78: Chapter 78 He called me Nan Nan

Jiang Nan stepped aside and said in a low voice, "Secretary Jiang, this is a professional setting."

Jiang Yunheng felt increasingly distressed. He raised an eyebrow and said in a deep voice, "As a police officer, is it part of your job to come to the hospital to take care of a Commission for Discipline Inspection staff member?"

Jiang Nan kept her head down, avoiding her father's gaze. "I came here today to discuss the case with Comrade Zhao Yang."

Jiang Yunheng was almost amused by his daughter's response. "Xiaonan, you've been running to the hospital every day lately. Do you really think I don't know? How long did you plan to keep this from me?"

He lifted his hand slightly and pointed at Zhao Yang inside the ward. "It's that young man in there, right? Do you still want him to pass my inspection?"

Jiang Nan blushed, her hands twisting together nervously. She looked up at her father with her watery eyes. "Dad, how could you be like this!"

Her voice carried a hint of grievance, mixed with a touch of coquettishness.

"That's more like it!" Jiang Yunheng finally smiled. "I am here on behalf of the Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection to visit Comrade Zhao Yang. I might as well handle both official and personal business here."

Lu Zheng entered the room first and stood beside Zhao Yang, who was covered in bandages, a playful, spectator-like smile on his lips.

Jiang Yunheng walked with steady steps to Zhao Yang's bedside.

"Secretary Jiang!" Zhao Yang struggled to sit up, but Jiang Yunheng gently pressed his shoulder down.

Being this close to Jiang Yunheng for the first time, Zhao Yang couldn't help but carefully observe the middle-aged man before him.

Jiang Yunheng was wearing a dark gray jacket, with a touch of frost at his temples.

His features were about fifty or sixty percent similar to Jiang Nan's, especially those eyes—clear, upright, and bright.

However, the way he looked at Zhao Yang now lacked the bureaucratic formality of the meeting, replaced by a more complex scrutiny.

Jiang Yunheng's gaze slid from the wound on Zhao Yang's forehead to his suspended left hand, before shifting back to his face.

Lu Zheng spoke up at the right moment, his tone steady and devoid of the joking manner he had outside. "Zhao Yang, Secretary Jiang has come specially today to visit and extend his regards. The Tongan Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection has, in accordance with the arrangements of the Supervision Team, frozen all documents and accounts of the Tongan Die-Casting Machine Factory from before and after its restructuring."

Zhao Yang immediately straightened his expression. "Thank you for your support and cooperation, Secretary Jiang."

Jiang Yunheng waved his hand. "Support and cooperation are part of my duty." He paused. "Besides..."

He looked at Zhao Yang, his face calm and his tone steady. "The public security in Tongan is poor, and as the Secretary of the Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection, I also bear some responsibility for you sustaining such serious injuries."

He said this solemnly.

Just as Zhao Yang was about to speak, Jiang Yunheng continued, "Did you hear what I said to Xiaonan just now?"

The ward went quiet instantly.

Jiang Nan gripped the brim of her hat tightly; the unease in her heart was almost written on her face.

"I heard it." Zhao Yang's Adam's apple bobbed.

"Good that you heard it," Jiang Yunheng said. "Saves me from saying it again."

His tone remained steady, but Zhao Yang couldn't help but feel a hint of pettiness hidden in the words.

Lu Zheng stood to the side, unable to suppress the curve of his lips.

Zhao Yang bit the bullet and changed the subject. "Secretary Jiang, I hope the Tongan Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection will provide full support regarding the Die-Casting Machine Factory case."

"This is work, so naturally, I will provide full support," Jiang Yunheng said.

He paused. "As for matters outside of work," he looked at Zhao Yang, "we'll talk about those after you've recovered from your injuries."

What did that mean? Did he fail the initial inspection?

Jiang Nan finally couldn't help but speak up. "Dad—"

Jiang Yunheng turned to look at her, the complex scrutiny in his gaze softening involuntarily when he met his daughter's eyes.

"I didn't say anything; I just told him to focus on recovering."

Jiang Nan pursed her lips and said nothing more.

Lu Zheng coughed lightly. "Old Jiang, you've offered your regards and discussed work, so shouldn't we be going? Let the patient rest."

"Hmm." Jiang Yunheng nodded and looked at Zhao Yang again.

He reached out his hand. "Rest assured and recover well. Don't worry about work matters."

Zhao Yang quickly extended his right hand to shake his. "But there is one person I'm worried about. Guo Mingkai must be prevented from escaping."

Lu Zheng laughed. "Didn't Jiang Nan tell you? Chief He... oh, he's Deputy Bureau Chief He now, he long ago sent people to keep a close watch on that person."

Zhao Yang pursed his lips and cast a slightly provocative glance at Jiang Yunheng. "Nannan is afraid of distracting me, so she never tells me about these things."

Jiang Yunheng furrowed his brows. This brat actually has some guts.

He disliked timid subordinates, and he didn't resent Zhao Yang's expression.

Thus, Jiang Yunheng carefully looked over the young man again: regular features, clear eyes. Although he was bandaged up, his back was straight, and there wasn't a hint of cowardice.

Not a bad impression.

He let go of his hand and turned to walk toward the door.

When he reached the door, he suddenly stopped. Without turning back, he left one sentence: "The spiced beef is too salty; concussion patients should eat less of it."

The door closed, and footsteps could be heard fading away in the hallway.

In the ward, Zhao Yang sat stunned on the bed, unable to process what happened for a while.

Jiang Nan stood by the bed, finally putting down her police cap and resting it quietly by her side.

Lu Zheng looked at Zhao Yang's dazed expression and couldn't help but laugh out loud. "Secretary Jiang has accepted you—otherwise, who would care if your spiced beef is salty or not?"

Zhao Yang's gaze slowly turned to Jiang Nan.

Jiang Nan lowered her eyes, her earlobes still red, but the corners of her lips were slightly upturned.

Zhao Yang was puzzled. "That spiced beef was brought by Zheng Beichen. How did Secretary Jiang know?"

"The nurse station has a visitor registration book," Jiang Nan said softly. "Who came and what they brought are all recorded."

Zhao Yang opened his mouth but didn't say anything.

Lu Zheng patted his shoulder with a meaningful, moderate force. "Rest well and recover, Comrade Zhao Yang."

He walked to the door and turned back, his face full of smiles. "Being the son-in-law of the Tongan Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection Secretary is much harder to pull off than being the apprentice of a Special Investigation Team leader."

The door closed again.

Zhao Yang looked at the door and slowly leaned back against the headboard.

Jiang Nan sat by the bed and gently placed her hand on the back of his.

"Are you afraid?" she asked.

Zhao Yang looked down at her slender fingers, then raised his eyes to look at her.

"Whether I'm afraid or not, couldn't you tell just now?"

"I love Jiang Nan. You said it yourself, you are just Jiang Nan."

Saying this, Zhao Yang paused, his voice carrying a smile. "Dad just said, 'Wait for him, to talk after he recovers'."

He re-punctuated the sentence, changing the meaning completely from the original.

"You rascal!" Jiang Nan couldn't help but laugh, the corners of her lips curving up.

Outside the window, the autumn sun was just right.

The two stopped talking, their eyes meeting, full of tenderness.

"It's really nice," Zhao Yang said with emotion, breaking the silence.

"What's nice?"

"If I hadn't been injured, how would I have so much time to be alone with you?"

Jiang Nan pinched his arm hard. "I'd rather you hadn't been injured. After you fell into a coma, you scared me to death. If something had happened to you, I would have..."

At this point, she loosened her grip, and her voice choked up slightly.

Zhao Yang took the opportunity to hook his arm around her shoulder and pull her into his embrace.

Jiang Nan leaned against him gently, resting her head against his.

Zhao Yang turned his face, his lips grazing her ear as he sought those petal-like red lips.

The autumn sun shone in diagonally from outside the window.

It fell on the white sheets of the hospital bed, on Jiang Nan's police uniform epaulets, and on their overlapping shadows.

Jiang Nan closed her eyes slightly, anticipating the intoxicating tenderness.