"Mr. Shen."

"Why are you here? Sit down."

Shen Mingzhu stood up and poured a glass of water for Shen Hongmei, and also showed concern for her health.

Talking about the baby in her belly, Shen Hongmei's face revealed the happiness of a woman, and her hand subconsciously touched her lower abdomen.

"Mingzhu, thanks to you for sending me to the hospital in time. The child is fine. I fainted because of anemia. The doctor prescribed folic acid tablets and iron supplements. I will feel better after taking them for a while."

"I'm glad you're okay."

Shen Hongmei took a sip of water and said hesitantly: "I want to take a leave for a while."

"No problem, go home and have a good rest, your health is the most important thing."

Shen Mingzhu's understanding did not make Shen Hongmei feel relieved, but instead made her feel a little depressed.

"Will you look down on me and think I'm too hypocritical for asking for leave after working for less than a month?"

Shen Mingzhu looked at the other person and said, "You think too much. The temperature this year is abnormal. Even a normal person like me can't stand it, let alone a pregnant woman like you."

Seeing Shen Hongmei's tangle, she comforted her, "You will have plenty of work to do in the future. This child is a living being that is related to you by blood. As a mother, you should cherish it and nurture it."

After being comforted by her, Shen Hongmei seemed to have put down a burden and felt a lot more relaxed.

"I'll take a rest for a while and come back to work when I feel better."

"Okay, you can arrange it yourself. Go to Xiaowen to handle the specific time of leave."

After saying that, Shen Mingzhu looked at her watch and saw that there were still a few minutes before the end of get off work, so she asked Shen Hongmei if she needed a ride.

Shen Hongmei declined gratefully: "No, Brother Zhao drove me here, he is waiting for me outside."

"Okay then, go back early after you finish the formalities and have a good rest."

Shen Hongmei nodded, stood up and prepared to leave.

Shen Mingzhu thought for a moment and called out to the other party: "I've read the research report you wrote. I can see that you put a lot of thought into it. However, you still need to improve your grasp of the market and customer needs. During this vacation, you can read more books on marketing and learn more. It won't do you any harm."

Shen Hongmei quickly agreed.

After she answered, she turned back to look at Shen Mingzhu, tears welling up in her eyes.

"When I think back to myself three months ago, I want to slap myself in the face. I was so ignorant, stupid and ridiculous back then."

"Mingzhu, thank you for not holding a grudge and being willing to teach me and help me..."

She burst into tears before she finished speaking, and apologized to Shen Mingzhu while crying, "I'm sorry, how can I have the face to cry in front of you, this is all my own fault..."

As someone who has been through this, Shen Mingzhu knows that the reason Shen Hongmei is like this is because she is pregnant.

Crying easily, getting angry easily, being anxious, worried, and sentimental are all manifestations of pregnancy.

She patted the other person soothingly, "Stop crying, it's not good for the child."

Hearing her say this, Shen Hongmei hurriedly wiped away her tears.

Shen Mingzhu took the tissue and handed it over, "Do you remember what I told you before? There is no wasted journey in life, every step counts. You don't need to criticize your past self. Maybe you were also confused when you were standing in the fog."

“Life is like a game of chess. Don’t regret your moves. Instead of regretting the past that cannot be changed, it is better to live in the present and cherish the present.”

Shen Hongmei nodded heavily.

…

"Xiao Gao, I'm coming over to return the belt."

When Shen Baolan stepped into the video store, she saw a new face in the store and subconsciously took a few more glances.

"Who is this?"

"Oh, this is the guy I invited. Xiaolin, this is Sister Shen."

The guy was also a smart guy. He immediately bowed and greeted Shen Baolan.

"Sister Shen, please give me twenty yuan."

Hearing Gao Hualiang's offer, Shen Baolan was shocked. "So cheap?"

The rental price for a normal videotape is fifty cents a day, but for a new tape like this that is not available on the market, many people would rush to rent it even if the rental price was one dollar a day.

She rented sixteen tapes for five days, and even if she was charged the normal price, she would have to pay forty dollars.

"Others are naturally not so cheap, but you are different, Sister Shen."

"How am I different?"

Maybe it was because the weather was too hot, Gao Hualiang wore a silver silk shirt today with three buttons open at the collar, revealing his collarbone and faintly visible pectoral muscles. His handsomeness tinged with a hint of sexiness, which made Shen Baolan unable to help but want to say a few more words to him.

"I'm new here and this is a new store opening, I hope you'll come and support us, Sister Shen."

"Where are you from?"

This work is organized and uploaded by Liujiu Book Bar~~

With these words, Gao Hualiang spilled the beans about his background.

He is from Yucheng, 25 years old this year, unmarried, his parents died early, he has no brothers but one sister, who is married and has settled down.

The reason why he traveled thousands of miles to Yucheng was to avoid disaster.

During a dispute, Gao Hualiang beat up a local thug in Yucheng and paid him a large sum of money at the time, but the thug refused to give up and came to his house again and again to demand money. If he didn't give it, he would beat and smash things. Gao Hualiang was forced to no choice but to sell his property and leave his hometown.

"...I have a distant cousin who married here, and I came here to seek refuge with her."

After learning about Gao Hualiang's background and life experience, Shen Baolan couldn't help but feel a little sympathy for him. At the same time, she also noticed that there was a large bucket of delicate pink roses on the low table on the counter, among which was a bright red rose.

"Who sent you flowers?" Shen Baolan joked.

"I bought it myself at the flower market."

Gao Hualiang took a rose from the vase, put it into a transparent flower bag with stars printed on it, tied a beautiful bow with a red ribbon, and handed it to Shen Baolan.

"Sister Shen, here, this is a small gift I prepared. Every customer who rents a tape will get one."

Hearing him say this, Shen Baolan took the flowers with some surprise.

"Thank you."

After coming out of the video store, Shen Baolan went to the card room to play cards as usual.

As she walked, she kept looking at the red rose in her hand, and occasionally bent down to smell it. The elegant and fragrant rose scent made her very happy.

This was the first time she received a rose in her nearly thirty years of life.

Although it was a gift for renting a tape, it was enough to make her happy for a while.

…

"Hey, Xiao Shen, are you lucky in love?"

When they arrived at the card room, her familiar friends saw the red rose in Shen Baolan's hand and couldn't help but laugh and joke.

Shen Baolan did not hide it and explained that it was Gao Hualiang from the video store who gave it to her. Then she retorted to her poker friend: "If you want it, you can also rent his tapes and he will give them to you."

A poker player at another table turned around and asked, "Why is yours a red rose and mine is pink?"

Shen Baolan turned her head and saw a pink rose on the tea rack on the other person's left.

"Mine is also pink. I wanted a red one, but Xiao Gao refused to give it to me. Why did you give it to Sister Shen?"

A young woman at the next table next to her complained unhappily.

Only then did Shen Baolan notice that several people in the card room had received roses in the same package as the one she was holding.

The only difference is that everyone else's roses are pink, but hers are red. (End of this chapter)