Chapter 19 Can I Go Home With You?
The bar was located in the bustling heart of Star City, only a few minutes' drive from the hospital. The doctor's brow remained furrowed as he examined Song Ni's palm. Not only had the original wound split open further, but the shattered glass from the bottle had left several deep cuts on her skin, with tiny shards of glass embedded within. Song Ni reeked of alcohol, yet her eyes were remarkably clear. Being close to the bar, the doctor had treated all sorts of injured patients, but he had never encountered someone like Song Ni. Her body was saturated with the smell of alcohol, but there was no trace of drunkenness, and her hands bore new injuries layered over old ones.
The doctor glanced at Tan Zheng. "How can you, as an elder, take a child to a bar?"
Hearing this, Tan Zheng's brows knit. Song Ni couldn't help but chuckle. She raised her head, looking at Tan Zheng with a triumphant gleam in her eyes. "Uncle?"
The man's expression stiffened slightly. He stared at Song Ni, her high ponytail making her look every bit like a high school student. His gaze fell on her bloodied hands, and he didn't press the issue. Song Ni's mood brightened considerably upon seeing Tan Zheng's reaction.
It took the doctor nearly ten minutes to extract the glass shards from Song Ni's palm. After applying medication and bandaging her wound, he instructed, "Avoid contact with water and heavy objects for the next few days, and try to move as little as possible."
Song Ni thanked him. Just as she was about to stand, Tan Zheng gently pressed her hand back onto the chair. Then, the man crouched down, took hold of Song Ni's ankle, and pulled out her pant leg. "There's another wound here."
The doctor looked down and indeed, there was. Song Ni looked down at her right leg, a red line on her shin oozing blood, and her calf also stained with quite a bit of blood. She had likely been cut when she kicked the bottle back in self-defense. Song Ni's eyes flickered. She hadn't even noticed it herself, so how had Tan Zheng... found it?
Tan Zheng retracted his hand and stood up, moving aside to allow the doctor to attend to the wound. He noticed Song Ni staring intently at him.
"What are you looking at?" Song Ni pursed her lips, her eyes curving into a smile. "Uncle Tan has amazing observation skills. I didn't even know myself."
At the mention of the title, Tan Zheng's head ached, and the veins on the back of his hand throbbed. "Stop fucking around." Tan Zheng's brow was deeply furrowed, and his impatience was evident.
The contrast between the red blood and her pale skin was striking on Song Ni. Yet, from the bar to the hospital, and throughout the entire process of treating her wounds, the young girl hadn't uttered a single sound. If not for her tightly furrowed brows, he would have thought she was insensible to pain. The restlessness that stirred within Tan Zheng was almost unbearable, making him want a cigarette even at the hospital. He couldn't quite understand it. Song Ni, a pampered eldest daughter, raised with the utmost care from childhood, how could she react this way after being injured? Logically, someone so doted upon could afford to be fragile. Wasn't she quite good at acting demure? Why was she acting like a mute when injured?
Song Ni had no idea what Tan Zheng was thinking, nor did she understand why he was suddenly so irate. She slightly parted her lips, still contemplating how to respond, when the doctor beside them couldn't help but intervene. "What's wrong with you? You hurt a junior and then scold them?"
Song Ni's brows twitched. Her intuition told her that if the doctor continued to misunderstand, Tan Zheng might explode. "Doctor Uncle, I was just joking. He's my boyfriend. Calling him 'uncle' is our little bit of fun." She then gave a particularly obedient wink.
Upon hearing this, the doctor seemed to doubt his own sanity. He looked at Song Ni's face, then at Tan Zheng's, and finally, unable to contain his curiosity, he asked, "Little girl, how old are you?"
"Almost 24." The doctor was surprised. "24? I thought you were eighteen." Such a comment would delight any woman, and Song Ni was no exception. "Mm-hmm, I look young. He's only six years older than me."
The doctor finally believed their relationship. He pursed his lips, as if wanting to say more, but ultimately deemed it inappropriate. Such matters were between young couples, and he shouldn't meddle.
When Tan Zheng heard the word "boyfriend," the hand hanging by his side twitched involuntarily. He raised his eyes and looked at Song Ni, who was sitting obediently on the stool. Who would have thought that half an hour ago, this girl had single-handedly taken down five men in the bar? It was also remarkable that the restlessness, which he could only suppress with a cigarette, was so easily dispelled by Song Ni's few words. Tan Zheng turned his gaze to the window. It was dark, and the rain was falling harder. He raised his right hand and squeezed his left wrist, his eyes dark and unfathomable.
After her wounds were all treated, Tan Zheng extended his hand towards Song Ni. Song Ni raised an eyebrow, overlooking Tan Zheng's inexplicable anger from earlier, and placed her hand in his palm.
Back in the car, Song Ni directly asked, "What was wrong with you just now?" Overlooking it was one thing; understanding the reason was another. The eldest daughter of the Song family never endured someone else's bad mood without reason.
Tan Zheng looked deeply into Song Ni's eyes for a long moment before his gaze shifted, sweeping over her injured hand and then her injured leg. He only said, "It was my problem."
Song Ni: ... She hadn't even said anything, and Tan Zheng had already admitted fault? Song Ni was truly baffled by the man in front of her.
"About the bar..." Song Ni paused. "It caused you trouble."
Tan Zheng glanced at her. "No matter how big the trouble, I can handle it. Did it make you feel better?"
This answer was unexpected. After all, they weren't a united front in terms of interests, and Tan Zheng had no obligation to go this far for her. Song Ni found it all a bit strange, but she couldn't figure out the reason. However, this didn't stop her from feeling happy because of Tan Zheng's words.
Seeing the young girl fidgeting beside him, seemingly unbothered by her injuries, Tan Zheng finally asked, "Doesn't it hurt?"
"Just this much pain? I can handle it." The suffering and pain she endured while practicing karate with Song Jing as a child were far greater than this. Compared to that, these injuries were child's play.
Seeing that Song Ni was not being melodramatic and showed no signs of enduring pain, Tan Zheng curved his lips upwards. "You learned karate well."
On the subject of karate, Song Ni became quite proud. "Of course. Don't underestimate me. If more men like the ones tonight showed up, I could handle them all."
Tan Zheng let out a laugh. Song Ni indeed possessed that capability. The car stopped at a red light. The man turned his head to look at the somewhat disheveled Song Ni and asked, "Back to the Song family?"
Song Ni immediately shook her head. "No way, I can't go back looking like this." Her family would have a meltdown. Tan Zheng wasn't surprised; Song Ni still had to maintain her image as a good daughter in front of her elders.
"Where else then?" Song Ni's eyes darted around, her fingers resting on her chin as she pondered. Then, as Tan Zheng pressed the accelerator and continued to drive forward, she tilted her head to look at him, her eyes curved into a smile. "Can I go to your place?"
(End of Chapter)