Chapter 209: My Apologies
Bai Cha fell silent for a moment.
First thing in the morning, when other people met, they would ask if you had eaten yet; over on her end, however, it was whether she had taken her medicine yet.
“Not yet. There’s pain medication kept at the company, so I’ll go take some in a bit.”
She always kept medicine stocked in the places she frequented.
“That’s good.”
Shen Qingchen pondered for a brief moment before saying, “You still need to take better care of yourself.”
Bai Cha nodded.
Right at that moment, a tall, imposing man holding breakfast walked over, arriving at Shen Qingchen’s side.
“They were out of the steamed bun flavor you like, so I swapped it for preserved mustard greens instead.”
Shen Qingchen nodded, taking the food while handing a portion over to Bai Cha.
“Here, eat up. Let me introduce you—this is my husband. You can just call him Brother Yang. The two of us will head over there first.”
Shen Qingchen pointed toward a nearby eatery.
Shen Qingchen’s husband gave Bai Cha a subtle nod, then departed alongside Shen Qingchen.
Bai Cha looked at their retreating backs with a thoughtful glint in her eyes, then lowered her head to look at the food in her hands.
This portion of hers was eight or nine out of ten originally meant for Shen Qingchen. They had already bought their food and were originally planning to head upstairs, but having given it to Bai Cha, they had turned back toward the store instead.
She was always impeccably thoughtful when showing concern for others.
Rubbing her temples once more, Bai Cha accepted the kind gesture.
She headed upstairs, while Shen Qingchen and her husband stepped into the breakfast shop to purchase another set.
“Is that the new employee you mentioned?” Yang Qingyun asked casually.
“Mm, yeah. A pretty young girl. Looking at her, you can see why you used to nag me like that all the time, haha!”
Shen Qingchen split the steamed bun in her hand to give half to Yang Qingyun, since the newly ordered portion still required a wait.
Yang Qingyun shook his head.
“You’re not much better yourself now.”
“Tsk, what are you talking about?! I’m way better than I used to be!” Shen Qingchen shot him a glare.
Bai Cha naturally held zero knowledge of the exchange taking place behind her.
Upon arriving at the office, she finished the steamed bun first, then swallowed her medicine directly with a gulp of soy milk.
It so happened that Team Leader Xu arrived at this exact moment, his eyes flickering as he caught sight of her taking medicine.
Opening his mouth, just as he was about to drop a sarcastic remark, he saw Bai Cha raise her head to flash a smile at him.
Team Leader Xu swallowed his words right back down. After all, the image of Bai Cha laughing with wild, doubled-over mirth from yesterday involuntarily replayed beside his ears once more.
Upon returning home last night, he had meticulously analyzed his own words, failing to locate a single punchline or laughing matter, which was the only reason he had barely managed to sleep with peace of mind.
Retracting her gaze, with work hours yet to commence, Bai Cha casually opened the forum.
She hadn’t held high hopes that anyone would reply to a post that had already sunk for two years.
To her surprise, however, the original poster had actually replied to her.
Don’t Want to Name Myself: So much time has passed already, yet someone’s still curious? In that case, I advise you best curb your curiosity—be careful, curiosity killed the cat.
Bai Bai Bai Bai Bai: Why? Did something happen to someone who investigated it later?
Don’t Want to Name Myself: Yep. That nursing home has already moved away now, completely abandoned. A few paranormal streamers went over to explore it before, and as a result, essentially all of them went insane afterward.
Don’t Want to Name Myself: In any case, this whole affair has turned into a ghost story in our local area. Personally, I’m inclined to believe in it. I don’t know whether you believe it or not, but regardless, I advise you to stay far away whether you believe it or not!
Don’t Want to Name Myself: There was a paranormal streamer named Ming Ling before—you can go search for him online. There are still forum posts discussing that incident right now.
Don’t Want to Name Myself: I’m telling you all this just to let you know this whole thing is genuinely wicked. Absolutely do not investigate it! If hearing this makes you even more curious, then I can only say respect and best wishes!
Bai Bai Bai Bai Bai: Alright, thank you! Rest assured, I don’t have the guts to look into it.
Following that, Bai Cha turned around to search for information regarding that paranormal streamer.
A thread indeed existed inside the Paranormal Tieba board.
[Do you all know about that legend regarding the burned building at Xingfu Nursing Home?]
Fewer Births, Quality Care, Happy Life: Did you guys follow the news about that paranormal streamer? According to reliable sources, the guy is currently in a psychiatric hospital! Oh, but latest news claims he’s been discharged, though he’s receiving treatment at home.
I was actually in the live stream watching when it happened back then.
The stream was fairly normal at the start, looking rather boring, in fact. It was just the streamer recounting a few stories about the nursing home, mentioning rumors about people rising from the dead and whatnot.
Supposedly, that nursing home was once conducting research on a life-extending drug.
Although someone debunked this rumor before, I’m absolutely certain I caught sight of a strange entity when passing by a hospital room in the live stream that day.
I don’t know what it was, but it was a massive, writhing mass anyway. The streamer saw it back then too, and egged on by the viewers, the streamer pushed the door open, yet there was nothing inside.
When the streamer turned to leave, I saw a black shadow clinging to the streamer’s body. The streamer mentioned on the spot that his body felt somewhat heavy and chilly, wondering if he had caught a cold or something.
Other viewers in the stream room saw it like I did and warned him to stop streaming and head back first.
The streamer walked inside a bit further, felt genuinely unwell, and left. A long time passed afterward without seeing any of his streams. Only upon inquiring with the platform did people learn he had terminated his contract. Because his mental state was in an atrocious condition and he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital, the platform took the initiative to terminate the contract.
So, does that nursing home truly harbor some unknown, secret research?
In any case, word has it that the nursing home offered a form of psychotherapy—specifically comforting certain elderly residents by claiming reincarnation exists and that there’s a cycle of rebirth, which felt exceptionally metaphysical.
The user comments below were mixed; some claimed he was making up stories, while others stated they were viewers in the stream at the time and had witnessed it too.
This thread had been published last year.
As Bai Cha was scrolling downward, her computer screen abruptly went black.
It was merely a brief flicker, however, recovering instantly afterward—yet the browser interface had been closed down.
When she reopened it, that thread was nowhere to be found.
Bai Cha’s brows knitted together.
Was the game intervening?
Closing the browser, Bai Cha leaned back against her chair, gazing thoughtfully at the screen.
Team Leader Xu suddenly leaned over.
“Little Bai, what are you looking at? Looking so intently?”
Bai Cha: “…”
This guy…
Before she could speak, he chimed in again.
“The boss and Sister Shen walked over together just now. Word has it the boss usually stays home taking care of the kid, yet he actually came to the company today—quite a rare sight! But Sister Shen sure is capable. Having a man stay at home taking care of the kid while she enjoys her freedom outside every day—though Sister Shen is good-looking, if it were me, I would absolutely never marry a woman like that.”
Bai Cha picked up her cup, stood up, and pretended to trip accidentally, splashing yesterday’s leftover water inside the cup straight onto Team Leader Xu’s body.
“Oh dear, my apologies. You see, I’m not feeling well today and failed to stand firm. As a man, you wouldn’t hold it against me, right?”
Bai Cha spoke with a delicate, frail tone, her eyes brimming with sincere apology.
How could Team Leader Xu not be enraged? Yet blocked by those words, he was left rendered utterly speechless.
“You… Little Bai, it’s not that I want to lecture you, but with you being unwell every single day… you should also…”
“Indeed. That’s precisely why I’m going to get some water—to drink more hot water.” Bai Cha interrupted him outright, walking away with her cup in hand.
It happened that other colleagues stepped inside at this exact moment, witnessing the scene firsthand.
Wiping his body with tissues, Team Leader Xu couldn’t resist complaining to the others.
“How come I feel Little Bai is a bit like one of those green tea bitches? A young girl like her…”
No one paid him any mind.
