Chapter 18: Love Strikes Suddenly

[Hahaha, Xilan is so cute, pitiful, and I just want to pinch her little cheeks.]

[It’s not Xilan who did something wrong, so why does she have to be lectured?]

[It’s just precautionary! Girls should receive safety education; if something happens, it’s too late to regret.]

[Look at Jiang Jingru, she’s clearly a bit off in her worldview. But this is also related to the fact that she left her parents at such a young age to live independently in the dance troupe, missing out on proper education.]

Fortunately, another patient came to see Song Anhui, rescuing Song Xilan. Song Anhui finally let her go. “Here, this is the prescription. Go get the medicine yourself.”

Song Xilan hurriedly took the prescription and left.

But her mind kept wandering back to Jiang Jingru’s situation.

Because Zheng Qiaoling admired Jiang Jingru, thinking she was beautiful and a good singer, Song Xilan had always had a favorable opinion of her.

Learning about what happened to her made Xilan feel quite sentimental.

She still wondered who the man who abandoned her was…

Wait, could it be… Jiang Chengxiao?

Suddenly, Song Xilan remembered what Zheng Qiaoling had said on New Year’s Day: “I waited for you last night and went to the backstage to look for you. Guess who I saw? Jiang Jingru! But I didn’t get her autograph because she was talking to a tall, bearded man. Then I saw him holding your lunch box, so I helped him take it back for you and didn’t get the autograph.”

Zheng Qiaoling seemed pretty disappointed!

So, Jiang Chengxiao and Jiang Jingru knew each other. That night, she had thought he was some old beggar, but he was actually waiting for Jiang Jingru’s performance to finish!

As for why he dressed so sloppily… who knows, maybe that’s just his style.

Also, the next day, they went to the café together.

Thinking back to how cold Jiang Chengxiao was to Jiang Jingru, and the pleading expression on Jiang Jingru’s face, Song Xilan felt she had figured out the truth.

It must have been that Jiang Chengxiao wanted to abandon Jiang Jingru, and she was desperately trying to win him back.

And he just left her there and walked away with her, while Xilan, with good intentions, even accompanied him to find a hotel!

Thinking of her own little thoughts at the time, Song Xilan felt miserable.

No wonder people said he was the villain. He truly was a bad person.

After leaving the hospital, Song Xilan didn’t go home but went straight to work.

Even though her mom had told her she’d asked for leave, her boss had mentioned that there was a stock-taking today.

Stock-taking was always a busy time, and if there wasn’t anything urgent, it was better not to ask for leave, or else the workload would be passed on to others.

Even though, as the factory director’s daughter, no one would dare question her leave, it was still uncomfortable to have extra work added. She didn’t want to have bad relations with her coworkers just after starting.

When she returned to the sales department, her boss immediately showed concern. “Didn’t you say you were feeling unwell and asked for leave today? Why aren’t you resting at home?”

Song Xilan showed the medicine bag in her hand. “I just went to the hospital, took the medicine, and I’m fine now. Today’s stock-taking, I’m afraid everyone will be busy, so I came to help.”

“You child, we can handle it,” her boss said, though everyone’s smiles seemed a little more genuine.

Stock-taking was a routine task for the sales department. Every quarter there was a small stock-taking, and at the end of the year, there was a big one.

In the six months since Song Xilan arrived, she had already been through two small stock-takes and one large year-end stock-take, so she had some experience.

This time was different. They had just done a large stock-taking before New Year, so it shouldn’t have come so soon again.

But yesterday, when the boss was doing the accounts, they found some discrepancies between the accounts and inventory, and it was unclear whether the problem was from the last stock-take or something that happened later. They had to figure out the cause.

Meanwhile, daily operations and sales had to continue as usual. Everyone was holding their breath!

Song Xilan, being quick-witted and good with numbers, was welcomed back to help.

Soon, she threw herself into the work, until someone called her. “Xiao Song, someone is looking for you.”

She looked up, only to find the last person she expected—Jiang Chengxiao.

Jiang Chengxiao had actually planned to wait a few more days, wait for work assignments to be given out, and naturally bump into her.

Otherwise, he’d feel like a stalker with all these consecutive coincidences.

But those past few encounters really were coincidences, and he hoped she wouldn’t misunderstand.

The truth was, he came to G city for one purpose: to deliver a watch from Lin Guangshan.

The night before New Year’s Day, he had just gotten off the train after a long multi-day journey. Looking disheveled and tired, he didn’t think much of it and went straight to find Jiang Jingru.

After learning she was performing on stage, he decided to wait outside the auditorium to avoid scaring anyone with his rough appearance, not wanting to make another trip the next day. Who could’ve expected that he’d bump into the chubby girl?

Had he known he would run into her, he would’ve gone straight to a hotel after getting off the train, cleaned up, shaved his beard, and put on a decent outfit before waiting.

At that moment, he wasn’t thinking too much about it, just a chance encounter, it would pass, and that was it.

He had planned to leave the next day, but as luck would have it, even fate seemed to be on his side. The train he had a ticket for broke down and was delayed.

Wandering aimlessly through the streets, he suddenly caught a whiff of delicious meat, and turned to see a girl gazing longingly at the roast goose hanging in a shop window.

The moment he saw her round and beautiful face, Jiang Chengxiao immediately understood why he had been feeling so empty and unsettled since the previous night.

It seemed that fate had already decided long ago that something was waiting for him here!

And at the moment she was about to fall, and he reached out to steady her, he made up his mind right then and there to stay.

Love arrived unexpectedly, but he grabbed onto it sharply. Jiang Chengxiao was always a man of action—when it came to something, he either did it or didn’t. The word hesitation didn’t exist in his dictionary.

Song Xilan might not have even realized it, but that night, under her lunch box, she had written her workplace and name in fine red paint with a brush.

So, without hesitation, when he went to the military transition office to find a job, he specifically requested to be placed at Limin Food Factory.

In fact, with his qualifications, he could have been assigned to a better position, but he chose not to. He wanted to work at Limin Food Factory.