“I can’t get out of bed and walk right now, and someone has to stay at the hospital to take care of me. I also can’t get through to Yu Chu on the phone. I was thinking, if you finish your competition, could you go back first…”
Before she could finish speaking, Cheng Zhen readily agreed.
His original plan was to rest for a day tomorrow and then set off home the day after tomorrow.
"No problem, I'll reschedule my flight for tonight. It's been a while since I've been home, and I really miss my parents."
Xie Shi'an breathed a sigh of relief and said solemnly.
"Thank you, Orange Juice."
The boy laughed heartily.
"Hey, no need to thank me. We're friends, after all. I want to see who dares to bully Sister Yu Chu. I'll go back and throw left and right hooks until they beg for mercy on their knees."
Even long afterward, Xie Shi'an was filled with regret, wondering why he had made that phone call. If he had returned two days later, he wouldn't have had to witness such a horrific scene.
Fate had already woven a vast net before they even knew it, and no one could escape it.
After Xie Shi'an hung up the phone, someone knocked on the ward door.
She thought it was Yan Xinyuan who had returned, so she said.
"Coach Yan, the door is unlocked, come in."
As soon as he finished speaking, the door was gently pushed open, and a middle-aged man in a suit and tie entered, carrying a briefcase.
"Who are you?" She frowned in confusion.
The other person smiled calmly, took out his business card and handed it to her. Seeing that Xie Shi'an did not take it, he gently placed it on her bedside table.
"I am the head of the marketing department of Huacheng Trading Co., Ltd. We would like to invite you to be the spokesperson for our company's products."
The man was quite polite and well-mannered. After handing her his business card, he immediately stepped back, maintaining a safe distance from her.
However, Xie Shi'an did not let his guard down.
"I'm still hospitalized and can't work for the time being. Please find someone else."
"We can wait until you're discharged! If you don't want to film the commercial, just sponsoring the title is fine too, we..."
Before he could finish speaking, Xie Shi'an interrupted him.
"Get out, or I'll call for help."
"No, no, no, it's not easy to see you."
In fact, since the start of the national competition, she has been approached with commercial endorsement contracts one after another, but Xie Shi'an was not interested in these and only wanted to focus on playing basketball, so she rejected them all.
After winning the World Championships, she became famous, and even more people sought her out than before; they practically flocked to her.
Even hospitalization doesn't bring peace and quiet.
To allow her to focus on her recovery, Yan Xinyuan stood guard outside her door every day, not allowing anyone except medical staff to enter.
The man wiped the sweat from his forehead; he looked rather honest and simple. He pulled a stack of documents from his briefcase and placed them on her bed.
"Our general manager is also a fan of yours. He specifically requested that you be signed as our spokesperson. Moreover, we are a domestic sporting goods company. You can take a look at the contract first, and we can discuss the price later. We sincerely want to cooperate with you for mutual benefit."
"My phone number is on the business card. If you're interested, you can call me anytime. I won't disturb your rest any longer. Goodbye."
After speaking, the man bowed slightly to her and left the ward.
Xie Shi'an looked at the stack of A4 papers he had placed on the bed. He wanted to throw them directly into the trash can, but for some reason, he hesitated, stretched out his arm, gritted his teeth, and picked them up from the trash can.
When Yan Xinyuan entered the room, she heard footsteps. She had already tucked the contract under her pillow and asked casually.
"Coach Yan, how's it going? Did you get through it?"
Yan Xinyuan shook his head with a somber expression.
***
Before boarding the plane, Cheng Zhen called Qiao Yuchu several times, but her phone was switched off. He clicked his tongue, hung up, and then called his father, but no one answered.
"Why aren't any of them answering the phone?"
Cheng Zhen muttered to himself, feeling a little uneasy. He called his mother again, and this time she finally answered, which relieved him slightly.
"Mom, has Dad been busy all day? He promised to come watch my game but he didn't. He didn't answer my calls either."
Cheng's mother chuckled dryly twice.
"Oh, your dad? He's been really busy lately. He said the company got a new project and he hasn't been home for several days."
"But you can't go back on your word, really. This is my first time winning a national championship."
"I'm so sorry, Zhenzhen, your dad... he really can't get away... your grandma isn't well either... Mom has to stay home to take care of her... Next time... next time when you have a competition... Dad and Mom will bring Grandma, and the whole family will come to cheer you on, okay?"
Then, Cheng's mother changed the subject and asked about his return trip time.
"By the way, son, the competition is over, when are you coming back?"
Cheng Zhen assumed she missed her, so she didn't tell her she would be home that night, intending to give her a surprise.
"It's still early, I'm going to go out and have fun with my teammates for a few days."
"Yes, yes, it's time to get some rest and relax."
He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but there seemed to be a hint of relief in Cheng's mother's tone.
"Do you have any money left for going out? Do you want Mom to transfer some more to you?"
Cheng Zhen immediately started shouting and yelling.
"Mom! I'm eighteen now! I can earn my own money. I won two championships in this competition, and I got a lot of prize money. I bought a belt and a razor for Dad, skincare products for you, a neck and shoulder massager for Grandma, and lots and lots of other things. I'll bring them to you when I get back."
Sitting on the sofa at home, Cheng's mother wiped away her tears with relief, forcing herself not to let him detect anything amiss.
"Okay, we've really grown up and know how to care for others. Stay and have fun for a few more days. Everything's fine at home, so there's no need to rush back."
Cheng Zhen looked up and saw that it was almost time to board. He said goodbye to his mother and then hung up the phone.
"Then I won't talk to you anymore, Mom. My teammates are waiting for me."
***
Just as Qiao Yuchu arrived at the entrance of the residential area with Jin Shunqi and her mother, the security guard poked his head out from the guard booth.
"Qiao Yuchu, your package has arrived."
"Okay, thank you."
She took it and saw a thin document bag with the mailing address Jiangcheng People's Court. Her heart skipped a beat.
Mrs. Qiao came closer.
Whose is it?
Qiao Yuchu put the document bag into her bag.
"It's nothing, Mom, let's go inside."
No sooner had they left than the group of people who had been waiting outside the hospital heard the news.
"What? You're home?! Come on, carry my mother up, let's go somewhere else."
"You can sleep in my dad's room tonight." Qiao Yuchu made the bed for him and then took a new quilt out of the closet.
After taking a shower, Jin Shunqi lay down on his back.
"Ah, at least I can finally get a good night's sleep tonight."
During his stay at the hospital, although there were beds available for caregivers, he gave them all to Qiao Yuchu and made do with sleeping in the corridor outside the hospital for the night. Qiao Yuchu suggested that he get a room at a hotel near the hospital to rest, but Jin Shunqi was worried that if something happened at night after he left, Qiao Yuchu wouldn't be able to handle it alone, so he gave up on the idea.
Seeing him like this, Qiao Yuchu also smiled.
"Then you should get some rest. I'm going to keep my mom company."
Back in her familiar home, Mrs. Qiao, unusually, fell asleep without taking sleeping pills. After taking a shower, she lifted the covers and got into bed, lying down next to her mother. Just as she was about to reach out to turn off the light, a sound of gongs and drums came from downstairs.
People with depression are very sensitive to such sharp sounds. Qiao's mother immediately opened her eyes and jumped out of bed.
"Who...?! Someone's coming! Yu Chu, someone's coming!"
Qiao Yuchu sat up, hugged her mother, and gently comforted her, "It's okay, Mom, it's okay, I'll go take a look."
She put on her clothes, got out of bed, walked to the window, and pulled back the curtains. Sure enough, it was that group of people again.
Qiao Yuchu immediately clenched her teeth.
Hearing the noise, Jin Shunqi also came over and knocked on the door.
"Yu Chu, shall we go down and take a look?"
"What are you looking at? Ignore them!"
She quickly pulled the curtains shut again.
Jin Shunqi also closed the doors and windows of the other rooms tightly.
They could turn a blind eye, but the other residents downstairs couldn't stand it anymore. Someone called the police, and the police officers from the local police station arrived quickly.
The man sat down on the ground with his wife and children, and placed the coffin at the entrance of the building. In this situation, no one dared to move him.
"You are disrupting public order..."
The man cried and wailed.
"I just sat here with my deceased mother, and that's considered disturbing public order? What about when they killed someone? Why don't you say that?"
The woman was also holding her child and crying.
"Officer, it's not that we're being unreasonable, we just have no other choice. Our child is still crying for milk, and these people hit someone and then disappeared without a trace, offering no compensation whatsoever!"
"My poor mother! She died unjustly!"
"Don't worry, we won't go up and knock on the door, we won't get into any conflict with them, and we won't cause any trouble for the police officers. We'll just sit here and leave whenever they come down."
A number of people gradually gathered in the neighborhood to watch.
"Let's go with the apartment in Unit 2."
"If you hit and kill someone, you should at least apologize instead of offering compensation. What kind of behavior is it to hide and refuse to appear?"
"We've been neighbors for so many years, but you can never truly know a person's heart."
"You know what, the old lady of the Qiao family even asked me to introduce a potential partner to her daughter. With a family like that, who would dare to be her son-in-law?"