Night Rose

With a polite smile, Su Jin subtly reminded him, "Call me Miss Su."

"Okay, Ms. Su, wait here for a bit, I'll go get the parts." Manager Li casually pointed towards the front desk, telling Su Jin to wait there.

The receptionist was busy introducing their products and services to customers.

Su Jin leaned against the table, listening to their conversation with boredom. As her eyes wandered aimlessly, she caught sight of the people behind the warehouse glass.

Her eyes widened suddenly.

Isn't that Zhou Zheng?!

Zhou Zheng was wearing a set of durable work clothes. He had only been gone for half an hour, but he was covered in dust, with his knees, legs and shoulders smeared with dirt.

He was pulling a cart loaded with heavy goods, and carrying two tires on his shoulders, so heavy that they weighed down one of his shoulders.

But he moved quickly and didn't complain once. In the time it took others to make one trip, he had already made three round trips.

No wonder he always looks so tired when he appears in public.

So it turns out he works as a porter here at night...

Su Jin felt a chill run down her spine and didn't want to watch anymore, but she couldn't take her eyes off it.

Some passing workers casually tossed their belongings onto his trailer, patted the goods with a smile, and asked him to haul them over.

Su Jin was furious. This was clearly their job, yet they were dumping it on someone else!

Zhou Zheng, who was separated from her by a glass partition, also moved. He pointed at the goods the man had thrown up and calmly said, "Count three and take them down. Otherwise, you can go pick them out of the trash can."

"You're a temporary worker, what's wrong with helping us permanent workers with some work? Everyone else can relax, so why can't I?" The man tried to sound tough, but he was actually a little afraid of Zhou Zheng. After all, Zhou Zheng was so tall, who wouldn't be intimidated?

"They can because they helped me. You can't, you know that." Zhou Zheng placed his large hand on the goods, as if he was about to overturn them at any moment.

The person in front of him was one of those who had encouraged Manager Li to make things difficult for Zhou Zheng. Their clique liked to bully newcomers, but unfortunately, they were rebuffed by Zhou Zheng. The boss couldn't stand it, so he always brought these people to cause trouble.

However, Zhou Zheng was not someone they could easily bully.

"two!"

"Did you count to three? Then you started counting to two!" The man quickly took down the items he had thrown up and slunk away.

Zhou Zheng snorted dismissively and continued moving his goods.

Suddenly, as if he sensed someone watching him, he turned his head to look outside.

"!"

Su Jin squatted down next to the front desk, and the large table perfectly concealed her body, leaving no room for suspicion.

Su Jin's heart skipped a beat. She touched her forehead to regain her senses and muttered to herself, "He shouldn't be able to see me, right? He wouldn't want me to see him."

No man wants to be seen in such a disheveled state by someone he knows.

Is this the secret that Tu Ying didn't tell Zhou Zheng?

Manager Li returned, but didn't see Su Jin. He called out a few times, "Hey, beautiful lady! Where's Ms. Su?"

A hand reached out from beside the front desk and waved weakly.

Su Jin was really afraid that he would call out her name the next second.

Manager Li immediately went over and asked her curiously, "Miss Su, what are you doing here?"

"I... my stomach hurts a little, I'll squat for a while," Su Jin quickly made up an excuse.

Manager Li didn't suspect anything, put the parts on the ground, and said, "Why don't you sit on the sofa for a while? I'll help you."

"No need!" Su Jin grabbed the parts, her expression stern. "I'm in a hurry, so I won't rest. There's no need to deliver them."

Su Jin stood up abruptly, picked up the parts, and walked out without giving a second glance to anyone else.

But she didn't know that Zhou Zheng had already seen her when Manager Li called her "Miss Su".

The surname Su is not common here, and the engineer next to him happens to have the surname Su, so he had no reason not to take a second look.

Zhou Zheng recognized the hand as soon as it was raised.

Seeing Su Jin's hurried departure, Zhou Zheng knew that she must have seen him, otherwise she wouldn't have slipped away like a thief.

"Zhou Zheng, right?" Someone snapped their fingers, bringing Zhou Zheng back to his senses.

"Yes."

"You quit? What happened? Didn't you say you came because you needed money? You have enough money now?" the foreman asked gruffly.

"I had an emergency at home and couldn't do it anymore. At the time, it was said to be a temporary job, and it wasn't specified how long I had to work there," Zhou Zheng replied.

The foreman glanced at the records in his hand, then took out a calculator to calculate the money for him.

"I didn't say you couldn't leave, it's just that we're short-staffed right now. If you have any friends who want to come, please introduce them, or if you're planning to come back, just come directly. You're quite diligent, much better than those old hands."

"Okay." Zhou Zheng didn't want to come back.

The foreman gave him an extra ten yuan a day, based on the price they had initially agreed on. After all, it was hard to find someone as young, strong, and hardworking as Zhou Zheng. If he were to come back to work in the future, this was a good way to pave the way for him.

Zhou Zheng took the slip to the finance department to collect his wages. After settling his odd jobs for that period of time that day, he received a total of 3,352 yuan.

The money was barely in his hands before it was transferred into the hospital's system.

The previous debts have been paid off, and the remaining money is in my grandfather's account. Subsequent hospitalization expenses will be paid directly from this account.

Before entering the ward, Zhou Zheng took off his work clothes and wore clean clothes underneath, but they were only clean; the smell of sweat was still there. He skillfully went to the hospital's public bathroom to take a shower.

He always did this, so that his grandfather wouldn't find out that he was working at night.

When Zhou Zheng pushed open the door, the person in the next bed was already asleep, and his grandfather was listening to TV. The TV was turned up loud, but the person in the next bed was not affected at all.

"Grandpa, why is the sound so loud?"

Zhou Zheng searched around for the remote control before realizing that someone had placed it far away, making it impossible for the bedridden elderly person to reach it.

"It's alright, he's hard of hearing and a very deep sleeper, he's not bothered by noise." Grandpa's voice was still a little weak.

Zhou Zheng turned off the TV, walked over and checked the old man's forehead temperature. Fortunately, it wasn't hot; his low-grade fever from yesterday had subsided.

"When did your aunt leave?"

Grandpa opened his eyes and looked at him for a while, then closed them again.

"You haven't been gone long, so don't worry about me. Just focus on your work and earning money."

"I work so hard, my boss even gave me a raise." Zhou Zheng sat down by the hospital bed and massaged his grandfather's legs to prevent blood clots from forming.

Grandpa touched his hand, squeezed it, and asked in a low voice, "The medical expenses haven't worried you, have they? My pension is with your aunt; she wouldn't ask a child like you to pay for it, would she?"

Zhou Zheng applied pressure gently, continuously massaging his grandfather's legs.

"How could Auntie let me pay? She paid for everything. I'm just responsible for checking on you in the evening so you can go back and rest for a while."

"You don't need to come see me every night anymore. I'm all better now and I can be discharged tomorrow."

Zhou Zheng paused in his work. "How are you going to be discharged tomorrow? If you want to go down there with my mother, then you can be discharged."