Burst Water Pipe

So in the end, Shen Songqing never made it clear exactly what to do.

An Zhiwu suspected she didn't actually know either.

A little while later, Shen Songqing took a phone call and left looking as pleased as a spring breeze~

Near noon, Mother An arrived carrying a food container.

She had brought dishes, rice, and little wontons.

The little wontons were naturally for An Zhiheng.

Mother An had made pork rib soup especially for An Zhiwu and stir-fried two dishes. When An Zhiheng saw the dishes in the lunchboxes, he grumbled indignantly, "Anyone who didn't know better would think An Zhiwu was the patient."

Mother An glanced at her son. "I'd like to make some for you, but can you eat it? Besides, your sister stays here with you every night. That's hard work."

An Zhiheng was about to retort that his sister had spent the night sleeping in Song Yihe's duty room when he saw An Zhiwu frantically signaling him with her eyes. He held back and ultimately said nothing.

That morning, An Zhiwu had received a text from Xia Qian.

Now that Mother An was here, An Zhiwu decided to pay Xia Qian a visit.

Luckily, she had brought her camera to the hospital, thinking she might have to go to work.

After eating, An Zhiwu took a taxi to Yihe Garden.

Xia Qian was going abroad again in a couple of days and wanted to have a set of photos taken before she left.

When she saw An Zhiwu, she asked with concern, "How's your brother? Is there someone looking after him while you're at work?"

"My mom's at the hospital, and when the doctor made his rounds this morning, he said that if there were no problems, he could be discharged tomorrow afternoon."

Xia Qian nodded. Then, as if remembering something, she said to An Zhiwu, "You remember Tang Jingwen, the one who came to pick something up from me last time, right?"

An Zhiwu thought back. "I remember."

Song Yihe's childhood sweetheart.

"She asked me to buy her a lot of men's accessories this time. I bet she's giving them to that Dr. Song."

An Zhiwu looked at her in bewilderment, asking with her expression: And then?

"And then she actually asked me to have a ring custom-made for her in Country F. She even gave me the design. I bet wedding bells will be ringing for those two soon!"

An Zhiwu froze. Song Yihe had clearly said last time that they weren't in that kind of relationship.

Seeing her in a daze, Xia Qian waved a hand in front of her eyes. "Zhiwu, what are you spacing out for?"

"Ah, it's nothing. Never mind those two. Let me take your photos first."

Because she had to stay overnight at the hospital,

An Zhiwu packed up and hurried back to the hospital as soon as she finished taking the photos.

She planned to retouch the photos in the duty room that evening.

That night, without exception, An Zhiwu finished retouching the photos and spent another night sleeping in Song Yihe's duty room.

Although she had reminded An Zhiheng over and over to call her if he needed anything,

he never called her, all the way until daybreak.

An Zhiwu couldn't help reflecting that staying overnight didn't seem to serve much purpose.

On the third day after surgery,

Song Yihe came to make his rounds in the morning. After confirming that there were no problems, he said An Zhiheng could be discharged that afternoon.

An Zhiwu remembered what Xia Qian had said.

Her lips moved, but in the end, she didn't ask him.

After all, there didn't seem to be anything between them now.

After lunch,

An Zhiwu went to Song Yihe's office and returned the key to him. "Dr. Song, thank you for lending me your duty room these past two days. Um, I used a little bit of your body wash, and your toothpaste looked like it was almost gone, so I got you another tube. It's the same brand as before."

Song Yihe took the key and put it in the drawer. "Mm. The patient should stick to a light diet after surgery and avoid strenuous exercise."

"Okay, Dr. Song. If there's nothing else, I'll get going."

Hearing that, Song Yihe looked up. "Is there nothing else you want to say?"

"Huh?"

An Zhiwu looked bewildered. Could it be that she was supposed to treat him to a meal?

Song Yihe was a little puzzled by her expression too.

Hadn't his hints been obvious enough?

Why had there been no follow-up from this young woman since she'd indirectly asked him what kind of girl he liked last time?

Could he have gotten it wrong?

After a pause, Song Yihe shook his head. "It's nothing."

By the third day, An Zhiheng could move around pretty freely. After seeing him and Mother An into a taxi,

An Zhiwu went to the supermarket and bought some groceries.

The internet had a very short memory. Once you went several days without appearing before your viewers,

your fans would jump the wall and start following someone else in minutes.

That was especially true in their line of work as eating streamers.

So An Zhiwu decided to go home and livestream that night.

By the time An Zhiwu returned to the South Bank Oasis,

it was already past six in the evening.

The moment she opened the door,

she was dumbstruck.

The entire living room was flooded, and her fabric sofa had half a leg submerged in the sofa.

An Zhiwu went closer for a look.

The water seemed to have spread from the bathroom.

The entire bathroom had turned into a vast ocean.

The biggest water pipe in the bathroom had burst and was still spraying water nonstop.

Fortunately,

it wasn't the toilet's drainpipe that had burst.

Otherwise, An Zhiwu couldn't imagine what the whole room would look like with poop floating around in it.

Mother An had slept here last night.

So the water pipe must have burst during the day.

Oh no.

An Zhiwu ran into the bedroom.

Sure enough, the water from the living room had spread into the bedroom, and all the furniture in the bedroom was soaking in it.

An Zhiwu felt a headache coming on.

She took out her phone and sent a WeChat message to the contact saved as "Landlady Auntie": [Hello, Landlady Auntie, the water pipe in the shower at home has burst and the water has spilled out everywhere. Do you have a plumber's number?]

In all the time An Zhiwu had been renting the place,

she had never met the landlady.

The apartment had originally been rented to her through an agent.

When she signed the contract, she had glanced at the name listed as the landlord: Zhang Wanyu.

The name sounded like that of a gentle person.

Afterward, she had added Landlady Auntie on WeChat, and the landlady had never pressed her for rent.

When she learned that An Zhiwu was a recent college graduate, she had even been willing to accept rent payments one month at a time.

So although An Zhiwu understood that she was also a victim of the burst pipe,

she still felt a little guilty about the furniture in the apartment being soaked.

After sending the WeChat message, An Zhiwu waited a few minutes.

There was no reply.

She put her phone aside and prepared to plug the opening first.

She rummaged through the wardrobe and found an old padded coat she no longer intended to wear.

An Zhiwu took a pair of scissors, cut off a large piece, and forcefully stuffed it into the hole in the broken pipe.

Then she started cleaning up the apartment.

She used a mop to soak up the water over and over, then wrung it out in the sink.

After repeating this several times, An Zhiwu was exhausted and drenched in sweat.

At that moment, she saw the landlady's reply: [I'm so sorry. I didn't expect the big water pipe in that apartment to burst either. It didn't frighten you, did it? I don't have a repairman's number either. I'm abroad at the moment, so I've already told my son to come over. When he gets there, have him sort it out for you. We'll cover all the losses. If any of your personal belongings were damaged because of this, you can discuss those with my son as well.]