Squeak—
The door opened the moment the words were spoken.
A handsome and gentle face appeared before Song Nuan, and she was stunned. "You live here?"
"Well, it's too late, there's no time to go back, so I'll just stay here for the night."
Ouyang Zhoujing's voice was deep and hoarse, unlike usual. Song Nuan thought he had just woken up and reminded him apologetically, "Did you forget to turn off the water in the bathroom?"
A strange light flashed in his eyes.
Did I disturb you?
"Yes, the room isn't very soundproof."
He nodded, turned and walked towards the bathroom. The door wasn't closed, and Song Nuan could see that his walking posture was somewhat unnatural.
"Are there any other sounds?" He turned the tap off.
"No," Song Nuan replied, staring at his calf. "Have you seen a doctor about your leg?"
Ouyang Zhoujing glanced down, gave a slight smirk, and said casually, "It's just a minor scratch, nothing serious. I treated the wound myself."
Minor scratches?
The way he walked suggested that his injury was quite serious.
Her face was also a little red. Could it be that the wound got infected from being in the rain, or that she had a fever?
Song Nuan didn't say anything. Since he didn't say anything, she wisely swallowed her guesses, told him to "take care of yourself," and then closed the door for him before going back to sleep.
The wound kept Song Nuan awake all night.
She woke up early the next day, just as Qiu Rong brought her breakfast.
Song Nuan thanked him, and seeing that it was still early, Qiu Rong couldn't help but chat with her for a few minutes: "President Song, if I may be so bold, what is your relationship with President Ouyang?"
He went back last night to sort out his thoughts and then remembered who 'A Jing' Ouyang Zhoujing was.
It's Li Jingchen from the Li family!
Qiu Rong was headhunted by a headhunter in another province. She is not a local of Liangcheng and rarely reads gossip news. She only found out last night from her employees that Song Nuan's ex-husband was Qin Yuchuan of the Qin family.
The relationship was so complicated that he couldn't sleep well all night.
After much deliberation, he decided that he had to open up and have a heart-to-heart talk with Song Nuan.
Song Nuan was puzzled, but still answered, "It's just a cooperative relationship."
These six simple words prevented Qiu Rong from uttering the question she was about to ask.
Song Nuan found his expression amusing. "Otherwise, what does President Qiu think our relationship is?"
"I was overthinking it."
Qiu Rong smiled knowingly and changed the subject, "There are some paperwork and negotiations with the villagers that need to be handled. If you're not in a hurry to go back, Mr. Song, why don't you stay and take charge of these tasks?"
Last night, after being reminded by Ouyang Zhoujing, he went back and racked his brains before finally coming up with this solution for Song Nuan.
“I can take responsibility before we go back.”
"Then I'll trouble you, Mr. Song. I'll have someone hand over the work to you later."
For Song Nuan, paperwork was very simple.
The problem lies in negotiating with the villagers, because of what happened last night, the villagers already have a lot of prejudice against her and refuse to communicate with her, some even refusing to see her at all.
After being turned away at several shops, Song Nuan's legs gave way, and she had to return home on a cane.
I met Ouyang Zhoujing on the way.
He was chatting with an elderly woman, and the two of them were sitting on a rock; the scene was surprisingly harmonious.
Song Nuan couldn't resist taking out her phone and snapping a picture.
The moment the camera was pressed, the man seemed to sense something, and suddenly turned his head to look. The corners of his lips, which had been turned up while he was chatting with the woman, were still up, but his eyes had already turned cold.
Song Nuan awkwardly put away her phone.
He explained, in a way that seemed like he was trying to cover something up, "The scenery is quite nice, and I wanted to take a picture."
Upon seeing her, the coldness in Ouyang Zhoujing's eyes quickly dissipated, and he smiled warmly at her, "It's quite nice. The sun is out today. Come and sit for a while."
Song Nuan refused without even thinking.
Ouyang Zhoujing didn't press the woman to stay and continued to ask, "Do you know where Du Kangtao is now?"
Du Kangtao?
Surname Du...
Song Nuan stopped in her tracks, feeling that the name sounded somewhat familiar.
"He's disappeared somewhere. He's been acting crazy. Years ago, he would hit people with a stick. He would hit anyone he saw. Everyone was afraid of him. We went to the village chief and made a scene for a long time before the matter was resolved."
"solve?"
The old woman kept working, muttering to herself, "Someone above is protecting him and won't let him move, but what can we do? If he doesn't leave, what are we supposed to do? We live in constant fear every day."
"Doctors have been coming to see him, including foreign experts, but they just can't cure him."
Ouyang Zhoujing seemed to be deep in thought, "Has the condition not improved at all?"
Among the heirs of the An family is a medical doctor. He is not entirely ignorant about medicine. Mental illness can be controlled, and even if it cannot be cured, it can still be managed.
Moreover, top experts have come to examine him, so how could there be no improvement at all?
The old woman said, "No, but one day he suddenly came to his senses, donated all his money to the village, said nothing, and went into the mountains."
"Since then, no one has seen him. No one knows whether he is dead or alive."
"Is no one going to look for them?" Ouyang Zhoujing frowned.
"Why would we look for him? He knew to leave on his own, we should be overjoyed! We can't get rid of him normally, we can only hide from him. Now that he's had a change of heart and run away, do we want to bring him back and continue living in fear?"
As she said this, the old woman's eyes were a little red.
Ouyang Zhoujing pursed his lips and remained silent.
Song Nuan, who hadn't left, finally remembered something.
Du Kangtao.
She had seen it once in Du Fanyu's diary when she was a child; Du Fanyu had written this name.
As if she had suddenly grasped some clue related to her mother, she almost forgot that her foot was still swollen. She threw down her crutch, limped over to the old woman, grabbed her hand, and asked with red eyes, "Do you know how old Du Kangtao is?"
The old woman was startled by her.
She was like a withered tree branch, her skin and flesh separated, with little flesh left. Her skin was loose and wrinkled, and her skin was tanned dark, while the wrinkled areas were white because they hadn't been exposed to the sun for many years.
In short, they all looked like malnourished rural elderly people suffering from the hardships of life.
The fear in her eyes made her look even smaller.
"Who are you? Why are you asking me that? I don't know anything, don't ask me!"
"Don't you know Du Kangtao? How come you don't know how old he is?" Song Nuan became more and more agitated as she spoke, grabbing the old woman's shoulders and shaking her violently.
She herself didn't realize how excited she was.
"Nuan Nuan." Ouyang Zhoujing blurted out, and was stunned for a moment after saying it, but seeing that Song Nuan did not realize that the way he addressed her was inappropriate, he pretended that nothing had happened.
He pushed her hand away from the old woman's and pulled her to his side, whispering, "If you want to know anything, you can ask me when we get back. It's not appropriate to ask these questions now."
"But she..."
Song Nuan pointed at the old woman.
She was already clutching her basket and fleeing in panic, as if she had seen something terrifying.
Song Nuan was very puzzled.
“This isn’t the place to talk.” Ouyang Zhoujing picked up her cane and helped her. “Let’s go back first, we’ll talk when we get back.”
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