Chapter 95: Matchmaking at the Door

After dropping the two women off at their place, Chen Feng returned to the Red Villa Bay villa.

Xiao Ya was already home.

The two had contacted each other earlier. Chen Feng had said he was eating out with friends, and Xiao Ya, being very sensible, didn’t ask any further questions.

As soon as Chen Feng returned, she started talking to him about the milk tea shop again. After listening patiently for over half an hour, Chen Feng finally grew a little impatient, got up, and went straight to take a shower.

The night passed without a word.

When he woke up the next morning, Xiao Ya was already gone from beside him.

Looking at the time, it was not yet eight o’clock. This woman’s career ambition was indeed quite strong.

He first went to the bathroom, then continued to laze in bed, reading a novel on his phone. When it was almost nine o’clock and his stomach was really hungry, he slowly got up to wash.

He went downstairs, drove out, and headed back to the East Lake villa. On the way, he bought milk and buns from a breakfast shop, making do with that for breakfast.

Living like this, Chen Feng increasingly missed Sun Xiaorui’s loving breakfasts, which were not only nutritious but also very rich and delicious.

Back at the East Lake villa, Chen Feng first went to the bedroom to admire the “Orchid Pavilion Preface.” This time, after staring at the painting for five or six minutes, the dizzy feeling appeared, and then this state only lasted for about ten minutes.

It was obvious that the “trance-like” feeling this calligraphy brought him was constantly diminishing, and the duration was shortening.

This made Chen Feng a little disappointed.

He greatly enjoyed this comfortable feeling, especially since after each session, he would feel refreshed and full of energy.

He even felt that his performance and skills had improved when playing “games” with Xiao Ya these past two days.

It almost made him suspect that his brain tumor was gone.

Otherwise, how could his body be so good?
It was even better than when he was healthy before.

This enjoyment, and the gratifying changes it brought, Chen Feng naturally wanted to have for a long time.

But now it seemed that it was time-limited.

And judging from the degree of decay in the past two days, this time limit didn’t seem to be very long. It was possible that after a few more “trances,” it would completely lose its effect.

This made Chen Feng inevitably think about finding the next piece of calligraphy or artwork.

As long as it could bring him similar gratifying changes.

Since this copy of the “Orchid Pavilion Preface” by Master Wang Yi could bring him such benefits, Chen Feng believed that some other artworks might be able to as well.

With this in mind, Chen Feng searched for art exhibitions, calligraphy and painting exhibitions, and the like on his phone.

Xiuzhou could be considered an art capital, and there were indeed many art exhibitions and calligraphy and painting exhibitions.

When he searched for art galleries, there were surprisingly over a hundred of them, big and small. Of course, most of them were small, private galleries.

But even so, it still surprised Chen Feng a little.

He really hadn’t expected there to be so many art galleries in Xiuzhou.

This undoubtedly made him feel a little excited, feeling that among so many art galleries, he should be able to find the next artwork similar to the “Orchid Pavilion Preface.”

Chen Feng immediately went over and turned on his computer, searched online, and then recorded them one by one, arranging them in a list from largest to smallest in scale.

The list included the address and contact number of each art gallery.

By the time he was done, it was already past eleven in the morning. Chen Feng then sent a WeChat message to Wu Mengting, asking if she was coming home for lunch.

Wu Mengting replied that she was already at home cooking.

Chen Feng immediately said he would buy some cooked food and come over to eat with them, to make it more lively.

Wu Mengting sent back an “OK” emoji.

So, Chen Feng quickly went downstairs and out, walking over.

There was a cooked food shop right at the entrance of the two women’s apartment complex. He casually bought a few kinds of cooked food and carried them into the complex.

He rang the doorbell, and the one who opened the door was Lin Wan. She said with a grin, “Brother Feng, why don’t we two just move in with you? It’ll save you the trouble of running back and forth every day. Then, you can eat Tiantian’s cooking every day.”

Chen Feng smiled and said, “Sure. The rent is 30,000 a month. You two just have to pay 10,000, and you’ll be responsible for cleaning and cooking.”

“You’re so rich, and you still want us to pay rent?” Lin Wan pouted in dissatisfaction.

“It’s not about the money, it’s a matter of principle. Aren’t we all advocating for gender equality now? And you’re not my girlfriends, so I can’t be expected to pay your rent, can I? I’m only asking you to bear one-third of the rent, which is already very generous.”

“But we also have to be responsible for cleaning and cooking.”

Chen Feng smiled and said, “It’s fine if you don’t do those two things. You can just split half of the 30,000 rent.”

“Screw you!”

They couldn’t even afford 10,000 in rent, let alone 15,000.

Lin Wan rolled her eyes at him as usual, then went to the kitchen to help.

At this time, two dishes were already on the dining table, braised crucian carp and pork rib soup, steaming and looking delicious.

Chen Feng first went to get chopsticks and a spoon and shamelessly tasted them first.

They were really good! The taste of home.

While the three of them were eating, Chen Feng told the two women that he planned to visit the museum and a few art galleries in the afternoon and asked if they were interested.

It was too boring to go alone, so Chen Feng planned to take them with him.

Lin Wan immediately shook her head and said, “I have to do a live stream this afternoon. I’ve already streamed at the museum and art gallery before, and it didn’t have much effect, unless you and Tiantian agree to appear on camera with me.”

“Then you don’t have to go,” Chen Feng refused directly.

Wu Mengting smiled and nodded. “Wan’er, then you just stay home and do your live stream. I have time this afternoon, I can go with you.”

“That’s great. It’s really boring for me to go alone.”

Chen Feng was of course happy to have a beauty like Wu Mengting accompany him.

He had also come to terms with it now. He wouldn’t deliberately keep his distance from her. Just as Wu Mengting had said before, they would let things take their natural course and see what fate had in store.

“Are you two guys going to get together just like that? Brother Feng, have you thought it through? Are you planning to accept our Tiantian?” Lin Wan’s eyes were mischievous as she looked back and forth between the two of them.

Chen Feng said magnanimously, “We’re friends, just normal interaction. Don’t overthink it.”

Although Wu Mengting’s face was a little red, she also echoed, “Yes, just normal friends’ interaction. Wan’er, don’t think too much.”

Lin Wan “tsked,” pouted, and lowered her head to eat, not continuing to tease them about their relationship.

The three of them ate happily, talking and laughing, when the doorbell suddenly rang.

The three of them all looked towards the door. Wu Mengting stood up and said, “I’ll go see.”

She went to the door and first looked through the peephole, then frowned. After a moment’s hesitation, she opened the door.

Standing at the door were the landlady, Auntie Wang, and her fat son who was a stay-at-home otaku living off his parents.

“Auntie Wang, have you had lunch yet?” Wu Mengting greeted with a smile.

“Yes, we’ve eaten. You guys… hey, you’re just eating now.”

Auntie Wang was also smiling at first, but when she stretched her head slightly to look inside and saw Chen Feng sitting at the dining table eating, her expression changed, and her tone became a little sarcastic. “That man is here again? Is he really not the boyfriend of one of you? He’s not living here, is he? When I rented the apartment to you, I made it clear that only the two of you could live here. No one else can be added. And you can’t bring messy people over, especially men.”

Hearing her words, Wu Mengting’s expression also turned a little unpleasant. She forced a smile and said, neither humbly nor arrogantly, “He’s just our friend. He doesn’t live here. He just lives nearby, so he comes over often.”

“Hah! A friend, you guys have a really good relationship with him, often eating together in the house,” Auntie Wang said sourly, before getting back to the main topic. “Oh, right. Someone gave our family several boxes of navel oranges, and we can’t eat that many. Xiaoming said he’d bring a box over for you to try.”

Xiaoming was her son, with a face full of acne and a pair of thick glasses. He stood beside her looking shy, occasionally stealing glances at Wu Mengting, a somewhat silly and bashful smile on his face.

“Here… they’re delicious, you should try them.”

Xiaoming handed the box of navel oranges he was holding to Wu Mengting.

“No, no, it’s fine,” Wu Mengting waved her hand in refusal. “We don’t really like oranges.”

Xiaoming was stunned, not knowing what to do.

Seeing this, Auntie Wang quickly said, “What are you being so polite for? It’s just a box of oranges, not worth much. Besides, Xiaoming sees you as friends, so giving you some fruit is just a gesture of courtesy. If you feel bad about it, you can just invite him over for a simple meal next time, just like your male friend inside.”

Wu Mengting was cornered by Auntie Wang’s sharp words and didn’t know how to refuse for a moment.

At this moment, Chen Feng and Lin Wan both walked over.

Chen Feng said with a smile, “Mengting, since Auntie Wang has said so, you should just accept it. If you two don’t like to eat them, I can eat them. I’ll just give him a box of apples in return next time.”

Auntie Wang’s face immediately fell upon hearing this. She said in a show-off tone, “These oranges are authentic Gannan navel oranges. They’re already selling for over ten yuan a jin in the market. This box has 20 jin.”

Chen Feng and the two women were all a little speechless at these words.

Oranges that cost over ten yuan a jin were a bit expensive, but a 20-jin box was only three or four hundred yuan. Was it really necessary to show off like that? As if no one had ever eaten such expensive fruit before.

“The price is alright. Then next time, I’ll buy a box of fruit of similar price as a return gift. I hope you won’t mind.”

After saying that, Chen Feng went forward and took the box of navel oranges from Xiaoming, nodded to him, turned around, and carried the box into the room.

Xiaoming stared blankly at Chen Feng for a while before turning to look at his mother.

Auntie Wang stared at Chen Feng angrily for a while, then looked at her son with a look of disappointment, and said to Wu Mengting and Lin Wan with a smile, “Your friend is quite forward. We gave this box of oranges to you. We didn’t ask for a return gift. I just hope you can be friends with Xiaoming. He doesn’t have many friends, and it’s rare that you’re all the same age, all young people. You should interact more in the future.”

This was said quite directly. Wu Mengting and Lin Wan could only respond with awkwardness.

“Sure,” Chen Feng agreed on their behalf. “Auntie Wang, I can tell your son is very honest, and his personality should be good. I’ll take him out to see the world someday. He can’t just stay at home playing games all the time, that’ll ruin him.”

“Who are you talking about? Who said my son plays games at home all day?” Auntie Wang suddenly flew into a rage and said loudly, “My son does play games, but he makes money playing games. Do you understand what power-leveling is? He helps people level up in games online. It’s a proper profession.”

“Alright, alright. Don’t get excited. I was just saying. Of course I know what power-leveling is. It’s very profitable if you do it well. It’s just very tiring.”

Xiaoming nodded repeatedly, rarely speaking, “Yes, yes, it is a bit tiring. So, I’m planning to switch to being a game streamer.”

“Yes, that’s a good idea. Since you can make money power-leveling, I believe you’re pretty good at games. I have high hopes for you.”

Xiaoming smiled shyly and nodded.

Seeing this, Auntie Wang didn’t get angry anymore, but just gave Chen Feng a dissatisfied glare. Then she said to Wu Mengting and Lin Wan with a pleasant expression, “Then we’ll be leaving now. You can enjoy that box of oranges. We’ll come over again when we have time.”

The two women could only respond with awkward smiles.

Auntie Wang finally left with her son, who kept looking back every three steps.

Closing the door, both women let out a long sigh of relief.

Lin Wan said with a frustrated look, “This is really something else. We’re just trying to rent an apartment peacefully, and we’re being forced into a blind date by the landlady. What bad luck.”

Wu Mengting also looked annoyed. This landlady came over every few days, and she would even bring her son along to try and force a match. It was really giving her a headache.

Even if a local like Xiaoming had two apartments worth tens of millions, they couldn’t possibly be interested in him.

“How many months did you sign the contract for?” Chen Feng asked.

Lin Wan replied, “Two months’ deposit, one month’s rent.”

“If you terminate the lease now, can you get the rent back?” Chen Feng asked again.

“We definitely won’t get this month’s back, but we should be able to get next month’s.”

Chen Feng thought for a moment and said, “How about this. You guys stick it out for another month. Then we’ll move. I’ll help you find a new place. If you’re willing to forgo this month’s rent, I’ll help you find a new place in the next few days.”

Seeing them like this, Chen Feng naturally wanted to help.

“How will you find one?” Lin Wan asked curiously.

Chen Feng said very honestly, “Through a real estate agent.”

Lin Wan couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “Won’t that cost extra money?”

Chen Feng smiled and said, “I’ll pay for it.”

Wu Mengting quickly said, “No need to trouble you. We’ll just look for one slowly. We just moved in a few days ago, we definitely have to stay for the whole month.”

Lin Wan nodded emphatically. “Yes, we have to stay for the whole month. Otherwise, it’s too much of a loss.”

Seeing this, Chen Feng suggested, “Next time this Auntie Wang rings the doorbell, just don’t open the door. Just pretend you’re not home.”

Lin Wan immediately agreed. “Right! From now on, I won’t open the door for her.”

Wu Mengting thought for a moment. It seemed that this was the only way for now. She nodded and said, “For now, we’ll have to do that.”

“Alright, let’s continue eating. Don’t let them spoil our appetite.”

Chen Feng gestured for them to continue eating.

After the meal, Chen Feng discussed the afternoon’s itinerary with Wu Mengting. They would first visit the two largest museums in the city, then go to an art gallery for a painting exhibition.

If there was still time, they would then visit one or two other art galleries.

The itinerary was quickly decided.