The caller’s tone was urgent, speaking rapidly. Jiang Wangshu couldn’t make out the words, but she could infer that the person on the other end seemed to have run into some trouble.
When the call ended, Shen Qing held up her phone and responded, “Is it serious?… How can you not find anyone to help you? Fine, I’ll come right away.”
After the call hung up, Jiang Wangshu spoke up promptly: “If it’s urgent, go ahead. I can drive myself. She needs you.”
Jiang Wangshu’s considerate manner made Shen Qing feel deeply uncomfortable. She frowned, unable to say why, but subconsciously she didn’t want Jiang Wangshu to place herself in a lower position: “Jiejie, driving you to work is urgent too. No matter what, I’ll always put your matters first. But this time it just so happens we’re headed to the same place.”
Shen Qing gripped the steering wheel tightly, speaking plainly. She stared straight into Jiang Wangshu’s eyes, hoping for some response even just a little would do.
But there was nothing. After meeting Shen Qing’s burning gaze, Jiang Wangshu turned her head toward the window.
The hope gradually faded, and a faint smile hung awkwardly on her face as her eyes slowly dimmed.
Acting as a silent, dutiful driver made the trip pass quickly. Half an hour later they arrived at the hospital parking lot. Shen Qing said nothing, and the atmosphere in the car was somewhat awkward.
Jiang Wangshu thought for a long time, but still decided to offer a reminder: “A-Qing, this Miss Xuan is your partner, right? You’re much better at talking than you used to be, but next time don’t say things like that to others, it easily leads people to overthink. Saying it to me is one thing, but be careful out there not to attract unnecessary romantic entanglements. It would be bad if Miss Xuan misunderstood.”
At this, Shen Qing finally understood what it meant to lift a rock only to drop it on one’s own foot. Why had she insisted so stubbornly on claiming she had a girlfriend abroad?
Just as she was about to explain, a muffled car door slam sounded. Apart from a faint scent of bitter orange, Jiang Wangshu left nothing behind.
Leaning back in the driver’s seat, Shen Qing instinctively reached into her trench coat pocket for a cigarette, but found nothing.
Her craving wasn’t strong, she only smoked one occasionally when feeling restless but she’d forgotten that after all the coming and going these past days, her last cigarette had been finished the very night she returned to the country, on the balcony of her room at the Shen estate, gazing at the star-filled sky in the cool autumn wind.
Arriving at the hospital room Xuan Zhi had mentioned, Shen Qing saw the small figure bulging under the blanket on the hospital bed. She slowed her steps and deliberately lowered her voice: “What’s wrong with Xiaoyu? Is it serious? Why didn’t you call your family for help?”
“You finally came… It’s just a small cold, nothing serious. Once this IV drip is done, we can go home.” Glancing at the sleeping Xuan Xiaoyu, Xuan Zhi moved closer to Shen Qing.
Shen Qing instinctively stepped back, but was caught by her. Xuan Zhi leaned to Shen Qing’s ear: “I never told my family I adopted a child. Now that a child has appeared out of nowhere, it scared them out of their wits. They flew into a huge rage and insisted I return the child to wherever I picked her up from but how could I possibly do that?”
“They couldn’t accept it, so I took Xiaoyu to live at the apartment under my name. I never expected Xiaoyu to suddenly run a high fever, so I rushed to the hospital. I don’t want to count on my family for now, so I can only ask you.”
“Once this drip is finished, take Xiaoyu back to your place first. I’ll come pick her up after I finish my work meeting.”
Shen Qing fell silent. She hadn’t expected Xuan Zhi to be so bold, and shot her a glance. “You called me over in such a frantic hurry, I thought your daughter’s illness was serious.”
“Oh come on, if I didn’t say that, would you have come?” Xuan Zhi stood before Shen Qing, her soft Wu dialect sounding almost coquettish. She naturally patted Shen Qing’s shoulder, then made a show of straightening her collar, which had been messed up from rushing over. “Our precious Xiaoyu has to be handed over to you. I don’t trust anyone else.”
When she was abroad, Xuan Zhi had been busy shooting on location. Since she didn’t quite trust leaving Xuan Xiaoyu alone with a nanny she’d known for less than a year, she had asked Shen Qing to help look after the girl whenever she was free though only for her own peace of mind, not because she truly trusted her with the care.
She had thought it all through. Once back in the country, Shen Qing would most likely still be living at the Shen residence for a while, with the Shen family’s nanny helping to watch the child. That, she could feel at ease about.
“Knock knock knock…”
The words “stop being dramatic” were on the tip of Shen Qing’s tongue when the sudden knock made both of them turn toward the door. Shen Qing swallowed the remark and instinctively stepped back two paces to put distance between herself and Xuan Zhi.
Xuan Zhi was a few centimeters shorter than Shen Qing, and from a certain angle it might look as though the two of them had just been kissing. Jiang Wangshu stood in the doorway, staring fixedly at their intimate posture, then lowered her eyes, doing her best to hide the emotion in them.
“Rounds. Is now a good time?” Jiang Wangshu walked in.
The hospital room window wasn’t shut tight, and the autumn breeze that slipped in lifted the hem of her coat. Pinned to the left side of her chest was her ID badge Jiang Wangshu, Associate Chief Physician of Pediatrics, Ren’ai Hospital.
Aside from the glimpse of her back she’d caught that day, Xuan Zhi’s only other impression of Jiang Wangshu was a brief encounter seven years ago at her engagement banquet with Shen Dai. She hadn’t expected to run into her here.
“Of course, Dr. Jiang.”
The little girl’s condition wasn’t serious, and she could leave that very day. After completing her routine examination, Jiang Wangshu wrote in a blue folder with her pen while giving the parents her usual instructions: “The child has a weak constitution, and with the change of seasons, flu is going around. It’s best not to take her out and about, especially to crowded public places.”
She had overheard part of their conversation at the door earlier. Glancing up at Xuan Zhi and knowing the particular nature of her work, she gave her some extra reminders about protective measures.
“Did you listen carefully to Dr. Jiang’s instructions? Xiaoyu is in your hands now. You can handle that, right?”
Seeing Shen Qing nod helplessly, Xuan Zhi clicked away in her high heels, chic and carefree.
“And this parent, did you remember all that?”
Shen Qing was a bit dazed, but nodded obediently all the same.
Finishing her rounds and the instructions, Jiang Wangshu turned to leave, but just as she reached the door, Shen Qing called out to her: “Jiejie, I’ll wait for you to get off work.”
“No need.”
Rejected so coldly, Shen Qing wasn’t bothered at all because she didn’t listen.
As dusk fell, Shen Qing, staying in the hospital room, wasn’t idle either. Armed with that gorgeous face that had charmed countless girls, her statuesque figure, and the small bit of fame she’d earned during her days moonlighting as a model, she quickly befriended the nurses. Before leaving, she quietly obtained Jiang Wangshu’s shift schedule from the nurses’ station.
Lately, the hospital had assigned her almost nothing but day shifts. After six o’clock, she was free to hand over and leave.
Shen Qing raised her hand to check the time, it was five thirty. Xuan Xiaoyu’s IV drip was already finished. The second time was easier than the first; she scooped up the still-groggy little girl with one arm and headed downstairs, carrying the small backpack Xuan Zhi had prepared for her in her other hand.
At the parking lot, beside her parking space, Shen Qing spotted a child safety seat placed next to the car. She didn’t need to guess whose handiwork that was.
How very thoughtful.
Shen Qing couldn’t help but grumble inwardly, but her hands never stopped moving. After all, Xuan Zhi worked to make money for the company, and as a partner, she was only happy to see it.
Once the little girl was settled in, just past six, Shen Qing sat in the driver’s seat and saw Jiang Wangshu walking over with her bag, glancing around as if searching for something.
“Waiting for someone?” Shen Qing rolled down the window and leaned her head out.
Jiang Wangshu seemed startled by her voice her body visibly flinched, and she froze in place, her tone awkward: “I called the family driver to pick me up.”
So she was looking for me.
Guilty conscience.
A wicked smile slowly curled onto Shen Qing’s lips.
“Really? But I heard Third Aunt is still at the beauty salon and hasn’t come back. The family driver doesn’t know how to split himself in two, you know.”
“Sister, you taught me lying makes you a bad child.”
Caught red-handed, Jiang Wangshu’s cheeks flushed like a boiled shrimp. Remembering how she had once lectured Shen Qing, she looked at her with a trace of embarrassment.
“Get in.”
Shen Qing started the car, and Jiang Wangshu obediently climbed in. The doors locked, and they drove home together.
“Mommy, I’m thirsty.”
Shen Qing glanced at the rearview mirror. The little one must still be dazed, she usually called her godmother. Driving made it inconvenient to reach, but before Shen Qing could ask Jiang Wangshu to take out the water bottle from the backpack, she had already found it, turned around, and placed it gently in the child’s hands, softly reminding her: “Hold it carefully, okay.”
In all the time she’d been back, Shen Qing had never heard Jiang Wangshu speak to her so tenderly. She actually felt a little envious of her goddaughter.
Xuan Xiaoyu shyly said “thank you,” but didn’t know how to address her, shooting a pleading little look toward Shen Qing.
“Call her godmother.” It was bound to happen sooner or later anyway.
Jiang Wangshu shot her a look. With a child present, she didn’t forcefully correct the title, but instead used a voice as gentle as a spring breeze to guide the child to the proper form of address: “Call her Auntie Jiang.”
She added only: “You call me sister-in-law, and she calls me auntie that’s the correct way.”
The words struck straight at Shen Qing’s heart. Her face, which had just thawed like melting ice, froze over again, and she couldn’t smile anymore.
Not daring to argue back, yet unwilling to concede, Shen Qing looked at the two of them chatting and playing in the rearview mirror and muttered under her breath, “Not correct at all.”
Rush hour hit right at quitting time, so the drive to the Shen residence ran late. As they walked in the door, they happened upon the whole Shen family at dinner and not just the Shens; even relatives from her father Yang Xusheng’s side were there. Hearing the commotion, everyone looked over in unison, their expressions varied.
Some of the cleverer ones knew that saying more meant erring more, and merely craned their necks to gossip. But there were always those hopelessly foolish people who loved to stick their necks out at exactly this kind of moment.
For instance, her Third Aunt, Yang Yeming.
“Well, well, whose little one is this? The three of you walking in together, you really look like a family.”
The moment the words fell, everyone’s chopsticks froze mid-air.
But Third Aunt kept talking: “It looks like Wangshu just got back from the hospital. How come you came back together with Xiao Qing? Did Xiao Qing go pick you up specially?”
“You two have always been so close, ever since you were little…”
“Is that so?”
Shen Xiaqing spoke up, completely shutting Yang Yeming’s mouth. She vaguely realized she had said something wrong.
In this household, who didn’t know about their past?
But Jiang Wangshu’s current status was Shen Qing’s sister-in-law, and Shen Xiaqing was the most old-fashioned of all, valuing propriety and moral order above everything else. Yang Yeming’s words just now had been trampling all over her landmines.
This was absolutely not allowed to happen.