If he slowed down any further, he wouldn’t catch the bus. Chen Ju gritted his teeth, clenched his fists, got up from the bed, and went to the bedroom.
His clothes were neatly folded in his bag and placed in the corner of the bedroom. By the time he changed his clothes, it was already 9:05. Chen Ju took out a board of pills from his bag, swallowed two pills with cold water, then changed his shoes, supported himself against the wall, and staggered towards the elevator.
Finally, he arrived in the security room. As soon as we entered the door, the square-faced uncle exclaimed and approached.
“Xiao Chen! What’s wrong with you? Your face looks terrible!”
Chen Ju pursed his lips, smiled reluctantly, and said, “It’s nothing. I think it’s just a cold. I’m not completely better yet.”
“That’s not good. You sit here, and I’ll go to my manager to request leave for you.” The square-faced uncle grabbed Chen Ju’s arm, and without a word, pulled him inside and made him sit in a chair.
“Uncle, you really don’t have to!” Seeing that the uncle was about to go out, Chen Ju hurriedly grabbed his sleeves and forced himself to muster some energy, saying, “I went to the hospital last night. The doctor said that as long as I take medicine, I’ll be fine.”
The uncle stared at Chen Ju for a while, sighed, rubbed Chen Ju’s hair, and said: “Alright, don’t run around today. If you feel uncomfortable, just let us know, okay?”
It had been many years since anyone had rubbed his hair like this. Chen Ju’s eyes were slightly hot. He lowered his head, nodded obediently, and said in a low voice: “Thank you, Uncle.”
The painkillers took effect, and although his body no longer felt pain, it was still sore and weak.
After resting in the security room for a while, Chen Ju followed the team to patrol the mall. Now, a distance that was once very short seems very far away. After patrolling one floor, Chen Ju’s back was covered in cold sweat. His steps were weak, and his vision alternated between blurry and clear. He stopped at the entrance of a store, wanting to take a short break.
Suddenly, two children ran over playing and making noise. Chen Ju’s ears buzzed, as if someone was calling him. He raised his head, and in his blurred vision, he could only see the square-faced uncle and the pointed-faced uncle running towards him.
The next moment, a little boy bumped into him. Chen Ju subconsciously wanted to reach out to help the little boy, but his body didn’t respond to his commands. He swayed and fell to the side, and his consciousness faded into darkness.
Chen Ju fainted, collapsing heavily to the ground. Suddenly, the surroundings became noisy.
“Chen Ju!” The square-faced uncle rushed over and helped Chen Ju up. “Hurry up and call for help!”
There was a lot of noise at the entrance to the store. The children were frightened and started crying loudly. Chen Ju’s face was as pale as paper. He lay motionless in the arms of the square-faced uncle, as if he had lost his life.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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“All right, I have a contact number here!” The manager remembered that he had saved Jiang Zhou’s number and dialed it immediately.
*****
The first thing Secretary Liu did when he entered the company was go to the office to sort out the documents on the desk. He opened the door, humming a tune as usual, but he saw someone who shouldn’t be here so early, Jiang Zhou.
“Boss, aren’t you not coming in the morning?” Secretary Liu looked surprised. Yesterday, Jiang Zhou somehow worked through the night until 2 or 3 in the morning to finish the work that was scheduled for the morning. He sent a text message saying he would come in the afternoon.
Jiang Zhou didn’t sleep all night. He closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. Even on the sofa, as soon as he fell asleep, he would dream of the man’s crying face.
” Tsk,” Jiang Zhou frowned and raised his eyes in displeasure, “It’s nothing. You can go out first. There’s no need to tidy up here.”
“Oh, okay.” Secretary Liu bowed out respectfully and closed the door gently behind him.
With the door closed, the office returned to its previous quietness, so quiet that he could faintly hear a man’s delicate sobbing. It seemed like the warm touch of the man’s body still lingered on his neck. Two thin and soft arms hugged him tightly, and tears had even trickled down his neck.
Jiang Zhou raised his hand unconsciously running his fingers over that patch of skin, as if the man’s tears were still there. Suddenly, the ringing of his cell phone interrupted his lingering thoughts. He put down his hand, frowning unhappily.
It was an unfamiliar number. Jiang Zhou hesitated for a few seconds, then pressed the answer button, speaking in a deep voice: “Hello, who is it?”
A stranger’s voice rang on the phone, sounding very anxious: “Hello, is this Young Master Jiang? We have met before. I am your brother’s manager. Something happened to Xiao Chen. Do you have time to come over now…”
Before the manager could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by Jiang Zhou. His face was gloomy and he raised his voice, saying: “What happened to him? Where is he now?”
“Xiao Chen fainted while patrolling the mall. We’re on our way to the central hospital now.” The manager hastily replied.
Jiang Zhou was stunned, then frowned, and said in a deep voice: “I know. Please take care of him for now. I’ll be there soon.”
Over the past couple of days, Jiang Zhou’s mood, for some unknown reason, was irritable. He would show his displeasure at trivial matters. This was something that had never been seen since he joined the company. Even if something bad happened in the past, Jiang Zhou would always solve it quickly and accurately with a smile, leaving no room for others to gossip. Consequently, throughout the company, there was not a single person who didn’t say Jiang Zhou was handsome and had a good temper.
Could it be because of Chen Ju? Secretary Liu was thinking when suddenly, the office door banged open, and Jiang Zhou walked out quickly.
“Boss, what happened?” Secretary Liu said hastily.
Jiang Zhou stopped, holding his mobile phone. He turned to look. At that moment, Secretary Liu was shocked by Jiang Zhou’s gaze. It was something he had never seen before, mixed with so many emotions that it was impossible to tell whether it was concern or something else.
“Take the key and come with me to the hospital.” Jiang Zhou said, then walked briskly towards the elevator.
Secretary Liu took the car key and hurriedly followed.
The car was speeding on the road, with Jiang Zhou leaning in the back seat, furrowing his brow, his face dark and somber. He stared out the window, and in his mind, he pictured the pale man curled up on the bed when he left.
He hadn’t expected that a man like this could still go to work.
As soon as the car arrived at the entrance of the hospital, Jiang Zhou opened the door and walked towards the hospital entrance. Secretary Liu watched Jiang Zhou’s back and surprisingly detected a hint of panic in it. He suddenly flashed the face of someone in his mind – could it be Mr. Chen? Apart from matters concerning Mr. Chen, he had never seen Jiang Zhou this anxious.
“Master Jiang! This way!” The manager stood at the end of the corridor with his mobile phone and waved to Jiang Zhou.
Jiang Zhou hung up the phone, walked over there, and asked, “Where is he?”
“The doctor just finished the examination; he’s in the ward now.” The manager said as he led Jiang Zhou to Chen Ju’s ward.
Just as he arrived at the door of the ward, Jiang Zhou stopped in his tracks, frozen in place. Chen Ju was lying quietly on the hospital bed, his face as pale as paper, without a trace of blood. He just lay there peacefully, like a lifeless doll.
“Hey,” the manager lowered his voice and said, “Xiao Chen, this kid has been working too hard. He didn’t look too these days at work. I suggested he take a break and rest, but he just refused. I never expected anything like this to happen today.”
Jiang Zhou didn’t speak. After checking the time, the manager handed Jiang Zhou the bag, saying, “I’ll be relieved to have you here. This is Xiao Chen’s bag. All his things are inside. Just persuade him to take a good rest these next few days. His health is the most important.”
“Well, thank you.” Jiang Zhou finally found his voice and took the bag.
After the manager left, Jiang Zhou walked into the ward step by step. The room was so quiet that the only sound was the man’s faint breathing. When he reached the bedside, he lowered his gaze to look at Chen Ju on the bed.
The man’s brows were furrowed tightly. Even in his sleep, his expression seemed very painful. Jiang Zhou placed the bag on the table beside him. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he reached out his hand and stroked the man’s hair that was soaked in cold sweat. There were too many unknown emotions surging in his dark eyes.
At this time, the door of the ward opened, and the nurse stood at the entrance, speaking in a low voice: “Are you the patient’s family member? We need to discuss the patient’s condition with you.”
“Yes, I’ll be right there.” Jiang Zhou retracted his hand and his eyes stayed on Chen Ju’s face for a moment before moving away. Then he got up and left the Ward.
“I have to tell you, as his older brother.” The doctor said in the doctor’s office with a serious expression, “the patient’s physical condition is severely malnourished, suffering from chronic anemia, gastritis, and various underlying health issues. He also has a low fever. If he hadn’t fainted today, there would have been a serious health crisis sooner or later! ”
Jiang Zhou frowned and immediately picked up a thick stack of medical reports. The data showed that, as the doctor said, the man’s health was in an extremely poor state.
The scene of that day in the rental room, with the steamed buns and plain boiled water, involuntarily came into his mind, causing a firm grip. It seemed that it was not just a one-time event; the man had been eating like that consistently.
“Moreover, what kind of work does the patient do? The report shows that his physical condition is not only due to malnutrition; it’s also because of excessive physical exertion.” The doctor continued.
“He is currently working in the security office of the shopping mall. The workload should not be that heavy.” Jiang Zhou suddenly stopped when he said this. He remembered something. That night in the bar when he saw Chen Ju, what was he wearing?
It seemed to be a black work uniform.
“In any case, the patient needs good rest and nutritional supplements now, otherwise his body will collapse quickly.” The doctor said seriously, “As an older brother, you should also pay more attention to your younger brother’s condition.”
Jiang Zhou lowered his gaze, clenching the medical report in his hand, and whispered: “I see.”
Coming out of the office, Secretary Liu came over to greet him. He held a mobile phone in his hand, walked up to Jiang Zhou and said: “Boss, I just went to Mr. Chen’s ward and heard his cell phone ringing. I answered it. It was a man’s call, telling Mr. Chen that he didn’t need to work at the bar tonight. Boss, should we ask what’s going on?”
Jiang Zhou didn’t respond. He took the phone directly and opened the address book. The first entry in the call history showed: Manager Yan.
A thought emerged in his mind.
Jiang Zhou tightened his grip on the phone and slowly closed his eyes. When he opened them again, his gaze was ice-cold.
“Go hire the best nutritionist.” Having said this, Jiang Zhou headed in the direction of the Ward.
*****
Thank you for reading🙇
Thank you for translating this.
Don’t you dare yell at him for pushing himself into this state, you scum. That’s the last thing he needs right now.
I wonder if Jiang Zhou will finally start changing his attitude because if he goes back to torturing Chen Ju I’m gonna lose it.
Thank you for the update!
Misunderstanding(s) starting to be uncovered , phew. Thanks for the update 😁
Ohoho, so you’ve finally opened your eyes Mr. Jiang. 😃 I wonder what that physical exertion could be, certainly not from a certain someone who lacks braincells, certainly not!
Little Orange needs to stop pushing himself so hard, hopefully with this he’ll relax