Chapter 79

Cheng Jingmo had his back to Yu Xiangnian as he cooked, so he couldn’t see his expression, but his voice was somewhat subdued as he asked, “What time will you leave tomorrow?”

“Early in the morning,” Yu Xiangnian replied.

Yu Xiangnian walked over to the stove to help with the fire. She added, “The trip to Shanghai with Qiu Yang is mainly for business negotiations. I won’t be going anywhere else with him.”

“What business?” Cheng Jingmo inquired.

“Qiu Yang knows the head of the Shanghai Publishing House. I want him to introduce me so I can look into doing some translation work and make some money.”

Cheng Jingmo looked at Yu Xiangnian again. Her gaze was sincere and didn’t seem to be hiding anything.

His heart eased a little. “Hmm.”

In the evening, while Yu Xiangnian was packing in her room, Cheng Jingmo knocked and entered, handing her a passbook.

“You’ll need money for the trip, take this.”

Yu Xiangnian glanced at the passbook and said, “I don’t need it. I have money.”

Cheng Jingmo persistently pushed the passbook forward a bit more. “Take it. What if you need it urgently?”

Yu Xiangnian hesitated for a moment, then took the passbook and opened it. It had three hundred yuan inside.

It was likely Cheng Jingmo’s bonus and last month’s salary, which he had saved up.

She closed the passbook and looked up at Cheng Jingmo.

Cheng Jingmo felt uneasy under her gaze, and Yu Xiangnian suddenly smiled, “Isn’t this all your money? Aren’t you afraid I’ll take it and run away?”

Cheng Jingmo had thought about that possibility but was still willing to give her the money.

Although he worried that she might take the money and run, his greater concern was that she might be left without funds while she was away.

If Yu Xiangnian deceived him this time and went away with Qiu Yang, he would never wait for her again!

“I’ll make you a few flatbreads to take with you for the long journey,” he said.

“No need, there will be food on the train,” Yu Xiangnian replied as she put the passbook into her bag. “Don’t worry, I won’t run away with the money!”

The next morning, Yu Xiangnian and Qiu Yang boarded the train to Shanghai.

Cheng Jingmo returned home and felt very out of place.

Even though Yu Xiangnian rarely did anything around the house—waiting for him to come home to cook and doing the laundry herself—

She was like a pampered young lady, but he seemed to enjoy this routine.

The fan kept spinning, and the cool breeze it blew made Cheng Jingmo’s heart feel a bit cooler.

Over the past few days, he had done a thorough cleaning of the house, turned the soil in the vegetable garden, removed weeds, and washed all the bedding and sheets.

Xiao Jie was also counting down the days, eagerly waiting each night before going to bed.

Cheng Jingmo hadn’t anticipated how difficult it would be to endure the ten days without Yu Xiangnian.

Even though they didn’t talk much on a daily basis, she would occasionally crack a cold joke that made him laugh.

He seemed to have grown accustomed to having Yu Xiangnian by his side.

Time dragged slowly, and finally, July 20th arrived.

All day, Cheng Jingmo appeared outwardly normal, but he couldn’t control his excitement inside.

As soon as the work whistle blew, he hurried back to the residential compound.

But when he eagerly returned home, he only saw Xiao Jie sitting alone in the room, dejectedly hanging his head.

At that moment, Cheng Jingmo’s heart raced with anxiety.

“Didn’t Auntie say she would come back today?” Xiao Jie asked with a pout.

Cheng Jingmo steadied himself. “She might be home later tonight.”

The two of them waited anxiously until evening, but still, no one showed up.

“Go to sleep,” Cheng Jingmo said as he pulled the blanket up over Xiao Jie’s stomach.

Xiao Jie turned over in disappointment and closed his eyes.

Cheng Jingmo turned off the lights and felt a chill in his heart.

Cheng Jingmo, how can you be so laughable!

How could you possibly expect Yu Xiangnian to choose you over Qiu Yang?!

How can you compare to Qiu Yang? He has a good background, is good-looking, and is a government-sponsored overseas student. What are you?

The next day, Cheng Jingmo and Xiao Jie were both in low spirits. From getting up to leaving the house, neither of them said a word.

On the other side:

Yu Xiangnian and Qiu Yang arrived in Shanghai on the morning of July 12th and met Qiu Yang’s friend Sun Yichuan and his family.

In the afternoon, they went to the hospital to meet the patient’s primary doctor and discuss the surgery.

The primary doctor, hearing about the surgery for the first time, deemed it too risky and was against it.

Thus, they were delayed for two days.

Eventually, Sun Yichuan’s family decided to proceed with the surgery.

The surgery was scheduled for the morning of July 15th, and Yu Xiangnian performed the operation.

The surgery was successful, and it was initially hoped that after a few days of recovery, they could discuss the translation work with Sun Yichuan’s father and return home around July 17th or 18th.

However, the patient was elderly and had been ill for many years, so the recovery was not going well.

Yu Xiangnian spent every day observing the patient’s recovery, so busy she lost track of the dates.

On the third day after the surgery, the patient experienced an unexpected heart vessel blockage, and Yu Xiangnian had to perform a second surgery.

The second surgery was complex and lasted five hours.

After the surgery, Yu Xiangnian was busy monitoring the patient’s indicators, adjusting medication and treatment, and went two days and nights without sleep.

When the patient was finally out of danger, it was already the morning of July 21st. Yu Xiangnian, so exhausted she could barely think, returned to the guesthouse and slept for a whole day and night.

When she woke up, she suddenly realized it was already July 22nd.

She couldn’t return home on time and had forgotten to inform Cheng Jingmo.

But when she left, she hadn’t taken the army’s contact number.

She could only call home first and ask the housekeeper to call Yu Jiashun’s office to get the contact number for Cheng Jingmo’s unit.

Cheng Jingmo usually kept his emotions in check, but recently, his aura had been so cold that even Yu Xiangyang could sense it.

Yu Xiangyang was both angry and felt it was unfair for Cheng Jingmo. “Why did you agree to let her go with Qiu Yang? If you were afraid to stop her, you should have told me. I would have stopped her! If that didn’t work, I would have told Dad. I’d break her legs if I had to!”

Cheng Jingmo remained silent.

During their time together, he had seen what kind of person Yu Xiangnian was.

He had thought Yu Xiangnian would never deceive him, but now…

Yu Xiangyang continued, “You were foolish enough to give her all your money! Don’t you know that she once took money from home and ran away with Qiu Yang?”

Cheng Jingmo didn’t regret giving her the money.

If Yu Xiangnian did run away with Qiu Yang, then at least the money might still be useful to her.

Yu Xiangyang said, “Only she and Qiu Yang know if she went to Shanghai! And you just believed her? Now we don’t even know where to find them! What if she’s gone abroad again?”

Cheng Jingmo had thought about these questions too.

But he thought that even if you raised a cat or dog for a while, you would develop feelings for it.

Moreover, they lived under the same roof every day. Yu Xiangnian should have had some attachment to him and Xiao Jie, right?

Wouldn’t she feel any regret for deceiving them and running off abroad with Qiu Yang?

At this moment, a duty officer ran up to them and saluted, “Report, Deputy Commander Cheng, you have a phone call!”