"Oh! It's , a coworker of mine from the construction site lives near Tangshan Village. His rented house collapsed a few days ago during a heavy rainstorm, and both he and his daughter were injured while inside. I just found out today, so I thought I'd come to the hospital to visit," Wei Jiaqiang said without any concealment, even seriously adding after finishing, "Right, my coworker's name is Yuan Kai, he is thirty-two years old, and his daughter, Yuan Fang, is eight years old, staying in room 303." Wei Jiaqiang honestly revealed his coworker's basic information.
Xu Jingjing stood looking at Wei Jiaqiang for a while, suddenly recalling the way he was when she first met him on the train, simple and astonishing, immediately sharing his household registration book to gain her trust, foolishly, yet inexplicably not revolting to her.
"Wei Jiaqiang, you shouldn't spill everything as soon as someone asks, as if pouring out beans—what if the other person has ulterior motives?" Xu Jingjing cautioned him with a frown.
The man had indeed left a good impression on her; she had always remembered him, he was the first man who caught her eye not for his looks but for his simplicity, which cured her of being superficial. It was a pity she was now a faded flower, otherwise, she might have tried to develop something with him. Marrying such a man could have been nice, but even without anything between them, seeing him so unguarded made her feel the need to warn him.
The world isn't full of good people, and one must be cautious even with close relatives.
"You asked, so I told! I generally don't tell others," Wei Jiaqiang earnestly replied, not feeling anything wrong with his unguarded demeanor towards Xu Jingjing; he actually liked this girl from the Xu family, but she was the sister of a female boss, came from a good family, and was good-looking. Reportedly, she even worked efficiently for her sister on usual days! Although he liked her, he knew his place and where he stood.
"..." Alright! People aren't stupid; it's just that he made an exception for her.
Listening, Xu Jingjing felt a small thrill inside, but quickly composed herself: "Then you better go visit your coworker now! I have to deliver soup to my brother-in-law!" Xu Jingjing said, making her presence felt with the large bone soup in hand.
"Your brother-in-law is injured too, how is he? Is it serious?" Wei Jiaqiang asked somewhat nervously.
"It's nothing serious now, he's recovering quite well. I'm leaving; you should hurry up and visit your coworker!" Xu Jingjing didn't elaborate much about Song Yuanhuan's injury and waved to Wei Jiaqiang as she continued towards Song Yuanhuan's hospital room.
Wei Jiaqiang stood there with his belongings, watching Xu Jingjing walk away before hurriedly moving towards his coworker's hospital room.
In Song Yuanhuan's hospital room, seeing her brother-in-law's face turning particularly grim and twisted at the sight of the large bone soup container in her hands, Xu Jingjing was overwhelmed with compassion.
"Brother-in-law, you better drink it quickly! My sister instructed me, and I must watch you finish it before I can leave." A task assigned by her elder sister wasn't something to neglect due to compassion; besides, the large bone soup was indeed good for her brother-in-law's leg, so her compassion was just that—compassion.
"Hand it over," Song Yuanhuan resignedly took the large bone soup and managed to drink it all, enduring the greasiness.
"Done, task completed, I need to go to work now," Xu Jingjing happily collected the large bone soup container.
"Si Ya, brother-in-law is begging you for a favor!" Song Yuanhuan hesitated for a while before speaking.
"What is it?" Xu Jingjing raised an eyebrow and asked in return. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹·𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗲·𝗻𝗲𝘁
"Can you talk to your sister about changing the soup? I mean, drinking the same soup every day, I'm about to puke. Can you please pity your brother-in-law?" Song Yuanhuan usually had some authority in front of Xu Jingjing, but if it wasn't for his true dread of this bone soup, he wouldn't have thought to implement this roundabout strategy through her.
Xu Jingjing silently thought for a moment, "Brother-in-law, I can't help you." Shaking her head, Xu Jingjing refused, joking that her third eldest sister could be insanely stubborn when it came to her husband's leg injury, and she didn't dare challenge her decision!
"..." Song Yuanhuan's face instantly turned as gloomy as day-old veggies.
"Get out!" Song Yuanhuan began to sulkily rush people away, normally he had always thought of Si Ya, his little sister-in-law, as pretty decent, but today he suddenly felt she was just so-so!
"..." This kind of brother-in-law who ejects people when they're not needed is really asking for a beating!
But since Song Yuanhuan was sulking and driving people away, Xu Jingjing didn't stay in the ward to upset him. Carrying the empty bone soup container, she leisurely swayed out of the ward. What she didn't expect, however, was that as she was about to leave the hospital payment area, she was suddenly drawn to the commotion in the hall.
"Ouch! Young man, are you blind? You, with your big body, bumped into me, an old lady, ouch, you've practically broken my back." The already bustling payment area was suddenly disrupted by a sharp and harsh voice that was somewhat piercing.
"I'm so sorry, ma'am, I honestly didn't see you right behind me. Where are you hurt? Let me help you to see a doctor for a check!" A simple and apologetic male voice could be heard.
That voice was incredibly familiar, making Xu Jingjing's footsteps halt just as she was about to leave. Wasn't that Wei Jiaqiang's voice? How come he was at the payment area, and even getting into an argument with an old lady? From the conversation just now, it seemed like there had been a clash.
"What check? My waist is sprained, you better compensate me quickly." The old lady's sharp voice rang out, domineering and shameless.
"But..." Wei Jiaqiang tried to speak in panicked confusion.
"But what? Let me tell you, if you don't compensate me today, I'll drag you to the Police Station. My son works there, you better compensate me quickly to avoid the hassle. Ouch, it's killing me, my old bones are almost shattered by you, I'm telling you! If you don't compensate me today, I won't let this go." The sharp old woman was somewhat unreasonable, cutting off any attempt Wei Jiaqiang tried to make to speak.
"So, how much do you want for compensation, ma'am?" Wei Jiaqiang naively asked, despite being bewildered at the moment, he couldn't bear the sharp and harsh attitude of the other party and thus asked naively about the amount for compensation.
"You bumped into me and twisted my waist. At my old age, soft tissue damage doesn't heal easily, you should at least compensate a few hundred dollars. I won't ask too much, just five hundred yuan!" The old lady, clutching Wei Jiaqiang with one hand and covering her lower back with the other, asked unabashedly for a large sum, starting the negotiation at five hundred yuan.