The last time Jian Hang was this close to Qin Moling was when they were getting the marriage certificate and they were taking ID photos. At that time, getting closer was done as a last resort. The photographer reminded the two of them several times to get closer, and Qin Moling only reluctantly did so.

No one had to remind him today.

Jian Hang stopped her wandering thoughts in time and turned her head to listen to the live singer’s passionate singing.

Her phone vibrated. Lin Xiao had sent three messages in succession: [Boss, the summary has been sent to your email.]

[Waiting for you to reply.]

[I will play two games first. If you have any questions, please tell me directly in the email.]

The subtext was, of course, to tell her not to call him as he would be playing games and had no time to answer the call.

For the sake of the game, he even used the polite ‘you’.

Lin Xiao was the only one in the company who needed to write a personal summary every week. She didn’t specify how many words were needed, so Lin Xiao could write whatever he wanted.

There was a regular meeting on Mondays, and asking him to write a summary on the weekend night was to let him take stock and see if his work of the past week had been completed so as not to hinder the team’s progress.

Jian Hang opened her mailbox and saw that Lin Xiao’s personal summary tonight was still perfunctory as ever.

[1. I have checked, and I have completed all the work that I was asked to do. 

2. I heard that our team will be very busy at the beginning of next month. You can leave it to me to proofread punctuation marks and typos, and to bind documents.]

Jian Hang replied to Lin Xiao, praising him for his ability, put down her phone and continued drinking.

Before she knew it, the glass of liquor was empty.

“Would you like another drink?” Qin Moling asked her.

Jian Hang shook her head without turning around, holding her chin up and listening to the song on stage intently.

Lin Xiao often sang this song. Sometimes, when they win the game, he would even hum a few lines from time to time. When the company has team building events, he would sing this song every time.

Unfortunately, Lin Xiao always sang out of tune, causing public outrage every time. When he was besieged by people, he would only laugh and sing at the same time, torturing the hearts of those around him.

Qin Moling looked at Jian Hang’s profile. She was distracted and seemed to be thinking of someone.

He raised his head and drank the alcohol in the glass.

It wasn’t his responsibility to accompany her to the bar while she reminisced about the past.

The liquor Qin Moling swallowed was tasteless, “Let’s go.” He reached for his pocket to pay.

The song wasn’t over yet. Jian Hang finally turned around and said, “Wait until I finish listening to this song. Lin Xiao sings this out of tune every time. I’ve forgotten what the original key is.”

Qin Moling paused slightly while taking the card, “Lin Xiao?”

“Yeah, he’s Qin Xing’s friend. Don’t you know him?”

“I’ve heard Qin Xing mention him.”

Jian Hang said a few more words, “Lin Xiao works in Yinlin under my supervision. His parents asked me to take care of him. After taking care of him for two years, he has only somewhat learned how to restrain himself.”

Her words were full of helplessness.

Qin Moling has never met Lin Xiao, or maybe he just didn’t remember, but he could imagine Lin Xiao’s temperament. When Qin Xing formed a team to play games, Lin Xiao had a loud voice and kept talking about Little Olive.

The person she was thinking of just now should be Lin Xiao, who was giving her a headache—not other men.

Thinking of this, Qin Moling stuffed the card back into his wallet and signaled the bartender to give him another drink.

Jian Hang was confused, “Aren’t we leaving?”

Qin Moling only said, “It’s okay to go back later.”

Jian Hang couldn’t understand his thoughts. He wanted to leave but then changed his mind. But still, it was a good idea not to leave yet so she could listen to a few more songs. Listening to songs on her phone was completely different from listening to them being sung live.

Qin Moling endured the noise in the bar, which made his head hurt.

He took a sip of wine and listened patiently to the songs.

… … translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

They had to get up early to go to work tomorrow, so Jian Hang only stayed until eleven o’clock then asked Qin Moling if he wanted to leave.

Qin Moling’s patience had long since reached its limit, so he stood up and said, “Let’s go.”

He paid with his card.

The bar manager received a call from the boss in advance: he was to let Qin Moling pay if he wanted to. Qin Moling didn’t like to owe favors.

Qin Moling even paid for a cup of coffee, let alone a bottle of wine worth thousands of yuan.

After coming out of the bar, Jian Hang took a deep breath, but she still felt that her eyes were a bit dazed.

“What’s wrong?” Qin Moling asked when he saw that she wasn’t walking.

Jian Hang said, “It’s nothing.” The wine was stronger than she thought. She was a bit drunk, and the night scene in front of her seemed unreal.

Fortunately, the driver drove the car over and she didn’t have to walk any further.

After getting in the car, Jian Hang was thirsty, “Is there any water?”

“Yes.” Qin Moling took a bottle of water from the car refrigerator and gave it to her.

“No room temperature water?”

“There’s some in the trunk.” Qin Moling put down the cold water.

The driver pulled the lever to open the trunk but didn’t rush to get out of the car. He looked at the rearview mirror and sure enough saw the boss pushing open the door, so he just continued to sit there without moving.

Qin Moling went to the trunk and took a bottle of room temperature water, unscrewed it and gave it to Jian Hang.

“Thank you,” Jian Hang took the water.

The mineral water at room temperature was still a bit cool, and when she sipped it, the burning feeling in her stomach was relieved a little.

She and Qin Moling obviously have different understandings of alcohol. Does he think a drink with such a strong alcohol content was just ‘fine’?

If she had known, she wouldn’t have drunk too much.

When she was almost home, Jian Hang felt vaguely uncomfortable in her stomach, so she pressed her hand on it and rubbed it gently.

Qin Moling caught her rubbing her stomach and asked, “Stomach pain?”

Jian Hang shook her head, “It doesn’t hurt, it’s just a little uncomfortable.”

“Go to the hospital?”

“No. It’s okay. I’ll just drink some hot water when I get home.”

If it still hurt when she got home, she’d take some medicine. There were always various medicines for stomach pain at home.

Qin Moling remembered that during the blind date, she had a fever and was later hospitalized with gastroenteritis. He always thought it was just her making an excuse so as not to go on a blind date with him.

It seemed now that she might have been really sick at that time.

Like the previous few times, Qin Moling walked Jian Hang to her door. He confirmed again and again, “No need to go to the hospital?”

Jian Hang still said, “No need.” To her, having a stomach ache after drinking alcohol was a trivial matter, not worth mentioning at all. She had to drink whenever she attended social events, and she would inevitably get stomach aches when she drank too much.

Qin Moling looked at her and hesitated to say more.

“Go to bed early.” He closed the door more than half way, the door panel already blocking most her body, then stopped and told her, “Call me if you need anything.”

She nodded through the crack in the door.

Qin Moling closed the door from the outside and waited until he heard the sound of the door being locked inside.

Marriage First, Love Later translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

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Chapter 12.2 — Sick