“Hey, didn’t you tell Jiang Ci?” Tong Zhenni picked up the bag under her feet and threw it over her shoulder, following Lu Xingxue.
“No.” Lu Xingxue said.
Tong Zhenni flipped down the sun visor on the passenger side and opened the mirror to take a picture. There was a wound on the corner of her mouth, and the blood had condensed.
Lu Xingxue: “Is there anything uncomfortable? Do you want me to take you to the hospital?”
“No need, buy me some medicine.” Tong Zhenni said indifferently.
She didn’t mind how her request was so unceremonious. Although they were in-laws, they were not familiar with each other at all, and such solitude has never happened before.
Lu Xingxue didn’t mind, she remembered that there was a pharmacy nearby, so she drove to find it. After arriving, she went in to buy medicine, and Tong Zhenni clicked her tongue at her unhurried pace. After buying the medicine and returning to the car, Lu Xingxue handed the medicine bag to Tong Zhenni.
Tong Zhenni didn’t answer: “How can I apply it myself, won’t you help me?”
“Of course,” Lu Xingxue nodded and took out a few cotton swabs: “It will hurt a bit, you must endure.”
Tong Zhenni was sitting on her side, and her upper body moved closer to Lu Xingxue.
She was actually very beautiful. She had an arrogant and cool energy in her gestures, but it seems that the period of youthful rebellion has not passed, and there was always the ability to make the family anxious.
The cotton swab was stained with lotion, Lu Xingxue cleaned her wound, Tong Zhenni was in pain but did not say a word. Furrowing her brows—without blinking, she looked at Lu Xingxue with a serious look. After Lu Xingxue cleaned the broken corners of her mouth, she unscrewed the plaster and applied a layer of it gently and softly.
“Okay,” Lu Xingxue put the things in the medicine bag again, and handed it to Tong Zhenni again: “Try your best not to touch the lotion. Although the wound is not big, you must be careful to avoid leaving scars.”
Tong Zhenni put it away disapprovingly.
Lu Xingxue: “Shall I take you home now?”
Tong Zhenni sneered: “That’s not my home.”
She hugged her arms—a world-weary posture of “the whole world has failed me and I’m sorry”,
It’s a pity that she was so hungry that the gurgling of her stomach ruined her cool image.
Lu Xingxue thought it was funny: “What do you want to eat? I’ll take you home after eating. It’s cold, after I go back, soak in a comfortable bath, and then take a good sleep.”
Tong Zhenni commanded her with a cold face: “You just drive.”
There are unfinished buildings in the old city, which have been developed until half of the capital chain is broken—no other investors had taken over, and the gaping buildings stood alone in the cold wind. The merchants propped up canopies with red and blue plastic sheets along the street, and over time, this place became a centralized and affordable place for late-night snacks.
Tong Zhenni had followed Romeo several times, and entered one with familiarity, shouting for a bowl of beef noodles.
Lu Xingxue followed her in and gave Tong Zhenni the shawl she had brought from the car. She didn’t say what the shawl was for, but Tong Zhenni understood it. She folded it in two to cover her tattered stockings.
Although the shawl was light and thin, it was soft and warm, and it stretched a lot after covering the knee joint.
Tong Zhenni raised her head and mocked: “Are you always so careful with people?”
The plastic tables and stools were stained with oil that had hardly been cleaned for years. Lu Xingxue sat without frowning, her eyes were gentle and calm: “You are still young, now the cold isn’t a problem. Wait and you will suffer from age.”
Tong Zhenni punched cotton, which was boring. Her heart choked, wondering what kind of luck Jiang Ci had, to find such a gem in an arranged marriage.
The pot was steaming, the boss took out a bowl of noodles and added miscellaneous materials, sending it to Tong Zhenni. The scent of the food caused Tong Zhenni’s index finger to move; she opened the pack of disposable wooden chopsticks, so hungry that she didn’t care about her image, and gobbled it up.
During this process, Lu Xingxue quietly watched her.
Tong Zhenni had eaten so much that she slowly lowered her chopsticks.
This simple environment is more and more contrasting with the picturesque eyebrows of Lu Xingxue on the opposite side, with a dusty temperament. Tong Zhenni looked in her eyes, and couldn’t help choking up again, humming and saying: “Lu Xingxue, I’m looking for you tonight, are you reluctant?”
Lu Xingxue: “Don’t fight with people in the future.”
“Hey, you really are educated.” Tong Zhenni dropped her chopsticks, turned around and opened the zipper of her bag. She pulled out a black plastic bag and threw it to Lu Xingxue’s table: “This, I’m returning it to you.”
The plastic bag was tightly tied, shaped into a square. Lu Xingxue didn’t touch it. She guessed it was a wad of money.
“There’s fifty thousand in it, only this is left.” Tong Zhenni lifted her chin: “Romeo asked you for five to six hundred thousand, right?”
It should be more than this number, but Lu Xingxue didn’t care about that: “So you fought with him until the police were dispatched?”
Tong Zhenni unnaturally propped her head and drew her hair, blinking her eyes, she regained her arrogance: “I said he was stupid, to use that kind of person as a cash machine.”
“That kind of person,” Lu Xingxue repeated gently, “Are you sober now? Know what kind of person he is?”
Tong Zhenni: “…”
Tong Zhenni picked up the wooden chopsticks again, slurping all the powder left in the bowl.
Lu Xingxue didn’t touch the money, so Tong Zhenni held it in her hand when she left, and got into the car that had been parked on the side of the street. Lu Xingxue was paying for the food, and Tong Zhenni left her plastic bag casually on the mat.
She was so excited when she started fighting with Romeo, the stockings were ripped unknowingly, and now she looked like this—it was really disappointing. Tong Zhenni took off her stockings and wanted to throw them away. When she saw Lu Xingxue with her graceful figure and fluttering hair in the night breeze, she suddenly changed her mind.
Lu Xingxue sent Tong Zhenni to Songling Road. On the way back, the gloomy sky started to rain, and when she arrived home, the rain was already torrential. Lu Xingxue parked the car in the garage and got out. She caught a glimpse of the black plastic bag on the passenger’s foot pad. Tong Zhenni had left the money.
Lu Xingxue leaned over to fetch it, and as she picked up the plastic bag, the torn stockings discarded on the foot pads also came into view.
Lu Xingxue: “…”
Lu Xingxue got out of the car, walked a few steps, and stopped.
The rain hit the roof of the garage, ping-pong-pong, with great momentum. She stood silent for a few moments, turned back to the car, and put the torn stockings that she had been prepared to dispose of back in the car.
In the room, Jiang Ci was nestled on the sofa in the living room, the TV was on, and she was on a call with Huo Zhenzhen next to the pillow.
“If something is going on, why do you hesitate?” Jiang Ci asked Huo Zhenzhen, her eyes meeting Lu Xingxue, who turned in the direction of the kitchen.
Huo Zhenzhen sighed on the phone, her voice mournful, “I don’t know how to tell you.”
Jiang Ci: “Something serious happened?”
Huo Zhenzhen: “Yeah.”
“Like what?” Jiang Ci asked while paying attention to the movement in the kitchen. When this question was asked, Huo Zhenzhen did not speak for a long time.
There was a long sigh, “I’ll tell you when I’m ready. My whole mind is messed up now.”
She hung up the phone; Jiang Ci was confused by the call. She couldn’t guess what had happened to Huo Zhenzhen.
Lu Xingxue came out of the kitchen with a cup of water. She didn’t work anymore, sitting on the sofa with Jiang Ci to watch funny variety shows.
The sound of the rain was clearly audible, and Jiang Ci held her cheeks: “Suddenly such heavy rain.”
Lu Xingxue put down her cup: “There will be rain for the next few days.”
Jiang Ci looked at the floor-to-ceiling windows, and the rain was raging in the courtyard. Seriously, she really didn’t like rain.
Lu Xingxue put the car key next to the water cup: “It’s not convenient to travel on rainy days. The key is here. You can use it anytime.”
Jiang Ci turned her face, Lu Xingxue’s gentle eyebrows fell into view. She gladly accepted: “Thank you.”
……
Jiang Ci fell asleep, and when she drove to the company, Huo Zhenzhen asked her to go to accompany her to the physiotherapy center in the afternoon to take care of her spine.
“Are you ready to tell me?” Jiang Ci asked her.
Huo Zhenzhen sighed, “I’m ready.”
The company building was right in front of her, and Jiang Ci slowly stepped on the brake: “Wait for my work to finish, I will pick you up at the store when I’m done.”
Huo Zhenzhen: “I’m not at the store, I’ll see you at the physiotherapy center.”
After Jiang Ci stopped the car, she touched the fierce cat on the steering wheel before getting out. After getting out of the elevator, she received a call from Wei Ning: “Madam, the car you drove today has an appointment. Is it convenient for me to change the car for the inspection and maintenance in the afternoon?”
Jiang Ci would naturally not embarrass him: “I’m in the company, I will send you the location. You can just drive over and change it.”
Wei Ning: “Okay, Madam. I’ll contact you when I arrive.”
Next, Jiang Ci chaired a short business meeting. Xiao Chen looked at her, covering her mouth and snickering. After the meeting, Jiang Ci knocked on the desk in front of Xiao Chen: “What is so funny?”
Xiao Chen cupped her face: “Just yesterday, you and President Lu, when you looked at each other. I have my own pink bubble special effect! I don’t dare to send it to you. I am afraid that it is so sweet that I need first aid for suffocation!”
“I wanted to say it yesterday,” Jiang Ci shook her head, “you really do not need to be so exaggerated.”
Xiao Chen lay on the table and laughed.
When Wei Ning arrived, he was going upstairs to give Jiang Ci the car key. Jiang Ci opened the door of the meeting room: “No. Yes, I’m going out now, see you in the basement.”
A new call reminder sounded in the receiver, Jiang Ci looked at it, it was Jiang Lin.
“Ah-Ci, I just called Xiao Bai and decided to go to country S at the end of next month. I’m telling you, she really is a good girl, filial and attentive. I said that I wanted to buy some outfits with your Aunt Ning, who knew she had prepared them for us in advance!”
Jiang Ci went down the elevator: “Aunt Ning is sure to go?”
Jiang Lin: “I’m sure.”
It seems that Wen Nian really does the thinking for Aunt Ning. Jiang Ci got into the elevator and Jiang Lin said, “Yes. Now, Ah-Ci, take a look at when you and Xiao Bai will be free, your Aunt Ning wants to invite the two of you to dinner. “
“…” Jiang Ci thought to herself that this was not necessary.
Jiang Lin: “I know she wants to return Xiao Bai’s gift so I didn’t help you refuse.”
Jiang Ci pulled out for Lu Xingxue: “Lu Xingxue, she may not be free, and may not be willing to go. I think—”
“What are you talking about?” Jiang Lin interrupted her in dissatisfaction: “Xiao Bai, who I just asked, said that she wanted to go.”
Jiang Ci: “…”
The elevator door opened and Jiang Ci walked to the parking space. Wei Ning stood by the car holding a small cardboard box and waiting for her. In her ears, Jiang Lin was still saying: “You were on a business trip again? You were so busy all day, not to mention you need to accompany Lu Xingxue more. If you’re preparing for pregnancy, why can’t I see it at all?”
Lu Xingxue just said that she would consider having a baby, and Jiang Lin interpreted it as if she was preparing for pregnancy…
Jiang Ci was speechless, and Jiang Lin asked her again: “Do you sleep in the same room now?”
“Mom, I have something to do, I’ll talk about it later.” Jiang Ci took away the phone and couldn’t wait to hang up. Jiang Lin jumped over there: “What a bad temper! When I try to talk business, she just hangs up.”
Jiang Ci smiled, took the car key out of her bag and gave it to Wei Ning.
Wei Ning asked, “Does your wife have anything in the car? It’s best to put it away first, so that it won’t get dirty or lost in the store.”
He shook the cardboard box in his hand, meaning it could fit in this box.
It was rare for Jiang Ci to use the car, so there was nothing to pack. There was only a box of old ginseng, which she collected on the business trip. Yesterday, she forgot to ask Lu Xingxue, she was going to ask if she was free, so she could send it to Grandpa Lu.
Jiang Ci opened the passenger’s door and picked up the ginseng box on the seat.
She stared for a while.
The ripped black stockings were hooked at her fingertips and lifted up inch by inch, and Jiang Ci’s smile came to an abrupt end.
TL: zen
PR/Edit: avel
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