Jiang Nanshu pushed the door open, and everyone in the hospital room turned to look at her.
Cheng Jiajia, sitting on the hospital bed, looked at her and said, “Nanshu, you’re here.”
Qi Hongyu had met Jiang Nanshu a few times before.
He turned his head and smiled at her.
“Long time no see.”
“I don’t think Jiajia or I want to see you,”
Jiang Nanshu looked at him expressionlessly.
“I don’t understand how you even have the nerve to come begging for forgiveness?
You’re just wasting your time, Jiajia will never get back together with you.”
Qi Hongyu felt that this was between him and Cheng Jiajia.
Even if Jiang Nanshu was her best friend, she shouldn’t be interfering.
“I was with Jiajia for six or seven years.
What happened was my fault.
I already cut things off with that person. I…”
Jiang Nanshu: “Get out.”
Cheng Jiajia: “Get the hell out!”
They said it at the same time.
Jiang Nanshu and Cheng Jiajia exchanged a glance.
She walked over with the things she brought and looked at Li Yi, who was still holding the crutch.
“Go hit him and throw him out.”
Li Yi: “…”
He looked at her speechlessly, then at Cheng Jiajia. He thought these two were truly best friends.
“Sit down, sis-in-law.”
There was only one chair in the room.
Li Yi gave her the chair, stood to the side holding the crutch, and looked at Qi Hongyu.
He hesitated to make a move.
After all, he had no grudge against him, and there wasn’t a reason to get physical.
Li Yi looked at him and tried to persuade him,
“Bro, you should just go.
She already said she won’t get back with you.
There’s no need to make a scene.”
“Why are you calling him ‘bro’?”
Cheng Jiajia said, speechless.
Qi Hongyu stared at him.
“Who are you?”
He had wanted to ask from the moment he came in.
This guy looked like he was just in his early twenties and quite handsome.
Li Yi: “I am…”
“He’s my boyfriend.”
Cheng Jiajia cut him off.
Li Yi turned his head in shock.
“Since when did I become your boyfriend?”
“You are now.”
Cheng Jiajia looked at him with a sweet smile.
“You’ve been chasing me for months.
Your big sister is finally saying yes, happy now?”
“…”
Li Yi’s mouth twitched.
He realized he was being used as a prop.
But since she had done two exclusive interviews for him, he accepted the role and followed her lead.
“Yeah, I’m her boyfriend.
You can get lost now.”
Qi Hongyu didn’t believe it and looked at Cheng Jiajia.
“He doesn’t even look like someone who likes you.”
Li Yi: “…”
He glanced at Cheng Jiajia, This one’s not on him.
Cheng Jiajia smiled.
“What? Do you want us to kiss in front of you to prove it?”
Cheng Jiajia smiled and said, “What? Want me to kiss him in front of you?”
Li Yi: “…”
He looked at her with a hint of speechlessness, which would cost extra.
Jiang Nanshu was trying not to laugh on the side.
She looked at Qi Hongyu.
“If you don’t leave now, I’m calling security.”
Qi Hongyu had no choice.
He placed the flowers and the food he bought beside the bed and looked at Cheng Jiajia.
“Then I’ll go first.
I’ll transfer the medical and nutrition expenses to your Alipay, it was my fault.”
“You forgot the lost wages.
Don’t forget to include that too.”
Cheng Jiajia crossed her arms and looked at him coldly.
Qi Hongyu: “…Alright, I got it.”
As he walked to the door, he glanced back at Li Yi.
Li Yi raised his brows and smiled.
“Take care, I won’t be seeing you out.”
Qi Hongyu finally left.
The hospital room went quiet for a few seconds.
Jiang Nanshu had already pulled out the small table and laid out the packed food.
She turned to Li Yi and said, “You haven’t eaten, right?
Join us, I bought too much.”
She had bought stir-fried dishes near the office, and it was indeed a lot for two people.
The interview was already over, and Li Yi had originally planned to head back to the office.
He glanced at Cheng Jiajia, noticing how unbothered she was by everything.
As a grown man, he couldn’t really act shy.
“Sure, thanks, sis-in-law.”
“That was a fast switch.”
Cheng Jiajia took the chopsticks Jiang Nanshu handed her.
Li Yi chuckled.
“It’s only proper.”
Jiang Nanshu handed him a box of plain rice and chopsticks.
“Are you going back to the office later?”
“Yeah, I need to revise the proposal.”
Li Yi started eating.
Jiang Nanshu thought for a moment and asked,
“What time are you guys working until these days?”
“Around eleven,” Li Yi said.
“Sometimes a bit earlier, like ten.”
Then why is Song Ye getting home even later than that?
Jiang Nanshu lowered her eyes in thought, took a few more bites, and then turned to Cheng Jiajia.
“Was today the first time Qi Hongyu came?”
“He brought me here on the first day I was admitted,” Cheng Jiajia said.
“Then he went on a business trip the next day.
He just got back today, and of course, the first thing he did was come and ruin my mood.”
She didn’t have much of an appetite.
After eating a few bites, she put down her chopsticks and picked up her phone.
Qi Hongyu had already transferred the money to her Alipay.
She glanced at the amount, he had sent an extra 10,000 yuan.
She thought about it for a second, decided not to send it back.
Consider it emotional damage compensation from a scumbag.
Suddenly remembering something, she opened her Alipay to check her spending records.
“No wonder Qi Hongyu suddenly came looking for me,” Cheng Jiajia muttered a curse.
“Turns out I accidentally used his ‘intimate payment’ a few days ago.”
“Over 2,000 yuan.
I was shopping online and didn’t realize the payment was linked to his account.
Don’t know if Qi Hongyu forgot to turn it off or just trusted me too much.”
She had already sent that amount back to him.
Qi Hongyu immediately messaged her:
It’s not about the money.
I was thinking about our time together.
I truly want to get back with you.
“Isn’t he disgusted saying that kind of thing?”
Cheng Jiajia immediately blocked him on Alipay.
“Blocked. Annoying.”
Li Yi quickly finished his meal and casually cleaned up the trash on the table.
He looked over and said,
“Take those and throw them away.”
He pointed at the flowers and food by the bed, then thought for a moment and explained,
“Just now, the boyfriend thing, don’t take it seriously.”
Li Yi heard a hint of disdain and couldn’t help but click his tongue.
“I get it, no need to explain, I’m not dumb.”
Cheng Jiajia hugged her arms and smiled.
“I just didn’t want you to feel taken advantage of.”
“I’m a grown man, what’s there to lose?”
Li Yi picked up the stuff and looked at Jiang Nanshu.
“Sis-in-law, I’m heading out.”
After he left, Cheng Jiajia looked at Jiang Nanshu.
“So, what do you think?”
Jiang Nanshu smiled.
“Are you asking about the interview or something else?”
“The interview’s done for now.”
“I figure Song Ye probably doesn’t want to expose his alter ego right now.”
“When he does want to go public, just remember to let me be first in line.”
Cheng Jiajia raised an eyebrow.
“I mean, how are things going between you and Song Ye?”
“After all these years, haven’t you claimed him yet?”
“…No.”
Jiang Nanshu was a bit absent-minded.
She had been sleeping at her place the past few nights.
Sometimes she waited until past ten, and Song Ye still hadn’t come home.
“I’m a little worried Song Ye went to fight Chen Qingyue.”
Cheng Jiajia said, “Chen Qingyue really deserves a beating.”
“I feel like Song Ye probably wants to kill him.”
Jiang Nanshu got nervous.
“Don’t say scary stuff like that, okay?”
“We live in a society governed by law!”
“I’m just making a metaphor.”
Cheng Jiajia comforted her.
“And don’t forget, he still has you.”
“How could he possibly do something like that?”
Jiang Nanshu thought about it, then lowered her head and sent Song Ye a message.
Shu: What time are you getting off work tonight?
At that moment, Song Ye was still working overtime at the office.
He was eating while having a meeting with the R&D team.
When he saw Jiang Nanshu’s message, he picked up his phone and replied:
Very late.
You sleep first.
Jiang Nanshu got a little annoyed.
Shu: [How late is ‘very late’? Li Yi said you guys usually work until around eleven.
Where do you go after that?
S: Are you checking up on me?
Jiang Nanshu pouted and typed back: Can’t I?
Song Ye chuckled as he looked down at his phone.
Gao Xiaokun and Chen Yang saw him smile and immediately got nervous.
“Boss, what are you laughing at?”
“I can’t smile?”
Song Ye glanced up, his expression already back to being cold.
Chen Yang quickly said,
“You can smile, of course! Please smile more!
It’s been so cold around you lately, I feel like I’m freezing just standing nearby.
I’m scared you’ll beat me up if I upset you even a little.”
Gao Xiaokun chimed in,
“Yes, please smile more, it’s a blessing for us.”
Song Ye had indeed been feeling quite irritable lately.
“Idiots.” He muttered coldly, then looked back down to reply to Jiang Nanshu.
S: How late can you stay at the hospital?
Shu: Until a bit after nine, probably.
S: I’ll come pick you up later and take you somewhere.
Jiang Nanshu was about to ask where, but held back and simply replied: Okay.
She put down her phone and looked at Cheng Jiajia.
“Song Ye said he’ll pick me up after he finishes work and take me somewhere.”
Cheng Jiajia leaned against the headboard, lazily replying, “Perfect. You can keep me company a bit longer.”
She reached for a recorder she had forgotten to put away by the pillow,
remembering Li Yi’s reaction earlier.
“Does Li Yi have a girlfriend?”
Jiang Nanshu smiled, “Why, are you interested in him?”
Cheng Jiajia: “No, I’m just casually gossiping.”
“No.” Jiang Nanshu thought for a second.
“I don’t think he’s ever dated anyone.”
“Oh, a virgin.”
“…”
After she said that, Cheng Jiajia looked at Jiang Nanshu.
“Come to think of it, Song Ye is, too, right?”
Jiang Nanshu: “…I guess.”
Cheng Jiajia gave her a sideways glance.
“You’ve kept each other pure for years.
You’re not young anymore.
You don’t have to be so innocent about dating.
Don’t suppress yourselves.”
“…”
Around ten o’clock, Jiang Nanshu was waiting for Song Ye at the hospital entrance.
She’d been coming to the hospital way too frequently lately,
and each time it was for something bad.
She hoped she wouldn’t have to come back again anytime soon.
Song Ye’s car pulled up by the roadside.
She opened the door and got in.
After fastening her seatbelt, Song Ye handed her a cup of milk tea,
With the straw already inserted.
She took a sip, only to realize it wasn’t milk tea; it was hot brown sugar ginger tea.
She turned to him.
“Why did you buy me this?”
Song Ye drove off, replying casually,
“Didn’t you say your stomach’s been uncomfortable these past few days?”
Jiang Nanshu’s cycle was usually very punctual, probably because Jiang Yu,
being an OB-GYN, had helped regulate it well.
Back in high school, Gao Kun had been Song Ye’s deskmate for a long time,
so he could more or less tell which days she wasn’t feeling well.
“How do you know it’s these days?”
She was supposed to get her period today, but it hadn’t come yet.
Probably delayed by last month’s fever.
“Sometimes it gets delayed.”
Song Ye turned the steering wheel and looked ahead.
“I saw the afternoon tea order messages in the group chat.
You only order ginger syrup around the end of each month.”
Jiang Nanshu looked at him and couldn’t help but smile.
“How do you remember everything?”
The man replied plainly,
“Everything about you, I remember it all.”
Jiang Nanshu was touched, knowing he meant every word.
She lowered her head, took another sip of the ginger tea, and said,
“Everything about you, I remember too.”
“How many times did I walk you home after night study classes?”
“…”
A deadly question right off the bat.
Because of that incident with the homeless man,
Song Ye had walked her home many times.
Whenever Jiang Yu was on duty and couldn’t pick her up,
Song Ye would take her home.
Jiang Nanshu mentally calculated how often Jiang Yu had night shifts during that time and answered, “Fifteen times.”
“Eighteen times,” Song Ye said, eyes forward and expressionless. “Jiang Nanshu, don’t lie next time.”
“…”
She coughed awkwardly and abruptly changed the subject.
“Where are we going?”
“Fencing club.”
The fencing club wasn’t far from the hospital, and they arrived quickly.
Jiang Nanshu watched as Song Ye pulled a bag out of the trunk.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“Fencing gear.”
Song Ye closed the trunk and came over to hold her hand.
Jiang Nanshu recalled seeing him in fencing gear in a short film clip and couldn’t help but feel a little excited.
She asked, unable to hold back,
“Have you been coming here every night lately?”
Song Ye gave a soft “hm,” raised his hand to press the elevator button, and said flatly,
“I want to find someone to fight.”
Jiang Nanshu: “……”
She knew he was feeling frustrated, but she couldn’t let him go look for Chen Qingyue and beat him up.
Jiang Nanshu felt that if they didn’t fight now, it would definitely happen later.
The two entered the elevator, and she asked, “Doesn’t the club close at this time?”
It was already past 10 PM.
Song Ye pressed the floor button and glanced at her.
“The club has been open for two years. It was started by Xu Hao and a friend of his. I invested some money.”
Jiang Nanshu gave an “oh” and then raised an eyebrow at him. “A boss, huh?”
“More like a shareholder.”
Song Ye’s investment was purely out of interest.
He would come here to relax whenever he had time.
Recently, with so much frustration building up,
he was really just here to vent.
At this time, the club was practically empty.
The coach, who was scheduled for sparring, was sitting in the hall waiting.
When he saw Song Ye walking in with a girl, looking like a perfect match,
he stared for a moment and then laughed, “Ye, your girlfriend?”
Song Ye gave a soft “hm.”
“She came with me. We’re finishing up early today.”
The coach had been sparring late into the night for the past few days,
exhausted, but upon hearing this, he quickly nodded.
“Alright, alright.”
“I’ll go change,” Song Ye said, looking at Jiang Nanshu.
“Do you want to come with me, or would you rather look around by yourself?”
“I’ll wait by the door.”
Jiang Nanshu was very curious to see how he looked in fencing gear.