Invitation

Here's the translation of the passage into English:

At that moment, Feng Jingxin also saw Rong Ci, who was dragging her suitcase out: "Mom?"

"Mm." Rong Ci snapped back to her senses, closed the door, and said, "Mom has work to do, so I'm leaving now. You stay here and have fun with Dad."

Feng Jingxin quickly nodded: "Okay, I understand, Mom."

Rong Ci dragged her suitcase downstairs, and when she reached the bottom, she bumped into Feng Tingchen, who was with Lin Wu.

Seeing her dragging her suitcase, looking like she was leaving, he only asked, "Are you leaving?"

"Mm." Rong Ci replied coldly.

"Did you call a car?"

"Yes."

He didn't try to stop her and simply said, "Okay."

Rong Ci then dragged her suitcase out and got in the car to leave.

Qi Yuming woke up a bit later today. When he came downstairs to have lunch with Feng Tingchen and the others, he said to Feng Tingchen, "Tingchen, why don't you go upstairs and invite her again?"

The "invite" naturally meant inviting Rong Ci.

Feng Tingchen replied indifferently, "No need, she's already gone."

Qi Yuming raised an eyebrow. "She left?"

He and He Changbo both paused.

"Mm." Feng Tingchen said, "She has work at the company."

Because of Rong Ci, Qi Yuming knew about the situation regarding Lin Wu not being hired by Yu Moxun and Rong Ci working at Changmo.

He hadn't forgotten that last night, when Rong Ci didn't come down to have dinner with them, Feng Tingchen had said the same thing—that she had work to do.

Thinking about this, Qi Yuming chuckled and said, "So… she was busy yesterday, and now she's busy today too? She's that busy?"

She was so busy, someone might think Changmo couldn't function without her.

But Rong Ci had entered the company through connections. First, she didn't have much ability, and second, she wasn't a major shareholder of Changmo. So, when she said she was busy, it really sounded like an excuse.

Not only was she making excuses, but she was using such a poor one...

Qi Yuming didn't know what else to say.

Lin Wu also understood Qi Yuming's meaning and smiled silently while looking down at her food.

What Qi Yuming and the others thought, Rong Ci didn't know. After leaving the hot spring villa, she headed straight to Changmo. She worked non-stop until dark.

After two consecutive days of work, just when she was planning to head home to rest, her uncle, Rong Changsheng, called her.

Half an hour later, Rong Ci returned to the Rong family home.

Rong Changsheng and his wife, along with their two children, Rong Xun and Rong Yunhe, were all at home.

When they saw her, they greeted her warmly: "Cousin."

Rong Ci smiled and nodded: "Mm."

Rong Yunhe asked, "Where's Jingxin? Didn't she return from overseas? Why isn't she here for dinner?"

"She went to the hot springs and hasn't come back yet."

"Oh..."

Rong Yunhe, thinking that Feng Jingxin might have gone to the hot springs with Feng Tingchen, didn't ask further.

Before entering the door, Rong Ci paused when she saw the house across the street.

When she had gone to the hot spring villa earlier, she hadn't thought to bring the key to that house. If she had, she could have started having people remove the traces left by the Sun family and begin renovations…

Rong Grandma's birthday banquet was already being prepared. When Rong Changsheng asked her to come back, it wasn't just to get her opinion but also to handle something.

"These two invitations are for the Feng family and Feng Tinglin. Xiao Ci, please find time in the next few days to deliver them."

Rong Ci paused before accepting the invitations, saying, "Okay."

After dinner, she chatted for a while with Grandma, Rong Changsheng, and the others. By around 9 PM, she was getting ready to leave.

Before she left, Grandma came out to see her off. She took Rong Ci's hand and said, "If the people from the Feng family don't want to come, don't force them. Whether they come or not, I, this old woman, don't care!"

Although Rong Changsheng had lowered his voice when handing her the invitations and avoided her attention, she knew what was going on.

Rong Ci replied, "I will."

Grandma and Feng Grandma were close friends.

Normally, Feng Grandma would certainly attend Grandma's birthday. But since Feng Grandma was older than Grandma, according to their customs, friends or relatives older than the birthday person wouldn't attend.

In recent years, Grandma's birthday had never been a big affair. They would just have a family dinner together.

And over these years, Feng Tingchen had never come to celebrate Grandma's birthday.

At first, he made excuses saying he didn't have time.

But Rong Ci knew that when he did have time, even if he went out to play with friends, he still wouldn't attend.

Even so, every year, as Grandma's birthday approached, she would still hold out hope and ask him in advance whether he would have time to accompany her back to the Rong family to celebrate Grandma's birthday.

But all she ever got was disappointment.

This year, she didn't want to ask Feng Tingchen anymore.

However, this year was different—it was Grandma's 80th birthday, and Rong Changsheng had invited many business partners. Not to mention, she and Feng Tingchen hadn't officially divorced yet. Even if they had, considering the relationship between the two grandmothers, the Feng family should still be invited.

As for whether the Feng family would come or not, that was their business.

Tonight, Rong Ci had originally planned to return to her own place.

But as she thought of this, she turned the steering wheel and headed back to Feng Tingchen's villa.

When she arrived at the villa, she realized that neither Feng Tingchen nor Feng Jingxin had returned yet.

Feng Grandma had gone back to the old house for a few days because of other matters.

Rong Ci set down her bag and went to the bathroom.

Half an hour later, she had just finished her shower when she heard a car pull up downstairs.

If nothing had changed, Feng Tingchen and the others should be back.

Rong Ci felt no emotion and thought to herself as she sat down to dry her hair.

When Feng Jingxin learned that Rong Ci was home, she rushed upstairs and ran straight to the master bedroom, leaping into Rong Ci's arms: "Mom, we're back!"

She smelled like Lin Wu's perfume.

Rong Ci remained expressionless and replied with a soft "Mm" as she turned off the hairdryer and stroked her little face: "Did you shower?"

Feng Jingxin shook her head: "Not yet."

"It's already past 10 o'clock. Go back to your room and shower first. You still have school tomorrow."

As soon as Rong Ci finished speaking, Feng Tingchen returned to the bedroom.

Their eyes met briefly.

Rong Ci only glanced at him once and then coldly averted her gaze. At this moment, Feng Jingxin was trying to pull her up from the chair, saying, "Mom, help me shower."

Rong Ci replied, "Okay, let Mommy dry her hair first."

"Okay!" Feng Jingxin happily ran back to her room to get her pajamas.

Feng Tingchen looked at her, then sat down on the other side and asked, "When did you get back?"

"Not long ago." Rong Ci didn't look at him and continued drying her hair as she replied.

Feng Tingchen didn't ask any more questions. He stood up and went to the closet, preparing to shower.

Rong Ci, however, suddenly remembered something. She turned off the hairdryer and, before he entered the bathroom, took one of the invitations from her bag and handed it to him, saying, "Grandma's birthday is coming up. This is the invitation for the Feng family."

As she got closer to him, she also noticed the distinct scent of Lin Wu's perfume on him.