127 All roads lead to Moganshan

"Nope, this is perfect. And if you find me distracting, it's really your fault. Your performance better not be affected else I will dock your salary for it," Tang mocked Jia Li.

Giving him a disbelieving glare, she went back to tallying her books. Numbers weren't her forte. She was better at people skills. But Jia Li didn't want to spend any money on hiring someone for just crunching numbers so she persevered on her own. Of course, Wei came and helped but she preferred keeping the records ready for him to decipher. For the past three weekends, she hadn't gotten around to it, what with the birthday trip and then Tang's accident.

She could feel a headache coming on already and the day had just started.

"Would you like me to help you?" he murmured.

She nearly jumped off the chair. When had he gotten up and come next to her?

"Sure, if you can make sense of it, please go ahead," saying so she hastily vacated the chair.

"I, uh, am going to go around and check on the classes while you do this," she told him and made an escape.

It was getting more and more difficult for her to keep up with the charade. Forget surviving a week, she was struggling every minute. Though Chu and Ethan were in the same town, but they hardly hung around with them except during meal times. The guilt of spending so much time with someone else' husband was nearly killing her. She didn't know who else to turn to, for help, except Wei. She knew that it wasn't fair on her part to put him in a spot like this, but she really had run out of options. There was no way that she was going to be responsible for Tang's marital discord any more than she already had become. There had to be another way to do this.

Sighing, she dialled his number.

Tang frowned looking at the ledger book. There were hand written notations made by someone in the side margins. It wasn't Jia Li's writing. It must have been that a******. He burnt thinking of all the cosy time that Wei would have spent sitting in this cabin with Jia Li. That's it. No more of this job. He had to cut off their interaction here and now!!!

"I will be there this evening. Will finish work and head there right away," Wei told Jia Li when she explained the situation briefly to him.

"Noooo, I don't want you to behave irrationally. At this rate, I will have two patients at my hand, with you coming here at full speed as well. I am only asking you to help me find a way out, not rush to my rescue," she explained patiently.

Wei's heart blossomed at the thought that she had sought him out to find a way to get away from Tang.

"But you don't understand. My presence in Moganshan is the best solution," he said, tongue-in cheek.

She tried to explain to him that the kind of help that she was looking for from him was more in terms of speaking with Uncle Xie and asking him to convince Tang to go back to Shanghai early.

"Considering that I don't even understand why did he agree to Tang's unreasonable request in the first place, how do you expect me to tell him to get his son back? I mean what was he thinking? I had the impression that he was extremely fond of his daughter in-law. So did he not consider her feelings in the matter?" Wei said, irritated with Mr. Xie.

He believed that Tang's father could have easily stopped this mess from spreading the way it had. But for some unknown reason, he chose to behave against his character.

She took her time in responding to that, "I think Uncle Xie caught a glimpse of the older version of Tang, the one who hero worshipped his father. Maybe he couldn't say no to that son."

Wei went quiet hearing her words. His own relation with his father had been one of indifference over the years, without much emotions involved on either ends. But in the recent months, he had witnessed pride in his father's eyes, especially after the NY trip. Even while his mother disparaged his love for Jia Li, his father's silent support had meant a lot.

After that ugly spat at the breakfast table this morning, his father had called him to his cabin and told him to not take his mother's words to heart. He had also asked him to bring Jia Li over once all this mess was settled. He had wrapped up the conversation by saying that he wanted to meet the wonder woman who had turned an ice block into molten lava. For the first time, Wei had probably blushed in front of his father.

"Are you still there?" Jia Li's voice on the phone broke his reverie.