48 Three Phone Calls
Zhang Chenling thought she could lie comfortably in the bathtub and enjoy the debut of the Shangshanruoshui team.
Unexpectedly, the one-hour program was interrupted by three phone calls.
First call.
From Mr. Wang, who will be pushed into the operating room at eight o'clock tomorrow morning.
When Zhang Chenling saw the caller ID, her heart tightened. What was he trying to do by suddenly calling her so late at night?
As soon as I picked up the phone, I heard a familiar curse coming from the other end, the pronunciation was clear and powerful. It was obvious that the old man's facial paralysis had been cured, and it was seamlessly connected with the prostate surgery.
"...Chen Ling, isn't it infuriating? Those two damned Xiao Nings really won't land in Shanghai until tomorrow morning. They even lied to me and said they'd be back a day early. I specifically asked Uncle Zhong to go back to the villa and bring the Lingna Belle toys I bought for the kids to the ward, but I ended up waiting all day in vain, holding a bunch of Lingna Belle!"
Zhang Chenling smiled awkwardly, "Tomorrow morning is fine, that's just the right time to get you into the operating room."
"How can a person not be aware of risks? What if I get delayed on the way? What if something goes wrong during the operation? Aren't they afraid they won't be able to see me one last time?!"
"Have you written your will?"
"...A will? I wrote it n years ago!"
"Well, of course your son is not afraid!" Zhang Chenling rarely showed black humor.
“…” Mr. Wang was speechless.
"I was just joking, don't be angry!" Zhang Chenling chuckled, "You are blessed with a long life. I guarantee you will live to be a hundred years old!"
"Oh, now I think it's my own fault! I used to have too high expectations and too strict requirements for the two little Nings. As a result, neither of the brothers appreciated it and no one listened to me..." Mr. Wang broke his usual habit and began to reflect on himself.
Zhang Chenling sensed a dangerous signal. Once this chatterbox started talking, it would be hard to stop for a while.
Sure enough, Mr. Wang began to talk non-stop, like a storyteller, recounting the major events of his adult life: falling in love at the age of 18, accidentally getting his nth girlfriend pregnant, getting married, having his first son, starting a career, making his first pot of gold, having an affair, getting divorced, kneeling on a washboard to beg for forgiveness, having his second son, doubling his assets, buying a villa, his two sons going to school, going abroad, working, getting married, having children, his wife passing away from illness, his two sons not coming home for the New Year, quarrels, him making a will, quarrels, his desire to remarry, more quarrels, his sons insisting on sending him to a nursing home, more quarrels…
Zhang Chenling's brows furrowed more and more, and she silently drew a parabola in her mind, thinking that the life of a rich man would go downhill after reaching the peak, and his life in his later years would be even more chaotic than that of ordinary people.
Although having money is good, it also has unsolvable problems.
Mr. Wang became more and more excited as he spoke, and it seemed as if he wanted to make up for all the conversation he had not been able to have a while ago due to facial paralysis.
Finally, when he stopped to take a breath, Zhang Chenling looked at the time - it was already eight forty.
She was just wondering how to end the conversation when Mr. Wang sighed again and said, "Chen Ling, I saw the weather forecast says it's going to rain until tomorrow morning. You and Xiao Ni need to leave early and don't be late. I'll be relieved to see you before the surgery! Those two damn Xiao Nings are dispensable... Oh, don't worry about the money. I'll have them pay you double the price for the bath!"
"Money is secondary!" Zhang Chenling said hurriedly, "Don't worry, even if God strikes you down tomorrow morning, Ni Yue and I will definitely get to the hospital on time!"
After much persuasion, she coaxed Mr. Wang to hang up the phone and quickly switched back to the live TV broadcast.
Just when I was about to light another cigarette, another phone call came in.
This person was even more unexpected than Mr. Wang.
——Qian Xiaohu?
Recalling the last time we helped Uncle Qian with his bathing, several people spontaneously organized a voluntary cleaning to give Uncle Qian a clean and sanitary living environment. They cleaned up two large bags of garbage inside and outside the house.
Could it be that Qian Xiaohu was dissatisfied with the fact that they threw away the garbage without saying hello, so he called over the weekend to ask for accountability, or even wanted to claim compensation?
Zhang Chenling couldn't help but imagine the scene of Qian Xiaohu rolling up his sleeves and claiming that those bottles and jars covered with starch were valuable antiques. She felt a little guilty and regretted that she had been impulsive at the time, thinking that she was doing a good deed but ended up planting a big bomb.
…
Da Lei, Qian Xiao Hu were persistent and kept calling him one after another.
Zhang Chenling was determined. Now that the matter was settled, could he still blow me apart?!
So he picked up the phone, his tone calm, "Hello, hello! How can I help you?"
“…” There was silence on the other end of the phone.
"Hello? Hello?"
Still silent.
Her heart sank. Could something have happened to Uncle Qian? She quickly asked, "Mr. Qian, is your father okay?"
"Um..." Qian Xiaohu finally spoke, hesitatingly answering: "He's fine, I'm in trouble!"
Zhang Chenling's heart once again sounded the alarm, "What's the matter?"
"Well... I want to say, I, I... that..." Qian Xiaohu stuttered and couldn't speak, as if he had something to hide.
"Xiao Hu, please speak up!" Uncle Qian's voice rang out on the phone. It turned out that he had been by Xiao Hu's side the whole time. "If you can't speak, I'll help you speak!"
"No, no, I'll speak for myself!" Qian Xiaohu interrupted, unleashing a barrage of words like a machine gun: "I want to join your team, Shangshan Ruoshui, as a bathing assistant, helping people bathe. Is that okay with you?"
"Huh?" Zhang Chenling thought she had misheard. "What did you say? Say it again?"
Qian Xiaohu was startled, then he dropped his restraint and opened his voice, letting himself go, shouting, "I want to join Shangshan Ruoshui! As a bath assistant! Are you willing to accept?"
“…” The silence was deafening.
Qian Xiaohu's self-esteem was clearly hurt by not receiving timely positive feedback. "Why aren't you saying anything? Was this so sudden?"
It's more than just sudden. It's downright terrifying! Even horror movies don't shoot like this!
Zhang Chenling was indeed frightened.
Qian Xiaohu is like a person from two different planets from them. He can't even take good care of his own father and doesn't even like to clean the house. How could he possibly help others take a bath?
Thinking about it more carefully, could it be that this guy failed in an interview a few days ago and was unwilling to deliver food in the wind and rain, so he came up with the "bad idea" of joining Shangshan Ruoshui and even asked his father Uncle Qian to help plead for him?
She was confused when she heard the father and son on the other end of the phone chatting back and forth:
"I told you they didn't want me, didn't you? You're humiliating yourself by forcing me to call!"
"Didn't you just watch the show and you were so moved that you cried, and you said you wanted to be a bath assistant too? How can you blame me?"
"I was just talking nonsense! I also said that playing games could make a million. Do you think I made it?"
"...it's impossible to undo what's been said. Once you've said it, you can't take it back. There's no point blaming me!"
Seeing that Zhang Chenling on the other end of the phone was silent, Qian Xiaohu had no choice but to find a way out. "Mr. Zhang, forget what I said just now. I won't bother you anymore!"
Just as she was about to hang up, Zhang Chenling stopped her, "Wait a minute, don't hang up yet!"
"?"
"Thank you for your interest and support for Shangshanruoshui!" Zhang Chenling coughed and spoke in an official tone. "We do need some help, but all applicants need to go through a formal interview process. It's too late today, so why don't we arrange a time to sit down and talk another day? I have some information I can send you. Please think about it carefully and contact me when you're ready."
"Okay, I understand. Let's make an appointment another day!" Qian Xiaohu's voice sounded a little disappointed.
Zhang Chenling's words seemed to keep people at a distance.
However, what she wanted to express more was: Let us all think about it carefully.
In fact, when she learned that Qian Xiaohu wanted to join because he watched the talk show, her favorability towards this person immediately soared. Moreover, this was the first potential teammate converted from the talk show, so how could she not look at him differently!
But Qian Xiaohu seemed impulsive and enthusiastic in vain. His qualifications, especially his patience and attentiveness, needed further investigation. Furthermore, given his past history of conflict with the team, Zhang Chenling would need to consult with her teammates...
So, she decided to take a long-term view and give Qian Xiaohu more time to examine his own heart.
After politely saying goodnight to the Qian father and son, Zhang Chenling hung up the phone.
Cut back to the interview program, which is nearing its end. In this frame, she is facing the camera and talking freely:
"Every time we finish our bathing service, we always say goodbye to our clients with a smile, just like friends leaving after a party. This is not only out of courtesy, but also a simple and beautiful blessing. Yes, we sincerely hope to say goodbye to them..."
Moved by her own words, Zhang Chenling's eyes became moist.
At this moment, another phone call came in at an inopportune time.
This time, it was her sex buddy, oh no, teammate - Xu Zhiqian.
There was no need to hesitate to answer his call. "Hello?"
"Chen Ling?"
"...I've said it a hundred times, please call me Sister Ling!"
"No, from now on I will only call you Chen Ling!"
"...You're in Ningbo?"
"Yes!"
"Have you been drinking?"
"Yes! But I'm not drunk, I'm sober, Chen Ling, there are some things I must tell you right now, right now!"
“???”
"Chen Ling, I..."
Xu Zhiqian's anxious and eager voice was instantly swallowed up by endless silence - Zhang Chenling's mobile phone suddenly went black, the battery ran out, and it turned off automatically.
She smiled silently, okay, okay.
Although she didn't get to watch the show, she felt a sense of relief. Now, finally no one could stop her from taking a quiet bath.
She no longer thought about Mr. Wang, considered Qian Xiaohu, or guessed at Xu Zhiqian. She was no longer Mr. Wang, Sister Ling, or Chen Ling... All these noises were driven out of her mind, along with her bathing assistance business.
She is no longer anyone, no longer carrying any expectations. At this moment, she is just a body. She is tired and she needs to rest.
...It was not until she heard the sound of a door opening and a series of hurried footsteps outside that Zhang Chenling woke up from her brief escape and returned to the real world.
When I opened my eyes, I saw Ni Yue appear at the bathroom door, soaked by the rain and looking very disheveled.
This scene seems familiar.
But unlike that time, this time Ni Yue was panting and his face was full of panic.
"What's wrong?" Zhang Chenling felt something was wrong.
"Why did you turn off your phone? Even I can't contact you!" Ni Yue gasped, "Your mother... fainted in her hometown and is now in the ICU!"
Zhang Chenling has blocked Chen Hongmei and Zhang Chenguang for a while.
A few weeks ago, they had an extremely unpleasant communication. These two "family members" who had not been in contact for a long time called her and asked her to "borrow" money in the name of paying for her nephew's tuition for cram school.
The mother and son on the other end of the phone were acting as a double act and using moral blackmail as they did before.
Zhang Chenling found it unbelievable. "If I don't pay, your grandson or your son will blame me if they can't get into college in the future?"
"If you don't want to lend it, just say it directly. You are a jinx saying nasty things and have no good intentions!" Chen Hongmei cried and howled as she scolded her. Her scolding was mixed with Zhang Chenguang's angry roar and his wife's sarcastic tone.
It was like an ugly family farce.
Zhang Chenling held up her phone and listened quietly, and even applauded at the end.
She saw this as a sign of respect for her fellow performers and a respectful farewell to her family of origin. Previously, her severance had always been tangential, as she had always clung to the illusion of blood ties; but from that day on, she resolved to abandon all illusions, completely severing ties with them and refusing to see them for the rest of her life.
…
Hearing the word "ICU" from Ni Yue, Zhang Chenling instinctively responded, "It's bad. Do they have money?"
"Do you want to buy a plane ticket and fly back immediately?" Ni Yue was worried that something worse might happen. "What if your mother..."
I dared not say the second half of the sentence.
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