Chapter 56.2

The next day, Jiang Rou went to the No.6 Hospital with An An.

She bought some fruits and pastries at the hospital entrance and then held An An’s hand as they went through the hospital doors.

An An now liked walking on his own.

The No.6 Hospital  was a private facility. The VIP patients were housed in a separate building behind the main hospital. After Jiang Rou and An An went up, they found that the building had only two patient rooms on the first floor.

Jiang Rou knocked on the door, and Zhao Yun’s voice soon came from inside, “Come in.”

Jiang Rou opened the door and entered. Zhao Yun was sitting on the hospital bed watching television. The room was large and beautifully decorated, almost like a home. Zhao Yun held a plate of fruit in her hand, sitting by the window. On the sofa and coffee table near the window, her younger daughter, Chang Le, was working on her homework, while her older daughter was busy in the kitchen behind the glass door.

Zhao Yun was momentarily taken aback when she saw Jiang Rou, but she quickly smiled and said, “What brings you here? Come in and sit down.”

Jiang Rou smiled back and said, “I heard from my sister that Lei Lei hasn’t been to school for a month, so I was a bit worried about you. I had my husband check on your situation. When I found out you were in the hospital, I thought I’d come and see you. Is everything okay?”

Zhao Yun looked a bit touched. She put down the plate of fruit and straightened up. “What could be wrong? It’s just like that. Come and sit down.”

She then addressed An An, who was in Jiang Rou’s arms, “An An, do you still remember your aunt?”

An An obediently called out, “Auntie.”

Chang Le, who had been working on her homework at the coffee table, saw An An and dropped her pen, running over with a smile, “An An—”

An An wriggled down from Jiang Rou’s arms, eager to play with his sister.

Jiang Rou set down the fruit and pastries she had brought and let An An onto the floor.

Zhao Yun called out to the kitchen, “Lei Lei, could you squeeze two glasses of orange juice?”

Jiang Rou politely interjected, “There’s no need to go through so much trouble. Just two glasses of water will do.”

Zhao Yun waved her hand. “Don’t be so formal. Besides my dad and older brother, you’re the first person to visit me.”

Since Chang Yong became successful, old friends have become rare. Either they had distanced themselves or tried to get close to borrow money, which Zhao Yun had no interest in entertaining.

Although Li Xiao and Chang Yong had fallen out, Zhao Yun still liked the couple. Seeing Jiang Rou come to visit made her quite happy.

Jiang Rou sat down in a nearby chair and noticed English books and traditional Chinese textbooks on the chair. She felt a bit odd.

Zhao Yun noticed her glance and said, “Just leave the books there.”

Jiang Rou patted the cabinet next to the hospital bed.

She did as instructed and then took a seat. Zhao Yun asked about her recent situation. Jiang Rou casually mentioned that her studies were quite demanding, that An An had started kindergarten, and that Li Xiao had been getting busier and had lost weight.

Zhao Yun sighed with a touch of envy, saying, “That sounds wonderful.”

Zhao Yun then added, “My dad and brother scolded me, saying it was my own fault. If I had listened back then, I wouldn’t be dealing with these problems now. To be honest, I really regret it. I didn’t expect him to be so ruthless.”

Jiang Rou didn’t know what to say, so she tried to comfort her and suggested she try to let go.

After sitting in the hospital room for a while and seeing that Zhao Yun was okay, Jiang Rou took An An and left.

That evening, when Li Xiao returned, he asked how Zhao Yun was doing.

Jiang Rou only shared what she had observed during the day. “She seemed to be in good spirits, so it shouldn’t be anything too serious.”

Li Xiao nodded.

 

—o—o—o—

On Monday, during lunch at school, Jiang Rou asked Dong Mingming if she had found any good young men.

Dong Mingming was also frustrated. “No luck. Just look at the people around me; those rich second-generation guys are all so fickle, changing girlfriends like they change clothes. There are a few decent guys in our class, but they all have partners already, and they’re younger. That girl is already twenty-five this year.”

Jiang Rou mentioned Fei Fei’s situation. “I had Li Xiao check, but don’t get your hopes up too high. He might not be looking to get married. However, I’ve met him a few times, and he’s quite decent-looking, around twenty-seven or twenty-eight. He’s a bit older, but not too old, and he’s very capable. He bought his own house. He’s an engineer, so he’s a bit busy with work. You know Chang Yong, right? He works under him and is planning to find a new job, but his profession is good, so he shouldn’t have trouble finding one.”

Dong Mingming’s eyes lit up. “That sounds promising.”

She then grabbed Jiang Rou’s hand. “You really need to help me look into this. I think my boyfriend is really great, and I don’t want him to be taken by someone else. He’s busy with work, and I’ll be even busier in the future, so I need to prepare in advance.”

After what happened with her father, she was now a bit mistrustful of men.

Jiang Rou regretted speaking too soon and braced herself as she said, “I’ll do my best.”

After waiting for a week and not hearing from Fu Fei, she did receive a call on Saturday from An An’s mother.

Li Xiao mentioned that Fu Fei had gone back to his hometown because his grandfather’s health seemed to be deteriorating. Fu Fei had also resigned from his job, but Li Xiao was not entirely clear on the details.

On Saturday, with Li Xiao not at home, Jiang Rou was alone with the child. She cleaned the house in the morning while An An sat quietly on the carpet watching cartoons.

When Jiang Rou’s phone rang in the bedroom, she thought it was Li Xiao and was about to turn around to get it. An An, however, got up from the floor and ran into the room to help her retrieve the phone.

Jiang Rou smiled, “Thank you, An An.”

An An happily returned to her spot on the carpet and continued watching TV.

However, when Jiang Rou answered the call, she heard a little girl crying loudly on the other end, “An An, I want An An—”

Then a woman’s helpless voice came through, “Hello, is this An An’s mother? I’m Zhen Zhen’s mother. Sorry to disturb you. My daughter is at home crying because she wants to see An An. I was wondering if you might be free for lunch. I would like to invite you and the child out for a meal.”

An An seemed to have heard the loud crying on the phone as well. She hurriedly got up and ran to Jiang Rou, calling out, “Zhen Zhen—”

The little girl’s crying on the phone immediately stopped, and she choked up, “An An, I miss you so much.”

Jiang Rou, both amused and helpless, handed the phone to An An. An An quickly responded, “Zhen Zhen, I miss you too.”

“I miss you so, so much.”

“I miss you very, very much.”

—o—o—o—

The two little cuties continued their conversation like this.

At noon, Jiang Rou had originally planned to take An An to the factory to have lunch with Li Xiao. Since the plans had changed, she called Li Xiao and then took An An out.

When they arrived at the restaurant where they had agreed to meet Zhen Zhen’s mother, they had just gotten out of the car when they saw the little girl waiting at the door. Upon seeing An An, the little girl ran excitedly towards her, “An An—”

An An was also so happy. She wriggled out of Jiang Rou’s arms and ran towards the little girl.

The two little cuties hugged each other tightly, “I missed you so much.”

“I miss you too.”

One might have thought they hadn’t seen each other for a long time.

Jiang Rou and Zhen Zhen’s mother exchanged smiles, both amused by the two children.

When they sat down in the restaurant, Zhen Zhen’s mother laughed and said, “Knowing that she didn’t have to go to school today, my child woke up early crying, insisting on seeing An An because she missed her.”

“My child always comes home saying that An An brought her some delicious treats, and I was worried my daughter had eaten all the good stuff your An An had.”

Jiang Rou laughed, “Her father runs a snack factory, so we have a lot of snacks at home. She doesn’t eat them much anymore, so I thought of letting her bring some to school to share with her classmates.”

Zhen Zhen’s mother was relieved to hear that because her daughter not only ate but also took a lot of snacks home, and those treats looked expensive.

They had a lively meal, and as they were leaving, the two little cuties staged a dramatic farewell at the restaurant door.

Jiang Rou and Zhen Zhen’s mother struggled to separate them.

During the commotion, Jiang Rou saw a familiar figure hurrying into the restaurant. The person was wrapped up so tightly that their face was not visible.

Jiang Rou was momentarily stunned, recognizing that the figure seemed to be Zhao Yun.

—o—o—o—

On the way, Jiang Rou asked An An, “Did you give away all the snacks that Daddy bought for you?”

An An looked up at her with a serious expression and said, “They wanted to eat them.”

Jiang Rou asked in surprise, “So you gave them to them just because they wanted them?”

An An nodded innocently.

Jiang Rou: “…”

She and Li Xiao weren’t usually this accommodating, so she didn’t understand why An An was so well-behaved.

She patted An An’s little head and said, “Alright, as long as you’re happy.”

An An took her hand and made a big effort to take a large step, her face showing an innocent and pure expression.

—o—o—o—

That evening, when Li Xiao returned, Jiang Rou told him about what had happened with An An and the other children earlier in the day. Although Li Xiao hadn’t seen it himself, he could tell from Jiang Rou’s description just how amusing it had been. He laughed and thought his daughter was truly adorable.

Jiang Rou also mentioned the figure she had seen at the restaurant door, saying, “I’m not sure, but it looked like Zhao Yun.”

Li Xiao recalled the information Fu Fei had previously shared with him. Fu Fei had mentioned that Chang Yong’s projects had been encountering issues recently, and he suspected there might be an insider leaking information. Despite searching for a long time, Fu Fei hadn’t been able to find the culprit. Eventually, he guessed it might be Zhao Yun.

Fu Fei explained that when Chang Yong first started in real estate, he had no reliable people around him, and even had some individuals associated with Chang Yong’s ex-brother-in-law and his sister-in-law. At that time, Zhao Yun had helped stabilize things for Chang Yong, even helping him with recruiting and managing people. This meant Zhao Yun had access to Chang Yong’s work affairs.

If the insider was an employee, it would be a simple matter of firing them. However, if it was someone close to Chang Yong, Fu Fei really didn’t want to think about it. Even though Chang Yong and his spouse’s relationship was strained, they were still married. Zhao Yun’s actions would effectively cut off Chang Yong’s path, and Fu Fei even suspected that the entire real estate company run by Chang Yong’s ex-brother-in-law might face upheaval.

Li Xiao relayed this to Jiang Rou and added, “I’ve told you before, Zhao Yun isn’t someone you can mess with.”

Jiang Rou was completely caught off guard and asked in a daze, “Is this for real?”

Li Xiao nodded, “If Fu Fei dared to say it, it’s likely to be quite accurate. Otherwise, why would he have made an excuse to run back to his hometown?”

Jiang Rou couldn’t help but fall into deep thought. She suddenly remembered that in her previous life, Chang Yong’s ex-brother-in-law’s real estate company had indeed faced problems, but that happened after Li Xiao had left Province G. Could it be that Zhao Yun had been behind the collapse of Chang Yong’s ex-brother-in-law’s real estate company in the previous life?

In that case, Chang Yong had Li Xiao and Fu Fei around in the previous life. With Li Xiao’s abilities, he would have detected any issues ahead of time, so Zhao Yun had waited for many years to find an opportunity.

In this life, Li Xiao had left Chang Yong early, and Fu Fei, being slippery, was looking to escape the situation. Seeing that he couldn’t handle it anymore, Fu Fei was likely to seize the opportunity to flee, prompting Zhao Yun to take action ahead of time.

Jiang Rou also remembered the textbooks she had seen in the hospital room previously. While she could understand English books, seeing traditional Chinese character textbooks was rather intriguing.

Province T and Harbor City both used traditional Chinese characters.