Chapter 10
The end of the college entrance exam did not mean liberation, because there was still the huge wall of the college entrance exam results!
Many students will have mild depression after the exam. Fu Mingshi carefully observed Zhen Bao and found that Zhen Bao would occasionally space out. When asked what she was thinking about, she always shook her head and brushed it off. As the CEO of a listed business group, Fu Mingshi really didn’t have the time to accompany Zhen Bao all day, so he sent Zhen Bao to the United States to accompany his grandfather.
Fu's grandfather had liver cancer...
Although it was in the early stages and the doctor said the cure rate was very high, and although Fu's grandfather was laughing as if nothing was wrong all day, Zhen Bao, who had her first encounter with cancer, suddenly became enlightened - compared to health, what was a college entrance exam score?
Zhen Bao settled down here and took the opportunity to improve her English in daily life. Across the Pacific Ocean, Fu Mingshi called every morning, he didn't say much, the average call time was basically kept at around two minutes, and then he would also send a message saying good night every evening.
"The results will be released the day after tomorrow, right?" Leaning on a cane and coming out of the villa, Fu's grandfather chatted casually with Zhen Bao as he walked slowly. The clean, tidy road was lined with lush sycamores, the air was fresh, circles of light shone through the gaps in the branches onto the road, and Hei Dan scampered lightly ahead with a white collar around his neck.
"Yes, Fu said he would check for me." With the results coming out soon, Zhen Bao was no longer so anxious. In the days right after the exam, she really couldn't sleep, thinking about the questions she wasn't confident about.
The grandson is helping check the results?
Fu's grandfather revealed a mysterious smile without exposing his grandson's lie, and advised Zhen Bao, "Call him Mingshi, ‘Fu’ is too formal."
Zhen Bao turned her head to look at the side of the road, unable to call out his name.
After walking slowly for a while, there was a park ahead. Many people were taking their pets out, and since Zhen Bao had moved in, she accompanied Fu's grandfather to the park for a walk every day, while walking the dog. Although Hei Dan was quite ordinary in China, on the first day he made his debut in the park, he attracted a lot of fans who praised Hei Dan for being cute and smart.
"Go get it!" After choosing a spot, Zhen Bao threw the frisbee out.
Hei Dan ran happily to chase it, his sleek black fur glistening as he jumped high to successfully grab the frisbee in his mouth. Zhen Bao smiled watching Hei Dan run back, Fu's grandfather was sitting on a bench in the distance, chatting with a silver-haired old lady who had come out to walk her dog, though she didn't know when.
The old man had his own circle of old friends, and Zhen Bao was fully focused on playing with the dog.
After throwing the frisbee out, a golden retriever suddenly ran over wearing a black collar. Zhen Bao's eyes lit up, and just as she squatted down, the golden retriever stuck his big head over enthusiastically and licked her. Zhen Bao narrowed her eyes with a smile, patted the golden retriever's head, and then looked in the direction he had run over from.
This golden retriever was called Bucky, and his owner was a beautiful Eurasian girl that Zhen Bao had just met a few days ago.
But after hugging Bucky, Zhen Bao looked around and didn't see the beautiful girl, only noticing a black-haired man standing about five meters away with his hands in his pockets, who seemed to have been watching her the whole time. The two looked at each other for a few seconds, and just as Zhen Bao was about to look away, the black-haired man walked over to her and asked, "Do you know Bucky?"
He spoke very standard Mandarin.
Zhen Bao stood up in puzzlement and asked, "Who are you?"
Cheng Yi reached out his hand to her, "I'm Xiao Ya's brother, she's busy today so she asked me to walk her dog."
So they were siblings. Zhen Bao lightly shook his hand in return and said, "Hello, we also came here to walk our dog, that's how I met Xiao Ya."
Cheng Yi nodded, looking at Hei Dan running over, he unexpectedly said, "You didn't neuter him?"
Zhen Bao didn't hear clearly, "What?"
Cheng Yi glanced between Hei Dan's hind legs and explained the benefits of pet neutering in a very calm tone. Unfortunately, as Zhen Bao realized this man was discussing Hei Dan's male features with her, her face turned redder and redder. Halfway through, Cheng Yi noticed her embarrassment and coughed, "I'm studying to be a veterinarian, got too used to lecturing, sorry about that."
Let alone abroad, girls in China were also becoming more open, able to discuss a man's size without blinking an eye, so Cheng Yi really didn't expect that he would run into a girl in America who would blush at the mere mention of pet neutering.
"No, I, I have to go." The more she tried to explain, the more awkward she felt. Zhen Bao bent down to grab the frisbee from Hei Dan's mouth, and walked away with a red face. The golden retriever Bucky hopped after her, and Cheng Yi whistled for him. Bucky looked back for a moment then turned around and came back.
Cheng Yi squatted down on one knee, stroking this golden retriever who was especially unwilling to get close to strangers, then looked in the direction the girl had left, suddenly feeling a little regret that she had walked away so quickly without even telling him her name.
~
"Made a new friend again?" Having witnessed the whole scene, Fu's grandfather put away his phone with a smiling expression and asked Zhen Bao.
Following the old man's gaze, Zhen Bao understood he was talking about Cheng Yi. Recalling their conversation, Zhen Bao felt a little like laughing as she sat down next to the old man and said, "He's Xiao Ya's brother, seems to be a veterinarian, advised me to take Hei Dan to the vet to get neutered."
Some topics were awkward to discuss with strangers, but became unproblematic with a familiar elder.
Fu's grandfather had more traditional views on this matter. Stroking the obedient Hei Dan, he said in a childish tone, "No neutering, our Hei Dan is still going to be a dad, our place is big enough for him to have a litter."
Zhen Bao smiled as she listened, but when she got home she opened her laptop to search for information about neutering, and after some thought felt it would still be better to neuter Hei Dan. And just as Zhen Bao stared at her computer screen, concentrating on researching, at the top floor of Shenshi Group headquarters, Fu Mingshi had just signed a document when his phone suddenly vibrated.
Fu Mingshi picked up his phone, the unlocked screen showed a photo sent by his grandfather.
In the nearly two weeks since Zhen Bao had been living over there, his grandfather would occasionally sneak shots of her to send to him - Zhen Bao's serious side profile as she made sandwiches, Zhen Bao's sunny smile looking like a guileless country girl operating the lawnmower, Zhen Bao's cute appearance squatting under a tree feeding squirrels snacks...
One by one, he had saved them all to his album.
When he opened the message, Fu Mingshi's expression softened subconsciously, curious what his grandfather had sneakily photographed this time.
But when he enlarged the picture, he saw that Zhen Bao was standing with a rather handsome side-profiled man, the man was looking at her and talking while Zhen Bao's head was slightly lowered in the shy manner he was most familiar with. On either side of them were a black Hei Dan and a golden retriever...
"Said to be a veterinarian."
His grandfather sent another message supplementing the man's occupation.
Fu Mingshi could fully imagine his grandfather's smug and gloating manner right then.
"Take care of your health."
The message was sent, and Fu Mingshi put down his phone to continue evaluating a new real estate project. But after reading just two lines, Fu Mingshi frowned and called his assistant Gao Chuan, "Is the plane ready?"
After getting an affirmative reply, Fu Mingshi stood by the floor-to-ceiling window for a few more minutes before continuing with work.
~
When Zhen Bao woke up from her sleep, she found her nightgown and sheets dirty, and her stomach also felt a little uncomfortable.
Most importantly, she didn't have any sanitary pads prepared.
After tidying her hair, Zhen Bao got out of bed to call the female nurse taking care of Fu's grandfather for emergency assistance. The nurse was in the living room, and upon receiving Zhen Bao's call, she instinctively glanced at Fu's grandfather and Fu Mingshi sitting on the sofa before walking some distance away to answer the call, "Miss Zhen?"
Although American, the nurse's Mandarin was equally fluent.
"Alright, please wait a moment."
After hanging up the phone and seeing both Fu men watching her, the nurse smiled and said, "Miss Zhen is feeling a little uncomfortable, I'll go take a look."
"Is Zhen Bao sick?" Fu's grandfather asked with a frown.
Knowing that Zhen Bao was shy, the nurse didn't tell the truth, "It shouldn't be too serious, I'll go check first." She gave an apologetic smile then walked towards the stairs, but didn't go directly to the fourth floor where Zhen Bao was staying, instead going to her own room on the second floor first.
To get the medical equipment right? Fu's grandfather withdrew his gaze, telling his grandson who had flown in overnight, "Go take a look."
Fu Mingshi got up, his face showing no worry at all as he climbed the stairs swiftly. The nurse was still looking for things in her room when Fu Mingshi was already on the fourth floor. Zhen Bao was hiding behind the door, and hearing footsteps, thinking it was the nurse, shyly poked her head out from behind the door. How could she have expected that the person walking over was the casually dressed Fu Mingshi?
Zhen Bao was so shocked she couldn't even believe it, standing there dumbly staring at the tall man approaching step by step.
Fu Mingshi made an effort to ignore her cartoon bear pajamas, made an effort to disregard her cute appearance sneakily poking her head out, looking at her calmly and asking, "You're sick?"
Hearing the familiar voice, Zhen Bao finally confirmed this wasn't a dream, nor was she seeing things. She instinctively pulled the door closed, leaving just a crack, and lowered her head to say, "No, not sick, when did you get here?" Thinking of the state of affairs behind her nightgown, if there was a crack in the floor, Zhen Bao really wanted to crawl into it.
Fu Mingshi didn't know what she was hiding, and was about to ask when the nurse hurriedly climbed the stairs. Seeing the man outside the door and the girl behind it, the nurse couldn't help laughing, then stopped at the bottom of the stairs and apologized to Zhen Bao, "I'm sorry Miss Zhen, I forgot I ran out, wait a moment, I'll go buy some right away."
Not wanting to get involved in this young couple's awkwardness, the nurse turned to leave.
"Wait." Fu Mingshi called out to stop her.
The nurse looked puzzled.
Fu Mingshi glanced again at the door that was almost completely closed, walking towards the stairs saying, "You look after my grandfather, I'll go buy them."
The main reason he had hired the nurse was to have her keep an eye on his grandfather twenty-four hours a day in case of an emergency. From the villa to the mall was a half hour round trip, Fu Mingshi didn't want to take any risks.
"Well, alright." The man was being so considerate that the nurse first reacted with surprise, then threw an admiring, congratulatory look at the bedroom door as she left.
Zhen Bao didn't see it. She hid behind the door, her face and even her neck red.
Half an hour later, Fu Mingshi returned to her door and knocked lightly, saying in a low voice, "I left the things at the door, come get them yourself."
After putting down the shopping bag, Fu Mingshi turned to go back downstairs.
Zhen Bao hemmed and hawed for a while before opening the door, looking down to see a huge shopping bag full of red and green packages - all sanitary pads!