The return that Cheng Xi was talking about wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. The organization’s affairs notwithstanding, just the hospital itself had been very busy recently. Furthermore, the medical students from her old school were also about to arrive at Gansu, which meant that she needed to arrange their lodgings, food, life, and all that. Since they were only students, they needed additional formal training before they could actually help out, and they also needed to be assigned mentors.

But given the quality of the doctors here, there were very few doctors qualified to take on a mentee. So if Cheng Xi left for even a brief period, the burden on all the other doctors would increase significantly.

Cheng Xi hated having others shoulder her burden, so the only course of action she could think of was to make sure that everything was settled before she left. However, although she had some amount of control over the hospital’s matters, she was helpless when anything involved the government or external parties.

And during this hectic period, someone high up in the government came to inspect her work. As one of the proposers and a critical part of this organization, Cheng Xi was forced to accompany the inspector and walk him through all the progress and work that their organization had accomplished so far.

Cheng Xi’s resume stood out even amongst the qualified doctors of Renyi, not to mention the obscure Gansu. She had a good memory, always spoke clearly and concisely, and always had a response ready for every question. What’s more, her voice was pleasant to listen to, so she was particularly well-liked among the Gansu local government’s leadership. As a result, they paid special attention to the projects she was responsible for. During a public event, one of the provincial leaders even remarked, “This is an amazing plan that pools together governmental and public funds and coordinates between hospitals and universities to strengthen and reinforce the treatment and management of victims of mental illness. It’s a very solid initiative that, if done well, can be easily extended to include the whole city, and perhaps even the whole province…”

But before he could go on, Cheng Xi quickly interrupted and took advantage of the opportunity to expand on her plan. She first described all of the problems that might arise if this program were implemented on a larger scale, then moved on to potential solutions to these problems, which included where they would find funds for these programs, and then concluded on how the doctors who participated in the program would be rewarded.

Cheng Xi also brought Ceng Xing along to that event as an external specialist. He was able to witness how she talked to the crowd, and her animated expressions seemed to lend a radiant aura to her whole body. He had never seen this side of Cheng Xi before. She was incomparably confident, calm, capable, and genial.

After the meeting, both of them were roped into an after-party banquet. By the time they were finally finished, it was very late in the night.

As usual, Ceng Xing was the one driving. After he came to Gansu, Cheng Xi’s new car had been almost exclusively commandeered by him. He looked to his side and saw that Cheng Xi had already fallen asleep in the passenger’s seat, completely exhausted.

The two of them lived next to the hospital, so Ceng Xing parked the car in the hospital’s parking lot. When he looked at her peaceful expression, he couldn’t bear to wake her up. But not even two minutes later, she got up all on her own.

“Are we already here?” She opened her mouth lazily, covering it as she yawned. “Thanks for your work today. You should go up and get some rest. I still have some things that I have to finish.”

After saying this, Cheng Xi rubbed the sleep from her eyes and did her best to put on a bright expression as she prepared to get out of the car. But as she tried to open the door, he suddenly tugged on her arm. Cheng Xi turned around and asked, “What’s the matter?”

Cheng Xi was wearing light clothing because it had been quite hot during the day. Ceng Xing’s hand’s warmth easily reached her skin through the thin jacket, causing her to experience a somewhat…… dangerous sensation.

Cheng Xi pulled her arm back while maintaining an even expression. She even sat herself upright before saying, “Senior, why is your expression so serious? I haven’t offended you, have I?”

Her tone was cautious and solemn, but with a humorous edge.

Ceng Xing coldly replied, “No. I’m just curious. What kind of coffin would you like me to order for you?”

Cheng Xi tilted her head and thought for a little. “...how about Chinese cedar? That’s certainly expensive enough for me.”

But her playful comment made Ceng Xing so angry that he rapped her hard on the head. Cheng Xi clutched her head and exaggeratedly cried out, “Ouch, you hit me too hard!”

“You’re going to die from exhaustion pretty soon anyways. A little pain won’t matter.”

Cheng Xi didn’t have a response ready, so she instead focused on rubbing her head.

Her behavior made Ceng Xing feel a bit guilty, and he shifted his gaze at her as he slowly asked, “Does it really hurt?”

“Yes.”

“Then go home and rest.”

“......I really do have something that I need to do.”

“What is it? Do you think that you’ll be able to make the construction go faster or make your patients recover quicker if you go back to work now? Cheng Xi, everything takes time. Why are you working so hard? Are you just trying to go home quicker?”

In the end, he couldn’t stop himself from asking that question.

“That’s right. I didn’t even return during New Year’s. I miss my family.”

Ceng Xing made a disbelieving “hah” sound.

“Alright, I’ll admit to it. It’s because I’m worried about Lu Chenzhou.”

There had recently been another spate of negative articles about Donglai Corporation—as a long-standing company that was primarily focused on pharmaceuticals, there were countless minor past mistakes for reporters to hone in on and blow out of proportion.

And, just like Cheng Xi had predicted, someone had already dug into the fire that had claimed Lu Chenzhou’s mother’s life. According to the video report, Lu Chenzhou’s mother had actually died of arson, and in order to hide this, Donglai Corporation had even pushed the blame to an innocent little child.

“Oh, I forgot to mention this, but that child’s the current CEO of Donglai, Director Lu Chenzhou.”

The tone of the person who revealed all this was filled with immense malice. Even though this wasn’t something that could be verified due to how old it was, and hence didn’t cause too much of a stir when it was released, Cheng Xi still didn’t want to imagine what Lu Chenzhou’s expression would be like if he saw it.

But Ceng Xing didn’t understand why she was so preoccupied with all this. Honestly, he didn’t care about Lu Chenzhou, and hearing Cheng Xi say that she was worried about him just further soured his mood. “Didn’t you say that he was fully capable of dealing with all this? If he can do that, then what’re you worrying about? Don’t forget that he’s not your patient anymore, and neither is he your boyfriend. Allow me to remind you once last time: the reason why you’re here right now is because of him. Please let him go and stop dwelling on him! Bring back the Cheng Xi who was an excellent psychiatrist at Renyi and please stop thinking about people you shouldn’t be thinking about, alright?”

“No, it’s not alright.” Cheng Xi sighed. Her tone turned gentle and she poured a basin of water over Ceng Xing’s fiery head as she said, “I…… really like him.”

Ceng Xing thought to himself, ……

Shit!

He twisted his head around, violently opened the car door, and was about to walk away; he didn’t want to waste anymore of his breath on her. But as soon as he took a couple steps, he felt like he’d be even more angry if he didn’t say anything. So, he quickly rushed back and yelled, “You idiot!” at Cheng Xi. 

And with that, he stormed off towards the hospital. But when he noticed that she wasn’t following behind him, he turned around again and howled, “Come on! Aren’t we working overtime?”

Cheng Xi looked at him, unable to suppress the smile on her face. She responded with a soft “Oh,” and diligently followed him to the hospital.

Since Ceng Xing was here to help Cheng Xi with her tasks, the rest of her work went much more smoothly. However, the two of them combined still weren’t fast enough to keep pace with how quickly the state of affairs at Donglai was developing.

After Cheng Xi finalized her plans and was finally able to sit back and await the arrival of the fresh medical students, someone leaked a recording of the truth behind the fake vaccine incident. The next day, in order to assuage the barrage of accusations and criticism that had been leveled at the company, Donglai Corporation officially stripped Lu Chenzhou of his position as CEO, pushing him out of the company as a scapegoat.

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