Time waits for no man. The moment Auntie Xiao left, Ning Wan dragged Fu Zheng over to Tao Xing's residence.
According to Auntie Xiao, this Tao Xing was actually quite young, and only in her early thirties. However, she seemed to be living alone in Yuelan Community, without much contact with other family members. She also wasn't too close with her neighbors due to the dog thing. Only occasionally would one see Tao Xing talking to other dog owners in the community. Even Auntie Xiao, who seemed to know everything about everyone, didn't know much about her.
On the way, Ning Wan worried about Tao Xing not being easy to talk to. She might deny that it was her dog that injured Chen Shuo. After all, Ning Wan only had a video here, and it wasn't like there was only one dog with a red bow on its collar in the world. Taobao was full of these sorts of pet accessories. So long as she insisted that it wasn't her dog, it was impossible to prove...
Fu Zheng was walking beside her, and while Ning Wan was worrying, his expression was also solemn.
He must also be worrying about Chen Shuo, Ning Wan thought. What a good person Fu Zheng was. He really must be close to Chen Shuo, if normally stoic and unemotional Fu Zheng was showing his emotions like this when something happened to him. Just when Ning Wan was about to open her mouth and tell him not to worry too much about Chen Shuo, Fu Zheng spoke--
"Ning Wan, why did Auntie Xiao just now say that she would introduce me to a good man?" he frowned. "When I think back on what she said earlier, too, that she wanted to be sisters with me, these words seem, I don't know..."
"..." Ning Wan quickly interrupted this train of thought. "You're thinking too much. Auntie Xiao was talking about her boyfriend before and she must have been so excited that she slipped up! It was just a slip of the tongue! Of course she meant that she would introduce you to a good woman!"
"There's no need."
She had been trying to change the subject, but unexpectedly, Fu Zheng answered seriously, repeating, "No need."
Ning Wan looked up at him curiously, and suddenly felt a little nervous and flustered. She tried to make herself seem calm and indifferent, and inquired, "No need, because you already have a girlfriend?"
"No." Fu Zheng pursed his lips and glanced at her. "I just don't need an introduction from Auntie Xiao."
"Oh..."
Ning Wan didn't realize, but she was a little happy inside to hear his simple answer. Fu Zheng was thirty. Let alone girlfriends, most male lawyers around that age in their firm already had children. Fu Zheng was certainly old enough to find a girlfriend. As his mentor, she should have shown care about him and encouraged him to find a girlfriend since he didn't already have one, but inside, Ning Wan dragged her feet. Hearing that there was no girlfriend in Fu Zheng's life, not only did she not worry about him, but there was a murmur of satisfaction in her heart. She hoped that he would always be this way, without one.
As she was secretly thinking these things, Fu Zheng cleared his throat, looked straight ahead, and asked, "What about you? Do you want Auntie Xiao to introduce you to a good man?"
"No, no," Ning Wan waved her hand. "Absolutely not!"
Don't joke around. Ning Wan was well-aware of how sought-after quality young people currently were in the community. Auntie Xiao not introducing a divorcee to her was already considered good.
Besides, Ning wan thought, glancing at Fu Zheng, with him around as a reference, her standards seemed to have unconsciously been raised. In the past she had felt that Chen Shuo was quite handsome, but now she seemed to feel that he was simply a normal-looking man. At best, he was a cheerful, sunny young fellow, but that wasn't quite the same as a truly drop-dead gorgeous guy. And as for what a drop-dead gorgeous guy might look like... Ning Wan stealthily snuck a peek at Fu Zheng.
He was currently staring into the distance and didn't notice her furtive gaze. Clearing his throat, he said, "Just now, Auntie Xiao said that she would introduce me to a good man, so I didn't realize what was going on. If she had said that she would introduce me to a good woman, I would definitely have refused immediately."
"Since you don't have anything like that in mind either, then if Auntie Xiao ever offers to introduce you to good men in the future, you should refuse, too."
Busy looking at his profile, Ning Wan nodded without thinking. "Okay!"
He had gotten a positive answer, but Fu Zheng was obviously not satisfied. He turned and glared at her. "You answered so quickly! Do you really mean it?"
"Yes..."
Ning Wan really didn't want to meet any good men at the moment. The most important thing to her right now was joining the senior partner's team.
"Well, I'm just saying," Fu Zheng added somewhat unnaturally, "I mean, Auntie Xiao is very sincere and enthusiastic. I feel like you shouldn't waste her kindness and energy by giving her a lukewarm answer, since if you don't directly refuse her directly, she might really ask around for a good man for you. We can't take advantage of other people like that, right?"
"Right, right."
You were so nice to look at that you were right about everything.
Fortunately, Tao Xing's home wasn't far away. A short while later, Ning Wan and Fu Zheng arrived at her door. Fu Zheng hadn't brought up anything after that, and although he obviously wanted to know what Ning Wan had done before, he didn't pursue exactly why Auntie Xiao had wanted to introduce him to a good man. Ning Wan was secretly relieved.
They were lucky that Tao Xing was at home. She was completely different from what Ning Wan had imagined she would be. Auntie Xiao had said that she was in her early thirties, but she looked a little haggard; from her features one could tell that she might once have been pretty, but the dark circles under her eyes and poor condition of her skin had greatly reduced her good looks. As a whole she looked gloomy. Her mouth drooped, and she didn't perk up even when speaking to someone. But after they explained why they were there, Tao Xing didn't drive them away. Although she was a little cold, she welcomed them politely into her house.
"Don't be afraid of the dog, so long as you're not allergic to him. He's been vaccinated and is practically part of the family." Perhaps due to having returned to a familiar environment, she looked much better after entering her own house. "I'll pour you a cup of tea."
While Tao Xing went to get tea, Ning Wan looked over her home. It seemed as though she kept it very clean. Although she had a dog, there was no dog hair on the floor nor any peculiar smells.
The furniture was simple, even old, and a few bulbs were flickering, obviously due to age, but anything related to dogs, whether dog bowls or the pile of dog food on one side, were from imported brands, and even the dog toys scattered on the ground seemed expensive and carefully chosen.
On observing Tao Xing herself, it seemed that her clothes were also casual, and her jeans were white from washing. It seemed as though Tao Xing didn't care much about her own quality of life, only her dog's.
"Come have some tea."
Ning Wan accepted the tea and stopped beating around the bush., simply taking out the photo of the dog and briefly describing the incident, choosing her words carefully to avoid being provocative. "Because other residents in the community mentioned that this dog looks very similar to yours, and I hear that your dog happened to be lost on the day of the accident, I merely thought to ask..."
To her surprise, before she was done speaking Tao Xing finished her sentence and simply admitted: "It's my dog, I recognize him. It's Duoduo." Then she called to a different room, "Duoduo, come here."
A moment later, the dog from the video actually did come. It was without a doubt the same dog, down to the red bow on its collar.
She hadn't expected things to go so smoothly. Ning Wan and Fu Zheng exchanged a glance, relieved. But just as she thought that the follow-up matter of compensation might be settled and negotiated just as smoothly, Tao Xing refused her request.
She spoke sluggishly, as if nothing would lift her spirits. "Duoduo is mine, yes, but he was lost that day."
"Yes, he was indeed lost," said Ning Wan smilingly, "But it's the responsibility of his owner to watch him. So if he gets out, then of course the owner is liable for any damage he caused."
Why knew what happened or which word struck a nerve, but though Ning Wan said these things very gently, listless and depressed Tao Xing blew up like a firecracker--
"Why am I the one responsible? Why is it my fault? Why is everything my fault? What have I done wrong that God wants to punish me like this, and let this happen to me?!?"
It seemed as though she had suddenly become a completely different person, hysterical, manic, even a little aggressive. She was still holding that teapot full of boiling water in her hand, and when she shook it violently the boiling water spilled out, seemingly about to splash all over Ning Wan.
