mtl008 Chapter 426 "Infecting the World" - Male Mother (37)
Chapter 426 "Infecting the World" - Male Mother (37)
Lu Liruan wondered if it was just her imagination, but both of them looked impatient and spoke in unpleasant tones, not at all like they were dealing with customers.
But Lu Liruan sensed... a faint, bluffing fear emanating from them.
What are they afraid of?
Isn't it just that someone comes to the pet hospital to find a veterinarian?
They said it's fine if the person surnamed Lu isn't here, so why are they being so wary and suspicious?
Lu Liruan and Liao Tingyuan turned to the side, exchanging silent glances, both seeing the same confusion in each other.
Liao Tingyuan gestured for Lu Liruan to speak, as a young girl like Lu Liruan would make people feel more approachable and relaxed.
Lu Liruan nodded: "But we heard that Dr. Lu is indeed here. We just want to find him. We have something to... talk about." Lu Liruan wasn't good at lying, and she seemed a little hesitant at the end.
I thought that doing this would make things easier, but who knew that the woman would snort coldly: "Who comes here not to see him? Everyone says they have something to discuss with him, so go find him! What are you doing here if you can't find him?"
She got angrier and angrier as she spoke, and threw the half-packed box she was holding onto the ground. Inside was a stack of disposable disinfectant wipes.
"Every wrong has its perpetrator, every debt its debtor. Go find him if you have any questions! We know absolutely nothing, and now you're all causing trouble for us. Get out of here! If you don't leave, we'll call the police!"
Why are you suddenly calling the police?
The woman's words contained so much information that it was hard for anyone to digest them all at once.
Everyone who comes... isn't looking for someone surnamed Lu?
They know nothing about what that guy surnamed Lu has done, so don't bother them...
Just from these two sentences, we can tell that the doctor surnamed Lu must have done something... that implicated others.
Moreover, the implications are quite serious, to the point where it's time to call the police to resolve the situation.
"No...we didn't mean to bother you." Regardless, the other party was agitated, so Lu Liruan tried to calm them down first.
Perhaps because neither Lu Liruan nor Liao Tingyuan looked like difficult or unreasonable people, the woman finished her rant as if on cue, let out a long sigh, and then squatted down to pick up the things scattered on the ground.
The man beside her stopped her: "Let me do it, you go in first..."
The woman leaned against the messy reception desk and waved to Lu Liruan: "I know many of you have good intentions, but this really has nothing to do with us. We're just a few employees."
“We just work here normally, leave here normally, and do our jobs normally. We haven’t done anything else or participated in anything else. You can just point your fingers at us and curse us.”
She frowned deeply: "And some people even took pictures of our faces with their phones, saying they wanted to photograph us and spread the images so everyone would know what we looked like, making it impossible for us to do any related work for the rest of our lives..."
Lu Liruan quickly processed her words, her first thought being that this was definitely not a small matter.
Realizing that women aren't entirely uncommunicative, Lu Liruan quickly considered how to start the conversation.
The male homeowner isn't here either. Judging from the way these people look, they probably also want to know where the male homeowner is. So, whoever comes looking for him, they should just give them a specific address and let them go directly to the male homeowner.
We can't keep pretending that we're just here to see the male homeowner; we need to come up with a different story.
Lu Liruan felt that after spending these days with Liao Tingyuan, her mind had become more flexible.
She nodded in agreement, then put on an apologetic expression: "Um... we didn't mean to bother you. We really don't know what you're talking about, and we still don't know what you're talking about."
Lu Liruan was very sincere.
Her small face is the kind that, even if she lies, the other person won't be able to tell unless she feels guilty.
She has a small face, round eyes, and when she smiles, she looks like a fluffy little animal, as pretty as a child.
The woman looked her over with a hint of suspicion, then her expression softened, and she asked, puzzled, "Then why are you looking for this man surnamed Lu? Are you really going to have him treat your pet?"
At this point, the people in the room all showed a disdainful look on their faces, so obvious that it was impossible not to notice, and they didn't even try to hide it.
It was a kind of...deep-seated disgust and disdain.
These people all genuinely disliked the male homeowner.
How can one person be disliked by so many people at the same time? Lu Liruan has always been popular since she was a child. She is quirky and has her own ideas, so everyone likes to be with her. Even if some people dislike her, it's only one or two at most.
Even if Lu Liruan had met some very unpleasant people, she couldn't make everyone hate her, especially in a workplace... a place where everyone would put on a little act.
Why was it expressed so bluntly, especially by several people all at once?
“No…” Lu Liruan smiled shyly, “Neither of us has pets.”
"So I don't know much about these things... related to pets," Lu Liruan admitted frankly.
"Then what are you doing here?"
Seeing that Lu Liruan was speaking quite sincerely, and that she wasn't there to get her pet treated, the woman visibly relaxed and asked in a more relaxed tone.
“We did come to see Dr. Lu, but not to see him for treatment. We are Dr. Lu’s son.” Lu Liruan changed the subject to the child.
Sure enough, adults tend to lower their guard when children are mentioned.
Liao Tingyuan taught her this on the way here. At first, Lu Liruan was just pestering him to tell her about his psychology, but she didn't expect it to come in handy so quickly.
Lu Liruan thought to herself: That saying is so true, you can never learn anything in vain!
"His...his son? How is his son now?" The woman clearly recognized the little boy, and her expression showed concern.
"With a father like that, the child is really unlucky! Yuanyuan is such a good child!" A man who was moving boxes behind them heard Lu Liruan and the others talking and raised his voice to add.
He put down the box he was carrying, walked over to Liao Tingyuan, nodded to him, and then went behind him to close the door to the pet hospital.
This time, a lock was hung on the inside of the door, but it wasn't locked, making it difficult for people on the outside to open.
"We were tidying up here. We went outside to throw out the trash and forgot to close the door," he explained.
"Are you guys giving up?" Lu Liruan pointed to the mess on the ground.
"Of course! What else would we do? Some of us might even have to go to other places to find work! It's all because of that damn Lu guy!" He said angrily, then frowned and spat.
"Stop cursing. You should stay away from her. A few years ago, you got into an argument with someone and almost got yourself sent to the police station!" The man who had been blocking the woman earlier advised him.
"Are you all doctors here?" Lu Liruan asked.
"They are doctors, Dr. Miao and Dr. Zhu. I am a nurse, my surname is Gu. They are hanging on the wall, we haven't taken them down yet." Nurse Gu, who had just spat, raised her hand and pointed behind Lu Liruan.
Lu Liruan looked back...
Then look up.
I thought to myself: I usually don't look at you closely even if you hang it here.
It's hung too high!
Lu Liruan took a step back and looked around carefully. There were two other doctors and two nurses in the hospital, but they shouldn't be here today.
The male head of the household... is in the first position.
Dean Lu.
Lu Hongsheng.
The male homeowner's name is Lu Hongsheng.
You can tell from his name that his parents had high hopes for him, which is why they gave him such a grand name.
Nurse Gu came over and tried to take the board off. Then, he raised his hand and could reach the top hook.
Lu Liruan: ...
Nurse Gu: ...
Liao Tingyuan walked over, reached out and took the board off, resolving the staring contest between the two.
"Thanks, buddy, how tall are you?" Nurse Gu took the phone and casually gestured with her hand to indicate her height relative to Liao Tingyuan.
“184,” Liao Tingyuan said softly.
"I'm only 173cm tall. Sigh, my mom said that changing the environment would make me grow taller, and that boys can still grow taller at 23. So she enrolled me in this university, but it's all for nothing!"
He sighed loudly: "I've already told my mom that I'll probably have to go home and work under her nose this time. The problem is, not many people keep pets back home. I might have to go to the vet station and deliver piglets!"
Lu Liruan was amused by him.
"Little Lu, you mentioned a few days ago that you wanted to come here and play with you and the animals," Liao Tingyuan said calmly and naturally.
Lu Liruan suddenly turned her head to the side: ?
Did that child say that?
Did the child really say that, or did you make it up yourself?
Lu Liruan had no way of discerning anything from Liao Tingyuan's face.
"Ha! Last summer, Sister Liang left Yuanyuan here, and we even helped him with his homework!" Nurse Gu laughed when she heard Liao Tingyuan's words.
The expressions of Dr. Miao and Dr. Zhu, who were standing to the side, also softened.
"Who are you to Yuanyuan? Are you Yuanyuan's teacher?"
Perhaps it was because Liao Tingyuan had such a strong teacher's aura that Dr. Miao got straight to the point with just one question.
"I am a kindergarten teacher."
Liao Tingyuan remained completely calm and answered naturally, "We live in the same courtyard as Yuanyuan, and sometimes Yuanyuan plays with her."
As Liao Tingyuan spoke, he pointed at Lu Liruan.
Lu Liruan: ?
But the people inside the room... didn't seem to find it strange at all.
Liao Tingyuan smiled slightly and continued calmly, "He always talks to Ruan Ruan about his father, saying that his mother doesn't want to tell him where his father is, and he's very worried about her, worried about his father, and worried about their family..."
Although Liao Tingyuan's speech was not very dramatic, what he said had a strangely persuasive quality, making it easy for people to listen and believe.
Lu Liruan had already witnessed his ability.
Sure enough, a sense of melancholy appeared on the faces of the people in the room.
"Ruan Ruan felt sorry for that child and told me about it when she came back. I am a kindergarten teacher, and I know that if a child is psychologically hurt by something like this when they are young, the damage they suffer in childhood is very likely to accompany them for the rest of their lives and will also affect their personality development later in life."
Lu Liruan felt that, along with her, the other people in the room were all somewhat bewildered and impressed: Is this... really that serious?
Liao Tingyuan's eyes told them: Yes, it is that serious.
“I took the opportunity to talk to that child. The child kept asking me what to do if his father could not be found. He said that his mother did not allow him to mention his father and wanted us to help him find his father. That’s when he told us where his father worked.”
“Actually, we shouldn’t have listened to a child, nor should we have come here without the child’s mother’s knowledge… but…” He paused, seemingly wanting to say something but then stopping.
Lu Liruan mentally gave him a thumbs up: He's so eloquent! So thoughtful!
They perfectly twisted the fact that he secretly inquired about other people's family situations behind the child's mother's back into the fact that they were kind-hearted people who cared about the child's mental health!
Sure enough, none of the three people caught them cheating on the child's mother.
Dr. Miao frowned, looking somewhat conflicted, and said, "Sister Liang has had a tough time too. Actually, she came to see me a few days ago."
"When did she arrive?" Lu Liruan asked casually.
“Oh... actually, it’s been a while, almost half a month ago. It had just happened not long before, and things were in complete chaos here. At that time…” She hesitated for a moment, “My attitude towards Sister Liang wasn’t very good either.”
"Don't blame yourself too much. You were angry when that happened..." Dr. Zhu quickly comforted her.
"You didn't find it back then, did you?" Liao Tingyuan asked.
"Yes, Dean Lu was found no matter what. We all thought he had abandoned his wife and children and gone into hiding."
"Huh? Did he do something to betray his family? I heard from Yuanyuan that Mom and Dad are getting a divorce."
"Ha!" Perhaps because they were both women, Dr. Miao seemed particularly disdainful.
"It's not just that he's let his family down, but he has definitely let them down! Sister Liang wanted to divorce him last year. They even had a big fight at the hospital, but Sister Liang is a kind-hearted person. Considering that his parents had just passed away not long ago, she reluctantly endured it. If you ask me, they should have divorced him last year!"
"What did Sister Liang say to you?" Nurse Gu asked with a hint of gossip. "You and Sister Liang have always had a good relationship, haven't you?"
"It was alright. Sister Liang looked very sad at the time. I saw her crying, so I took her to a coffee shop to sit for a while. Sister Liang said that he didn't care about his family at all, let alone his children. He even..."
Dr. Miao's tone turned serious: "He was also teaching the children all sorts of nonsense behind Sister Liang's back."