A clean, white piece of handkerchief was passed to her right in front of her eyes.
She recomposed herself and lifted her eyes to look right into Zhang Fan's caring but resigned-looking ones.
"Use this to wipe your tears."
Yu Lili took his hankie and got up real quick. She looked away and used the hankie to block half of her face. She did not want her colleagues to catch her in her awkward moment.
"Pretend that you didn't see what happened earlier."
With that, she walked away, the "di da di da" sound of her stilettos reverberating along the corridor.
This was her final shred of pride.
...
Half an hour later, Jiang Beiyuan was finished with his operation and returned to the lounge.
Xu Kuangjie was sipping the black coffee on his table, the bitterness of which was enough to make him wrinkle his eyebrows until they're like two walnuts.
"Bah bah, what is this? Why is it so bitter?!"
This lad had never been able to withstand bitter food since he was young.
Jiang Beiyuan ignored him, poured himself a glass of water, and then sat on the sofa with his feet propped up.
His regalness would usually surface after he'd finished an operation. He would rather sit than stand, and even the corner of his eyes seemed to droop lazily like a hanging willow branch.
His buddy was intrigued by something on his legs. He could see a rim of white, which was his sock, around the black leather shoe that he was wearing on one leg. There was a little pink heart at the edge of the sock.
That made him burst out in gleeful laughter.
"Why are you wearing white socks? And with such cheesy design on top of that? Hahahahaha!"
He turned his sharp glare toward his friend and gave a simple, curt retort. "My parents' daughter-in-law bought it."
The moment he heard that being uttered, Xu Kuangjie immediately retracted his sniggle. Trying to act prim and proper, he nodded in acquiescence. "… Oh."
"Oh, right. I saw your wife when I was here earlier. She ignored me when I greeted her. She didn't look happy. It seemed like she was pissed."
The man immediately put away his nonchalant demeanor when he heard that.
His legs were back on the floor.
"When did you see her?"
"I think… it's about half an hour ago."
He burst out in a rare display of anger. In a confrontational manner, he told his buddy off. "Why didn't you say so earlier?!"
"You didn't ask!"
His yelling startled his friend. Does he only have eyes for his wife and nothing for his buddy here anymore?
Who was the one who accompanied him to England for his studies in the first place!
Without saying another word, Jiang Beiyuan picked up his coat on the table and turned to leave.
Xu Kuangjie was rendered speechless and could only go after the departing man. "Jiang Beiyuan, come back! I got something important to discuss with you! Hey, Jiang Beiyuan—"
Alas, the man had walked far and away by now.
His buddy clutched his hair in grave agitation!
His own problem was serious, alright?!
...
At the florist.
He Huaiguang had pulled the curtains open in order to display the string-of-pearls on the window ledge.
Bam—
A crisp slap dropped on the back of his palm immediately.
Looking stern, Yan Nian seemed to have puffed cheeks as she told him off. "Haven't I told you not to expose the string-of-pearls to heat? Putting this under the sunlight is gonna kill it!"
He rubbed the back of his palm and replied while smiling, not at all bothered by her telling-off, "I understand. I'll be careful next time."
She snorted in reply without another word. Today, she did not look pleased at all.
Since the afternoon, he had noticed her angry demeanor. When she returned to the shop earlier in the afternoon, she had dumped an exquisite box of desserts straight into the rubbish bin without any explanation.
She was fine in the morning, so what has happened?
"Yan Xiaonian, who has antagonized you? Let me teach that person a lesson!"
Dipping her head low, she concentrated on trimming the branches of a plant and replied stiffly, "I'm fine. Why did you say that I'm angry?"
Er…
He could tell very clearly that she was upset.
But he dared not say that aloud.
He could see that she almost reduced a perfectly beautiful red rose into a trimmed waste.
He decided to walk over and snatched the scissors from her hand, worried that she might just hurt herself.
"What happened to you? Did something terrible happen?"
"It's none of your business. Return my scissors—"
He refused and held his hand up high with the scissors in mid-air.
She tried to retrieve it by standing on tip-toe, but unfortunately, the great difference in their heights made it a poor attempt on her part.
And this was the scene Jiang Beiyuan caught sight of as he stepped through the door: He Huaiguang was openly flirting with his wife.
With his furrowed, elongated brows and frosty expression, he called out brashly, "Niannian!"