In an instant, the other staff members in the cafeteria turned to look at Ning Zhu, watching the boss lose his composure.

Ning Zhu grabbed a tissue to wipe his face, and a flood of questions came rushing through his mind.

What does this mean? Why did this kid suddenly come here to confront me? How did he find out?

Could he be setting me up? Did he let me off too easily last time, and now that he’s caught on, he’s still not satisfied?

【Ning Huochong:】What are you talking about? ^^

【Chang Xiao:】…

【Ning Huochong:】 I really didn’t

【Chang Xiao:】^^

Ning Zhu: “……”

He sensed a chill beneath that cute emoticon. It felt like he’d committed a misdeed he thought was flawless, only to have it suddenly exposed one day—and the person who exposed him was unusually certain, as if they had a god’s-eye view.

Ning Zhu couldn’t fathom how Dou Changxiao had figured it out.

Assuming the other party couldn’t possibly have evidence—at most, just a hunch—Ning Zhu composed himself, finished the remaining orange juice, and returned to his office with a chill running down his spine.

Just a couple of days ago, he’d boasted to Ji Chi about his recent good luck, yet lately, bad luck had been following him constantly. Sitting at his desk, Ning Zhu couldn’t help but mutter to himself, “Could it be that I’ve committed too many misdeeds recently and am now reaping what I’ve sown?”

Little did he know his words would come true.

Two days later, in the early hours of the morning, rain began to fall in North City. By the time Old Zhao dropped Ning Zhu off at the office, the rain was pouring down.

At the entrance to Qisheng Tower, there was a short flight of steps: standard stone steps in the center, flanked on both sides by perpendicular wheelchair ramps designed to accommodate service carts and similar vehicles. During the morning rush, when the building was bustling with people, many employees would also use the side ramps.

Ning Zhu was the type of person who would never take the long way around if a shortcut was available. Emerging from the parking lot on the side, he stepped onto the ramp closest to him. Halfway up, a familiar sensation of dizziness swept over him without warning. He staggered, and with the ground beneath his feet slippery, he fell heavily to the ground.

Two security guards at the entrance spotted him from a distance and rushed over to help Ning Zhu to his feet. Ning Zhu was still conscious, but since his right wrist had hit the ground first during the fall, he felt a searing pain.

His suit was also ruined by the muddy rainwater on the ground. Fortunately, he had arrived early; at this hour, only a few people had come to clock in at Qisheng, so hardly anyone had witnessed this humiliating scene.

The security guard asked if he had hurt himself, but Ning Zhu didn’t respond. He took a moment to compose himself, then murmured a quiet “thank you.”

Rainwater had splashed onto his face; he should have looked disheveled, yet Ning Zhu’s expression remained completely blank. A man who usually appeared affable now exuded an unapproachable aura, making even his disheveled state seem cold and distant.

There was a spare set of clothes in the small break room attached to the CEO’s office on the top floor. When Ning Zhu went up to change, he still felt a sharp, stabbing pain in his right wrist whenever he moved it, leading him to suspect he might have injured the bone. Since he could still move it, it likely wasn’t a fracture, but a hairline fracture seemed inevitable.

After a meeting that morning, the injured area had indeed swollen slightly. Xiao Tao, with his sharp eyes, spotted it and was about to make a fuss, but Ning Zhu’s icy, dismissive glance cut him off.

Xiao Tao studied his expression and immediately sensed that he was in a terrible mood. He shrank back, not even daring to offer a word of concern, for fear of provoking his boss.

Ning Zhu didn’t mention the injury on his wrist to anyone else. He handled all his business as usual, then had Old Zhao wait for him downstairs at the office. At noon, he left the office forty minutes early and had Old Zhao drive him to the hospital.

For the twenty-plus years since his birth, it seemed Ning Zhu had been at odds with hospitals. This year, however, it was particularly bad.

He suspected he might just qualify for the title of “Most Frequent Visitor” at North City Third Hospital.

Old Zhao glanced at Ning Zhu through the rearview mirror, clearly sensing a heavy, oppressive atmosphere emanating from his boss. He, too, didn’t dare ask why Ning Zhu was going to the hospital.

Sitting in the backseat, Ning Zhu found himself, for once, recalling a memory from his childhood.

There used to be an old lady living across the street from his house. Perhaps she had a bit of a cleanliness obsession—she was particularly fastidious. The first thing she did every morning was to sweep the house inside and out, even though it was already spotless.

She kept a plump, big orange cat, so Ning Zhu would pop over to her house every now and then. Once, he was lucky enough to witness the old lady cleaning—it was more meticulous than even the best housekeeper in the world; not a speck of dust could be found in any corner.

The old lady spent at least two hours cleaning every day, and each time she’d work herself into such a state that she’d sigh and groan, leading Ning Zhu to assume her son and daughter-in-law were terribly unfilial. That middle-aged couple had been unfairly berated in his mind for many years, until one day, several years later, the old lady next door took a fall. Ning Zhu didn’t know the exact details, but after she was discharged from the hospital, her son and daughter-in-law hired a housekeeper and wouldn’t let her do any housework anymore.

That old lady, who had once been so lively and spirited, suddenly withered away after that. Once, while holding her family’s orange cat, Ning Zhu happened to glance at the sofa and caught a glimpse of tears in her eyes. His heart skipped a beat, and he quickly turned away, pretending nothing had happened, but that scene was etched into his mind, and he could never forget it.

Later, as he grew older, he gradually came to understand that human beings need something to hold them up in order to keep living. Once even the last shred of self-worth is stripped away, and that spark of life is lost, leaving only a worthless shell, one truly becomes no different from a walking corpse.

Ning Zhu pressed his forehead against the car window, feeling a sense of shame that mirrored that of the old woman next door. But he was, after all, still very young; he had plenty of spirit left to burn. Rather than wallowing in self-pity, what welled up inside him was an intense, nameless rage.

“If I can break a bone just by walking,” Ning Zhu thought, seething with rage, “why don’t I just go ahead and kill myself?!”

He got out of the car radiating a murderous aura; his demeanor suggested he wasn’t there for a medical appointment, but rather to seek revenge.

“……” Old Zhao watched from inside the car, his heart pounding, wondering if one of his boss’s enemies was hospitalized inside.

After registering and picking up his referral from the doctor, Ning Zhu headed to the radiology department for an X-ray.

There were three X-ray rooms; Ning Zhu chose one and walked in. As he took off his jacket and watch and set his things down, he happened to glance at the observation window and locked eyes with Xiao Dou, the intern in the control room.

“……”

It truly was a case of one misfortune following another. With that accusatory message still hanging over him, he now ran into the person in question. Ning Zhu silently turned his face away, pretending not to see him, and followed the medical technician’s instructions to the machine.

The imaging process was quick. He dressed as fast as he could and left the imaging room, but before he could even walk away, Dou Changxiao came out of the control room, clearly not minding his own business.

Ning Zhu: “…”

He suspected Dou Changxiao intended to confront him face-to-face and demand an explanation. But the other man followed him out and, surprisingly, didn’t bring up that night’s incident right away. With professional courtesy, he asked first, “How did you get injured?”

“Oh, well…” Ning Zhu deliberately let out a long sigh, implying that this scoundrel had already gotten his just deserts, hoping the other man would let the nightclub incident slide. “I lost my footing and took a tumble.”

Ning Zhu’s anger hadn’t fully subsided, but he did his best to maintain his usual tone. Yet this pretense was all too obvious to Dou Changxiao.

He noticed the fine hairs standing on end on Ning Zhu’s cheeks and fell silent for two seconds.

“Why are you staring at me?” Ning Zhu gave him a gentle smile. “Hahaha, do you think I’m visiting the hospital too often—twice in three days?”

He laughed with the warmth of a spring breeze, appearing completely at ease, yet the fine hairs on his face stood on end even more.

Dou Changxiao: “…………”

Seeing that he wasn’t speaking, Ning Zhu found a way to make his escape, saying, “It’ll be a while before the report comes out. My car’s parked outside; I’m going in to rest for a bit. If you don’t have anything else to do, just get back to work.”

He waved his uninjured left hand at Dou Changxiao. Just as he turned to leave, he noticed the other man’s hand—which had been hanging at his side—lift up, as if to stop him.

“Changxiao?”

Someone behind him called out for Dou Changxiao’s help.

Ning Zhu paused briefly, then averted his gaze without looking back, and hurried out of the hospital.

He returned to the car. Old Zhao turned to him and asked, “Mr. Ning, are we heading back to the office now?”

“I’ll be a while yet.” Ning Zhu closed the car door. “Go find somewhere to eat first. Don’t just sit here waiting in the car.”

Old Zhao got out of the car as instructed.

After Old Zhao left, Ning Zhu sat in the backseat for a few minutes. Then, as if remembering something, he leaned forward from his seat and fished a small medicine box out of the car’s storage compartment.

Upon opening it, he found a spare suppressant he had stashed inside.

He took it out, tore off the outer packaging without hesitation, and slowly loaded the syringe. Ning Zhu raised his hand to loosen his neck brace, but eventually found it bothersome and simply took it off.

He struggled to brush a strand of stray hair from the back of his neck with his injured hand while the other hand prepared the syringe. Just as he was about to defiantly ignore his doctor’s orders, someone tapped lightly on the car window twice.

At first, Ning Zhu thought Old Zhao had returned, but when he turned to look, he saw an Alpha outside the car, one hand pressed against the roof, leaning in with some effort—though Ning Zhu could still only make out the other’s collarbone and neck. Still, it was enough for him to recognize the person.

Old Zhao had parked the car in a rather secluded spot, Ning Zhu thought; the guy must have been looking for a while.

He tossed the syringe into the storage compartment behind the front seat and slowly put his neck brace back on.

The car windows were one-way, so the person outside couldn’t be sure if he was inside. It took Ning Zhu a while to make these adjustments, and Dou Changxiao waited quietly the whole time.

Only then did Ning Zhu roll down the window.

Dou Changxiao withdrew his hand, stood up straight, and took a small step back to get a better look at the person inside.

Ning Zhu rested his right hand on the windowsill and, out of courtesy, leaned his head out slightly. “What’s up? I thought I heard someone calling you just now.”

Dou Changxiao: “Mm.”

“Sneaking out during your internship—aren’t you worried about your evaluation score?”

“……”

Ning Zhu laughed helplessly. “You’re asking about what happened that night at the nightclub, aren’t you? It’s been two months already. Why are you…”

“I’m not asking about that,” Dou Changxiao interrupted him softly.

“The deal you mentioned earlier—is it still on?”