Chapter 14 Lin Jing was somewhat surprised, but did not deny it. He said, "You guessed correctly. Actually, I didn't have any other intention. Xiao Pang... no, Mouse Treasure was indeed a stray cat when it was young. At that time, I had just returned to the country and it would often wander around my living area. I saw how pitifully thin it was, so I picked it up and brought it back home. Later on, as I got busier with work, I had less and less time to take care of it, so I asked Dr. Wu's wife to send it to you, hoping it could be your companion since you've always liked cats since childhood. The reason I didn't tell you that I was its original owner was because I was afraid you'd worry too much."

  Zheng Wei wrapped herself in a blanket and turned around to look at him, "Am I being overly cautious?"

  "I thought..." He wanted to say something else, but the pillow that flew over from the bed interrupted his words. He was caught off guard and almost got hit in the face by the pillow. He barely managed to catch it with his hands in front of him, looking rather flustered.

  "You think you think, but everything is just what you think!"

  He didn't say anything else, fluffed up the pillow and put it back on the bed, closed the door for her, walked to the living room, picked up Mouse who had fallen asleep again on top of the refrigerator, and before leaving, he lingered at the doorway for a moment. Since there was still no sound coming from her room, he let out a sigh, stroked Mouse's head, then opened the door and left.

  Zheng Wei lay on the bed, listening to him slam the door shut, walk downstairs, open the car door, start the engine, and the tires screech against the ground... Finally, she couldn't hear any sounds anymore. She wanted quiet, and now it was finally quiet. However, in this process, she seemed to have heard Mouse calling out from afar, almost having the urge to rush to the window to take a look.

  It wasn't until much later that she gradually became aware of the discomfort in her body, and drowsily went to take a bath. When she returned to bed, the alarm clock showed it was already early morning the next day. Her 26th birthday had passed in great revelry, like a wonderful play, with each person taking turns on stage, until now when the curtain finally fell. Before falling asleep, she refused to think about it anymore, even hiding the alarm clock. It was just one day, but to her, it felt like a lifetime.

  The next morning, the biological clock made Zheng Wei get up on time. After getting up, she found that even her bones were sore and swollen. She remembered that there was a meeting in the afternoon, so she had to give up the idea of asking for leave. Before going out, she habitually poured cat food into the mouse bowl, but didn't see it running over as usual, only then remembering that it had returned to its original owner.

  The morning office meeting lasted for two hours, Chen Xiao Zheng did not attend the meeting. When Zheng Wei arrived at work, he was already two minutes late. As he passed by his office, he found that the door was closed.

  After the meeting, she was used to being the last one to leave, tidying up her things and preparing to turn off the lights and close the door when Zhou Qu walked in. He picked up his notebook that he had left on the seat and said, "Oh, by the way, Assistant Chen is going to attend a young reserve cadre training class organized by the higher-ups in two days, and will be away for over 40 days. He wants to spend these two days at home packing things up and organizing some necessary materials, I've approved his leave."

  Zheng Wei was in charge of attendance for all personnel in the manager's office, so she nodded, "Okay, I know."

  Zhou Yu walked to the conference room door and turned back to look at Zheng Wei, "Nothing wrong?"

  "Ah?" Zheng Wei's expression was slightly surprised, then smiled, "What could it be, leader."

  Zhou Qu waved his hand and said, "Get the meeting minutes ready as soon as possible."

  Zheng Wei returned to her office, took out the mobile phone that she hadn't checked since last night, and saw 7 missed calls from the same person. She scrolled through the call log one by one: 11:34, 11:37, 11:42... 12:11. She could sense the caller's anxiety and despair during this period, but what was the point? She deleted all the records with a wave of her hand.

  When organizing the meeting minutes, Zheng Wei suddenly remembered that Ruan Ruan didn't answer her phone call last night and didn't return it later. She felt something was wrong, as this wasn't Ruan Ruan's style. Feeling worried, she quickly dialed Ruan Ruan's number again, but no one answered. The more Zheng Wei thought about it, the more uneasy she became. Since Wu Jiang's phone number wasn't in her contacts, and not knowing what had happened to Ruan Ruan, she kept calling nonstop. She decided that if no one answered before the end of work, she would personally go to Ruan Ruan's house to see what was going on.

  On the fourth call, Ruan's voice finally came from the other end of the phone. Zheng Wei didn't say much before hastily hanging up and asking Zhou Qu for leave to rush to the hospital.

  Ruan Ruan was hospitalized in the orthopedic department. When Zheng Wei rushed over, she saw that Ruan Ruan's leg was wrapped in a plaster cast and her elbow joint was bandaged with gauze while receiving an IV drip. Fortunately, although her complexion wasn't great, at least when she saw Zheng Wei's shocked expression, there was still a smile on her face.

  "I've already said that nothing serious is wrong with me now, why are you still coming over while you're on duty?" Ruan Ruan slightly lifted her injured hand and pointed to the bedside.

  Zheng Wei sat down, "I told you, why was it so late yesterday that no one answered your cell phone and home phone, and finally got through the call, only to say that someone was in the hospital, almost scared me to death."

  Ruan Ruan said apologetically, "Yesterday was your birthday, I originally wanted to call you, but who knew it would be so useless. At home taking a bath and ended up injuring myself like this. It hurt so much at the time, didn't expect it was a fracture of the fibula, just fell in the bathroom, couldn't move at all. No one was at home, neighbors were far away, even the phone wasn't within reach, could clearly hear the ringing of the fixed phone in the living room, but could only anxiously wait."

  "What about your husband? What time did he come back and take you to the hospital at night?"

  "He was in the hospital all night, and only found me when he went home to change clothes this morning, so he rushed to send me over. Fortunately, I didn't get a concussion or anything."

  Ruan Ruan always spoke lightly, but Zheng Wei couldn't react for a long time. She imagined Ruan Ruan lying alone in the damp and cold bathroom, her injuries piercing her heart, yet she was still conscious, with no one by her side, calling out to heaven and earth without response, waiting minute by minute for dawn to break, until the next morning when that busy man finally returned home. She had been in the bathroom for nearly ten hours.

  Zheng Wei thought of that taste and shivered. If Wu Jiang hadn't gone home to change clothes in the morning, if Ruan Ruan's injury wasn't just her leg... she didn't dare think about it anymore.

  "I didn't get through to you on the phone last night, I should have thought something might be wrong and gone to your place to check." Zheng said in a low voice with reddened eyes.

  Ruan Ruan laughed, "Don't be silly, who knows what will happen. By the way, when you called me last night, was there something going on?"

  Zheng Wei shook her head vaguely, "Don't mention me, where's your husband? Isn't he working in this hospital? I want to ask him face-to-face, can't even take care of his own wife, what kind of great doctor is he, what kind of man?"

  "He has been with me since this morning and is probably in the operating room now. I heard there's an important surgery this afternoon."

  "Is it more important than you are?" Zheng Wei became excited.

  Ruan Ruan smiled and explained to Wu Jiang, "This isn't his fault, it's my own carelessness. He didn't know I'd fall at home either. In fact, we should thank him for sending me over this morning."