After Breaking Up With the Scheming Bad Woman 92

Chapter 92: “Backup Choice.”

The work Huai Xing mentioned was to go to the company’s factory in the suburbs, where she experienced the production process with the employees.

Most of the employees in the factory were aunties from all over the country with a low level of education. Because of the assessment mechanism, the aunties were inevitably worried that this well-paying job would be replaced by others, so they had always been down-to-earth, serious, and hardworking.

Five years ago, during the three months that Huai Xing and Lu Xianyue had been at the factory in disguise, it was probably because the two of them were still young, about the same age as their own children, so the two of them had received a lot of kind treatment from the aunties at that time.

Even though they had become bosses later, the aunties would still greet them warmly when they appeared. Although they called her “President Huai,” their tone was very enthusiastic.

Huai Xing liked to be with them and would occasionally hear them talk about their children, whether good or bad, always with a smile.

These would remind her of Huai Zhao.

There were many kinds of machines in the factory, and there were also many workshops, all of which were operating in an orderly manner. However, some processes still required manual labor. Huai Xing threw herself into it and was busy with a focused expression.

Being busy could make her temporarily forget Chu Wantang and forget last night.

It was still dusk, with the sky full of colorful clouds, when she came out of the factory and got into the car. She had originally planned to eat the staff meal here, but Lu Xianyue had invited her to a very low-key restaurant in the morning to explore, and her account was due for an update.

Apart from the two of them, there were naturally also Wen Shiwei and Lu Zhenyue.

Wen Shiwei had been a little more relaxed since she had returned from her business trip a while ago, and she didn’t have to work much overtime on the weekends. And Lu Zhenyue, as the person in charge of the troupe in Haicheng, didn’t have as dense a rehearsal schedule as before, and she was also relaxed tonight.

Thinking of her conversation with Lu Zhenyue last night, Huai Xing silently let out a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, she had expressed her attitude to Lu Zhenyue in advance. Otherwise, what would her actions in Chu Wantang’s apartment be considered?

Her own sincerity had been trampled on. She couldn’t not take Lu Zhenyue’s sincerity seriously. Whether it was a direct or a tactful refusal, it was much better than consuming others’ affection.

This was also her usual thought process when she had rejected those suitors in the past.

On the way, she held up her phone, took a picture of the sunset she hadn’t had time to take yesterday, and shared it on her Moments. She then ignored the message notifications and took a nap in the back seat.

She really hadn’t slept well last night, and she had gotten up before dawn today to go to the suburbs and into the factory. At this moment, her head was aching a little.

An hour later, she arrived at the small restaurant that Lu Xianyue had mentioned.

It was a small shop with an inconspicuous decoration and was not on apps like Dianping. The decoration was very simple, and it was clear that not much thought had been put into it. But the business in the shop was very good, and there was not a single empty table.

Lu Xianyue and the others were in the city and had arrived a little earlier, and the dishes on the table were also all served.

Seeing her appear, she waved to her. “Here, Xiao Xing.”

A small rectangular table, with an aisle on one side and a wall on the other.

After greeting her, Huai Xing sat down next to Lu Zhenyue, took off the hair tie on her wrist, and tied her hair up in a bun.

Lu Zhenyue poured her a drink and asked very normally, “Why did you stay at the factory all day today?”

“I haven’t experienced it in a long time,” Huai Xing said, taking the glass. “Thank you, Sister Suisui.”

Lu Zhenyue propped her chin on her hand and “mm”-ed, asking her sister opposite her, “Are we going to start shooting?”

Lu Xianyue was adjusting the angle of her camera. “We’re about to start. It’s the same as before. Just comment normally.” She nudged Wen Shiwei with her elbow. “Xiao Shiwei, move that dish at the side in a little.”

Hearing this intimate form of address, Huai Xing almost choked.

Wen Shiwei moved the dish in a little. Seeing her like this, her bright face seemed puzzled. She raised an eyebrow and asked with a smile, “What are you smiling about, Xingxing?”

“The drink I just had was too sweet.”

Lu Zhenyue: “Mm, the sugar-free oolong tea is very sweet.”

Being teased by her friend and her own sister, Lu Xianyue was not shy at all. She lifted her chin and hummed lightly. “This young lady saw that your lives have been too hard and did it on purpose. You should be happy, okay?”

“Okay.”

The shooting officially began, and the topic of feelings was temporarily put on hold. They all became taste testers.

The restaurant was filled with a strong smell of fireworks, and there were all kinds of people. The few dishes on the table were all on the spicy side, and everyone’s tastes were different, and their tolerance for spicy food was also different. Especially Huai Xing, who had been in Haicheng for a few years and was no longer very good at eating spicy food. Several times, she was so spicy that she could only drink water to buffer it, and at this time, Lu Zhenyue would refill her glass.

Lu Xianyue looked at this scene and said to the microphone clipped to her collar, “If it weren’t for the fact that I have to put special effects on their faces, you would see how pleasing this scene is.”

Huai Xing smiled. “I think the camera should be turned to you and Sister Shiwei.” She turned her head to ask Lu Zhenyue, “Sister Suisui, don’t you think so?”

“Mm,” Lu Zhenyue nodded.

After they had each commented on the few dishes on the table, Lu Xianyue turned off the camera. She was not a mukbanger who made money from this, so she didn’t have to be so desperate.

After putting away the camera, she ate the food that Wen Shiwei had given her and said slowly, “It’s getting hot, and I’m starting to miss the rainy days again.” Her eyes suddenly lit up. “Xiao Xing, let’s go to escape the heat for your birthday this year. Haicheng doesn’t have Yuelan Wu, but it has Yunqi Yuan. We’ve always said we wanted to go, but we’ve never had the chance. We can go this year. Your birthday is in ten days. We can make arrangements then.”

“My birthday is on a Thursday.”

“Then let’s arrange it for next weekend, the 12th and 13th. We can go in advance. The work pressure is so great. We can just think of it as relaxing.”

Huai Xing looked at her friend’s expectant expression, thought for a moment, and nodded. “Alright, you have a point.”

And so it was settled. The four of them would set off for Yunqi Yuan then.

After discussing the specific departure and return times, this restaurant exploration also came to an end. There were still customers queuing up, so they did not stay for long and all stood up to make way.

The sky had completely darkened, with not a trace of white left. After Huai Xing returned to her apartment and took a shower, she lay sprawled on the bed, and only then did she start replying to the comments under that Moments post.

Inevitably, she saw Chu Wantang’s like.

Her fingertips hesitated for two seconds. She opened Chu Wantang’s profile picture and then went into Chu Wantang’s Moments.

Not long after she had posted on her Moments, Chu Wantang had also posted a similar photo. It was the same sunset, but from a different perspective.

The caption was just a sunset emoji, very simple.

It was as if she were just sharing.

Huai Xing stared at it for a while, then went downstairs and took out the housewarming dinner menu that Chu Wantang had personally written. She ticked off a few items on it, then took a picture and sent it to Chu Wantang.

She had chosen a very common-looking three dishes and one soup that did not seem very difficult, and she was also prepared to order takeout then.

She did not say any more, and Chu Wantang’s reply came two minutes later: [Received.]

Huai Xing twirled her pen and stared at the two words that were often seen in the workplace.

Forget it. She didn’t have to ask Chu Wantang if she still remembered last night. Last night, she had just been very simply feeding Chu Wantang water.

…Even if this water was very sweet, fragrant, soft, smooth, and delicious.

Huai Xing let out a deep sigh and looked at the dark night outside the window.

…

On Sunday afternoon, Chu Wantang went to a nearby supermarket to carefully select the ingredients needed for dinner. She still had some time left after she returned to her apartment.

She sat on the sofa, scrolling through some cooking tutorials on Xiaohongshu. After exiting a tutorial interface, she refreshed and saw a new restaurant exploration video from Lu Xianyue. The cover was carefully made, and she saw Huai Xing in the center at a glance, and Lu Zhenyue, who was obviously sitting next to Huai Xing.

She had no extra expression, but her fingertips trembled as she opened it.

Lu Xianyue’s voice sounded at the beginning. “Hello everyone, hahaha, it’s been a long time since I’ve posted a restaurant exploration video. I’ve been too busy recently. I hope you can forgive me…”

“Today is July 6th, 2025, the second day after the plum rain season in Haicheng. The weather is really good. It’s now seven in the evening…”

“Sitting opposite me is my old friend, classmate Xiao Xing, who often appears in my videos. Next to her is my own sister, who rarely appears. And next to me is Xiao Shi, who is appearing in a new identity for the first time…”

…

This video was shot last night, less than 24 hours ago.

Chu Wantang’s gaze fell on Huai Xing and Lu Zhenyue. Lu Zhenyue was very considerate to Huai Xing. When Huai Xing was choking, she would hand her a tissue, and when her water was low, she would pour her more. Even though their heads had been processed with special effects and you couldn’t see what they looked like, you could still feel the intimacy between the two of them through the screen.

An unguarded intimacy.

The video was more than ten minutes long, and the rhythm was very good. Most people would still feel that it was not enough after watching it and would leave a message in the comments section, hoping that the blogger would release the next issue as soon as possible.

Only Chu Wantang felt extremely tormented. She had forgotten to blink, and her eyes were so dry that they ached a little.

It was not just because of these scenes, but also because she had once again realized how unimportant she was to Huai Xing. Huai Xing would rather shoot such a restaurant exploration video with them than come to this housewarming dinner.

Even in this friendship, she was far behind others. Even though she had long known that she was no longer Huai Xing’s first choice, she would still feel heartache for this.

The apartment seemed to have been filled with seawater at this moment, and she had the feeling of drowning again.

…

Huai Xing could not continue to hide. She arrived at the apartment on the 11th floor at six-thirty in the evening, when the sunset was brilliant, as promised. This time, she did not enter the password on her own, but pressed the doorbell, putting herself in the position of a guest.

The door opened, and Chu Wantang invited her with a smile, “Please come in.”

Huai Xing nodded politely, walked in, and changed her shoes.

Two days had passed, and Chu Wantang had tidied up the house. There were not so many boxes, and it could be seen that the house had a lot more things than last time, and a sense of life had filled it.

But Huai Xing’s gaze was a little unsure of where to look—

Tonight, Chu Wantang had put on a layer of makeup, wearing a gentle long dress, and her hair was casually tied up, revealing the neck that she had caressed countless times and had almost been unable to control herself from kissing the night before. And the shoulder and neck were only held by a slip, and the collarbones were all exposed. Her skin was delicate and fair, a little dazzling.

Huai Xing fluttered her long lashes, looked at her swaying skirt and the few strands of hair that were still playfully swaying, and followed.

The sensor lights on the floor lit up one by one, and they passed through the entryway to the dining room.

There were four dishes and one soup on the dining table, one more hard dish than Huai Xing had ticked off, a large shrimp and chicken wing pot. This was not the most important thing. The most important thing was that these few dishes did not look like “color, aroma, and taste all abstain,” but were truly “color, aroma, and taste all complete.”

An unexpected scene.

Chu Wantang pulled out a chair for her. After she had sat down, she explained, “I was busy with work before and didn’t really want to cook. Auntie Chen and the others’ skills are not bad, so I didn’t want to trouble myself.”

It wasn’t until she saw that Lu Zhenyue’s Weibo often posted delicious food, and also mentioned that her friends liked it, that she thought of cooking.

In this aspect, she didn’t want to lose either.

After she finished speaking, she added, “It’s not that I don’t want to cook for you…”

“…” Huai Xing smelled the fragrance of the food and didn’t dwell on the matter any longer. She pointed to the large shrimp and chicken wing pot and tried to dilute the atmosphere that made her feel at a loss with a light tone.

She asked, “You didn’t write this dish on the menu you gave me. How did it appear here?”

“It’s a backup choice,” Chu Wantang said, sitting opposite her, and it was a little difficult to say these few words.

Huai Xing picked up her chopsticks. “Alright.”

She picked up the water glass on the table, took the initiative to clink it with Chu Wantang’s, and said, “This is a housewarming dinner. I hope Sister Wantang can live happily in Haicheng, and live comfortably and comfortably in this apartment. I hope that your future life can be smooth…”

“Huai Xing,” Chu Wantang cut her off and called her.

Huai Xing looked at her appearance, put down her glass, and stood up to leave.

Chu Wantang chased after her and took her wrist.

But she did not dare to use too much force and said in a hoarse voice, “I can’t just be ordinary friends with you.”

She looked at Huai Xing’s profile, and her heart, which had been soaked in bitterness, ached again. She slowly hugged Huai Xing from the side, and her tears fell on Huai Xing’s shoulder.

“Backup choice.”

“Please, can you let me have the qualification to be a backup choice in your eyes?”