She mistakenly assumed that Cao Yin Qiong would be intimidated.
Instead, she was met with utter ruthlessness, as Cao spoke with an all-business demeanor, "This is a hospital."
"Only three types of people come here: patients, family members, and medical staff like us, engaged in a race against time to pull people back from the brink of death. Isn't that far more important than making money?"
Having said her piece, she leaned down to cover Wen Tang with the blanket, her words still directed at Lu Nianxin, "Young lady, this is a hospital; you must follow the hospital's rules."
The implication was clear, no one had begged her to come, and Lu Nianxin was left with a face turned livid with anger.
She raised her arm, intending to slap her, but then, she was startled by the crowd outside the door staring at her.
Especially when she saw that someone was recording a video.
She constantly reminded herself that she was a public figure and that taking care of one's image was an essential lesson for public figures.
With that in mind, she gritted her teeth and endured it.
"Brother He Yan, let's go!" Lu Nianxin quickly latched onto Pei Heyan's arm.
She continued to speak, "Since some people are ungrateful, we won't impose ourselves any longer, lest others mistake it for us being overeager."
Pei Heyan didn't move.
When she noticed this, Lu Nianxin exerted a little more force on his arm.
Pei Heyan then got up and left the ward.
Watching the man's indifferent silhouette disappear from view, Wen Tang withdrew her eyes, feeling neither hungry nor thirsty, even lacking any desire to eat.
Cao Yin Qiong observed this scene and, seeing that over half of the porridge in the bowl was left, said, "Eating is beneficial for recovery; try to eat as much as you can."
Wen Tang replied simply, "Thanks."
Cao Yin Qiong glanced at her.
Without saying anything more, she walked out of the ward.
Wen Tang lay in bed, staring at the ceiling for a long time.
She questioned herself repeatedly, wasn't this exactly what she had longed for?
No work, no need to curry favor, no need to deal with interpersonal relationships—the only requirement was to recover her health.
She should feel happy, yet why couldn't she? Or was the reality too disappointing?
Thinking of Wen Lan's heartlessness, her heart abruptly ached.
Then, looking at the relatives who passed by the door back and forth, not a single one of them was here to visit her.
She felt like an abandoned puppy or kitten, trying to catch a glimpse of Pei Heyan at the door.
Hoping and waiting, she waited until the sunset glow and nightfall, but the person she wished to see never appeared.
Her heart grew colder, and the porridge lost its warmth.
She threw off the blankets to go to the restroom.
The pain made her cry out.
Barely managing to endure it, she got out of bed, but then walking became a problem.
Although each step lacked the sensation from the night before, as if bones were piercing into her flesh, the pain was as if someone was hammering away at her leg bones, causing her legs to tremble and refuse to move.
The pain even overpowered that of the palm wound, and this was noticed by Cao Yin Qiong, who had come for a ward round. She quickly put down the medical charts in her hand and rushed forward to help.
She said, "In your condition, you should call your family to take care of you."
"If the family really can't make it, they could take turns."
Wen Tang hung her head.
Cao Yin Qiong took the hint and did not press further.
Family matters were often complicated and indistinct; she had seen enough of such cases in the hospital.
She kindly advised, "Alternatively, you could hire a caregiver."
"If you don't have someone to look after you with your leg injury, it will be quite a while before you can hope to recover."
Wen Tang furrowed her brow.
Cao Yinqiong escorted her to the restroom door.
Thinking that Cao Yinqiong had left when she came back out,
She looked up and was surprised to see her again.
"What are you dawdling for? I still need to go check on other rooms," she said with a cold facade but a warm heart.
Wen Tang smiled understandingly and lay back down on the bed with Cao Yinqiong's help.
She was considering whether to accept Cao Yinqiong's suggestion of hiring a caregiver.
After rough calculations, even without a twenty-four-hour caregiver on standby in Qing City, it would cost at least thirty to forty thousand.
She reached for her cellphone on the nightstand.
Looking at her bank balance, the idea began to dissipate.
But the pain in her leg was very real, and she was afraid it would interfere with her work.
She put down her cellphone and fell into a dilemma again.
As she thought about it, drowsiness crept in, and her eyelids grew heavy.
Just as she was drifting off, the sound of her cellphone ringing triggered an immediate reflex, and she swiped the screen to answer the call from under her pillow.
"Hello."
The other end fell silent for a second or two, giving her a sudden sense of satisfaction.
Pei Heyan must be feeling sorry for her; he didn't come, but he called.
Wen Tang's eyes gradually brimmed with a trace of amusement, and she no longer stubbornly hoped to catch a glimpse of Pei Heyan at the door of the hospital room.
The man's steady voice came through the phone.
"Since you didn't come to the office today, have you followed up with the Zhang Group's partnership?"
A bit of the smile on Wen Tang's face faded.
"And the Guo Group, have you delegated their partnership to someone else? Who is now responsible for dealing with the Guo Group?"
The smile in Wen Tang's eyes completely disappeared, and her cellphone slipped from her ear; her body felt like it had plunged into an ice cavern, unable to warm up.
But she knew well that for Pei Heyan, his career always came first.
She dutifully responded one by one.
"Today, I spoke with the head of the Zhang Group. Their department will send someone to follow up at the offline factory. Our company also needs to send someone; I've contacted Xiao Tang to arrange for Anna and someone from the Zhang Group to go over there together."
Wen Tang then reported on the other inherited partnerships, and Pei Heyan hung up the phone.
Without a moment's hesitation.
Beep beep beep—
The sound echoed in Wen Tang's ears, and her heart chilled again, not bothering to fiddle with the cellphone.
She wasn't even aware of when she fell asleep, only knowing that when she awoke, a new patient had already been admitted to the bed next door.
Sitting beside them, the patient's family member was feeding them but with hostility in their eyes.
This caused Wen Tang's friendly gaze to turn a bit more severe.
She wondered if she was being too sensitive.
Without dwelling on it, she attempted to get up and head to the restroom.
The nurse came in with her medication: "You're awake."
Seeing Wen Tang's struggle, she stepped forward to lend a hand.
Before leaving, she didn't forget to remind Wen Tang to take her medication.
She quickly bit down on something and then swallowed the medicine with water.
Thinking to rest a bit longer, she heard the family member in the next bed grumble, "It's such bad luck, of all rooms to be assigned, why this one? I'm really worried our daughter will be affected."
The man beside her gave his wife a meaningful look, "You complain about there being no beds when they're all full. Now that we finally got a bed, you criticize the hospital's arrangements. It's always something with you."