47. Showdown
◎“Of course, I cherish my wife.”◎
Song Chiyu didn't know what to say for a moment, so she could only gaze at him in silence.
Qi Yanzhou, as another party involved, had no intention of mentioning or arguing, and casually asked, "What would you like for lunch today?"
Qi Zhannan's attention was instantly drawn to it.
"I want to eat..."
“Go tell your dad,” Qi Yanzhou interrupted without hesitation.
"Hey, she's your wife, so I'm not your nephew anymore?" Qi Zhannan put his arm around Qi Yanzhou's shoulder, quickly putting the matter behind him. The others in the room also wisely refrained from bringing it up again.
Song Chiyu didn't have the extra energy to spend on this. Bai Ruisheng taught her not only ancient book restoration, but also jade, metal, ivory, and so on. He required her to have some knowledge of everything that commercial restoration might involve. She might not need to do restoration in the future, but she couldn't be ignorant of it.
Every night, Qi Yanzhou watched her finish preparing for the skills competition and then start doing the homework Bai Ruisheng had assigned. After washing up, she would fall asleep as soon as her head hit the bed. Song Chiyu didn't say anything, but Qi Yanzhou was the first to complain. However, he didn't lash out in front of Song Chiyu. Instead, he waited until she was asleep and then called Bai Ruisheng directly, getting straight to the point: "Are you trying to work my wife to death?"
Bai Ruisheng chuckled guiltily, "Master Qi."
Qi Yanzhou patiently responded.
“You really can’t blame me for this. I didn’t want to teach her so quickly either, but the child… no, your wife is smart, she understands everything right away. Oh, you’re a teacher too, you know how I felt, right? I just wanted to teach her everything I knew, and before I knew it, I was teaching her a little too fast.”
"You were really careless."
"Hehe, since you've said it, I'll pay attention next time. To be honest, I've even thought about having her quit her job and come work for me. Once she's learned how to do it, I'll leave the shop to her and then I'll retire."
His scheme was so elaborate it was practically slapping Qi Yanzhou in the face.
Without responding, he said, "That's it, I'm hanging up."
He returned to the bedroom, where Song Chiyu had already changed her sleeping position and was breathing evenly.
Qi Yanzhou felt a pang of pity. He should have waited until after her skills competition to let her go. He quietly lay down beside her and was about to tidy the blankets when she suddenly seemed to sense something and rolled into his arms.
Her head was pressed against his chest, her hands were on his waist, and her legs were pressed against his thighs.
It's like they're using him as a pillow.
A barely concealed emotion flickered in his eyes. He stared at her face for a long while before kissing her lips and turning off the bedside lamp.
**
The National Cultural Relics Industry Vocational Skills Competition is just around the corner.
He Zhu was even more exhausted than Song Chiyu. In addition to preparing for the competition, she was also sent out for training for four weeks on weekends. Other colleagues could see the two of them falling asleep at their desks at noon every day.
Xie Yunjin hadn't visited Song Chiyu for a long time. Occasionally, he would run into her but pretend not to see her, throwing himself wholeheartedly into his work. He could vaguely hear that some female colleagues were pursuing him.
Song Chiyu felt relieved that he was finally about to start his life anew.
The competition was to be held in Beijing, and everyone needed to leave a day in advance. So, after work on Thursday, Song Chiyu and He Zhu went to take the high-speed train together. As soon as they entered the carriage, they saw Xie Yunjin, who was also going back to Beijing.
The two people looked at each other.
Neither of them paid any attention to the other.
As soon as Song Chiyu found her seat, He Zhu couldn't wait to point to a girl behind her: "That one, the one who's chasing Xie Yunjin."
Song Chiyu subconsciously looked up and saw that the girl was staring at Xie Yunjin, clearly showing that she was really interested in him.
Song Chiyu made no comment and continued searching for her phone in her bag.
Two minutes later, Qi Yanzhou sent a WeChat message: "Get on the bus?"
Knowing she was going to Beijing with her colleagues, Qi Yanzhou went back early. As soon as Song Chiyu saw his profile picture, she couldn't help but smile: "Mm."
"Then you go to the hotel with your colleagues first, I'll come pick you up when it's time."
"good"
She exited WeChat and saw the call from Lao Li an hour earlier. Lao Li hadn't contacted her since she left Suzhou, so he must have something to say to call her now. But ever since she learned that he was using her to get close to Qi Yanzhou through his scheme, she had kept her distance from him.
A 200 million astronomical scheme.
Song Chiyu didn't dare to think about what he had taken from others; she couldn't afford to get involved in this mess, nor did she want to drag Qi Yanzhou into it. She pretended not to see anything.
We arrived in Beijing soon.
Song Chiyu and He Zhu went to the exit ahead of time to wait. Through the glass in front of her, Song Chiyu saw Xie Yunjin standing behind her, but she didn't look at her. Song Chiyu pretended not to know.
Just as the door was about to open, Xie Yunjin, who had been standing behind her, suddenly shrunk down. Song Chiyu immediately felt a weight on her shoulder, and then he fell down on her back.
Song Chiyu was terrified and completely unaware of what was happening, nearly falling to the ground. Fortunately, He Zhu reacted quickly and caught her. Once she was steady, He Zhu turned to Xie Yunjin, who was lying on the ground, and asked, "Teacher Xie, Teacher Xie, are you alright?"
Other colleagues rushed over upon hearing the news.
Together with the flight attendants, they carried him off the train.
Although Song Chiyu was a little worried, she didn't intend to go with them. However, she discovered that her bag and Xie Yunjin's bag had been taken away together. She was too embarrassed to try to snatch the bag in such an emergency, so she had no choice but to go with them first.
Xie Yunjin was taken to the infirmary. In the chaos, Song Chiyu snatched back her bag that was hanging on Xie Yunjin's coat. Just as she was about to leave, someone grabbed her clothes. He lay on the blue trolley and looked at her weakly, saying, "Don't go."
His pale, haggard face revealed an obvious plea.
Song Chiyu was taken aback. She had never seen Xie Yunjin like this before. In her memory, this person was always spirited and never seemed helpless.
Song Chiyu stared at him for a long time before realizing he had lost his glasses. He couldn't see or recognize anyone else besides her. She didn't answer, but she also didn't rush to leave.
He Zhu and the others quickly found his glasses, but they had been trampled and broken.
Only after Xie Yunjin was sure she wouldn't leave did she finally relax and faint.
Soon, the ambulance arrived. The teacher in charge, who had never encountered anything like this before and was completely at a loss, suddenly noticed his hand tightly gripping Song Chiyu's clothes. He immediately felt reassured, as if he had found a pillar of support: "Teacher Song, would you mind coming with me?"
Song Chiyu was naturally inconvenienced, but seeing the teacher in charge with a full head of white hair and Xie Yunjin lying unconscious on the stretcher, she sighed, asked He Zhu and the others to help her take her luggage, and then got into the ambulance.
Upon arriving at the emergency room, after some examination, the doctor said it was due to overwork and low blood sugar, and there was nothing seriously wrong.
The teacher in charge breathed a sigh of relief and followed the caregiver to pay the fees.
Song Chiyu was transferred to a regular ward with him and stayed behind to take care of him. Staring at his haggard but still well-defined face, Song Chiyu felt a mix of emotions. She remembered that when she was dating him, she had encountered a similar situation. After learning that he had low blood sugar, she would put a box of candy in his bag every day, adding one candy if he was short.
Now, even though it's the same thing, everything has changed.
Song Chiyu stood expressionlessly by the bed, waiting for the teacher in charge to return so she could leave. As she turned to go outside to wait, the corner of her coat was grabbed again.
She turned around, and Xie Yunjin looked at her with tears in his eyes. "Don't you forgive me?"
Song Chiyu tried to pull her coat back from his grasp, but to no avail. She had no desire to argue with him and sighed silently, "I forgive you."
He seemed to be thinking of something, his eyes grew redder and redder, but he smiled with immense relief.
Song Chiyu gave a helpless and bitter smile, her gentle eyes revealing a hint of relief, yet also a touch of sorrow, "Take care of yourself."
"Mm." He released her hand, pursed his lips, and replied, a single tear silently sliding down his cheek.
Song Chiyu turned her head away, feeling a pang of guilt. Just then, the teacher in charge of the group returned. She was about to leave when she heard the teacher ask, "Teacher Xie, it's good that you're awake. We were so worried about you. In that case, you should call your parents."
"No need, you can go back, I'm fine."
"Let's call them and ask them to come over. We're worried about you being here alone."
“They won’t come. I moved out of my house a long time ago,” Xie Yunjin explained.
"You can't be so sick that you wouldn't come, can you?"
Xie Yunjin smiled and said, "I don't have a very good relationship with my family."
Song Chiyu paused in her steps as she walked out.
"Huh?" The teacher in charge of the group was surprised.
"It's alright, I'll be able to go back by myself after resting for a while. You and Teacher Song should go on your way."
The teacher in charge hesitated and looked at Song Chiyu.
Song Chiyu reminded him, "Call your assistant and ask her to bring you a pair of glasses."
"She took the day before yesterday and won't be back until the day after tomorrow."
Song Chiyu knew that the teacher in charge of the group had just celebrated her 70th birthday a couple of days ago, and she really couldn't bear to mistreat the elderly. She sat down on the chair next to her and said, "Teacher, you can go back if you have something to do. I'll stay here and watch over things. Anyway, there's not much fluid left."
"Thank you for your help, Teacher Song." The teacher in charge of the team said apologetically, "There are still many things that need me to coordinate for the competition."
"Okay." Song Chiyu saw him to the door.
Back in the ward.
Neither of them spoke for a moment. As the sky outside the window gradually darkened, Song Chiyu broke the silence first: "What's wrong with your family?"
"Do you really want to hear it?" Xie Yunjin asked tentatively.
"What does this have to do with me?"
“No,” he stared at her intently, “I’m just angry with them and don’t want to have anything to do with them.”
Song Chiyu remained silent.
He couldn't actually see her face clearly, which emboldened him: "I gave them all the respect they deserved, but they didn't give me any respect in return."
Song Chiyu vaguely guessed what he was going to say, so she didn't ask any further.
He was clenching the web of his left hand, seemingly lost in thought.
This is how she is when she has something she can't talk about.
Xie Yunjin squinted, seeing through her intentions but not saying anything, and continued, "Since they've embarrassed me, then let's not make them look bad either. The last time I went back was when my dad celebrated his birthday, which was when my mom ran into you on the high-speed train."
"Did you know that your aunt and my mother came to my husband's house a few days ago?"
“Yes,” he should have been unaware, but his cousin happened to come to visit him that day and saw the video: “I’m sorry.”
"It's okay, it's all in the past."
“I don’t have the ability to make them apologize to you, so I can only resort to this stupid way to fight against them.” He curled his lips in self-deprecation: “If you want to make fun of me, then make fun of me.”
There's nothing to laugh at or not laugh at.
It's all in the past now.
Song Chiyu breathed a sigh of relief: "So you've finally realized that it's no longer a matter of me being unwilling to put up with things for you?"
“I realized a long time ago that if my parents respected me, they would never embarrass my girlfriend and her parents on their first meeting. I didn’t think your rebuttal was wrong at the time, but I wanted to marry you so badly. I knew they were unwilling, but they couldn’t persuade me otherwise. As long as they couldn’t find fault with you, they would have to agree even if they were unwilling.”
He rarely showed his emotions so openly, and his eyes involuntarily reddened again. "I had already thought it through back then. Once we got married, we would move out. If they didn't like it, they didn't like it. We would just stop associating with them."
It turns out he had already thought it all out.
But now she thinks it's too naive. "No way. Even if you move out, your parents will try every means to get involved in your life. If they find out that you have any disobedient thoughts, they will blame your wife. In the long run, you will still get divorced."
Xie Yunjin was naturally unconvinced and was about to retort when Song Chiyu replied, "You can't even get them to apologize, so how can you expect them to accept your wife? Xie Yunjin, find a girl they like. That way, you'll feel better."
"But I've already done it, haven't I?" Xie Yunjin sneered.
Even though he didn't marry her, he still distanced himself from them according to his original intentions. Song Chiyu didn't answer, and Xie Yunjin smiled and said, "Actually, it's quite simple to achieve this: complete independence. Neither economically nor spiritually, you should be dependent on them."
Song Chiyu remained silent.
She didn't even notice her phone ringing in her bag.
Xie Yunjin reminded him, "Your phone is ringing."
She immediately snapped out of her daze, took her phone out of her bag, and walked towards the door: "Hello, Yanzhou."
He is her husband.
Xie Yunjin stared at her silently, then pressed the call button beside her with an unchanged expression: "Bed 2, Xie Yunjin, please add more fluids, thank you."
Concise and clear.
Qi Yanzhou heard her voice clearly. Song Chiyu hadn't expected him to press the call button at this moment. She glanced at it and saw that the IV bottle was indeed empty, so she didn't say anything more and continued to explain, "That's how it is. I'll go back to the hotel after this IV is finished. Don't wait for me to eat."
"Where?" Qi Yanzhou's voice remained gentle. "Which hospital?"
Are you coming over?
"Okay, I'll get him a new pair of glasses."
Song Chiyu was surprised by his understanding nature and felt even more guilty. After giving the name of the hospital, she said, "I'm sorry to trouble you again."
"No, this wasn't your intention either. Since we've already run into this, let's just solve it. Are you hungry? I'll bring you some other things."
Song Chiyu felt a surge of gratitude towards him.
"It's so kind of you."
He smiled gently: "See you later."
Hearing her clearly coquettish voice, Xie Yunjin clenched her fist without making a sound, and blood immediately flowed back from the IV needle. Song Chiyu didn't think much of it, and at the same time, the nurse came in and replaced the IV bag.
The two fell silent again.
But the atmosphere now is completely different from when I was thinking about what I wanted to say.
Xie Yunjin had no interest in hearing anything about her husband and stared at the IV drip bottle without saying a word.
As long as he knows she's with him, that's enough.
Xie Yunjin didn't believe that he could tolerate it once, twice, or even three or four times. As long as he couldn't tolerate it anymore, cracks would naturally appear in the marital relationship, and then there would be an opportunity to take advantage of the situation.
When Qi Yanzhou arrived, Song Chiyu was standing at the foot of the bed, staring blankly at the ground.
Hearing him come in, she immediately looked up, "Husband,"
The two men in the room looked at her at the same time.
Qi Yanzhou had never heard her call him so readily from under the bed. Sensing her intention, he unconsciously curled the corners of his lips and said, "Mm."
Song Chiyu took the initiative to hug him.
Xie Yunjin looked at her clinging to him like she had no bones and clenched his fists again.
Qi Yanzhou, as was his habit, put his arm around her waist, placed the glasses case at the foot of the bed, and handed her the dessert.
Song Chiyu generously kissed him on the cheek.
"Let's go out to eat. I'll keep an eye on things here for a while."
“Husband.” Song Chiyu tugged at his sleeve, her lips pursed with worry.
"Huh?" Qi Yanzhou seemed not to have heard.
Song Chiyu thought for a moment, and figured that he probably wouldn't start an argument, so she said, "Okay, I'll go out to eat."
As soon as she left, Qi Yanzhou closed the door and sat down on the chair by the bed.
Xie Yunjin put on her glasses and finally saw his face clearly. He had an expression that said nothing but understood, a half-smile on his face, but no hint of a smile in his eyes.
Xie Yunjin showed no fear, took off her glasses again, wiped them with a cloth, and said, "Thank you. How much is it? I'll transfer the money to you."
“Eight thousand, the receipt is in the box,” Qi Yanzhou replied politely.
Xie Yunjin paused in wiping his glasses, but said nothing, picked up his phone and turned it to him.
Qi Yanzhou made no polite gestures and immediately accepted the payment.
The liquid in the IV bottle dripped down little by little.
Qi Yanzhou gave him a meaningful look, and the faint smile on his lips revealed blatant mockery. He was clearly laughing at his clumsiness.
Xie Yunjin wasn't afraid of his laughter. Knowing that he had seen through her intentions, she remained calm and asked, "Mr. Qi, what are you laughing at?"
"Of course it's because you're ridiculous." Qi Yanzhou was completely unfazed, showing no regard for his methods.
Xie Yunjin gritted her teeth secretly.
Whether it's funny or not, we'll find out later.
"I've already told you, what you're doing is fine, but she'll have to coax me when she gets back. She's already had a tough time lately." Qi Yanzhou was genuinely distressed and sighed helplessly, "Don't add to her troubles."
Xie Yunjin clenched his fist.
Qi Yanzhou noticed the IV line that was returning blood to his body at first glance and continued, "Of course, everyone cares about their own wife. If she's not your wife, you naturally won't care about her."
These words were like rubbing salt into his wounds.
Yes, she's not his wife, so she doesn't need to be coaxed, and of course he doesn't feel sorry for her. Then, thinking of Song Chiyu's boneless, clingy way of comforting him, he felt a pang of heartache and angrily cried out, "Qi Yanzhou—"
"kindness?"
As soon as she finished speaking, a girl with long, straight hair walked in with Song Chiyu. Song Chiyu was still holding pastries in her hand and pointed to the foot of the bed, saying, "This is it. Teacher Wu, I'm relieved to see you here. I'll leave Teacher Xie in your care. My husband and I will be leaving now."
This Mr. Wu is the girl who has recently been pursuing Xie Yunjin.
Because they couldn't get into the ambulance, they took a taxi there after finding out which hospital he was in.
She was initially wary of Song Chiyu, but seeing her husband there, and so handsome at that, she immediately relaxed. "Okay, leave it to me. You can go now, thank you for your trouble."
"No trouble at all," Song Chiyu finally managed to get rid of this hot potato, and waved to Qi Yanzhou: "Honey, let's go quickly."
[Author's Note]
[Heart emoji][Heart emoji][Heart emoji]
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