Nighttime was arriving. After seeing Ye Ziliang off, Yu Zhan was the only one left in the entire clinic.
He locked the doors and turned off the front hall lights, and he stretched, trying to alleviate the stiffness of his shoulders. He was going to go upstairs and take a short nap.
At this time, a slight noise came from the doors behind him.
Yu Zhan turned his head to look,
Liu Man was standing behind the glass doors. Her head was tilted as she smiled at him, and her eyes were curved. She didn’t even have the time to put down her hand that she had used to knock on the glass. Her palm was still on the glass door, the slender outline of her hand was apparent.
Yu Zhan suddenly recalled that when he was young, he liked to blow on the glass, spread his palm, and print the shape of his small hands on the window. After he printed his left hand, he would then print his right hand. He could play this lonely game with himself for entire afternoons, and it was so fun that he never got bored.
Yu Zhan felt something on the inside. He walked closer towards the glass door, raised his hand, and covered Liu Man’s palm with his palm. The two shapes layered together.
Liu man, who was outside the glass door, was stunned. With the glass in between them, the four eyes met each other. She looked at Yu Zhan; his eyes seemed to be glowing like starlights.
“What are you doing?” Liu Man asked outside. Her voice was blocked by the glass, so she sounded depressed.
“Playing a game with you,” Yu Zhan answered.
Liu Man said seriously, “What game are you playing? Are we comparing whose hand is bigger? If that’s so, then I have to admit that I lost. Your hand is bigger, and your fingers are longer!”
Yu Zhan burst into waves of laughter.
It looked like from now on, there was someone who could play this game with him.
Liu Man was here to deliver Yu Zhan’s dinner. Tao Zhiyao had told her everything about Pear in the phone call, and she knew that Tao Zhiyao was grateful towards Yu Zhan. She told Liu Man that he was really exhausted caring for Pear. He was having a hard time, and he was very strong?! She told Liu Man that, as a girlfriend, she should be more concerned for Vet Yu.
Liu Man was already planning to call Tao Zhiyao before calling Yu Zhan. Since Tao Zhiyao was already saying this, she decided to just straight-up come to the pet clinic.
After all, she hadn’t met with Yu Zhan for a week.
She didn’t expect that as soon as they met, Yu Zhan would be so weird. To be honest, he was being a little childish. Was he, perhaps, too fatigued?
“I brought you dinner according to your taste. There are rice, noodles, and dumplings,” Liu Man put the box of meals and the bag of food on the table at the front desk and opened up the bag.
The smell of food immediately filled the air.
“It smells so good. I’m starving,” Yu Zhan sniffed.
In fact, Yu Zhan had already had dinner with Ye Ziliang. They had already called take-outs. Yu Zhan was already half full, but he pretended to be very hungry. He asked Liu Man, “Which one do you want to eat?”
“You can choose first.”
“Ladies first.”
“Then I’ll have rice.”
Yu Zhan opened up the box of meals for Liu Man and unwrapped the disposable utensils, “Here,” He knew Liu Man was really hungry.
“Aren’t you eating?”
“I’ll get dumplings.”
There were 12 dumplings in total. In the end, Yu Zhan ate ten, and there were two left. He really couldn’t eat anymore.
As they were dining, Liu Man told Yu Zhan everything: How she was going to participate in the Gudu exhibit, and how she signed the model contract with Zhong Jiangnan during the daytime.
Yu Zhan really wanted to accompany Liu Man to Gudu, but he could not leave.
He had to start hiring more people. Not only did he have to hire more nurses, but more vets as well.
Liu Man, seeing that he looked worried, smiled, “Relax. I’ll be very safe with Professor Su. Besides, wasn’t I doing fine when I was filming in Shanghai?”
Now that she mentioned it, Yu Zhan suddenly felt upset, “If you were already my girlfriend back then, I definitely wouldn’t have permitted you to go to Shanghai alone just like that.”
“‘Sound of the Wind’ is about to get released soon. What if some other director likes my acting skills and invites me to another film somewhere not in the capital, what should I do?” Liu Man pretended to be ambivalent as she joked, “Am I going to have to reject their offers? I still need to return my debt!”
Yu Zhan, however, was in no mood to joke with her. He became serious, “How much of your debt have you returned already?”
“Only 120 thousand more before I return all the loans from other people. The rest would be the loan from the bank; I’d only have to pay 8900 RMB per month then, and I would be much less stressed out,” Liu Man sounded collected, but Yu Zhan knew she paid lots of hard work to get here.
He frowned, “Isn’t your father already out of jail? Why are you still the one paying for the loan? Doesn’t he have a job?”
“When we asked for a loan back then, my mother signed the contract using her own name, so she’s the one who’s supposed to return the money. I’m just helping her. As for my father’s job, I’m not sure about what he’s doing either. Maybe his salary is just too low right now, and he’s unable to pay for debt.”
Liu Man’s words were very ambiguous; it was obvious that she was trying to hide something.
Yu Zhan felt as if Liu Man’s father couldn’t even be as responsible as a proper man. He resulted in the troubles, but he made his wife and daughter suffer through the consequences; however, this was Liu Man’s private matter, and neither did Liu Man’s mother complain. He had no way to interfere.
Liu Man had already told Yu Zhan about her renting and redesigning a new warehouse right after the filming of “Vet’s Cuties” was completed. During this time, Yu Zhan had only seen Zhang Pei around three times. Every time, she was always in a hurry. Nonetheless, she was the same as before — always so diligent and busy, making sure the cat food business was organized. She was Liu Man’s steady shield.
Seeing that Yu Zhan’s eyebrows were furrowed, Liu Man showed a huge smile, “Don’t mind about my family’s debt. I’m going to be able to return every single penny soon, after all.”
Yu Zhan pinched her cheeks, “Yeah, after you’re done with the 120 thousand, you can temporarily be able to take a break. Women get old quickly if they don’t rest.”
Liu Man said disdainfully, “A man like you who’s crazy about work doesn’t hold the right to say that to me. If you’re not resting, then I’m not taking a break either.”
Yu Zhan laughed as he asked, “Then, if I rest, would you rest too?”
“Mhm!”
“Then, we have a deal.”
After dinner, Liu Man visited Pear through the door. Pear was already asleep.
She had only seen Tao Zhiyao’s cat in photos. Now that she could finally see the actual cat, she realized that he was so tiny — he was only the size of an adult man’s palm. Such immoral cat venders deserve deadly punishments by making such tiny kittens suffer.
“Peach has told me that he’s still in danger.”
“If he can make it past the day after tomorrow, then he should be fine. Tonight, he needs two more injections: one for his fever, and one for nutrients. He has barely eaten anything these past few days except for his glucose injection, so I have to stay here and guard him.”
“Poor Pear. Ah, no wonder Peach says you are working very hard,” Liu Man looked away and towards Yu Zhan, “Today, when Peach called me, she mentioned you and said in a weird tone that you have always been a very strong person. What does she mean?”
Yu Zhan knew Tao Zhiyao must’ve already learned his identity through Tao Zhiwei, and he was not planning to further keep Liu Man in the dark,
“Because my mother was good friends with her mother. When I was younger, her brother was more like my brother.”
Liu Man was not surprised. She had already guessed that Yu Zhan must’ve had a unique background.
She raised her head to look at Yu Zhan,
“I’m only confused about one thing: excluding the fact that you are also rich, why are you nothing like them?”
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