The message was delivered almost immediately.
Lu Changfu could almost imagine the look on Chen Lili’s face as she sat in the hotel room reading those cold and humiliating demands.
Anger?
Humiliation?
Or numbness after being driven to despair?
He didn’t care.
What he wanted was efficiency, control, and the appearance of a “harmonious” relationship that would keep his parents happy.
If Chen Lili couldn’t even maintain appearances, then she had no value to him.
After finishing his cigarette, he returned to the warm room.
From downstairs came the sound of his mother and Song Liyuan chatting and laughing, mixed with the lively noise of the Spring Festival Gala preview programs playing on the television.
Everything was perfect.
His parents were happy, the system rewards were generous, and his “girlfriend” was sensible, beautiful, and good at playing her role.
As for Chen Lili, she was merely a pawn on his “filial piety” chessboard—one he might need, or one he could discard at any moment.
At 1:50 the following afternoon, Lu Changfu drove to Yuelai Teahouse in the center of town.
The teahouse had an antique-style interior and was considered one of the more refined places in town.
After parking his car, he went upstairs and pushed open the door to the private room named “Listening to the Rain.”
Chen Lili was already there.
She was sitting by the window. When she heard the door open, she turned her head.
Lu Changfu raised an eyebrow slightly.
Chen Lili had indeed “cleaned herself up.”
She was wearing a cream-colored turtleneck sweater under a light coffee-colored cashmere coat. Her smooth hair fell naturally over her shoulders, and she wore light makeup that concealed her exhaustion. A touch of lipstick gave her complexion a much healthier appearance.
A steaming cup of tea sat on the table. She held it between both hands, sitting upright.
Most importantly, there was actually a faint smile on her face.
It wasn’t a happy smile, nor was it a fake one.
It was a calm, almost professional smile, like the standard smile of a hotel receptionist or a flight attendant. It didn’t reach her eyes, but there was nothing obviously wrong with it either.
“You’re here.”
Her voice was steady, revealing no emotion.
“Sit.”
Lu Changfu sat down across from her and studied her.
It had only been a few days since they last met, yet the cool, stubborn, almost student-like air she once carried had nearly been worn away.
In its place was a fragile calm that had been forcibly held together under the crushing weight of life.
“That outfit looks good.”
Lu Changfu nodded.
“You should have dressed like this from the beginning. Would have saved us a lot of time.”
The smile on Chen Lili’s face stiffened for a moment before returning.
“You’re right. I was immature before.”
She put down her teacup, took a folder from her handbag, and pushed it toward him.
“I read the agreement carefully. There’s no problem… I’ll sign it.”
Inside the folder was the agreement Lu Changfu had drafted.
In the section for Party B’s signature, the three characters Chen Lili had already been neatly signed, with a bright red fingerprint stamped beside them.
Lu Changfu was somewhat surprised by how readily she had agreed.
He picked up the agreement and looked it over.
There was no major problem with it, but he didn’t agree with the payment arrangement.
He wasn’t going to be the sucker anymore.
So he said, “I want to make some changes to the agreement…”
The smile on Chen Lili’s face froze slightly. Her fingers curled beneath the table.
“Change… what?”
“Paying you 200,000 yuan all at once carries too much risk.”
Lu Changfu’s tone was calm, as though he were discussing someone else’s affairs.
“What if you take the money and then stop responding to me? Or disappear? Who am I supposed to find then?”
He paused.
“You basically did the same thing after I gave you the previous 100,000 yuan.”
Another pause.
“I don’t want to spend money just to make myself miserable a second time.”
When Chen Lili heard this, her face inevitably turned pale.
Her lips moved, but in the end, she simply lowered her head and spoke in a hoarse voice.
“Then what do you mean…?”