Chapter 20.2 (1/2)

Chapter 20.2 – Blessings in the Simple Things (2)

Aside from that peaceful day on the second day of the new lunar year, the entire honeymoon vacation became their law firm’s “trip for overtime.”

Gu Pingsheng was a very easygoing person. Since this was supposed to be a honeymoon vacation, their bedroom was quite a bit larger than the rest of the people who had reserved their rooms last minute. In order to facilitate the work of so many people together, their room ended up unofficially becoming an office.

In the beginning, his colleagues had been very hesitant and apologetic about the arrangement, but after three days, they had gotten to know Tong Yan and discovered that she was an even more easygoing person. Not only did she offer up the room to them, she even acted as their a.s.sistant, free of charge.

However, the subtle interactions and exchanges between the two of them truly brought about all sorts of envy.

Eventually, even his secretary, who had graduated not long ago, started to grow jealous and declared several times that she could not take it anymore and that she absolutely needed to marry herself off before the end of the year …

Sometimes, when they did not need her a.s.sistance, Tong Yan would “get outta there” of her own accord and head over to the hotel’s private beach to sunbathe.

In this top honeymoon destination, couples could be found everywhere.

She sat beneath a large sun umbrella and, with her bare feet, played with the delicate sand.

Gently blowing out a breath, Tong Yan lay back on the beach chair.

It was seriously hot. Was he feeling very uncomfortable there in the room?

She ultimately could not shake the worry and secretly sent him a message: What’s your heart rate?

Very soon, his reply arrived: 97. Within the range of normal. TK

She felt slightly rea.s.sured with that. You working around the clock and not sleeping and resting like this really makes my heart ache.

If today I choose to live an easy and comfortable life, in the future, Mrs. Gu may be the one faced with working around the clock without rest. By that time, I’m afraid what I would feel would be more than just heartache. TK

She could not think of how to respond to him, but he had sent another message with his instructions: If a lifeguard is not nearby, don’t go in the ocean yourself. TK

Lying on her back on the beach lounge chair, she typed slowly on her keyboard: Mm. I’ll just lie down and read. Won’t go in the ocean.

She sat in this way on the beach until dusk. Hugging the books that she had brought from the room, she strolled leisurely back in the direction she had come. There was a hotel-run event on the beach today, and men and women alike were all stepping out from the lobby. Only a scattered few were heading in the opposite direction.

She walked up in front of a row of elevator doors and tapped the up b.u.t.ton.

The doors suddenly opened, and as before, a large number of people stepped out. To her surprise, Gu Pingsheng was also in the crowd. The two of them caught sight of one another at the same time, and retreating back two steps, she stood against the wall to wait for him.

“Just one second earlier, I was thinking whether you had finished up yet, and the next second, I saw you. Would you say that was like our minds were in sync?”

For once, he did not banter back with her. Taking the magazines from her hands, he informed her, “I’ve changed our plane tickets. We’re taking a late flight back to Beijing tonight.”

“Weren’t there supposed to be another two days? Is something the matter in the family?” Out of intuition, she asked this.

“It’s something with my grandfather. I told you that two years ago, he had a liver transplant, but after the surgery, his creatinine levels have stayed very high and he’s never stopped dialysis. We have always been keeping an eye on any problems with his kidneys. He unexpectedly started pa.s.sing blood in his stool last night, and today, a gastroscopy confirmed that he has an ulcer in the descending duodenum that has developed into bleeding. He is now in Peking Union’s ICU.” He tried as much as possible to use terms that she would understand.

“Alright. I’ll go back right now and pack our things.” She dared not delay and returned at once with him to their room.

Their plane tickets had been changed last-minute, so naturally, there was no opportunity for them to be selective about the time of flight. The two of them raced against the clock to the airport and nearly missed their flight. Their seats were in the last row and could not really be adjusted, so while they still did not feel too much discomfort in the first half of the journey, after two hours into the flight, they were already sore from their waists up to their necks.

He spoke very little and also ate little.

Never before had Tong Yan seen him like this. In the latter half of the night, most of the people on the plane were beginning to sleep, but he was still flipping through the magazine in his hand, turning the pages at a very fast rate. He appeared to be reading, but perhaps, this was purely for the purpose of having something to do.

Setting her hand on top of the page he was currently on, she waited until his eyes had turned to her and then, with knitted brow, she suggested softly, “This seat is really uncomfortable to sit in. You didn’t even sleep for a few hours these last couple of days. Will your body be able to handle it?” She decided of her own accord to reach over and unfasten his seat belt. “While the flight attendant isn’t looking, lie down on my legs and get in a little bit of sleep.”

There were only the two of them seated in the last row, so with all the armrests raised, it would certainly be no problem lying down across the row.

She knew that this was absolutely an extremely dangerous thing to do, but she could only think of this method to comfort him.

Gu Pingsheng seemed to understand her intention, and rolling up the magazine in his hand, he rapped her on the forehead with it. “If you’re without a seat belt and encounter a situation where the plane suddenly drops, you could very easily be thrown out of the seat and slammed into the ceiling of the cabin.”

But once he finished saying this, he leaned over and lifted up each of the armrests in the row. Then, he blatantly lay down so that he was face-up on her lap. “Wake me up in ten minutes.”

She gave a nod and placed her hand on top of him, enclosing him in her embrace.

Without saying anymore, he closed his eyes.

Tong Yan let her forehead rest against the seatback in front of her, gazing down quietly at his sleeping countenance. As his projects were for clients in different time zones and those countries also did not have a so-called Spring Festival holiday, these last several days truly had been very exhausting for him.

Within two minutes, his breathing had already gradually become regular and soft.

She recalled his remark from a moment ago. Carefully avoiding b.u.mping into his face, she quietly unfastened the seat belt at her waist. It seemed that she actually felt more settled after doing this. If they did encounter a situation where the plane suddenly dropped, no matter what, she could not let Mr. Gu slam into the ceiling of the cabin by himself, right?

The plane landed some time past five o’clock in the morning.

Pulling their luggage behind them, they got into a taxicab, and Tong Yan immediately stated the name of the hospital. Gu Pingsheng stopped her, however, and decided instead that they would return home first. “Even though it’s a hospital that is relatively acquainted with us, this is not a suitable hour for visiting,” he reminded her.

Tong Yan instantly realized he was right and felt that when compared to him, she was the one behaving much more anxiously and at a loss.

When they actually arrived at the hospital, it was already past two o’clock in the afternoon. The two pa.s.sed through a long corridor and arrived in the waiting area, which was packed full of people seated closely together, outside the ICU. Pingfan was there right then, her arms clasped across her chest, talking to two doctors who were standing by the doorway. Her back was to where they were so she did not see them, and it was the two doctors who halted the dialogue first. One of the doctors waved at him while reaching behind to press the switch to open the door.

This place was one that she was truly too familiar with. Back during their first meeting, it was here that his mother had pa.s.sed from the world while her own mother had also been given emergency medical procedures in this place.

Tong Yan chose herself to stay outside that closed gla.s.s door. There were no empty seats, so she remained standing in a corner beside the elevators.

After some time, it was Pingfan who first stepped back out. Stating that she had kept vigil outside for the entire night and was now so exhausted her feet were unable to hold her up, she half-tugged on Tong Yan’s arm and brought her downstairs to look for a place to rest.

She had said she was hungry, but in the end, after they took their seats, she merely ordered two cups of hot tea.