Tang Nuan’s heart that was in her throat relaxed. She smiled at Song Qingchun and explained, “Su Zhinian, he was at the hospital to schedule an operation, do you know anything about that?”
Song Qingchun frowned. Operation? What kind of operation? Is it an abortion? But that was already scheduled in Shanghai…
Tang Nuan stood up from the chair and started to pace around Song Qingchun’s office while her eyes kept glancing at the glass of milk on Song Qingchun’s table. While she was figuring out a solution, she continued explaining to Song Qingchun, “…It was a total coincidence that I ran into him. I didn’t follow him into the patient’s room, so I don’t know what he was going to discuss with the doctor. I waited until he left and heard some gossip from the nurses…”
After making sure she had all of Song Qingchun’s attention, Tang Nuan slowly walked closer to the table and leaned against it with one of her hands on the table, “They were talking about why a handsome man like Su Zhinian would come to the hospital to opt for a vasectomy…”
Vasectomy? Song Qingchun’s eyes widened to their maximum. Tang Nuan then revealed that Su Zhinian went to the hospital the day before yesterday, a Thursday. In other words, Su Zhinian had already arranged the operation for himself before talking to her about the abortion? To prevent this from happening again, he was going to cut off all the loose ends first?
“I don’t know about the actual date of the surgery, and that was all I heard…” Tang Nuan slowly moved her arm toward Song Qingchun’s milk as she told the story. When her hand was touching the glass, she pretended to want to stand up, and with a nudge of her elbow, she knocked into the glass.
The glass tipped all over Song Qingchun’s table, spilling the milk everywhere. The liquid trailed down the table and fell onto Song Qingchun.
Tang Nuan yelped as she quickly fetched the paper napkins to pass it to Song Qingchun. “I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean to do that, are you hurt?”
Song Qingchun, who was preoccupied with Su Zhinian’s vasectomy, thanked Tang Nuan absent-mindedly as she accepted the napkins to wipe the milk off her body.
Song Qingchun cleaned herself up and ignored the wet stains on her clothes. She stood up, grabbed her purse, and told Tang Nuan, “I’m sorry, I have to leave because I need to go do something.”
Before Tang Nuan could reply, Song Qingchun had already dashed hastily out of her office.
Tang Nuan stood where she was until Song Qingchun slammed the door closed behind her. Tang Nuan then turned to look out at the light outside the window.
She had been so close, but in the end, she didn’t have the heart to kill two lives at the same time…
But what about her own baby? It was either Song Qingchun or her, one of them had to die…
Tang Nuan’s lips stretched, and with a sudden burst of energy, she jumped out of Song Qingchun’s office. She yelled at Song Qingchun, who was running toward the elevator, “Song Qingchun!”
Song Qingchun turned back to look at her, and the light landed on her face just right, casting her face in a warm glow. Tang Nuan felt like she was staring through time at the girl whom she once considered a dear friend.
Tang Nuan was stunned by this illusion before she issued the single word, “That…”
Then, Tang Nuan closed her lips like she had something on her mind, but she didn’t know how to say it.