My fingers twisted behind my back, afraid that if I wasn’t resolute, I would impulsively embrace him and tell him how much I missed him.
“What can I do for you?” his slightly worried voice pierced through my heart’s defenses.
“Zhong Tian might be sentenced to six or seven years,” I said, lowering my head, unable to look at his face.
I still saw his chest rise and fall, heard his breath grow heavy.
“You sat here all night for him!”
“Mm.” I had sat here all night for Zhong Tian, but for Ye Zhengchen, I’ve spent countless nights. I didn’t want to reveal that.
He looked at me with a mocking smile. “Didn’t you say you could wait for years?”
I felt powerless, slowly sitting back in the chair.
I can wait as long as necessary, but I fear my father can’t. I pressed my hand against my forehead. “My father is sick with lymphoma and has been holding on with regular targeted chemotherapy. The cancer hasn’t metastasized yet. When he heard Zhong Tian was going to jail, his spirit collapsed… I’m afraid…”
Ye Zhengchen’s smile faded. As a doctor, he understood the importance of a patient’s mental state.
“I’m sorry!” He hugged my shoulders, trying to comfort me.
“My father said if he could see me in a wedding dress and hold his grandchild before he dies, he would be content… I don’t know how many more years he can hold on. I can’t make him wait anymore.” The bitterness inside me spilled out. “Ye Zhengchen, help me one more time; help me think of a way to prevent Zhong Tian from going to jail.”
“Okay!” A single word, firm and powerful.
He took out his phone, selected a name from his dialed contacts, and called. The phone was answered after a long wait, accompanied by a sleepy curse. “Damn, can’t you check the time before calling?!”
Ye Zhengchen glanced at me, coughed awkwardly, covered the phone’s microphone, stood up, and walked away. After a brief conversation, he hung up. I eagerly approached him. “What happened? Is it very difficult?”
“Not difficult. He needs to understand the situation and will get back to me later.”
“Can he handle this?”
“Of course. I guarantee it with my reputation.” He ruffled my hair. “If I can’t save your fiancé… I’ll make it up to you.”
Familiar warmth and teasing made me feel like I was back in that small apartment with the mischievous Ye Zhengchen. For a moment, my heart raced, and an impulsive comment slipped out. “Make up for it? A thousand of you couldn’t make up for him!”
His hand on my head stiffened. His mouth twitched. I laughed, genuinely amused.
Then, he laughed too, bright morning light shining on his face. “You still love saying the opposite!”
“Where does your blind confidence come from?”
“Just because I understand you.”
I sighed internally: Yes! He understands me. No one in this world understands me better than him.
I walk closer and hear him say, “Okay, I’ll have someone fetch it soon. Thank you!”
After hanging up, he makes another call, instructing someone to go to Fuwai Hospital in the afternoon to get a box of medicine from Director Li in the internal medicine department and send it to Nanzhou People’s Hospital. The medicine had a foreign name I didn’t understand, but I knew Fuwai Hospital in Beijing specializes in cardiovascular diseases.
I feel overwhelmed by his kindness and my inability to repay it.
“Don’t trouble yourself. Our hospital’s medical conditions are quite good,” I say to Ye Zhengchen. “The medicine my father uses is also imported.”
“Cardiac patients shouldn’t receive large amounts of intravenous fluids. Given my uncle’s condition, oral medication would be better,” he replies.
“But Dr. Chen said…”
He interrupts me. “Is Dr. Chen more skilled than Director Li from Fuwai Hospital?”
I swallow my remaining words. Considering the medical level of our hospital, I decide not to refuse his kindness. After all, my father’s health is the priority.
After breakfast, I get into Ye Zhengchen’s car. He asks if I want to return to the hospital, but considering my mother’s instructions, I shake my head.
He starts the car without saying where we’re going.
We sit side by side, and this moment together is more important than going anywhere.
The white SUV moves smoothly down the street, passing familiar areas. I say nothing, and neither does he.
Soon, the car leaves the city, entering a deserted suburban area and driving into a grove of trees. He stops the car when there’s no road ahead.
The autumn wind blows, branches are bare, and fallen leaves evoke a sense of desolation.
He gets out of the car silently, looking up at the clear sky, with dappled tree shadows on his melancholic face. I walk forward, stepping on the leaves he has crushed.
It feels like the world contains only us and a ground of dry, yellowing leaves glistening with dew.
If only I could embrace him from behind. But I can’t.
Wanting to break the suffocating silence, I blurt out, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked for your help.”
He hesitates, turns back, and laughs while ruffling my hair. “I’m happy to help.”
If not for this gesture, I might have forgotten: I’ve always paid for his help. I know exactly what Ye Zhengchen wants. Paid help is paid help; these days, there’s no such thing as unpaid labor.
I console myself: This affair is probably similar to being a mistress – the first time is unbearable, the second time you get used to it. Maybe you’ll even get addicted.
“What are you thinking?” His face is inches away, his breath hot on my lips.
I turn away, watching autumn leaves blown by the wind. “How I should repay you.”
Ye Zhengchen’s breath catches, and he moves closer with a mischievous smile. “I love your attitude of repaying kindness.”
The cool breeze rustles through the deserted forest.
He inches closer, and I step back until my back meets the tree trunk, its cracked bark catching my soft clothing. He places his hands on either side of me, imprisoning me.
“You?”
He whispers in my ear: “I remember you said… one day when I wear my military uniform, you’d unbutton me, button by button, stripping away its sacred solemnity…”
My breathing becomes chaotic, my chest heaving. His sudden gentleness makes me feel uncomfortable. I twist my body, unsure whether to push him away or get closer.
He kissed me deeply, releasing one of my wrists, brushing my forehead hair with his fingertips, slowly tracing down my cheek, unhurriedly testing my limits.
I closed my eyes, feeling his fingers move over every sensitive nerve of my body, until that soft area only he had touched.
I didn’t say “Don’t!” or “No!”, nor did I struggle. Past experience had proven that refusal was futile.
To make him let me go, he would have to be done playing.
I thought my passive acceptance would make him lose interest, but his enthusiasm only grew, his nimble fingers playing on my chest.
Breath sprayed behind my ear, rolling like flames, seeping into my bones.
Extras: Whose Calamity Is It
Falling in love is like experiencing a calamity.
Yu Yin knew Ye Zhengchen would not let her escape, but she was not his calamity; another woman was his destined disaster.
The three syllables “Ye Zhengchen” seemed ordinary, but when they reached Yu Yin, they stirred intense emotional waves.
During her college years, these syllables frequently appeared in her dormitory.
“I heard Ye Zhengchen has a new girlfriend again, Chen Xi from pathology…”
The wind rustled the leaves, alternating between light and heavy.
“Is it that pretty girl who loves to act coquettish?”
“Exactly her.”
Yu Yin quietly closed her book, opened her computer, and browsed webpages without commenting.
“So envious of Chen Xi…” spoke a girl infatuated with Ye Zhengchen for over two years.
“What’s there to envy? It’s just another of his romantic episodes.”
“Romantic episodes are fine, as long as you’ve once possessed…”
