That evening, Su Mu got off work on ti, so she encountered the rush hour traffic and ended up stuck for a long ti. Worried that Qiqi would get too anxious, she made a call ho, only to have Fu Shinian pick up:
"Off work?"
Su Mu hesitated for a mont:
"Where’s Qiqi?"
"She played all day and is now tired. I had planned to pick you up from the studio, but halfway there she fell asleep in the car, so I brought her back," Fu Shinian said quietly. "Where are you now?"
Su Mu glanced at the endless line of cars ahead and sighed:
"Still on the road, stuck in traffic."
"Feeling frustrated?"
"Not really, just feels like driving isn’t any better than taking the subway."
Fu Shinian chuckled on the other end of the phone:
"People hustling in the city always face these troubles. We live in a major city, and you’ve experienced rush hour on the subway before. Isn’t that clamor irritating too? Actually, you’re the boss, leaving a bit early isn’t a big deal."
Su Mu scoffed in disagreent:
"If all the bosses leave early, what would the employees think? You think I’m you?"
"What about ? I’m also skipping work right now, but even so, my employees continue to work diligently and complete every task without any slack. Want to know why? For the sake of you being the mother of my child, I could teach you."
Su Mu snorted:
"No need, I’m not in the mood to learn."
At the other end of the phone, Fu Shinian was still speaking, but Su Mu’s attention had already shifted completely to the LCD TV near the intersection, displaying news about soone she knew, sothing she had been worrying about recently.
Fu Shinian, not getting a response from Su Mu on the other end of the phone, called her na:
"Su Mu? Are you listening to what I’m saying?"
"Fu Shinian." Su Mu seriously addressed him, "When did you find out about Ji Nanfeng’s situation?"
Fu Shinian paused for a mont, guessing at sothing: "Let’s talk about this when you co back."
Su Mu didn’t say anything else and hung up the phone. She then dialed Jiang Bei’s number, only to hear a ssage that the phone was switched off. Su Mu cursed under her breath; it was always like this. Whenever sothing happened, Jiang Bei would habitually hide away, allowing no one to show even a hint of concern, acting as if invincible. Yet she was still a woman who, despite her husband’s infidelity and public exposure with another woman, managed to handle herself like this. Su Mu didn’t know what to even think of her.
As the car slowly began to move forward, Su Mu dialed Wei Shaoqin’s number. It seed he had also seen the news, as the first thing he said was:
"I can’t reach her, and I’ve been to the hospital. She’s not there."
Su Mu frowned slightly:
"At this ti, where could she be?"
Wei Shaoqin remained silent. Su Mu faintly felt sothing was wrong; usually, Wei Shaoqin would have furiously cursed Ji Nanfeng by now. Yet now, knowing about Jiang Bei’s situation, he didn’t say a word, which was unusual. Su Mu thought it over and seed to understand:
"Did you know about this all along?"
Wei Shaoqin sighed:
"Yes, I’ve known for quite a while and even warned Jiang Bei several tis privately, but she didn’t allow to tell you. The woman Ji Nanfeng is involved with outside is already showing, and previously, knowing that Jiang Bei worked in the ergency departnt, this woman even feigned illness to confront Jiang Bei at the hospital. Jiang Bei, being at work and in her professional capacity as a doctor, couldn’t argue back."
"Wei Shaoqin, are you out of your mind? How could you not tell sothing like this?"
"At that ti, you were busy with Fu Shinian and Xu Yansu’s wedding photoshoot, and you were already in a bad mood. Jiang Bei didn’t want to tell you."
Su Mu was shocked; it had been so long, yet she hadn’t noticed anything, allowing Jiang Bei to bear so much alone until she was belatedly aware and now didn’t even know where Jiang Bei might be.
"Don’t worry, I’ve already sent people to look for her, and I believe we’ll have results soon. As soon as I find her, I’ll let you know imdiately."
Given Wei Shaoqin’s decision to keep this from her, Su Mu hung up the phone without much warmth, tried Jiang Bei’s number again to hear yet another ssage that the phone was switched off, then hung up and threw her cellphone onto the passenger seat, her mind in turmoil.
While Su Mu was worrying about Jiang Bei, Fu Shinian also turned on his television and saw the news about Ji Nanfeng. He chuckled lightly and turned off the TV, then dialed Ji Nanfeng’s number. After not getting through on the first try, Fu Shinian didn’t call again, simply going out to the balcony to smoke until five minutes later, Ji Nanfeng returned his call:
"Sothing up?"
"Just saw the news, thought I’d check on you."
"You don’t need to co watching my show right now, okay?"
Fu Shinian let out a light laugh:
"Ji Nanfeng, what did Qiao Yu and I tell you when you got married? Jiang Bei is not like those other won you ss around with. If you haven’t had enough, don’t ss her around. What did you say then? You said you were done playing, that you would settle down. Now your mistress is even more pregnant than Jiang Bei, causing trouble at the hospital where Jiang Bei works. Don’t tell the child isn’t yours."
Ji Nanfeng was silent, quietly listening to Fu Shinian’s scolding, Fu Shinian not in the mood to say much more, finally just adding softly:
"I’m now going to bring Su Mu back, and she will definitely stand up for Jiang Bei. I won’t be on your side."
Ji Nanfeng was silent for a long ti, then said softly:
"I understand."
Fu Shinian hung up the phone, stood quietly on the balcony for a while, then turned and went back inside, but this ti he didn’t sit in the living room as before. Instead, he went straight to the kitchen to start preparing dinner.
Three years ago, Fu Shinian couldn’t cook and knew nothing about the kitchen, but during these past three years, he had spent most of his ti in the old house keeping his grandmother company, with enough spare ti that he learned to make a few dishes, thinking of cooking them for Su Mu and the child in the future.
Under the current circumstances, he and the child were at ho, waiting for Su Mu to get off work and co ho. It was the kind of life she wanted, although once Su Mu returned, there would inevitably be a conversation about Ji Nanfeng and Jiang Bei. But no matter what, Su Mu, having worked a whole day, needed to eat.
An hour after Su Mu arrived ho, Qiqi had also woken up, and Fu Shinian had almost finished cooking, with just the finishing touches left. When Su Mu entered and initially was still fuming, she stopped short upon seeing Fu Shinian as he was now.
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