Chapter 31 - 31: Like Winning a Prize (3)
She immediately regretted asking that question. After all, this was someone else’s family business. She was neither kin nor friend and it was indeed impolite, to inquire casually about such things.
Contrarily, before Lu Weixi could apologize, Zhao Zihuan responded with a “hmm,” his gaze fixed in the distance. “My parents are indeed no more.”
Just as Lu Weixi was about to offer her condolences, Zhao Zihuan’s gaze suddenly became sharp. From behind his gold-rimmed glasses, a fiercely sharp aura rebounded as he declared fiercely, “They were murdered.”
Not knowing how to comfort Zhao Zihuan, Lu Weixi could only follow his narrative: “Did they catch the killer?”
Zhao Zihuan didn’t answer. Instead, he slightly closed his eyes. When he reopened them, all his emotions had been compressed. He lightly shook his head: “It’s alright. It’s all in the past.”
Being not very familiar with him, Lu Weixi did not know what else to say. Moreover, it was getting somewhat awkward. “I’m sorry, my mother has already been out in the sun for half an hour. I have to take her back.”
“I happen to be heading back for a meeting, I can drop you off on the way.” Zhao Zihuan, ever the gentleman, took the wheelchair handles from her to help push her mother inside. As a German exchange student, he knew it was normal and gentlemanly for a man to help a woman. So she didn’t refuse.
The two returned to the ward in silence. By the time they were leaving, Zhao Zihuan had regained his earlier refined demeanor. “I apologize for letting you witness that.”
Lu Weixi could only respond, “It’s okay. I understand. If this happened to my mother, I too would wish to fight the person who did it.”
As soon as her words fell, the awkwardness returned. Lu Weixi genuinely regretted having touched upon such a sensitive topic. Just as she was contemplating a polite excuse to leave, a text message saved her. Pretending she had business to attend to, she said, “Dr. Zhao, I have some work to do at the office. If anything happens to my mother, please notify me immediately.”
Zhao Zihuan responded with a nod. Lu Weixi patted her mother’s hair, tucked her in, whispered in her ear that she was leaving, and exited the room.
What she didn’t know was that, as she left, Zhao Zihuan’s gaze followed her retreating figure, his eyes thoughtful and deep.
When Lu Weixi walked out of the hospital, she glanced at her phone and noticed a text about winning a prize. At first, she dismissed it as a scam. But as she got into her car in the parking lot, she decided to take another look at the message, “Congratulations. You’ve won a third-place prize, an Orange mobile phone, in Hanhai Shopping Center’s fifth-anniversary celebration. Please claim it within two weeks of receiving this message.”
Immediately she remembered shopping with Xue Feifei last month and decided to call her about it. Xue Feifei answered and even before Lu Weixi could speak, she exploded, “What is the deal with those fifty thousand? Aren’t you having financial difficulties? Don’t you need it for your mother’s treatment?”
Lu Weixi rubbed her temples, waited for her to finish, and then started, “I’ve picked up two big contracts, so we need not worry about medical expenses this month or the next. But put that aside for now. I wanted to ask you, did we enter a raffle when we were shopping together last time?”
Xue Feifei nodded, “Yep. I even entered your name for it.. Did you win? Did Qin Zhiyou give you a prize or something?”