Chapter Fifteen: Compensation

  After making arrangements for the consolation gifts to be brought to those families, Su Tong was ready to set out with Zhang Min for their visits that day. The original plan was to try to visit all seven families in one day, but just as they were about to leave, Old Dong changed his mind and notified Su Tong and Zhang Min that there was no need to rush, they could spend the morning visiting three or four families and return to the newspaper office in the afternoon to write up the news reports from their visits. They would then visit the remaining families the next day and return to the office in the afternoon to write more articles, thus balancing work and rest and avoiding too much hardship from running around outside.

  Su Tong and Zhang Min had no choice but to accept Old Dong's arrangement, of course. However, Su Tong couldn't help but shake his head in dismay at this sudden change in work assignment. Visiting the homes of seven students who had gotten into trouble within a day wasn't particularly strenuous work, after all. In the past, Su Tong had rushed around to different locations non-stop to chase down hot news leads, so this task was relatively easy by comparison. All he had to do was bring some gifts and ask about their situation, showing concern and care - it didn't even qualify as a difficult task. On the other hand, after Old Dong changed his plans, Su Tong and Zhang Min would have to rush out for interviews in the morning, and then Su Tong would have to hurry back to finish writing up the previous day's article by afternoon. This new arrangement was actually more tiring than just visiting the seven families, with a much heavier workload. But when Old Dong said it, it sounded like they were being given some kind of special treatment - truly a testament to his skill with words. To say nothing of the fact that everyone who worked at the newspaper had exceptional writing skills, but he was able to stand out from the crowd and become the editor-in-chief through other talents beyond just writing.

  Lao Dong arranged everything and finally confirmed the work order. Su Tong then set off with Zhang Min, the two of them loaded the comfort goods into the car. Zhang Min drove, while Su Tong sat in the passenger seat. Neither of them spoke a word along the way, and the atmosphere inside the car was slightly awkward. Zhang Min probably realized this himself, trying to find a topic to chat about, but after several attempts failed, he could only turn on the radio to ease the awkwardness.

  It's not that Su Tong is inhumane or difficult to get along with, if it were someone else, it would be easy to say, but for Zhang Min, she has learned her lesson and made up her mind, no matter whether the other person is happy or unhappy, she will absolutely not repeat the same mistake, and inexplicably get entangled in a relationship with this man.

  Looking back, when they first arrived at the newspaper office, Su Tong and Zhang Min's relationship was still quite harmonious. After all, it was a new workplace for everyone, and people would often ask each other questions about things they didn't understand. When work ended, there wasn't much to do, so several of them would often go out together to eat and drink. Everything seemed fine at first, but later on, things gradually took a turn for the worse. Zhang Min became increasingly awkward in front of Su Tong, although he never directly expressed his feelings to him. It was clear to everyone in the office, even the cleaning lady who worked on their floor, what kind of thoughts Zhang Min had about Su Tong. But he kept everything bottled up, not saying a word. Su Tong didn't have any special feelings towards Zhang Min either, and was happy for him to keep quiet so as not to make things awkward. However, Zhang Min's attitude became increasingly ambiguous, often pulling Su Tong aside to whisper a few words in his ear. These whispers were just for show, though - the content was always trivial or something that could be openly discussed.

  But he was so mysterious and unpredictable that the people around him didn't think much of it, and gradually, everyone's gaze towards them took on a slightly different meaning. By the time Su Tong felt uneasy and started to avoid him, many people had already misunderstood, and some even came to ask her privately. Su Tong thought this wasn't right and also made her feel very awkward. She was very particular about her feelings; if fate brought them together and it felt right, then going with the flow wasn't a bad thing. Compared to this unclear and ambiguous attitude, Su Tong preferred being straightforward and not beating around the bush. Whether accepted or rejected, the person confessing should be sincere and open, while the other party should also be true to their feelings, agreeing to be together happily if they felt the same way, and politely declining if they didn't. Once this page was turned, everyone would still interact with each other as usual.

  Like Zhang Min, he is overly close to you, often making jokes that make people feel like there's a deeper meaning, but never directly admitting whether or not he has romantic feelings for Su Tong. Instead, he keeps creating an ambiguous atmosphere in front of everyone, making everyone wonder if the two have something beyond friendship going on behind closed doors. As a result, no matter how hard Su Tong tries to avoid it or explain herself, others will just assume she's being coy like a young girl in love, which makes her extremely annoyed.

  Just for this, Wang Li was very dissatisfied with Zhang Min. Wang Li's personality is more outgoing and straightforward than Su Tong's, but they have many commonalities deep down. She had asked Su Tong privately, and Su Tong told her directly that she didn't have any feelings for Zhang Min. So when Zhang Min was joking around with Su Tong again, Wang Li half-jokingly asked: "Zhang Min, are you always like this? Are you interested in our Su Tong? If so, just admit it openly!"

  Zhang Min was taken aback for a moment, then quickly put on a playful smile and said: "Look at what you're saying, I'm the kind of man who is loved by everyone, wherever I go, flowers bloom. Usually, I'm the one being chased by women, do I look like someone who would take the initiative to chase others?"

  Wang Li rolled her eyes and turned to leave, privately telling Su Tong: "What a joke! A grown man who likes someone but doesn't dare say it, can't bear to hold back, and has to resort to those petty moves to play the 'warm water boiled loach' game. It's really shameless! Compared to our family's old donkey, he's far inferior. As a man, for the sake of pursuing love, having a thicker skin wouldn't hurt, but instead, he's so concerned about his own face and self-respect in such trivial matters. If anyone becomes his woman in the future, who knows, she might be pushed to the forefront to take the bullet for him!"

  So that's a bit of an exaggeration, but Su Tong was indeed getting annoyed with Zhang Min's little actions. As the misunderstanding about their relationship deepened among colleagues, Su Tong had to abandon his original respectful attitude and take a stand in front of everyone. Every time Zhang Min made some ambiguous remarks, Su Tong would pull a long face and show him a cold expression, becoming increasingly indifferent towards him. Others weren't stupid either, and over time, they gradually realized that this wasn't just about being thin-skinned between lovers. So later on, no one dared to make jokes about it again. But Zhang Min himself couldn't see that Su Tong had reached his limit of patience and continued to pester him with some off-color jokes until one day, Su Tong finally lost his temper, interrupted him, and told him sternly that he not only disliked those kinds of jokes but also found them disgusting. He said their relationship wasn't close enough to make such jokes, so he hoped Zhang Min would respect others and himself in the future.

  After the matter was made clear, even if someone had a thick skin, they couldn't pretend to be ignorant anymore. So after that, Zhang Min's words and actions were indeed more restrained, and both of them consciously avoided things that needed to be dealt with. It has been almost a year now.

  It's actually no secret that the two of them can't get along, basically everyone in the office knows about it, even if not everyone is clear about the reasons behind it, at least they can see that their relationship is quite awkward, including Old Dong himself. Yet this time he somehow managed to hit the wrong note and ended up pairing them together.

  When they arrived at the first child's home, Su Tong began to carry out his plan as previously arranged. Representing the newspaper, he offered condolences to the child's family and inquired about their situation at home. At the same time, he also listened to what the parents had to say about this matter, whether they could provide some information that the hospital had not provided. Zhang Min held a camera on the side, looking for angles to take photos. The two people worked together clearly, even without much language exchange, and it was quite a pleasant cooperation.

  Because one of the families lived far away, and they encountered a traffic jam on the way, after visiting three families, it was already past noon. This was much later than Su Tong's initial estimate. Thinking about the many drafts she had to write in the afternoon made her feel even more urgent. After leaving the third child's home, she hurriedly wanted to return to the newspaper office.

  "Sutong, at this time, why don't we two eat outside and then go back? The lunch break is already over. Once we return to the newspaper office, it's not very appropriate to come out again to eat. We can only eat some biscuits or bread, so let's eat first and then go back." Zhang Min called out from behind Sutong, who was in a hurry to rush back to the newspaper office.

  Su Tong refused without hesitation: "Oh, no need, anyway I'm not very hungry, if you want to eat go ahead and eat, I'll just take a taxi back myself."

  Zhang Min stopped and looked at Su Tong, who had already walked to the side of the car and was staring back at him with a mixture of fear and disgust. Zhang Min's expression was extremely awkward as he forced out a bitter smile and said: "Su Tong, I know that in the past, my behavior wasn't very good, and I did some things that weren't quite right, which caused you a lot of trouble. So it's understandable that you have a bad impression of me, and that you're annoyed with me, even hate me. But what I didn't expect was that after all this time has passed, you still fear me so much - have I become some kind of ferocious beast? For the things I did wrong in the past, I can apologize to you again, and in the future, I won't do those things anymore. I don't want to scare you away either. Today, I didn't have any other intentions, I just think that no matter how hungry or full we are, we should still eat on time. If our eating habits aren't regular, then after a long time, our bodies will deteriorate. When we get older, these debts will eventually need to be repaid."

  When he said that, Su Tong suddenly felt a bit embarrassed. She didn't know if her reaction just now seemed a bit too petty, so she hurriedly waved her hand and explained: "I didn't mean it like that, let's not mention past things, anyway, they're not a big deal."

  As soon as Zhang Min heard this, he immediately seized the opportunity and asked: "If you really think so, and not just talking nonsense to fool me, then listen to my advice, let's have dinner before going back!"

  Su Tong didn't expect that he would be so embarrassed here, and even if he wanted to take it back, he didn't know how. Thinking again, after all, it was just lunch, and not eating now would mean going back to gnaw on dry bread, which was tasteless and unappetizing. So he might as well eat out and then go back. If Zhang Hua continued to be overbearing and presumptuous, Su Tong could simply put down his chopsticks and leave on the spot. After all, his legs were his own, and Zhang couldn't stop him, so there was nothing to worry about.

  After some thought, she agreed. Zhang Min enthusiastically drove with Su Tong to a nearby restaurant, where they ordered some food and sat down to solve the problem of lunch.

  This meal was quite awkward, although Zhang Min indeed behaved more restrained and didn't say anything shallow or meaningless like before. He didn't even dare to make a joke with her. During the meal, he would repeatedly ask Su Tong for her opinion when ordering dishes, adjust the position of the dishes brought by the waiter, and move the dish that Su Tong picked up more often to in front of her. He kept putting food into Su Tong's bowl, his eagerness making Su Tong feel even more awkward.

  However, Zhang Min has always said that he is making amends for his past mistakes. Now that Su Tong has agreed to give him a chance to make up for it, he must apologize sincerely and try to get Su Tong to forgive his previous wrongdoing.

  This reason is found too well, Su Tong if refused, will be immediately capped with a "not letting go of past mistakes" big hat, so she can only harden her scalp to accept, and in her heart secretly remind herself, towards Zhang Min still cannot drop the guard, this person although treating emotions without courage and responsibility, but actually has many tricks up his sleeve.

  Su Tong was as anxious as a cat on hot bricks during the meal, and after finishing with great difficulty, another round of politeness ensued when it came to paying the bill. Zhang Min insisted on footing the bill, while Su Tong advocated for each paying their own share. The two men went back and forth for a while before Zhang Min finally compromised, and they each paid half of the meal cost. They drove back to the newspaper office.

  It's been over three years since Su Tong started working, and this is the first time she's felt so eager to fly back to the newspaper office with wings on her feet. For her, work feels much more comfortable than being alone with Zhang Min, at least work won't say some inexplicable sweet nothings to her.