Nuptial Chamber Next Door

Chapter 46: A marriage is ruined

As I lay in bed in the doctor’s room in the hospital, I kept seeing two very different images in my head over and over again.

One was Zhong Tim’s helpless, exhausted face which made me feel sad. The other one was Ye Zhengchen’s proud face, making me feel palpitations in my heart. The two images juxtaposed in my mind confusing and confounding my emotions.

Finally, I gave up on sleep. I put on my white coat and walked towards the duty room. Once there, I opened the computer and tried looking for any news on anti-cancer drugs in the websites of foreign medical journals. I had been fooled twice by bogus ads in domestic sites and would not be fooled again.

I chanced upon a website in the US where there was some research on lymphoma. I immediately opened my mailbox to send a note to the expert. When I accessed my mail box, I saw an unread message with the title –“New research on lymphoma’

There was no signature, and no information on the sender.

In spite of that, I could faintly guess who this was from. I quickly opened the attachment. The document summarized a few cases of successful treatment. Each case had some notes in red or some expert advice. I read the document in detail. It was a well structured document, showing the author’s rigor and professionalism

He was the only one who would spend so much time on such a document, the only one who would understand how important this was to me. And the only one who would send me such a message with no signature or no messge

In the very last page, there was a distinctive comment, “It took my twenty four hours to research and sum up this document. Thank you!”

Seeing this, I could not help but grin. If anyone had come in the duty room, they would be stunned by the strange site of a woman grinning to herself in front of the computer in the middle of the night. Suddenly, my grin turned into an outright laugh while my eyes watered.

Twenty four hours! Where did he manage to find twenty four hours in the last three days/

I remembered how tired he looked yesterday. Sudfenly my hand phone rang. The call ID showed that it was Ye Zhengchen.

I looked at the document in the computer, and my heart softened.

“You haven’t slept yet?”he asked

“No,I just read your mail.”

“I know.”Over the phone lines, Ye Zhengchen’s voice was particularly magnetic, “I sent the mail with a read receipt.”

The sound of his breathing was very light. I just wanted to stay silent and listen to him breathing over the phone.

“I am going back to Beijing tomorrow.”

He was going? What happened to the one month time he had promised to give me?

A thick wave of melancholy nearly drowned me in its wake.

“ Oh!” I said faintly.

“ I can’t bear to leave you “, he sighed.

“ But my captain said if I didn’t go back now, he would send someone to catch and take me back from Nanzhou.”

My melancholy magically disappeared at these words. Instead I felt sympathy for the captain of such a fellow as Ye Zhengchen. Surely, he had given him a lot of grey hairs.

“ Why are you not saying anything?” Then he added, “ Ok, if you are reluctant to let me go, I won’t go..”

I could feel a silky sweet felling on my tongue, just like when I ate those Leonidas chocolates he had gifted me. I smiled sweetly to myself.” Who is reluctant? However Zhong Tim wanted to invite you to dinner one day. Since you don’t have time, we can forget about it.”

“Invite me to dinner? I must say your fiancé is very wise!” Then he added, “ Only fools like him join Government ofices.”

I protested on behalf of Zhong Tim, “ There is no need to look down on him.”

I was a bit uncomfortable with Ye Zhengchen’s sarcastic comments. Not everybody was like Ye Zhengchen. He was born in a prominent family and could be himself without hesitation wherever he went. He would dare to go head to head with any situation that presented itself.

Yin Zhong Tim was born in an ordinary family, From childhood, he had his own ideals and aspirations, and for that, he was willing to pay whatever was necessary.

If he wanted to survive in the municipal administration, he could only change himself to adapt.

In using his own efforts to climb the ladder, he had had to mould and change himself constantly.

“ He isn’t a fool”, I said with a tone that clearly conveyed my anger.” Dont look down on him. If you dont want to accept the invite, just refuse.”

Seeing my efforts to strenuously defend Zhong Tim, Ye Zhengchen was furious. “ What do you really see in him?”he muttered disdainfully

I hit back with equal disdain,  “ He is better than some people who are beasts in men’s clothing.”

I could hear his angry breathing on the line.

“ You are a really unique woman”, he gnashed his teeth, “ how can you cross the river and then destroy the bridge?”

I would have liked to retort back to him, “ I cant. That bridge is made of reinforced concrete!”

Just at this moment, someone knocked on the door and shouted urgently, “ Doctor!”

“ There is a patient waiting for me, I can’t talk to you anymore.” Without waiting for his reply, I hurriedly hung up the phone and ran to see the patient

******* *******

From that day on, I did not have any news of Ye Zhengchen. He did not call me or text me

My dad was soon discharged from the hospital

My life went back to what it was before. Every day, I tried to rescue my patients and give them a new lease of life.

One day, while I was dragging back my tired body from work, I met Zhong Tim.

“ I saw a house today. Just like our previous apartment. The location is almost the same but the price is a bit high.”  I deliberately found a safe topic to divert his attention.

“ You can blame me. I was too anxious and sold off out house dirt cheap. Now it’s difficult to find something in that same proce level.”

Zhong Tim heard me , then hesitatingly answered, “ I’m not sure I want to buy a house right now.”

I had thought he couldn’t wait to buy a house so he could marry me

“ I actually need the money to use somewhere else.”

I understood. From my wallet, I took out the bank card and gave it to him.

“ You already know the password.”

“ Little Bing..”

I smiled and shook my head, “ You dont need to say anything. I understand.”

Even if he was wrongly accused, his future was uncertain right now. He needed that money for any contingencies that may arise.

He stood up and hugged my waist, his face buried in my shoulder. I could feel his helplessness.

I really wanted to help him but the only way I knew how was to request a particular person…

No, I could not go to him anymore and Zhong Tim would never allow me to.

“ Everything will work out, You are still young. We can start all over again.”

miumiu – Ah I feel sad for ZT. We can already see the cracks in their relationship… but how does it crack finally?