After she sent the message, Huo Shao Ting, who was across the ocean dealing with things at the moment, did not respond immediately to her message.
Rong Dai guessed he might not have seen it yet. She got out of bed, put on her robe, and went to the kitchen to make porridge. Then she opened Weibo and looked at the hot search topics of the day.
Sure enough.
Zhou Jing was in a car accident.
Four eye-catching words immediately became a hot search term.
She clicked in to read the news. The accident scene was very shocking. It made her heart skip a beat seeing it.
No wonder Qiao Wanzhou was so nervous. Right now, whether Zhou Jing was dead or alive was unknown.
Thinking of how proud and excellent a person like Qiao Wanzhou was, yet she loved so humbly and carefully in romance, Rong Dai couldn't help but sigh softly.
She turned off her phone, went to change clothes, brought out the freshly cooked hot porridge in a thermos, grabbed her keys and scarf, and then took a taxi to the hospital.
When Rong Dai arrived at the hospital, she instinctively used her scarf to cover half of her face, because she saw many paparazzi squatting there.
She had deeply experienced how frightening these entertainment journalists could be. Although it was late at night, there were still many people coming to the hospital for treatment.
With the new year, many had upset stomachs from eating poorly, so she blended into the crowds and entered the hospital.
Once inside, she opened up her chat history with Qiao Wanzhou and found Zhou Jing's manager's number. She called it.
When Zhou Jing's manager received her call, he was very surprised.
"Come over here first. There are lots of paparazzi outside. If you're photographed, it would be very detrimental to you."
The manager knew well how powerful those tabloid keyboards could be, turning white into black.
Moreover, Rong Dai coming for a late night visit, who knew what they might write?
Rong Dai nodded and followed him into a private hospital room, where there were also bodyguards standing guard outside.
Upon entering the hospital room, Rong Dai saw Zhou Jing lying there with a plaster cast on his leg and gauze wrapped around his face. He still hadn't woken up yet, so the severity of his injuries couldn't be seen.
She set the thermos down and looked at Zhou Jing with knitted brows. "How could this happen?"
She remembered when she had left the entertainment city, Zhou Jing had still been hale and hearty. In the blink of an eye, he was now lying in a hospital bed.
Zhou Jing's manager looked at Zhou Jing on the bed and shook his head with a very helpless sigh.
"He was rushing to go see Madam Qiao's mother."
The manager was very clear about his artist's feelings.
Even he as the manager couldn't make heads or tails of the romantic entanglements between these two.
"I had arranged for someone to take him there. His schedule has been packed back-to-back with events, precisely to free up time to go to Shengjing to visit the old lady."
"He hadn't rested for two days. By the time we got to Shengjing and I went to handle other things, he took off first by himself to go see her. Who would've thought..."
The manager was very helpless about it.
Rong Dai furrowed her brows, also not knowing what to say.
Recalling the photo on Weibo of the smashed up car, she couldn't help asking, "Will the news have any impact on him?"
Although she didn't understand the traffic rules here, from the comments she saw from netizens, it seemed Zhou Jing would be fully responsible.
Driving while fatigued and running a red light.
He would surely bear legal responsibility for that. And Zhou Jing was also a public figure.
She was well aware of how sharp those online keyboard warriors could be. Even with Zhou Jing's dazzling accomplishments now, he still had antifans.
"These things...the company will handle the PR. It's just that this time, it may impact his future prospects. His face..."
The manager shook his head and sighed. To him, Zhou Jing was actually someone he felt at ease about.
Since his debut, Zhou Jing had steadily built up his foundation and skills through hard work. As long as the company's arrangements were reasonable, he would cooperate.
Such artists were rare these days.
But this car accident was very serious. Although Zhou Jing had temporarily escaped mortal danger, when the manager had rushed to the scene and saw Zhou Jing's face covered in blood, he had been extremely worried.
Appearance was extremely important for a public artist.
Hearing the manager say this, Rong Dai's heart also thudded.
When Zhou Jing had been perfect, he had still been so insecure.
If his face were to be injured now, she really had no way to imagine what would happen between him and Qiao Wanzhou.
A peaceful death was the lightest fate.
"Mrs. Huo, it's getting late and there are lots of paparazzi outside. The news of Zhou Jing coming out of emergency surgery hasn't been released yet, so there will still be lots of them tonight. You should head back and rest early. Thank you for coming to see him. If he wakes up, I'll let you know."
The manager glanced at the time. Back at the entertainment city, he had also greatly admired Rong Dai, who was both a newcomer and a madame of a prestigious household.
Rong Dai also understood the manager's concerns. She was also really afraid of those entertainment journalists and didn't want to end up trending online, much less give outsiders a chance to malign her relationship with Huo Shao Ting.
She nodded and thought to ask, "Can I take a photo for Miss Qiao? She's very worried."
Zhou Jing's manager nodded. After Rong Dai took two pictures, she left the hospital through the back entrance under his arrangement.
As Rong Dai sat in the taxi, she didn't notice the camera in the bushes on one side that was aimed right at her.
She lowered her head looking at her phone, the scarf also sagging down, and her face was photographed very clearly.
She sent the pictures of Zhou Jing to Qiao Wanzhou. Qiao Wanzhou immediately called back.
Rong Dai didn't answer right away, but instead hung up and sent a message.
She was in a taxi right now, so of course she couldn't take Qiao Wanzhou's call.
Looking out at the retreating neon lights through the car window, Rong Dai felt very conflicted.
Such a vibrant person, an accident could come just like that, even without any forewarning.
In her long period of rebirth, this was not the first time she had experienced the impermanence of life.
Thinking of Zhou Jing lying unconscious in the hospital bed, she couldn't help but miss Huo Shao Ting.
It was precisely because of life's unpredictability that one should cherish every reunion, every moment together, and not let misunderstandings or unhappy things take up too much of the limited time.
She caressed her phone, her thoughts drifting very far away.
After returning to Huafu Hill City, she wasn't sleepy. She spoke with Qiao Wanzhou on the phone, listening to Qiao Wanzhou's uncontrollable sobbing on the other end. Rong Dai didn't try to comfort her, only listening quietly.
Sometimes, words could be profoundly emotional yet also powerless.
"Thank you, Rong Dai... I'll treat you to a meal another day. It's so late and I still bothered you."
Qiao Wanzhou was not an irrational person. After crying for a bit, she spoke in a choked up voice.
After Rong Dai responded, the two hung up.
She glanced at the time. The call had lasted half an hour. It was almost 1 AM now.
After drinking the warm water in her glass, she was about to go rest when Lu Nianzhi's call came in.
"Sister Nianzhi, you're not asleep yet so late?"
Unexpectedly, Lu Nianzhi's solemn voice came through the phone, "Did you just go to the hospital to see Zhou Jing?"
Hearing her ask this, Rong Dai's heart thudded. She knew what she had been most worried about had happened after all. She hurriedly grabbed her tablet and opened the news to look.
Sure enough, she had been put back on the hot search trends again. The paparazzi had even emphasized the word "late night"...
