MFLL 11

Chapter 11

Ye Jin turned the steering wheel, veering off her original route, and finally parked the car in the underground garage of Ye Se.

When in a bad mood, she often felt like having a few drinks.

“Beautiful, do you have a reservation?”

The environment was still as grating as ever. Ye Jin was alone this time, making her feel even more uncomfortable; after all, she rarely visited such places. If she wanted to drink, the atmosphere of a lounge bar was far more suitable for her.

“No reservation? Then let me arrange someone for you—”

In that situation, Ye Jin spoke up: “I’m looking for Xia An.”

“I’m looking for Xia An.”

“Alright, please have a seat for a moment; I’ll go call her.”

Ye Jin sat on a nearby sofa and scrutinized her surroundings. There were many young girls here, most around Xia An’s age, though the majority were heavily made up and dressed quite suggestively.

Looking at it this way, Miss Xia was truly a breath of fresh air.

Before entering Ye Se, Ye Jin hadn’t planned on specifically looking for Xia An, but when the receptionist asked, she had simply blurted out Xia An’s name.

After about five minutes, the greeter brought another boy to Ye Jin and said apologetically, “Beautiful, I’m so sorry, Xia An has run into a sudden issue. Let me arrange a handsome guy for you instead…”

The handsome guy, seeing such a beautiful woman in front of him, was so nervous he almost stuttered, “H-hello…”

Ye Jin acted as if she hadn’t heard him. She stood up, her focus remaining on the first half of the sentence: “What happened to her?”

“Huh?” The greeter didn’t react immediately.

“I’m her friend.”

After receiving the call from Ke Ruochu, Tang Zhen rushed to Ye Se from the hospital immediately.

The moment he arrived, he told the front desk he was looking for Xia An. Realizing he didn’t seem to be a guest, the staff didn’t give him any information. He circled the nightclub and finally found Xia An in the booth area, clinking glasses and laughing with two men.

If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, Tang Zhen wouldn’t have believed what Ke Ruochu said was true. How could Xia An come to a place like this? In his impression, Xia An had been a top-tier “good girl” from childhood to adulthood…

But this explained perfectly how Xia An could afford the high costs of her father’s treatment all by herself. Caught up in these wild thoughts, Tang Zhen felt like he was falling apart.

As Xia An was accompanying a guest for a second drink, her wrist was seized by Tang Zhen. She was surprised at first, but immediately realized that Tang Zhen had clearly come looking for her specifically.

“Come with me.” Tang Zhen snatched the glass from Xia An’s hand and slammed it heavily onto the table; the glass, full to the brim, spilled more than half its contents.

It drew a crowd of onlookers.

Xia An didn’t change her expression. She first offered a polite apology to the guest before pulling Tang Zhen to the side. “I’ll explain later. You should leave first.”

“You’re still planning to stay?”

“Let go of me.” Xia An looked at her wrist, which was being tightly squeezed by Tang Zhen, and knew she was in trouble this time.

“Come with me right now.”

“I told you, I’ll explain later.” Xia An, feeling helpless, turned and signaled the floor manager in the crowd.

“Xia An!”

“Sir, please exit.” Before long, the patrol manager walked over, followed by several burly men.

Tang Zhen tried to pull Xia An with him, but was blocked by two of the staff. “Sir, please cooperate.”

“Move aside!” Tang Zhen grew frantic and shouted at Xia An, “If you don’t come with me, I’m going to tell your father—”

Xia An took a deep breath. There was no way to continue tonight. She glared at Tang Zhen and, forced to compromise, walked outside with him.

When Ye Jin followed the waiter to find Xia An, she happened to see a familiar, petite figure being tugged toward the exit by a man…

The outdoor temperature was extremely high, like a giant steamer, and the air was suffocatingly humid. A distant rumble of thunder suggested a heavy downpour was brewing.

In a quieter spot at the end of the street, Xia An stood with her arms crossed, facing Tang Zhen.

“Do you know what you’re doing? How could you come to a place like this?!”

Xia An countered, “What kind of place?”

“Your job is to treat illnesses and save people, not to drink and flirt with people in a place like this!”

“I have my own bottom line and principles,” Xia An said concisely.

“If you can drink with people today, tomorrow you could…” Tang Zhen stopped abruptly, realizing his words had been too cruel.

“Sleep with them, is that what you mean?” Xia An’s expression was calm; she answered indifferently, “If you insist on thinking that way, there’s nothing I can do.”

“Xiao An, that’s not what I meant… I’m sorry.”

“Are you finished? If so, I need to go back to work. And one more thing: if you go and say anything to my dad that affects his surgery, I will never forgive you.”

Xia Heshan was a conservative man. If he found out, he would surely be furious. He had previously disagreed with the bone marrow transplant because he worried about the financial pressure on Xia An, and it had taken her a great deal of effort to finally persuade him.

Tang Zhen had only been speaking out of anger; he wasn’t foolish enough to actually tell Xia Heshan about this. Knowing Xia An’s stubborn nature, he switched to a softer approach: “I’m just worried about you. Xia An, no one is more worried about you than I am. Do you know that?”

“I know how to protect myself.” After saying this, Xia An turned to leave.

Tang Zhen gripped her wrist again, refusing to let her go, speaking earnestly—almost like a subtle confession: “…But I want to protect you. I can do everything in my power to protect you. You don’t need to be this tired on your own. I know Uncle needs surgery and you’re desperate for money, but there are many ways to handle this. We can think of a way together. Don’t wrong yourself; my heart aches for you—”

It is often said that there is too much so-called empathy in this world, but too little true understanding. Most people say, “You shouldn’t do this, there are better ways,” but few are willing to stand in your shoes and understand your choices.

That was why Xia An never wanted to explain much to anyone.

“Tang Zhen.” Xia An turned to face him, speaking directly about this for the first time: “Stop wasting your energy on me. It’s never going to happen between us.”

Ye Jin stood not far away, silently observing everything. Seeing that their conversation remained relatively calm, she did not step forward.