Chapter 64: Old Habits

After graduating from the baking school, Wang Jiexiang immediately found a suitable job: making cakes for children at a kindergarten.

The job was stable, and it was something she enjoyed. She earned money through physical labor and didn’t need much social interaction.

At this stage, she planned to save money, hone her cake-making skills, and slowly move towards her goal of opening a cake shop.

Yin Xian used to contact her less and less, but every time Wang Jiexiang thought they would no longer have any contact, he would suddenly pop up to annoy her.

The reason she used the word “annoy” was because every time he contacted her, it was for some odd reason.

“Feifei, no one is drinking the iced tea at our company, do you want some?”

Wang Jiexiang was speechless.

“Am I a trash heap? Why should I drink iced tea no one else wants?”

He didn’t explain anything and continued talking to himself, “A bottle of iced tea costs three yuan, there are three boxes here no one’s drinking, if you don’t want it, we’ll just throw it away.”

“Ah? Throw it away?” The frugal Wang Jiexiang couldn’t stand wasting money, “That would be such a waste!”

“Right, so do you want it?”

She thought for a moment, “I’m at work, I can’t take it.”

Yin Xian quickly gave her a solution, “I’ll finish work early today, I can bring it to you.”

At this point, Wang Jiexiang stopped refusing.

“Fine.”

“Where are you?”

She told him the address of the kindergarten where she worked.

Wang Jiexiang’s working hours were from six in the morning to three in the afternoon. By the time she finished work, Yin Xian still hadn’t arrived.

Having been apart for several months, she had forgotten that his idea of “finishing work early” was not the same as hers.

Wang Jiexiang moved a stool and sat at the kitchen door playing on her phone when a little boy ran up to her.

“Sister, do you have any small bread left?”

She looked up, her gaze falling on his face, and she froze.

“Wang Jiehao?”

Compared to her, her younger brother looked more like their mother. He had long eyelashes, plump lips, delicate eyebrows, and two cowlicks on his head. His big eyes always darted around, making it clear he was plotting something mischievous.

When she looked more carefully, Wang Jiexiang realized she had mistaken him for someone else.

The little boy in front of her resembled her brother quite a bit, no wonder she had made the mistake.

“Sister,” the boy tilted his head and looked at her, “Were you calling me just now?”

She shook her head, “I made a mistake.”

The boy looked at her curiously, “Who did you mistake me for?”

“I have a little brother back home, and you look a lot like him…”

When Wang Jiexiang left her hometown, Wang Jiehao was about the same age as this boy.

“But he should be four or five years older than you.”

“Oh!” The boy extended his hand, wanting to be friends with her, “Sister, my name is Xu Qi.”

Wang Jiexiang smiled and shook his hand, moving it up and down, “You were asking me about the small bread, right? There’s none left, wait until tomorrow.”

Xu Qi suddenly stood up straight, his gaze fixed behind her as he shouted, “Principal!”

Wang Jiexiang, not expecting the kindergarten trickery, turned her head to look behind her.

There was nothing there.

By the time she turned back, Xu Qi had slipped into the kitchen under her nose.

“Rush! There’s small bread here!” With Xu Qi’s shout, several other kids appeared at the kitchen door.

Wang Jiexiang didn’t have time to stop Xu Qi, and the other children followed him into the kitchen.

“Kids aren’t allowed in the kitchen,”

“That plate of bread is burnt, you can’t eat it.”

She grabbed one kid with each hand, feeling a headache coming on.

Xu Qi didn’t believe her, and he wolfed down the small bread he found.

After a few bites, his little face scrunched up.

“Yuck!” He spat out the bread and then spit on the floor.

…

Leading this group of little rascals, Wang Jiexiang found their teacher.

The teacher, equally helpless, said, “These are the most mischievous kids in the class. Did they go to the kitchen to make trouble?”

“Xu Qi ate a burnt piece of bread and spat it out, nothing else, I’ll go clean up.” She handed the kids to the teacher and left first.

After cleaning the kitchen and throwing out the garbage, Yin Xian called her.

At five in the afternoon, he arrived at the kindergarten.

Yin Xian’s car was indeed filled with three large boxes of iced tea.

He asked her, “Three boxes, how are you going to carry them?”

“I’ll carry them by hand, the bus stop is just a few steps ahead.”

Yin Xian opened the passenger door.

“I’ll give you a ride.”

Looking at the car door he opened so wide, Wang Jiexiang felt that pushing it closed might seem too deliberate. So she agreed, got in the car.

The conversation in the car was rare in that Yin Xian was the one to start the talk.

“Have you got a boyfriend?”

Wang Jiexiang’s tone was as cold as if she had swallowed a block of ice, “None of your business.”

He didn’t retort.

After driving for a while, she said, “Are you off work now? Since you’re giving me the iced tea, I’ll treat you to dinner.”

Yin Xian checked the time, “Next time, it’s a bit tight tonight, I have a drinking session.”

That’s fine, Wang Jiexiang thought: If he agreed to eat, they’d probably run out of things to say during the meal.

He drove her to her doorstep.

Before she got out of the car, Wang Jiexiang sincerely advised him.

“When we were together, I used to say I was afraid you’d think I was annoying or loud. Now that we’ve broken up, I don’t care if you think that. I can say it now… Take care of your health, if you don’t want to end up in the hospital, eat regularly and stop drinking so much.”

It turned out to be a prophecy.

The next month, at four in the morning, Wang Jiexiang was woken by the harsh sound of her phone ringing.

The screen showed “Yin Xian,” and she angrily picked up, wondering what he was doing in the middle of the night.

On the other end of the line was an unfamiliar male voice, urgently asking for her help, “Sister-in-law, is this you? Xing Ge has been hospitalized, you should come quickly.”

Wang Jiexiang rushed to the hospital, where Yin Xian was being wheeled into the operating room.

He had gastric bleeding, but fortunately, it had been discovered in time.

His subordinate had called an ambulance and brought him to the hospital.

After a three-hour surgery, Yin Xian was wheeled out of the operating room.

Wang Jiexiang hurried to him. He was unconscious, his face pale and lifeless, his lips colorless, and his hand hanging outside the bed connected to an IV.

The doctor told her that Yin Xian was not in any danger anymore, and after some observation, if his condition stabilized, he could be transferred to a regular ward.

She breathed a sigh of relief and quickly bowed to thank the doctor.

A few hours later.

Yin Xian woke up from the severe pain.

The first thing he saw was Wang Jiexiang’s enlarged face, staring at him.

They stared at each other, eyes wide, for a full ten seconds.

She pursed her lips and softly asked, “Are you stupid?”

Yin Xian’s voice was weak, “No, you’re the stupid one.”

“Wow! You!” Confirming that he had regained his senses, Wang Jiexiang stepped back half a step, pointed at his nose, and scolded, “You almost died, don’t you know? I told you to drink less, sleep earlier. Did you listen? You had gastric bleeding! You know gastric bleeding can kill someone!”

Yin Xian let her scold him.

She ranted on and on, and when she was done, he responded with a nonchalant “Hmm.”

“Do you think I’m done? No, I’m not done! Yin Xian, you’re not even thirty yet, and you’re torturing your body like this. You must really want to die, right? This time it’s gastric bleeding, but you survived, and yet your attitude is still the same. Next time, you want to spit up blood again, huh? Get an IV, have surgery, and be in so much pain. You’re really comfortable, aren’t you?”

Wang Jiexiang stood with her hands on her hips, her anger rising, as if she were about to climb onto his head.

Yin Xian saw her getting more and more worked up and interrupted her.

“Wang Jiexiang.”

He didn’t call her Feifei, which made Wang Jiexiang uncomfortable.

“What? Am I wrong to say anything?”

With his pale face, Yin Xian asked her.

“Who are you to manage me?”

“Who else is going to manage you if I don’t?” Wang Jiexiang patted her chest, taking it for granted, “I’m your girlfriend!”

He gave her a light glance.

“Not anymore, right?”

“……”

That was the truth.

But how could she admit now that she had been meddling in things?

Wang Jiexiang gritted her teeth and forced herself to stay calm. “Do you have a girlfriend?”

Without thinking, he answered, “No.”

“If not, then it’s first come, first served. I want to be your girlfriend.”

Before he could refuse, Wang Jiexiang unilaterally declared that she was now his girlfriend, effective immediately. “Alright, I’m your girlfriend now, so I can manage you.”

Yin Xian raised an eyebrow. “Manage me? So, are you moving back in?”

Wang Jiexiang was serious about being a girlfriend. “Of course, I’ll move back once you’re discharged…”

It was then that she realized something felt wrong.

“Wait a minute!”

She raised her hand, trying to slow down her brain to catch up with her words.

“Wait, wait!”

Recalling the painful past, Wang Jiexiang regained her sense of reason.

“I’m not going to be your girlfriend. What kind of ridiculous girlfriend? Anyone who wants to be your girlfriend can be. Even if I were your girlfriend, I couldn’t control anything. You’re always working and socializing/networking. What kind of girlfriend do you need? You can sacrifice everything for work, but what’s the point of a girlfriend? I’ll be driven crazy by you, I can’t do it.”

Yin Xian looked at her calmly.

“I’ll quit.”

She doubted she had heard him correctly. “What did you say?”

He said slowly, word by word, “Work, I’ll quit.”

“My phone, give it to me.”

Yin Xian couldn’t move his arms much.

His phone was on the bedside table next to her.

Wang Jiexiang, who wasn’t meeting him for the first time, knew how much he valued his work.

She picked up his phone and handed it to him, not believing it for a second.

“Quit? Ridiculous. Can you really leave like this? It seems like you’re really doing it.”

Yin Xian lowered his head and typed on his phone.

It seemed like he was really texting, and Wang Jiexiang couldn’t help but glance at him.

“What are you doing?”

“Sending a text to the company,” he pressed send and flipped the phone screen towards her.

Wang Jiexiang grabbed his phone and jumped off the chair.

She carefully checked the message he had sent.

It was real…

Has Yin Xian gone mad?

How much did he sacrifice to get where he is today, and now he’s actually…

“Feifei,” he called her.

Wang Jiexiang, still in a daze, her mind in turmoil.

She looked at him.

Yin Xian smiled at her. “I want to eat braised pork.”

She had so much to say, but Wang Jiexiang sat back down, swallowed, not knowing where to start.

“No braised pork, you can only drink porridge for now.”

“Mm.”

“From now on, no alcohol, no spicy food. I won’t cook the braised pork with chili either.”

“Mm.”

She moved her chair closer and held his hand.

“Does your body hurt? Is your stomach still painful?”

Yin Xian nodded.

Wang Jiexiang knew she could never walk away.

Because he hurt.

She would do anything for him because he needed her.

After all this time, this was the first time he had shown he needed her.

Wang Jiexiang gradually realized that Yin Xian wasn’t as perfect as she once thought, and that being with him wasn’t as ideal as she imagined. They weren’t as suited for each other as she had hoped.

She traced his fingers, feeling her heart collapse once more for him.

She really loved this annoying man.

She couldn’t leave, there was no way out.