After five years of a cold marriage, I can no longer hide the child I secretly gave birth to.

Dean Zhao gave the instructions and directed his colleagues to pour the drinks.

Xu Daikui has been putting on a smiling face for them for a long time because of her work, but she won't drink this wine.

"Sorry, I don't drink alcohol."

She pushed away the wine glass that was offered to her.

Dean Zhao frowned. "One or two drinks won't hurt. Your sister is a great contributor to our hospital. We'll all be toasting her later to express our gratitude, and as her sister, you should naturally be the first to do so."

Seeing that Xu Daikui remained expressionless and unmoved even after he spoke, Dean Zhao immediately leaned close to her ear and threatened her in a sinister tone, "Xiao Xu, you were able to establish yourself in the hospital thanks to my promotion. There's a chief physician assessment at the end of the year. If you want to be promoted, you'd better appease your sister. Your mother has already spoken to me many times about how disrespectful you were to her last time. Don't push your luck any further."

He and Li Xuelan were close friends. If Xu Daikui continued to disobey her mother and upset Li Xuelan, then this hospital probably wouldn't be able to tolerate such a big shot like her.

Xu Daikui vaguely realized that Xu Jiaojiao's family couldn't stand to see her doing well, and now they were even scheming to take advantage of her job.

Are they trying to make her lose her job?

The thought of the high salary and good benefits here, especially since she has been here for six years and has contributed to the hospital's prosperity, is very appealing.

Thinking of this, she bit her lip slightly, picked up her wine glass, looked at Xu Jiaojiao, and said, "To you."

Seeing her suffer a setback and have no choice but to humble herself, Xu Jiaojiao felt a surge of competitive spirit.

Her eyes crinkled with laughter. "Okay, let's have a few more drinks tonight."

Xu Daikui didn't know what had gotten into Xu Jiaojiao, but she insisted on making her drink a whole bottle of red wine.

"Miss Xu, what a great capacity for alcohol! You truly embody the ideal woman who is equally at home in the drawing room and the kitchen..."

"I suppose you're so perfect that Mr. Zhou must be very clingy with you?"

The colleagues gossiped, and the whole conversation revolved around Xu Jiaojiao.

Xu Jiaojiao smiled faintly, "Our relationship isn't progressing that fast. We're just friends for now."

After all, Zhou Yanci and Xu Daikui are not divorced yet. If she publicly admits their relationship, she may be exposed as a mistress in the future.

A moment of patience brings calm.

"Oh, so you're in the pursuit stage? I didn't expect Mr. Zhou to be so outstanding. I haven't even won you over yet. You're truly a role model for us women."

Xu Jiaojiao was very pleased with the flattery. She glanced at Xu Daikui, who was sitting in the corner and had no presence at all, and her smile deepened.

Hearing that laughter, Xu Daikui felt both suppressed and disgusted. She stood up and left.

Wang Guang had been watching her from the shadows for a long time, and when he saw her go out, he followed her with a complicated expression.

...

"Mengmeng, is this place fun?"

Xie Jia thought it was still early and since she couldn't sleep anyway, she secretly took Xu Meng to play at the carousel on the street.

Xu Meng doesn't really like playing these childish games.

But seeing Xie Jia's expectant eyes, she reluctantly nodded.

Xie Jia played with her for a while, then turned around and saw that Luckin Coffee was still open not far away.

She smiled and coaxed her, "Sweetie, how about Auntie goes to buy you a hot milk tea? Do you want some?"

Xu Meng wasn't actually greedy, but she could tell that Xie Jia was craving coffee.

She smiled and nodded.

Xie Jia's eyes crinkled with laughter as she patted Xu Meng's head.

"You're still my type. You wait here, Auntie will go buy it now. You sit here obediently, okay?"

Although Xu Daikui was her stubborn best friend, she was usually introverted and didn't like drinking these kinds of weird things.

Every time they went out shopping, she would drink eight-treasure tea with them.

Xu Daikui talked about that safe and healthy lifestyle.

Xu Mengchong waved her little hand.

As Xie Jia turned around, she looked around and then added worriedly, "Auntie will be out in a few minutes, so you mustn't run around."

Xu Meng nodded again.

...

"You don't get along with your sister?"

On the balcony outside, Wang Guang saw Xu Daikui standing alone, lost in thought as she blew in the wind. He then walked in with a glass of red wine.

Although Xu Dai and Wang Guang had been colleagues for six years, they had never spent time alone together.

Especially after the eavesdropping incident, she felt somewhat uneasy around him.

"Director, what do you mean?"

They weren't close, so how could he tell that she and Xu Jiaojiao didn't get along?

She thought she had tried her best to hide her disgust for Xu Jiaojiao.

"As I get older, I unconsciously become more interested in observing people's emotions..."

As Wang Guang was speaking, he suddenly added, "Dr. Xu overheard my conversation last time, right?"

Xu Daikui immediately tensed up.

But when she met the man's mature and deep eyes, she felt that he didn't seem worried at all.

They also seemed unafraid that she would tell on them.

She pinched her hands together and said calmly, "I didn't hear very clearly, but I do have a bad relationship with Xu Jiaojiao, and even less so with the dean. I'm sure the director has noticed that the dean is quite dissatisfied with me."

Wang Guang didn't speak, but secretly observed her.

His gaze swept across her fair face, then slid down to the fullness of her breasts at the hem of her lace dress.

Xu Daikui felt uncomfortable under his gaze, and quickly assured him, "Director Wang, you can rest assured. Even if I did understand what you said, I wouldn't need to say anything more."

"If you don't believe me, you can ask my other colleagues about my character and see if I'm a gossip."

After saying all that in one breath, she turned around and quickly went into the private room.

When Xu Jiaojiao saw her come in, she glanced at her and was about to tease her when Xu Daikui picked up her bag first.

"Dean Zhao, I'm not feeling well, I'll go home first."

Having said that decisively, she didn't care about Dean Zhao's expression and turned to leave the bar.

Just as I got outside and was about to call a ride-hailing service, Xie Jia suddenly called.

She answered, "Jia..."

"Sisters, something terrible has happened! Mengmeng is missing!"