The hospital was quite far from home, so the mother and daughter took a taxi back.
Along the way, Jiang Xiaoyue didn’t ask her daughter about what had happened earlier, but it still left Jiang Cheng’s heart fluttering uneasily.
She thought of Wang Ziyue, then of the heavy atmosphere at the end.
Unexpected events always seemed to pile up one after another.
Originally, Mom picking her up to eat out was supposed to be a happy thing, but she never expected her first period to arrive so suddenly.
Luckily, after Mom’s reminder last time, she had always kept some supplies in her bag.
Jiang Cheng had gone to the bathroom alone to change.
The subtle sensation of being wrapped in a sanitary pad made her feel unaccustomed.
She stayed in the stall for a long time before coming out.
But she could barely walk; the falling pain and lower back ache were intense.
When Jiang Xiaoyue came looking for her daughter, Jiang Cheng was squatting and clutching her stomach.
“Does it hurt a lot?”
Jiang Xiaoyue had never experienced menstrual pain herself, so she panicked and immediately took her daughter to the nearby hospital.
Fortunately, the examination showed nothing serious; Jiang Cheng was just having a strong reaction to her period.
The doctor prescribed ibuprofen and gave some precautions.
After Mom paid the bill and went to collect the medicine, Jiang Cheng suddenly wanted to find her and ended up running into Wang Ziyue by chance.
At dismissal time, the two of them had been laughing and chatting, yet who could have foreseen so many things happening in just a few hours.
Thinking of what Wang Ziyue had told her earlier, Jiang Cheng couldn’t help feeling worried.
She tapped open her phone screen, stared at the chat window with Wang Ziyue, and didn’t know what to say.
Jiang Xiaoyue glanced at her daughter, who was fixated on the phone.
“What are you looking at?”
Jiang Cheng’s hand slipped, and the phone fell. She accidentally tapped the screen.
She didn’t have time to check and hurriedly locked the screen.
“Hmm? Or is there something you don’t want Mom to know?”
The car stopped at the community entrance.
Jiang Xiaoyue got out first, and Jiang Cheng followed slowly.
The two walked one behind the other.
Mom’s earlier question seemed casual, but Jiang Cheng knew there would be a bigger one waiting once they got home.
Jiang Xiaoyue climbed the stairs in high heels, clack-clack-clack, each step seeming to stomp on Jiang Cheng’s heart.
As soon as the door closed, Jiang Xiaoyue turned around with a serious expression and said to her daughter, “Mom wants to have a proper talk with you tonight.”
“Oh…”
Jiang Cheng had no option to refuse.
She changed into her slippers and followed her mom to sit on the living room sofa.
The two sat with what felt like a river between them.
“Mom isn’t trying to scold you… but you can’t make Mom worry, right?”
Although she still didn’t know who that golden-haired woman was, just from her refined aura and expensive attire, Jiang Xiaoyue could tell she came from a wealthy family.
Their previous brief encounter had been too rushed.
After Jiang Cheng confessed that night, Jiang Xiaoyue had asked about her; Jiang Cheng only explained that they had met during a task, that the woman had helped her a lot and was even the sponsor of her school scholarship.
Because they were both women, Jiang Xiaoyue hadn’t thought much of it.
Seeing them again today, although they hadn’t spoken, it suddenly aroused her suspicions.
That subtle atmosphere between them…
“I… I don’t even know where to start…”
“Start with the things you didn’t tell Mom.”
Jiang Xiaoyue stood up, sat beside her daughter, and held her hand.
Jiang Cheng’s face was unnaturally pale, and Jiang Xiaoyue saw it all.
“Mom will make you some ginger soup.”
She stood up again, giving her daughter a quiet moment.
Jiang Cheng’s mind was in turmoil.
She lifted her legs onto the sofa, curled up, wrapped her arms around her knees, and buried her head in them.
This posture gave Jiang Cheng a full sense of security.
Soon, a spicy yet slightly sweet aroma wafted from the kitchen.
Jiang Xiaoyue came out carrying a small bowl of brown sugar ginger water.
She touched the top of her daughter’s head and said gently, “Let it cool a bit before drinking.”
“Mom!”
Jiang Cheng took a deep breath.
Jiang Xiaoyue’s heart trembled, all sorts of bad thoughts flooding in.
“Actually, the first task I did was to accompany her…”
There was no need to explain who “her” was.
“You, she— accompany her? What?”
Jiang Xiaoyue felt a breath stuck in her chest, making it hard to speak clearly.
“It’s not what you think; nothing happened in the end. When I woke up that morning, I had sprained my ankle, and she applied ointment for me. She even specially bought me a pair of sneakers… I returned the shoes later.”
“After that, we didn’t really interact much, and she doesn’t know my real identity. It’s just that later… she probably noticed something—”
Jiang Cheng paused for two seconds.
“We had a fight, and… I failed the task because of what happened then. But it wasn’t her fault; I was just careless.”
Jiang Xiaoyue still hadn’t caught her breath from the first shock when the next one turned her face red.
“Cough cough… cough cough cough.”
“You— why didn’t you tell Mom sooner!”
Jiang Xiaoyue patted her chest.
Jiang Cheng nervously stood up to help her mom breathe.
“It already happened, and I didn’t want you to worry. Besides, I was really confused at the time. Things with her only eased up these past couple of days. Oh… I also saw her this afternoon.”
Jiang Xiaoyue was now numb to everything she heard.
She looked deeply at her daughter.
Although her daughter spoke lightly, the protective tone let her pick up on something.
Jiang Cheng saw the meaningful look in her mom’s eyes and inwardly sighed, wondering if she had said something wrong.
“From what you’re saying, she’s a good person?”
Jiang Cheng nodded vigorously. Mom thought the same as her.
Seeing her daughter’s unguarded emotions, Jiang Xiaoyue’s hanging heart settled a bit.
“Xiao Cheng, Mom can only be an outsider in this matter. Mom just wants to ask you one thing—what do you see her as?”
“What kind of person… of course she’s”
Jiang Cheng realized she couldn’t find a specific word to describe Wang Ziyue.
From the moment they met, aside from changes in how they addressed each other, neither had deliberately defined their relationship.
Friends?
It was similar but not quite.
Acquaintances?
That seemed right, yet somehow off.
She used to think of Wang Ziyue as a piece of driftwood—clinging to her would let her escape the deep sea that was drowning her.
But upon closer thought, that view felt one-sided.
“Or rather, what kind of relationship do you think you two might develop into?”
Jiang Xiaoyue asked unhurriedly, touching the porcelain bowl of ginger soup—it wasn’t too hot anymore.
“Drink the ginger soup first.”
Jiang Cheng silently lifted the bowl.
The pungent, nose-tingling scent seemed to clear her mind.
She gulped down the ginger soup, instantly feeling warmth spread through her lower abdomen.
“Mom, do you think I’ve fallen for her?”
Jiang Xiaoyue was stumped and didn’t answer immediately.
“You’re overthinking it… Didn’t I tell you before? Right now, I just want to study hard.”
Jiang Cheng didn’t know why Mom would think of that kind of relationship, but she still offered a reassurance.
“It’s not that Mom…”
Jiang Xiaoyue looked at her daughter’s teasing smile, feeling a rare moment of embarrassment.
She rubbed her daughter’s collagen-filled cheeks in slight annoyance.
“Who else would I worry about but this little debt collector!”
She didn’t say the second half of the sentence.
Jiang Xiaoyue could tell Wang Ziyue was an extremely charismatic person, both in appearance and from the bits Jiang Cheng had mentioned.
Jiang Cheng had already reserved a place for her in her heart—a rare thing for someone as reserved as Jiang Cheng.
“What is there about me worth worrying over…”
Jiang Cheng pouted, got up, and walked toward her room.
“I’m going to take a shower!”
“Go ahead”
Jiang Xiaoyue shook her head, sat on the sofa a while longer, then carried the empty bowl to the kitchen.
She rinsed it under the tap for a bit, then suddenly remembered she hadn’t asked her daughter the woman’s name.
Never mind, I’ll ask later.
Jiang Xiaoyue put the bowl away in the cupboard and returned to her bedroom to work overtime.
She would soon report to the new company and needed to finish handing over her current work.
By the time Jiang Cheng finished showering and came out, Jiang Xiaoyue had already forgotten about it.
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