The moment the words left her lips, a tinge of regret arose almost immediately. After all, this was someone else’s family matters. It was indeed disrespectful for her, who was unrelated and not even a friend to him, to casually ask about this.
However, before Lu Weixi could apologize, Zhao Zihui acknowledged it unexpectedly as his gaze became distant. “My parents are indeed no longer around.”
“My condolences…”
The moment Lu Weixi replied, Zhao Zihui’s gaze suddenly turned sharp and his golden-rimmed spectacles shot out a domineering aura, as he said harshly, “Someone caused them to die.”
What could she say to that? Lu Weixi did not know how to comfort him and could only go with the flow and say, “Then… has the murderer been caught yet?”
Zhao Zihui did not answer and closed his eyes slightly. When he opened them again, he had already hidden all his emotions as he shook his head dismissively. “It’s fine. It’s all matters of the past.”
As they were not close after all, Lu Weixi did not know what to say and was somewhat awkward. “Ah, sorry, my mother has been under the sun for half an hour already, so I should bring her back.”
“I need to go back for a meeting too, so I’ll head back inside with you.” Zhao Zihui took the wheelchair handles in a gentlemanly manner and helped her push Mother Lu back towards the ward. As Zhao Zihui had studied in Germany, it was a normal thing for men overseas to help the ladies, so she could not reject him.
The two of them walked back to the ward silently. Before Zhao Zihui left, his expression had already recovered his usual composure. “Sorry for letting you see such a thing just now.”
“It’s okay, I understand. If this kind of thing happened to my mother, I would definitely take revenge on the person.”
It was awkward again the moment she said that and Lu Weixi regretted rubbing her nose into his business. Why didn’t she just keep her mouth shut? Just as she was thinking of how to leave respectfully, a message saved her. She immediately acted as if she had something on and said, “Um… Doctor Zhao, something happened in the office and I have to go. Please inform me immediately if anything happens to my mother.”
Zhao Zihui nodded in acknowledgment. Lu Weixi turned around and combed her mother’s hair, arranged her blanket, and whispered to her by her ear, before turning to leave.
What she did not know was that when she left, Zhao Zihui looked at her departing figure with an unreadable gaze.
——
When Lu Weixi left, she casually glanced at the text and realized that it was some news about her winning a prize. Her first reaction was ‘What day and age is this? Can’t they find another way to cheat people’s money?’ After sitting in her car in the parking lot, she furrowed her brows and took out her phone again. It said: ‘Congratulations on winning our third prize – an Orange phone – in Han Hai Shopping Mall’s fifth-anniversary event! Kindly collect your prize within half a month of receiving this message.’
It was only then that she recalled the event from when she shopped with Xue Feifei the previous month. A few taps of her phone later, she made a call. Xue Feifei answered the call and before Lu Weixi could say anything, she exclaimed, “What’s with that fifty thousand dollars? Aren’t you tight with money now? You don’t want to treat your mother’s illness anymore?”
Massaging her temples from the onslaught of questions, Lu Weixi waited for Xue Feifei to finish speaking before saying, “I’ve clinched two major deals, so I don’t have to worry about the medical bills for this month and next. Let’s not talk about that yet. I wanted to ask, did you participate in a lucky draw when we shopped together at Han Hai last time?”
Xue Feifei nodded as she spoke. “Yeah, I wrote your name down too. Why? Did you win a prize? Did Qin Zhiyou give it to you?”