Chapter 29 Excuse

  Tang Ao drove the car with Su Tong to the newspaper office. Su Tong still had some things to deal with, so Tang Ao waited in the car. Su Tong rushed in, wanting to get things done quickly and not waste too much time. After entering the office, she went straight to her desk, planning to print out the manuscript from the day before and hand it over to Old Dong, then hurry to the hospital. She was still thinking about how to solve the big problem at home with Tang Ao during the peak sun hours at noon. If they missed this opportunity again, it wouldn't be good to stay overnight at someone else's house, would it? If it were in the past, it would be fine, but after what happened the night before, no matter how Tang Ao explained it as "being possessed by a ghost", the one who did those embarrassing things was still herself.

  Su Tong suddenly thought of this matter, and immediately felt that his entire face, along with his neck, was burning up. He hastily shook his head, trying to shake off the vague yet extremely embarrassing memory.

  "My goodness! How did you end up here?!"

  Su Tong, who was engrossed in the final check of his manuscript, was suddenly startled by a cry and his heart almost jumped out of his throat. He hastily lifted his head to see Wang Li standing opposite him, her bag already on the seat, apparently having arrived earlier but left again due to some other matter. Now she stood there, her eyes wide with surprise, her mouth agape as if she had forgotten to close it, looking as though the person sitting in front of her was not Su Tong, but an alien.

  "What's wrong with you, jumping around like that? You scared me half to death." Su Tong rubbed her chest, giving Wang Li a somewhat reproachful glare. The number of times she had been startled in the past few days was more than the total number of times she had been startled in the previous twenty or so years. If this kept up, she didn't know if her heart could take it.

  "It's not that I'm surprised, but what's wrong with you? How did you encounter such a thing and still come to work today?" Wang Li glared back at him, saying angrily and worriedly, "You must have been scared out of your wits yesterday! Suddenly encountering such a thing, did you come back last night or this morning? Why didn't you even tell me?! If Zhang Min hadn't called Old Dong and told him the whole story, and I just happened to be at Old Dong's place letting him review the draft, I still wouldn't have known about it!"

  Su Tong was startled, and her expression became a bit awkward. Although she played the role of "victim" in this matter, after all, they were colleagues, and if others knew about it, she would feel embarrassed too. Now that Wang Li was asking her questions, Su Tong didn't know how to respond properly, and couldn't help but blame Zhang Min in her heart. This person was really unbearable! Normally, he didn't even dare to express his feelings openly or pursue a girl straightforwardly, yet he had the audacity to take responsibility for this matter before thinking it through! Now that things had come to this point, even if he didn't care about losing face, she still did.

  "This thing makes me speechless... I feel so embarrassed." Su Tong hesitated for a while, couldn't think of any other more suitable response, and could only awkwardly squeeze out this sentence.

  Wang Li glared at her: "What's embarrassing about this?! You're not the one who's embarrassing, it's that robber who robbed you who's embarrassing! He has hands and feet but doesn't want to do anything honest, instead he goes around committing crimes like a thief! Oh, and Zhang Min is also super embarrassing! Such a big grown man, when someone tries to rob him on the street, not only does he not fight back, but he even gets beaten up and lets the guy get away, what an 'achievement'!"

  "Robbery? Is that what Zhang Min told Lao Dong?" Su Tong was taken aback, finding that what Wang Li said was far from what he had thought.

  "Yes, that's what he said. Isn't that the case? Is he telling lies again?" Wang Li had always been distrustful of Zhang Min, and seeing Su Tong's reaction, she was slightly stunned, and immediately assumed that Zhang Min was lying, "He's beautifying himself, isn't he? Didn't he dare to chase after her from the very beginning?"

  "Oh, no," Su Tong hastily denied, since that's the case, then the best way is for her to follow Zhang Min's lie as well. As for the account between her and Zhang Min, it can be settled privately later. "What I mean is, I didn't expect such a shameful thing, he actually had the nerve to say it out loud and let Old Dong know."

  "He's taking a leave of absence! He said he was injured and needs to rest at home for two days. Old Dong has already approved his leave, and even told him to call you to take a break too. I thought you guys might be together, but it turns out you're here instead. If you ask me, who knows if he's really injured or just scared stiff and making an excuse not to come to work? Wang Li rolled her eyes, then walked around the table and carefully examined Su Tong, "How are you? Are you hurt anywhere? Put down your work and hurry home to rest! You must be traumatized!"

  "Uh, I'll deal with this manuscript later and say hello to Old Dong before heading back." Su Tong secretly let out a sigh of relief. She had indeed been attacked the night before, but it wasn't by robbers, rather it was Zhang Min. Of course, not exposing him now would be better for her. Tang Ao said that Zhang Min's mind was muddled, and it would be better to deal with this later. So she didn't plan on spreading it around. Now it seemed okay, she had a legitimate reason to take some time off and could go with Tang Ao to handle the troublesome matter at home that couldn't be shared with outsiders.

  But even if she did tell others, how many people would believe her? Su Tong thought to herself that if it hadn't happened to her personally, and someone else had told her a few days ago what was going to happen next, she probably wouldn't have believed them either, and would have just laughed it off as a joke.

  "Ah!" Su Tong's divine kung fu, Wang Li discovered a new continent again, "What's going on with your neck here?"

  Su Tong was taken aback, reaching up to touch her neck. The night before, after returning to Tang Ao's home, he had given her some tea to help with the swelling in her throat, and today it didn't seem swollen anymore. She had also forgotten about the bruise on her neck that Zhang Min had left when he choked her, which was probably half-hidden by her collar. In her rush to leave the house that morning, she hadn't even had time to look in the mirror. Now, judging from Wang Li's terrified expression, it seemed pretty obvious.

  "Yeah, it was when I got robbed yesterday." Su Tong didn't want to say more and used the excuse of "being robbed" that Zhang Min had fabricated to gloss over the situation. She didn't want Wang Li to discover any clues, or else with Wang Li's spirit of getting to the bottom of things, she might not be able to keep it under wraps.

  "It's so scary, it looks like someone has been strangled! Wang Li wanted to reach out and touch Su Tong's neck, but was afraid of hurting her. "The security in that county is actually so bad! It's unimaginable! So where did you spend the night last night? What time did you head back today? How did you get here so early? You're really something, I don't know what to say about you! Why didn't you call us last night, my husband and I could have gone to pick you up and bring you back. After being frightened, it's hard to be in an unfamiliar place. Oh right, did you report the incident to the police?"

  Su Tong was afraid she would not let go of the matter of calling the police, so he hurriedly said: "It's nothing, you two have been working all day, and I don't want to bother you either. You know that the road to the county is not easy to walk, and I didn't stay overnight there yesterday. It was Tang Ao who picked me up."

  Can't help but admit, the power of gossip is really great. As soon as she heard Tang Ao's name, Wang Li's eyes changed immediately. Just now it was still worry and tension, now only the meaning of loving every day remained.

  "What's going on with you two, anyway? You weren't pretending to be strangers in front of me back then, were you? Tell me the truth, was it all a ruse from the very beginning?" Wang Li asked, pulling Su Tong along.

  Su Tong looked at her with a mixture of laughter and tears: "My dear sister, spare me, can't this wait till later? Look at my current state, do I look like I'm in any condition to explain now?"

  "Oh dear, look at me, I got excited and forgot about your current situation!" Wang Li patted her forehead, "Alright alright, I won't ask anymore. After you've recovered, you can tell me everything honestly!"

  Su Tong nodded and thought to himself, "Wait till I've finished writing the script, then I'll tell you all about it."

  Actually, when Wang Li asked her, she also had some doubts in her heart. She and Tang Ao knew each other for a very short time, just a few days, but her trust in him was rapid progress. She didn't know if this had anything to do with the recent bizarre experience. Was it that after experiencing some unbelievable and dangerous events, one would develop a special trust and dependence on the person who accompanied them and lent a helping hand?

  It wasn't easy to get rid of Wang Li's questioning, but Su Tong finally managed to print out the manuscript from the day before and took it to Old Dong's office to hand it over. As soon as Old Dong saw Su Tong arrive, he was startled too, and then bombarded her with concern and questions. Su Tong tried her best to avoid revealing too much information, in case she inadvertently revealed something that would arouse suspicion without knowing how Zhang Min had spoken about the situation. Fortunately, Old Dong didn't have any suspicions, especially after seeing the bruise on Su Tong's neck, which also surprised him a bit, just like Wang Li. He hurriedly reminded her not to worry about work and told her to take a good rest at home, as this time she had encountered robbery in the county due to work reasons, so both she and Zhang Min could go home and rest for three days, plus the weekend in between, which meant they could recuperate at home for five days.

  Although Lao Dong also sympathized with Su Tong's fright and injury, once he started revising the manuscript, his workaholic tendencies relapsed. He made revisions here and there, added a few comments, and offered some praise, so that by the time Su Tong left his office, more than half an hour had passed.

  As soon as he walked out of the office, Su Tong saw Wang Li staring at him with a smile, and Tang Ao was standing beside her, also smiling at Su Tong, but his smile was a bit helpless and relieved, as if he had finally waited for her to come out. He must have been held by Wang Li before Su Tong came out, asking questions for a long time.

  "Are you too dedicated or has Old Dong forgotten the time again?" Wang Li arrived at the newspaper office a little earlier than Su Tong, so she should be familiar with Editor-in-Chief Dong's personality. She winked at Su Tong and whispered, "He's been waiting for you anxiously and came to pick you up."

  "Oh..." Su Tong hastily packed up his things, "Then let's go."

  "Let Xiaotang take you to the hospital for a good check-up, and after that, you can rest assured. Go home and get some good rest, and when I come back with Lao Lv, we'll go visit you." Wang Li's worried reminder, after reminding him, still couldn't help but tease him, "Don't worry, before I go, I will definitely contact you first, leave enough time for both of you to express your care and receive care. We are all experienced people, we know the measure!"

  Su Tong's face turned bright red with embarrassment, and she hastily stretched out her hand to pretend to hit Wang Li, then went downstairs with Tang Ao, afraid that if they walked slowly, Wang Li would come up with another teasing remark.

  After the two left the newspaper office, they drove directly to the hospital. On the way, Su Tong asked Tang Hao if he had been interrogated by Wang Li. Tang Hao nodded helplessly, but also said that Wang Li hadn't gotten anything out of him, and was frustrated that Tang Hao's mouth was too tight.

  On the way to the hospital, Su Tong asked Tang Ao to stop the car and ran into a small accessory store by the road to buy a scarf to tie around her neck, so as not to be seen with the bruise on her neck, before rushing to the hospital.

  Arriving at the hospital, Su Tong was familiar with the place this time and had Tang Ao by her side. Her heart felt more at ease and she wouldn't worry about running into that annoying ghost of a woman again.

  Found the department head, and the department head did not expect Su Tong to come over again. She heard that she wanted to see how those children were doing recently. At first, he didn't want to agree, just saying there was no change, and they had to wait for the experts from the superior hospital to come and diagnose them. Su Tong pleaded a few times, introducing Tang Ao as a reporter from another larger newspaper, planning to follow up on this matter, and definitely not causing trouble for the hospital. The department head reluctantly agreed, taking them to the ward.

  Of course, first of all, there is still a step, just like last time, to check in all camera equipment, including mobile phones.

  These Tang Ao didn't mind, he just hoped to see the situation of those few children with his own eyes, and had no intention of taking pictures. Moreover, if the situation of these seven children was really beyond the ordinary range, it would be difficult to discern anything from the photos, which would be completely meaningless.