“Jia Cheng.”
The front desk confirmed several times and hesitated for a moment before transferring the call to Tu Nan’s secretary, Wen Xi.
Wen Xi answered the phone, initially looking puzzled. However, upon hearing the other person’s voice, her eyes suddenly widened in disbelief. She pushed her chair back with a loud clang and stood frozen in place. Her assistant beside her was startled and asked, “Is something wrong?”
“It’s nothing… no, it’s something! Where’s Tu Nan? No, no, find the boss!”
The situation was urgent, and Wen Xi had never been so panicked in her entire career.
In the meeting room, a presentation was in progress. Fu Zicheng was passionately explaining the PowerPoint slides, his saliva flying as he spoke. Just as he was about to move on to the next slide, the door was forcefully pushed open, and Secretary Wen Xi stood at the entrance. Even the absent-minded Tu Nan was startled.
“XiXi?”
“I… I just received a call from the police station.”
“What happened? Did we commit tax evasion or something?” Tu Nan’s thought process was rather peculiar.
Wen Xi didn’t have time to scold him for his inappropriate comment and urged him to be quiet. She looked towards Cheng Jun, who was sitting by the window, gazing at her with an expressionless face.
“The police station said…” She swallowed the dryness in her throat, her heart pounding like a drum. “There’s a woman who claims to be Cheng Jun’s wife there, waiting for him to pick her up.”
“!”
“Tell me the address.”
“Boss? Boss, slow down! Don’t run!”
Cheng Jun didn’t even bother to put on his coat; he grabbed his phone and sprinted towards the entrance. Tu Nan had known him for many years, and he had never seen Cheng Jun run anywhere other than the gym or the track. Tu Nan called out to Cheng Jun, asking him not to rush, but Cheng Jun disappeared in an instant.
The underground parking lot was silent.
An older driver was dozing off when suddenly his car’s window was tapped twice, startling him awake. Cheng Jun stood outside the car window, his tone urgent and low, saying, “Get out of the car.”
“Boss?”
“No need to take out the keys.”
“Oh… alright…” The driver quickly got out of the driver’s seat and saw Cheng Jun swiftly take his place. He started the engine, and the car sped out of the parking lot at a breakneck speed. His driving was incredibly fast, weaving through the parking lot with screeching tires, making it look extremely thrilling.
The driver was frightened out of his wits and continued to shout at Cheng Jun from afar, “Remember to fasten your seatbelt! Don’t drive so fast in this weather!”
A snowstorm had paralyzed the entire city.
Despite the snowfall subsiding, the roads were muddy and slippery, causing all the vehicles to slow down. However, one black private car was noticeably faster than the rest, daring to overtake others even in such weather.
The drivers who were overtaken by the car were cursing the reckless driver.
At an unmanned traffic light intersection, the black private car was passing through when an unexpected incident occurred. A red car suddenly ran a red light and raced towards it at high speed! Perhaps the driver didn’t notice the presence of another vehicle at the intersection, but when the red car was about to collide, they slammed on the brakes.
The snowy road was too slippery, and even with salt spread on it, the car couldn’t come to a stop, crashing into the black private car at high speed.
The black private car made a sharp turn.
“Bang!”
…
Ruan Jiujiu sat in her seat with a few young police officers sitting beside her, looking excited. One of them said, “I really love Jia Cheng’s games! I can’t believe it!”
“What’s your new game plan? I heard it’s going to be in a Western fantasy style, and I think it’s going to be super cool!”
“I can’t believe I’ve actually seen the legendary Mrs. Jia Cheng. I must have really good luck.”
The officers chatted noisily, making Ruan Jiujiu’s head spin. The police officer who brought her back couldn’t stand it and told them to go back to their own seats.
Ruan Jiujiu had been patiently waiting for a long time. Normally, at this time, even if Cheng Jun caught a ride on the road, he should have arrived by now. When she received the phone call, Tu Nan was almost in tears, and hearing a big man speak with a quivering voice was both amusing and touching. He had said that Cheng Jun was already on his way and told Ruan Jiujiu to wait for a while. However, she had been waiting for a long time and still hadn’t received any news from Cheng Jun.
Could it be that he took the wrong road?
For some reason, Ruan Jiujiu had a bad feeling in her heart. It was snowing heavily today, and if Cheng Jun was in a hurry and got into a car accident, it would be disastrous.
She needed to find a way to contact Cheng Jun.
Just then, one of the police officers who was looking at his phone said, “There’s another car accident at the East Street intersection.”
“Oh? How is it? I hope nothing serious happened.”
“Who knows? These people don’t seem to slow down even in snowy weather. Sigh.”
Ruan Jiujiu’s face turned pale. “What color was the car in the accident?”
“It looked like a black Land Rover. I saw Xiao Xu’s update, and it seems they are still dealing with it.”
“How far is it from here?”
Her urgency made the officer look up at her.
“Not far, just a few hundred meters to the right when you step out… Hey, where are you going?”
Ruan Jiujiu’s legs went weak halfway. Selfishly, she hoped that the person involved in the accident was not Cheng Jun. Her mind went blank, and all she knew was to rush out of the police station towards the accident scene. Only by seeing the car’s license plate number at the scene could she calm down.
“Please, no, please don’t…” Ruan Jiujiu ran while choking back tears, praying.
She ran toward the exit of the gate, and the scattered streetlights made the night hazy, making it difficult to see the road. Just then, her vision suddenly blurred, and she collided with someone with a loud “thud.”
The other person staggered and almost fell, and both of them took a step back before they could see each other’s faces in the dim light.
For Ruan Jiujiu, it had only been a day since she last saw Cheng Jun. At this moment, she didn’t know that Cheng Jun had been in this world, lonely and clutching onto desperate hope, waiting for seven months and five days.
He stood still, his body stiff, and his expression terrifyingly rigid. His eyes were glued to Ruan Jiujiu as if they were stuck with glue and couldn’t move away.
“…”
“…”
Silence surrounded them.
“Cheng…”
Ruan Jiujiu didn’t even have a chance to finish saying his name. She saw him take a step forward, and she was forcefully pulled into his arms. He held her tightly, his arms constricting around her, squeezing the last bit of breath out of her lungs. She felt almost suffocated. However, she instinctively tried to soothe Cheng Jun’s emotions.
She hadn’t expected Cheng Jun to be so frightened. He held her in his embrace, trembling continuously, whether it was because of the cold weather or his emotional upheaval, she couldn’t tell.
Ruan Jiujiu could only gently stroke his back to reassure him.
The embrace was familiar and warm, with Cheng Jun’s unique scent, which eased some of Ruan Jiujiu’s tension. The aftermath was that her nose felt a bit tingly, and tears welled up. In her tear-blurred eyes, Ruan Jiujiu almost cried out, “I thought you had an accident! You scared me! Do you know that I was in the police station, overthinking everything, and even thought you didn’t recognize me anymore…”
Big tears rolled down her cheeks, and in no time, they soaked Cheng Jun’s shirt.
He endured it in silence, listening to Ruan Jiujiu’s tearful complaints in his arms. His soaked shirt clung to his chest, feeling like a burning fire against his skin. He wanted to hold her even tighter, eliminating any gap between them, but he was afraid of hurting her.
The police officers who had followed them out saw the two embracing and smiled at each other knowingly. They gestured to each other and quietly went back inside, giving the couple some space to be alone.
Ruan Jiujiu was still crying.
For a moment, she really thought she was going to lose Cheng Jun. In the past, they had talked about how they would gracefully part ways if either of them found their true love and divorced, wishing each other well. But now, if Cheng Jun dared to think otherwise, she would make sure to take care of that unfaithful man herself.
Ruan Jiujiu had never realized how big a place Cheng Jun had in her heart until now.
She sobbed a few times, and then, with a soft “plop,” a thick droplet of liquid fell onto her forehead and slowly trickled down.
Drip.
Another drop.
Ruan Jiujiu’s heart skipped a beat when she felt the liquid. She hurriedly tried to loosen Cheng Jun’s grip, but he seemed deaf to her attempts and wouldn’t let go. Ruan Jiujiu was on the verge of tears as she tugged at his arm, finally managing to free herself halfway from Cheng Jun’s embrace.
Under the dim streetlight, Ruan Jiujiu wiped away the wet liquid from her forehead. Upon closer inspection, she realized it was blood.
In a panicked state, she looked up and saw that Cheng Jun’s forehead had been cut, and blood was trickling down his fair skin, running down his attractive eyebrows and eyes. Both sides of his cheeks were stained with blood, making it look horrifying.
Ruan Jiujiu’s heart pounded as she said, “What happened to you… Cheng Jun! Cheng Jun!”
In the midst of her calls, Cheng Jun swayed and collapsed into the slushy snow water, unconscious.
“Cheng Jun!”
…
Ruan Jiujiu felt like she was about to cry all the tears in her life.
Luckily, the police officers acted quickly and helped Ruan Jiujiu get Cheng Jun to the hospital. Upon arrival at the hospital, Cheng Jun was immediately rushed into emergency care. Ruan Jiujiu’s emotions were on a rollercoaster, and she was on the verge of a breakdown. She tried to hold back her tears but couldn’t seem to stop crying. When Tu Nan and the others arrived, they saw Ruan Jiujiu still wearing her police uniform, covered in blood, sitting against the wall, crying.
The scene was incredibly tragic.
“Sister-in-law, I finally found you! How is the boss doing now?”
“I… I don’t know… He lost a lot of blood…” Ruan Jiujiu cried, struggling to catch her breath. She had already decided that if Cheng Jun didn’t make it, she would join him in the afterlife. “If he’s gone, I won’t live either…”
“You should live well.”
A slightly hoarse voice came from behind, it was Cheng Jun.
Ruan Jiujiu’s mind went blank, her crying abruptly stopped, and her face still bore traces of tears, making her look a bit foolish. She stared blankly as Cheng Jun walked over and squatted down in front of her. There was a bandage on his forehead, and the bleeding had been stopped, so he seemed to be fine.
The doctor stood nearby and said, “The accident didn’t cause serious injuries. Make sure to wear your seatbelt next time. Also, the fainting was due to low blood sugar and some nutritional deficiencies. Pay more attention to your diet.”
Nutritional deficiencies…?
For such a reason?
What had she been worrying about?
Ruan Jiujiu felt a mixture of anger and laughter, and tears started to flow again, confusing her emotions. She wasn’t usually a crybaby, but for some reason, she couldn’t help but cry whenever she saw Cheng Jun. The rollercoaster of emotions was making it difficult for her to control herself.
The two of them crouched face to face, and Ruan Jiujiu felt a bit embarrassed, turning her face away, not wanting Cheng Jun to see her tears.
Cheng Jun gazed at her intently for a long time, and suddenly his face loomed closer.
Amidst the secretary’s startled exclamation, he extended an arm, cupped the back of Ruan Jiujiu’s head, and slightly raised his heel, leaning in to kiss her lips.
Author’s Note: Chapter 3 is a bit late, it should be posted by 2 AM at the latest.
Goodnight, everyone! You’ll be able to read it in the morning!
T/N: Finally finished transferring the chapters whew! As you guys noticed I added some more chapters to make up for the past weeks. Updates for TMSCEW will be back on its regular sched again which are on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Thanks for reading my translations~
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