Chapter 2
When she got to the office, Shen Huan went to the bathroom first and saw that her period had come. She had endometriosis, and her period was extremely painful, and it also affected her pregnancy.
During the most difficult times a few years ago, she even tried hormone therapy and an intrauterine device. Earlier this year, her condition improved inexplicably, and she was able to get through it on ibuprofen, so she had the IUD removed.
She still wants a child.
Sometimes she blamed herself. Why exploit an unborn child, she wondered.
But now that she was over thirty, she asked herself if she had made a mistake between the inside and the outside.
She wanted a child and to be a mother, but she was afraid to face the real life. So she used the inheritance of Li Ting's property as an excuse to cover her cowardice with a layer of profiteering.
Shen Huan returned to the office and sat down, contacting Meng Zixian's lawyer and asking him to apply to the community correction agency to allow company personnel to visit.
Meng Zixian was imprisoned three years ago for embezzling public funds and is serving his sentence at the Binnan Correctional Center. Most of the inmates there are economic criminals, and the environment is decent. He pleaded guilty, and his sentence was reduced to one year. He should have been released long ago.
But two years ago, for some unspecified offense or perhaps someone he had offended, he beat a fellow inmate, dislocating his cervical vertebrae. His previous good performance was completely wiped out, and he was transferred to the high-security Qiguanzhou Prison.
Half an hour later, the call came back, saying that Meng Zixuan refused to meet, "Don't bother the company leader."
Chen Huan knew that she couldn't report this to the PR department, so she asked Xiao Yu to go downstairs and buy a fruit basket.
The fruit basket was placed on her desk, and the round apples, kiwis and oranges looked very festive.
Chen Huan took out a piece of company letterhead from the drawer, pulled out a pen from the pocket of his tweed suit, and wrote on it carefully: "Get well soon."
When it came to signing, she didn't know what to write: her name, the company's name, or Li Ting's. The ink on the tip of her pen spread slightly, and finally she put the pen back in her pocket and inserted the paper into the bouquet.
Her handwriting is very beautiful, with even and well-spaced strokes.
When Zhao Qi came in with the unsigned blessing and the fruit basket, Meng Zixuan was leaning back in the recliner in the ward, reading a newspaper. It was four days after the operation, and he could get out of bed and move around a little.
The nurse brought him his lunch box. He folded the newspaper and placed it on the coffee table, then picked up his fork. His hands were large, with long, thin knuckles that protruded slightly. The silver fork rested between his pale fingers, reflecting the glare of the sunlight.
Zhao Qi was dazzled by the gleam of the sharp metal and stopped dead in his tracks. He and Meng Zixian had worked together for seven years and were quite familiar with each other. But these hands had nearly broken someone's neck at the Binnan Correctional Center two years ago, and Zhao Qi felt a little reserved again.
Zhao Qi stared at the fork in his hand for a moment, then came to his senses and realized that Meng Zixuan was looking up at him. He quickly put the fruit basket on the coffee table, "It's from Xuan Tao."
Meng Zixuan glanced at the fruit basket, put down his fork, took out the letter from the bouquet, and tilted his head to look at it.
Zhao Qi sat on the sofa and glanced at the newspaper on the coffee table. Even these days, Meng Zixuan actually still reads newspapers. The page he turned to was filled with information about Nuoyan Technology falsifying experimental data and the Food and Drug Administration's involvement in the investigation.
Nuoyan Technology is a medical device unicorn that Xuantao has led the investment in over the past two years. Now Xuantao’s partners will be faced with a lot of lawsuits.
Zhao Qi remembered that a few years ago, Meng Zixian had voted against this investment in the investment committee. Now it was time for him to gloat. He looked at Meng Zixian, but he was staring at the white letter in the sunlight, his face expressionless.
Dark clouds hovered back and forth in front of the sun, and the ward dimmed and brightened several times.
Meng Zixuan coughed lightly and said to let Shen Huan come.
Shen Huan arrived the next evening. Perhaps because she was in such a hurry or something, she looked a little pale, her dark hair damp. She hurried over, but before she even set foot in the ward, she fainted at the doorway with her eyes closed.
Zhao Qi uttered a "Damn!" He wondered what kind of negotiation tactic this was, if it was meant to be a big news story. He quickly turned back to look at Meng Zixuan, who had clearly not anticipated this situation. He instinctively stood up and staggered towards the door.
Before the two of them could get close, Shen Huan had already been surrounded by the medical staff at the door. They pried open her eyelids and shone the flashlight into her eyes.
Shen Huan was sent to the emergency room on the second floor. Meng Zixuan wanted to go and see him, but he was not allowed to leave the ward, so Zhao Qi went for him.
"Be careful, there's a trap." Zhao Qi stood up, picked up his phone and put it in his trouser pocket, as if to cheer himself up. "The people sent by the old fox are not that simple."
When Zhao Qi found Chen Huan on the second floor, she was receiving an iron supplement. She had iron-deficiency anemia, along with endometriosis. Zhao Qi asked what her problem was, and she replied, "Anemia." Zhao Qi asked, "You women lose weight, don't you?" Chen Huan wanted to roll her eyes, but she didn't. Instead, she politely said, "Sorry for making such a big fuss."
"That's right." Zhao Qi was about to sit down, but a pregnant woman came over and he walked away. "Meng Zixuan was scared to death by you."
Shen Huan looked up and asked him what kind of injury Meng Zixian had suffered.
"Penetrating wound. Combined lung damage. A small tear. But it's very troublesome. I did a chest drain."
Zhao Qi's voice was a bit loud, like a thud from above. Shen Huan's pupils trembled at the sound, and her pale hands gripped the edge of the chair. She asked why things were so unsettled inside, and if there was anything the company could do. The legal department cooperated with the prosecutor's office and provided materials...
Zhao Qi interrupted her and said, "You can go upstairs and talk to him later for details."
He meant that it was inconvenient to talk here. Shen Huan swallowed the rest of his words, thinking that it was inconvenient to talk, why were you shouting so loudly?
Zhao Qi returned to the ward, and Meng Zixian asked her what happened. Zhao Qi said she had lost too much weight. Meng Zixian didn't ask any more questions.
"I still think the old fox sent her." Zhao Qi, having gulped down a bellyful of water, suddenly said, "She's always so sneaky. With so many people in the company, the PR could have sent a secretary, why did it get her turn?"
"Maybe she wants to see me herself." Meng Zixuan leaned on the bed, his voice very light.
"I don't think so." Zhao Qi said, "Who sent you in? Did she see you during those three years in there?"
Meng Zixuan looked out the window and said nothing.
The more Zhao Qi spoke, the more he was convinced that it was Xuan Tao who sent Chen Huan to test Meng Zixuan's opinion. They must have believed that Meng Zixuan was the one who was obstructing the incident at Nuoyan Technology.
When Shen Huan came to knock on the door again, Zhao Qi made an excuse to answer a phone call and left the two of them alone in the ward. At the door were nurses and correctional officers.
Shen Huan sat down in the chair. The ward was filled with the pungent smell of disinfectant. The overhead light stared at her like a spotlight on an operating table, staring at her so hard that her eyes sore.
She raised her eyes to look at Meng Zixian. Before this glance, she seemed to have forgotten his appearance, only remembering that he had a pair of intimidating eyes. Just as she remembered, his pupils were light, his brow bones were high, and his eyelids cast a dark gray shadow.
Shen Huan only stared at him for a moment before looking away.
She had prepared several stories before coming, half to fulfill her PR mission and half to gauge his opinion of Nuoyan. She also wanted to ask him who he had offended this time. She had a hunch that this was related to Xuantao Capital. There were things Li Ting was hiding from her, but Meng Zixian might be willing to share them. She didn't want to be kept in the dark.
But now it seemed unnecessary to say these long and short polite words, as they would only embarrass her. His gaze was penetrating, sharp to the point of being almost rude. He knew why she came here.
She lost as usual.
So Shen Huan sat in silence for twenty minutes, then stood up, walked to his bed, and looked down at him, as if trying to regain some momentum.
Meng Zixuan looked up at her.
As she got closer, she could smell the familiar scent of aftershave around him. Many years ago, she liked the smell of him. She asked Meng Zixian what perfume he used, and Meng Zixian smiled and replied, "I don't use perfume." She said, "Meng Zixian, you are so pretentious."
Later they broke up, and she met a man who had the same smell as him at a dance that ended at dawn. She let the man take her back to his apartment, where she opened the lids of bottles one by one and sniffed them in the bathroom.
When she found the bottle, she couldn't help but feel disappointed. It wasn't some expensive men's perfume, but a common aftershave sold in supermarkets. She was completely disappointed and left with her bag.
She sat on the street in the early morning and cried. At first, she thought she was crying because she had fallen in love with such a mediocre man. Then she felt that love was so unique that it made the mediocre things in life seem unique.
Thinking of this, Shen Huan realized that it was a mistake for her to come here today. When she turned around to leave, Meng Zixuan held her wrist.
The ward fell silent again.
After I left him, he apologized to me in a hoarse voice, and what happened before was over.
The voice didn't have much ups and downs, but to Shen Huan it sounded like a very thin silk string, making her uneasy.
She struggled to get her wrist free, but couldn't. Meng Zixuan was very strong. She asked me why I should apologize, saying I had done nothing wrong.
Do you believe it yourself, Huanhuan? He looked at her and asked, "Then what are you doing here today?"
Shen Huan said let go.
He looked at her for a long time, then smiled self-deprecatingly and let go.
Shen Huan left as if escaping.
Li Ting was in the Eastern United States this week and returned to Hancheng on Friday noon. In the evening, he arranged for Lou and Tai to come to his house for dinner.
Chen Huan didn't go to the company. At noon, Li Ting opened the door and came in. She saw that his face was dusty and his hair was drooping on his forehead. He hadn't washed it for a few days.
When he was on a business trip, he would just stuff a shirt and two pairs of underwear into his briefcase. When he was away for a long time, he didn't like using the hotel's laundry service, so he would just scrub his clothes in the sink, and his shirts would often become wrinkled.
Shen Huan stood up and walked to the door, took the briefcase from his hand, and bent down to take his slippers and set them aside. She suggested, "Why don't Lou and Tai change their meeting to Saturday? I just did Pilates with his wife, and they don't have any plans this weekend."
Li Ting stepped off the heel of his leather shoes and said, "We've already agreed on this, why change the time?"
Shen Huan was worried that he was too tired, but she couldn't say this, so she made an excuse that she had menstrual cramps and didn't want to entertain anyone.
"Go upstairs and stay there," Li Ting said, walking towards the kitchen in his slippers without looking back. "We don't need you." He said, "It's not going to make sense to keep changing."
He went to the kitchen, presumably to personally instruct Jintuo to cook more dishes for the guests that evening. But he had a quick temper and would curse after saying anything.
Chen Huan followed into the kitchen, "We'll go to the supermarket to buy lobsters later. Let Teacher Li go upstairs and take a nap first."
She spoke softly, and Li Ting's stern face softened. He washed his face hastily in the kitchen, grabbed a kitchen towel, and went upstairs. His slippers tripped on the second step, and he stumbled half a step, clutching the handrail, cursing softly.
Chen Huan complained to Jin Tuo that he hadn't changed his slippers even though the glue had come off. He said, "The family was so poor that they only needed this pair of shoes." Li Ting looked at her and chuckled. "Change them immediately!" he said. Jin Tuo buried his head in wiping the table, silently swallowing the injustice. The family's slippers had been replaced since spring, and Chen Huan knew that.
Chen Huan and Jin Tuo returned around four o'clock. Li Ting was outside in the garden, under the camphor tree, talking on the phone. He paced back and forth, his face anxious. It must be about Nuoyan again. Nuoyan was invested in a closed-end fund under Xuan Tao. Redemptions were not allowed before the deadline, but the investors kept calling.
These old friends were all hard-won by Li Ting over the years. Three years ago, Li Ting and Meng Zixuan turned the tables, and the LPs, worried about the instability of the group's morale, left. A small number of them left, and the rest invested in this project.
A single project gone wrong wouldn't have made Li Ting so uneasy. Shen Huan guessed that the company had run into other troubles.
Jin Tuo went to the kitchen to prepare food, and Shen Huan planned to go upstairs to change into home clothes.
The upstairs corridor lights were off, and the master bedroom door was ajar. Shen Huan, not wearing slippers, stepped barefoot onto the soft carpet and walked up the stairs slowly. He walked through the corridor, opened the door, and suddenly bumped into Yao Li coming out of the bedroom.
Shen Huan was forced to step back half a step, then stood firm, watching intently. Yao Li was wearing a nurse's bag, the blood pressure monitor tube sticking out. Her hair was untied, scattered around her shoulders. She avoided Shen Huan's gaze, took quick, small steps, and passed her toward the stairs.
"Yao Li." Chen Huan turned on the corridor light, pressed the switch with his hand, and narrowed his eyes slightly.
Yao Li stopped with her back to her. After two seconds, she turned around and smiled politely at Shen Huan.
The warm light illuminated the petite woman's flushed face. Yao Li's bra sat loosely inside her white nurse uniform, the buttons barely snapping shut.
Shen Huan stood in the corridor like a piece of wood, and after a long time he came to his senses and opened his mouth.
Yao Li was the first to speak. She had just finished examining Li Ting, and while he was downstairs for a meeting, she borrowed the master bedroom's bathroom to wash her hands.
Chen Huan didn't know what to do now. She should be angry, pointing at the young nurse's face and scolding her, dragging her arm to confront her husband. At worst, she would tell Yao Li coldly that she didn't need to come anymore and that her salary would be paid at the end of the month.
Shen Huan tried to respond respectfully, but her mind was filled with the image of the naked woman before her. Yao Li usually wore a nurse's uniform, occasionally a mask, and it seemed like she was seeing her face carefully for the first time.
Yao Li's cheeks had the baby fat only found in young girls. The light from above shone through the frosted lampshade, casting a golden glow on her face.
The doorbell downstairs rang "Ding Dong". It must be Lou Hetai and his lover Lu Xiaofan.
Shen Huan said to Yao Li, thank you for your help.
After Yao Li finished speaking, she lowered her head and stared at her feet. When she heard Chen Huan's words, she raised her head and glanced at her again, breathed a sigh of relief, turned around and ran downstairs.
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