“Transient Ischemic Attack, TIA for short. Your grandmother is fine, she just needs to be careful, as she might develop some cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases in the future…”
Ruan Mei finished listening to the doctor’s diagnosis regarding her grandmother in the doctor’s office, asking many questions, and then walked out with the prescription slip the doctor gave her.
The middle-aged woman in black was standing in the corridor. Seeing her come out, she gestured to her assistant, who took the prescription from Ruan Mei’s hand and went downstairs to get the medicine.
The middle-aged woman spoke to Ruan Mei:
“It shouldn’t be anything serious, right?”
Ruan Mei nodded, her expression serious. Standing in the corridor, she looked up at the middle-aged woman:
“Now that things here are finished, you can leave.”
The middle-aged woman was momentarily stunned:
“But… given your situation, you won’t be able to take good care of your grandmother by yourself, will you? It would be better if we waited until your parents arrive, handed things over to them, and then left.”
The middle aged woman had just asked about Ruan Mei’s parents, making Ruan Mei wary. She had replied, “They are not here,” which prompted the woman to ask this question now.
Ruan Mei had already guessed the middle-aged woman’s identity from how her assistants addressed her this was Fang Zhishui’s “A-Mom”!
Her real name, listed in the encyclopedia, was Fang Junzhi, the current Chairman of the Fang Group. She was domineering and impressive in public, but at home, she was extremely biased towards Alphas (A) and dismissive of Omegas (O), to the extent that she didn’t even care when her own child attempted suicide by cutting their wrists. In the original story, after Fang Zhishui underwent her secondary gender differentiation, it was Chairman Fang who drove her out of the house!
If Ruan Mei hadn’t been tied up with her grandmother’s matter, she would have already rushed over to curse her out.
Fang Junzhi implied she intended to wait there, which thoroughly annoyed Ruan Mei. She waved her hand and said:
“My parents are not coming. You all should leave quickly.”
She entered her grandmother’s hospital room, and Fang Junzhi followed, clearly unwilling to give up until she achieved her goal. Just as she was about to question Ruan Mei further, she was interrupted by a voice from the hospital bed:
“Meimei, who is this?”
Grandmother was awake now, looking at Fang Junzhi with a vigilant gaze.
Fang Junzhi smiled and was about to step forward to introduce herself when she heard Ruan Mei reply:
“Someone from the mall. They said they want to discuss compensation with us, but they’ve been prying into our family’s privacy, and now they say they’re waiting for my parents to arrive.”
Ruan Mei’s impatience was evident in her voice. Her grandmother immediately understood the situation. Her expression turned stern, and she slapped the bedside table:
“How can you be like this? We will handle our family matters ourselves. Just provide the compensation that the mall owes us. Why do you need to ask about a customer’s private family affairs? Leave now, I don’t welcome you!”
Ruan Mei glared at Fang Junzhi along with her grandmother, silently giving her grandmother a thumbs-up.
Even with her thick skin, Fang Junzhi found it hard to stay. She could only take out a business card from her gold-stamped cardholder, give one to Ruan Mei and one to her grandmother, repeatedly emphasizing that they must call her, before finally leaving, looking back three times.
A while later, Fang Junzhi’s assistant brought the medicine and left immediately after delivering it.
Quiet was restored in the room. Grandmother took Ruan Mei’s hand, her cloudy eyes full of sorrow:
“You’ve suffered, child… Even though you don’t have parents and Grandma isn’t capable, you are no worse than anyone else. Work hard in the future; you will surely have a good life. Don’t take what that woman said just now to heart.”
Ruan Mei knew about her family background from the original owner’s memories. Her current grandmother was actually her maternal grandmother, and her mother was named Ruan Xiaoqian, a promiscuous Omega (O) who disappeared after a one-night stand resulted in Ruan Mei’s birth, leaving only the grandmother to raise her.
Ruan Mei patted the back of her grandmother’s hand in return, smiling brightly:
“Having you is enough for me, Grandma. We need to have regular check-ups from now on, pay attention to nutritional balance in our meals, and keep sugar and oil low. You must take good care of yourself. Something like today cannot happen again, do you understand?”
After watching her grandmother nod and then drift off to sleep, Ruan Mei finally had the mental space to think about the connection between Fang Junzhi and herself based on the snippets from the original story.
As a result, she realized the original text never mentioned any interaction between these two people. Since she hadn’t finished the original story, she had no clues and could only put the matter aside for now.
Grandmother was discharged that same evening. Ruan Mei took her to a relatively nice restaurant for a meal, then forcibly dragged her to buy a new set of clothes before they returned home together.
In the following days, Ruan Mei continued to work at Hongfu Mall as usual. Sister Chuang was very concerned about her grandmother and even bought some health supplements for Ruan Mei to take to her.
Ruan Mei initially refused with polite words, but Sister Chuang became serious:
“Take them. Your grandmother and I get along well. I genuinely want to be friends with her. These are gifts for a friend!”
Ruan Mei had no choice but to accept them, took them home, and made sure her grandmother took the specified dosage daily. She also started learning to cook, preparing meals for herself for the next day when she had time.
Initially, the food Ruan Mei made was so bad she couldn’t eat it, but after a few days, she suddenly found cooking quite fun and began to dedicate herself to learning, improving a little bit every day.
She currently spoke very little to Fang Zhishui, mainly because she held a grudge, feeling that the other girl introduced her to Hongfu Mall deliberately so she would owe her a favor. However, she didn’t ignore Fang Zhishui completely, mainly out of sympathy for the female protagonist, feeling that having such a mother was tragic.
Fang Zhishui:
“Are there any problems you can’t solve?”
Ruan Mei:
“No.”
Fang Zhishui:
“I’m going out to buy some things, do you want me to bring you anything?”
Ruan Mei:
“No need.”
No matter how long Fang Zhishui’s questions were, Ruan Mei’s answers were only two words. She could only smile and give up.
As Ruan Mei was working on a problem, her eraser fell to the floor. She bent down to pick it up, but her fingers brushed against another slender, fair finger.
Ruan Mei quickly retracted her hand and sat up straight.
Fang Zhishui picked up the eraser and placed it on Ruan Mei’s desk, then turned around and rested her elbow on Ruan Mei’s desk.
Her eyes were bright as she stared at Ruan Mei, her voice low:
“It seems like you’ve been resenting me lately.”
Ruan Mei remained silent, her lips slightly pursed, her cheeks puffed out a little.
Fang Zhishui blinked slowly:
“Did I do something wrong?”
Ruan Mei still couldn’t hold back. She shot her a sideways glare, annoyed:
“Hongfu Mall is your family’s property, isn’t it? Why did you recommend me to work for your company?”
Fang Zhishui was stunned for a moment, then explained:
“It’s not ours. Hongfu is a partner of our family’s company, we have business dealings, but I don’t know the specifics. I don’t get involved in the family business.”
Ruan Mei’s anger subsided a bit. It seemed her successful interview and receiving a bonus as a part-timer were still based on her own merit.
Seeing Ruan Mei’s expression soften slightly, Fang Zhishui asked:
“Did something happen?”
Ruan Mei recounted everything that happened with her grandmother at the mall, emphasizing Fang Junzhi’s unusual level of concern for her, and then showed Fang Zhishui Fang Junzhi’s business card.
Fang Zhishui frowned, took the business card, and confirmed that it indeed belonged to her “father.”
“Why is your mother paying so much attention to me? Do I have a blood relation with her? Did your mother have an affair before marriage? But that’s not right, I’m a year younger than you, right? The timeline doesn’t match. Was it after she got married then?”
A look of disgust appeared on Fang Zhishui’s face:
“I will ask her when I have a chance. Ruan Mei, ignore her, and don’t accept anything she gives you. She is very dangerous.”
Ruan Mei nodded seriously:
“I understand.”
Her eyes glanced at Fang Zhishui’s wrist, which was tightly covered by her sleeve. Since she couldn’t see anything, she kept quiet and lowered her head to study.
However, Fang Zhishui actively pulled up her sleeve and offered her wrist to show:
“You see this, right? This is what she did to me. So, you absolutely must not trust her.”
Fang Zhishui’s wound had healed much better, which greatly relieved Ruan Mei. She let it slip:
“It’s good that you’re okay. I thought it was you yourself… Ah, never mind.”
“I would never harm myself. Thank you for those medicines and snacks.”
Fang Zhishui thanked her very sincerely, and the warmth in her eyes moved Ruan Mei. The words “it wasn’t me” she was about to say changed to “You’re welcome.”
When Fang Zhishui turned back, Ruan Mei lowered her head and gently hit her own head with her hand, full of regret.
Ruan Mei, oh Ruan Mei! You promised to stay away from the main characters and prioritize keeping yourself alive! How did you end up caring about the female lead? Even if you cared, how did you directly admit to buying things secretly? Aren’t you actively adding drama to your own role!
What kind of ending does a cannon fodder who adds drama get? Naturally, they get eliminated faster and more miserably! Do you still think about becoming the protagonist?
Ruan Mei seriously warned herself not to have any more improper interactions with Fang Zhishui! Isn’t it much better to be an ordinary person far away from the vortex? Her relationship with the female lead should end here; she absolutely cannot take it any further!
Unfortunately, just as Ruan Mei was making solemn vows in her heart, Fang Zhishui turned back holding a booklet:
“Oh right, this is the class notes you lent me before. I added some math competition problems inside and wrote down the analyses. It should be helpful to you.”
Ruan Mei froze for a moment:
“Ah, thank you… You didn’t need to put in so much effort… That’s too much trouble!”
Fang Zhishui just smiled and said:
“It’s not trouble. We are a pair, we should help each other.”
A pair? A PAIR! What kind of shocking words were those!
Ruan Mei’s entire face instantly turned red like a cooked crab as if a switch had been flipped. Her expression was blank, not knowing what to say, and her fingers dug a mark into the notebook.
From Fang Zhishui’s perspective, Ruan Mei’s normally fair skin looked even more delicate when flushed red. Sunlight shone through her rounded earlobes, revealing a semi-transparent flow. Her look of utter shock, mixed with slight shyness, and her wide open eyes, held a unique kind of charm.
Fang Zhishui smiled as she watched, couldn’t resist reaching out, hooking Ruan Mei’s nose bridge lightly, and laughing softly:
“You… I meant the partnered activity. Why are you blushing?”
Ruan Mei finally realized she had misunderstood. She was so embarrassed her toes curled up enough to fill a three bedroom apartment:
“Ah, that… I’m fine, I’m just a little hot… Doing problems, doing problems…”
Fang Zhishui turned around, a smile lingering on her lips. She didn’t know why, but lately, she always felt like smiling whenever she saw Ruan Mei.
Because of this misunderstanding, Ruan Mei didn’t speak to Fang Zhishui for the entire afternoon, rushing out the door the moment school ended.
Li Namei had already started studying the Grade 11 curriculum. Ruan Mei needed to go to Li Namei’s class first to tutor her before heading to her part-time job.
Everyone had left Li Namei’s classroom except for a few people. Ruan Mei reached the doorway and immediately saw Li Namei chasing someone around the room, yelling as she ran:
“Give it back! That’s the exercise book I spent half a month on, give it back!”
The person running in front was holding the exercise book, laughing brazenly, while a girl with yellow hair sitting on the podium was clapping her hands.
It was Wan Shanshan!
Ruan Mei forcefully suppressed her anger, pulled out her phone outside the window to record video evidence to report to the school.
However, Wan Shanshan had already spotted Ruan Mei. She jumped down from the podium, holding a wooden stick, and walked over with an arrogant posture.
“Last time at the mall, I respected my elders and the young, so I didn’t touch you. This time, let’s have a fair fight!”