Chapter 18 Allergies: "Raised for someone else."
Following Zhang Minglang's instructions, Tang Yi used all her skills, clumsily employing every coaxing phrase she knew to charm Xiaobai.
Fortunately, Xiaobai wasn't as bad-tempered or afraid of people as he had described. On the contrary, it was surprisingly well-behaved in her hands, nestled in her arms, and occasionally sticking out its tongue to lick her hand.
Tang Yi only took a few hours to get used to Xiao Bai's presence.
She curled up in a corner of the sofa, gently stroking its fur while taking a picture of the little black cat on her lap and sending it to Xu Xiaoxiao.
[Just laugh it off: ?? When did you get your cat? It's so cute!!]
Tang Yi felt pleased by her praise, as if she herself had been praised.
She typed with a smile.
[The recliner: It's not my cat, it belongs to my boss.]
[Just laugh it off: ? ? ? ? ? ? ]
[Just laugh it off: When did you start talking to your boss? Why didn't you tell me?]
Tang Yi was startled. She scrolled up and realized that she had indeed not explained things clearly.
She quickly typed. However, Xu Xiaoxiao's video chat came in immediately afterward.
She answered the call, and the other end immediately launched into a string of traditional Chinese opera tunes, startling the little white dog in her arms, who then looked up in confusion.
Shh! You're scaring the cat to death.
"Okay, tell me, what's going on with your boss?"
"What? What happened? He went on a business trip and asked me to feed his cat, that's all."
"That's it?" Xu Xiaoxiao asked doubtfully.
"What else do you want to do?"
Xu Xiaoxiao sighed heavily and shook her head repeatedly.
"What are you doing?" Tang Yi couldn't help but laugh when she saw her like this.
"I thought you'd finally figured it out, sigh!" The other person sighed again, then suddenly seemed to remember something, their face zooming in rapidly on the screen.
"What does your boss look like? How tall is he? Is he older or younger than you?"
Are you checking my household registration?
"Hey, never mind that, just answer me."
Tang Yi sighed, thought for a moment, and said, "I don't know his height, but he's taller than me; he's a year older than me; and he looks..."
"Alright, that's enough. I agree to this marriage."
Xu Xiaoxiao waved her hand dismissively, looking as if she knew everything.
Tang Yi was both amused and exasperated, and told her to shut up and stop talking.
At least half an hour after the video call ended, Tang Yi received a message from Zhang Minglang.
[Chapter: Just got off the plane.]
Tang Yi sensed something was wrong with the timing. She frowned and switched to the ticket-buying app.
The plane should have landed almost an hour ago.
She typed rapidly, and almost at the same time she pressed the send button, a message popped up on the other end.
[Chapter: The plane is delayed.]
[Tang Yi: Is it late?]
The two pieces of information were placed side by side, one above the other, fitting together perfectly.
In two cities thousands of miles apart, the two stared blankly at their phones, tacitly letting the chat end there.
Zhang Minglang lay on the hotel bed, his suitcase scattered around him, not yet unpacked.
He held up his phone, the screen reflecting his somewhat absent-minded face.
Early morning.
The fluorescent lights in the emergency room were cold and glaring, and the smell of disinfectant mixed with the weariness of passersby hit the air.
Unlike the hustle and bustle of the daytime, the emergency room in the early morning is elongated with silence, broken only by the occasional cough and the light footsteps of nurses.
Tang Yi sat alone in the examination room, waiting for the doctor to prescribe her medication.
Her clasped hands trembled slightly as she struggled to stop herself from scratching, and a large patch of red rash covered her exposed neck.
"Your allergy isn't too severe, but you should still try to avoid contact with animal fur. Just take this to the window to get your medication."
"Thank you, doctor."
She took the order, nodded her thanks, and then opened the door to leave.
She had never kept a pet in the previous twenty-odd years, and she never expected that God was helping her avoid allergies.
The coincidences were so striking that Tang Yi didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
An hour ago, she settled Xiaobai down and went to sleep peacefully. But in the middle of the night, she felt an unbearable itch on her neck, so much so that she couldn't sleep.
She initially suspected it was a problem with the blankets, so she got up and painstakingly changed into a four-piece bedding set. It wasn't until she went into the bathroom and glanced in the mirror that she realized her neck was completely red.
Sitting in the taxi on her way to the hospital, she was still calmly thinking about the allergen.
Tang Yi reviewed everything she had encountered that day in her mind, and suddenly a flash of inspiration struck her as she remembered her conversation with Tang Jiaxin at the pet store.
She said that her nose felt itchy when she first entered the store, and later Tang Jiaxin noticed that her neck was red.
Yes, it's a cat allergy.
Tang Yi sighed slightly. Everything else was negotiable, but what mattered most to her right now was where to take care of Xiao Bai while Zhang Minglang was away on his business trip.
When the alarm rang, she forced herself to get up after only sleeping for three or four hours. Fortunately, her allergy symptoms were much better than in the early morning.
She breathed a sigh of relief, put on her mask and gloves, fully equipped, prepared food and water for Xiaobai, and then went to work.
On her way to work, Tang Yi was still pondering a question she hadn't been able to answer the night before. Unexpectedly, the answer appeared right before her eyes as soon as she entered the Junmao Building.
"Assistant Zhou, you didn't go on the business trip with President Zhang either?"
Tang Yi caught sight of a familiar figure and quickened her pace to Zhou's side.
"You didn't go either?" He was clearly pleasantly surprised after seeing her face clearly. "That's good, that's good. I thought..." I had been forgotten by President Zhang.
He naturally didn't dare to say the second half of the sentence.
Assistant Zhou's gloomy mood from the whole day vanished instantly.
It seems that President Zhang didn't forget about himself, but rather had no intention of bringing anyone with him.
He felt much better and his steps became lighter.
Tang Yi watched his retreating figure, an idea forming in her mind: "Assistant Zhou, are you allergic to animals?"
"Me? No, I have a cat."
"That's great." Tang Yi was relieved. "It's like this, Mr. Zhang is on a business trip in D City and asked me to help take care of his cat..."
"What??"
Assistant Zhou gaped, as if he had heard some earth-shattering news.
Tang Yi: "......"
"Excuse me, please continue."
"...But I just discovered yesterday that I'm allergic to cat fur, so I'd like to ask you to help Mr. Zhang take care of it."
Tang Yi finished speaking in one breath and then waited for his response.
Assistant Zhou was clearly still in shock.
The two remained strangely silent for a long time.
He finally accepted the fact, and his spirits, which had been high when he saw that Tang Yi hadn't followed President Zhang, vanished. He said weakly, "Then I'll go to your neighborhood to pick up Xiaobai after get off work."
"You also know that its name is Xiaobai?"
Tang Yi heard a familiar name from his mouth and turned to look at him curiously.
Upon hearing this, Assistant Zhou instantly perked up, gesturing excitedly with pride: "Of course! After all, President Zhang and I worked at the branch office for two or three years, and we were fortunate enough to take care of Xiao Bai..."
His sudden dramatic ups and downs made her take a step back, watching his performance silently, unsure of what to say.
"Secretary Tang, you've finally arrived! I have an urgent document for you to review."
A colleague saw Tang Yi come out of the elevator and hurriedly went to greet her.
Tang Yi felt like she had grasped a lifeline. She quickly turned around and greeted Assistant Zhou, not caring whether he heard her or not, and walked away with her colleagues.
"...I never expected that things would change like this. In Mr. Zhang's heart, I'm no longer his first choice to take care of Xiaobai...Huh??"
After speaking at length, Assistant Zhou turned around and realized that Tang Yi was no longer beside him.
He shook his head, looking somewhat weary, sighed deeply, and dragged his heavy steps toward his workstation.
After getting off work in the afternoon, Tang Yi went home and handed Xiao Bai over to Zhou Te's assistant, finally feeling relieved.
She also did a thorough cleaning, vacuuming up all the cat hair in every nook and cranny of the house, and only felt relieved after confirming that there was no more hair.
With her boss away on a business trip, she unexpectedly gained a little extra vacation time. Tang Yi ordered takeout, ate a quick bite, grabbed her coat from the sofa, and headed out the door.
She arrived at Heaven on time and went behind the bar to start mixing drinks.
Just over ten minutes after Tang Yi arrived, Sun Yuyang came in from outside, looking travel-worn but full of energy.
"Sister Yiyi? Why didn't you tell me you were coming?"
He had already instructed the waiter to send him a message immediately if he saw Tang Yi arrive.
Sun Yuyang sat on a high stool with a grin, his hands on the table, and leaned forward to ask, "Not working overtime today either?"
"Hmm." Tang Yi was busy controlling her subordinates' alcohol intake and didn't look up.
Sun Yuyang racked his brains but couldn't find a suitable topic. His eyes darted around, trying to find a reason to break the silence from his surroundings.
Suddenly his gaze fixed on Tang Yi, and he instinctively reached out towards her collar.
What are you doing!
Tang Yi caught a glimpse of his suddenly approaching hand out of the corner of her eye, and her heart skipped a beat.
Almost instinctively, she slapped his wrist away with a loud "smack," her brows furrowing instantly, her low voice filled with barely suppressed shock and anger.
Since he met her, she had always been indifferent, as if she didn't care about anything. Sun Yuyang had never seen her so angry before.
"I'm so sorry! I just wanted to remove the cat hair from your collar..."
He was startled by her overreaction and quickly withdrew his hand, his voice filled with urgency and regret.
Tang Yi's tense shoulders relaxed slightly. She calmed down and silently looked down at her collar, where a black cat hair was indeed lying.
She reached out and patted him twice, her eyes dim as she apologized, "I'm sorry."
Sun Yuyang waved his hand, his tone deliberately light, trying to break the tense atmosphere.
"You keep cats too?"
Tang Yi seemed lost in thought, and whispered, "It's being raised by someone else."
The words "helping others" were like a needle, piercing his heart unexpectedly, and immediately stirring up a surge of unease.
His knuckles tightened unconsciously, the cold glass digging painfully into his palm.
Help someone?
Who is it?
What kind of "other person" could make Tang Yi, a person with such clear boundaries, willingly take on the troublesome yet intimate task of "raising a cat"?
He dared not think any further and could only desperately mutter to himself in his heart: It must be Xu Xiaoxiao.
Yes, it must be Xu Xiaoxiao.
They have such a good relationship, it's perfectly reasonable for him to help her take care of her cat.
But his self-deceptive persuasion could not suppress the bitterness and panic in his heart.
He felt an unnamed fire burning from the bottom of his heart, spreading throughout his body, making his throat tight, his chest feel blocked and stuffy, and he could hardly breathe.
But what qualifications or status does he have to ask this question?
Moreover, his unintentional and reckless actions just now had already aroused her such fear and disgust.
Sun Yuyang tilted his head back and drank the wine in his hand in one gulp.
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