Episode 33 Painkillers
Jiang Shu had previously heard bits and pieces from Chen Can about Tengchun's boss, and had always assumed he was a middle-aged man with a potbelly. Unexpectedly, upon meeting him today, he discovered that not only was he not potbellied, but he was actually quite elegant. His temperament was not much different from his, if not even slightly better.
Only then did he realize that the term "middle-aged man" was clearly equated with his current self.
Wang Duo stretched out his hand slowly, and beneath the thin glasses was a face full of secrecy.
"I've heard a lot about Mr. Jiang. I heard from Lin Ying that it was you who introduced us to Pierre and helped our gallery secure his mainland agency. I didn't expect to see you here."
Jiang Shuyi extended his hand to shake his, smiling and greeting him, "I heard from Pierre that Mr. Wang has always had a unique aesthetic sense and is also a decisive investor. I feel very relieved to have Aying working with you as his brother."
The magnetic field between people is always subtle.
For example, when Jiang Shu first saw Cen Shuo, no matter how close he appeared to be with Lin Ying, he never felt a strong sense of intimidation or oppression from this young man.
But the person in front of him, even though he was just standing next to Lin Ying, keeping a normal social distance from her, and just asked a casual question, the magnetic field around him seemed to have the power to overwhelm the mountains, trying to exclude him.
The hospital entrance wasn't a good place for business flirting, so Lin Ying, acting as a middleman, consciously suggested—
"Actually, I've been thinking about finding a chance to introduce you two to each other. I didn't expect it would be better to be lucky than to arrive early. It's hard to talk here, so why don't we go to a nearby teahouse..."
"There's no need to be so anxious. Today happened to be too last-minute, and you're not feeling well. We can make an appointment another day."
Jiang Shu couldn't help but interrupt, his tone full of worry, "What's wrong with you?"
But Lin Ying didn't respond. Since Wang Duo had given her a way out, she could just take advantage of it.
"Since you two are not in a hurry, I'll excuse myself. It's getting late, and I just need to go pick up my daughter."
Wang Duo asked, "Why don't I go with you?"
"No need, my daughter is shy, I'll go."
After saying that, she zipped up her open tote bag, brushed past the two people, and walked out of the clinic. Seeing that the elevator happened to stop at this floor, she went in. Seeing that no one was following her, the two people seemed to be still in the hospital, she closed the elevator door and pressed the button for another floor.
She knew she was avoiding it.
She avoided Jiang Shu's question about her health, avoided Wang Duo's request to send her off, avoided the inevitable greetings between them, the personal interactions between them, and even her own curiosity about what was going on between Jiang Shu and that girl - anyway, he was asking questions even though he knew the answer, and it didn't matter to her.
She fumbled for the car keys from her messy bag. Her body was still a little weak, and she could feel the softness in her bones just by carrying the bag.
She sat in the driver's seat, her lower abdomen aching again. Afraid it would affect her driving, she dug out the newly prescribed medication from her bag and quickly read the instructions for each one. Seeing the painkiller, she immediately took out three tablets according to the dosage. But there wasn't even hot water in the car. Helplessly, she was about to swallow them with the remaining mineral water when someone knocked on the car window from outside.
Lin Ying couldn't help but startled, and the medicine in her hand almost fell into the gap between the car bodies, while the person outside the window was waving a mini thermos cup at her.
She was stunned for two seconds, but decided to roll down the window. Jiang Shu reached out and handed her the thermos cup.
"I just got warm water from the hospital."
She swallowed the pills with the warm water he brought her. Before Lin Ying could even say "thank you", the other party immediately instructed:
"You go to the passenger seat and rest, I'll drive."
"No……"
"How long are you going to keep going like this? Kindergarten has already finished school."
This was true. She glanced at the time and knew she was bound to be late. Picking up her child was more important, so she had to put aside her shyness and compromise on his proposal.
Jiang Shu got in the driver's seat, adjusted the seat angle, put the car in gear, and headed off. As the car merged into the traffic, the setting sun half-sprinkled the front window. Lin Ying's abdominal pain gradually subsided as the drug took effect, and her expression also calmed down...
Jiang Shu asked, "I asked your boss at the time, and he said the doctor was originally going to have you hospitalized, but it was you who insisted on getting the medicine and going home?"
No wonder he arrived so promptly. Perhaps after I left, he asked Wang Duo about her situation and handed her the warm water at the right moment...
"I've confirmed the situation with the doctor, and it's not that serious. Besides, what will Ruxing do if I'm suddenly hospitalized?"
"Don't worry about that. You can send Ruxing to my place. I'll find a full-time nanny to help you take care of her. You just need to focus on your treatment. I'll bring the child to see you every day..."
She couldn't help but smile bitterly, "You are still so bossy when it comes to arranging people."
Jiang Shu seemed to realize the toughness of his attitude. He paused for a while before softening his tone and changing his words.
"Not really. I definitely need your opinion on this matter."
"My opinion is, don't bother."
She interrupted Jiang Shu and said, as if to distance herself from the matter, "I can judge my own condition. If hospitalization is really necessary, I will find someone to take care of the child. Don't worry about it."
Jiang Shu fell silent after hearing this, and the atmosphere in the car suddenly became quiet. The air conditioning blew, filling the entire space. The pain in his lower abdomen finally subsided - the painkillers really worked.
Although he knew that this calmness was only temporary, for a moment, Lin Ying really hoped that its effect could last indefinitely.
When people reach a certain age, it seems that they should no longer pursue purity. It is really not easy to gain temporary peace.
"You sent me to pick up the child, but where is your companion?"
She still couldn't help but ask.
"I asked her to take a taxi."
"…oh."
After another brief silence, he finally realized——
"Don't get me wrong, she and I are not in that kind of relationship, but this is a long story..."
He cut to the chase and told Lin Ying the whole story of how he met Xu Yiwei and the theft in the villa last night.
She had a flat reaction in the first half of the story, but when she heard about the villa being robbed and the girl being threatened and insulted, they went to the police station and stayed there until early this morning, during which time they had to cooperate with the scene inspection, record statements, and review surveillance footage...
"It's probably a burglar gang. They've been scouting the area for a while, hoping to break in last night while the owner was away. But they didn't expect someone else was home. The surveillance cameras at the door have been destroyed, so we can't pinpoint the suspects yet. I feel really bad that Xiao Xu has experienced this... I'm a member of this private clinic; it's close to home and understated, so I thought I'd bring her in for a comprehensive checkup to put her at ease."
No wonder she said at that time that she had taken blocking drugs, so that's how it is.
Lin Ying, who knew the whole story, was silent for a long time. As a woman, she couldn't help but feel sympathy for Xu Yiwei. The concerns she had just had due to misunderstandings were now gone because of this experience.
Although it was an accident, the thieves were targeting Jiang Shu's property. Xu Yiwei was an innocent cannon fodder who was implicated. He was lucky to be able to survive this sudden disaster.
Lin Ying sighed:
"Anyway, you're quite famous now, so remember to be mindful of privacy leaks and stay safe. Did anything valuable go missing from your house this time?"
She recalled the time they lived in the villa, when Jiang Shu wouldn't let anyone into his study. Although she had accidentally barged in once, he suddenly appeared, and they couldn't help but have sex, naturally forgetting what they had seen at that time. This time, the villa was robbed, and there must be losses.
But Jiang Shu was just vague.
"Some artwork was lost, but... nothing valuable."
When they arrived at the kindergarten gate, the sky had turned blue and the traffic was still flowing. Jiang Shu looked for a long time for a gap on the side of the road before he could park the car. Since it was a weekend daycare class, there were not as many students as on weekdays. Most of the children in the classroom had left, and the remaining three children were left in the classroom, one boy and two girls.
The little boy was obviously the bully in the class. He deliberately disturbed Ruxing while she was drawing. He snatched the watercolor pencil from her hand and threw it into the bucket. The dirty water splashed all over another girl, and she screamed in fright.
Ru Xing stood up with a bang, her almond-shaped eyes glaring, and she pointed at the boy's nose and shouted:
"Sun Jiawei, apologize!"
"Lululu! Who cares about you, painter? You're so dirty!"
"You don't wash your hands before meals or after going to the toilet. You are much dirtier than me!"
Unexpectedly, the little boy didn't feel embarrassed at all. Instead, he asked, "How do you know I don't wash my hands after using the toilet? You peeked at boys using the toilet, Lin Ruxing, you have no shame!"
"I didn't peek, it was you who went into the women's restroom to pee. You can't even tell the difference between men's and women's restrooms. You're so shameful and dirty!"
Those words were heartbreaking. How could a five-year-old boy's pride bear that? He resorted to violence, picking up the bucket next to the painting and angrily pouring it over her...
The two of them happened to see this scene, and Jiang Shu hurried forward -
"stop!"
The little boy was so frightened that his whole body trembled. With two clangs and splashes, the water in the bucket spilled onto the ground and splashed all over himself...
"uncle!"
When Ruxing saw Jiang Shu appear, her face immediately brightened up like the sun and she ran straight into his arms.
After confirming that her daughter was not injured, Lin Ying was about to squat down to see if the little boy was okay, but he actually sat down in the dirty water, and immediately burst into tears, and opened his mouth -
"Wow, mom, they bullied me, they pushed me!"
The boy's parents appeared out of nowhere, and the mother suddenly pushed Lin Ying aside, supporting her son without distinguishing right from wrong.
"Nunzusa? Adults bullying children?"
"Don't talk nonsense. It was clearly your son who wanted to hit my daughter with a bucket, and we stopped him."
"You're talking nonsense! How could a child so small lift such a heavy bucket?"
The life class teacher came over after hearing the noise, but before she could say anything to stop the fight, Ruxing immediately pulled another little girl over.
"Jia Jia, tell the teacher! It was Sun Jiawei who bullied us, and he was the one who got your clothes dirty."
But this girl named Jiajia wasn't as brave as Ruxing. She was used to being submissive, and when she was suddenly caught up in a quarrel between several adults, she couldn't utter a word and was frightened to tears...
Ru Xing still did not show weakness and started to fight again:
"Sun Jiawei! You stole my paintbrush and tried to throw water at me. If my uncle hadn't stopped you, the water would have been on me!"
"Who told you to peek at me in the bathroom first?"
As expected, the boy's mother immediately shamed her as if she had caught something wrong with her:
"Oh my, you little girl, are you so shameless? What did your parents teach you to be so shameless at such a young age?"
These words instantly triggered Lin Ying's anger. She immediately stood in front of her daughter and scolded her without any hesitation.
"Who are you calling shameless? I saw it clearly before I came here. It was your son who stole the things and even slandered my daughter. If we really want to talk about shame, it's your son who is shameless!"
For a moment, the crying and shouting became a chaotic mess. Jiang Shu's ears hurt. After looking around the walls of the classroom, he found the surveillance camera and cut in without hesitation.
"What's the point of arguing about such a small matter? At worst, we can check the surveillance cameras and see for ourselves."
As soon as this suggestion was made, the teacher immediately took action to calm things down. Several people gathered in the monitoring room and watched the entire playback of the ten-minute video. The Sun family's parents' faces turned pale...
"Seeing is believing. Aren't you going to say something?"
Father Sun's face looked like someone who had eaten a fly but was pretending to eat fat meat. He patted his son's head and ordered reluctantly:
"Apologize to them."
The little boy then stammered and said "I'm sorry" to Ruxing and the others, but Ruxing didn't appreciate it. Instead, she ordered, "What's the point of apologizing? You have to compensate Jiajia with a new set of clothes!"
However, the child didn't say anything, and the mother couldn't bear it anymore:
"Don't go too far! Our Wei is very well behaved at home, but your daughter is talking nonsense here, it's obvious that her parents didn't educate her well."
This time Lin Ying stopped acting altogether——
"You've educated your son so well that he even mistakes the toilet door. No wonder he farts when he opens his mouth and stinks!"
"Nong Ce Na..."
Mr. Sun's face flushed red, and he leaned forward, looking like he was about to attack. Jiang Shu quickly pulled Lin Ying into his arms, and the other party lost some of his momentum and didn't really do anything.
After the class teacher's persuasion, the dispute was finally settled.
When Lin Ying returned to the car, she was still annoyed. She was about to say goodbye to Jiang Shu, but Jiang Shu did not return the car keys immediately. Instead, he squatted down and said to Ruxing:
"Ruxing has been wronged today. Your uncle will treat you to a delicious meal later. You and mom will get in the car and discuss what to eat, okay?"
"What else are you going to do?"
Jiang Shu kept it a secret and gently stroked Lin Ying's shoulders. "Get in the car and rest for a while. I'll be right there."
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