Cao Yinqiong caught her hesitation and spoke unhurriedly, "Aunt Zhang joined the caregiving industry last year. Many people who hire caregivers prefer those with four to five years of experience. As a result, Aunt Zhang's options became limited, so I thought of you."
Wen Tang looked at the middle-aged woman in front of her.
The woman smiled at her, clearly someone who was adept at her work.
Cao Yinqiong continued, "Don't underestimate Aunt Zhang because of her short time in the industry. When she was young, she had been an accompanying doctor. I've explained your leg injury to her repeatedly. She's definitely not inferior to those who've been working for over five years. And don't worry about the money."
"Aunt Zhang is someone I found for you."
A glint sparkled in Wen Tang's eyes as she looked at Cao Yinqiong.
For a moment, she didn't know how to properly express her gratitude.
As she opened her mouth to speak, Cao Yinqiong stepped forward and patted her shoulder, "Take good care of yourself."
After those words, she exited the hospital room.
Wen Tang's heart warmed, and Aunt Zhang quickly poured her a glass of water and handed it to her, "Look at how dry your lips are. I know it's inconvenient for you to go to the restroom, but now that I'm here, drink water whenever you want without worrying about convenience."
Wen Tang held the cup and smiled knowingly.
It also alleviated the tension caused by the debt collectors.
The next day, she opened her eyes to see a nurse conversing with Aunt Zhang.
Wen Tang couldn't help but cough twice, prompting Aunt Zhang to immediately come over and gently pat her back to ease it.
The nurse approached and said, "Miss Wen, the surgery is scheduled in an hour. When the time comes, we will take you to the operating room. Please be mentally prepared."
Wen Tang nodded slightly in acknowledgment.
Aunt Zhang saw the nurse out.
Wen Tang's gaze drifted towards the outside of the hospital room, not knowing what she was waiting for. Even though she knew Pei Heyan wouldn't come, she still harbored that expectation.
Aunt Zhang came back, noticing Wen Tang's distracted look. She sat down next to her and asked, "Miss Wen, is something wrong?"
Wen Tang snapped back to reality and forced a strained smile on her face, "No."
It was just an inexplicable sense of loss.
Her mood starkly contrasted with the clear sky outside.
"That's good," Aunt Zhang explained carefully, "That nurse just came by and told me you can't have breakfast now. You must wait until after the surgery, and then I'll prepare some porridge for you."
Wen Tang wanted to express her gratitude again, but felt that since yesterday, she had thanked Aunt Zhang so many times that even she felt it was becoming impersonal, so she forcibly adopted an attitude of it being the proper thing to do and agreed.
However, it still felt unusual.
No one had ever shown her such meticulous care.
Thus, the friends around her were neither too distant nor too intimate; she always felt a barrier between them.
"We'll settle on that then, I'll go get some water," Aunt Zhang stood up and left the hospital room with the hot water bottle.
Wen Tang lay quietly in the bed, waiting.
Every time her phone rang, she hurried to pick it up.
Seeing that it wasn't a message from Pei Heyan, the disappointment was visible in her eyes.
Until the nurse came to prepare her for the operating room, she hadn't seen that familiar figure.
Despondent and hopeless.
Only Aunt Zhang stood outside the operating room, eagerly waiting.
An hour later.
The operating room lights went out.
Cao Yinqiong walked out, removing her face mask.
Aunt Zhang hurried over and asked, "Doctor Cao, how is Miss Wen doing?"
Cao Yinqiong wiped her sweat and replied, "The surgery was a piece of cake, but her injuries were quite severe. She was much stronger throughout the process than I had anticipated."
After this, she added as she was about to change clothes, "I forgot to mention that the surgery was very successful. She should wake up in about twenty minutes. It's normal for her to sleep a bit longer as her body is weak."
Aunt Zhang watched her leave and then followed her to the patient's room.
Seeing Wen Tang's pale face, she couldn't help feeling a pang of heartache.
Except for going out to buy some porridge, she stayed by the bedside without leaving.
Just as she was about to stand up and go to the restroom, she heard Wen Tang's heavy breathing.
Not wanting to wake her, she consciously turned down the volume of the TV.
The next second, she heard a painful sound coming from Wen Tang's side.
Looking down, she saw that Wen Tang had woken up.
She hurriedly brought the porridge to Wen Tang and fed it to her.
Wen Tang disliked the feeling of being taken care of, feeling somewhat awkward. She took the spoon from Aunt Zhang's hand and said, "I'll do it myself."
Aunt Zhang didn't stop her, took a phone call, and hurriedly left after telling Wen Tang.
Wen Tang didn't ask much and continued to eat the fragrant, sticky white porridge by herself.
It soothed her stomach considerably.
She looked up at the news conference on the TV screen, initially interested in some business and political affairs.
But then she saw Pei Heyan.
Dressed in a suit, he stood on the stage facing journalists and the host, with a woman in a dazzling royal blue long dress standing beside him, shining like twinkling stars.
The two of them looked like a perfect match made in heaven, and it caused a sudden ache in her heart.
The white porridge lost its appeal, her appetite vanished, and the warmth in her body from the food turned cold again.
She turned off the TV and lay down, her mind uncontrollably recalling her past with Pei Heyan.
In the office, on the couch, in the car, in the residence Pei Heyan had arranged for her—memories of him were everywhere.
It was heart-breaking, and there was nothing she could do.
Because she was just a 24-hour, on-call personal secretary. In front of Pei Heyan, she couldn't even utter a word of refusal.
Knock, knock, knock—
The sound of knocking interrupted Wen Tang's thoughts.
She looked towards the sound and saw two police officers in professional attire at the door. Wen Tang's heart sank, her first thought was that Wen Lan had gotten into trouble.
And it had escalated to the police station.
"Hello, are you Miss Wen?" the male officer approached the bedside.
Wen Tang nodded, "Yes."
The officer continued, "Did you make the police report yesterday?"
Wen Tang sighed inwardly with relief, and did not deny it.
"The situation is this: after receiving your report, we immediately launched an investigation and based on the clues you provided, we went to the scene to verify. However, we did not see the madman you mentioned, nor the group involved in usury, nor did we see any sign of your mother, nor was there any evidence of kidnapping for ransom."
The officer continued seriously, "Therefore, we have grounds to suspect you might have made a false report, misusing state resources for personal vendetta."
"We need you to cooperate with our investigation now."
Wen Tang was stunned; she hadn't made a false report.
These people were well-informed.
Or perhaps, they had taken precautionary measures before she even made the call, just in case.