Chapter 47

She shook hands, but since she was on Wang Min's side, she responded to Anni's overtures with cold indifference.

Wang Min let out a bitchy little laugh. "Zhang Hongyan, how did studying abroad make you forget how to write your own name? Addicted to playing foreigner, are you? Do you really think you have a Hong Kong British passport now? Why don't you fix that Northeastern accent of yours first?"

After saying that, she swept back the loose strands by her ear with endless charm, revealing a ten-carat pink diamond.

It nearly blinded Anni's dog eyes.

Anni—oh, no, Zhang Hongyan's mouth twitched, and veins bulged on her forehead.

Women really did know what other women cared about. She hated it most when people brought up her original name and hometown, yet this little bitch Wang Min had stepped right on her landmine the moment she arrived.

When enemies met, their eyes burned redder than ever.

A verbal clash was unavoidable.

Tang Mingxi decisively withdrew from the women's battlefield and silently drifted to one side to look at the paintings.

Although Anni Zhang was a fake foreign artist, she had to admit that she had done a decent job on the surface.

Many reproductions hung on the walls. Classic works by Monet, Van Gogh, and Paul could all be found in the gallery.

At rich second-generation art exhibitions like this, the guests came from their circle, and the money earned came from that same circle.

After the exhibition, there would be a small auction. Everyone with a numbered paddle could take part in the bidding.

With nothing better to do, Tang Mingxi took a photo of a painting with his phone, intending to send it to Ye Heng and bother him a little.

But as soon as he switched to the chat screen, he realized that after blocking Ye Heng last time, he had yet to remove him from the blacklist.

[.]

With a buzz, Ye Heng replied instantly.

[Alive. Not dead yet.]

Tang Mingxi: ...

That dog of a man was being sarcastic the second he showed up.

Tang Mingxi: [Image.jpg]

Tang Mingxi: [Don't you think there's something in this painting that looks a lot like you? (Kitten gazing eagerly)]

Tang Mingxi had photographed Gainsborough's Mr and Mrs Andrews. Beside a lush and fertile cornfield, a newlywed couple and their little dog were resting.

Ye Heng: [This man?]

Tang Mingxi cropped out the little dog in the corner and sent it specifically to Ye Heng.

[You look like this dog 3]

Nice!

Tang Mingxi was smug with satisfaction.

Ye Heng ignored his attempt at small talk entirely and seemed much more interested in replying: [What does 3 mean?]

Tang Mingxi: ...

Help, he had just randomly typed an emoticon, okay?

Anyone who spent time online could tell that adding that emoticon after a sentence was sarcastic, right?!

Tang Mingxi had lifted a rock only to smash his own foot. He awkwardly replied, [It doesn't mean anything :)]

The male lead, who always acted like everyone's dad, probably wouldn't understand an emoticon like that, right?

The next second, Ye Heng sent over a screenshot.

[Image: Search—what does 3 mean. Answer: It represents squinting eyes, and 3 represents puckered lips. 3 means a kiss.]

Tang Mingxi: ...

Dog of a male lead, why had he never seen him use an internet search engine so skillfully before?

He typed rapidly, the tips of his ears already bright red. [That's just one meaning. Another meaning is "hehe." I meant hehe when I sent it.]

Tang Mingxi lied without changing expression. [Hehe means smiling :)]

He scrolled through their chat history and found that the lie was so awkward that even he didn't believe it.

WeChat flashed, and Ye Heng sent another message.

[I see.]

[3]

Hehe, he did that on purpose, didn't he? :)

The thought of Ye Heng's expressionless poker face sending such a cutesy emoticon gave Tang Mingxi chills.

It was too painful to look at.

Just as he put down his phone, Tang Mingxi heard a voice behind him. "Xiao Xi?"

People were quite sensitive to their own names. Tang Mingxi turned around and found a complete stranger.

The man wore a sharply tailored charcoal-gray suit. He was a head taller than Tang Mingxi, with refined, handsome features and gold-rimmed glasses. He looked every bit the elite professional.

Tang Mingxi searched his memories but truly could not recall when someone dressed like a Wall Street elite had appeared in his social circle.

"Are you Xiao Xi?" the man asked again.

Tang Mingxi thought, He can't be an acquaintance, right? If I can't remember him, that'll be social death on the spot!

Perhaps the hesitation and unfamiliarity on Tang Mingxi's face had lasted too long, because He Ling said gently, "Are you still angry with me?"

I'm not. No, wait—who are you, man?

Tang Mingxi was completely baffled.

"If you aren't angry with me, why are you being so distant now?" He Ling said. "Ever since I returned to the country, you've kept avoiding me. Are you going to pretend you don't know me now?"

Tang Mingxi understood that sentence. At the same time, the text Shen Yuan had sent him earlier surfaced in his memory at just the right moment.

"You're... He Ling?"

He remembered now. This was Tang Er's childhood sweetheart.

He Ling's tone carried a trace of teasing. "You finally remember?"

Tang Mingxi felt a little awkward, but what he was best at was pretending not to be awkward and thereby passing the awkwardness onto someone else.

Just as he had no idea how to reminisce with He Ling about a past that did not exist, He Ling slightly raised his head and looked at the painting before them.

Gainsborough's Mr and Mrs Andrews depicted a newly married couple. To He Ling, it seemed almost mocking.

After not seeing Tang Mingxi for years, the boy who had once followed behind him had not changed at all. It was as though he had followed a predetermined path, growing from a child into an adult.

Yet He Ling had missed Tang Mingxi's most precious years, allowing the dazzling gem that should have been his for certain to be handed over to another.

"I didn't expect to run into you at an art exhibition today. I remember you didn't really like attending these events in high school."

He Ling suppressed the displeasure in his heart and took the initiative to start a conversation.

Tang Mingxi had run into trouble, but Wang Min had won a sweeping victory.

Relying on an outfit worth tens of millions, she had utterly outshone her ex-ex-boyfriend's current girlfriend. Watching the other woman storm away in rage, Wang Min was in excellent spirits and glowing with triumph.

"Hey, Wang Min, who's that man standing with Tang Er?"

One of her plastic sisters, holding a glass of champagne, asked the question.

Wang Min looked up. When she saw the man in the charcoal-gray suit standing extremely close to Tang Mingxi, she cursed internally.

As the number one gossip queen around Tang Er, Wang Min knew all about the rumors surrounding Tang Mingxi. She immediately recognized the man as He Ling.

What was going on?

An affair during marriage?

Before Wang Min could say anything, her plastic sisters had already begun discussing it.

"He Ling. You don't know him? Tang Er's first love."

"Wasn't everyone in the circle talking about it a while ago? They said he came back to the country, and Tang Er even specially went to buy him a gift."

"Isn't Tang Mingxi about to get married?"

"Now that his first love is back, could their old feelings reignite?"

"They don't look familiar with each other, though."

Ten thousand screaming rubber chickens galloped through Wang Min's mind.

This was too exciting, wasn't it?!

Should she tell her brother-in-law?!

Before Wang Min could finish struggling internally, Tang Mingxi found an excuse to go to the restroom, briefly escaping He Ling.

He stood before the mirror and let out a long breath.

qvq.

Dealing with a childhood sweetheart was way too difficult.

Tang Mingxi was afraid of acting too warmly, but he was also afraid of breaking character and letting He Ling notice something was off.

At that moment, he suddenly felt how good the male lead was. Tang Mingxi