Chapter 46 I Wish You Both a Lifetime Together

Shen Yu's unexpected address of "Mom and Dad" caught Elder Jiang and his wife off guard and completely shattered Jiang Changyuan's composure.

The doctors and nurses doing rounds with the attending physician were stunned, and Su Yingying was stunned as well. Only Su's mother maintained a relatively normal expression.

"Thank you for your trouble these past two days, Chief Shen. I feel much better today. Since your parents are here, I won't take up any more of your time."

"Aunt Wang, it's no trouble at all. Let me introduce you. This gentleman, Jiang Zhengguo, is my father-in-law."

"And this lady, Zhong Qing, is my mother-in-law. Am I right, Dad, Mom?"

Seeing Shen Yu's expression, which practically begged for praise, Elder Jiang and his wife felt rather awkward.

They could hardly admit that in order to please their son, they had specifically come to see Su Mother and, incidentally, to check on Shen Yu, could they?

"Er, yes. Xiao Yu, you're... exceptionally lively today."

"I'm just so happy to see Mom and Dad visiting!"

With that, Shen Yu shot an intentionally provocative glance at Jiang Changyuan.

Hmph, daring to speak ill of me behind my back!

Jiang Changyuan's eyelids twitched violently. Whenever Shen Yu was quietly plotting, she was making mischief; but when she made a grand spectacle of her mischief, she was definitely digging a trap and waiting for him to fall in.

"And this is Jiang Changyuan, Aunt Wang's daughter's classmate, and also my..."

Shen Yu looked at Jiang Changyuan playfully, her red lips parting slightly.

"Sister Yu!"

"Fiancé!"

Crash.

It sounded as though something had shattered. Su Yingying lowered her gaze abruptly when Shen Yu's eyes turned toward her.

On the contrary, the doctors and nurses had a gleam of pure gossip in their eyes. This was top-tier breaking news at Beining Hospital: Chief Shen had a fiancé!

Chief Shen wore two entirely different faces depending on whether she was dealing with her fiancé or outsiders!

"Shen Yu! Get out here with me!"

"Sorry, my little fiancé, I still have to do my rounds. I'll keep you company in a bit."

"Mom, Dad, I have to go to work. See you later?"

"Er, right, see you later."

Zhong Qing broke out in a cold sweat; right now, all she wanted was to go home.

Watching Jiang Changyuan's furious expression, Shen Yu clicked across the floor in her high heels with a proud air, internally thrilled to the point of squealing with delight.

Her revenge for being lectured for two days was finally complete. Utterly satisfying!

The farce came to an end. Elder Jiang and his wife found it too embarrassing to stay, so they abandoned their son and fled, leaving Jiang Changyuan behind to face the music alone.

"Aunt Wang, this is a small token of my parents' regards."

"Your parents left in such a hurry that I didn't even get a chance to thank them properly. Please help me pass along my gratitude when you get back, though it's really too extravagant."

"Aunt Wang is far too polite."

After the scene Shen Yu had just made, the atmosphere was as awkward as it could possibly be.

Su Yingying kept her head down in silence, peeling an apple with a vacant expression, her thoughts a complete mystery.

"Yingying? Yingying?"

"Ah?"

Startled back to her senses, Su Yingying accidentally sliced her finger, and beads of blood welled up instantly.

Just as Wang Hongfang was about to ask with concern, someone else beat her to it.

"Why are you so clumsy? You can even cut your own hand while peeling an apple. Truly a fool."

"I can do it myself."

Su Yingying pulled her hand back, rejecting Jiang Changyuan's concern.

She didn't know what was wrong with herself. Early that morning, she had held a small glimmer of anticipation for Jiang Changyuan's arrival, but now that he was here, she couldn't muster an ounce of happiness.

Silence fell over the room once more, and Wang Hongfang's gaze drifted back and forth between the two of them.

"Young Master Jiang..."

"Aunt Wang can just call me by my name."

"Right, classmate Xiao Jiang, would you mind helping Auntie fetch a thermos of hot water from the utility room?"

"Sure."

Sending Jiang Changyuan away, Wang Hongfang looked at Su Yingying with a solemn expression.

"Yingying, for the past two days, you've kept telling Mom about how much classmate Xiao Jiang has helped our family, and Mom is grateful too."

"But be honest with Mom, do you have feelings for classmate Xiao Jiang?"

"Mom, what are you talking about?"

Su Yingying's face flushed crimson, a mix of shyness and vexation.

"He and I are just classmates. If you keep saying things like that, I'm going to get angry."

"Really just classmates?"

Wang Hongfang pursued the question, still uneasy.

"Really! Mom, right now I just want your health to get better."

"So you can watch me take the college entrance exams in good health, and after I start working, I'll earn lots and lots of money to support you."

Su Yingying pressed her face against the back of her mother's hand, hiding the final trace of bewildered sorrow in the depths of her eyes.

"Our Yingying has always been the most sensible girl, which is why Mom constantly worries about you being wronged."

"Classmate Xiao Jiang is a young master from a wealthy family; he's not someone people like us can hope to match. You saw him and Chief Shen today..."

"Oh, Mom, I'm not talking to you anymore. I'm going to the nurses' station to ask when the surgery is scheduled."

Before Wang Hongfang could finish, Su Yingying jumped up and hurried out, leaving behind Wang Hongfang's unspoken, lingering worries.

Jiang Changyuan stood with his arms crossed, gazing into the distance, when suddenly someone tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around to see Su Yingying's smiling, pretty face.

"Finished whispering with your mom?"

Jiang Changyuan, why are you always so smart?"

"Being smart isn't necessarily a good thing. Life requires a bit of deliberate ignorance now and then."

"I don't get it. Am I really that stupid?"

Hearing this, Jiang Changyuan turned his head back, his gaze fixing steadily on the distressed Su Yingying.

Under his intense stare, Su Yingying tried to feign nonchalance at first, but within a few breaths, her face flushed red all over again.

"Why do you keep staring at me?"

"I was just thinking it's nice to see you like this. Being a little silly isn't bad either."

"Oh! You're calling me stupid again!"

A young girl's thoughts were always so easy to guess, everything written plainly on her face, and Jiang Changyuan couldn't help laughing.

"You, you, you, you're still laughing at me!"

"My, oh my, am I interrupting something?"

Shen Yu's tone was teasing, her mocking gaze shifting back and forth between the two of them.

At this, Su Yingying immediately dropped her girlish demeanor.

"Chief Shen."

"Mm, I'm just here to let you know your mother's surgery is scheduled for twenty past ten."

Hearing this, Su Yingying bowed her head in gratitude.

"Thank you, Chief Shen. Thank you for taking care of us these past two days, and thank you too, Jiang Changyuan."

"I wish the two of you a lifetime of happiness..."

"Who wants a lifetime of happiness with him/her?!"

Before she could finish, two identical voices shouted in unison.

Jiang Changyuan turned around and leaned against the window frame, looking utterly furious, glaring daggers at Shen Yu.

Shen Yu, looking equally furious with her arms crossed, glared right back at Jiang Changyuan as if he were her mortal enemy.

"Shen Yu, if you ever make that kind of joke again, I'm not playing along with your little acts."

"Jiang Changyuan, you still have the nerve to threaten me? If you hadn't gone and ratted me out, would I have been nagged for two days straight?"

"You were the first one to complain, so you deserved it."

"If you hadn't snitched, how would you even know I complained? You absolute baby!"

"Who are you calling a baby..."

The two of them began bickering relentlessly right there in the utility room, neither willing to yield an inch. Su Yingying watched in a daze, taking a moment before she remembered to try and break up the fight.

However, before she could even open her mouth to intervene, an angry voice bellowed from the hallway.

"Where is that dead bitch Wang Hongfang? Tell her to get out here!"

"Damn it, the paltry bit of money I make isn't even enough for me to spend, and she dares to get sick?"

In the corridor, a heavily bearded man reeking of alcohol kicked open the doors of the hospital rooms one by one, shouting abusively.

A nurse who tried to block him was shoved roughly to the side, while he continued his rampage, completely ignoring her warnings.

Inside the utility room, upon hearing that familiar voice, Su Yingying's pretty face instantly turned deathly pale, and her whole body began to tremble violently.