Chapter 37: A Woman’s Jealousy Is a Blade

My sister does not remember me? I am Gao Fei.

Among Chen Bo’s former swarm of girlfriends, the only ones that had truly left an impression on Li Tian’er were Liang Xia and Gao Fei. She had never met Gao Fei, but even from her voice she could tell the girl was sweet, lively, bold, and fearless.

Li Tian’er pretended to have amnesia. Remembering Chen Bo’s former female friends was hardly a good thing.

“So my sister really does not remember me. All right, as long as I remember my sister, that is enough...”

From the sound of it, Gao Fei was preparing for a long phone call. Li Tian’er quickly cut her off and asked how she had gotten the new number. Gao Fei gave a silly laugh and refused to answer, continuing to chatter on her own.

“Gao Fei, when are you free? I’d like to invite you for coffee.”

Li Tian’er suddenly interrupted her. Gao Fei clearly had not expected to be invited; she paused, then laughed and said any time was fine.

“Tomorrow at six in the evening, the music cafe on Biquan Road.”

After hanging up, Li Tian’er began to think. No outsider could possibly know the new number of her home, yet she had only just finished calling Chen Bo when Gao Fei already knew it. It was obvious either Gao Fei had peeked at the caller ID on Chen Bo’s phone, or someone had seen it and told her.

Chen Bo was on a business trip more than six hundred miles away. Gao Fei was local, which meant the number must have been passed to her by someone near Chen Bo. Or there was another possibility: when she went to the telecommunications office to request a number change, someone there had learned her new number.

The more she thought about it, the more absurd it seemed. These women had called merely to upset her, to stir up jealousy, to make her suspect Chen Bo of cheating, and to sabotage the bond between her and Chen Bo.

Trying to play palace intrigue games with her? These women were underestimating her far too much.

She called Chen Bo again to confirm that his phone had been with him the whole time and untouched. Then Li Tian’er was certain: the only one who could have leaked her home number was a mole inside the telecommunications office.

When she had processed the number change, she had even stressed that the private household number must not be disclosed, and she had checked the box on the application form to exclude it from the directory assistance database.

If an employee at the phone company had deliberately leaked her number to outsiders, she would have to root that person out. She believed the company would not continue to employ anyone so lacking in professional ethics anyway.

Li Tian’er stepped into the music cafe. A girl seated by the window immediately stood and waved to her.

Gao Fei had arrived five minutes earlier. Li Tian’er had always had a fondness for punctual people.

“Miss Tian, you are so beautiful! Even more beautiful than I imagined.”

Gao Fei stared at Li Tian’er as if in a daze of infatuation.

“You’re pretty too, more or less like I imagined.”

Li Tian’er slowly sat down, one hand on her rounded belly.

“Really? You imagined what I looked like?”

Gao Fei leaned forward excitedly.

“Of course. If we’re meeting, then naturally I’d wonder what the other person looks like.”

Li Tian’er gracefully returned the menu to the waiter, picked up the lemon water before her, and took a small sip.

Gao Fei was completely bewitched by her bearing and beauty. Tilting her face up, she sniffed the air around Li Tian’er, looking intoxicated.

“It smells so nice. It must be expensive perfume. The inn my family runs used to host French guests, and they all wore that famous French number one perfume, but even that did not smell as good as you do.”

“I’m not wearing perfume. The doctor said cosmetics are bad for the baby during pregnancy.”

“Oh! So you’re this beautiful even bare-faced. If you ever did yourself up, you’d be enough to make people faint dead away. No wonder Brother Bo only likes you and married you. If it were me, I’d marry you too and never choose those tasteless, overdone women. That Lan Juanjuan, every time she shows up she looks like a ghost, yet she still thinks she is stunning. Just looking at her makes me want to spit.”

“I think I may have seen her. Her figure was actually pretty good.”

A stone from another hill can be used to polish jade. Talking to such a sweet, naïve girl, one could pry out her true feelings in no time.

“Her figure is only average. She likes to wear those push-up bras that lift everything high, deliberately making that part look huge to seduce men, but she’s really only a B cup. Her waist is not especially slim either. She wears shaping shorts so she looks like she has no extra flesh at all, but if you stripped her naked, her body would not be tight. She seems to have been with quite a few men; she stopped being a little girl’s body long ago...”

Sure enough, the moment Gao Fei heard Li Tian’er praising Lan Juanjuan, jealousy burst out all over her face, and her speech quickened at once.

“I’ve seen Liang Xia too. She has a lot of presence. I still do not know whether Chen Bo was just confused for a moment, choosing me instead of Liang Xia and insisting on marrying me. They must have known each other for a long time. You know, I’ve lost a husband, and I have a child. Liang Xia is older than me, but she’s never had children, and her figure is still pretty good.”

“Come on, Liang Xia is that old maid, odd-tempered, a wolf in sheep’s clothing. I saw long ago that she had no good intentions toward Brother Bo. People like her give a little favor and then expect double in return. Brother Bo was unlucky to be set up and harmed by her. Thank goodness he managed to turn danger into safety in the end and did not go to prison. If Brother Bo had gone to prison, I would have been the first to exact revenge on Liang Xia.”

Gao Fei spoke with righteous indignation, reaching out to slap the table and drawing the attention of the customers at the neighboring table. Her little face was flushed red, and her rosy lips pouted as she stood up for Chen Bo.

What man would not like such a beautiful girl, so full of feeling and loyalty?

Li Tian’er truly began to suspect that Chen Bo’s liking for Li Sweetheart was motivated by some hidden scheme. But what in Li Sweetheart was there for him to scheme over?

Chen Bo acknowledged Kai Kai as his son, yet he would not say another word about the past between him and Li Sweetheart. Several times Li Tian’er had tried to broach the subject, and Chen Bo had closed his mouth and avoided it every time. It was the only wall standing between the two of them, and no one could hope to leap over it.

“How did you know my home number?”

“Guo Li told me.”

Only after speaking did Gao Fei realize she had let something slip. She had promised to keep it secret for Guo Li.

“Guo Li, yes, she’s pretty too. I remember the way she walked was rather alluring.”

How could Li Tian’er possibly forget those gossip-ridden girlfriends of Chen Bo’s whom she had met in person? Back then, she had even wanted to deal those little harlots a vicious blow and expose Chen Bo’s scumbag nature before everyone’s eyes. Only later did she discover it had all been her own misunderstanding, and so she never acted on it.

“Guo Li used to be nothing but a waitress. Pretty my ass! I think she’s just vain. Deliberately acting seductive, when in her bones she still has the air of a country girl.”

“Oh, I only saw her from afar and never spoke to her. It is hard to judge someone you do not know. But you seem very familiar with them. Among all these people, I think you are the cutest, and the prettiest. If I were Chen Bo, I would definitely take you as my little sister.”

Li Tian’er’s praise made Gao Fei’s cheeks flush even redder. She took small bites of the cream cake Li Tian’er had ordered for her and licked her lips with the tip of her tongue.

“Brother Bo is a good person, so quite a few people want to call him big brother. Let me tell you something: Zhu Li has started seeing a new boyfriend who works at the telecommunications bureau. Her boyfriend was able to get your home number, and Zhu Li got several women to take turns calling you.

She knows you’re pregnant, and she wanted to make you angry. Since Chen Bo ignores her, she doesn’t want you to have an easy time either. They say pregnant women are most afraid of overthinking, and that it can affect the baby’s development. She is really awful. I even listened to her and called you last night. Actually, I never meant to hurt you. I just wanted to hear your voice and know whether things were going well between you and Brother Bo. Brother Bo changed his phone number, and I haven’t been able to reach him for a long time.”