Chapter 208: It's Over?
Chapter 208: It's Over?
On the day of Donglai Corporation’s scandal, Cheng Xi began her day by waiting for Ceng Xing at the bus stop. She didn’t expect that a man like him would be so prone to carsickness. When he got off of the bus, she even had to support him while he staggered toward the trash can on the side of the road before vomiting loudly and distressingly into it.
When he was finished, Cheng Xi handed him a bottle of clean water for him to rinse his mouth and then a wet cloth for him to wash his face.
As Ceng Xing took the cloth, he hesitated for a moment as he glanced at her. “This is the nicest that you’ve ever been to me, isn’t it?”
Cheng Xi smiled as she responded, “That’s not true. I’ve always been good to you, senior. It’s only you who’s nitpicked at me.”
She even called him “senior” in a particularly warm manner.
Ceng Xing felt his teeth ache from the hypocrisy. “Alright, alright, I’m already here. I won’t turn back and go home even if I end up vomiting to death on this road.”
Cheng Xi chuckled before changing the topic. “I’ve never seen you be carsick before.”
“Haven’t you heard that drivers don’t get carsick? That’s why I always drive myself around .” After Ceng Xing finished vomiting, he looked hale and hearty once again. Cheng Xi helped him carry his suitcases as he walked behind her like a young master and even impolitely ordered her to open the door.
Cheng Xi obediently gave him her car keys.
There weren’t many fancy cars in Gansu, but Cheng Xi’s car was coincidentally parked right next to a Mercedes-Benz. After Ceng Xing received the car keys from Cheng Xi, he walked over to the Mercedes-Benz without thinking; he was still muddle-headed from vomiting, and he didn’t notice which car had beeped in response to the keys. He pulled on the door of the Mercedes-Benz, but… it wouldn’t open.
He turned around only to see Cheng Xi standing by the dinky little car behind him. He involuntarily clutched his forehead as he complained weakly, “...this is the new car that you bought?”
Cheng Xi patted the car door lovingly. “That’s right. He’s quite full of character, isn’t he?”
Ceng Xing shot her a pretentious look. “It looks so dinky that I don’t even want to drive it.”
Cheng Xi replied, “You shouldn’t be so concerned about mere worldly possessions, don’t you think?”
“Money’s also a mere worldly possession. Do you want to give your money to me?”
The two bickered with each other back and forth as they made their way to the hospital. Cheng Xi navigated while Ceng Xing drove, a rare moment of cooperation for the two of them. Honestly, Cheng Xi was very surprised that Ceng Xing had volunteered to come to Gansu. He was a man who enjoyed hedonistic pleasures, so the fact that he’d apply to be reassigned to Gansu of his own accord was almost as shocking as the sun rising from the West.
Cheng Xi was honestly worried that he wouldn’t be able to last here for long. So when they arrived at the hospital and she started introducing everything to him, she only mentioned the upsides. “Do you see that building? It was built by the government for the express purpose of being our organization’s headquarters. Of course, the psychiatry department will also move into it, and in order to accomodate all the doctors that will be volunteering, the hospital also gave us that building over there. It’s currently being renovated, and I’m sure that it’ll be ready by the time everyone arrives……”
Cheng Xi blabbered on about a whole bunch of meaningless nonsense until Ceng Xing couldn’t help himself from asking, “Did you drag me all the way here just to boast about your new working environment?”
Cheng Xi was actually a little comforted when her senior seemed to return to his usual prickly self.
Cheng Xi rubbed her hands together and smiled happily. “Aren’t I acting like this because I’m afraid that you’ll run away? I have to show you the good side of everything first.”
Cheng Xi’s response cleared the mocking expression from Ceng Xing’s face. “You must have had a pretty hard time here, huh?”
“I’m fine,” Cheng Xi replied with a smile, “As you know, I really don’t care about material comforts. Rather, I’m more worried that there will be too many patients for us to handle. We only have a limited number of medical personnel, so I’m praying that more people like you, senior, will come over and help out.” After she said this, she patted her hands before continuing on to say, “Alright, I’ve finished describing our bright and beautiful future, and now we have to face the dismal present. Let’s go visit our current rooms and patients.”
The organization had long started working, and the county’s hospital had been temporarily designated as their main focal point. It had taken in quite a number of patients over the past few months, and everyone in the psychiatry department, even the head, was flying all over the province and providing free therapy and counselling sessions. Work was piled up high on everyone’s plates, particularly Cheng Xi’s.
After Cheng Xi finished describing the current situation to Ceng Xing, she threw a doctor’s white coat at him and smiled particularly deviously as she said, “Alright, we’ll postpone the welcoming dinner. Let’s get to work right away.”
Ceng Xing was speechless at Cheng Xi’s shamelessness. “……”
But he nonetheless still took the coat and followed Cheng Xi to the hospital wards.
In this high pressure environment, it was reasonable that Cheng Xi didn’t hear about Donglai Corporation’s scandal right away. She turned her phone off as soon as she entered the wards, and she didn’t remember to turn it back on until she was finally done with work for the day.
By the time Cheng Xi and Ceng Xing finished, it was already past eight at night. She called two colleagues to get supper together, and while everyone was ordering food, Ceng Xing suddenly asked her, “Where’s your phone?”
Cheng Xi fished it out from her bag. “It’s not on. What’s the problem?”
Ceng Xing lazily gestured towards it with his jaw. “Turn it on and you’ll see.”
She did so, and a whole bunch of notifications immediately popped up, all of them missed calls and texts. Just a cursory look revealed that there were calls from her family, her classmates, her colleagues, and even Baldy.
She picked the most unusual one to call back: Baldy—under normal circumstances, Baldy wouldn’t call her for no reason. His call undoubtedly meant that something had happened with Lu Chenzhou.
As soon as Baldy picked up, he said, “Dr. Cheng, something’s happened with Donglai Pharmaceuticals. If you’re free, can you come back home for a little? I know that this must be an unreasonable request, but you’re the person who Boss Lu cares for and trusts the most. If you could come back now……”
It was rare to hear Baldy speak so politely, but Cheng Xi had to interrupt before the conversation derailed too much. “What happened with Donglai Pharmaceuticals?”
“You don’t know?”
“Oh, sorry. I was busy the entire day.”
“I’ll send you a link. You can see for yourself.” After he said this, Baldy hung up and sent her a link to a news article. Cheng Xi only had time to look at the heading—Donglai Pharmaceutical Allegedly Made False Vaccines; Investigations Pending—when Cheng Yang’s call arrived.
Cheng Yang must have called her quite a few times, because as soon as it connected, the first thing he shouted was, “What in the world are you doing? Your phone’s been off the entire night! You might as well smash it!” He didn’t even give her time to respond before continuing to shout, “Donglai’s about to go belly up! Lu Chenzhou is probably in deep shit right now. Look at what’s going on!”
And then he also sent her another link. This one was a video; when Cheng Xi saw Lu Chenzhou’s face on the thumbnail, she disregarded how much data it would use up and immediately pressed the “play” button.
Ceng Xing and her two colleagues crowded around her.
The blurred out background couldn’t be discerned from the video, and Cheng Xi wasn’t focused on the background but rather on Lu Chenzhou. That man stared so frostily at the camera that he felt colder than a piece of ancient arctic ice. Even his voice was cold and hard. “I’m sorry. Before the investigation is over, I can still sue you for libel.”
His overbearing arrogance, as if he were looking down at a speck of dust, made Cheng Xi involuntarily clutch her face.
Even Cheng Xi’s colleagues, who didn’t know about Lu Chenzhou at all, couldn’t refrain from commenting, “My goodness, who’s this? If he talks like this during an interview, he’s going to get beaten to death, isn’t he?”
Cheng Xi didn’t have any words to refute them with.