The Young Woman

The young woman nodded slightly and gave a polite and friendly smile. She extended her hand to Zhou Xia and said, "Hello, I'm Xu Zhiyi. I'm Shen Lin's colleague."

Zhou Xia was about to shake her hand when she suddenly stopped in the air awkwardly. She retracted her hand apologetically. "I'm sorry. I just touched the chicken, and my hands are dirty."

"It's fine." Xu Zhiyi withdrew her hand and held Wang Ruifang's arm intimately. "Aunty, are we going back to the nursing home or to Shen Lin's place?"

"Let's go back to the nursing home. Shen Lin is busy these days. Don't disturb him." Wang Ruifang patted the woman's hand and turned to Zhou Xia. "Xiaxia, I'll be leaving first. When the house here is tidied up, Auntie will invite you and your parents over for a meal. Let's have a good gathering."

"Alright, Auntie. You can go ahead. If you need any help, you can go to my house to find them. They've been at home all this time."

Wang Ruifang looked at Zhou Xia and sighed. A close neighbor was better than a distant relative.

Zhou Xia smiled in embarrassment. After watching the two of them leave, she walked home quickly. 

She was lost in contemplation as she walked. That girl, Xu Zhiyi, was Shen Lin's colleague. She should also be an orthopedist, right? It was really rare to see a female doctor in the orthopedics department. 

Since Shen Lin had a beautiful girl who was around the same age as him by his side, how come he still proposed to Zhou Xia?

Zhou Xia really couldn't understand what Shen Lin was thinking. She shook her head and took out the key to open the door.

That night, Wu Yanqing made cola chicken wings and wing roots for Zhou Xia. Zhou Cheng looked left and right but still couldn't hold it in and ate a chicken wing. He was scolded by the mother-daughter duo afterward.

Knowing that he was in the wrong, Zhou Cheng didn't dare to say anything. He could only sit beside his wife and watch the melodramatic idol drama with her. Zhou Xia returned to her room to run a code. Her supervisor, Xue Qingyi, was used to being a Buddhist and was always calm. The project did not move forward according to plan, so when the deadline was approaching, they could only work overtime and seize every second to rush the work.

Zhou Xia was Xue Qingyi's only Ph.D. associate. His junior brothers and sisters were all students with Master's degrees. They could help run errands and do some chores, but Zhou Xia had to do things like building a database and running codes by herself.

This was also one of the reasons why Xue Qingyi actively helped Zhou Xia deal with trivial matters. He was afraid that Zhou Xia's progress would be affected by Chen Xie's matter.

At midnight, Zhou Xia sent Xue Qingyi a WeChat message. 

[Teacher, the database is done. The code will be complete by tomorrow afternoon. I'll ask my junior brothers and sisters to quickly write the results in the thesis and publish it as soon as possible.]

Xue Qingyi sent a crying emoji. 

[My beloved disciple, I didn't misjudge you.]

Zhou Xia was speechless. Other people were dragged away by their mentors while studying for their Master's degrees and Ph.D., but it was different for her. She had to hold on to her mentor at all times. Zhou Xia often laughed at herself. If this went on, her supervisor would be made an academician or a scholar by her.

Xue Qingyi sent another WeChat message. 

[I have found the lawyer you asked me to find for you. Qin Huaichuan from Yan Cheng. I'll send you his assistant's WeChat account later.]

Zhou Xia answered.

[Teacher, I'm so grateful for you.] 

Xue Qingyi sent a laugh. 

[ I'm also very grateful for having you.]

Zhou Xia sighed deeply. Every time she thought of Chen Xie's face, she would feel suffocated and flustered. There was always something stuck in her chest, and she couldn't breathe. Now, she could only hope that the lawyer Xue Qingyi introduced for her would be a little tougher.

Zhou Xia was a little worried. She took out her phone and searched for Qin Huaichuan's name. She wouldn't have known if she hadn't searched, but she was shocked when she did. He was actually one of the founders of the top law firm in Huabei City. It looked very powerful. Zhou Xia didn't hesitate any longer. She quickly sent a friend request to the WeChat business card that Xue Qingyi had sent over.

Five minutes later, the friend request was accepted. Before Zhou Xia could say anything, the other party sent a Wechat message. 

[Hello, Miss Zhou. I'm President Qin's secretary, Wei Chen. President Qin has time to meet you at 2 p.m. this Sunday. Is it convenient for you?]

Zhou Xia was pleasantly surprised. 

[Yes, it is convenient.] 

It was suitable for her to meet others on the weekends since she had a lot of things to deal with on weekdays.

Wei Chen responded. 

[Alright, I'll send you the address.]

Zhou Xia clicked on it. It was a fusion restaurant called "Banquet". Looking at the name alone made Zhou Xia's heart ache. It would definitely cost a lot to have a meal here. She was the one who asked for help, so she had to pay for the meal. It was another huge expense.