Chapter 49
Chapter 49
“Doctor, why does Nanfeng treat me this way?”
Zhu Yin pointed at the door. “Mr. Li just left. If you drive after him now, you can still catch up. I recommend asking the man himself.”
Liu Ruyan fell silent.
After a while, she said mournfully, “Doctor, are you so cold to me because you look down on me too?”
Zhu Yin looked up in surprise. “You haven’t left yet, Madam?”
She thought briefly. “Do you want the truth?”
Liu Ruyan smiled bitterly. “Of course.”
Zhu Yin spoke frankly. “I do look down on you somewhat. But it isn’t personal. I look down on all of you.” Everyone in this world was unhinged; none of the major characters seemed normal.
The blunt answer stunned Liu Ruyan into silence.
Surely she would leave now. Instead, she seemed determined to challenge Zhu Yin and began asking questions again.
“Doctor, what would you do if you were me?”
Zhu Yin immediately crossed both hands in firm refusal. “Madam, we have no grudge between us, and I treated your injuries only yesterday. Please don’t curse me with such an ominous hypothetical.”
None of her answers was what Liu Ruyan expected. Miraculously, however, Liu Ruyan understood her attitude perfectly.
She began talking to herself. “I know. Like the others, you want me to leave him.”
Zhu Yin took refuge in a sip of water.
Liu Ruyan continued, “But I truly love him. I can’t leave him. You don’t know how tormented he looks whenever he gets drunk. I–”
“Stop!” Zhu Yin rubbed her ears, which had suffered grievously, and declared with complete seriousness, “Madam, I have no interest in the love story between you and Mr. Li.”
“Also, I don’t know who ‘the others’ are, but I’m different from them. I sincerely believe you and Mr. Li are exceptionally well suited. I wish you a long life together.”
Liu Ruyan stopped abruptly.
She stared blankly at Zhu Yin, and a faint flush gradually appeared on her pallid face. “Y-you truly think we suit each other?”
“Mm-hmm!” Zhu Yin was utterly sincere. “No two people could be better matched.”
The heroine evidently drew strength from her words and sprang to her feet. “I’m going to speak with that woman. I hope she’ll leave Nanfeng of her own accord.”
Zhu Yin lightly kicked the desk, sending her chair sliding backward.
She was afraid that getting too close might infect her with love-addled stupidity.
Liu Ruyan swept out in a rush.
Liu Ruyan returned dejectedly.
Li Nanfeng’s bodyguards had stopped her, and she never saw Wanwan.
She wanted to pour out her woes to the doctor, only to find the office empty.
The heroine left in despair.
The host, who had slipped out to refill her water and avoid the encounter, slowly reappeared. She returned to the office, turned on the computer, and prepared to resume the film she had not finished the previous night.
An uninvited guest knocked on the door.
Zhu Yin looked up. “Come in.”
Wanwan entered with graceful steps.
She carried a plate of washed fruit, set it gently on the desk, and said softly, “Doctor, I’m sorry to trouble you with Haohao and me.”
“No need,” Zhu Yin said calmly. “I’m a doctor, and you’re patients. It’s my duty.”
As though hurt by her coolness, Wanwan lowered her eyes, on the verge of tears. “Have you heard the rumors outside too, Doctor? Do you dislike me because you think something is going on between Nanfeng and me?”
At that, Zhu Yin took a mirror from her drawer and carefully examined herself.
Wanwan did not understand. “Doctor, what are you doing?”
Zhu Yin said gravely, “I’m examining my appearance to see whether something about it keeps making all of you misunderstand.”
Wanwan: ?
Zhu Yin put down the mirror and stared at her. “Madam, I am only a doctor. I treat illnesses. Heart-to-heart conversations are outside my job description.”
Wanwan paled further and swayed unsteadily. “I… It’s all my fault. I’ll leave now, Doctor, and never bother you again. Please don’t take your anger out on Haohao.”
Zhu Yin: ?
She ground her teeth and told Barbara, “I don’t know why, but ever since I entered this mission world, my fists have been itching.”
These three people were each more incomprehensible than the last.
Retirement at the World-Hopping Bureau was not so easy after all.
After a moment’s thought, Zhu Yin ignored Wanwan and called the male lead right in front of her.
He answered quickly, sounding tense. “Doctor? Is something wrong with Wanwan?”
Zhu Yin spoke evenly. “Mr. Li, give me a raise.”
Li Nanfeng: ?
Zhu Yin continued, “Your wife and your friend Wanwan both like coming to chat with me. That isn’t part of my job, so it costs extra.” Li Nanfeng laughed in fury.
He said coldly, “Doctor, have I indulged you too much? Has the Li family not treated you well enough?”
Zhu Yin had just confirmed something with the system, so she remained unruffled. Ignoring his question, she continued, “You want my labor and time for free?”
“…”
Having silenced him again, she added, “Or shall we discuss it face-to-face?”
That reminded Li Nanfeng of the discomfort that had seized his entire body when he saw her last night.
He finally compromised and said he would add an extra bonus.
After hanging up, Zhu Yin looked at Wanwan.
Wanwan trembled lightly. “It was my fault. Why bother Nanfeng over this, Doctor? He’s already so busy with work…”
Zhu Yin cut her off impatiently. “He’s the boss and I’m his employee. I can’t sympathize with him.”
“Miss Idealized Love, since you’re so considerate, why not spare some consideration for me?”
“I’m busy too. Why must you disturb me?”
Wanwan staggered out as though about to collapse.
She had come to test Zhu Yin’s attitude and flaunt her relationship with Nanfeng, hoping to intimidate the doctor into taking better care of Haohao.
She had not expected Zhu Yin to call Nanfeng directly or speak to him so rudely.
Wanwan knew she could now rely only on Li Nanfeng. Since the doctor was someone even he could not control, she immediately changed her attitude.
After sending both women away in succession, Zhu Yin assumed she would have a few peaceful days.
But her remark that “you suit each other” had apparently made the heroine regard her as a confidante.
The next day, Liu Ruyan arrived as soon as Zhu Yin started work.
Zhu Yin could not be bothered with her, but she did not mind. At the Li residence, she was always the one ignored. Compared with contempt and ostracism, Zhu Yin merely treating her as air when annoyed was already quite good.
Three days. Three entire days.
Zhu Yin was forced to hear the heroine’s complete love story, beginning in adolescence.
Though it was one-sided, of course.
That alone was tolerable. The words went in one ear and out the other; Zhu Yin treated it as a story.
But the heroine’s daily visits gave someone else a sense of crisis.
Wanwan panicked. The male lead had mentioned his plans, and both she and her son would receive treatment from Zhu Yin.
The doctor was so close to Nanfeng’s wife, and his wife hated her.
What if the doctor tampered with their treatment…?
She did not say so directly. She merely worried day and night and wept late at night. In less than two days, the male lead learned everything.
“Doctor!” He stormed in furiously. “From today onward, you are forbidden from seeing Ruyan!”
Zhu Yin: ?