Chapter 12: Things Have Changed

Since Chen Yuandong's death, Zhou Yao's condition has worsened, and Chen Yao'an has been constantly on edge.

Zhou Yao's illness is like a time bomb, which could explode at any moment, regardless of the situation or time, leaving her to clean up the mess.

Especially when it's late at night and everyone is quiet.

Just then, Chen Yao'an lay down, half asleep, when a noise suddenly came from the opposite bedroom.

As if by reflex, she jumped out of bed and listened carefully to the sounds outside. It was indeed coming from Zhou Yao's bedroom.

Without a moment's hesitation, she quickly put on a coat and ran over.

Zhou Yao was banging on the door. She took out her key to open the door and then used all her strength to stop Zhou Yao from rushing out.

Reasoning with Zhou Yao was futile; Chen Yaoan could only resort to brute force.

However, Zhou Yao was reckless and didn't care about anything when she went crazy, while Chen Yaoan was worried about hurting her.

Finally, he was thrown to the ground.

Unexpectedly, Zhou Yao didn't run away this time. Instead, she walked to Chen Yao'an's side and grabbed her shoulders tightly with both hands.

Zhou Yao stared blankly at her, his eyes like a bottomless abyss, threatening to swallow her whole.

Chen Yao's hair stood on end instantly, and his back pressed against the ground felt like it was pressed against a block of ice, which was terrifying.

She called out in a trembling voice, "Mom..."

Zhou Yao blinked a few times, and after a long while, she slowly let go of her.

Chen Yao'an's breathing became heavy. She quickly got up from the ground, took a few steps back, but the fear in her heart remained.

After a few minutes, Zhou Yao finally returned to her usual self.

Chen Yaoan slowly walked over and carefully tried to soothe her to sleep.

"Mom, it's time to go to sleep."

Zhou Yao reverted to her usual childlike self, refusing to sleep, so Chen Yaoan had no choice but to play with her until the wee hours of the morning.

Zhou Yao finally fell asleep, but Chen Yaoan couldn't sleep when she returned to her room.

Her mind was a jumbled mess, and she couldn't fall asleep no matter how much she tossed and turned. So she simply sat up and took out her tablet to draw design sketches.

She didn't know when she drifted off to sleep, but Yan Shumei woke her up; it was already bright outside.

She hurriedly got up and washed up, not even having time to eat breakfast.

Before leaving, she told Yan Shumei to let Zhou Yao sleep a little longer.

"All you do is cause trouble all day long, and you still have the nerve to sleep!"

Complaints came from inside the house. Chen Yao'an paused for a moment while pushing the cart, then resumed his normal actions.

Chen Yaoan rushed to the store and opened it as quickly as possible.

She took the key, unlocked the roller shutter door, bent down, and reached out to pull it.

"hiss!"

The roller shutter door wasn't pulled up, but her arm was pulled, causing a tearing pain.

Chen Yao'an's brows were so furrowed they could trap a fly.

She covered her arm with one hand, couldn't help but kick the roller shutter door, and her eyes were a little wet.

She stood there for a while, then tried to move her arm.

My arm can still move, so it shouldn't be a big problem. The pain has also eased a lot compared to before.

As usual, after opening the door, she first cleaned the store, then picked up her tablet and glanced at the drawing she had made the night before.

Every single stroke on the drawing is unsatisfactory!

She pressed the delete key hard, erasing every single word she had left behind last night.

However, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't draw it.

The sound of a guest entering interrupted her thoughts, and she put on a smile again, "Welcome."

After seeing off several groups of customers, few clothes were sold, but the fitting room was filled with a mess of clothes that had been tried on and not taken out by the customers.

After the guests left, Chen Yaoan went to the fitting room to get her clothes.

Without the patience to sort through each item, she simply grabbed all the clothes and held them in her arms.

Before she could even leave the dressing room, half of her clothes fell off. She bent down, picked them up, and held them in her arms. But as soon as she left the dressing room, the other half of her clothes fell to the ground.

She crouched down to pick them up, but her arms were too weak, and even the things she was holding fell to the ground.

Even her clothes are bullying her!

Chen Yao'an's seemingly hard shell could no longer hold and shattered instantly.

A large tear fell to the floor, its outer edge leaving an irregular shape.

When Xu Jialan entered the room, she saw this scene.

Chen Yao'an squatted in front of a pile of clothes, her head bowed low, and remained motionless for a long time, as if a huge dark cloud had been hanging over her head.

Although he couldn't see her expression and she didn't make a sound, he figured she was probably crying.

Xu Jialan remained silent, standing quietly in place.

It wasn't until Chen Yao'an had processed her emotions that she looked up.

Completely unprepared for anyone to be there, she was startled, flinched, and quickly turned away to wipe the remaining tears from her face, making herself appear as if nothing had happened.

Then, she looked up at Xu Jialan.

He stood there, observing her calm expression, which was completely unlike his usual nonchalant demeanor.

When did you arrive?

Xu Jialan didn't answer, but went over and took her arm.

Chen Yao'an hissed.

What happened to your arm?

"I pulled it slightly when I opened the roller shutter just now."

Xu Jialan dared not make another move, so she said, "Get up."

"I'll collect the laundry."

He bent down and picked up the clothes from the ground. "Let me help you put them away. Where should we put them?"

Chen Yaoan instructed him to hang the clothes up and then put them on the hanger.

After finishing all that, he said, "I'll take you to the hospital to get your arm checked out."

"No."

Chen Yaoan spoke weakly, had heavy dark circles under her eyes, and looked very tired.

"Don't you want your arm anymore?"

She thought it couldn't be that serious.

Let's go.

In the end, the two went to the hospital.

It wasn't very serious after all. The doctor said it was just a muscle strain that would heal on its own in a while, and didn't even prescribe any medication.

As Chen Yao'an left the hospital, she complained, "I told you I didn't need to come to the hospital."

Xu Jialan smiled and said, "Then I'll take you somewhere else."

He didn't say where.

The journey seemed rather long, and Chen Yao'an drifted off to sleep in the car.

However, she slept very lightly and woke up before Xu Jialan had even parked the car.

The car stopped in front of a health and wellness center.

Chen Yaoan looked around and confirmed that this was the city center.

Why did you bring me here?

"You'll find out when you get off the bus."

Chen Yaoan followed him out of the car and then entered the health center.

As soon as the two entered, a staff member greeted them. Xu Jialan was clearly a regular customer. "Mr. Xu, are you two here today?"

Xu Jialan nodded.

"Okay." The staff member led them into the rest area with ease and prepared tea.

The staff asked Chen Yao'an what she needed, "What do you need, miss? Or is there anything that's making you uncomfortable?"

Before Chen Yaoan could speak, Xu Jialan interjected, "She has a slight muscle strain in her shoulder. You should give her a massage and find a good technician."

Chen Yaoan blinked, somewhat puzzled. Could a health center really treat shoulders?

"Okay, I'll arrange it right away. Please wait a moment."

After the staff left, Chen Yaoan asked him, "Can this place really treat shoulders?"

"The technicians here all have medical licenses. Besides simple massage and relaxation, they are quite professional. You can tell them whatever you need."

Chen Yao'an nodded; she hadn't expected that there was such a place in Lin'nan City.

The technician arrived quickly, and she and Xu Jialan were taken to different rooms.

The technician provided excellent service, first carefully inquiring about Chen Yao'an's needs, and then starting a massage for her from head to toe.

The masseuse's techniques did relieve Chen Yao'an's tense nerves to some extent, and she actually fell asleep.

When she woke up again, more than an hour had passed. The technician was already finishing up and asked her how she was feeling.

Chen Yaoan moved her shoulders, and the pain was indeed relieved a lot. "It's quite helpful."

"I'm glad it was useful. Welcome to visit again next time."

After leaving the room, she didn't see Xu Jialan, so she went to the front desk.

"How much did our expenses amount to this time?"

Judging from the level of this club, the price should not be cheap, but Chen Yaoan did not want to take advantage of Xu Jialan.

"Hello, the total bill for the two of you is 1,188 yuan. We have already deducted the amount from Mr. Xu's card."

Can't I pay separately?

"Sorry, we operate on a membership system here."

Chen Yao'an paused for a moment as he took out his phone, then opened WeChat and sent half of the payment to Xu Jialan.

This time, Xu Jialan did accept her money, but she didn't come out for a long time, so Chen Yaoan sat in the lobby waiting for her.

The clubhouse is decorated in a simple and refreshing style, with many landscape paintings hanging on the walls.

Chen Yao'an's gaze fell on one of the sunset paintings. The afterglow filled the entire painting, and in the lower part of the painting were two figures, one large and one small, with their backs to the viewer.

Back when she was in college, she and Chen Yuandong watched the sunset together, talking about her school life and future career.

However, just over a year later, everything had changed.

When she felt she couldn't go on, she always missed him, and today was no exception.

When Xu Jialan came out, she saw Chen Yaoan standing in front of a painting, as if frozen in place.

It was a sunset painting, and in his opinion, there was nothing to appreciate about it.

But he remembered how she had curled up and squatted on the ground earlier that day.

When he looked at her again, he was momentarily dazed, feeling as if he were very close to her, yet also very far away.

She seemed to be swept up by some kind of emotion, as if she would be sucked into a vortex at any moment.