Shi Sui leaned back in the passenger seat, turning to look out the car window. The car drove near No. 2 Middle School and turned into the neighborhood. Jiang Nuan said, “You go up first and freshen up. I’ll buy dinner.”
Shi Sui had no objection.
She got out of the car.
Jiang Nuan watched her back from behind, feeling both heartbroken and helpless. Then she drove off to buy dinner and conveniently picked up some medicine. When she returned to Shi Sui’s home, Shi Sui had already showered and changed into pajamas. Jiang Nuan saw her complexion wasn’t good and didn’t want to rub salt in her wounds, so she didn’t ask much. She just called Shi Sui to sit down and eat dinner.
It was from that takeout place Shi Sui often ordered, the usual dishes Shi Sui ate, but Shi Sui had no appetite. She ate two bites and set down her chopsticks. Jiang Nuan asked, “Really not eating?”
Shi Sui shook her head.
Jiang Nuan pulled out some ointment from her pocket and handed it to her.
Shi Sui lowered her eyes.
Jiang Nuan said, “Put some on.”
Shi Sui laughed. “You’re pretty thoughtful.”
Jiang Nuan nodded. “Of course. Not to toot my own horn, but I’m great at taking care of people…”
Shi Sui took the ointment from her hand, her fingers brushing against Jiang Nuan’s palm.
It was very hot.
Jiang Nuan frowned.
She grabbed Shi Sui’s hand before it could pull back.
Shi Sui looked up.
Jiang Nuan said, “Are you running a fever?”
Shi Sui finally touched her own forehead and said, “I don’t think so.”
Jiang Nuan immediately set down her chopsticks, grabbed the thermometer, and took Shi Sui’s temperature by her ear with a beep. “Not yet? Thirty-eight point four!”
Shi Sui truly didn’t feel much, just sleepy.
She said, “Why are you so nervous? There are fever reducers at home. I’ll take a couple and sleep it off.”
It wasn’t as if she had never been sick before, and the medicine at home was still good. Jiang Nuan watched her dazed state. “You really don’t need to go to the hospital?”
Shi Sui said, “I don’t want to go.”
Jiang Nuan didn’t know what to say.
Shi Sui really hated going to the hospital. Once, during an elevator maintenance at the company, they had to climb stairs for a meeting midway. Shi Sui missed a step, twisted her ankle falling down the stairs, and when Jiang Nuan wanted to take her to the hospital, Shi Sui refused and ended up at a small clinic for correction instead.
Jiang Nuan didn’t understand. “Are you afraid of doctors?”
Shi Sui said, “I’m afraid of you. You talk too much.”
Jiang Nuan sulked.
Shi Sui got up to boil a pot of water. Before it even boiled, she leaned back on the sofa with her eyes closed.
By the time Jiang Nuan finished eating and cleaning up, Shi Sui had fallen asleep. Jiang Nuan checked her temperature again—thirty-nine degrees.
She had to take the fever reducer.
She woke Shi Sui up.
Shi Sui’s eyes were red from the fever, with bloodshot veins at the corners. She looked utterly frail and weak. Jiang Nuan poured her some boiled water, found the medicine, and watched her swallow it. Shi Sui tilted her head to the side and continued sleeping on the sofa.
Jiang Nuan eyed the ointment on the coffee table, wanting to help apply it, but the wounds were on her neck, her collarbone…
It was too intimate.
In the end, she couldn’t bring herself to do it.
Finally, she sought help from Jiang Ruoning.
Jiang Ruoning sat in a chair, staring out the window. That afternoon, Jiang Qin and Zhang Zhilan had gone shopping and said they would eat hotpot outside and not come back. She listened to her mother’s bright, happy voice on the phone, feeling both pleased and a twinge of guilt.
So she hadn’t replied to Shi Sui’s message.
But then Jiang Nuan called.
Jiang Ruoning wasn’t eager to pick up.
Jiang Nuan called twice with no answer. Just as she wondered if she should try Shi Sui’s phone instead, the call connected.
Jiang Ruoning said politely, “Hello.”
Jiang Nuan tensed for two seconds. “Hello.”
She grew even more nervous. Jiang Ruoning asked, “Does Assistant Jiang have something to discuss?”
“Something…” Jiang Nuan suddenly felt her request was too presumptuous and changed her tune. “No, nothing.”
Jiang Ruoning grew curious. “What is it?”
Jiang Nuan said, “It’s President Shi. She…”
Jiang Ruoning gripped her phone tightly. “What’s wrong with her?”
Jiang Nuan said, “She’s sick.”
Jiang Ruoning tensed. “Sick?”
Then she remembered Shi Sui’s cunning nature and grew suspicious. “Really, actually sick?”
Jiang Nuan said, “She’s really sick. High fever that won’t go down.”
Jiang Ruoning said, “Didn’t she just go back?”
Jiang Nuan confessed, “She arrived this afternoon and just went to her mother’s place. She came back with the fever.”
Jiang Ruoning bit her fingertip, trying to act nonchalant but failing. “Then take her to the hospital.”
“She refuses to go,” Jiang Nuan said. “Do you have a shoot tomorrow? Could you…”
Jiang Ruoning rejected her outright. “No.”
Jiang Nuan knew she was overstepping. She had regretted calling the moment it connected, but for Shi Sui’s sake, she pushed through. Now hearing Jiang Ruoning’s response, she gave a dry laugh. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have bothered you.”
It was too much of a bother.
She wasn’t even sure what Jiang Ruoning and Shi Sui’s relationship was now. She had seen marks on Shi Sui and assumed they had rekindled, but clearly not.
What exactly was their relationship?
Jiang Nuan really wanted to shake Shi Sui awake and ask.
But Shi Sui was burning up all over, her face flushed, sweat beading on her forehead.
It was the first time Jiang Nuan had seen her like this.
She really should take a photo of Shi Sui like this and send it to Xu Qingqing to see what she had done to her.
Jiang Nuan sighed and set her phone on the coffee table.
Jiang Ruoning stared out the window until a gust of wind blew in, making her shiver and snap back to reality.
She checked the time.
Half an hour had passed since Jiang Nuan’s call.
Now…
How was she?
Had the fever gone down?
Jiang Ruoning resented herself for not being heartless, for still thinking about Shi Sui at a time like this, even fiddling with her phone to check recent flights.
From Shangjing to Linping.
The last flight was in two hours.
If she really decided to go, she needed to change clothes now.
No.
She absolutely wouldn’t.
Jiang Ruoning argued with herself, time ticking by.
But a fever could lead to complications.
Jiang Ruoning remembered how Qin Zheng, after breaking up with Yun An that summer, had a recurring fever every few days. She had urged Qin Zheng to go to the hospital each time, but she refused.
It must have been complications.
Would Shi Sui get complications?
Even if she did, what did it have to do with her?
Jiang Ruoning forced herself to toughen up, but when she heard movement at the door, she dashed over.
Jiang Qin walked in, carrying bags big and small. Seeing Jiang Ruoning, she asked, “Have you eaten dinner?”
Jiang Ruoning replied absentmindedly, “Yeah.”
She said, “Mom, Ye Yu just contacted me about something.”
Jiang Qin asked, “What is it?”
Jiang Ruoning tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “About the collaboration. She wants me to come over and talk.”
Jiang Qin nodded. “Then go quickly. Don’t keep her waiting.”
Jiang Ruoning nodded and grabbed her bag.
As she left, she turned back and hugged Jiang Qin tightly.
Jiang Qin patted her back. In an exceptionally good mood that day, she smiled at Jiang Ruoning’s rare affection. “Alright, alright, go on.”
Jiang Ruoning left home. As she drove out, she still found it unbelievable.
She really…
Had left home to head to Linping.
She hadn’t been back to the place since her sophomore year of college, but it was where she had grown up, so it felt familiar. Near No. 2 Middle School was No. 2 Attached Primary School, where she had attended elementary school. There was the kindergarten nearby, then the supermarket, the market, the clothing factory, the grain and oil shop.
Second Street, Third Street.
Jiang Ruoning traced the Linping of her memories in her mind. When she actually got out of the car in Linping, she felt a sense of disorientation.
It hadn’t changed much from her memories.
And yet, it felt vastly different.
Late at night, Jiang Nuan fed Shi Sui another fever reducer, touched her forehead—it seemed a bit cooler—but Shi Sui was still unconscious. Afraid she might burn out her brain or something worse, Jiang Nuan didn’t dare leave her side. In the middle of the night, as she scrolled her phone while watching Shi Sui, a message from Jiang Ruoning popped up. Jiang Nuan almost thought her eyes were playing tricks.
Jiang Ruoning asked: [Where are you?]
Just two words, and Jiang Nuan was so excited she nearly jumped up. She patted Shi Sui’s shoulder. “Hey, hey, hey! Your wife is here!”
No matter what their relationship had been before.
At this moment, Jiang Nuan was certain.
They were in a romantic relationship.
If not, would Jiang Ruoning fly alone from Shangjing to Linping just because Shi Sui had a fever?
To say she didn’t care would be absurd.
Shi Sui frowned from the patting but didn’t wake. Seeing that, Jiang Nuan didn’t want to disturb her further. She sent Jiang Ruoning her location and went downstairs to wait.
Linping wasn’t big, much smaller than Shangjing. Jiang Ruoning found the complex in just ten minutes. Jiang Nuan stood at the entrance, beaming. “Miss Jiang!”
Maybe because they weren’t at the company, Jiang Nuan seemed more approachable to Jiang Ruoning, her smile even a bit goofy. Jiang Nuan hurried to her side. “Did you fly here?”
Jiang Ruoning lowered her gaze. “Mm.”
She didn’t know if it was a bout of madness or what, but she had actually flown over.
Jiang Nuan said, “Miss Jiang, you went to high school here too, right?”
Jiang Ruoning turned to look across the street and nodded.
“I knew it.” Jiang Nuan looked like she had more to say, waiting for Jiang Ruoning to ask. But Jiang Ruoning played coy and didn’t. Jiang Nuan said, “Ah, back when we first started working, President Shi went to the school gates every day, like she was waiting for someone—probably waiting for you, Miss Jiang.”
Jiang Ruoning gave a stiff smile. “Is that so?”
“Yeah.” Jiang Nuan said, “President Shi really cares about you. When we first got to Shangjing, someone bought black hot searches about you—it was President Shi who had them taken down.”
So it was her, after all.
Jiang Ruoning wasn’t surprised, but hearing it from Jiang Nuan felt strange.
Afraid the spark wasn’t bright enough, Jiang Nuan added, “And yesterday…”
Jiang Ruoning turned. “Yesterday?”
Jiang Nuan pursed her lips and leaned in close to Jiang Ruoning’s ear. “Yesterday, President Shi negotiated with Fengshang and gave up a store in the city center.”
So that’s why Fengshang had been willing to help clear her name this time?
Now she understood.
Jiang Ruoning’s heart grew heavy.
Jiang Nuan led her to the door and opened it but didn’t go in. Jiang Ruoning changed into slippers, and Jiang Nuan closed the door behind her and left.
Jiang Ruoning stood in the entryway for five or six minutes before snapping out of it. She walked into the living room. Shi Sui lay on the sofa. She plopped down next to her and placed a hand on Shi Sui’s forehead.
Still a bit hot.
There was an electronic thermometer and ointment on the coffee table.
Ointment?
What was that?
Jiang Ruoning picked up the tube and examined it closely but couldn’t figure it out. Then she looked at Shi Sui and noticed her face was subtly swollen. Because her cheeks were so flushed, Jiang Ruoning hadn’t noticed at first. Now she saw not only the swelling but also five clear finger marks.
Her mom did that?
Jiang Ruoning frowned.
Her gaze drifted down to Shi Sui’s neck, where the skin was frighteningly red. She pulled the collar aside to look—it wasn’t just red.
The skin was broken, raw and glistening.
What the hell!
Jiang Ruoning’s eyes instantly reddened. She thought of how Shi Sui’s neck hadn’t looked this horrific when she left Shangjing that afternoon.
What exactly had her mom done!
An inexplicable rage surged in Jiang Ruoning’s chest. She was furious but didn’t know how to vent it. She pushed Shi Sui lightly.
Shi Sui didn’t wake.
Jiang Ruoning’s eyes brimmed with tears. She lowered her head, picked up the ointment, and applied it to Shi Sui. The cool cream stung, and Shi Sui groggily opened her eyes. She peered at the person in front of her, as if unsure, and murmured, “Jiang Ruoning?”
Jiang Ruoning’s voice choked. “What!”
Her tone was fierce, her expression sullen.
Shi Sui, delirious from the fever, chuckled softly and said, “Let me tell you some good news.”
Jiang Ruoning suspected she had burned her brain and pouted. “What good news?”
Shi Sui said, “Now I don’t need to dream to see you anymore.”
