Jiang Rui came to the hospital with luggage and was not surprised to see the man standing outside the ward.
“I had thought you would come earlier.”
Wen Pintang smiled. “I just came back from abroad, only to find that you are still alive!”
Jiang Rui didn’t mind his teasing and said, “Uncle Wan wanted to chop me up and feed the fish, but my mother stopped him.”
“You!” Wen Pintang said crossly. “If you put Xin Qing in a dilemma again, maybe I can strangle you first.”
Ying Qingcang came out of the ward with a grim look on his face. “My son shouldn’t be disciplined by you.”
“Who are you? Whether my wife is in a dilemma or not is none of your business.”
“Pintang!” Xin Qing was somewhat surprised. “Didn’t you say that you would stay abroad and not come back?”
“You come here once in a blue moon, so of course I needed to come back.” Wen Pintang was always tender when talking to Xin Qing. Different from the gentleness in the smile he usually wore, such a kind of tenderness almost overflowed his eyes, so overwhelming that one could be drowned in them.
Ying Qingcang’s face clouded over. “How did you know that he should be abroad? When did you contact him without my knowledge?”
Xin Qing blinked, and Wen Pintang continued to annoy him. “Don’t you know about microblogs by now?”
“What’s that?” Ying Qingcang could only answer the calls, and turn the phone on and off…
Jiang Rui entered the ward silently, while Xin Qing pulled him and asked, “It’s okay. We will also go to the Wan family’s base. Furthermore, Ah Sha is still there, so Xunxun won’t dare to do anything to you!”
“Mom, shouldn’t you stop them?” Jiang Rui pointed to the two men behind them who were going to fight.
Xin Qing covered her mouth and laughed. “It’s okay. They are on good terms with each other.”
Ying Qingcang really hated Wen Pintang. If this man tried to take Xin Qing away in a despicable manner, he could answer blows with blows. But he just stayed far away and kept an eye on Xin Qing, and appeared in front of her from time to time, so as to develop an amazing friendship with Xin Qing.
Ying Qingcang always knew that Xin Qing was more likely to love such a kind of person like Wen Pintang, and he was just fortunate enough to meet Xin Qing first. But unless he was dead, Xin Qing would be his woman all his life.
“I wish that I’d never see you again after tomorrow.” Ying Qingcang turned away, without noticing that Wen Pintang seemed to be scheming against him.
“Ying Qingcang… you can’t get rid of the Wen family in your whole life!”
The private plane left S City early in the morning, and just arrived over the Pacific Ocean in the afternoon. Chen Chen’s wound had not yet healed, so she had to lie down while Tuan Zi was telling her stories.
“Are you hungry?” Jiang Rui came over. “We’re going to arrive soon. Mom said you want ice cream. I’ll try to get some for you later.”
Out of the fear that Chen Chen would be flatulent, her elders did not allow her to eat cold food; therefore, Tuan Zi would not eat ice cream, just like her mom.
Chen Chen had just woken up, and she squinted at Jiang Rui. “I want to eat ice cream tonight.”
“Okay!”
It was always summer on the island where the Wan family’s base was, with pleasant bright sunshine and sea breeze. Chen Chen began to recover from her wound quickly. After a week, she had already been able to get out of bed and do experiments in the lab.
“You have been doing experiments for three hours, and Auntie Chen will nag at you again later.” Jiang Rui pushed open the door of the laboratory, holding a bowl of good-looking cream pudding in his hand.
Chen Chen took off her gloves and walked to sit down on the sofa nearby. “What kind of pudding is this?”
In order to satisfy her appet.i.te for dessert, Jiang Rui made pudding for her every day. It was not as ice-cold, but it tasted like ice cream.
“Mango pudding.” Jiang Rui gave her a spoon.
Chen Chen took a spoon of the pudding, lightly closing her eyes in comfort and picking up a gla.s.s bottle nearby. “It’s the antifatigue. I just made it; would you like a dose?”
“For me?” Jiang Rui gazed at her with deep eyes.
After taking another spoonful of pudding, Chen Chen nodded. “Yeah, do you want it?”
Jiang Rui looked at her, with his deep eyes gradually becoming clear and bright. Finally, his eyes were only filled with his feelings for her.
“Yes,” he answered in a low voice, as if thousands of words had welled up in his heart but he had just said only one word.
Chen Chen finished the pudding quickly, taking out a needle and injecting it into Jiang Rui’s arm. “OK, go back to sleep and you’ll feel refreshed tomorrow!”
“Leave with me, or Auntie Chen will not let you in tomorrow.”
They went to the dining room together. After eating, Jiang Rui did not accompany Chen Chen to the beach as he had done in the last few days, but returned to his room. His chest was burning hot, and he felt that he was about to explode.
Early in the morning, Xin Qing found that Jiang Rui didn’t come to have breakfast.
“Where is Xiao Rui?”
Tuan Zi was holding a gla.s.s of milk. “Dad is not in the room. Maybe he’s doing morning exercises.”
It was well known that Jiang Rui had the habit of doing morning exercises. But Xin Qing said, “No, Xiao Rui is so punctual that he would be back before breakfast. He must have gotten stuck on something.”
“I’ll ask someone to take a look.” Boss Wan stood up under Ying Qingcang’s cold stare. Wan Yi ran up to them and said, “Boss, there seems to be something wrong with Jiang Rui…”
Everyone stood up except for Chen Chen. Even if Jiang Rui had hurt Chen Chen, he could be beaten up privately at most. But the elders present saw him grow up, and they would never want him to have an accident.
“What happened to my dad?”
“He started running around the island at eight o’clock last night. At first, we thought he was exercising, but he kept running for five hours!” Wan Yi admired him very much. “After he stopped running, we thought that he would be back later, but he started climbing and then swimming. Now, he started running on the beach again…”
Xin Qing pushed the chair aside and ran off. “I’ll take a look!”
“Slow down. Be careful.” Ying Qingcang quickly followed her.
Boss Wan was dragged away by Chen Huan. Wan Qingsi was peeling an egg for Ah Sha, and Ah Sha nudged him. “Go take a look. If anything happens, stop our parents from fighting.”
“Nothing important will happen.” Wan Qingsi glanced at Chen Chen, who was still eating sausages. “Don’t overdo it. If there is really something happening to him, your sister-in-law will worry.”
When Wan Qingsi left, Ah Sha patted Chen Chen on the head and asked, “What medicine did he take?”
“It’s no big deal. It just made him feel energetic and feel like he would explode if he didn’t use up his energy.” Chen Chen blinked innocently. “He shot me and made me hurt so much. How can I let him go so easily?”
Ah Sha smiled and said, “Liuliu, Xiao Rui has told you all those things from when you were a kid. At that time, you liked him, so you should also like him now, right?”
“How can you count those things from when I was a kid?” Chen Chen pouted. “I don’t like a person who is so bad that he set a trap for me.”
“When a person coming from the Wan family loves one, they will love that one forever.” Ah Sha looked sweet and happy. “For example, Xunxun met me when he was five or six, and he really likes me all his life!”
Chen Chen said sneeringly, “That’s because my dad and my elder brother are always expressionless, and no woman will like them at all.”
There was a stir at the door, and Wan Yi and Wan Er came in carrying a man.
“Take him back to the room and let him have a good rest.” Chen Huan sighed, while Xin Qing wore a bitter smile. “He’s fine, but had too much exercise.”
Ah Sha asked curiously, “What are the sequelae of your medicine?”
“Prostration!”
Chen Huan came over. “How long will it last?”
Chen Chen held up her fingers. “Three days!”
“Good job.” Boss Wan patted his daughter on her shoulder. “Go on with it.”
Xin Qing was just about to say something else, when Ying Qingcang shook his head at her and took her away.
“Just let Liuliu do it. In this way, she can vent her anger.” Pinching Xin Qing’s hand, Ying Qingcang comforted her. “Now we can’t say a word because she’s someone else’s daughter!”
“I know.” Xin Qing said sadly, “I also love Liuliu, but it seems that Liuliu hasn’t completely forgiven Xiao Rui yet. In the event that Xiao Rui has an accident, she will definitely regret it.” She could tell that Liuliu liked Jiang Rui, but she was angry at this time.
“Let’s go after Ah Sha has a baby. Look, now you are busier here than at home.”
“We cannot leave until Ah Sha ends her confinement in childbirth.” Xin Qing thought of Jiang Rui again. “Also, I worry about Liuliu and Xiao Rui. If their problems are not resolved, how can I feel at ease to leave?”
Jiang Rui felt that he was not so tired when he was training in the United States. If he had not felt his breathing, he would have thought he had been already dead. He even had no strength to move his fingers.
“Dad…” Tuan Zi looked at him, “you look terrible.”
Jiang Rui closed his eyes, and Ying Cheng held Tuan Zi and said, “Don’t ask. He doesn’t have the strength to speak now.”
“Is it serious? Why does he need an IV?” Tuan Zi believed that the IV was a big deal, meaning that he was very sick.
Ying Cheng touched her head. “No, that’s glucose. Your dad has collapsed and he needs nutrients.”
Tuan Zi wanted to cry, but just sobbed for fear that Jiang Rui would be worried. Ying Cheng quickly said, “Brother, have a good rest. We’re leaving now.”
Jiang Rui really woke up three days later, and immediately, he smelled the aroma of food.
“Xiao Rui? Xiao Rui?” Xin Qing saw him move, and quickly asked, “Are you feeling better?”
“Mom…” Jiang Rui said in a hoa.r.s.e voice, and then raised his hand to touch his face, “Mom… water…”
Chen Huan handed him a gla.s.s of water from behind. “So.”
Jiang Rui drank five gla.s.ses of water before sitting up. “How long did I sleep?”
“Three days.” Xin Qing brought him a bowl of millet porridge. “Finish it before talking.”
“How about Liuliu?” Jiang Rui took the porridge. “I didn’t make pudding for her. Did she lose her temper?”
Chen Huan curled her lips and said, “She’s okay, but you…”
“Auntie Chen, I know.” Jiang Rui interrupted her. “I’ll be okay as long as she can vent her anger.”
Xin Qing was a little surprised. “Do you know that Chen Chen did it intentionally? So why did you ask her to give you an injection?”
Jiang Rui smiled. “I found something wrong with her when she woke up that day.” He looked at Chen Huan and asked, “Auntie Chen, why did Liuliu run away from home before? What happened to her? And did you know that she has a split personality?”
“Split personality?” Chen Huan was stunned. “Impossible!”
Jiang Rui told her that Chen Chen once had had a fever, which led to some changes in her personality. “When she woke up in the hospital that day, I found that she seemed to be the same as how she looked like when she had a fever.”
“You mean she is not how she used to be?” Chen Huan said in disbelief, “But… but she was like this when she was young!”
Jiang Rui shook his head. “Before, she looked more relaxed than now, but she was less straightforward and bold. She was always careful, but still made many mistakes. What a silly girl!” When Jiang Rui recalled what Chen Chen had looked like, he could not help smiling. “I recognized at a glance that Chen Chen at the hospital was not the one I knew.”