My Secretary is a Little Sweet

Zhao Anan stretched out her hand to wipe off Shangguan Ning’s tears. Only now did she realize that Shangguan Ning had changed her hairstyle. “Enough about me. What happened to your hair? How were you even willing to cut your beautiful hair? I wish I had long hair like yours.”

“Oh no!!” Zhao Anan pat her bald head and said, “All this chitchat and I still forgot to ask you how come you happened to visit me with Jing Yichen? He didn’t tell anyone about my disease, right ? He has never brought anyone here before. I want details,” chirped Zhao Anan, cheerfully.

Seeing her still positive and happy, Shangguan Ning felt less sad than she did a while ago.

Shangguan blushed at Zhao Anan’s questions. “I needed to thank you...”

“Thank me?!”

“Yes... we... are married.”

Startled, Zhao Anan screamed. “Married? You married my brother?”

Shangguan Ning nodded and smiled happily. “Yes, I married him.”

“When was it? Why didn’t I know about it? Ning, Ning, you how have you hidden such a huge secret!”

Zhao Anan pretended to be upset but it only took her a moment to burst into laughter.

“See? What did I say? You deserve all the good things coming your way. You have really become my sister-in-law! I am so happy that finally someone is interested in my brother. No woman had been able to impress him. Rumours were that he may be homosexual or impotent ...”

Their gossip session did not last for too long, because Jing Yichen interrupted her statement.

“Zhao Anan, you have become far more talkative since you’ve lost your hair. Are you ever going to stop talking or do you have to lose your teeth for that?”

Hearing him, Zhao Anan’s giggles turned into flattery. She said sweetly , “Brother, you are the best! I have always admired you. Didn’t you know that?”

Jing Yichen ignored her jibes with a smile. He then turned to introduce the woman beside him, to Shangguan Ning.

“Ning, this is Aunt, Anan’s mother.”

Shangguan Ning quickly stood up and greeted her. “Hello, Aunt, I am Shangguan Ning.”

Zhao Zhao had recently heard about Jing Yichen’s marriage. She had spent the past two months taking care of Zhao Anan in Germany and rarely contacted her family. Jing Yichen’s mother, Zhao Qing, was Zhao Zhao’s sister. Ever since Zhao Qing passed away, Zhao Zhao had not kept in touch with Jing Zhongxiu and his family. She hadn’t been able to forgive him for her sister’s death, nor was she interested in hearing about his second marriage. So she had only stayed in touch with Jing Yichen.

After Jing Yichen lost his mother, Zhao Zhao had always tried hard to take good care of her sister’s only son. She always regarded him as her own son. She was extremely worried when Jing Yichen, who was already in his thirties, hadn’t found a wife, so she kept looking around for an eligible woman for him. That was when Zhao Anan came into the picture. Her mum had promised to give her 100,000 yuan as pocket money, if she were able to introduce him with a girl worthy of Jing Yichen.

She didn’t believe that this good for nothing daughter of hers had finally done something right. The match clicked and the couple looked to be so in love with each other.

She had heard about Shangguan Ning before. Zhao Anan had spoken of her, often. She smiled, because now she could finally put a face to the name. It was so good to see Zhao Zhao happy, even if it was for a short while. She looked so pale because of all the stress about her daughter’s sickness.

“Oh my, good child. It’s so good to finally meet you. Zhao Anan talks about you all the time and now we are family. Isn’t that amazing. My sister, in heaven, would be so happy to see that she has been blessed with such a good daughter-in-law!”

Tears trickled down her face, as she spoke.

Before Shangguan Ning was able to comfort her, Zhao Anan said with displeasure. “Mom, she came here to visit me. All the way to Germany. Can’t we talk about something cheerful? With all the crying you and Ning have been doing, your eyes are going to look like peaches. No need for dinner then, lets just eat peaches.”

Zhao Zho had been sad but now she started to ask Shangguan Ning various questions. Her mood had improved and she chatted with Ning, happily.

Shangguan Ning finally understood how Zhao Anan had such a happy personality. She had inherited it from her mother.

Although Zhao Anan was in a good mood, her sickness made her tire out very easily.

Shangguan Ning talked with her a little while before she left her so that Zhao Anan could get some rest. She promised that she would visit her again in the evening. Then she and Jing Yichen left the hospital and checked into a hotel nearby.

When they came to the hotel, Shangguan Ning asked Jing Yichen angrily, “Why didn’t you tell me that she is so unwell?”

Jing Yichen smiled helplessly. He knew that Shangguan Ning was annoyed with him. That is why she hadn’t said a word to him, on the way to the hotel.

He held Shangguan Ning’s hands and swept her into his arms. He explained, “That’s how Anan wanted it to be. She didn’t want others to know that she is sick. She especially didn’t want you to know. She knew you would stress.”

Annoyed as Shangguan Ning was at him for not telling the truth, she knew that it wasn’t the time for her to throw a tantrum. She asked fearfully, “She has cancer, doesn’t she...?”

“How bad is it? How many more sessions of chemotherapy is she going to need?”

She really didn’t want to say the C word, but she had to come to terms with it. Jing Yichen went on to say,

“It is cancer. Cancer of the ovary.”

Shangguan Ning felt dizzy. As if all the energy of her body had drained away.

How come??

She was so young and full of life. How could she get ovarian cancer? This was a disease generally contracted by middle aged women.

Jing Yichen held her and helped her sit down on the sofa.

“Don’t worry, her condition is under control. Two months of chemotherapy has put the cancer cells into remission. The doctor says that as long as she can be regularly examined and diligently follows the hospital’s treatment plan, she will be fine.”

Shangguan Ning looked up. Her eyes were bloodshot, from all the crying. She asked with hope in her voice, “Is that true, Yichen? You aren’t lying to me? You are telling me the truth now?”

Jing Yichen nodded and said seriously, “It is true. She was diagnosed with this disease, a couple of years ago. She had gone to the hospital to get an abortion.”

“What?” Shangguan Ning was startled. Zhao Anan had had an abortion? How come?

Jing Yichen understood that it was a lot of unpleasant new for Shangguan Ning to handle, in a span of a few hours. He continued to hold her, hoping to make her feel better.

“Yes, Anan has had an abortion before. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise because that is when they discovered that she had ovarian cancer. It was an early discovery so treatment started immediately. The cancer was only on the first stage. She completely recovered. She would come to Germany for regular examinations, to prevent it from reappearing. The cancer had relapsed and they found out about it in December last year. She has been here since then, undergoing treatment.”

“But will it...”

Shangguan Ning was about to ask Yichen something, but she stopped. She really didn’t want to say ‘relapse.’ She feared that she would jinx her friend’s well being by saying it.

Jing Yichen shook his head and said gently, “It is hard to say, right now. A relapse might occur or she may be completely cured. But...”