CH 10.1

Chapter 10 Part 1

Shen Zhiqian was taken aback by this question, he almost instinctively thought of his family’s situation, and a burst of irritability surged in his heart.

But the girl on his shoulder was still looking at him and because of the fever her cheeks were flushed, and her glistening eyes were so beautiful that he couldn’t look away.

He remembered that when he was in his sophomore year of high school nine years ago, the new girl who transferred to their school during her freshman year immediately caught his eye.

The girl was from the south, and although her Mandarin pronunciation wasn’t bad, she still couldn’t distinguish between the N and L sounds. She would pronounce the sounds wrong when her tongue was too flat and would get her H and F sounds wrong sometimes too.

The first time they talked was because Ning Qingqing asked him for directions. The girl had her hair tied up in a high ponytail and wore a white T-shirt and blue jeans. She couldn’t have dressed more simply, yet she still exuded a kind of beauty that couldn’t be overlooked.

She was clearly still very young, but he could sense the confidence hidden within her.

She stood in front of him and looked up at him, her voice had a soft tone unique to southern girls: “Excuse me, Senior, may I ask, is the music classroom on the 13th floor of Building 4?”

Her question contained several pronunciations of ‘si’ and ‘shi’1 in it. She was afraid of making a mistake, so she spoke very slowly. She looked very cute as she delivered each word carefully.

Shen Zhiqian didn’t know what was up with him at the time because without thinking he offered, “That music classroom is hard to find, I’ll take you there.”

On the way, he asked her what grade and class she was in and even asked for her name.

After that, he always ran into her intentionally or unintentionally, and after getting to know her more, he took the initiative to help her to adjust her accent.

Although these events occurred long ago, every time he recalled them, Shen Zhiqian couldn’t help but feel emotional.

He thought, perhaps this is what love at first sight is like. He has never liked a girl so much.

“Qingqing, you need to rest more since you have a fever.” Shen Zhiqian rubbed Ning Qingqing’s hair and said, “Don’t think about other things for now, we’ll talk about it when you recover.”

Ning Qingqing listened to the man, and her heart slowly sank to the bottom.

She also wanted to ask if the Shen family had chosen Luoqing and if that’s why he couldn’t promise her anything. But she felt that asking this question would make her seem jealous and pathetic.

She didn’t want to become like that.

“Then let’s wait until I’m better.” Ning Qingqing continued to look at Shen Zhiqian and said, “My birthday is still a week away. Could you give me an answer then? This is very important to me.”

Shen Zhiqian nodded and pressed her head on his shoulder again: “Okay, now sleep first.”

Ning Qingqing made a sound of acknowledgment and closed her eyes.

There was a bit of a traffic jam near the company. After some difficulties, they finally managed to drive out of the congestion. Shen Zhiqian couldn’t detect any movement from the girl on his shoulder. She seemed to have fallen asleep.

He turned his head slightly and looked down at Ning Qingqing’s side profile.

His Adam’s apple rolled, and his voice was very low: “Qingqing, actually, love is enough for two people to be together. Marriage does not in fact guarantee anything. What I can guarantee is that I will love you forever.”

On his shoulder, Ning Qingqing’s eyelashes trembled slightly, and a sigh sounded from the bottom of her heart. She kept her eyes closed and did not give any response.

They quickly arrived at the hospital, the driver stopped the car and went around to the back seat to open the door.

Shen Zhiqian carried Ning Qingqing off the car: “Qingqing, we’re at the hospital.”

“En.” Ning Qingqing pretended to have just woken up and opened her eyes: “Then I’ll, myself—”

But Shen Zhiqian didn’t give her a chance to walk on her own and carried her straight to the hospital.

Ning Qingqing was a little helpless, but she really had no strength to break free, so she could only let Shen Zhiqian carry her to the outpatient area.

At this moment, out of the corner of her eyes, she saw a fairly familiar figure which seemed to belong to Gu Youchen.

And just when she was about to take a closer look, the man turned around. Ning Qingqing’s heart suddenly jumped, and she quickly buried her face in Shen Zhiqian’s arms.

She didn’t know why she was trying to hide, maybe because she was embarrassed by what she did in front of Gu Youchen the other day, and she didn’t want herself any further.

At the same time, Zhou Linghang bumped Gu Youchen’s arm: “That person looks like Ning Qingqing, right?”

Since that day, they knew that Shen Zhiqian’s girlfriend was Ning Qingqing and that their Brother Chen, who had never been affected by female charms, happened to fall in love with the other’s girlfriend.

Coupled with the complicated relationship between Shen Zhiqian and Gu Youchen, the two often competed for business deals, so this love triangle “melon” seemed to be particularly fragrant.

Gu Youchen came to visit a friend who had surgery today. Just now, he noticed Shen Zhiqian right away, and then he saw the girl who was being carried by Shen Zhiqian.

Although it was only a moment, he recognized that it was Ning Qingqing.

Shen Zhiqian entered the hospital with Ning Qingqing in his arms, it was obvious which one of them was sick!

Gu Youchen was originally about to leave after seeing his friend, but he turned around and walked back into the hospital.

Behind him, Zhou Linghang quickly tried to catch up: “Brother Chen, even if we want to steal the girl, we can’t do that right in front of her boyfriend! They call it “digging the base of the wall”2, so we have to start digging from the corner3 and not the front door!”

Gu Youchen ignored Zhou Linghang’s heartfelt advice4 and went straight back to the outpatient lobby.

This was a high-end private hospital, so there was no need to line up after entering, and there were not many people in the outpatient clinic. Gu Youchen could quickly find Ning Qingqing who was sitting in the resting area.