Marriage Seduction Addiction

Chapter 227 The Fox's Tail Can't Be Hidden Anymore

Tang Xu's breathing tightened little by little.

Meng Liancheng's appearance, expression, and smile all made her feel uncomfortable.

This uncomfortable feeling was hard to describe in detail. In short, the aura emanating from this person made Tang Xu repel him from getting close.

But she had already arrived here, and almost everything was about to fall into place. At this point, she couldn't back down.

Thinking of this, Tang Xu steadied himself and slowly walked forward.

Meng Liancheng kept looking at her, but Tang Xu's gaze quickly shifted to Madam Long.

"Hello, Madam Long."

Madam Long looked her up and down with slight surprise, and asked in confusion, "Who are you?"

Before Tang Xu could introduce herself, Meng Liancheng suddenly laughed and said to Madam Long, "Qianqian, you really have poor eyesight. I can recognize who this is, but you don't?"

Tang Xu's heart skipped a beat again.

"You know him?" Upon hearing that he knew him, Madam Long's cold attitude softened slightly, but her gaze towards Tang Xu remained undisguised.

Meng Liancheng then looked at Tang Xu again and said, "If I'm not mistaken, you should be the Jiang family's daughter-in-law, right?"

"The Jiang family?" Upon hearing this, Madam Long stared at Tang Xu for a while, then chuckled and said, "It's hard to believe that the Jiang family's daughter-in-law is so simple."

Tang Xu also knew that he was poor.

Even the most unassuming ladies of high society would wear jewelry when going out.

She came from the freight yard today, wearing sneakers, jeans, a regular T-shirt, and a work jacket over it. It was more than just plain... In Mrs. Long's eyes, it was probably already downright shabby.

But surprisingly, this former vegetative patient, who had been asleep for over ten years and had only been awake for less than a year, recognized her at a glance.

Tang Xu met Meng Liancheng's gaze and quickly responded to Madam Long, "Madam Long, my name is Tang Xu."

Madam Long was clearly uninterested in what her name was and did not respond. Instead, she grabbed Meng Liancheng and pressed him for an answer: "That's interesting. You've met before? How could you recognize her at a glance?"

Meng Liancheng took a sip of the water in front of him and said, "I've been lying in bed for so many years, and when I woke up I was still in the hospital. I had a lot of time, so I read a lot of gossip magazines. Miss Tang... left a deep impression on me."

Tang Xu couldn't see her own expression at that moment; she could only try her best to maintain her composure.

Meng Liancheng quickly stood up, pulled over a chair next to him, placed it next to Tang Xu, and said to Tang Xu, "Miss Tang, what is it? Please sit down and talk."

Seeing his actions, Madam Long gave a slight "humph" before turning to Tang Xu and asking, "Did you need something from me?"

Tang Xu watched as Meng Liancheng slowly sat back down in his chair before finally sitting down himself. He then said, "I'm so sorry to bother Madam Long. I just heard from a friend the other day that Madam Long acquired a painting by Shen Xi, the one called 'Rose.' This painting happens to be very important to a friend of mine, so I wanted to ask Madam Shen if she could part with it?"

As she spoke, Tang Xu noticed that when she mentioned the painting, Madam Long's gaze fell on Meng Liancheng.

Sure enough, after she finished speaking, Madam Long said, "So you came for this painting. I'm sorry, I've already given it away, so I can't help you with that."

Tang Xu hurriedly asked, "I wonder which friend Madam Long gave it to? Could you give me their contact information? I'll try my best to think of a solution."

Upon hearing this, Madam Long glanced lazily at Meng Liancheng and said, "This friend is right in front of you. Anyway, he has a deep impression of you. I'd like to see what kind of way you can come up with to coax him into giving you that painting."

After saying that, she crossed her arms and watched the two people in front of her as if she were watching a show.

Tang Xu lowered her eyes slightly before looking at Meng Liancheng again, "So that painting was in Mr. Meng's hands."

Meng Liancheng smiled slightly, "So Miss Tang knows me."

“Of course I know him,” Tang Xu replied. “When Mr. Meng woke up last year, he happened to be in the same hospital as my father. I remember it very well.”

"Oh?" Upon hearing this, Meng Liancheng simply responded, "That's quite a coincidence."

“Yes,” Tang Xu said. “At that time, I was also very happy for Mr. Meng.”

Meng Liancheng's smile remained indifferent. "Thank you."

His response left Tang Xu with no way to delve deeper into the topic, so she could only change the subject, saying, "I don't know about that painting, Mr. Meng—"

Before she could finish speaking, Meng Liancheng interrupted her, saying, "I'm sorry, I've already given that painting to a friend, and it's not in my possession right now."

Madam Long scoffed, her tone still tinged with bitterness, "A tattered painting, I don't know what's so special about it, yet you're fighting over it."

Faced with this undisguised mockery, Meng Liancheng still smiled tolerantly and did not offer any explanation.

Tang Xu pretended not to notice the flirtatious exchange between the two and continued, "Who is Mr. Meng's friend? Could you please give me some information?"

"I'm sorry, it's not convenient to disclose that," Meng Liancheng replied directly.

Madam Long rolled her eyes again.

Tang Xu's expression revealed undisguised disappointment. "I know I can't force it, but... is there really no chance?"

Meng Liancheng shook his head gently, his attitude remaining mild. "I'm sorry, I'm afraid I can't help you."

Tang Xu paused for a moment before saying, "In that case, I won't bother you any longer."

She stood up, put the chair that Meng Liancheng had pulled over back in its original place, turned around and nodded to the two of them again, then quickly left.

Madam Long's voice came from behind: "I thought you would definitely help me think of a solution. The young lady is so sincere. Where did your chivalrous spirit go?"

"Qianqian, don't talk nonsense."

Madam Long gave a soft "tsk," but Tang Xu could no longer hear what she said after that.

After leaving the gallery and getting into her car, Tang Xu immediately dialed Duan Siwei's number.

Do you remember Meng Liancheng?

"Menglian...Cheng?" Duan Siwei recalled for a moment before connecting the name with the Meng family. "Oh, what happened to that comatose person from the Meng family?"

“When my father was hospitalized last year, he was also in that hospital, but he wasn’t on the list of patients.”

"Really? Oh, right, it seems to be that hospital..." Duan Siwei said while thinking, "Then he was probably missed. After all, he was in that hospital when he had the accident and lay there for more than ten years. He might have been missed when compiling statistics on patients during a specific period... What, you don't suspect that he has a problem?"

"Madam Long gave him the painting 'Rose,' which he then gave to someone else. Coupled with the clue about the hospital, everything points to him. Could it really be a coincidence?"

Duan Siwei still found it unbelievable, "But he's in a vegetative state! He's been lying in the hospital for over ten or twenty years, how could he possibly have planned something like this..."

"Can you help me find information about exactly when he was admitted to the hospital?" Tang Xu said. "I don't think I can find any relevant information online."

Duan Siwei paused for a moment before saying, "Wait for me a while." After hanging up the phone, Tang Xu searched for information about Meng Liancheng on her phone, only to find that since he woke up last year, there had been no public activities or information left behind. In other words, his life had been almost a blank in the public eye for the past six months.

Actually, this is quite normal. After all, it's a miracle that someone who has been in a vegetative state for more than ten years can recover to this level in just over half a year.

It's not unusual that he couldn't do anything else.

But Tang Xu's anxiety grew stronger and stronger...

She waited for a while, but instead of Duan Siwei calling back, she saw Meng Liancheng and Madam Long come out of the gallery.

Even though Madam Long was a married woman, she still openly appeared on the street arm in arm with Meng Liancheng, and even when it was time to get into the car, she was reluctant to part and talked to Meng Liancheng for a long time.

It wasn't until Meng Liancheng gently patted the back of her hand and personally opened the car door for her that Madam Long finally got into the car.

Meng Liancheng remained standing on the street, watching the car drive away before turning to look behind him.

His action made it seem as if he was checking why his car hadn't arrived yet, and coincidentally, upon looking at it, he saw Tang Xu.

Meng Liancheng quickly smiled and waved to Tang Xu.

That uncomfortable feeling washed over Tang Xu once again.

The next moment, she rolled down the car window, leaned out and looked at Meng Liancheng, "Mr. Meng, is your driver late? If you're in a hurry, I can give you a ride."

Meng Liancheng walked forward slowly and said with a smile, "Isn't this troublesome?"

Tang Xu said, "I have nothing else to do this afternoon."

"Thank you very much."

Meng Liancheng quickly opened the car door, sat in the passenger seat of Tang Xu's car, and fastened his seatbelt.

After they started moving, Tang Xu asked again, "Are you going home?"

“No,” Meng Liancheng replied, “I’m going to Xiaofu in Nancheng.”

Upon hearing this location, Tang Xu was startled.

That was the place where Tang Lan lived when she first went to see her, and it was also the place where she saw the painting "Rose".

No matter how hard Tang Xu tried to remain calm, at this moment, she could no longer pretend that nothing had happened.

Her voice finally dropped slightly, "Is Mr. Meng visiting a friend, or does he own property there?"

Upon hearing this, Meng Liancheng sighed softly and said, "I'm just going to take a look."

Tang Xu pursed her lips gently, unable to ask any more questions for a moment.

Some messages appear too coincidentally and too smoothly, making it hard not to suspect that someone is deliberately guiding things.

Especially now that this person is sitting right next to her.

Tang Xu even suspected that if she mentioned Tang Lan now, Meng Liancheng would tell her a series of related stories.

But Tang Xu didn't want to be led by the nose.

So she chose not to ask.

She drove quietly onto the overpass, when she suddenly heard Meng Liancheng sigh again and say, "Ever since I woke up, every time I pass by this section, I feel like I'm dreaming... I just took a nap, and my city, everything around me, has become something I don't recognize. This feeling is truly indescribable."

Tang Xu paused for a moment before continuing, "Mr. Meng has indeed suffered a great misfortune, but he has also experienced a great fortune amidst the misfortune. For you, the real life begins from here. You still have a long time and many opportunities to experience it."

Upon hearing this, Meng Liancheng chuckled softly and said, "Thank you, I appreciate your kind words."

Tang Xu pursed her lips and remained silent for a moment.

However, Meng Liancheng quickly found a topic to talk about: the various city buildings and streets along the way became his sources of conversation.

Tang Xu chatted with him casually, answering some of his questions, and soon drove the car to the entrance of Nancheng Xiaofu.

She gently pressed the brake, but Meng Liancheng said, "Can we drive in? Because the entrance to this community is quite far from the building I need to go to."

"of course."

Tang Xu answered and quickly drove the car into the residential area.

Meng Liancheng gave her directions twice, and Tang Xu parked the car in front of the villa she recognized.

That's right, it's the building where Tang Lan used to live.

"Thank you." Meng Liancheng unbuckled his seatbelt and turned to look at Tang Xu. "It was a pleasure traveling with you today. How about I treat you to a meal sometime?"

Tang Xu gave a slight smile. "I'm fine with anything. Whatever is convenient for Mr. Meng."

Meng Liancheng smiled and nodded, then quickly got out of the car and stood by the car to point out the way to Tang Xu.

Tang Xu didn't linger and immediately turned the car around and drove away.

In the rearview mirror, Meng Liancheng stood at the spot where she got out of the car, watching it drive away.

Until his figure completely disappeared from the rearview mirror.

Tang Xu took a deep breath and drove the car out of the residential area.

On the way back, Tang Xu finally received a call from Duan Siwei.

"We found out. Meng Liancheng fell into a vegetative state due to a car accident in May eighteen years ago, and remained in a coma until he woke up last year." Duan Siwei paused, then said, "Is there anything special about this timing?"

Tang Xu was quiet for a moment before saying softly, "It's very special. Because Tang Lan divorced my father and left Huai City in July eighteen years ago, two months after Meng Liancheng fell into a coma. And last year, when Meng Liancheng woke up, she happened to return to Huai City and met with my father."

After saying that, Tang Xu added, "By the way, I just drove Meng Liancheng to a place, um, the villa where Tang Lan used to live."

Duan Siwei on the other end of the phone was startled and choked for a moment.

Even though he had previously considered Meng Liancheng to be nothing more than a "useless" person in a vegetative state, he now realized that everything seemed to be connected and intersecting with Meng Liancheng, ultimately forming a closed loop.

Regardless of Meng Liancheng's role in all of this, one thing is certain: his relationship with Tang Lan is definitely not ordinary.

After a long pause, Duan Siwei spoke again, "Is there anything else you need me to investigate?"

“No more for now,” Tang Xu said softly. “Some foxes can’t hide their true colors, and they’re even eager to show them. Let’s wait and see what they’re up to.”