Chapter 39: Who Wants to Kill You

In the latter half of the night, An'an Xu woke up thirsty. Still half-asleep, she groped for water, drank it, and then crawled back into bed in a daze. As soon as she hugged the large pillow beside her, she was instantly jolted awake.

She reached out again—

Li Jiang was burning hot, his handsome face flushed red.

An'an Xu hurriedly called the doctor. "Doctor, Second Master really has a high fever! What should I do now? I just checked, it must be close to forty degrees!"

"Don't panic. Start with physical cooling."

"How do I do that?"

"Wipe his body down with a wet towel. Didn’t you find some painkillers earlier? There should be some cold medicine as well, right?"

"I do. I’ll send you a photo."

"Alright."

Under the doctor's instructions, An'an Xu first fed Li Jiang the cold medicine, then undressed him completely and wiped his body over and over again with a wet towel to bring down his temperature.

She was busy until six in the morning before his fever finally dropped.

The doctor arrived as well.

"I’ll leave him to you," An'an Xu said, collapsing onto the sofa, utterly exhausted, murmuring updates about Li Jiang’s temperature changes as she drifted off.

The doctor examined Li Jiang and nodded in satisfaction.

"Good thing you were here; otherwise, Second Master would have been in real trouble."

"But why did he insist on coming back if he was in such bad shape?"

Receiving no response, the doctor turned to find An'an Xu already fast asleep. He lowered his voice, clicking his tongue softly. "Tsk tsk, looks like she really loves Second Master."

Li Jiang’s lashes fluttered slightly.

Only after the doctor left did he open his eyes, his gaze complicated as he looked at An'an Xu.

...

When An'an Xu woke up, she left without waiting for Li Jiang to awaken. She handed the final candidate list to the old master and sent a copy to Li Jiang’s email.

Her part-time job had come to an end.

But after several nights sleeping on the sofa, An'an Xu hadn’t rested well, always worried she might roll off.

Dragging her tired body, she returned to the magazine office.

"My, some people really do have it easy. Always waltzing in at the last minute. You’d think she owned the place!" Fei Jiang sneered sarcastically.

An'an Xu replied coldly, her eyes slightly lifted, her clear and elegant gaze tinged with mockery. "The editor-in-chief told us to treat the magazine like home. What are you implying? That you don’t consider it home? If the editor-in-chief heard that, wouldn’t it break their heart?"

Bringing up the editor-in-chief left Fei Jiang momentarily speechless. She fumed, "An'an Xu, stop twisting my words!"

An'an Xu ignored her and turned on her computer.

Worried that their exchange might reach the editor-in-chief, Fei Jiang hurried to clear things up with An'an Xu, especially since there were a few notorious gossips nearby.

"You’d better explain. That’s not what I meant!"

"Fei Jiang, it’s work hours. Don’t you have anything to do?" An'an Xu said impatiently. "Everyone else is working. Why are you so idle?"

"Yeah, if you’ve got nothing to do, don’t disturb us!"

Fei Jiang had no choice but to slink back to her desk, simmering with resentment. An'an Xu, just you wait!

At that moment, the editor-in-chief walked by, paused at An'an Xu’s desk, and smiled. "Well done. Your interview piece with Anhao Bai was excellent. Those questions were sharp."

"Keep it up, and who knows, you might get that department head position."

Instantly, everyone looked at An'an Xu with envy.

Fei Jiang was nearly beside herself with jealousy.

An'an Xu, however, was completely baffled. She didn’t remember her questions being all that piercing.

Recalling the editor’s call a few days ago, An'an Xu felt a growing sense of unease and hurried off to find the editor.

But the editor was out on assignment and had not yet returned.

Ring, ring, ring!

An unfamiliar number was calling.

An'an Xu answered, "Hello..."

"So you’re An'an Xu? Shameless! Just to get attention, you’re twisting facts and lying through your teeth!"

The caller launched into a tirade, spewing curses, even going so far as to wish her entire family dead.

Furious, An'an Xu demanded, "Who are you?!"

"Just wait. I’ll make you regret ever being born!"

The caller spat out the threat and hung up.

An'an Xu, exasperated, blocked the number and didn’t think much of it—until two or three more calls like it came in. At that point, she had to take it seriously.

They didn’t just insult her; they even cursed her mother.

Her mother was her most sensitive spot, her bottom line. Face flushed with anger, An'an Xu punched the wall, the pain failing to calm her down.

Ring, ring, ring!

Thinking it was another harassing call, An'an Xu, her eyes tinged with red, snapped, "Enough already! Want to kill me? Then come do it! Listen, what you’re doing is illegal. I’m going to the police, and none of you will get away with it!"

"Who wants to kill you?"

A cool, deep, and magnetic voice replied.

Recognizing Li Jiang, An'an Xu ran a hand through her hair and took a deep breath. "It’s nothing, just a few nuisance calls."

"I didn’t expect you to call me, Second Master. Is something wrong?"

Li Jiang’s eyes darkened. "Did you take something that doesn’t belong to you?"

An'an Xu froze. "What do you mean?"

"Check your bag."

Prompted by his reminder, An'an Xu remembered that yesterday, in her rush to find her phone, she’d dumped everything out of her bag. This morning, hurrying to work, she’d stuffed everything back in.

"Let me check."

She put the phone on speaker and rummaged through her bag, finally finding something that didn’t belong to her, though it looked familiar.

It was a plastic shell pendant.

It seemed like a little girl’s toy.

"Um, I’m not sure—is this... your little niece’s toy?"

"Cut the nonsense. Return it immediately," Li Jiang ordered.

"But I’m busy right now. I can only bring it by tonight. You’re not in a rush for it, are you?"

...

The call was abruptly ended.

Imagining Li Jiang wearing that cheap plastic shell pendant made An'an Xu laugh out loud. Still, it was odd how anxious he was over something worth only five yuan.

She remembered that when she was a child, many girls loved buying little trinkets like this.

She was no exception.

But back then, she had no money and could only watch others play with them. Until one night, her mother brought home a shell pendant for her after a late shift.

She treasured it, even marking it inside.

Unfortunately, she didn’t know where it had gone; it seemed to have disappeared into thin air.

She searched everywhere. Her mother told her she’d given it away, but how could that be? It was so precious; why would she give it away for no reason?

That’s what An'an Xu thought, but she still went to ask her childhood friend, Xiaosu Tang, for the truth.

They nearly ended up not speaking anymore.

Because Xiaosu Tang thought An'an Xu was accusing her of stealing.

After that, the matter was left unresolved.

Now, staring at the shell pendant in her palm, An'an Xu remembered—it could be opened...