him go. I can take a taxi."

Feng Ma remarked, "But the taxi..." It wasn't clean, and Madam usually valued cleanliness above all.

Jiang Yiyan knew that Feng Ma must have noticed something unusual about her behavior.

However, Jiang Yiyan had considered this issue. Since she was not the Jiang Yiyan from the book, she couldn't continue living according to that character's habits and personality. If she couldn't return for a while, she needed to try to get them to gradually accept her.

Of course, Jiang Yiyan wouldn't suddenly change her nature in a way that would immediately raise suspicion.

While being true to herself, she would also find appropriate explanations: "Didn't Mochuan take a taxi too? What's the problem?"

Wen Mochuan had also ridden in a taxi; as his devoted wife, why couldn't she share in his experiences?

.

Though Wen Mochuan was the third son of the Wen family and the Wen Corporation, he had long since withdrawn from the competition for the inheritance rights with his two elder brothers.

He directly relinquished his claim to the leadership of the Wen Corporation and established his own company. Over the past few years, backed by the Wen Corporation and through his own diligent efforts, his new company had become quite successful.

Instead of living in the old residence with Chairman Wen, their family of three lived independently in Cuiming Water Garden.

Cuiming Water Garden was a residential development project undertaken by the Wen Corporation a few years ago. There were no towering high-rise apartments here, only villas and multi-story townhouses with small gardens on the ground floor.

The residence of Wen Mochuan's family was one of the villas in this complex.

Cuiming Water Garden was located within the city, and once outside the residential area, there was a steady stream of traffic, so there was no issue with finding a taxi.

Holding an umbrella for shade, it took about six or seven minutes to reach the entrance of the residential area.

The security guard at the gate recognized her and straightened up upon seeing her approach, greeting her loudly, "Good day, Mrs. Wen."

Jiang Yiyan politely smiled at him.

After Jiang Yiyan left, the people in the guardhouse began whispering among themselves.

"Mrs. Wen seems different today."

"What's different? She's still as beautiful as ever. Except...she isn't wearing makeup today. But without makeup, she looks even more beautiful and innocent."

"It's not that. I meant her attitude. Normally, she doesn't even give us a glance, but today she actually smiled at me."

"Stop daydreaming. Regardless of how strained Mr. and Mrs. Wen's relationship may be, a beauty like Mrs. Wen is not someone you can swoop in to save."

"..."

.

Before 10:00 AM, Wen Mochuan was in meetings.

After 10:00 AM, when the meeting concluded, Wen Mochuan naturally switched his phone from airplane mode back to normal operation.

As soon as he did, he heard several "ding ding" sounds, indicating text message notifications.

Glancing at his phone, he saw that they were notifications for credit card transactions on the secondary card.

Without needing to guess, he knew who had made the purchases.

It was then that Wen Mochuan remembered that yesterday, as part of their agreement, he had promised to bring back a gift.

However, he typically did not handle such matters personally; instead, he had instructed Special Assistant Xu to take care of it.