Opening the box, to my surprise there was a watch inside, with a white dial, black strap, and shimmering crushed diamonds all around. Sheng Ningâs eyes widened in astonishment as she looked at him.
"Do you like it?" Su Huaiâan asked nervously.
"Yeah!" This watch, even if placed thirty years later, wouldnât be outdated at all. The market was tight now, and being able to buy a Meihua Watch in the country was a status symbol. The one Su Huaiâan gave was clearly a foreign brand, unavailable domestically.
"This was just brought back from the UK by a classmate of mine. I noticed you didnât have a watch, so itâs perfect to give to you!"
"Thanks, itâs too expensive, you shouldnât have!"
"No problem!" Su Huaiâan had intended to ask about Xu Qigang, but fearing to upset her, he held back the last word. When saying goodbye and leaving, he especially entrusted, "Iâm heading back to the compound first. Have Chen Huaying come to the compound to find me once sheâs done here."
"Oh!" Sheng Ning watched Su Huaiâan leave and only after a long while did she snap back to reality. It seemed her cousin had an unexpectedly close relationship with Chen Huaying. Wasnât Su Huaiâan known to be cold? Could something have happened that she was unaware of?
After racking her brain and coming up empty, Sheng Ning turned around to head back to the dormitory. Once inside her room, everyone was eating, all the food she had brought from her hometown laid out.
"Sheng Ning, how come you brought so much delicious food?" Lu Dabao was so delighted eating it, he even forgot the pain in his legs, "I think if I had this much good food every day, my leg would definitely heal faster!"
Sheng Ning was speechless. Who said Dabao was dumb? If anyone said so again, they would have to contend with her. When it came to eating, Dabao was smarter than anyone. "Donât worry, thereâs plenty of food! Youâre the patient after all."
"Really? Really?" Dabao was so happy he almost leaped for joy, "If Iâd known there would be food every day, I would have taken more falls."
Chen Huaying couldnât listen any longer and scolded, "Lu Dabao, donât push your luck, thinking of nothing but eating all day. Be careful, lest your parents and siblings come to peel your skin off."
It was the first time Sheng Ning heard anyone mention Lu Dabaoâs family. When she last visited Chen Huayingâs place, she only knew that Lu Dabao had spent time in the compound as a child, then moved away with his parents, and only returned to work for the General Union when he grew up. However, the bond that made them good friends wasnât family backgrounds but the friendship between them.
Lu Dabao shrank back in fright, eyebrows drooping, he murmured softly, "Oh!"
"Right! Chen Huaying, Su Huaiâan just said heâs going back to the compound and that you should go find him directly," Sheng Ning mentioned, remembering Su Huaiâanâs parting words as she looked at the watch gift box in her hand.
"What? I have to go find him?" Chen Huaying suddenly felt like dying, "Sheng Ning, you donât know, before I went to National Security University, Su Huaiâan was like a shining star in my eyes, but now heâs the devil to me." She had completely given up.
"Haha..."
"Deserved it!"
"You have today as well!"
The three of them were unsparingly mocking, bursting with laughter. It was so rare to find someone Chen Huaying was scared of.
Not long after Hai Shen left the clinic, the wife of Hai Shuangjie, Hai Lanâs foster mother Zhou Yuan, arrived personally. She was a woman in her fifties, slightly overweight but with well-maintained fair skin. Dressed plainly, yet the gold necklace she wore around her neck was striking.
She didnât come from a prominent family, nor was she a comrade herself, but by marrying into the Hai Family, she acquired a position at the city library.