Jiang Beiyuan snorted, not bothering to answer him.
"Regarding the matter that I have entrusted to you, how"s the investigation coming along?"
His buddy was left speechless momentarily. "Please, can you be more patient? My network may be wider than yours but it"ll still take time."
The man stifled a sn.i.g.g.e.r when he heard that.
He retorted, slow and steady, "Your network may not be wider than mine."
Xu Kuangjie: "…"
This was one of those rare days where she returned "home."
Just as she"d curled up on the sofa, munching happily on her potato chips, her phone started ringing.
It was He Huaiguang, and he was inviting her for a date at the amus.e.m.e.nt park tomorrow.
She did not know how to respond to his request. "We"re too old for the amus.e.m.e.nt park. Let me think about it. Besides, I"m not free tomorrow!"
"You are now your own boss. Can"t you give yourself a break whenever you want?"
"I wis.h.!.+ A new order has just arrived, and I need to take down the inventory, trim the stems and flowers, as well as do up the floral arrangement. Do you really think that I"m that free?"
His father is a nouveau riche, and he was considered a rich second-generation heir. It would definitely be difficult for him to understand the struggles of a commoner like her.
There was a pause on the other side of the phone. "How about me becoming your a.s.sistant at the shop?"
She laughed heartily and returned a cheeky reply to her former buddy. "Really? If you"re not worried that your tender hands will be p.r.i.c.ked and scarred by thorns, then you"re welcomed to come over. But let me put this clear to you first, salary will follow the market rate at six thousand yuan a month, nothing more than that."
The moment she hung up the phone and turned over, she b.u.mped into Jiang Beiyuan.
She did not know for how long he had been standing behind her. His clear eyes, fixed on her, were as dark and penetrating as the night sky.
"You"re back."
He sniffled in acknowledgment, looking fierce.
Inside her heart, she wondered: Have I antagonized him today?
Packs of potato chips, yogurt, and nutty snacks were spread haphazardly across the coffee table. Looking embarra.s.sed, she waved at him in the direction of the snacks and asked, "Do you want some?"
Still looking angry, he gave a stiff reply. "Eating these at night is not good for your body."
"Yup, I know, but I like it."
When it came to a foodie, what the mouth wanted would be more truthful than the heart.
Squinting his eyes, he told her off in vexation:
"You don"t like what you should like and you like what you shouldn"t like. You don"t care when others put in efforts to make you smile, but you would laugh happily when you shouldn"t care."
Huh?
She was bewildered by his senseless rhetorics.
Dumbstruck, she finally found her voice after a long while.
"Har?"
Pursing his lips, he did not say more and returned to his own room.
As she sat on the same spot and watched the man walking away stiffly with his back to her, it took her some time to regain her composure.
What was he trying to say?
What did I do to antagonize him?
Oh, well.
She decided to ignore him and continued to enjoy her tidbits as the empty wrappers filled up the plastic bin throughout the night…
Her tummy got into a fit in the wee hours of the morning. Spasms shook through her guts and she was heavily walloped by the pain.
Cold beads of perspiration rolled down the side of her forehead as she rolled about on the bed in agony.
Left with no other choice, she inched her way to the man"s room while clinging to the wall for support.
She really did not want to disturb him so late at night, especially when he was in such a foul mood earlier.
The two pairs of eyes met when the door opened. She forced a smile at him before clenching her tummy with a sharp inhalation.
"Jiang Beiyuan, I"m… I"m in pain…"
"Niannian!"
In the dark of the night.
It was about two in the early hours.
All were still except for the red warning light that lit up outside the operating theater in the city"s central hospital.
The man waiting outside the operation room was still in his dark blue pajamas. The sleeves were rolled up mid-way on his arms to reveal his slender and fit physique. Wearing a pair of men"s slippers on his feet, he had a lazy demeanor, except that his brows were knitted tightly with a grave expression on his face.
Time ticked by.
The red alert was finally switched off.
A surgeon, looking to be in his 30s, walked out wearing a white coat. He removed the mask on his face and glanced at the man leaning against the wall.
"Appendicitis. It has been removed. She should be all right now."
Nodding his head, Jiang Beiyuan"s face finally softened. "Thank you."
"Eh, you don"t have to be so polite. We"re such old friends already."
The surgeon who performed the appendectomy was Zhang Fan, who was Jiang Beiyuan"s cla.s.smate with whom he was on good terms back in high school.
As his former cla.s.smate went to the lounge to remove his white coat, he followed closely behind.
Walking to the water dispenser to get himself a gla.s.s of water, Zhang Fan asked him with a quizzical look, "Why, what else do you want?"
Jiang Beiyuan: "Any precautions needed after the surgery?"
His friend was stunned.
And then, slowly, he burst into a chuckle.
"This is my first time seeing you so worked up over a girl. Who is she, your girlfriend?"