Looking at the clock on the wall, it was already past nine o’clock. Jiang Zhou was still reading there. Chen Ju licked his lips, gripped the blanket tightly, and said cautiously: “Jiang Zhou, it’s late. You should go back. I’m not alone, it’s fine.”
Jiang Zhou continued reading, without raising his head, and said coldly: “If you know it’s so late, just let me sleep.”
“Oh,” Chen Ju paused for a few seconds and then asked, “Jiang Zhou, aren’t you going to sleep?”
This time, Jiang Zhou looked up, narrowing his eyes and raising an eyebrow. “Are you inviting me?”
Chen Ju was stunned, and after a moment, his cheeks burst into red instantly, stuttering: “No, it’s not …”
But Jiang Zhou didn’t wait for him to finish his explanation. He closed the book, stood up, and walked towards the bedside.
“If you want to sleep together, don’t beat around the bush.” Jiang Zhou loosened his tie, took off his suit jacket, lifted the quilt, and said, “Move over there a bit.”
Seeing Jiang Zhou approaching, Chen Ju hastily shifted towards the edge of the bed. Suddenly, a large hand covered his waist. Jiang Zhou squeezed into the blanket and pulled him closer, and grumbled: “Want to fall off? How foolish.”
The single bed was crammed full. Chen Ju was lying stiff as a board, not daring to move an inch. Jiang Zhou was asleep beside him, his arm draped over Chen Ju’s waist and his chin resting on top of Chen Ju’s head, trapping him securely in his embrace.
This position was too close; he could even hear Jiang Zhou’s heartbeat through the thin fabric, and certainly, Jiang Zhou could hear his heartbeat as well.
Chen Ju realised that any movement, let alone making a phone call, would be noticed.
Jiang Zhou seemed very sleepy. He fell asleep in less than a few minutes. His gentle breath sounded above his head. Chen Ju paused, then carefully lifted his head to see Jiang Zhou with a bowed head, eyes closed, the raven-black lashes quivering slightly with his breath, akin to the wings of a butterfly.
Even in sleep, the man’s brows were furrowed. Chen Ju extended a finger gently tapping Jiang Zhou’s brows. The next second, his wrist was seized, and Chen Ju shut his eyes in fright. However, Jiang Zhou did not awaken, murmuring “stop fussing” and pulling Chen Ju closer into his embrace.
Feeling like a giant pillow, Chen Ju found the warmth comforting. It had been a long time since he experienced such warmth.
As his eyelids gradually became heavy, his tense body relaxed. Clutching Jiang Zhou’s clothing, Chen Ju fell asleep unknowingly.
After an unknown amount of time, Chen Ju suddenly woke up. Oh no, how did he fall asleep? He hadn’t called the manager to ask for leave yet.
The clock on the wall showed half-past ten, with half an hour left until work started. Chen Ju glanced at Jiang Zhou, who was still sleeping soundly, gritted his teeth, and attempted to gently free Jiang Zhou’s hand from his waist.
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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Putting on his shoes and grabbing his mobile phone from the bag, Chen Ju tiptoed out of the ward. There was no one in the corridor at the moment. When he reached a corner, he stopped and dialed Yan Qiu’s number.
“Taking leave?” Yan Qiu on the phone sounded confused. “I told your friend to inform you not to come these two days. Didn’t he tell you?”
“Ah? Was that an uncle who answered the phone?” Chen Ju asked.
“No, a young man. What’s wrong?” Hearing Yan Qiu’s response, Chen Ju’s heart skipped a beat. A young man? It couldn’t be a coincidence.
“It’s nothing. Boss, you are busy. I won’t bother you.” After hanging up the phone, Chen Ju stared at the phone screen and tried to move his not-so-bright mind into action.
It shouldn’t be Jiang Zhou who picked it up. If he were, he would surely have asked.
After repeatedly comforting himself, Chen Ju took back his phone and turned to head back to the ward. But as soon as he turned around, he saw Jiang Zhou, who should have been lying in bed asleep, standing by the window behind him. For Chen Ju, this was a huge shock, even more frightening than seeing a ghost.
“Ah … oh!” Chen Ju quickly covered his mouth, suppressing the frightened voice. His eyes widened.
When did Jiang Zhou come over? Why was there no movement at all?
Jiang Zhou walked forward casually, took Chen Ju’s cell phone naturally, glanced at the call history, and asked, “Who is this Manager Yan?”
“He’s from the bar…” Chen Ju stopped mid-sentence, not daring to continue.
“So you’ve been working at the bar?” Jiang Zhou said calmly.
Chen Ju, like a primary school student who made a mistake, lowered his head and nodded obediently.
Jiang Zhou continued: “You work at the bar at night, and still have time for the mall during the day?”
“Yes.” Chen Ju replied in a small voice.
“How do you manage your schedule?” Jiang Zhou questioned each aspect, like a teacher checking homework.
“The work is quite easy. I just carry trays, and then, get off work,” Chen Ju shook a relaxed smile. “Then I can sleep for two hours. The work in the mall is also comfortable. The colleagues are nice, and at noon, we even get boxed meals, quite filling~”
Jiang Zhou remained silent, staring straight at Chen Ju. His eyes seemed to conceal something, but Chen Ju couldn’t figure out what it was.
The burning gaze made Chen Ju’s smile stiffen. Eventually, he dropped the corners of his mouth, the Adam’s apple moving up and down. From his dry throat, he uttered pale and weak words: “Really, not tired at all.”
“At what time do you start your shift at the bar?” Jiang Zhou asked. His voice was cold and devoid of emotion.
Chen Ju held his clothes tightly and whispered, “Eleven o’clock.”
“What time do you get off work?”
“Six o’clock in the morning,” Chen Ju added. “I can sleep for another two hours in between.”
Jiang Zhou didn’t care about his supplement and continued: “How much per month?”
Chen Ju felt his throat dry, paused, and said, “… six thousand.”
Jiang Zhou frowned slightly: “What about the security job? How much is the salary?”
“Two thousand five.” Chen Ju clenched the hem of his clothes tightly. For some reason, warmth surged into his eyes, making his vision blurry. He didn’t want to reveal his affairs like this, but in fact, it wasn’t a big deal, not tiring at all, really.
“For 8,500, you’re working hard like this?” Jiang Zhou finished, and saw Chen Ju lowered his head. His shoulders trembled slightly. Frowning, Jiang Zhou reached out and pinched the man’s chin, forcing him to raise his head.
Caught off guard and lifted by the face, Chen Ju opened his eyes wide in shock. The rims of his eyes and the tip of his nose were reddened. Tears cascaded down, making him look extremely pitiful.
Jiang Zhou stopped. When he was stunned, Chen Ju took a step back, breaking free from Jiang Zhou’s grip. He wiped tears from his face with his sleeves. He didn’t know why there were tears. His chest was stuffy and painful, as if something sharp was pressing against it. Tears kept flowing uncontrollably, and no matter how much he wiped, it was never enough.
His wrist was suddenly grabbed, and Jiang Zhou’s impatient voice sounded: “Stop wiping, it’s all red.”
In the blurred vision, Chen Ju couldn’t make out the expression on Jiang Zhou’s face. Despite wanting to hold back tears, it was futile. It felt as though a clump of cotton was lodged in his throat, leaving him unable to speak a single word.
Jiang Zhou didn’t say anything, but took his wrist and walked towards the ward.
Chen Ju sat on the hospital bed, tears still falling and his body twitching.
“I’m sorry,” he could finally make a sound in his throat. The urge to cry was not as strong as before. Chen Ju apologized habitually, “I, I don’t know why, the tears just fell down by themselves…”
Jiang Zhou remained silent, poured a cup of hot water and handed it to Chen Ju. Chen Ju took the cup and felt its warmth envelope his palms. His eyes started to feel warm again. Tilting his head back, he gulped down the water in one go.
“I don’t care what job you do,” Jiang Zhou said in a cold tone, “but during the contract period, I don’t want you to ruin your health because of work. There are important occasions ahead that require your cooperation.”
Chen Ju held the still-warm cup with both hands, having just replenished his fluids, when tears began to fall again. This time, however, they trickled down slowly, under his control. He wanted to wipe them with his sleeves, but his wrist was caught again. Looking up, he saw Jiang Zhou, who drew a tissue, head bowed and brows slightly furrowed, gently wiping away the tears for him.
“I’ve resigned from both the security and bar jobs,” Jiang Zhou said. “I’ll find a new job for you. Work hard; the salary will be higher than these two.”
“But……”
“There’s no ‘but.’ I’m tired, going to sleep.” Jiang Zhou took away the water glass in Chen Ju’s hand, supported the man’s armpit, like a kitten. He placed the person on the bed, lifted the quilt, crawled in, and with strong arms, embraced Chen Ju. One leg rested on Chen Ju’s feet, completely encircling him. “Don’t go out like that earlier. I can’t sleep without you.”
After Jiang Zhou said such incomprehensible words, he closed his eyes and lay in such a warm embrace again. Chen Ju’s uncontrollable tears miraculously stopped, and the originally stifled feeling in his chest seemed to be soothed by something gentle.
He raised his head. In a short period of time, Jiang Zhou actually fell asleep again. Chen Ju’s head was a mess. Too many things happened at one time, plus she cried a lot. The last bit of energy in his body was gone, and fatigue washed over him like a tide. Chen Ju closed his eyes, peacefully entering the realm of dreams.
After two days of recuperation, Chen Ju recovered a little and was discharged from the hospital. The person who came to pick him up was Secretary Liu. Jiang Zhou had not been seen during these days. But every night, he always arrived on time to sleep, treating Chen Ju like a human-shaped pillow.
Returning to his residence and finishing the pork rib soup brought by Secretary Liu, his cell phone suddenly rang. It was Li Qing calling, and he pressed to answer.
“I heard from Yan Qiu that you resigned? What’s going on?” Li Qing asked worriedly from the other end of the phone.
“It’s okay. I just found another job. With a guilty conscience, Chen Ju said, “The salary is higher.”. He was not good at lying. If Li Qing were in front of him, he would definitely be able to see through it at a glance. This was also the reason he had been finding excuses to avoid meeting Li Qing for the past two days.
Li Qing hesitated for a few seconds on the other end of the line before speaking up: “You weren’t deceived, were you?”
*****
Thank you for reading🙇
Thanks for the chapter!! 🩷💖
Huzzah, another chapter! I love this story.
Li Qing you must save our baby
“For 8,500, you’re working hard like this?” DUDES GOT A POINT, why are you hustling for so little money?
“How do you manage you’re schedule?” Jiang Zhou questioned
Chen Ju: what schedule
“For 8,500, you’re working hard like this?” DUDES GOT A POINT, why are you hustling for so little money?
“How do you manage you’re schedule?” Jiang Zhou questioned
Chen Ju: what schedule
“For 8,500, you’re working hard like this?” DUDES GOT A POINT, why are you hustling for so little money?
“How do you manage you’re schedule?” Jiang Zhou questioned
Chen Ju: what schedule