"Jian Huan..."
"Please stop calling my name," Jiang Jianhuan said softly and calmly without looking up.
"It makes me feel a little nauseous to hear it coming from your mouth."
Fang Xiaoli's face paled for a moment, truly deserving of the description "pale as paper." Jiang Jianhuan had no interest in watching her play the victim. After finishing organizing the drawings, she returned to her seat and began packing her things.
"Xu Xue, please ask Director Jiang for leave for me. Just tell him I have to go back first."
She quickly packed up, slung her bag over her shoulder, and, holding a stack of papers, spoke to Xu Xue beside her, her expression quite calm. Xu Xue paused for a moment, then immediately nodded.
"good."
I walked out of the company, pressed the elevator button, and went inside.
It was during working hours, and the lobby and elevators were completely empty and very quiet.
Jiang Jianhuan walked out, still in a daze. The events of the day were too unreal, ridiculous and dramatic, and they happened suddenly, catching him off guard.
The reason she asked for leave was simple: it was so disgusting inside that she was on the verge of a breakdown if she didn't leave.
There was a road right in front of the building, and Jiang Jianhuan needed to walk across to catch the bus. Perhaps he was out of his mind, because he forgot to look at the cars on both sides and walked straight towards the zebra crossing.
A food delivery scooter sped by, knocking Jiang Jianhuan to the ground before she could react. A sharp pain shot through her knee, and her eyes instantly welled up with tears that streamed down her face. She sat on the ground, sobbing uncontrollably, gasping for breath.
The delivery guy was still cursing, but seeing her like this, he was afraid of getting into trouble, so he quickly rode away on his bike. Jiang Jianhuan cried in the middle of the road for who knows how long, until she heard the sound of car horns blaring in her ears.
Some drivers leaned out to see what was happening. Two young girls passing by helped her up from the ground and asked her with concern if she needed to be taken to the hospital. After crying for a while, Jiang Jianhuan calmed down, waved her hand to thank them and declined, wiped away her tears, and limped to the bus stop.
Her knee wasn't badly injured; thankfully, there was no broken skin or bleeding. She just bruised and swollen from hitting the ground, and her palm was slightly scraped.
As she watched, grief welled up again. Jiang Jianhuan sat on a bench on the platform, her hands supporting her forehead as she sobbed softly. Her phone vibrated slightly in her bag. Between sobs, she took it out and, through her teary eyes, saw it was Su Mo's number. Jiang Jianhuan sniffed and hung up.
Chapter 32
Su Mo made several calls, but Jiang Jianhuan was too busy crying to answer and hung up immediately.
On one hand, I didn't want him to know I was crying, and on the other hand, I was afraid of hearing his voice; if I did, I probably wouldn't be able to hold on any longer.
Tears can wash away most of a person's emotions. As Jiang Jianhuan cried, her tears gradually stopped. Just then, the bus she was waiting for pulled up at the station. She wiped her face, got up, and boarded the bus.
Along the way, leaning against the swaying car window, my emotions had stabilized. Tomorrow was the last day before the deadline, and the most urgent task now was to rush out another set of design drafts.
Jiang Jianhuan was pondering a solution when, before she knew it, the bus had arrived at its stop. With her eyes red and swollen, she carefully moved off the bus, her movements labored.
It was still a bit of a distance from where she lived, and what should have been a five or six-minute walk had been stretched to half its original length. When she arrived downstairs, Jiang Jianhuan saw the figure waiting for her in the hallway.
For a moment, I couldn't quite describe how I felt.
She paused for a few seconds, then slowly walked over.
Su Mo seemed to sense something and raised his head. He had been looking down at his phone, still wearing his baseball cap, so even if one or two people passed by, they wouldn't notice him.
"Why didn't you answer the phone?" Su Mo asked, then his gaze fell on her legs, and he frowned.
What happened to your leg?
"I accidentally fell." Jiang Jianhuan quickly avoided his gaze, lowered her eyes, and whispered.
"And what about your eyes?" Su Mo noticed immediately, reached out and lifted her chin. Jiang Jianhuan was caught off guard and forced to look up and meet his gaze.
"You've been crying." Su Mo examined him carefully for a few seconds, then frowned and slowly spoke.
"What are you doing!" She turned her face away, somewhat angry.
Su Mo withdrew her hand, deliberately ignoring the delicate warmth lingering between her fingers, and calmed her emotions.
"I'm very worried, you know?"
"Next time, no matter what happens, answer the phone."
Jiang Jianhuan kept her head down and remained silent, while Su Mo patiently waited there. In the end, she was the one who couldn't hold back any longer.
"If there's nothing else, I'll go in." She walked past Su Mo and forward. Although she tried her best to maintain a normal pace, the pain in her knees still hindered her movement, making her look obviously inconvenient.
Jiang Jianhuan hadn't taken more than a few steps when the person behind her picked her up and carried her into the stairwell. Jiang Jianhuan struggled a few times, but when she caught a glimpse of Su Mo's cold, hard jawline, she finally gave up and stopped resisting in vain.
When they reached the door, Su Mo stopped and gave instructions in a low voice.
"key."
"Put me down, I can manage on my own." Jiang Jianhuan kicked her legs in his arms, but Su Mo didn't move.
She admired him; someone who was frequently sick and hospitalized could still carry her up three flights of stairs without batting an eye. Jiang Jianhuan wanted to get down quickly, so she quickly looked down, found her keys, and opened the door.
Su Mo carried her inside and bent down to place her on the sofa.
"Can you tell me what happened now?" He sat opposite Jiang Jianhuan, rubbing his wrists, his voice calm. Jiang Jianhuan was wearing an A-line skirt that went with her suit today, the hem of which rode up to her thighs as she sat down. She grabbed a pillow from the side and hugged it to her chest.
"My work has been plagiarized." Seeing that he wouldn't give up, Jiang Jianhuan simply told him the whole story and briefly explained what had happened.
Su Mo frowned deeply after hearing this.
"So what do you plan to do now?" After a long while, he asked in a deep voice, and Jiang Jianhuan answered without hesitation.
"Redraw it."
"Isn't tomorrow the last day?"