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Chapter 855 - 852: Gradually Became a Habit

Chapter 855: Chapter 852: Gradually Became a Habit

Tong Xiaohua was still very busy, even busier than before.

These days, besides dealing with the Tong Family’s regular affairs, she was also tied up negotiating with the Sauna owner across the street, along with Uncle Ming, trying to acquire it at the lowest price possible.

After much effort, both parties finally settled on a price. With Uncle Ming taking charge of the follow-up matters, the sauna purchase was at least temporarily put to rest for Tong Xiaohua.

Thus, she finally started to have a bit of spare time to attend classes.

Of course, attending classes meant facing the Accountant whom Uncle Ming had hired.

Ever since Yan Bo had given her private lessons, listening to this Accountant lecture had become a torturous ordeal for Tong Xiaohua.

With her cheek propped on her hand, flipping through the textbook absent-mindedly, Tong Xiaohua couldn’t absorb a word the Tutor said; her mind was filled with thoughts of Yan Bo.

Now that she thought about it, it seemed like several days since she had last seen him, right?

And it wasn’t just that they hadn’t met, but there were no phone calls or messages either.

Even the flowers that had been delivered for almost half a month had stopped.

How strange!

As the words formed in Tong Xiaohua’s mind, she jolted awake.

Since when had she started taking for granted his daily flower, the occasional phone call or message, even the times they met to chat over meals and he helped her understand difficult problems?

What scared her the most was that now she felt discomfort at the absence of what she had taken as normal.

"Miss Tong... Miss Tong..."

The Accountant tutoring her, seeing her spaced out, called out to her softly twice.

It took some effort for Tong Xiaohua to snap back to reality. She glanced at the Tutor and gave an apologetic smile, "Sorry, I was just thinking about some work issues."

"It’s okay..." The Tutor shook her head, then looked at her intently, "Miss Tong, are you very tired? How about we do this another day?"

The Tutor considered Tong Xiaohua’s state, thinking that continuing the lesson wouldn’t be productive today anyway.

Tong Xiaohua declined the Tutor’s offer. She had specifically cleared these two to three hours for the tutorial session. If the Tutor left, how would she spend the following time?

Although school had started a while ago, the commuting Tong Xiaohua had hardly made any friends, and with neither parent around, if she didn’t attend class, she really wouldn’t know where to go next.

Seeing her insistence, the Tutor didn’t say much more. She taught for half an hour as usual while Tong Xiaohua drifted in and out of focus. The Tutor, guessing that her wealthy client was not too concerned about paying for extra lessons, decided to continue according to the original plan. If the sponsor later said she hadn’t understood, they could just start over.

Tong Xiaohua spent the afternoon in a daze, attending her class. When she saw the Tutor out, she hadn’t retained a single point from today’s lesson.

That evening, when she got home, she suddenly felt a strong desire to hear her mother’s voice.

The Voice on the Phone sounded raspy, as if extremely tired.

"Mom, tell Dad to relax the schedule a bit and enjoy the trip without exhausting yourselves. After all, I’m here at home, so don’t worry."

Tong Xiaohua, who had wanted to whine to her mom, found herself unable to utter the words after hearing her mother’s exhausted voice. She asked a bunch of questions about her parents’ trip abroad, and after getting affirmative responses, she then glossed over her own situation with a lighthearted tone, finally soothing her guilt-ridden mother.

After the Phone call, she who had sought comfort ended up feeling even more emotionally drained. She leaned against the head of the bed and let out a low sigh.

When both my dad and mom were around, I would occasionally feel restless, but back then, I mostly just needed to head to the boxing gym or training field and work up a sweat, and the restlessness in my heart would dissipate.

But ever since I took on the responsibility of Tong Family, I didn’t even feel like going to the boxing gym anymore.

For one thing, it was too ostentatious.

For another, I truly wasn’t in the mood.

Now, leaning against the bed, I felt quite pathetic, wanting to have a drink alone or to chat with someone in the middle of the night, but unable to find a suitable companion.

The more I thought about it, the more depressed I became, so I got up from the bed, walked over to the mini bar, grabbed a bottle of red wine, poured myself a small half cup, and plopped down on a high stool. With a somewhat defeatist attitude, I began to drink alone.

My tolerance for alcohol was excellent, thanks to Mr. Tong taking me to all sorts of events since I was a child, where I was exposed to it continually and tried it out myself. Gradually, I built up a very high tolerance.

However, that evening, I found myself hating my ability to hold my liquor.

Because I had intended to drink a small cup to sleep better.

Little did I know that the more I drank, the more awake I became.

I had thought since I was new on the job, it’d be better to make fewer public appearances, but as the wine made me more alert, my restlessness and anxiety seemed to reflect off a mirror, becoming even more intense than before.

Having no other options, Tong Xiaohua set her cup down and quickly changed into a fresh set of trousers and left the room.

"Miss, at this hour, you still want to go out?"

Uncle Yuan had already arranged everything for tomorrow and was just about to head back to his room to rest when he saw Tong Xiaohua dressed to go out and couldn’t help but be curious.

"Uncle Yuan, I’m heading to the boxing gym for a bit. Please prepare the car for me."

Tong Xiaohua had just turned eighteen and had not yet gone to apply for a driver’s license.

However, not only could she drive and she was very skilled behind the wheel. She would usually drive around Tong village casually, and Mr. Tong generally didn’t mind, but driving the car out onto the main road outside would definitely earn her a scolding.

Right now, I certainly wanted to drive around to relieve my restlessness, but considering I had just had two or three glasses of red wine, for safety, I instructed Uncle Yuan to prepare the car for me.

The matches at the Boxing Gym usually started after ten o’clock.

At midnight, that was when the audience was having the most fun.

When Tong Xiaohua entered, she didn’t disturb anyone and went straight to the audience seats, finding a dark corner to sit down.

The boxers competing that night were fairly matched, which was why the fight was so fierce and intense. The audience below was boiling with excitement.

Tong Xiaohua leaned on the armrest, her hand supporting her cheek, and finally, her attention was focused on the two fighters on the stage.

It was a life-or-death match, with both fighters on the stage injured. Both looked like enraged animals trapped in a corner, having abandoned any notion of offense or defense, each desperately attacking the other’s weaknesses non-stop. In such a match, by the end, no matter who won or lost, both would be significantly hurt.

As the boxers on stage desperately attacked each other, the audience below became increasingly excited, and even Tong Xiaohua, by the end, had sweaty palms.

When the match ended, as Tong Xiaohua had anticipated, the winner barely came out on top by a slim margin, and regardless of the outcome, both fighters were injured.

The depression weighing on my heart seemed to lift somewhat. Seeing it was late, I got up to leave.

Just as I was about to step into the elevator, a familiar voice came from behind, "Xiao Hua?"