CH 37.2

Very dissatisfied, Fu Zheng demanded, "Aren't we around the same age? Do I look old to you? Why does this kid have such terrible eyesight at such a young age? When we find his father, I'll have to suggest he take him to an optometrist..."

This is what you care about...?! Ning Wan didn't know whether she ought to laugh or cry. It's amazing how competitive men were, even such small details could not be overlooked...

"There, there, children just don't understand," she consoled. "You might be thirty, but being thirty has it's own charm. Look, isn't Gao Yuan infatuated with you, and Auntie Xiao still carrying a torch for you? As soon as your photo went out, didn't every old auntie in the community go crazy? Everyone wanted a piece of you..."

Instead of being comforted by her consoling words, Fu Zheng's face got worse. "Forget it. Don't say anymore, leave me be."

"There you go!" she patted him on the shoulder. "If you really can't take it, talk to Chen Shuo and see if he has a new health care product to recommend. After thirty, men need to start taking care of themselves..."

“……”

Although he had said that he was going to leave that night and let the policeman stay in the house with the child, Fu Zheng ended up staying the night after all. He claimed to be too lazy to go out and find a hotel, but Ning Wan could see that it was really because he had changed his mind after hearing the boy's story, and that he was staying because he was worried. The man really was a master of "saying one thing but doing another"1...

He didn't end up sleeping on the floor either, but on the sofa. Because she was worried that Yao Fei would wake up in the middle of the night in an upset, after careful consideration Ning Wan decided to stay as well. In the end, like a dove occupying the magpie's nest, the child slept in the bed, the policeman accompanied him in the room, Ning Wan slept on the living room floor, and Fu Zheng was reduced to sleeping on the sofa...

That night alone, Fu Zheng rolled off the sofa seven or eight times. The next day he had dark circles under his eyes, and his face was even worse than it had been the night before...

Since he hadn't been able to sleep, he simply got up early and bought breakfast for Ning Wan, the policeman and the child. When Ning Wan rose and washed up to see breakfast on the table, a grateful smile bloomed across her face. "Fu Zheng, how virtuous you are!"

Being grateful, fine, but was it really necessary to boast about his virtue...? Did there exist a law firm partner out there who wanted to be judged as virtuous...?

But it was still a compliment, so Fu Zheng had to reluctantly accept it. Besides, Ning Wan was looking quite concerned about him, and almost immediately asked about the dark circles under his eyes--

"Did you sleep well last night?"

Fu Zheng bit his lip, reserved, and just as he was about to answer, he heard her say--

"You already heard Fei Fei call you 'uncle', you had better pay more attention to your sleep in the future. Sleeping too little makes you age faster! You should be careful and pay a little more attention to yourself. If you have insomnia, you could try melatonin..."

“……”

He snatched away the steamed bun that Ning Wan had been about to eat. "You should eat less, too. The older you are, the easier it is to get fat. You're not thirty yet, but you're getting there; thirty isn't far off if you round up your age a bit, so you should also pay more attention to taking care of yourself."

? ? ?

As Ning Wan watched with stupefied eyes, Fu Zheng indifferently ate her bun. "Anyway, I'm thirty and an uncle already, so it's fine if I look old and fat."

This man! If you want a steamed bun, just eat a steamed bun. Why be so full of complaints even when eating?

Anyhow, Ning Wan finished breakfast and just as she was thinking about how to deal with Yao Kang, the policeman received a phone call from his station. He was a responsible young officer, and had asked his colleagues to follow up with the case before coming over to watch over the kid yesterday. This was his colleague now reaching out in the morning with a follow up--

"We've found out some details on Yao Kang's affairs. Will you come along to the police station?"

Ning Wan and Fu Zheng didn't delay. They followed the policeman to the station, taking Yao Fei along with them. If there was news of Yao Kang, the child should hear it first-hand.

But unexpectedly, upon reaching the police station the other policeman spotted Yao Fei and began winking and hinting toward them. Ning Wan got it.

"Fei Fei, do you want to continue watching those cartoons you were looking at yesterday?"

Completely trusting and without doubt, Fei Fei nodded. Ning Wan pulled up the cartoon on her phone, gave it to him, and led the boy into another room. "You watch TV here for a little while, while older sister talks to Mr. Policeman."

Having taken care of Fei Fei, Ning Wan gently left the room, closed the door, and returned to the policeman's office. "So what's the situation with Yao Kang?"

Since the policeman had just hinted that Fei Fei should not hear it, it was definitely not good news about Yao Kang's disappearance. Ning Wan and Fu Zheng exchanged glances. They figured that their guess had been correct. This Yao Kang had probably gotten back into gambling, found himself back in debt and run away, leaving his son behind!

"I contacted Yao Kang's company early this morning. The HR manager tried to prevaricate for a while, but I finally got the truth out of them. Yao Kang had gone on a business trip."

It really was a business trip? But before Ning Wan could be surprised, the policeman broke an even more shocking piece of news--

"He rode in the company car during the business trip. Unfortunately, the driver of the car was greatly fatigued during the drive, and they got into a car accident. Neither he nor the driver were rescued. They both died on the spot."

Even Fu Zheng froze, let alone Ning Wan. The two of them had come up with a thousand speculations and conjectures, but they had never dreamed that Yao Kang would turn out to have gone missing because - he was dead.