Chapter 85 Wishing you happiness
Over the next few days, Wen Chu returned to Baiyue as promised to work as the technical director of the robotics project, responsible for following up on algorithm optimization. After work, she went to the hospital to see Qi Siyan.
Because Wen Chu used the treatment card, Qi Siyan was sent to the hospital. After examination, it was found that she only had a fractured left arm, some minor wounds on her back, and a slight bone fracture. The most serious injury was that the metal edge of the chandelier hit her head, causing a concussion. She needed to be hospitalized for a week to recover.
The doctors all said it was a miracle that he only suffered such minor injuries after a 10-kilogram chandelier fell from a great height.
At noon, Wen Chu, the technical department staff, and Lu Ming finished their meeting and were about to leave. However, Lu Ming did not get up immediately. Instead, he kept his head down and slowly flipped through the forms. Everyone sat there expectantly, waiting for him to say "meeting adjourned" after the three-hour meeting.
After a long pause, he said, "Wen Chu, stay. The rest of you can leave."
Everyone was taken aback at first, then, after observing the atmosphere between them, they quickly and tactfully left.
Wen Chu paused as she stood up: "Why? Is there anything else?"
"There are still some things to discuss regarding the selection of materials."
Wen Chu glanced at the time and said, "It's 11:40, time for dinner."
"Are you very hungry right now?" Lu Ming asked.
"I'm fine, but I have to go deliver food to Qi Siyan."
"Are you his girlfriend or his nanny? He's been lying in bed for four days. Does he expect you to feed him?" Lu Ming glanced at her leg, which was still wrapped in gauze, and said, "Are you worried that your leg injury isn't healing fast enough?"
“It’s just a minor injury. He was hospitalized because of me, so it’s only natural for me to take care of him.”
"Because of you? He owns the yacht. The fact that the facilities on board weren't properly inspected is his own problem. He should be thankful that no one else was harmed."
Wen Chu hadn't expected the other person to say such cold-blooded things. She wanted to condemn their indifference, but then thought it unnecessary: "Yes, as long as Wen Xue isn't hurt, that's all that matters to you. You don't care whether others live or die. But I do care. I'm leaving now. Let's talk about it this afternoon."
She chose to ignore the man's request, after all, she didn't rely on him for food in this world.
In the past few days, the image of the other person quickly protecting Wen Xue the moment the chandelier fell has been flashing through her mind from time to time, and every time she thinks of it, her heart skips a beat.
Lu Ming is very good at loving people, but the person he loves has become someone else.
She was almost completely disappointed in the person in front of her, and felt that saying another word was a waste of time.
If this were reality, no matter how much she loved this person, she wouldn't want to get entangled with him anymore.
“I’ll go with you.” Lu Ming was unmoved by her words, as if he felt that explaining was a waste of energy. He simply put the pen cap back on and said, “I should go and offer my condolences.”
"There's no need to go together. If you want to go, just drive yourself." Wen Chu decisively refused to travel with anyone and walked out with a cold face.
Lu Ming stood still, his gaze following the person who walked out, distancing himself from the person as if he were a venomous snake.
Wen Chu arrived at the hospital first. Qi Siyan, with her left hand in a cast, was chatting with Chairman Qi and his wife. She stopped as soon as she saw Wen Chu enter.
Chairman Qi's expression softened when he saw her: "Xiao Chu, you're here. You've worked hard these past few days."
Wen Chu shook her head and smiled faintly: "I didn't do anything, it's what I should do."
"Then you two talk, we'll be relieved to have come and take a look. This time it's really a stroke of luck that nothing too serious happened." Madam Qi said with lingering fear, her eyes still showing concern for her son. Before Wen Chu arrived, she was still asking if Qi Siyan had deliberately planned this.
Upon learning that it wasn't true, she realized even more how much Wen Chu meant to her son and wisely decided to give the two of them some space.
Chairman Qi clearly thought so too.
It would be best if this could be accomplished.
"Okay, please take care."
After the two elders left, Wen Chu sat down and asked, "How were you today? Are you still dizzy?"
Qi Siyan had a white bandage wrapped around her head: "It's okay, I feel like I can be discharged in a couple of days."
"Let's stay a few more days and observe the situation further." Wen Chu opened the insulated box, ladled out some soup, and handed it to the person.
Qi Siyan could only use his right hand, so he used Wen Chu's outstretched hand to scoop up the soup and drink it, praising, "It's delicious. Actually, I could have asked someone from my family to make it for me, but I secretly wanted to eat the food you brought."
"Of course, otherwise I would be the one lying here." Wen Chu quietly held the bowl for him.
"You keep saying 'it's my duty,' but what exactly is it 'my duty'?" Qi Siyan frowned slightly. "Protecting you was my own choice, and I can bear any consequences. I'm even more grateful that I was able to keep you safe from harm, so you don't need to feel guilty at all. Besides, the improper maintenance of the facilities is my responsibility. But I really didn't expect this kind of accident to happen. There were regular inspections before, yet such a problem still occurred... Fortunately, I'll bear the consequences in the end." Qi Siyan smiled indifferently.
"Don't say that." Wen Chu knew that this was definitely related to the system. It might be the punishment for her refusal to complete the task without hesitation, or it might be the change in direction caused by her failure in the task. After all, the danger level increases with each failure.
The system was originally intended for her.
She sighed and stopped arguing: "Never mind, it's good that we're all alright."
"I thought I was done for, but I only suffered minor injuries. My whole body was in pain and my head was throbbing." Qi Siyan was in good spirits and smiled. "But you are my lucky goddess. I was still a little conscious at the time. I just felt you hug me, and the pain in my body seemed to lessen a lot. I didn't suffer too much after I woke up."
Wen Chu smiled at him.
These words were overheard by Lu Ming and Wen Xue as they entered. Wen Xue teased, "Qi Siyan, how come I didn't know you were so good at sweet talk while you were abroad? You're so good at charming girls!"
Qi Siyan's smile widened: "I'm not just saying sweet nothings, every word is the truth, okay? Sister Wen Xue, what brings you all here?"
"Let's see when you can be discharged. This was really scary. I saw that you were bleeding so much from your head, but you only have a mild concussion. You're really tough."
"Yes, luckily it's nothing serious, and I should be able to be discharged in a few days. I'm so glad you're okay too, otherwise I would have felt so guilty."
"Isn't it all thanks to Lu Ming? Otherwise, it would be you and me lying here. You turned around and went to protect Xiao Chu without hesitation!" Wen Xue glanced at Lu Ming gently, then glared at Qi Siyan angrily, but there was no blame in her tone.
Qi Siyan smiled sheepishly: "Sorry, sister, I can't control people's subconscious reactions either."
The two of them chatted back and forth, while the other two remained silent. Wen Chu thought to herself, "Are these two conjoined twins? They even need to notify each other to go to the doctor. Do they think they can't live without each other?"
She chose to ignore it, minimizing her presence, and then shook the soup in her hand, reminding her, "Drink it quickly, it's getting cold."
Qi Siyan said "oh" and then lowered her head to continue drinking her soup.
His obedient attitude added another layer of ambiguity to his relationship with Wen Chu, making them seem like a couple who were already together.
"Looks like we came at the wrong time and disturbed you. Are you so delicate that you need to be fed?" Wen Xue continued to tease, "Would you like me to peel an apple for you?"
Lu Ming suddenly stepped forward, pulled out a wheeled dining table from the storage space under the bed, placed it on the railings on both sides of the hospital bed, locked it in place, and then pushed it in front of Qi Siyan, saying indifferently, "It seems that President Qi has always been very healthy. He doesn't even know how to use the basic facilities in the hospital ward. I just don't know why the nurses didn't remind you, making it so inconvenient for you to eat."
Wen Chu was momentarily stunned. She had never been hospitalized before and hadn't remembered this; even the nurse hadn't reminded her. Seeing this, she placed the soup and other dishes on the dining table so that Qi Siyan could eat more easily.
Qi Siyan narrowed his eyes at Lu Ming with an unfriendly look. It was clear that the other party had disrupted the balance between him and Wen Chu as soon as he arrived. He said sarcastically, "Thank you, Mr. Lu. If it weren't for you, I really wouldn't have known that I have never had any serious illnesses since I was a child."
Wen Xue gave Lu Ming the look one would give a straight man, then shook her head helplessly.
"Do you want an apple? I can peel one for you," Wen Chu asked again after a while.
Qi Siyan didn't refuse, and her eyes crinkled into a smile: "If you peeled it, of course I want to eat it."
Just as Wen Chu was about to grab the fruit knife, she heard Lu Ming say, "Apple peels are rich in dietary fiber, which promotes digestion and can also supplement various vitamins and antioxidants, protecting both the brain and lungs. I think Mr. Qi should eat more. After all, didn't you just have a brain injury?"
“Lu Ming…” Wen Xue tugged at his sleeve, signaling him to say less.
Lu Ming continued, "I see you're alright, so my dad should be relieved. I'll be going now. If you like peeled apples, I can buy you an automatic peeler; it'll be faster and cleaner."
Wen Chu was furious. What did that mean? Was it implying that she hadn't peeled it cleanly enough and that it contained bacteria?
After Lu Ming left, Wen Xue could only say a few words to Qi Siyan before chasing after him.
"Ignore him," Wen Chu said.
The ward door closed, and the coldness at the corner of Qi Siyan's mouth faded. She shook her head with a smile and said, "I'm not angry. He's always like this."
"Want some more? I'll peel some for you."
Qi Siyan held her down and put the fruit knife in her hand aside: "Never mind, I'm afraid you might accidentally cut your hand."
Wen Chu returned to the office a little late. As soon as she entered, she saw the other person sitting on the sofa. Upon seeing her, the other person said sternly, "Twenty minutes late, deduct fifty."
Wen Chu resisted the urge to roll her eyes and said in a fairly normal tone, "Is this job that urgent? Do you have to wait for me here?"
"Yes, we need to finalize it tonight."
Wen Chu walked over and sat down with a stern face. "What else do you think has a problem? Tell me all at once."
Without any preamble or pleasantries, Lu Ming went straight to the point: "Here, the precision is insufficient; I need more detailed values. Here, the wording is vague; I don't know what it refers to. Here, regarding the parameters..."
The man raised a series of questions, but Wen Chu thought they were nitpicking and deliberately making things difficult; whether he changed them or not was perfectly acceptable.
She listened in a muffled voice, annoyed, but managed to suppress her anger. Holding the document that the other person had marked up, she said, "I understand. I'll give it to you when I'm done."
"The latest requirements just came over." Lu Ming picked up his phone and tapped a few times. "Sent it to you."
Wen Chu's phone, which she had casually placed on the table, lit up. The notification bar showed a text message from her 'boyfriend'. Lu Ming glanced slightly to the side, clearly having seen it as well.
The air seemed to thicken, instantly pulling them from a businesslike atmosphere into a strange one.
The embarrassment of having her privacy invaded immediately welled up in her heart. Wen Chu quickly picked up her phone and took the initiative to explain, "I forgot to change the previous nickname."
The truth is, no matter how she tried to change it, it would only end up being a cheesy nickname, so she simply stopped caring about it. But now, being watched by someone, a sudden surge of resentment welled up inside her; after all, living is about fighting for one's pride.
Afraid that the person she disliked would think she still harbored some hope, she impulsively changed the man's contact name to Lu Ming in front of him. After changing it, she felt uneasy, worried that the system would change it back. If that happened, she would have to hide it better next time and never let anyone see it again.
She gritted her teeth, pressed the finish button, and found that she had succeeded with ease.
Wen Chu was stunned for a moment, and for a split second, she found it hard to describe how she felt.
It turns out that even the system tacitly approved of the breakdown of their relationship.
It's like... initially forcing you to act out a romantic scene with another person, demanding that you act so intimately, so realistically, so immersively. Later, you take it seriously, you get into character, but the scene unknowingly comes to an end. With a snap, everyone quickly comes out of character, packs up, leaves, turns the page, and prepares for the next scene.
In the end, only you, who initially struggled to get into character, remain in the play, having to work hard to extricate yourself.
Wen Chu steadied her trembling mind and placed her phone back on the table without any change in expression, making it clear to everyone that she had changed, that she had no lingering feelings, and that she was not deceiving herself.
Lu Ming glanced at it briefly, seemingly unconcerned about his role in her phone, and continued talking about work without any emotion. Finally, he said, "These are all minor issues. Besides this, there are a few new bugs that were discovered, and I need you to provide me with a solution within two days."
Being bombarded with so many questions and pressured to submit the work, Wen Chu finally lost her temper and said, "Are you really treating me like an employee and exploiting me? I have my own schedule. Are you trying to kill me by the day after tomorrow?"
Lu Ming remained calm in the face of her vicious remarks: "The sooner you finish this project, the sooner you can leave me and go find your new boyfriend?"
"This thing could take at least a year and a half to finish, I don't need that much time!"
"Really? I've seen you looking so bitter and resentful these past few days, so I assumed you were a hundred times unwilling. Baiyue is a mature company, and it does have humanistic care for its employees."
"I don't have any deep-seated grievances. Haven't I been busy with various things? But speaking of reluctance, I really don't want to see you. If there's anything, you can have Luo Wen come to me. There's no need for you to come to my office in person."
Lu Ming's eyes flickered for a moment, then he smirked and said coldly, "I need to remind you that I only came to see you because I wanted to move the work forward quickly. It was you who brought your personal emotions into your work."
"Yes, so what if I'm upset? As the main person in charge of this project, and the one I'm liaising with on Director Qiu's side, I think I should be entitled to these privileges, right? If President Lu has any objections, please bear with it." She pointed to the door. "If there's nothing else, I have to get back to work. Goodbye!"
Lu Ming, however, did not rush to leave, completely ignoring her extreme behavior, and looked down at the documents in his hand, completely unaffected by her emotions.
The other party's complete indifference only made her, who had tried so hard to appear calm and composed, look like a volatile loser.
As if he knew exactly why she was throwing a tantrum, he acted like a victor, leisurely and confidently, enjoying her anger at her defeat.
Wen Chu felt that if she stayed under the same roof with him for even a second longer, an uncontrollable surge of hurt and resentment would well up in her eyes. She crossed her arms, turned her head away, and feigned utter disgust. In truth, she was indeed disgusted with him; it was just that her eyes betrayed her.
A minute later, Lu Ming seemed to have confirmed that there were no problems before standing up, walking around the table, and suddenly asking her out of the blue, "Qi Siyan confessed to you that night?"
"What's it to you? What, are you starting to worry again that my relationship with him will leak company information?"
The man ignored her questioning and kept asking his own: "Did you agree to be with him?"
Wen Chu was even more annoyed by his questioning, which showed no regard for what she said and was extremely purposeful: "Why should I tell you? This is my private matter."
“He’s no good, I told you long ago.”
Wen Chu found it amusing: "May I ask what kind of good thing you are?"
"Neither do I."
He paused, then looked at her with an almost urgent gaze and asked, "But if you've already chosen him, then you wouldn't mind if I were with Wen Xue, would you?"
Beneath those unfathomable eyes, there seemed to be suppressed excitement at the prospect of getting rid of her, an eagerness to gain her approval, yet a desire to maintain a calm demeanor to protect her pride.
Wen Chu's heart sank again, feeling as if her heart and the blood vessels in her limbs were throbbing with pain. Her throat was dry and sore from holding it in, and she was so angry that she wanted to rush up and bite off a piece of flesh from the other person's arm.
Why does this person keep provoking her?
She took another deep breath, adjusting her breathing rhythm to keep her voice from trembling. At this point, letting her emotions show would be a real loss: "I don't understand the purpose of your question. I never knew Mr. Lu was such a kind person. Does he need the consent of his former suitors to be with someone? Do you have to hear me say I don't care before you can be happy together without any burden? Is this some kind of fetish?"
Lu Ming said expressionlessly, "I didn't mean that much. It's just that Xiaoxue cared a lot about your feelings before, so we never got together. Now that you've really let go, that's for the best, and we won't have to worry about you anymore."
"Mmm-hmm." Wen Chu nodded perfunctorily. "Of course I've let it go. I have absolutely no interest in what you and she are doing anymore. Whether you're together or not, whether you've had sex or what happens next, it has nothing to do with me. You don't need to come and tell me. I won't interfere in your affairs anymore. I did like you, but I wasn't shameless enough to do that. You've seen it yourself, I have Siyan. I wish you happiness, just don't appear in front of me again."
I have something to say.
Such intimate words.
Lu Ming gazed at her in silence for a long time. His deep, unfathomable eyes concealed his emotions, revealing not a trace of them. Only his jaw clenched imperceptibly.
Wen Chu felt that the other person was probably examining whether she was putting on a brave face or pretending, so she looked back at him firmly, wanting to tell him that what she said was not an angry remark, but the truth.
She really wouldn't bother them anymore, if the system stopped interfering.
"That's good." After a long pause, Lu Ming uttered two words, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down. He added, "I wish you happiness too, but you still need to keep your eyes open."
"There's no need for Mr. Lu to worry about that. I'm very happy now, and I have plenty of people who love me. Losing one wouldn't be a big deal."
Wen Chu's chest heaved slightly. She no longer wanted to face someone, smell their scent, or be stared at like that. "Is my office too comfortable for President Lu to be so reluctant to leave? Then I'll leave. I'll go find Jiang Xing to talk to."
She turned to leave, but in her haste, her bandaged leg accidentally hit the table leg. She bent over in pain and touched the wound, and the bandage started to bleed slightly.
Upon seeing this, Lu Ming instinctively reached out, but reason made him pull his hand back. Then, as if he hadn't seen anything, he turned around, opened the door, and left.
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