Chapter 23

In the spacious living room, Tang Feiwan squeezed herself into a corner of the sofa, her eyes following Tang Anhua as he went to the water dispenser to make tea, her heart filled with anxiety. Had she been betrayed? She wasn’t ready to confess to him yet…

However, Director Jiang had never told Teacher Tang about her secret life without informing her.

So this time, Tang Feiwan still chose to trust Director Jiang.

After brewing a pot of tea, Tang Anhua held the teapot, took two emerald green teacups, and sat down next to Tang Feiwan.

“Have some tea to cool down the heat in the summer.” Tang Anhua poured a full cup of tea and handed it to her.

Tang Feiwan took the teacup: “Oh, okay.”

“Your mom tried to persuade you for an hour but it didn’t work. I don’t know if you’ll listen to me.” Tang Anhua spoke frankly. “Tangtang, you’ll be 31 in less than half a year.”

“Yes.” It seemed that Teacher Tang didn’t know anything. Tang Feiwan decided to endure this 15-minute conversation, try not to get angry, and try not to argue.

“When I was with your mom, I was 24, and she was 22. The next year, you were born.” Tang Anhua used age as an argument. Tang Feiwan had heard this so many times that she just hummed in response and didn’t say anything.

Tang Anhua opened up: “You’re not young anymore. If you don’t find a partner, no one will want you later. It’s dangerous to have children at an older age.”

“Yes.”

Tang Anhua noticed that she was being perfunctory and started to ask questions: “Why are you so resistant to blind dates?”

“Teacher Tang, who likes blind dates?” Tang Feiwan asked rhetorically.

“I know young people don’t like blind dates, but you don’t have time for socializing.”

Tang Feiwan followed his words: “So, I’ll just stay single.”

Tang Anhua had promised Jiang Junli in the room that he would reason with her calmly, but his temper wasn’t something he could control at will. He became impatient: “You’ll be single for life. When we’re gone, you won’t even have anyone to talk to.”

“Hmm.” As long as it wasn’t a question, Tang Feiwan would just repeat it verbatim. In the end, Tang Anhua found it boring and went back to the topic of blind dates, asking her to contact Zhang Bo more, exaggerating how good Zhang Bo was, exaggerating how good Zhang Bo’s family was, and repeatedly emphasizing that they were a good match. He didn’t think there was anything wrong with inviting the man directly to his house for a blind date on his birthday without telling her, the person involved, beforehand. Tang Feiwan was about to lose control of her inner frustration and suddenly said: “Is Zhang Bo’s family better than ours?”

“What?”

Tang Feiwan set out some outrageous conditions: “I have high standards, so the other person’s education must be higher than mine, they must be under 35 years old, over 185 cm tall, have a good appearance, be easy on the eyes, and preferably have no parents because I don’t want to take care of them. Their annual salary must be at least 300,000 yuan, so they can afford to hire a maid to cook, because I can’t cook.”

Tang Anhua completely lost his patience: “You said all these conditions, how many people meet them?”

“I don’t like to compromise, so I can only stay single.” Tang Feiwan ended the conversation. “Teacher Tang, it’s 4:30, I have to go back.”

“Don’t come back if you have nothing to do. Out of sight, out of mind.” Tang Anhua was angry and yelled at her.

Tang Feiwan paused with her foot raised, turned her back to him, her body trembled slightly, she held back the tears that were about to burst out, and said in a hoarse voice: “Teacher Tang, I took the tomato back, and I won’t bother you to walk the dog anymore.”

It’s good for both of us to cool down for a while. She wasn’t being disobedient or disrespectful, she just knew the consequences of compromise, it wasn’t the happy ending everyone said it would be. So she had to fight for it, no matter if the path ahead was a mountain of knives or a sea of fire, she was ready to try.

Lin Ye had sent her home last night, so she could only take a taxi with Tomato now. After getting out of the car and paying with WeChat, Tang Feiwan suddenly saw Zhang Bo’s profile picture. She didn’t need to keep someone she wasn’t in contact with in her contacts anymore. Tang Feiwan held the dog leash in her left hand and her phone in her right hand, and immediately clicked on the chat box and typed: “Hello Zhang Bo, I don’t like blind dates, so I’m sorry, I’m going to delete your contact.”

The other party replied quickly: “Can’t we be just ordinary friends?”

“Sorry.”

“Okay.”

Tang Feiwan put away her phone and looked up at the house she had lived in for over ten days. The sense of belonging to Yi Hua filled her heart. She found the white advertisement paper posted downstairs, called a locksmith, because she didn’t know if Teacher Tang would occasionally come here on a whim, so she needed to change the lock.

She didn’t want him to see some of her things anymore.

Yi Hua was busy until almost 5:30 pm. As dusk fell, Tang Feiwan remembered that she should go to work. But her emotions and energy were not enough to support her in doing high-intensity work that required her full attention. After thinking for a while, she decided to contact Director Gao.

“Hello, Xiao Tang.”

Tang Feiwan bit her lip, she was a little hesitant to ask for leave for the first time.

“What’s wrong? Want to take a day off?”

“Yes, Director Gao, I’m not feeling well today, I don’t think I’m fit for work.”

Director Gao laughed: “Your Lin Director arranged for another colleague to cover your shift this morning. She said that if you go to the department, try to do some simple work, because your injury is quite serious.”

“Oh, oh, thank you, thank you, Director Gao.” Tang Feiwan’s almost exhausted heart felt like a stream of fresh water had flowed in.

“Why thank me? Thank your Lin Director. She won first prize for our emergency department this morning with the other colleagues.”

Tang Feiwan nodded: “Yes, I’ll learn from Director Lin.”

They chatted for a few more sentences before Director Gao hung up the phone. She sent a message to Lin Ye: “Director Lin, I’ll be resting at home tonight.”

There was no reply for a long time. Half an hour later, Tang Feiwan received a new message notification and quickly clicked on it.

“Do you have any dressing supplies at home?”

“No, but I can just order them on the food delivery app.” Tang Feiwan typed. “Thank you for taking leave for me from Director Gao.”

Lin Ye’s message came back, ignoring the thank you in the second sentence: “Are you at Nanping or across the street?”

“Across the street.” Tang Feiwan didn’t understand why she asked that.

“I’ll bring you some medicine later, Yi Hua.”

Tang Feiwan hurriedly typed: “Ah, no need, no need, you’re at the hospital, it’ll take half an hour to go back and forth.” Although she felt like she was dreaming because of Lin Ye’s actions.

“I’m next door, and I’m not going to the hospital tonight.”

Across the street, next door, Tang Feiwan instantly understood that she had been getting her hopes up. Lin Ye must have just been nearby and was bringing medicine to her colleague. She noticed the second half of the sentence and thought that Lin Ye usually didn’t take leave, so she asked with concern: “Did something happen at home?”

“Yangyang has a fever.”

A child having a fever should be taken seriously. Tang Feiwan quickly typed and asked: “How high is the fever? Did it go down? If not, take her to the hospital.”

“38.4°C, it’s okay, the fever has gone down. But I’m worried that it might come back later at night, so I swapped shifts with Lao Liu.”

“Okay, swapping shifts is good, you should do that.”

There was no more to talk about, and the few words that Lin Ye had been typing in the chat box didn’t appear anymore. Tang Feiwan threw her phone aside and calmed down. Today’s conversation with her parents was replaying in her mind. She didn’t know when she fell asleep, even her dreams were about fighting with her family. Fortunately, a ringing sound woke her up from the nightmare.

Lin Ye.

Tang Feiwan saved everyone’s phone number directly with their names. She sat up straight and pressed the answer button.

“Director Lin.” Unless it was a special situation, she now addressed her as a colleague.

Lin Ye’s usual cold voice said: “Doctor Tang, I’m outside your door.”

“Okay, wait a moment.” Tang Feiwan reached out to smooth her slightly messy hair, pulled at her wrinkled clothes, put on her glasses that were on the coffee table, made sure she looked presentable, and then went to open the door in her slippers.

When the door opened, Lin Ye was wearing home clothes, standing tall outside the door, her lips pursed, her eyes slightly cold. She didn’t look like she was bringing coal to someone in the snow, but rather like Tang Feiwan owed her money and she was going to leave if she couldn’t collect the debt.

“Thank you.” Tang Feiwan took the bag containing the medicine and sterile gauze, frozen by the cold air around her. She didn’t know whether to close the door or dare to invite her in. Lin Ye didn’t move, and Tang Feiwan didn’t say anything. The second hand ticked by one by one until the security door behind the woman suddenly opened, Lin Wenhui came out, broke the silence, and greeted her warmly: “Doctor Tang.”

“Hello, Auntie.” Tang Feiwan greeted politely.

“Hey, Xiao Ye, weren’t you going to help Doctor Tang change her dressing? Why are you both standing at the door?” Lin Wenhui handed Lin Ye a bottle containing a clear liquid. “Saline solution, you left it on the table.”

“Okay.” Lin Ye lowered her head slightly, and Tang Feiwan clearly saw a faint blush appear on her fair cheeks. So, was the coldness she had shown before deliberately feigned? Tang Feiwan wasn’t afraid of Lin Ye resenting her, nor was she afraid of Lin Ye deliberately avoiding her. She was only afraid that, as Lin Ye said, she would slowly cut off the past and let go completely. But now, Yi Hua, Tang Feiwan knew that Lin Ye came to her house to help her change her dressing, and she wasn’t calm inside. She didn’t treat herself as an ordinary colleague, otherwise, why pretend to be cold?

Lin Wenhui closed the door. Tang Feiwan clenched the other hand that had been hanging behind her back into a fist, managing to suppress her trembling fingers due to her overly excited emotions. She swallowed, and with a little courage, invited: “Director Lin, luckily I cleaned my house the night before last, if you don’t mind, come in and have a seat?”

The woman beside her nodded, didn’t say anything, and followed her in. Tang Feiwan closed the door, bent down and took a pair of slippers from the shoe cabinet. They had a cartoon cat pattern on the front, which was Lin Ye’s favorite animal. Lin Ye lowered her head, her peripheral vision caught the dog pattern on the slippers at her feet. She also knew that Tang Feiwan loved dogs. After a moment of hesitation, she finally put her foot in.

Her little secret was discovered, but she was still allowed to do it. Only Tang Feiwan herself knew how her heart was beating differently than usual at this moment. She suppressed her emotions, led Lin Ye towards the living room, and introduced as she walked: “Before Professor Zheng went abroad, we signed a contract. Her daughter said that as long as we didn’t move the major things, we could change the style freely, but I like Chinese-style decoration, so I haven’t touched anything.”

Lin Ye listened carefully, occasionally humming softly.

“What would you like to drink? Milk, soda, or pop?” Tang Feiwan asked as she walked towards the refrigerator, where Lin Ye was sitting on the sofa.

“Soda, thank you.”

Tang Feiwan took two bottles of soda, handed one to Lin Ye, and then sat down beside her.

Lin Ye took the soda, politely unscrewed the bottle, took a sip, and then put it aside. She started rummaging through the bag in front of her, taking out iodine, cotton swabs, sterile gauze, and medical tape.

“I’ll help you rinse the gauze on your knee with saline solution first.” Lin Ye turned her head, but found Tang Feiwan staring at her blankly, her expression filled with unmistakable longing. She frowned imperceptibly, turned back, her eyes seemed to ripple like water, but quickly disappeared without a trace. Her gaze was heavy as she called out to her: “Doctor Tang.”