The soft humming sound of the microwave sounded exceptionally apparent in the quiet morning.
Shen Qieyi stretched herself and let out a yawn.
After a clear ding from the microwave, the ambiance settled to its previous state.
Even with a thick mitten on, Shen Qieyi still felt the warm moisture of vapor inside the microwave.
This brought back memory of her time in the Fu family house, particularly in the kitchen, where she spent most of her time.
Fu Yao was always uninterested in house affairs. All decorations and designs of the house were the efforts of Shen Qieyi and the designer, with the kitchen design her all-time favorite.
She had once fantasized about how intimate she and Fu Yao would be after the marriage. She also envisioned how happy they would be spending time together. These are the little desire she held deep in her heart.
Fate took away her chance to live like that anymore, and it had since become her place of sorrow.
She remembered there was one occasion Fu Yao barged into the house. It was the night when she was involved in that medical dispute.
At that time, just like this, she was warming her milk in their kitchen. Fu Yao abruptly appeared and barred her at the door from leaving the kitchen. He stood there spouting her all kinds of mad allegations.
She had lost count of how many nights she hadn’t seen Fu Yao.
There were only a few fragments of memory left. But it was filled with bitter memories where they were fighting or having conflict. Shen Qieyi smiled bitterly as she thought about it. It seemed so far aback that she felt it had been decades since they last met.
She shook her head to get rid of those old memories that occupied her head.
Right now, in this reality, her morning hour was still packed with the same tiring and exhausting exercise routine.
But this afternoon, she did something that she rarely does. She went out to the florist, then to the cemetery.
Every several weeks or anything in between, she would visit her parent’s tombstones in the cemetery.
She had a fixation on always having the flowers by her parent’s graves in their best condition. Hence, she would bring new flowers every time she visited.
She walked down the staggered stairs carefully with a lowered head. Shen Qieyi’s steady footsteps soon brought her to her parent’s tombstone.
She hunched down to reach and wipe the photo engraved on the tombstone. She uttered with a softened voice. “Mom, Dad, I’m here to see you.”
As Shen Qieyi placed down the bouquet she carried, another beautiful bouquet on the tombstone caught her attention.
She reached out to fiddle with its petals. As the water droplets fell off, she knew this strange bouquet was fresh.
She retracted her hand from the flowers slowly.
Shen Qieyi showed a relaxed smile at the tombstone, just like how they used to look at each other when they were alive. She then started to tell them about her current ongoings.
“I’m living well now. I now focus on losing weight. At last, I had the courage to do what I should have done long ago. Aren’t you proud of me?”
“It’s not that I hate my previous self. But I just want to do something for myself for once and create a whole new version of myself. You would agree with me, won’t you?”
Shen Qieyi tilted forward and leaned against the tombstone, hoping she would somehow get closer to them.
…
It had been two hours after she finally composed herself from the sadness.
Shen Qieyi barely pulled herself up with the numbness in her leg. With a faint smile still on her face, she said. “Mum, Dad, time seems to pass hastily, and everything changes without much realization.”
“The next time I come, I’ll bring a completely new me. I look forward to the next visit, just like you would have.”
Shen Qieyi bowed down to pay them her last respect, then turned around to leave.
As she was walking away, she turned her head again to give a last long look at both the bouquet sitting by the tombstone.
She remembered that she had ever bumped into Fu Yao here. She agonizingly quickened her footsteps and walked to the cemetery caretaker not far from her.
“Hi, good day to you! May I ask if anyone came by to visit my parents these few days?” Shen Qieyi asked, pointing to her parent’s tombstone direction.
The elderly caretaker looked over in the pointed direction with his squinted eyes. “Oh… That one. They’re a blessed one. Fresh flowers are sent in every day for them.”
Shen Qieyi was stunned and asked in confusion, “Do you know who that person is?”
The old man shook his head. “Beats me.”
Shen Qieyi pursed her lips and thanked him before leaving.
Although it was strange, there was no way she could figure out who that was. In no time, she stopped thinking about it.
…
Early in the morning today, the male ward was particularly lively. The receptionists were whispering to each other.
“Guess who I met when I went upstairs just now.”
“Who is it?”
“It’s Doctor Shen. She’s back.”
During Shen Qieyi’s absence from the hospital, Mo Yirou was filled with joy. She had finally taken over Shen Qieyi’s position.
But in just a few days of her ruling in the new position, her incapabilities showed, and everyone knew she was not up to par for that post.
During this period, she provoked and argued with the attending doctors in the male ward and had countless conflicts with the nurses.
Everyone had gotten increasingly dissatisfied with Mo Yirou. They were angry but had no way to voice it out. All they could do now was hope for Sen Qieyi’s return to turn everything back to normal.
The talking nurses heard a sudden snarky remark above their heads. “Are you that happy that she is back?”
The nurses were taken aback and did not dare to raise their heads. They nodded with trembling bodies.
Mo Yirou slammed the patient’s case file on their table with her fury eyes. “It’s still too early to be happy about it. Just wait. You’ll get what you deserve later.”
Looking at Mo Yirou’s beautiful back walking further away, the nurses smirked and said to each other, “Look how arrogant she is. We’ll wait for her karma to get to her.”
Mo Yirou knew they were talking behind her back, but it didn’t bother her. She continued her walk straight to the office.
It’s only a few more steps away from her. She had already planned a reaction and what she would say when she met Shen Qieyi. However, when she eventually met Shen Qieyi’s eyes, she was stunned beyond words.
She couldn’t believe her eyes. This woman in front of her, with only some light makeup on, looked exceptionally elegant and reinvigorated. Was it really her?
Mo Yirou stood rooted without a word. Until Shen Qieyi finally spoke up with the voice she was familiar with. She wondered what had happened to Shen Qieyi.
At this moment, an attending doctor was talking to Shen Qieyi about handing over his case to her. Shen Qieyi noticed Mo Yirou in the corner and gently nodded in her direction.
The snarky words she had planned for her were stuck in her. Mo Yirou then walked into the office with a stiffened smile.
Shen Qieyi ignored her and continued her conversation with the attending doctor.
Mo Yirou glanced at the attending doctor talking to Shen Qieyi. He was smiling gleefully while he was talking to her. But the fact that had her envious was this new version of Shen Qieyi looked effortlessly elegant and attractive.
After the conversation had finished, Shen Qieyi showed her colleague to the door. With her hands still in her pockets, she turned around and bumped into the furious Mo Yirou, who stood close to her.
Shen Qieyi quietly stepped backward and changed her direction toward the nurse’s reception desk. She was not bothered by Mo Yirou’s anger, but she wasn’t comfortable staying in the same room as she was.
“Excuse me, Is Lin Zhi working today?” Shen Qieyi had missed this junior nurse the most during her vacation.
The two nurses looked away from the computer screen towards her voice.
“Ah! Doctor Shen!”
“Oh my! Doctor Shen, you have lost so much weight! You look like a whole new person. You look gorgeous!”
They were surprised by her changes and were dumbfounded.
Shen Qieyi gave a slight smile. “Do not judge a book by its cover. Haven’t you heard?”
She looked kind and gentle. She even took the initiative to joke with them. She was more lively and cheerful than before.
The nurses were still shocked by her changes. It was only a vacation. How did she change herself inside out?
After some time searching around, Shen Qieyi eventually found Lin Zhi in the staff’s pantry.