Chapter 27
Are you asleep?
The moment the eye drops hit her eyes, Jiang Fengyi felt a cool sensation, as if a clear spring had flowed over her body, thoroughly cleansing her eyes.
Unable to control his natural blinking, the excess liquid in his eyes slid down his eyelashes, dripped from the corner of his eye, and landed on Xu Que's arm, feeling icy cold.
"Are your eyes feeling any better?"
Jiang Fengyi subconsciously closed her eyes and then opened them again. The world became bright and clear again, and everything in front of her seemed to have been washed clean by the rain.
"Much better."
Upon hearing the other party's reply, Xu withdrew his hand from behind Jiang Fengyi's head, tidied up his things, and sat back down in his dining chair to eat.
Xu had already left, but the sensation on Jiang Fengyi's face seemed to linger, especially the skin below her eyelids with the small mole, which was still faintly burning.
Two blushes rose on her cheeks.
Jiang Fengyi coughed lightly, realizing she had to do something to distract herself.
She remarked, "You seem to have more work to do today."
"No, not at all." Xu, who had a hearty appetite, looked up from the table full of food. "My work is pretty much the same every day. I left work late today because I wanted to wait for you to leave together."
"Secondly, it's for researching information."
Jiang Fengyi's face flushed even more, reminding herself to focus elsewhere: "What information are you looking up?"
Xu answered honestly: "I want to learn more about prostheses. Yuanyuan said that she hasn't adapted well to the new prosthesis yet, and the socket area is prone to friction and pressure pain."
"Children's skin is more delicate than adults', and the new rigid socket needs a period of time to break in and achieve the best fit with the residual limb."
"But the problem is that children's bones develop rapidly and do not have a long lifespan like adult prostheses. Instead, they need to be adjusted and replaced in a timely manner."
"This means that each replacement brings new pain, but it has to be replaced frequently."
Xu lowered his voice: "I want to know if there are any ways to alleviate their pain."
Jiang Fengyi didn't ask her if she had found a solution, but only said, "If you need any help, just tell me."
"You're so good to me~"
Xu sometimes hoped that Jiang Fengyi wouldn't be too good to her, because she would definitely be very reluctant to part with her when the agreement expired in three years.
Oh well, let's just treat it as a beautiful dream.
*
Zhao Family Villa
Jiang Xuan felt completely at ease back home. She moved into a suite that the Zhao family had prepared especially for her, complete with all her daily necessities.
Zhao Rufei smiled and said, "This room is exactly the same as when you left, and everything is the same as what you used to use. Aunt Jiang, do you think we need anything else?"
Jiang Xuan laughed out loud from the bottom of her heart, without any of the seriousness she showed in front of Jiang Fengyi. At this moment, she became a kind elder.
"I trust you the most when it comes to doing things, my child. Anything you arrange will definitely be to my liking!"
The two seemed to be acting out a scene of deep mother-daughter affection, but unfortunately, one was surnamed Jiang and the other Zhao, making them "relatives" with no blood relation whatsoever.
Jiang Xuan couldn't help but sigh, "If only Jiang Fengyi were half as sensible as you!"
“Not at all,” Zhao Rufei chuckled twice, “Feng Yi is much more capable than me.”
"I would say that if I had half of her abilities, I would be laughing in my sleep every night."
Jiang Xuan snorted coldly: "Besides being a little more capable at work, what makes her better than you? She always has a cold face, like a block of wood."
She looked at Zhao Rufei with satisfaction from every angle. Without thinking, the thought hidden deep within her escaped her lips: "I wish you were my daughter."
As she said this, a hint of sadness crept into her eyes.
“When your mother was alive, she often joked that I should adopt you as my goddaughter.”
She sighed.
"In the blink of an eye, so many years have passed, and you've grown up so much."
Zhao Rufei grasped Jiang Xuan, who was lost in her memories, and said in her most sincere tone, "You can treat me like a daughter."
As she spoke, she lowered her eyes, her figure exuding an aura of sorrow.
"Actually, I have always relied on you to fill the void of maternal love in my heart."
"As you know, I lost my mother when I was young. You came into my life to comfort me, take care of me, and protect me."
"You made me aware of the existence of the word 'mother' even before I understood its meaning."
Hearing Zhao Rufei's words, Jiang Xuan's heartache became even more palpable.
It was as if she had suddenly awakened to maternal love, and was filled with affection, wanting to do something for her daughter. However, the object of her maternal love was not her own daughter, but a stranger.
"Don't worry, I will definitely make sure you can be with Jiang Fengyi as you wish."
*
During this period of time,
Jiang Fengyi discovered that Xu, as her subordinate, was even busier than her, her superior, leaving early and returning late every day. Although they still lived under the same roof, the two of them ate at the same table less and less often.
On this day,
Xu took the project proposal inside to show it to Jiang Fengyi. As she put down the document and turned to leave, Jiang Fengyi called out to her.
"You seem to be very busy lately?"
She tried to make her tone sound calm, as if she were asking a casual question.
“You didn’t come home for dinner last night, and your aunt asked you where you went.”
“I remember telling you beforehand that I wouldn’t be home for dinner tonight,” Xu repeated. “Yesterday after get off work, I went to visit a factory that specializes in manufacturing prosthetics.”
"You seem to have mentioned it, but I've forgotten."
"So tonight...?"
Xu immediately picked up the conversation: "I'm going to visit another factory today, so you don't need to wait for me for dinner. Tell the auntie not to make my portion."
"oh."
Xu, oblivious to the coldness in Jiang Fengyi's tone, was preoccupied with the advantages and disadvantages of various materials and models of prosthetics.
After Xu came out, He Shuyi, who also needed to show the documents to President Jiang, immediately came up to him and asked, "How is President Jiang feeling now?"
The documents she had in her hands had been delayed until almost the end of the workday and still hadn't been delivered.
Xu replied, "I'm in a good mood." After all, he had asked her if she was going home for dinner that night.
"Okay!" He Shuyi grabbed the documents and went to knock on the door. "I'll deliver them to President Jiang while she's in a good mood."
In the office,
He Shuyi walked slowly to Jiang Fengyi, feeling that the temperature here was much lower than outside. Although President Jiang's face showed no emotion, she could clearly feel that President Jiang was radiating coldness.
Damn it, Xu Que, you actually betrayed me!
What exactly did President Jiang do that made Xu think she was in a better mood?
Jiang Fengyi, standing in front of her, had her lips tightly pressed together and her brows furrowed, as if she had encountered a problem at work. When she saw her come in, she only glanced at her briefly before quickly looking away.
His face, as cold as an iceberg, was devoid of any warmth.
He Shuyi mustered her courage and stepped forward: "President Jiang, there is a document here that you need to review."
"Just leave it there, I'll check on it later."
"Okay, okay."
He Shuyi respectfully stepped aside: "Mr. Jiang, if there's nothing else, I'll be leaving now."
"Um."
He Shuyi felt relieved and quickly left.
After leaving, he wanted to confront Xu Que, but was told by his colleague that Xu Que had left as soon as he got off work.
"Why are you being so mysterious lately? You disappear as soon as it's time to leave work."
*
Xu arrived at a factory in the suburbs before the agreed time. This was a prosthetic limb brand OEM factory that she favored.
The staff member she was supposed to meet hadn't arrived yet. She glanced at the time, and when she looked up again, a young woman was standing in front of her.
"Hello, are you Ms. Xu?"
Xu Que extended his hand to her: "Hello, I am Xu Que."
The young woman in front of me also extended her hand: "Hello, I'm O'Colleen, the intern who's showing you around today."
Their company is not large.
Xu followed her inside. At this time, the factory workers had already finished their shifts, and only some equipment and machines could be seen running automatically.
As O'Kelin explained, Xu noticed that most of the resin prosthetic models displayed in the public area were adult models, with almost none for children.
She then asked the exit.
"That's right. Children's prostheses need to pay attention to adjustability in terms of dynamic adaptation, which is different from the concept of static adaptation for adult prostheses."
"Adults' skeletons and bodies are basically fixed and do not change much. Once the values are determined, production can proceed. However, children who are in a period of rapid growth are different. Their bones, bodies, and limbs are constantly changing, so they need to be adjusted continuously."
"In addition, our company receives relatively few orders for children, so we have not started a children's prosthetic limb business."
Xu nodded silently after understanding.
Next, O'Kelin continued to explain the other steps in the production process to her.
......
When Xu came out of the factory, it was already too dark to see anything.
She hadn't had dinner yet and was just about to find a restaurant that was still open to grab a quick bite when O'Kelin, who had finished work with her, drove up.
The car stopped, she rolled down the window, and asked with a smile.
"I know a good restaurant nearby, how about we go have dinner together?"
Xu refused outright: "No." She skillfully brought up Jiang Fengyi, "My girlfriend is still waiting for me to come home for dinner."
He glanced down at his phone and said, "My taxi is almost here, I'll head out first."
Under the streetlights,
Xu walked to the other side of the road to wait for the ride-hailing driver to arrive.
After getting into the car,
Xu looked at the restaurants with their colorful neon lights flashing on the street, but even though her stomach was empty, she didn't have much of an appetite.
Eating out is nothing compared to eating with Jiang Fengyi. But she didn't know how late she'd be finished with her work, and she didn't want Jiang Fengyi to stay up until this late to eat.
She herself just eats whatever she can to fill her stomach.
Passing by the familiar excuse, Xu quickly spoke up.
"Driver, please stop at that cake shop up ahead."
On the day she and Jiang Fengyi got their marriage certificate, she bought a strawberry snow mountain cake at this store. Unexpectedly, the cake she bought blindly was just to Jiang Fengyi's liking, and she ate several bites of it.
Xu went into the store and asked the clerk to pack one for her.
After paying with her mobile phone, she clicked on Jiang Fengyi's profile picture.
Are you asleep?
The notes at the top of the screen changed several times, and the words that the other party was typing appeared and disappeared intermittently.
In the end, only two words were successfully sent.
"not yet."
In the bedroom,
Jiang Fengyi, with her long hair draped over her shoulders, sat half-upright on the bed. The main light in the room was off, with only the wall lamp on her side lit up. In the dim light, the expression on her face was not clearly visible.
Jiang Fengyi deleted the message "When are you coming home?" that she had edited in the dialog box, word by word. Because there was no operation for a long time, the light on the screen slowly dimmed and finally went out.
At the same time,
After getting back into the car with the packaged cake, Xu finally had a free hand to type.
"I packed you a cake. Would you like to eat it tonight or after you wake up tomorrow?"
"Ding-dong—"
The message notification from the other party easily stirred Jiang Fengyi's heartstrings in the darkness.
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