Night Rose

"No, he's still a bachelor!" Grandpa replied with a smile.

Judging from his grandfather's reaction, he was clearly very satisfied with his eldest sister. Zhou Zheng was also satisfied; indeed, hiring a caregiver would save a lot of trouble.

"Oh my, so handsome and still single? Shall I introduce you to someone? The neighbor's daughter, so well-behaved and sensible, and beautiful too!" The older sister's eyebrows practically flew up, looking at Zhou Zheng like he was her own child, overjoyed.

Zhou Zheng felt extremely uncomfortable; sure enough, whenever he encountered an older person, they would try to introduce him to potential partners.

"No need! I'm perfectly comfortable on my own!"

Listening to their conversation, the old man in the next bed also got up. The older woman brought over two extra steamed buns, and the two chatted for a while. The whole ward was filled with a harmonious and pleasant atmosphere.

Zhou Zheng breathed a sigh of relief, sat down next to his grandfather, and peeled the apple into a small piece for him.

"Grandpa, Auntie is busy at home, so I won't let her come anymore. The caregiver seems nice and has good skills, so why don't we let her stay?"

"Fine, I'll listen to you. If you don't, I can't do anything about it," Grandpa replied, nudging him with his elbow. "Go turn on the TV, you haven't finished watching yesterday's drama."

"Hey, grandpa, just take care of me. I'm right here. Let him rest for a bit!" The older woman quickly came over to turn on the TV and then asked the grandpa in the next bed if he could hear her and if the TV was too noisy.

Zhou Zheng peeled the apple with peace of mind and placed it on his grandfather's bedside table, reminding him, "Remember to eat it, or it will oxidize if left too long."

"Okay." Grandpa stared intently at the TV.

Zhou Zheng waved, and the busy older woman put down the trash bag in her hand and followed him out.

In the hallway, Zhou Zheng took out two hundred yuan and stuffed it into the older sister's hand, "Big sister, this is a start-of-work bonus, please take it."

"This is too kind of you! I can't accept it!" the older woman quickly pushed away.

Zhou Zheng forcefully put it in her pocket. "Big sister, I'm asking you to take care of my grandfather. I'm usually busy and can't come back during the day, so please spend more time with him. He doesn't say it, but he's actually quite lonely and wants to talk to someone."

I'll come back to stay with him tonight. You can go home after feeding him at six o'clock, let him use the restroom, and then you can leave. He can take care of himself.

The older sister didn't stand on ceremony with him any further and accepted it.

"Don't worry! I'll make sure you're examined carefully! The old man seems quite energetic; he'll be discharged soon."

"He's faking it so I won't worry," Zhou Zheng said with a helpless smile. "Let him sleep more during the day; he just had surgery and he's not really in the mood."

"Okay, I'll take care of it. Even if he doesn't want to sleep, he'll at least close his eyes and doze off for a while," the older sister readily agreed.

"You can call me for anything. If you can't get through the first time, call again. It won't bother me," Zhou Zheng instructed, worried that she might hesitate to call and cause problems.

The eldest sister has a lot of experience taking care of people, so she doesn't dare to make decisions on her own and always has to call someone if anything happens.

"I've met many family members in the hospital, but there aren't many grandsons as filial as you!"

"Thank you for your hard work, elder sister."

After finishing his important business, Zhou Zheng went inside to say goodbye to his grandfather and then left the hospital.

Sure enough, not long after Zhou Zheng left, Grandpa fell asleep against his pillow.

The older sister quietly turned off the TV and took the clean plate from the bedside table to wash it.

Zhou Zheng drove his Volkswagen back to the tavern. The tavern was empty; Tu Ying was still asleep.

The tavern was deserted. There were still some empty bottles from last night, which Zhou Zheng picked up casually.

He and Tu Ying had known each other for four years, their relationship was neither too close nor too distant, but Tu Ying was indeed a good person and even left him a place to stay.

Zhou Zheng walked to the garage. The garage door was open, and the race car was parked inside, but he didn't see the engineer who usually lingered around it.

Su Jin suddenly entered Zhou Zheng's mind. Every smile and frown of hers stirred his thoughts. He also thought of her seriousness when repairing cars and her logical reasoning when explaining theories.

He sighed. It must be because he hadn't seen a woman in so long. Why was he thinking of Su Jin again?

Frustrated, Zhou Zheng sat on the bench, picked up a handful of marbles from the ground, and started performing acrobatics.

Several marbles seemed to have magic in his hands, tossing them from one hand to the other, his eyes fixed on them without blinking.

When he got bored of playing, he tossed the marbles in his hand, took off his shirt, and started doing the training that Su Jin had set for him, even though Zhou Zheng thought it was really silly to do such a thing.

He pressed his head against the wall with all his might, held it for thirty seconds, and then tried to push it from a different angle.

When Tu Ying first saw him doing this kind of training, she laughed so hard she couldn't stand up straight.

But Su Jin told them in a serious tone that this was called isometric contraction training, which simulates the pulling force on the head when cornering, and is an important exercise to protect the head and neck.

Zhou Zheng silently counted the rhythm in his mind. When he changed direction, Su Jin's figure suddenly appeared in his field of vision. He almost thought that he was hallucinating because he was thinking about Su Jin.

Su Jin stood not far away with her arms crossed, watching him train intently.

When Zhou Zheng looked over, she slowly walked over, pinched Zhou Zheng's arm, and said, "Not bad, you came to train early in the morning. It seems you listened to Coach Su."

"What are you doing up so early?" Zhou Zheng asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm used to it. I used to go to work this early in New York too." Su Jin stretched. "Hey, did you do your plank?"

"without."

"Then you do it, I'll add some weight for you," Su Jin said frankly.

If her eyes showed even the slightest hint of cunning, Zhou Zheng would suspect that she was up to no good, but her gaze was so straightforward and simple, purely to add weight to his heart.

Zhou Zheng stopped talking, deftly bracing himself on the ground with a posture so perfect it could be used as a reference image.

Su Jin patted his back, her hand resting on the man's firm yet not exaggerated muscles. Zhou Zheng had sculpted his physique perfectly, just to Su Jin's liking.

She doesn't like overly muscular men, nor does she like skinny men who show no signs of fitness. Zhou Zheng's lean, muscular physique is just right.

"Coach Su, if you keep touching me, my muscles will get hard," Zhou Zheng sighed.

"Be serious!" Su Jin slapped him hard, then turned around and sat on his back.

Zhou Zheng braced himself, his body sinking slightly, but he immediately pushed himself back up. "What's wrong with that? Aren't muscles supposed to be hard during training? Or are you thinking dirty thoughts?"

"Stop talking nonsense and exercise more," Su Jin snorted, sitting cross-legged on his back and starting to browse the latest racing news.

Rally races are held all over the world, and the cars displayed at these races are simply top-notch in terms of craftsmanship. Su Jin couldn't help but sigh, "It's still hard to go from luxury to frugality."

She really wanted to touch those mechanical beasts that were ingrained in her soul and hear their million-dollar roars.

Su Jin glanced back at the dilapidated car lying in the garage, feeling furious, and patted the person sitting under her.

"Zhou Zheng, you've had extra training today! You held on!"