Soul Patch

Chapter 207, 16:23

As he chewed, Wenjie swallowed the sandwich in his mouth and stuffed the rest of the sandwich into his mouth.

"Xiao Wang, why didn't you take Wenjie out for lunch? Don't try to evade the question. You can't miss a single meal. Where did you take him this morning? Don't you know?" Wen Tianyi, sitting next to him, bombarded him with questions on the phone.

Wenjie ate too quickly and choked a little. He opened the milk bottle and took a sip, seeing his father still nagging and lecturing Xiao Wang.

He glanced to the side, snatched the phone from his father's hand, hung up, and shoved it back into his father's hand.

"Dad, I just forgot to check the time..."

When Wenjie said this, his tone was weary and tinged with disdain, as if... he didn't care at all about eating or not, and was even too lazy to talk about it.

Forgot the time? Wen Tianyi looked at Wen Jie carefully, wondering to himself: What could have made his son forget the time?

My son, who has a science and engineering background, is very good with numbers. To say he forgot the time is simply nonsense.

Combining the rumors he had just heard, he had a general idea, and a look of joy appeared on his face.

I heard that when her son learned it was Charmaine Li's birthday, he specially chose a bouquet of flowers for her. He must have been so excited to see her that he forgot about time.

He moved closer to his son and asked frankly, "Wenjie, tell Dad the truth, what's your relationship with Li Shiman?"

Wenjie seemed lost in thought, as if he had something on his mind, or as if he had nothing on his mind at all...

My feelings are complicated and indescribable; in short, I just can't muster any interest in anything.

Upon hearing his father's question, he shook his head expressionlessly, too lazy to say another word.

"Does shaking your head mean it's okay, or does it mean it's no longer a problem?" Wen Tianyi asked anxiously.

After finishing the last bit of milk in the bottle, Wenjie stood up impatiently and said, "Dad, I'm a little tired. I'm going back to my office."

Wen Tianyi checked the time: 15:30.

"Okay, you can rest for an hour. There will be a senior management meeting at 4:30 PM in the company's multi-functional hall. I will formally introduce you to everyone then. Get ready!"

When Wen Tianyi said these words, his eyes were burning with determination, and it was clear that his father had high hopes for him.

Wenjie nodded, his expression blank, as if what his father was saying had nothing to do with him.

Deep down, he hoped he could perform well and make his father look good in front of the company's executives, but...

He was just too tired, just too tired. He would feel better after a rest, he told himself.

He returned to his office listlessly and picked up the company's brochure on the table, looking at it for a while.

There was a knock on the door; it was the finance manager delivering the company's financial statements for the year.

Following that, Cheng Xiaohui, the planning department manager, delivered the company's major events and corporate culture manual.

Cheng Xiaohui, dressed in a brown business suit, respectfully handed the documents to Wenjie and then politely said goodbye to him.

Wenjie hesitated for a moment, then called out to her.

"I heard you were injured at the company's opening ceremony a few days ago?"

Cheng Xiaohui smiled faintly and looked calmly at Wenjie, saying, "Thank you for your concern, Mr. Wen. I'm fine now."

Wenjie felt a chill run down his spine. Because his life trajectory had been altered, he had several memories of that night. These fragments of memories were stuck together, thicker than a pot of porridge.

"Who hurt you?"

"It's just a private matter, Xiao Wen, you don't need to worry about it." Cheng Xiaohui felt a growing wariness towards Wenjie, and she narrowed her eyes slightly.

"Mr. Wen, if there's nothing else, I'll head downstairs now. I have some things to take care of."

"Something's up! Who let you leave?" Wenjie seemed to be in a bad mood or something else: "Is it Jia Nan? I'm asking about the person who injured you."

Tears welled up in Cheng Xiaohui's eyes instantly. Over the years, whenever Jia Nan was mentioned, a strange emotion would always well up inside her—pain, resentment, and even more so, nostalgia and resentment…

However, things are much better now than before. She's basically able to control her emotions. She took two deep breaths and said:

"No, a colleague accidentally injured me. My colleague apologized to me and took appropriate disciplinary action. The matter is over. I don't want to talk about it anymore."

"What's your relationship with Jia Nan? Are you lovers?"

Wenjie didn't care whether Cheng Xiaohui liked it or not. He had never had a chance to find out about Qin Fen's matter. He always felt guilty towards Qin Fen, and he had a feeling that this matter was inextricably linked to Jia Nan.

Today, Cheng Xiaohui has become his subordinate, coming to his office to deliver documents. If he doesn't ask questions now, when will he?

"I'm sorry, this is a personal matter, Mr. Wen. Please take a look at the documents. The general manager said he needs them for a meeting later."

Cheng Xiaohui turned and walked towards the office door, her long, white legs in open-toed stilettos, very alluring.

However, Wenjie wasn't interested.

Wenjie took two breaths and finally suppressed the urge to bring up "Qin Fen".

Yes, he'll need these materials for the meeting later, and he needs to quickly go through them in less than an hour.

After that, several other department heads came over to deliver documents.

Wenjie looked at the mountain of documents and nodded to each of them as a way of thanking them.

Then he frantically studied the materials without stopping, finishing one book after another... Soon he realized that all the materials he was studying were mixed up, and he almost forgot which department his dorm leader, Wang Hui, belonged to.

He rubbed his temples, got up, moved to the window, and looked out into the distance. From the 20th floor of the Huahai Building, overlooking the surrounding buildings, he felt a sense of "pointing out the landscape and commanding the world".

He chuckled self-deprecatingly. He'd only been the marketing director of Huahai for half a day, how could he be so arrogant? Why hadn't he noticed how easily he could get carried away when he was just a nobody?

He glanced at the time: 16:18.

He picked up his phone from the table, grabbed his employee ID, hung it around his neck, and left the office.

Upon arriving at the elevator, he reached out to press the button, but hesitated halfway through, pulling his hand back instead. He opened the fire door, glanced at the trash can, and saw it was empty.

The cleaning staff collected the trash.

Only then did he return to the elevator lobby and press the elevator button.

The elevator arrived quickly. The conference room was on the 12th floor, but he pointed to the 16th floor.

He frowned slightly as he watched the 16th floor light up.

What kind of mentality is this?

Did she remember the SOS note on the table, or did she think of Li Shiman being killed at 16:23 in the online mission last night?

Or perhaps he did take to heart what Li Shiman said that afternoon?

He still cares about Li Shiman.

I don't want anything to happen to 6-year-old Li Shiman, nor do I want anything to go wrong to 26-year-old Li Shiman.

He shook his head, trying to shake off those random thoughts.

In the blink of an eye, he arrived at the 16th floor, quickly went to Li Shiman's room, knocked on the door and entered.

Li Shiman sat behind the desk, her chair facing away from Wenjie.

As he walked, he called out "Li Shiman," and she seemed to move slightly, but did not turn her chair around.

He suddenly realized something was wrong, and the bright red handwriting on the note pleading for help flashed before his eyes again.

He rushed behind the desk and spun the chair around.

"Ah!" He reflexively took a half step back.

He saw that Li Shiman, who was sitting in a chair, had a glass vase piercing her chest above her heart, and her clothes were mostly stained red with blood.

Upon seeing Wenjie, her eyelids trembled weakly, and she opened her mouth for a long time but couldn't make a sound. She stretched out one arm towards Wenjie with all her might.

Wenjie hurriedly went over, and Li Shiman seemed to have used up her last bit of strength to lunge forward and fall into Wenjie's arms.

Wenjie reached out to touch Li Shiman's nose; her breathing was so weak that she could hardly breathe at all.

This all happened so suddenly that he was momentarily at a loss for what to do: "Help...help me!"

He shouted, then immediately realized he should call the police!

Yes, call the police!

He picked up the phone, ready to dial 110.

In his panic, as he unlocked the screen, the time on his phone flashed by, and he felt as if struck by lightning, collapsing to the ground.

Because the time displayed on the phone is 16:23.

(End of this chapter)