Chapter 1053: Perplexed and Smitten (113)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“Teacher Bei Qi, why aren’t you resting at this time?”
He reached out and passed a small clear bottle to her. “Ms. An, here. This is something I’ve just concocted.”
An Xiaoning received the bottle from him. Under the light, she could see that the liquid contained in the bottle appeared slightly yellowish. “Teacher Bei Qi, what is this?”
“I heard from Chief Fan that Young Sir isn’t sleeping very well, so I especially concocted this chemical that can effectively relieve the symptoms of insomnia. I’ve tried it on myself for a week and there aren’t any undesirable side effects.”
“Then, how is this chemical used?”
“Just put one or two drops into his food during dinner. This small bottle should be able to last for around two to three months. If it’s effective, I’ll concoct more of it…” Speaking about this, he added, “If Young Madam is worried about the safety of this chemical, you can test it using a professional machine to check if it has any undesirable substance in it.”
An Xiaoning replied with a smile, “I’m not worried about that. After all, you don’t want to die, right? I appreciate your effort. When Qingyan gets back, I’ll let him try it out to see if the effects are good. Thank you, Teacher Bei Qi.”
“Don’t mention it, Ms. An.”
“If you need anything while staying here, just tell Shixin. Though you are being forced to work for us, as long as you harbor no ill intentions toward us, we won’t mistreat you.”
“I’m living pretty well right now. Other than the fact that I can’t walk, everything else is fine. Go and rest, Ms. An. I’ll be going back.”
“Okay, take your time.”
Bei Qi nodded, and An Xiaoning took another look at the bottle of liquid in her hand. With her lips curling into a smile, she started walking ahead.
Once she changed her shoes, her phone rang. Little did she expect that it would be a call from Tuoba Rui… her biological father.
“Hello.”
“Commander-in-chief Jin has told me himself that he’s retiring earlier.”
“What?” An Xiaoning seemed to have understood something. “Since it’s quite near his retirement already, did you permit him?”
“I did.” Tuoba Rui went on, “He also said that his family is moving to a city farther away. They want to live a quiet and peaceful life.”
“I know what you’re implying.” If An Xiaoning couldn’t tell what’s going on from his words, she would have lived thirty years of her life in vain.
“What could I possibly be implying?”
“I was once a family with them. Although we couldn’t have been considered extremely close, we had some ties, after all. I don’t bear any grudges toward them. Since this is the choice their family has made, I’m sure they’d thought through it carefully. But now that Commander-in-chief Jin’s position is empty, it means someone has to take over. Who do you intend to take over his position?”
“I have a few candidates in mind, but it’ll need to be decided through a vote in a parliament meeting.”
“Okay. I just came back from outside, I’ll go and eat something now. You rest early.”
“Take good care of yourself, don’t tire yourself out.”
An Xiaoning let out a quick response of acknowledgment before hanging up the call.
She sat down on the sofa and stopped Auntie Chen in time as she was about to serve dinner at the dining table. “Auntie Chen, just put it here at the coffee table.”
“Alright, Young Madam.”
There were three courses and a soup. The courses were stir-fried shrimps, hot and sour cabbage, and mapo tofu while the soup was tomato and egg soup.
There was no staple food.
Grabbing the remote control to switch on the television, she sat cross-legged on the sofa and leaned forward to pick up her chopsticks to eat.
Darting a glance at the television screen that had just been turned on, An Xiaoning was momentarily stunned by what she saw.
She pressed the button on the remote control continuously to increase the volume, and a hysterical cry came from the television screen, “All of you stay away from me! If you come any closer, I’ll die!”
The one who had uttered these words was none other than Wen Lele.
She was sitting alone at the edge of a tall building with both her hands grabbing onto the edge at each side of her body. She was facing the camera, and her body was evidently shaking a little because of her agitated emotions.
Upon the sight of this, An Xiaoning only felt that she would be blown off the building as soon as a gust of wind came.
“Miss, please calm down. Tell us what is bothering you.”
“I asked all of you to stay away, are all of you deaf?!”
“Miss, it’s too dangerous for you to be sitting there. Can you come down and talk to us slowly?” a police officer in uniform tried to persuade her.
“I have nothing to say. I just don’t want to live any longer, all of you have no right to interfere!”
“Hey, isn’t this Young Sir’s classmate who came to our place before?” Auntie Chen asked in alarm as she stood near An Xiaoning.
“Yeah, it’s her.”
“Why is she trying to kill herself?” Auntie Chen lamented. “What is wrong that she has to attempt to take her own life?”
“If she wants to take her own life, she should go and find somewhere isolated so that no one would know. Since she wants to die, why drag so many others into this? It goes to show that she doesn’t actually want to die. Moreover, the crucial point is that there are loads of people standing downstairs. If she were to fall and hit innocent people, who is to blame?”
“I think this Ms. Wen is really quite dim-witted. She’s an adult already yet she’s acting so rashly like that. Her family would be absolutely heartbroken. If she were my daughter, I would really be scared out of my wits.” Auntie Chen added, “Young Madam, you should quickly eat and go upstairs to rest after that. You’ve been busy for a whole day.”
“Yeah, I know.”
While watching the live broadcast of the suicide attempt as she ate, even though An Xiaoning had not known Wen Lele for a long time, she felt that for some reason, her understanding of this woman told her that she would not have the guts to jump down.
The police officers kept attempting to get nearer to her without provoking her, and they appeared exceptionally careful through the cameras.
There were also a few reporters, a mix of both male and female ones, together with the police officers, who all tried to persuade her to come down.
They continued to persuade her tirelessly.
After more than ten minutes, she finally calmed down and made a request to the police: it was for He Yi to come over.
Upon hearing this request of hers, An Xiaoning finally understood what was going on.
However, while she knew who He Yi was, the police and reporters obviously didn’t.
As she sat there, Wen Lele threw her phone to the police officers while saying that He Yi’s phone number was inside.
Witnessing the sight of her throwing her phone over, An Xiaoning could almost puke out the food in her mouth.
The police officers first used her phone to call He Yi, but he had either refused to pick up her calls or blocked her number. Hence, the police had no choice but to use one of their phones to call him.
The call was finally picked up by him.
As the police officer had put the call on loudspeaker, An Xiaoning was also able to hear He Yi’s voice on the other end through the television screen.
“I’m a police officer. There’s a lady on the roof of a building at Nanan Road trying to kill herself. She says she wants to see you. Please make a trip here quickly.”
“Alright.”
He Yi probably did not expect that Wen Lele would do something like that.
Within ten minutes, he’d rushed down.
By this time, Ms. Wen had already been sitting at the roof of the building for at least half an hour.
“He Yi, you bastard!” These were the first words that burst out of her mouth the moment she saw He Yi.
He Yi did not dare to agitate her, for fear that she would really jump down. “Come down first.”
“I refuse to!” With tears welling up in her eyes, she cried out hysterically, “Why did you lie to me? I thought you were serious about marrying me, but you were only using me!”