Coveted for a Long Time 60

Chapter 60

Nights in Jiang City were always cool, especially in early winter, with bleak scenes everywhere. At this hour, the hospital was even more deserted. There weren’t many people in the corridors of the inpatient department; doctors and nurses on duty hurried back and forth, staying up late to watch over the wards.

Fu Bei went to get the water while Qiao Xi stayed in the ward to take care of Qiao Jianliang. The doctor gave a long list of instructions, telling them to take good care of him. If there were no major problems in a couple of days, he could be transferred to a regular ward.

Qiao Jianliang’s condition wasn’t optimistic, but compared to other sudden cerebral hemorrhage patients, he was considered lucky. With active treatment and careful nursing later, he would definitely recover.

After getting the water and taking the medicine, Qiao Jianliang fell asleep before long. The two people in the ward went out one after another so as not to disturb the patient’s rest. Qiao Xi went out last; Fu Bei was waiting at the corner of the corridor.

The conversation was irrelevant, revolving around Qiao Jianliang, but somehow turned back to the original point later.

It wasn’t easy to have a moment alone. Probably worried Qiao Xi would suddenly leave, Fu Bei gripped her wrist tightly, so hard that Qiao Xi felt a bit of pain.

Different ages, different environments. Looking back after things have changed, right and wrong are easy to distinguish. The path was wrong from the start, but there was no choice; everyone had their own considerations, and the result would be the same if chosen again. No one had enough ability at that time. A moment’s difference in thought led to the subsequent disaster. Who would have thought it would cause such a situation? In this stalemate, it couldn’t be concluded as a heinous crime. Anyone else might not have done better, but someone ultimately had to bear the consequences.

Couldn’t talk about hate or resentment; in the end, it was still a grudge that couldn’t be let go. Whether it was what the Fu family did or Fu Bei’s decision, it was too minding.

Different perspectives lead to different standpoints, each with their own concerns. But how did you know I couldn’t handle it?

At the end of the conversation, Fu Bei’s tone was a bit dejected, downplaying the unhappiness, saying, “I’ll leave a bit later. Will come to see Uncle Qiao again tomorrow.”

One sentence gathered the conversation, stopping the momentum of the quarrel.

Qiao Xi didn’t respond, returning to the ward first.

Recently busy off her feet, she somehow fell asleep lying on her stomach. Waking up in the night with numbness and pain in her arm, Fu Bei had long left, leaving only a jacket draped over her shoulders.

**

Subsequent rehabilitation proceeded very smoothly. Qiao Jianliang was transferred to a regular single ward, his condition improving significantly.

Fu Bei often came to the hospital, then disappeared for a few days, going on a business trip to a neighboring city.

Qiao Jianliang asked, “Why haven’t I seen Little Bei these past two days? Is something wrong?”

Qiao Xi didn’t make a sound, so he nagged incessantly. Qiao Xi finally replied, “I don’t know.”

Seeing her unhappy face, Qiao Jianliang fell silent immediately.

Can’t remember how long she hadn’t returned to the shop on Qijing Street. Passing by occasionally, she always felt a bit empty, feeling everything around her was unreal, missing something. Before, she wanted an explanation, wanted to find the person back. Now it seemed unimportant, yet she couldn’t completely let go, feeling like broken bones still connected by tendons, being pulled.

**

Zhou Meihe was restless, secretly building bridges, wanting the Qiao family to cooperate with the Zhou family. The Zhou family suffered a heavy blow last time and hadn’t recovered. Now was a good opportunity; if the Qiao family helped, maybe they could rise again. She was quite sensible now, knowing the situation at the company was set. Seeing Qiao Jianliang recovering day by day, she stopped making trouble, thinking of pulling her maiden family behind her. This way, she could stabilize her position in the Qiao family and have a strong pillar behind her—simply killing two birds with one stone.

Being able to cooperate with the Qiao family, the Zhou family was more than willing. For this reason, Elder Zhou led a group of people specifically to visit Qiao Jianliang, their attitude overly affectionate.

At that time, Qiao Xi wasn’t at the hospital, busy at the company.

Although Qiao Jianliang was confused from time to time, his mouth was tight. He wouldn’t loosen up unless Elder Zhou stated his purpose clearly.

After saying a lot of caring words, Elder Zhou finally talked about cooperation. The conditions offered were also very attractive: the Zhou family would provide the products, co-branded by both companies, profits split equally, and the Qiao family only had to help with promotion.

Developing a product required a lot of financial and material resources, plus a series of processes like approval. Successful listing certainly wasn’t easy. If others did all these, and he could enjoy the fruits just by contributing a little effort, Qiao Jianliang was certainly tempted. But his brain wasn’t completely broken yet. With a few sentences, he deflected the heavy with the light, playing Tai Chi, saying he would consider it.

The Zhou family being so generous was just to hook up with the Qiao family, paving the way for future business. On the other hand, although the limelight of being named last time had passed, the time was still short. Moreover, the online disturbance was so big then; whether the public would buy it was uncertain, maybe even backfiring. Elder Zhou’s move was to hide under the Qiao family company for a while, borrowing the Qiao family’s brand to sell their own products, temporarily easing the current stalemate.

But there’s no free lunch in the world. If Qiao Jianliang agreed, they would be grasshoppers on the same rope in the future—prospering and suffering together. Moreover, it wouldn’t be easy to separate clearly later; there might be more entanglements.

Qiao Jianliang didn’t speak too clearly. As a patient, he didn’t have the energy to deal with these, his attitude ambiguous.

Elder Zhou saw what this meant but still accompanied with a smile, giving Zhou Meihe a look before leaving.

Once the Zhou family left, Zhou Meihe went out to wash a plate of fruit, cut it diligently, and brought it over.

“Tired? Eat fruit first or sleep a bit more?”

Qiao Jianliang waved his hand, indicating he didn’t want to eat or sleep. When he first woke up, he lay for two weeks straight, even tied with restraint straps due to restlessness, eating with difficulty. Now mentioning eating and sleeping made him repulsed.

Zhou Meihe persuaded him softly to eat a bit, saying nourishing the body was important. Controlling blood pressure and lipids during recovery was essential; vegetables and fruits were indispensable. She knew how to take care of people, even scraping the fruit into puree to feed him.

These days, she and Qiao Xi had been taking turns caring for him. Considering her hard work, her contribution couldn’t be dismissed. Doing this much showed her heart, so Qiao Jianliang wasn’t harsh on her petty schemes, turning a blind eye.

For two people to reach the step of marriage, even a second marriage, despite many practical considerations, it was impossible to have no feelings at all. Zhou Meihe was sometimes indeed biased, but there was no fault in her actions. Thoughts aside, she still knew the bottom line. The Zhou family’s actions were found out later; Zhou Meihe didn’t know about them, otherwise she wouldn’t have gotten together with Qiao Jianliang.

Middle-aged people were always cautious about marriage, disliking turbulence. Life now was passable. Qiao Jianliang was a businessman, accustomed to weighing interests first in everything, thinking repeatedly on many things, taking the best side.

He had a headache, feeling very uncomfortable, not wanting to listen to Zhou Meihe’s nagging. Dragging his voice, he asked weakly, “Where’s Little Xi? Haven’t come yet?”

Zhou Meihe’s expression froze, then she put down the fruit. “Only past four; still early. Will come at seven.”

Qiao Jianliang closed his eyes, headache making him unwilling to speak.

The doctor came once. Later, Zhou Lin appeared carrying food—meals specially made by the family helper, suitable for patients. He delivered them every day. He was no longer as bewildered and panicked as before. Anyway, heaven knew, earth knew, no third person knew, so he pretended nothing happened, still that obedient and sensible child, well-behaved and docile.

**

The day before Fu Bei returned from her business trip, Qiao Xi met Zhou Jiaqi.

It was at a small charity gala. Qiao Xi was invited as a guest. This position originally belonged to Qiao Jianliang, but since he couldn’t come, Qiao Xi had to take his place.

Zhou Jiaqi was with Liang Yuzhi, linking arms with her, triumphant like a victorious peacock. Couldn’t figure out what she was thinking all day; her brain was full of bean dregs. Qiao Xi didn’t put her in her eyes, too lazy to waste energy.

Zhao Shihuan was also there, coming over to chat for two minutes upon seeing Qiao Xi.

Being a guest at a charity gala wasn’t easy. Not only dressing up carefully and preparing a speech, but also taking the lead in donating a large sum. Qiao Xi didn’t use the company’s or Qiao Jianliang’s money, paying out of her own pocket, but signing under the family company’s name.

Midway through the gala, a charity auction of old items was held. More than ten important figures donated items for bidding by those present. All proceeds would go to charity. Actually, it was another way of socializing and currying favor—killing two birds with one stone.

Qiao Xi donated an unused limited edition shoulder bag, eventually won by Zhao Shihuan at a high price.

Zhou Jiaqi stood next to her. Unknown which nerve was hit, she scoffed dissatisfiedly. She was originally quite happy tonight, able to cling to Liang Yuzhi. But seeing Qiao Xi repeatedly showing her face as a guest speaker and donating money and items, her heart began to sour. She was the one who had been more excellent since childhood, with better grades and more popularity, always receiving praise from elders. Now she was crushed.

The wheel of fortune turns.

Qiao Xi finally glanced sideways, but not giving a direct look, clearly disdainful.

When it came to auctioning Liang Yuzhi’s donation—an old-fashioned pocket watch—Zhou Jiaqi bid round after round, seemingly determined to win. She put all her effort into pleasing Liang Yuzhi tonight, gaining quite a bit of attention at this time.

Liang Yuzhi enjoyed this set. Seeing the bidding price getting higher and higher, the smile on her face became increasingly unconcealable. She even chatted idly with Zhou Jiaqi, behaving so intimately, rarely seen usually.

Zhou Jiaqi beamed with joy, quite capable of saying nice words to coax people. However, the smile on her face didn’t last a minute before freezing.

Qiao Xi entered the fray with high interest, calling out a price twice as high at once. Something that could be won for tens of thousands was abruptly bid up to nearly a million.

That pocket watch wasn’t valuable, nor did it have collection value. Reaching fifty thousand was all due to Liang Yuzhi’s face being valuable. Zhou Jiaqi’s face turned cold instantly, looking like she had been slapped heavily. Barely maintaining a smile, glancing at the thoughtful Liang Yuzhi, she gritted her teeth and continued bidding, raising only by five thousand.

Seemingly deliberately opposing, every time she bid, Qiao Xi added again, raising the pocket watch’s auction price falsely high.

“This watch has good workmanship; I like it too. Miss Zhou, why not part with it reluctantly and let me have it?” Qiao Xi teased. She usually didn’t love luxury, but having plenty of money, she didn’t care about this bit. Just a whim to participate once, saying this to deliberately disgust the other party.

Sure enough, Zhou Jiaqi looked deflated, teeth itching with anger.

However, this pocket watch didn’t end up in either of their hands. Qiao Xi raised the price very high, scaring Zhou Jiaqi from following. Zhao Shihuan appeared at this time, settling this contest.

Zhao Shihuan handed a drink to Qiao Xi, reminding, “Don’t bid randomly; don’t be impulsive.”

Qiao Xi was noncommittal.

Arriving at the hospital the next day, Qiao Jianliang was in decent spirits, having eaten half a bowl of apple puree and napping in bed. Knowing Qiao Xi arrived, he opened his eyes immediately, asking how the charity gala went.

“It was okay.” Qiao Xi replied, briefly describing last night’s process, but not telling Qiao Jianliang about the bidding.

Usually, the father and daughter couldn’t chat for a few sentences upon meeting. Now it was quite peaceful, as if the estrangement had disappeared, so intimate.

Chatting along, Qiao Jianliang suddenly mentioned Fu Bei, sighing with emotion, saying Fu Bei was a good person, even giving her own baked cookies to Qiao Xi when they were young.

Memory confusion varies from person to person, not necessarily recovering to normal in the end. Some things might always be remembered wrongly. Clearly, Qiao Xi gave cookies to Fu Bei, but he remembered it reversed, speaking with conviction.

Qiao Xi was stunned. Pondering for a long time, she still didn’t correct him.

Qiao Jianliang sighed. “Little Bei is really good, polite and excellent, now a professor. Promising.”

He seemed to have forgotten some things, looking like he really didn’t remember.

Pursing her lips, Qiao Xi probed tentatively, “Do you still remember the document in the safe in your office?”

Qiao Jianliang didn’t take it to heart. “What document?”

“Old contracts or something?” Qiao Xi lied deliberately.

Qiao Jianliang frowned and thought for a while, telling her what was inside, only forgetting that document. He generously told her the password, saying, “Take whatever you need; see if you can find it.”

Qiao Xi was silent. After a long time, she gave a hum.

Maybe one day Qiao Jianliang would remember this again, but now, he didn’t remember.

A sudden illness changed many things and disrupted the original trajectory. Qiao Xi was still conflicted, putting it down completely for now.

That night, tossing and turning in bed, thinking about these things carefully. Remembering the endless quarrels in the Qiao house many years ago, Mother Qiao leaving the Qiao family, those changes, Qiao Jianliang’s wet trouser legs covered in mud. How many nights she had suffered insomnia like now, only with different thoughts in her heart then.

And Fu Bei’s explanation. That day at the corner of the hospital corridor, this person gripping her tightly, face showing indescribable wretchedness and panic, becoming urgent in an instant.

Qiao Xi hadn’t seen her like this yet.

Usually, this person was calm and breezy no matter what, as if nothing in the world could disturb her, steady as a pool of stagnant water, yet panicked over such a trivial matter.

Qiao Xi couldn’t figure it out, nor was she willing to think deeply.

Falling asleep in a daze, she didn’t even know her phone screen lit up several times.

The caller ID belonged to Fu Bei.

Long ago, Qiao Xi had blacklisted her number. Only once staying overnight at the apartment, Tang Yi kept calling halfway through doing it. Thinking it was urgent, Qiao Xi answered, but it was just for dinner. At that time, Fu Bei was misbehaving behind her, presumptuous without letting go, making her afraid to make a sound, hanging up hastily. But afterward, this person snatched the phone, secretly removing herself from the blacklist.

Phone on silent, not a single call connected, finally returning to silence.

Waking up early the next morning, seeing the missed calls, Qiao Xi had no reaction, nor did she plan to call back. She went directly to the company, picking up Tang Yi from the university town after work, then going to the hospital together.

Tang Yi visited Qiao Jianliang often these days; free today, she came again.

Zhou Meihe went back for something, then cooked personally and brought it over. Zhou Lin didn’t come.

Qiao Xi was called out by the doctor to queue for medicine on the second floor. With many patients in the hospital, she waited for more than half an hour before it was her turn. After getting the medicine and returning, before entering the ward, she heard Zhou Meihe sighing to Qiao Jianliang: “Little Bei’s car collided with someone this afternoon. Heard it was quite serious. I only found out after going back. Even Elder Fu went over, but the result isn’t out yet.”

She froze abruptly, rooted to the spot at the door, unable to lift her feet. Her throat felt blocked, her heart tightening severely.

Tang Yi wasn’t in the ward, having gone out for a walk and to buy drinks. Returning, she saw her standing straight at the door without entering, so she patted her shoulder. “What’s wrong? Standing here without moving.”

Her face was a bit pale, unable to speak.