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Chapter 56: Chapter 56: Divert Trouble Eastward
Tong Yao carried the groceries to the kitchen and opened the bag to check the contents. Inside were green vegetables, potatoes, and pork. There was only a small piece of pork, which she guessed was because Si Chen didn’t want Li Nuanchun to buy too much, fearing she wouldn’t be able to finish it by herself. Seeing this, she thought that he wasn’t too bad of a man.
Of course, Tong Yao didn’t arrogantly believe that Si Chen treated her well because he liked her, she could guess that one of the reasons for his kindness was likely related to Tong Yaohui sponsoring her education.
And the second reason was that he wanted a divorce yet didn’t want to get a bad reputation.
Sigh!
Which era are we in now? The traditional mindsets of the older generations are being passed down to the next generation.
Tong Yao shook her head and sighed, then she made stir fried noodles with pork. It had been a long time since she had cooked and she accidentally made too much. Tong Yao hesitated for a moment and then decided to bring a portion to Si Chen. She quickly ate a bowl of noodles to fill her stomach and then filled a lunch box to the brim.
When she got to the staircase, Li Nuanchun, who had just returned from the bathroom, saw her carrying a lunch box and enthusiastically greeted her.
"Hey, are you delivering food to Dr. Si?"
Tong Yao blinked and posed like a dutiful wife, "He is on duty today, so I made some stir fried noodles to bring to him."
Upon hearing this, Li Nuanchun urged her, "You better go quickly then! The noodles won’t taste good once they get soggy."
"Then, I’ll go first."
Tong Yao took the box of food and went downstairs.
Chen Yanmei, alerted by the noise, came out of her room just in time to see Tong Yao going downstairs. She made a sarcastic remark, "It’s nearly night time, and she’s still going out. She’s clearly not an honest woman. Look at the others in the hospital family quarters, none of them dress in such a seductive manner. Even Meiyu, who’s a teacher, doesn’t dress as seductively as her. And on Dr. Yu’s birthday, her lips were painted red as if she had just eaten a child. She’s not afraid to frighten someone to death."
"Don’t talk nonsense. She’s just bringing dinner to Dr. Si. I don’t think Tong Yao is as lazy as people say. Look, isn’t she considerate of her man? Other than being a spendthrift, there is nothing wrong with her." Having gotten a deal from Si Chen, Li Nuanchun sided with Tong Yao in all their conversations, always calling her ’sister’ and was even more enthusiastic when she saw her than when she saw her own mother.
When she heard Li Nuanchun defending Tong Yao, Chen Yanmei was disappointed, "So if you cook once, you’re a good wife? I take care of children, do household chores AND cook. Wouldn’t I be the paragon of women then?"
Recalling that Tong Yao seemed to be out all day recently, she continued, "How much can Dr. Si make in a month? She is out all day, shopping from morning till night, I wonder what kind of unsightly things she’s doing."
"We can’t make such baseless claims." Hearing that Chen Yanmei was about to spread rumors, Li Nuanchun warned her, "She’s now working every day. If she finds out you’re talking about her behind her back, don’t blame her if she tries to pick a fight."
Tong Yao had become notoriously fierce in the residential compound, and no one dared to provoke her.
The director was retiring soon, leaving a vacant position. These days, the hospital staff seemed harmonious on the surface but were fighting each other behind the scenes. Everyone was eyeing the director’s position, any little incident could affect the selection process now.
Chen Yanmei’s husband was the deputy director of the Otolaryngology department. The director of the department was relatively young, so there was little chance of promotion in the next few years. Therefore, she had to be careful!
Dai Liwen had been in the hospital for over a decade and he had a big chance of competing for the director position this time.
Chen Yanmei’s accusations against Tong Yao were refuted one by one by Li Nuanchun, who then started lecturing her. Chen Yanmei was instantly filled with rage, unable to hold back her retort, "There’s only two of us here. If word gets out, it means you said it."
With that, she went back to her room holding Baodan, cursing Li Nuanchun under her breath. She suspected that Li Nuanchun must have received some benefit from Tong Yao to say such things against her conscience. It’s a pity their decade-long friendship had been wasted.
...
In less than 2 minutes, the conversation between Li Nuanchun and Chen Yanmei had reached Tong Yao’s ears word for word. If she wasn’t standing near Si Chen’s office door, she would have turned around to confront Chen Yanmei right then and there.
That woman, always talking behind people’s back. It seems no one can put her in her place.
Thinking about it, money really does make the world go round. After all, Si Chen only gave Li Nuanchun two cents, and she immediately started defending her wholeheartedly.
"Oh! Are you here to bring Dr. Si dinner?"
Guo Nan and Qian Niannian came over from the other end of the hallway. The one who greeted her was Guo Nan; Qian Niannian didn’t speak, and her eyes were not very friendly. Tong Yao glared at her bluntly, then smiled and nodded at Guo Nan.
"He’s on duty today, so I made some noodles to bring to him."
As she finished speaking, the door to the office next door was opened from inside, and Si Chen appeared in front of her. Seeing Tong Yao, he was taken aback for a moment and raised his eyebrows asking, "Have you eaten?"
"Yes." Tong Yao shook the lunch box in her hand, "I cooked stir-fried noodles and brought them here for you to try."
"Dr. Si, your wife is really good to you." Guo Nan jokingly said, then she and Qian Niannian left together.
Just as the two of them turned the corner, Qian Niannian couldn’t help but mutter, "She still has the nerve to come here, isn’t she afraid of running into Dr. Yu?" She had just rolled her eyes at her, acting as if she was so important.
"She is Dr. Si’s wife, it’s normal for her to bring him food!" Guo Nan wasn’t familiar with Tong Yao, and they had no grudges against each other. She felt it wasn’t right to gossip about others without ground. She had learnt her lesson from the previous incident and covertly decided not to make baseless comments about people in the future.
Qian Niannian gave Guo Nan a disgruntled look and questioned, "Are you really clueless, or are you pretending to be?"
Last time at the canteen, Tong Yao had humiliated Yu Shiya in public. Later, when Yu Shiya and Cheng Yun had come out from the Dean’s office, there were slap marks on both of their faces. It was obvious that the Dean was furious.
Tong Yao had managed to offend the entire family of the Dean. The Dean was probably plotting how to retaliate against the couple, yet Tong Yao still dared to come to the hospital. Wasn’t this like trying to walk into a trap?
Seeing that Qian Niannian was not pleased, Gu Go Nan was about to change the subject, but they ran into Yu Shiya at the entrance of the staircase. Guo Nan nervously greeted her, "Dr. Yu."
Qian Niannian, looking rather unnatural, also followed suit. She had just mentioned Yu Shiya by name. If Yu Shiya heard it, her heart would feel guilty, despite not saying anything bad.
Noticing the two women’s strange expressions, Yu Shiya raised her eyebrows and asked, "What were you talking about?"
Guo Nan felt a pang of concern at the question, reminding herself again that it indeed was not good to gossip about people behind their backs.
Qian Niannian’s eyes darted around, then she decided to shift the attention elsewhere, pretending to be nonchalant, she smiled and said, "We were just talking about Dr. Si. He’s on duty today, and his wife came specially to bring him dinner. They are being all lovey-dovey in their office."
