Chapter 64
The hall was brightly lit and filled with a cacophony of voices.
She couldn't even tell if someone had actually called her name or if it was just a fleeting illusion caused by the person next to her, but she still couldn't help turning around.
The man sat back in the chair, his head tilted slightly to the side, his furrowed brows revealing his weariness.
The incandescent light shone on his black hair, making his already pale skin appear even more frail. This frailty, ironically, softened his arrogance and aggression, making people irresistibly drawn to him.
He didn't move, and Guan Nan's suspicions gradually dissipated, but she became even more careful in her movements.
She didn't notice at all that her two long legs, which were casually stretched out, had moved forward two inches without her noticing. Just as she turned her head to look in Chen Fei's direction, she tripped.
As the person naturally leaned forward and fell, Guan Nan subconsciously reached out and grabbed the outstretched palm.
He opened his eyes, looking somewhat impatient. "What, still not giving up? Throwing yourself into my arms?"
Guan Nan faced him, her gaze fixed on his folded double eyelids. Perhaps because he hadn't slept enough, there was an extra layer on top, making them particularly noticeable.
For a moment, she didn't know if she had lost her mind or what, but she blurted out, "Is it congenital?"
Jiang Li frowned and said in a less than friendly tone, "What?"
"Your..." Realizing it was inappropriate, Guan Nan hesitated, "...your eyes."
"······"
"······"
The air seemed to freeze for a moment.
I don't know why, but every time I return to Fuling, I always seem to mess up in front of him.
Jiang Li asked indifferently, "Is it really necessary?"
"What?" This time it was Guan Nan's turn to be puzzled.
"I'm not satisfied until I've won her over?"
"······"
"They even tracked you all the way to the hospital?"
"······"
Upon hearing this, Guan Nan's expression changed, and she looked somewhat embarrassed. She quickly shook her head and waved her hands, saying, "No, I didn't mean that."
"What is that?" Jiang Li looked up, raised an eyebrow, and scrutinized her from head to toe, as if he had no trust in her words whatsoever.
Looking at his expression that seemed to say, "Let's see what you can come up with."
Guan Nan opened her mouth and then closed it.
At this point, no explanation would be right; it would only solidify her ulterior motives towards him.
"I...I..." Guan Nan was extremely embarrassed. The questions she originally wanted to ask him, such as "How are you feeling after the poisoning?" and "Are you feeling better after the IV drip?" were stuck in her throat. After a long while, she awkwardly said, "I'm here to pay back the money."
Jiang Li snorted coldly: "Still saying you didn't come along?"
"..." Guan Nan said helplessly, "I really didn't."
Jiang Li: "You've already admitted it."
"I don't."
"Then how did you know I was here?"
"······"
"They even came here to pay back the money."
He was nonchalant yet confident, appearing quite serious, and his words became increasingly plausible.
Guan Nan almost believed what he said because she felt guilty.
After a while, she said dejectedly, "I came here to see a doctor."
"Oh," Jiang Li seemed intrigued, "What illness?"
"······fever."
After a few seconds of pause, Jiang Li scoffed and said coldly, "You really should go and take a look."
Before she could speak, she heard him say, "Look at your head."
"······"
After saying that, he closed his eyes again.
The huge infusion room was like his own private exhibition hall. When he was in a bad mood, he would grab a sign and hang it at the door, saying, "I am feeling tired today, so the hall is closed for rest and relaxation."
Seeing this, Guan Nan wisely let go, but accidentally bumped his hand again.
Jiang Li withdrew his hand, turned his head and coughed lightly twice, then said in a deep voice, "Can't you be a little gentler with patients?"
"I didn't do it on purpose," Guan Nan muttered softly, then readily apologized to him, her attitude very sincere, "I'm sorry."
“This wasn’t intentional,” Jiang Li said. “What else would it take to constitute intentional?”
"······"
It feels like anything I say now would sound like an excuse.
Guan Nan simply stopped talking.
Fortunately, Jiang Li didn't seem to want to say anything more to her. He kept his eyes closed and remained in the same position as before, as if all that remained around him was the dripping of the IV drip tube.
She sat down next to Chen Fei, still feeling a little annoyed, wondering why she couldn't be more assertive in front of him.
As Chen Fei sipped her porridge, she noticed that the scene from earlier hadn't escaped her notice. Her gaze kept shifting between Jiang Li and Guan Nan across from her, trying to figure out what was going on.
As soon as Guan Nan sat down, she heard Chen Fei look away, wink, and say meaningfully, "Is it him?"
"What?" Guan Nan absentmindedly opened the porridge lid, put the spoon in, and then realized that she had forgotten to give him the portion of white sugar.
“That’s right,” Chen Fei raised her chin, as if she couldn’t escape her notice, “Him.”
Guan Nan placed the porridge beside her and asked her to take a spoon: "I don't understand."
Seeing this, Chen Fei stopped beating around the bush and went straight to the point, saying, "The person in your heart."
Upon hearing this, Guan Nan couldn't help but turn and meet her gaze.
"When Zhu Sheng sang 'How Far Is It To Enter Your Heart' for you in your sophomore year, didn't you laugh and say 'This road is blocked'? When people from your club kept asking you why, you said 'Maybe it's because I have someone in my heart.' Is he that person?" Chen Fei's gossip spirit was burning brightly, and her thirst for knowledge was bursting, eager to get an answer.
Guan Nan offered her a bowl of porridge and said casually, "I don't know, I was just talking nonsense."
"Mmm..." Chen Fei took a sip of porridge from her hand, her mouth full of mucus, "Impossible, it must be him!"
Guan Nan clearly didn't want to talk about this: "Drink up, it'll get cold soon."
"Nannan, if you win over this handsome guy quickly, someone else will make a move." Chen Fei blinked and gestured for her to look in that direction.
In that direction, Jiang Li opened the bag with one hand, pulled out a baseball cap, and casually ran his fingers through his hair.
When he looked up again, a girl had sat in the empty seat next to him. She was smiling very reservedly, as if she was saying something. He listened and nodded casually.
After he nodded, the girl smiled even more happily, and he straightened his posture a bit.
"Look, if you don't make a move soon," Chen Fei whispered in her ear, "your sweetheart is going to be stolen away by someone else."
Guan Nan glanced over there and saw that Jiang Li was listening attentively to her, and he had put down the hat that was half-on, and his posture was no longer as relaxed as before.
After saying something else, the girl pointed in a certain direction, as if introducing a person or thing.
Two seconds later, Guan Nan looked away. "Drink it quickly, it's getting cold."
"Really not?" Chen Fei moved closer to her.
Guan Nan: "No."
“Guan Nan,” Chen Fei stared at her face for a long time before finally saying, “Something’s wrong with you.”
"Something's not right?"
Chen Fei couldn't explain it clearly, so she just made up some excuses and accused her of something, saying, "Anyway... something just doesn't feel right."
"Ever since that time in that music room, I've had a vague feeling something's off. You two acted like enemies, but not quite. There was this strange mix of familiarity and estrangement. And the key thing was that guy blocking the drinks—wow, you're so manly, sis! Five or six glasses and he didn't even blink. Didn't you see the look in his eyes? A deep, lingering, and passionate love, yet his expression was so awkward." Chen Fei, getting carried away, unleashed her masterful melodramatic writing skills. "Unrequited love, a love as deep as the sea—what will become of them—"
Unable to stop her impromptu performance, everyone around craned their necks to find the source of the sound.
Guan Nan had a blank expression; she would have wanted to crawl into a hole if there was one in front of her—it was just too embarrassing.
"How much did she drink?" The man couldn't help but turn to the woman as soon as she came in and exclaimed, "She's still so energetic, that's amazing, woman."
Before he could stop talking, Chen Fei, who rarely cared about her reputation, immediately fell silent and stopped speaking.
The woman glared at him and said, "Qu Qinghuai, are you sick in the head?"
Qu Qinghuai touched his nose: "I was just joking, why are you angry?"
“Jiang Siyao,” Jiang Li sent her a voice message, “the needle has slipped.”
"What are you telling me about needle insertion? I'm not a doctor." Although he said that, Guan Nan saw her put away her phone and quickly walked over. Looking at her hand, which was swollen and bleeding from the needle insertion, he couldn't help but scold her.
Jiang Li listened to her without saying a word.
In that instant, Guan Nan instinctively felt that his accidental squeezing had caused the needle to go wrong.
After thinking about it for a moment, a feeling of guilt instantly overwhelmed me.
Guan Nan pursed her lips, her eyes involuntarily glancing in that direction. She saw him acting as if nothing had happened, maintaining his usual nonchalant and calm demeanor even when being scolded.
Jiang Siyao was also quite bold; despite claiming she wasn't a nurse, she didn't hesitate to pull out the needle.
As soon as the needle was removed, Qu Qinghuai called the nurse over and put an IV dressing on his hand, which was still bleeding from the hastily removed needle.
Qu Qinghuai was dumbfounded: "Why did you pull it out yourself?"
"Yeah, why did you pull it out yourself?" Jiang Li looked up, with a shameless expression. "What if something happens? Are you going to take care of my mother in her old age?"
“Dad named you Jiang Li so that you would be reasonable. How come you are just like that stubborn old man, Grandpa? Are you a feudal remnant?” Jiang Siyao was interrupted by Zhong Qijun before she could finish speaking.
“Hey, hey, hey,” Qu Qinghuai said, “that’s going too far.”
"How many times have I told you this? Why won't you listen? Are you deaf or something?"
Jiang Li lowered his eyebrows and said emotionlessly, "It's not like this time."
Hearing him say that made Jiang Siyao furious. She raised her hand and slapped him on the head, knocking his hat askew again: "This time it's gastritis, you idiot! I'm already annoyed enough dealing with those old hands at the company during the day, and you still have to cause me trouble."
Jiang Li clicked his tongue and straightened his hat: "Brother-in-law, this woman is a shrew, you—"
"You should say less, ancestors..."
Under Jiang Siyao's glare, Jiang Li touched his nose, picked up the bag on the stool, and turned towards the corridor.
Qu Qinghuai reached out to carry the bag for him, but he dodged it. Then, she asked curiously what was in the bag, "When did you buy this, Siyao? Did you buy it?"
To leave the infusion hall, you have to pass through the row of seats where Guan Nan and the others are sitting. Out of the corner of her eye, Guan Nan lowered her eyes and didn't dare to look up, listening silently to their conversation.
Reaching this point, Jiang Siyao lowered her voice slightly, but couldn't help asking again, "What's the point of running your lousy studio? You're doing all sorts of performances every day and barely make any money. What's the point of wasting your time?"
Jiang Li said nonchalantly, "Let's play some more."
"Play, play, play. If you play for another two years, you'll be too old. I'd like to see who will want you then."
"It's not that bad. This kid relies on his good looks to get by, and he's still quite popular with young girls," Qu Qinghuai said with a laugh.
At this point, Jiang Siyao turned around, pointed at him, and warned, "If you dare to do anything outrageous like an old cow trying to eat young grass, I'll break your legs."
Guan Nan rummaged through the water, unscrewed the bottle cap, and "Kats" happened to be the same sound as this sentence.
As she looked up, the man happened to turn his head towards her, his eyes lowered.
I met those deep, dark eyes again.
My heart skipped a beat.
In that brief moment, Jiang Li casually looked away and gave a perfunctory reply.
Only after they walked out did Chen Fei pat her chest, take a few deep breaths, and say in a trembling voice, "Wow, that woman is terrifying! That look in her eyes, that aura, it felt like she was going to devour someone at any moment."
Guan Nan recalled the fleeting glimpse of her dashing figure at a parent-teacher meeting many years ago, and the awe-inspiring queen-like demeanor she exuded now.
"Oh my god," Chen Fei was still relieved, "thank goodness you didn't talk to him, that woman is too scary, absolutely too scary."
Guan Nan smirked and handed her the water: "It's scary, but I won't talk to her sister."
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"······"
Under Chen Fei's astonished gaze, Guan Nan belatedly realized what she had just said. She subconsciously glanced towards the exit, but thankfully, they were already far away and out of sight.
Chen Fei took a sip of water to calm herself down: "You're scary too..."
Guan Nan subtly changed the subject, and fortunately Chen Fei didn't seem to mind.
Chen Fei muttered to herself that Ye Na's birthday was coming soon.
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