Before the smile on Li Tangyan's lips could even fade, there was a squeak, and then the car came to a steady stop on the side of the road.
Wen Zhaonian's well-defined hands were still resting on the steering wheel, his slender index finger lifted up and then quickly fell back down.
He tilted his head slightly, his voice tinged with laziness: "If I said yes, what are you going to do then?"
Li Tangyan paused for a moment, then found a fulcrum to support herself, her dark eyes darting around as if she were really considering the problem.
"If that's the case, I'd be happy to pay it back for you."
"By then, will I be able to sleep with you—"
Before she could finish speaking, Wen Zhaonian looked over again, his cool gaze landing on her, making her shiver involuntarily.
Only then did Li Tangyan realize, looking in the rearview mirror, how smug her still-smiling face looked.
Guessing that Wen Zhaonian had misunderstood, he quickly stopped smiling.
He quickly added the second half of the sentence, his throat bobbing: "I mean, add it to your friends list."
Wen Zhaonian paused for two seconds, then chuckled and suddenly laughed: "Fine, then I'll wait and see how you plan to go for it—"
The man pressed the tip of his tongue against his palate, his voice low and deep, making it hard to tell whether it was intentional or not. His unfinished words seemed to contain a tenderness that was hard to discern as genuine or feigned.
The emphasis on the last syllable of that sentence, with its clear and distinct pronunciation, was like a hot summer breeze hitting the face, blushing the woman's cheeks.
The car eventually stopped in front of the Third Hospital.
As soon as they got out of the car, Wen Zhaonian's phone rang. It was a text message from He Yule's mother asking where they were.
"Why do you think Auntie invited us out behind He Yule's back?"
Li Tangyan walked to Wen Zhaonian's left. When she slightly raised her head, what caught her eye was his clear and smooth jawline.
At the same time, as a pure voice emanated from her throat, her Adam's apple rolled down in a slightly sensual arc.
In an instant, Li Tangyan felt a dryness in her throat. She licked her lips and realized that they had become dry as if they desperately needed hydration.
When she realized that she had been staring at Wen Zhaonian for quite a while without realizing it, even she, who prided herself on being proactive, couldn't help but feel guilty and hurriedly looked away.
"Who knows?" Wen Zhaonian's calm and even voice came from beside him.
Li Tangyan's head was slightly lowered, her gaze still fixed on the ground that was constantly changing as she moved.
Hearing this, she guessed that Wen Zhaonian hadn't noticed her strange behavior just now, and was about to breathe a sigh of relief when she suddenly felt a tightness on her wrist, and then she was pulled into someone's arms.
She looked up, slightly bewildered, and realized that she had almost bumped into a strange man who was walking out of the ward while she was lost in thought.
A hint of impatience flashed across the man's face, but he didn't say anything and simply walked past them with his companion.
Li Tangyan was stunned by the sudden change, and only realized something was wrong when Wen Zhaonian's voice came from above her head: "How long are you going to keep holding me like this?"
ah?
At this moment, Li Tangyan hurriedly got up from his arms. After standing still, she looked up and saw a red mark on Wen Zhaonian's neck near his Adam's apple, which looked somewhat out of place against his fair skin.
The once neat shirt collar had its top button undone because of her hasty action of hooking her arm around his neck.
The shirt's owner seemed oblivious, his dark eyes fixed on the area behind him, his gaze unfathomable.
Li Tangyan cleared her throat, forcing herself to look away and pretend to be calm: "Thank you."
Hearing this, Wen Zhaonian finally turned his gaze away from the unfamiliar figure that had not yet completely disappeared.
Under the gaze of Li Tangyan, whose face was slightly flushed and who seemed to be looking over at him, he casually adjusted his collar, hiding the exposed half of his collarbone back where no one could see it.
Then he pushed open the half-closed ward door and went in first: "It's okay, come in."
"Zhou Yong, we're not going to sue."
The first thing He Yule's mother said to them upon entering the ward was this.
Li Tangyan frowned, glanced at her son who was still lying unconscious behind her, and asked in confusion, "Auntie, what happened?"
He Yule's younger brother, He Yu'an, lost his job last month after having a verbal dispute with Zhou Yong, the son of a business tycoon. He was also beaten up and hospitalized.
After failing to receive an apology and being further smeared, he finally decided to file a lawsuit.
Li Tangyan learned about this by chance, so she couldn't understand why her mother, who had been just as grief-stricken as He Yule back then, had suddenly changed her mind today.
However, He Yule's mother didn't say a word more than necessary, only muttering that she wouldn't tell anyone.
Just as Li Tangyan was still considering how to persuade her, Wen Zhaonian's voice rang out again beside her: "If you are willing to give up the opportunity to defend your son who has not yet woken up due to an undeserved disaster, then we respect your decision."
The moment Wen Zhaonian's words, spoken with an almost emotionless coldness, uttered, the middle-aged woman, whose hair had already turned half-white, turned deathly pale.
She seemed to be caught in some complex emotion, her eyes filled with an unresolved entanglement.
She looked at her son, still lying in the hospital bed, and noticed a tear had somehow rolled down his closed eyes, wetting the pillowcase beneath him...
When they turned around again, Wen Zhaonian and Li Tangyan were no longer in the ward.
"Was what you just said a bit too much?" After leaving the ward, Li Tangyan kept looking back.
That's why she bumped into Wen Zhaonian's back the moment he stopped.
She hummed in response, and when she looked up again, she happened to meet his gaze as he lowered his eyes.
Wen Zhaonian's lips curled into a slight smile, as if mocking: "What do you think she can listen to when she's already hiding in her protective shell?"
"Instead of worrying about this, you might as well send a message to He Yule to come over and have a proper talk with her." As he spoke, his fingertips were still rapidly tapping on the phone screen.
Upon hearing this, Li Tangyan lowered her eyes, pouted, and muttered in what she thought was a very quiet voice, "Seriously, did you choose the wrong major in college? Sometimes I don't think you're very much like a lawyer."
As soon as Li Tangyan finished speaking, Wen Zhaonian paused his tapping on the screen, and then his gaze fell on Li Tangyan's head, which was bowed.
He lowered his voice and suddenly asked, "What does that look like?"
"A debt collector." When asked this abruptly, Li Tangyan couldn't help but blurt out her true feelings.
As if that wasn't quite the right description, he added, "And the kind of person who's in a high-ranking position and in charge of profit sharing."
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