Free Web NovelChapter 471: Chapter 168: You Sure Dare to Dream
The corner of Jie Jingchen’s mouth twitched, and he bluntly shot her down. "You’ve got a wild imagination."
"It’s not a crime to think about it," Qin Mei retorted indignantly. She didn’t dare explain everything clearly, afraid he might grow suspicious or think she was some kind of enemy spy. If that happened, she’d never be able to clear her name.
Seeing she couldn’t get through to him, Qin Mei didn’t waste any more breath. She didn’t want Jie Jingchen to dampen her spirits.
Jie Jingchen didn’t take her seriously either and just kept driving.
Qin Mei changed the subject. "By the way, my younger brother tried to give me the biscuits Mom and Jing Qi gave him. Why did you refuse them on my behalf?"
Qin Mei loved eating biscuits, but to turn them down, Jie Jingchen had spun a lie, claiming she was allergic. The most infuriating part was that her younger brother actually believed him.
"Do you really think what Mom and Jing Qi gave your younger brother was just biscuits?" Jie Jingchen shot Qin Mei a sideways glance.
"It wasn’t?" Qin Mei asked, raising an eyebrow.
Jie Jingchen smiled mysteriously. "What’s in a biscuit tin isn’t necessarily biscuits."
"Then what was it?" Qin Mei could read between the lines, but the thought of money never crossed her mind. As far as she was concerned, her mother-in-law and sister-in-law treated her as a special case. They would give her money directly, but wouldn’t do the same for others—though her mother-in-law was a different story.
"Money," Jie Jingchen said bluntly.
"Huh?" Qin Mei’s jaw dropped. But on second thought, it was exactly the sort of thing her mother-in-law and sister-in-law would do. ’Giving money is great. So much less hassle.’
Qin Mei was kicking herself. ’Why did I have to pretend to be asleep? If Qin Xiang had offered me the biscuit tin, I would have taken it in a heartbeat. That unexpected windfall was right in front of me, but that spendthrift Jie Jingchen had to go and turn it down!’
’I’m so short on cash right now. I wonder how many storefronts near the train station I can afford?’
During breakfast, Qin Mei clearly had a lot on her mind. Jie Jingchen noticed but didn’t say a word.
As they left the state-run restaurant, Qin Mei looked at Jie Jingchen and asked, "Are you working today?"
"Nope," Jie Jingchen replied.
"Not working again." Qin Mei frowned. ’This guy’s work ethic is something else.’ "Come on, let’s go to the hospital."
"They won’t be happy to see us," Jie Jingchen reminded her. He knew perfectly well that Grandpa Zhang and Grandma Hua were intentionally being harsh to push them away, afraid of dragging them into their troubles.
"I don’t care. Whether they’re happy to see us is their business. Your sister gave me a job to do, and I intend to see it through—and do it well. I absolutely will not disappoint her." Qin Mei grabbed Jie Jingchen’s hand and pulled him toward the car.
At the hospital, Jie Jingchen pulled Qin Mei along to see Wang Meili first, but they came up empty—she had already been discharged. Qin Mei seized the opportunity to needle him. "You’re so concerned about someone else’s wife. Got a secret crush on her? Jie Jingsi, I’m not trying to tell you what to do, but you know what they say—strike while the iron is hot."
"Don’t be ridiculous." Jie Jingchen pinched her nose with a sigh and explained again, "She’s Gao Yang’s wife. They tried for years to have a child, and she finally got pregnant—with twins, no less. The Gao family is ecstatic. She also happens to work at the machinery factory, so Gao Yang just asked me to look out for her a bit."
"He really asked the wrong guy!" Qin Mei quipped. "You hit a pregnant woman. I’m honestly impressed."
’It was nearly a tragedy that would have claimed three lives. If I hadn’t happened to be at the hospital, Wang Meili would have been in real danger. That doctor was clearly only interested in saving the mother, with no regard for her two babies. I even suspect he had ulterior motives. He didn’t even try to save them—just went straight to sacrificing the children to save the adult.’
"It was an accident. I didn’t mean to," Jie Jingchen said with a wry smile. He couldn’t deny it; he was the one who’d hit her. He was grateful Qin Mei had stepped in. Otherwise, the consequences would have been dire, and even if Gao Yang didn’t blame him, he would have been racked with guilt.
"How could you even let an accident like that happen? I really don’t know what you were thinking," Qin Mei complained.
"I was thinking of you," Jie Jingchen replied.
Qin Mei was speechless.
’So, in other words, I’m the real culprit here.’
’I can’t let this topic continue. Any further and I’ll be the one taking the blame again.’
"Jing Si, Xiao Mei, what brings you to the hospital?" Mrs. Xie had just finished her rounds and was on her way back to her office when she happened to run into them.
"Mom!" Qin Mei chirped, slipping her hand out of Jie Jingchen’s grasp. She hurried over to Mrs. Xie and affectionately linked arms with her.
Mrs. Xie was delighted, patting the back of Qin Mei’s hand where it rested on her arm. "Xiao Mei, are you here to see Old Zhang?"
"Wow, Mom, you’re incredible! You guessed it on the first try," Qin Mei said, her smile radiant.
Qin Mei was being unusually enthusiastic today, but Mrs. Xie didn’t give it a second thought. She led Qin Mei toward a hospital room. Qin Mei assumed they were going to see Grandpa Zhang, but that wasn’t the case.
