nownovels Chapter 199: Currying Favor
Chapter 199: Currying Favor
Back then, she had lain in bed, staring at the cracks in the ceiling, wondering if she should call the police but afraid that making a scene would ruin her future.
She didn’t dare tell her family, so she could only endure it silently, all alone.
Around the time Brother Kang dumped her, she truly understood what it felt like to hit rock bottom.
Her landlord gave her three days to move out, or he would change the locks.
She stood on the side of the road, clutching a box, with no idea where to go.
Even now, the memory of that helpless, isolated feeling was enough to make her jolt awake in the middle of the night.
She lived in an empty, drafty room and went several days without a proper meal.
There was no furniture in the room, just a simple mattress she had brought with her, laid out on the floor.
The refrigerator was empty, and her former landlord had taken all the pots, pans, and dishes.
She couldn’t even cook if she wanted to.
From that day on, she started frantically sending out resumes. She worked at a convenience store during the day and studied software at night.
She swore she would never let herself fall into such a desperate situation again.
That was why she was so terrified of losing the good life she had now. She absolutely didn’t dare to confront Shanshan head-on again.
Her position in the lab hadn’t come easy; she’d had to ask several people for favors just to get it.
Every day, she clocked in on time and diligently completed her assigned tasks, even voluntarily staying late to work overtime on weekends.
She knew what kind of soup Yuan Zhihe liked, which shop’s pastries she loved, and even kept a note of the foods Yuan Zhihe was allergic to.
She didn’t dare to slack off in the slightest, afraid that a single mistake would get her kicked off the team.
At a time like this, she couldn’t afford any more trouble, especially not getting on Shanshan’s bad side.
Shanshan had thought that would be the end of it, but that very day at noon, she saw Cao Jiajia in the lab again.
It was lunchtime, so there weren’t many people around; most of the students had gone to the cafeteria.
But Cao Jiajia had returned alone, carrying a silver thermos. It was neatly wrapped and tied with a red ribbon.
Only when she reached Yuan Zhihe’s workstation did she raise her voice slightly, forcing a smile onto her face.
Yuan Zhihe was looking down at a document. She looked up, a hint of surprise on her face, and then smiled. "Oh my, why did you bring this over?"
Cao Jiajia said quickly, "My dad spent all morning simmering this, using only the best ingredients. He said it’s to help you regain your energy."
"Ms. Zhihe, he specially made this soup for you, but he was too busy to get away, so he had me bring it. Please, have some while it’s hot. It’ll do you good."
Yuan Zhihe took the thermos, placed it on her desk, and lifted the lid to look inside. She nodded and said, "How thoughtful of him."
Cao Jiajia nodded emphatically. She stood there for a moment, making a bit more small talk, before finally turning to leave.
That subservient, fawning display left Shanshan stunned.
’She never would have expected the normally proud and haughty Cao Jiajia to humble herself so completely before the young woman who was about to become her stepmother.’
In the past, whenever her family came up, Cao Jiajia had always acted so proud.
She’d say her father was a corporate executive and her mother came from a scholarly family, boasting about her privileged background.
She had once posted photos of her family’s villa in the class group chat and flaunted the luxury gifts she received for her birthday.
Who could have thought back then that such a girl would one day personally run an errand just to deliver a bowl of soup, all while cautiously trying to read the other person’s expression?
Just as Cao Jiajia was leaving, she happened to glance in Shanshan’s direction.
Seeing the shocked look on Shanshan’s face, she suddenly felt a flash of satisfaction.
’I know my behavior just now must have looked pathetic, but in my eyes, it’s another kind of victory.’
’At least *I’m* still qualified to appear before Ms. Zhihe. At least *I* can personally deliver my father’s kind gesture.’
’And Shanshan?’
’She doesn’t even dare to take a single step closer.’
’This sense of closeness is something no one can take away from me.’
She remembered the first time she met Yuan Zhihe. The woman had a cold expression and didn’t say a word.
She had to plaster on a smile and make polite conversation for half an hour before Yuan Zhihe finally gave a reluctant nod.
After that, she visited again and again—bringing fruit, delivering flowers, helping to clean—and finally, bit by bit, she made a breakthrough.
Now, Yuan Zhihe would greet her on her own initiative and even ask her to stay for dinner.
’This is all the result of my hard work. Why should anyone look down on me for it?’
But Shanshan could see it clearly: Yuan Zhihe wasn’t genuinely accepting Cao Jiajia at all.
Over the next few days, Cao Jiajia ran to Yuan Zhihe’s side every day with a lunch box, as attentive as a personal maid.
At lunchtime, she would appear outside Yuan Zhihe’s dorm building right on time. Sometimes she would wait for over ten minutes without seeing anyone come down, yet her face never showed a hint of impatience.
She would just stand there, look down at the lunch box in her hands, glance up at the window, and whisper, "Senior might still be busy," before continuing to wait.
Shanshan was getting exhausted just watching on Yuan Zhihe’s behalf. ’Who could stand this?’
’Being waited on hand and foot by someone every day—serving tea, fetching water, constantly asking if you’re okay—even having someone open your water bottle for you... if it were me, I would have gotten sick from the suffocation long ago.’
Not to mention, Yuan Zhihe acted as if it were all perfectly natural, ordering Cao Jiajia around without the slightest hint of refusal.
Sitting in the back of the classroom watching this, she couldn’t help but doodle a little figure in her notebook. It had a large bundle on its back, and above its head, she wrote the two words, "Yuan Zhihe." Next to it, in small letters, she added three more: "Enslavement in progress."
Just as she was wondering when the two of them would finally have a falling out, she was suddenly called to the hospital by her favorite professor to lend a hand.
It was an old professor named Wei who specialized in clinical research in obstetrics and gynecology and was quite renowned in his field.
Shanshan had often audited his lectures, and her notes were even more detailed than those of the students actually majoring in the subject.
This time, she heard he was short-staffed and urgently needed an assistant to organize case files. She immediately signed up but was unfortunately rejected because it wasn’t her major.
Unexpectedly, that very morning, the professor himself sent her a message asking her to come help. He said someone had taken leave unexpectedly, the situation was urgent, and she should fill in for now.
She often snuck into that professor’s lectures to audit them. If her family had been a little more lenient, she would have switched majors long ago.
Her parents had always hoped she would inherit the family’s traditional Chinese medicine clinic and insisted she study TCM.
But ever since high school, she had been fascinated by modern medicine, especially fields like surgery and obstetrics and gynecology that directly dealt with matters of life and death.
Every time she heard the sound of a scalpel cutting through skin or saw an image of a baby being delivered safely, she felt it was the most real power in the world.
She had scoured the library for relevant textbooks and taught herself many of the basic courses, which was precisely why the professor was willing to give her this chance.
She had been annoyed about missing today’s drama, but to her surprise, she ran right into Yuan Zhihe at the entrance to the gynecology department as soon as she arrived at the hospital.
She was wearing the university’s light gray athletic jacket and had a shoulder bag. She was pacing slowly back and forth in the hallway, occasionally glancing up at the number display in the waiting area.
As Shanshan emerged from the stairwell, their eyes met. Both of them froze for a second.
For that moment, the air seemed to freeze for a few seconds.
Yuan Zhihe’s brow was tightly furrowed and her face was filled with anxiety. Shanshan’s heart immediately skipped a beat.
Yuan Zhihe was normally meticulous about her image—she wouldn’t have a single hair out of place even after pulling an all-nighter to finish an assignment. But right now, she had dark circles under her eyes.
"Ling Xueshan, what are you doing here?"
The moment Yuan Zhihe saw her, her face went pale, and she reflexively hid the paper in her hand behind her back.