0141 Outbreak
Thunder rumbled and lightning flashed outside the window, and a torrential downpour began. Large raindrops pounded against the transparent windowpane, creating a noisy cacophony.
Tantai Qing sat alone at the dining table, his brows furrowed, his mind uneasy.
"The number you dialed is currently switched off. Please try again later..."
He sighed and hung up the phone, staring at the cold food on the table, frowning in deep thought.
Tantai Qing noticed that Jiang Jifan had been in extremely poor condition lately. She was absent-minded during the day and suffered from insomnia at night. However, whenever he asked her what was wrong, she would only give him perfunctory answers.
Seeing that the rain outside the window was getting heavier and heavier, he couldn't wait any longer, so he grabbed an umbrella and his car keys and prepared to go out.
I had just stepped into the entryway to change my shoes when the door suddenly rang.
Jiang Jifan has returned.
But then I saw her standing at the door, holding a pair of high heels in one hand, her whole body soaked and her head hanging low.
"Jifan, where did you go?"
Tantai Qing dropped the umbrella and car keys in his hand and went over to pull her into the house.
Jiang Jifan did not respond. Her eyes were vacant, and she threw the high heels in her hand to the ground in a daze. Then she walked into the house barefoot.
Many guesses flashed through Tantai Qing's mind. He instinctively felt that something must have happened to her. He quickly caught up with her and stood in front of her, cupping her face in his hands and asking anxiously, "Jifan, don't scare me. What happened?"
Jiang Jifan seemed to only return to her spirit body at this moment, and finally raised her eyes to look at him. Her messy, wet hair clung to both sides of her cheeks, making her look extremely disheveled.
But after looking up for a moment, she drooped her eyes again, her voice hoarse, and the first thing she said was, "I want to smoke."
After quitting smoking, Tantai Qing never bought cigarettes again. He searched all over the house and finally found the only two cigarettes left in the corner of the study.
He had lost his old lighter somewhere, so he had to take the cigarette to the kitchen and light it with the help of the fire rising from the stove.
When Tantai Qing came out of the kitchen, he saw that she had taken off the shoes he had just put on her and was standing barefoot on the balcony with her back to him, looking at something.
"Jifan, come here."
He led her to sit down on the sofa and handed her a cigarette.
Jiang Jifan took the cigarette, his hand trembling as he put it in his mouth and took a deep drag, but before he could even exhale the smoke ring, he was choked and his lungs ached.
She hadn't smoked in a long time, so long that she'd even forgotten how to hold a cigarette properly, and had completely forgotten how smoke actually passes through her lungs.
Tantai Qing reached out and snatched the cigarette from her fingers, then threw it away. Seeing her coughing so hard, he stretched out his arms and pulled her into his embrace, patting her back.
Whether it was from being choked by the smoke or something else, her eyes were red and tears were streaming down her face.
Jiang Jifan's pent-up emotions finally erupted at this moment, and she suddenly buried her face in his chest.
Tantai Qing hugged her tightly, feeling the fabric on his chest gradually becoming damp.
At first she only sobbed softly, but later she gradually lost control of her sobs, clutching the hem of his shirt tightly and crying loudly, her shoulders trembling uncontrollably.
He could hear her broken voice, choked with sobs, but he couldn't quite make it out. He touched her wet head and said gently, "Don't worry, Ji Fan, speak slowly."
However, her next words stunned him.
"I...I personally sent my brother to jail..."
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