Chapter 18

On the line, Song Zhuozong was barking, “Hello? Where’d you go? Why’d you go quiet?”

Song Yingqiu snapped back. “Mm, I’m here.”

She glanced toward the pantry, gathered her thoughts, and headed for her office, fending off the old man from home as she walked.

“What did you just say… You want me to meet someone’s son? Tell you what. Ask this uncle of yours whether he has a daughter instead. A pretty one. I’d be happy to meet her. Sound fair?”

“……”

The line went flat. Song Zhuozong had hung up on her.

Someone was seriously displeased.

Song Yingqiu had been feeling a touch irritable, but seeing the old man so worked up instantly lifted her spirits. A shining model of paternal kindness and filial devotion.

She stayed on calls with several senior engineers until one in the afternoon, then pored over design drawings for ages before instructing Wu Rui to consolidate the revision notes and distribute tasks to the departments. At last, she could rest.

After dabbing in artificial tears and resting her closed eyes a while, Song Yingqiu opened them and picked up her phone to check messages.

Zong Qiang: “Sis, I’m at the Provincial Hospital. Want me to go check on Doctor Shao for you?”

Twenty minutes later.

Zong Qiang: “Sis, big news! There’s this female doctor who keeps hovering around Doctor Shao. Honestly, she’s pretty hot. Half an hour and she still won’t leave, and now they’ve gone off to lunch together!”

What on earth?

How did Zong Qiang keep stumbling onto Shao Yu? Last time it was Yi Ya. Which colleague was it this time?

Idly, Song Yingqiu sifted her memory for which of Shao Yu’s colleagues could be called pretty, typing her reply at her leisure.

Song Yingqiu: “She’s a colleague, right? They work together. Perfectly normal.”

Lest Zong Qiang keep making mountains of molehills in the future, Song Yingqiu kept typing. “Stop imagining everyone’s relationships as something sordid.”

Before she could hit send, Zong Qiang’s next message popped up.

Zong Qiang: “So, um. Do plastic surgeons and pediatricians normally work together?”

Song Yingqiu: ?

She deleted her last line entirely and called Zong Qiang directly. “What are you doing at the hospital? Are you sick?”

Zong Qiang’s voice rang with vigor. “Xiongxiong broke her leg falling off a skateboard, hahaha. I came to laugh at her.”

Song Yingqiu made a thoughtful sound. “I see. Well, I’m done with work today. I might as well visit the hospital too.”

Zong Qiang: “Huh?”

Once she had the floor and room number, Song Yingqiu hung up, leaving Zong Qiang staring at her phone in contemplation.

On the hospital bed, a girl propped up one leg in a white cast, asking impatiently, “What did Sister Yingqiu say?”

Zong Qiang turned around. “She says she’s coming to see you.”

Xiongxiong: “Ah! But I don’t have any makeup on!”

Zong Qiang: “Oh, it’s fine. It might not be you she’s coming to see.”

Xiongxiong: ???