Chapter 26 Chapter 26 Sprain
Yitong officially welcomed the cold weather, with biting winds and falling leaves flying across the road.
In the conference room of a building that towers into the sky, Zhao Qingshi sat in the main seat and listened to the marketing department's work report. The atmosphere was tense, with knuckles tapping on the table. There was an oppressive silence. Zhao Qingshi didn't say a word, and no one dared to speak.
He leaned back and said in a cold voice, "I'll give you half a month, and this is all I have?"
The phone on the table vibrated, and the marketing manager's heart skipped a beat.
Zhao Qingshi opened his phone.
Xiangyi: Did you go out to feed the cat today? [Smile].
Zhao Qingshi replied coldly: Guess.
Xiangyi: [Cat acting coquettishly] I can’t guess.
Zhao Qingshi curled his lips as he looked at his phone. Quickly realizing he was still in the meeting, he put his phone away and uttered two words: "Continue."
After that, every day, the two chatted about "Have you fed the cat?" "Yes, how come it eats so much?" "Have you cleaned up the poop?" "..."
Aunt Cui had something going on at home, so Zhao Qingshi gave her a few days off. During these days, he usually did things like feeding the cat himself, including cleaning up the poop. Every time he cleaned up the poop, he almost fainted and ran to the bathroom to retch.
When the video was connected, his eyes were still red, and he showed them to her on purpose.
"What's wrong with your eyes?" She was fooled.
He walked out of the bathroom without saying a word, with water drops on his face and red eyes. In the video, his jawline was smooth and his Adam's apple rolled up and down. Ruan Xiangyi's ears felt a little hot. He must have done it on purpose.
Back in the bedroom, Zhao Qingshi was leaning on the bed, with the screen facing his face. Ruan Xiangyi was once again struck by his appearance.
"Why don't you speak?"
"My eyes hurt." He whispered, "I don't want to talk."
"Then you should have a good rest?" Ruan Xiangyi thought for a moment, "I..."
"Well, you should have a good rest." Zhao Qingshi rubbed his eyes and was about to hang up the phone. Seeing this, Ruan Xiangyi said, "Don't rub them."
Zhao Qingshi stopped and looked at her.
Ruan Xiangyi: "It will get worse and worse."
"I can't help it."
"You have to hold it in."
"I can't help it."
"no."
"How can you bear it?"
"That's also..." Ruan Xiangyi was stuck, and then her ears quickly felt hot.
"Do you have to endure this?" He said with a smile.
"I'm talking about the eyes."
"I'm talking about you."
There was no more chatting that day. Ruan Xiangyi touched her ear, not daring to look him in the eye: "I'm going to take a shower."
Zhao Qingshi chuckled. After looking at her for a while, he let her go: "Go ahead, be careful not to slip."
After hanging up the phone, Zhao Qingshi looked at the cat that had jumped onto the end of the bed. Man and cat stared at each other: "What are you looking at? Could it be that she misses you?"
Cake: Meow~ No way.
Today is the sixth day, and there are only four days left before she returns. Zhao Qingshi checked the air tickets.
The conditions here were poor. The three of them had to share one bathroom, and the water heater wasn't working properly, so it took half an hour to get hot water. Ruan Xiangyi came out with her hair wrapped up and ran into Li Yingxue. Li Yingxue didn't like sharing a bathroom with anyone; she had a serious obsession with cleanliness.
"I've cleaned the bathroom, you can use it without worry," she said.
Li Yingxue ignored her and went straight in to wash her hands.
Ruan Xiangyi walked back to her room and closed the door without caring. She knew that Li Yingxue was angry with her.
During the day, the camera follows Li Yingxue to a household consisting of two elderly people and two children. The breadwinner is working away from home and won't be back until Chinese New Year. It's understood that the siblings have been raised by their grandparents since birth, with their parents away from home year-round. The two children, especially the older sister, are quite introverted. Ruan Xiangyi also discovers that the preference for boys over girls is particularly prevalent in their family.
Because Li Yingxue hadn't done her homework in advance, when she visited the family, she only had one set of paintbrushes left. So she handed it to her younger brother first, apologized to the two children, and said that she would send another set over tomorrow to double compensate them.
The little girl sat in the corner, not daring to say anything. She lowered her head as she watched her brother get the new set of paintbrushes. Ruan Xiangyi felt like something was stabbing her heart. She turned back to the car. Fortunately, she still had one set left from the gift she bought with Jiang Ruzhi last time.
Behind the camera, she took it upon herself to give the set they had bought to Li Yingxue, asking her to give it to the little girl. Later, Li Yingxue confronted her and questioned her, "I said I'd send a new set tomorrow. Why did you ask me to do it in front of so many people?"
Ruan Xiangyi explained gently, "The little girl is very sensitive. You might not have noticed how dejected she was when she didn't receive a gift. That family clearly favored the younger brother. If she didn't receive the gift first, she might have thought, 'So they favor the younger brother even in front of outsiders.' I just don't want her to be treated unfairly in this matter."
Li Yingxue: "So, in the end, you blame me?"
"I did not mean that."
"What do you mean?"
At this time, the agent came over, and Li Yingxue immediately said, "She's just an intern. Why does she give me orders?"
The agent responded to her with a few symbolic words, but Li Yingxue was dissatisfied and insisted that he deal with Ruan Xiangyi.
Ruan Xiangyi was already angry, and seeing that she was not giving in, she suddenly spoke irritably, "This kind of show isn't for you to put on a show, gain fans, or establish a persona. You should have done your homework if you accepted it. You don't know how many people are in the family, you don't know that the child's father has passed away, and now you can't even give a gift when you visit. I helped you solve the problem, but instead of thanking me, you turn around and accuse me of interfering. Do you know how much children in the mountains lack love? Do you know how much harm your actions will cause her?"
"Say that again!" Li Yingxue's features twisted with anger. If her manager hadn't stopped her, she would have slapped her. "Who do you think you are? What gives you the right to tell me what to do?"
Zhou Zilang hurried over and took Ruan Xiangyi behind him: "If you have anything to say, just talk it over nicely. Don't hit me, okay?"
"Call Jiang Bo now. She is not allowed to come to the subsequent filming! I don't want to see this person!" Li Yingxue pointed at her.
That's how it was. Jiang Ruzhi had also advised her: "Why are you provoking her? She's an aunt, you know that. If you offend her, be careful that she'll go to Jiang Bo and make things difficult for you."
It was already on, and Zhou Zilang told her that she didn't need to be filmed in the next few days.
She regrets it now.
I wanted to apologize to her in the evening.
When I think about her attitude just now, forget it, she is not wrong!
Ruan Xiangyi didn't have to follow the filming of the show, so she stayed in the building to organize the manuscripts for the past few days. After finishing, she went out to interview the villagers.
It rained a lot in Guizhou, and the rolling mountains were covered with fog. Ruan Xiangyi was wearing a raincoat and rain boots given by the village chief. She had just returned from a villager's house, and her rain boots were covered in mud. Jiang Ruzhi came back and took off her raincoat, only to find that it had a hole in it and her clothes were wet.
When the weather is bad, it’s easy to be in a bad mood. She was very annoyed and kept cursing.
Ruan Xiangyi looked at the mountains in the distance. In the rain and fog, the mountains and forests seemed to be covered with a layer of water-rippled glass, standing there mysteriously. Listening to the sound of rain in her ears, she felt in a good mood.
"Oh no!" Zhou Zilang rushed over in the rain, his face anxious. "I just got a call from Li Yingxue's agent. She lost contact on the way down the mountain!"
"What!"
The rain was getting heavier and heavier, and it was dark in the afternoon. The village chief quickly gathered the villagers to go look for Li Yingxue.
Ruan Xiangyi was wearing sneakers with the soles soaked. She followed the main group in searching for two hours but found nothing.
Zhou Zilang said that Li Yingxue encountered a heavy rainstorm that afternoon while searching for the little girl, and therefore did not allow the team to accompany her. It had been three hours since she lost contact.
Ruan Xiangyi felt heavy in her chest. She knew that it was because of her that Li Yingxue went to find that little girl, so why did she quarrel with her?
Jiang Ruzhi knew that Ruan Xiangyi blamed herself and comforted her: "Don't blame you, she got lost on her own."
Ruan Xiangyi shook her head, feeling anxious: "It's been so long, do you think she's in any danger?"
Jiang Ruru: "Don't think too much, she will be fine."
Ruan Xiangyi walked down a small alley. There were no street lights, and it was raining, so the light from a flashlight was too insignificant. She tried to call out, "Sister Yingxue?"
"Sister Yingxue?"
"Sister Yingxue?"
After shouting a few times without receiving a response, Ruan Xiangyi looked at the dark dirt road, hesitated for a few seconds, and decided to go in and take a look. Suddenly, someone responded: "I'm here!"
Hearing the familiar voice, Ruan Xiangyi was delighted: "Sister Yingxue?"
The response from inside: "I'm here!"
Ruan Xiangyi quickly called Zhou Zilang. She walked in and saw a figure hiding in the dilapidated house.
"Sister Yingxue!" She squatted down.
Li Yingxue was soaked all over. She squatted on the ground with her body huddled up, her clenched fists trembling.
Ruan Xiangyi took off her down jacket and covered her with it, then helped her to stand up: "Let's go out first."
The next second, there was a loud noise in the sky. Li Yingxue was afraid of thunder, so she pushed her away and screamed while covering her ears.
Ruan Xiangyi's feet sank into the mud when she was pushed by her and she fell to the ground. She frowned in pain and subconsciously reached for her stomach.
It hurts...
In the hospital.
Li Yingxue fainted. Ruan Xiangyi, lying on the hospital bed, asked the doctor worriedly, "Is it really just a sprain? Is there anything wrong with the baby in my belly?"
"It's okay, the child is fine. Take this receipt to the first floor to pay the bill, and then go to the pharmacy to get the medicine." said the doctor.
Ruan Xiangyi sat up from the bed, and Jiang Ruzhi came in from outside. She had just come from Li Yingxue's ward.
Ruan Xiangyi asked, "How is Sister Yingxue?"
Jiang Ruzhi: "It's nothing serious, he just fainted from shock. As for you, it will take a hundred days to heal your broken bones. You should worry about yourself first."
Jiang Ruzhi went to get the medicine for Ruan Xiangyi. Zhou Zilang drove them back and told them, "I hope you can learn from this incident. If anything happens to Li Yingxue, none of us will be able to escape responsibility."
Jiang Ruzhi held Ruan Xiangyi's hand: "We understand."
Ruan Xiangyi was silent.
When they arrived at their residence, Zhou Zilang got out of the car, opened the back door, and helped Ruan Xiangyi out. Jiang Ruzhi handed her the crutches she had bought and said, "Why don't you let Brother Lang carry you upstairs?"
Zhou Zilang asked: "Shall I carry you?"
Ruan Xiangyi shook his head, limped towards the yard with the help of crutches, and when he entered the yard, he found a person standing there.
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The author has something to say: Hmm... is it okay not to update on Tuesdays and Wednesdays?
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