Chapter 11

Afterwards, no matter how Chen Man asked, Doctor Liu would only emphasise a single phrase: “Accompany her as much as possible.” Chen Man’s heart muttered, ah, how could she possibly accompany her more? She and Jiang Xichu went to work together, and left work together, and on returning home, they were still face to face; since this was the case, how could she accompany her further?

Manager Chen thought a long while, and then finally understood.

In the evening, Jiang Xichu watched, dumbstruck, as Chen Man moved for her, putting all of her own things in her own bedroom; seeing Jiang Xichu looking, Chen Man argued, “Doctor Liu said, I’m to accompany you; since that’s the case, before you get better, just live together with me. Let’s eat together, sleep together, and work together, and create a wonderful tomorrow together.”

…Are you treating this as a demotion to the ground floor?

Jiang Xichu watched her mirthfully; not only did Chen Man completely lack awareness, she was even arranging her clothes; Jiang Xichu walked over, helping her pick up the clothes, which had almost been completed; Jiang Xichu slowly came over to Chen Man’s side, watching her arrange her clothes into categories like a wife, and crouched at her side, saying a single sentence in a quiet voice. “I’m sorry.”

Chen Man’s motions halted, and she looked over at her strangely; Jiang Xichu met her gaze, her expressions seeming to have some innocence. “Why are you apologising to me?”

Jiang Xichu blinked, and said, “Ah, because I made you worried.”

Chen Man thought a bit, then turned her head back, and said, “En, then you did slight me.”

Jiang Xichu was silent: “...” 

It was as if she was calling her out.

Chen Man unhurriedly folded a pair of pants, and said, “Since you feel guilty, then get better rapidly; once you’re well, you won’t slight me any more.”

Jiang Xichu smiled, saying, “En, I’ll definitely get better.” After all, she still wanted to pass her days well with Chen Man.

Chen Man seemed to sense something; she gazed at Jiang Xichu, the latter at the moment looking at her with glistening eyes; Chen Man’s cheeks flushed, and she fell silent, dropping her head as if burying her head in the ground, pretending she hadn’t noticed anything at all. At the same time, she also felt it was a bit strange; Jiang Xichu seemingly hadn’t looked at her like this before.

…

Jiang Xichu hadn’t slept the entire night the day before; although Chen Man had slept a bit, adding it together, it didn’t exceed four hours, so this night, the two didn’t even speak, simply laying down and going to sleep. In the middle of the night, Jiang Xichu was awoken by nightmares again, and almost in the instant that she woke up, Chen Man woke up along with her as well; the two locked eyes, the worry on Chen Man’s face clearly obvious; Jiang Xichu couldn’t help but draw closer to her side, and Chen Man immediately reached out a hand, drawing her into her own embrace. Not long after, Jiang Xichu fell asleep once more, and Chen Man let out a soundless sigh, and after only a short while, fell heavily asleep.

Only living together with Jiang Xichu did Chen Man realise why Doctor Liu had wanted her to pay careful attention, or the situation would become more severe—because she had nightmares every night, and there were practically no nights she didn’t have them. The one thing that made her feel relatively gratified was that, after being woken, Jiang Xichu hadn’t become as emotional as that day again; she always blinked, dazed for a moment, and then would be able to once more fall asleep, able to sleep fairly soundly.

Chen Man didn’t know that this was because she saw her; she even searched online for various treatment methods for nightmares. She had seen many, and felt that none of them were reasonable; Chen Man twisted her neck—she’d spent too long sitting in the office, and she was nearly about to be attacked by spondylosis. Right now was lunch break; Jiang Xichu was just outside, chatting with the other secretaries; Chen Man came out of her own office, slowly entering the secretaries’ office, which was filled to the brim with cheering and laughter; Secretary Li had said something, causing all the others to grow amused.

Seeing Chen Man come over, Secretary Li and Secretary Yang rushed to call out “Manager Chen!”; Jiang Xichu’s back was to her, and she turned her head; seeing it was Chen Man, she gave a smile that was even more brilliant than the one when she’d heard the amusing words before, and said, “How come you’ve come out?”

Chen Man looked at her strangely, and after a long while, she hurriedly turned around, leaving.

She left.

She…left…

The other three Secretaries immediately looked at Jiang Xichu with matching ambition, silently observing her complexion; just as expected, Jiang Xichu’s expression had blackened. The other three secretaries were silent: “...” So that was to say! What sort of reckless courage do you have from swallowing bear’s hearts and leopard’s galls, Manager Chen, that you’re suddenly daring to disregard Secretary Jiang, aaaaah!

Chen Man returned to her office, brows knitting severely; she hadn’t done anything in the afternoon, merely spending the entire day like this, brows frowning and thinking deeply.

Jiang Xichu had even taken her midday actions to heart; when they were returning home, she heard Chen Man ask what they were eating for dinner that night, and Jiang Xichu scoffed, “We’ll have the southeast wind.”

Why not say the northwest wind, then? Because right now it was the summer, and the air blew from the sea level towards the land, high pressure blowing in the direction of low pressure, so therefore, their evening meal would be the warm and balmy southeast wind.

…

Chen Man silently turned around, driving the car to the front of a restaurant, and then firmly said to Jiang Xichu, “The southeast wind’s great, but it doesn’t care about filling; tonight, let’s just eat here!”

Jiang Xichu really wanted to continue to put on an aloof demeanour, but seeing Chen Man explaining earnestly, she really couldn’t help it, and let out a laugh. After that, she couldn’t remain angry any more.

When ordering, Chen Man was absent-minded as well; suddenly, she shifted her gaze from the menu to Jiang Xichu’s face, her mind spinning, and she had a plan. “I want to order a blueberry yam.”

Jiang Xichu looked at her, baffled, and said, “If you want to order it, then just order it.”

“But I can’t finish it—the portion is too big.”

“Then take the leftovers as take-out; it’ll work well to take it home for a midnight snack.”

“But by the time we get home, it won’t taste good anymore,” Chen Man said, and then tentatively asked, “how about you eat it together with me?”

Blueberry yam was a type of desert; on top of the white-coloured yam paste was a layer of blueberry paste; its flavour was not particularly good, and Chen Man didn’t particularly like to eat it, but this dish was the one that would most be able to answer the question in her heart. This dessert wasn’t a type of spherical potato balls, but a big plate of paste, and could only be eaten with spoons to scoop it; when eating out, Jiang Xichu would never touch this kind of food, because she had mysophobia, and the thing she hated the most was eating food together with someone; no matter how the dish was split, it would always make her feel unclean. Chen Man waited for Jiang Xichu’s answer a bit nervously; the latter’s brows furrowed, looking as if she wasn’t willing; Chen Man’s heart had already sunk, but then Jiang Xichu’s expression changed a bit, and she said, “Alright, then, let’s eat it together.”

What the fuck.

What! The fuck!

Chen Man immediately bowed her head, hiding her astonished expression behind the menu. The person that Jiang Xichu liked…it couldn’t be that it was her, could it?!?!

-

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