This matter couldn't be rushed—she didn't want to pressure the man. No one wanted to spend their days in a wheelchair forever; he wanted to stand up more than anyone.
The truth, however, was that Shen Xiaoxing deliberately played tricks during his rehabilitation, feigning disappointment when the doctor shook his head in helplessness. In An Ruo's eyes, this only made her sympathize with him more. After seeing the doctor out, she made some snacks to comfort him, constantly encouraging him not to give up hope.
Shen Xiaoxing raised an eyebrow slightly. "You really want me to stand up?"
"Of course," An Ruo replied without hesitation. "As long as you cooperate with the doctor's treatment, don't you want to see the sea view outside?"
"But they don't want me to see it."
An Ruo knew the "they" he referred to were the people from the second branch of the family. Her hand, holding the plate, unconsciously tightened.
"There are still people who hope you can stand up," An Ruo said softly, pursing her lips. "When your eyes recover, I'll take you out for good food. There's a wonton shop near our school with amazing flavor—there's always a long line every day."
She noticed the man really liked wontons; they were alike in that way.
A small flame seemed to ignite in Shen Xiaoxing's chest, burning its way into his heart, warmth spreading through every limb and bone. The girl's beautiful eyes were clear and sparkling, looking at him as if they held countless stars, while he stood before her, forced to pretend he couldn't see.
He suddenly felt lucky that it was An Ruo who had married into the family, not the arrogant and domineering An Qing. From this perspective, heaven had been quite kind to him.
Still, a thought crossed his mind to tease her a little.
"I always feel you're different from the rumors about the An family's young lady."
An Ruo's heart tightened, and her panicked gaze quickly darted away. Fortunately, he couldn't see her expression right now.
"...Different how?"
"Shouldn't the An family's young lady be showered with all kinds of love, a delicate princess held in the palm of a hand? Why would she be interested in street food?"
He paused, then added in a deeper voice, "I've heard others say the An family's young lady has a bad temper, is willful and spoiled. But in reality, you have no airs at all—you even pleaded for Butler Xu."
"You said it yourself, those are just rumors. Hearsay, nothing to believe."
"Really?"
An Ruo glanced at him guiltily, steeling herself to nod. "Really."
Hmph, still refusing to tell the truth.
Shen Xiaoxing sighed softly. It didn't matter—he had plenty of time to wait. One day, she would reveal everything.
At Lan Zhen Group.
These past few days, Jiang Su had finished his project inspection and left, and Zhou Mingyue didn't come around often. An Ruo spent her days finishing her work tasks and then just zoning out.
One day, Secretary Fang came to inform her that the president had promoted her to personal assistant. The planning department erupted into a flurry of gossip.
Of course, it was all unkind talk about her.
For example...
"Being pretty sure pays off—you can easily land big clients and even get the president to break the rules and promote you to personal assistant."
"Yeah. No wonder they say earning money standing up isn't as good as lying down. We don't have that kind of luck."
It was indeed unusual for a new intern like her to be promoted by the president, but did they have to be so hurtful?
An Ruo didn't claim to be exceptionally skilled at work, but at least she had been diligent over the past month, and her planning proposals had been praised by Gu Zhao.
Was it really as bad as they made it sound?
She hadn't wanted to take the position at first, but seeing their faces, she suddenly felt that staying in the planning department with these people was the worst choice.
Supervisor Ding had been giving her a hard time behind the scenes, and staying here would only lead to trouble.
The group kept chattering, and when they saw An Ruo wasn't fighting back, they thought she was easy to push around. Their gossip grew bolder, spewing all kinds of foul and nasty words without any regard for her feelings.
An Ruo gritted her teeth, then suddenly turned around and swept a stack of documents off the table, glaring coldly at them. "In your eyes, does a young, inexperienced girl's hard work always come from lying on top of a man?"
The female employees who had been making nasty remarks averted their eyes and stayed silent.
"The only reason you talk about me like this is that you're jealous of my work ability, which none of you have, and you refuse to admit your own incompetence."
"Hah. Of course we don't have it. Look at your figure and face—all that charm—we really can't compare." Sister A tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and snorted. "Even a client you've never met asks for you by name, takes you to fancy restaurants every time. Who knows if you got this position by selling your body?"
An Ruo fixed her gaze on her, smirking coldly. "I have a good face and a good figure because I was born with them. Unlike you, with your thick waist and round build, pointy mouth and monkey cheeks—so ugly that your husband doesn't even want to touch you when the lights go out."
"You!" Sister A was about to explode. Her figure was perfectly fine—how dare she call her thick-waisted and round? Even if she wasn't as pretty, she wasn't pointy-mouthed and monkey-cheeked!
"If you want a piece of this pie, just say so. No need to spew sour grapes here. I can recommend a few decent plastic surgery hospitals—guaranteed to make you come out reborn. Not even your husband, your own mother wouldn't recognize you." An Ruo curled her lips coldly, like a vicious villain. "Then all you have to do is spread your legs, and men will come flocking. Afraid you won't have enough career opportunities?"
"You! You..." Sister A was so furious her nose nearly twisted out of shape.