Chapter 11 You Have Looked for Me
It was time to get off work, but all the people in the office were still staying at their desks without moving. Queenie asked curiously, "Aren't the working hours ended at six o'clock?"
"It says six o'clock but that's not when we leave? We do 996," said Kola.
"996?" Queenie guessed, "Is it from 9 o'clock in the morning to 9 o'clock in the evening? 6 days a week?"
"That's right. It's good that you know it!" Kola sighed. After a whole day's work, Kola found that although Queenie was older than him, she seemed to know nothing. He couldn't help but kindly remind her, "We are a private enterprise. If you don't work overtime, the boss will think that you don't have much work to do; if you don't work overtime, the boss will think that you don't love work; if you don't work overtime, the boss can't exploit you; if you don't work overtime, you will be fired."
"Oh, I understand!" Queenie nodded. "Since ancient times, the boss always liked employees to work overtime."
"But I don't have work to do now. Do I still have to sit here?" Queenie added.
"Can't you just pretend you have something to do?" Kola said impatiently.
"Pretend?" Queenie turned to look at the tropical fish in the office.
Queenie wanted to ask how to pretend to have things to do, but she didn't dare to. She felt that her questions were so clumsy. But a more experienced colleague asked her to pretend to have things to do, so she could only do it! When Nathanael walked out, she saw Queenie fumbling around in front of the fish tank. He couldn't help but ask, "What are you doing?" Queenie was startled. She turned around and said, "Working!" Nathanael was confused.
"Taking care of the fish to create a better working environment. This is also my work." Kola stood up and looked at Queenie, wanting to ask, "Are you stupid?" Nathanael glanced coldly at Kola and then at Queenie. Holding back a laugh, Nathanael said, "You can leave now. Don't pretend that you have things to do if you don't."
"Great!" Queenie replied happily. Although she didn't know why, Nathanael seemed to be amused by her just now. Queenie quickly tidied up her desk and rushed to the elevator with her bag on her back. Before the elevator arrived, Nathanael was also waiting there. The two stood straight, one on the left and the other on the right, without any intention of communicating.
The elevator came. The two walked in one after another. The elevator went down from the third floor. The narrow space made them feel a little embarrassed. There was something gloomy about Nathanael, which obviously made it difficult to get close to him. Staying in the same space with him could make people nervous.
After a while, the elevator arrived. Queenie hurried out and saw Timothy waiting in the hall.
Somehow, when she looked at Timothy tonight, she felt that he was shining with golden light, no, the light of wisdom. Thinking of her bad attitude toward him these days, she felt like she had committed a crime.
How could she yell at a person who was so important to the country? Queenie knocked her forehead with her hand and walked over. She said in a soft voice, "You're here. Have you been waiting for a long time? You are busy. I'm really sorry to bother you to pick me up!" Timothy raised his eyebrows. He didn't understand why she was so nice to him all of a sudden. In the morning, she seemed to be in a bad mood. But he still smiled gently. "No, I just arrived." With a smile, Timothy took the bag from her hand, walked to her left gently, and asked softly, "What do you want to have for dinner?"
"Up to you. I'm not in the mood for anything particularly," Queenie replied.
"How's your work today? Are you used to it?" Timothy asked with concern.
"Not bad. I'm still learning," Queenie replied casually.
The two of them slowly walked forward, chatting. Just as the two of them reached the parking lot of the company, a man suddenly rushed out from behind. He grabbed Timothy's arm tightly and asked excitedly, "Mr. Carter?"
"What are you doing?" Seeing that he was holding Timothy's hand, Queenie pulled him unpleasantly. How could he pull a scientist with such great strength? What if Timothy's hand broke?
"Do you know Mr. Carter?" Nathanael also glanced at her and asked with a frown.
"Not only do we know each other, but we are also very familiar with each other." Queenie patted his hand that was holding Timothy's hand and said, "Why are you pulling him?" Timothy took a look at Queenie, who was protecting him, and couldn't help laughing. He slightly broke free from Nathanael's grip on his arm and looked at him gently. "It's you, Nathanael. I haven't seen you for a long time. You've grown so tall, haven't you?"
"You still remember me. I have been looking for you these years." With an excited smile on his face, Nathanael seemed to try his best to suppress his excitement. He looked at Timothy with gratitude in his eyes. Then he bowed and said, "Mr. Carter, can you give me your phone number? I want to repay you for your help in the past." Timothy patted him on the shoulder and said, "No, it doesn't cost me much money. It's the best reward for me to see the child I sponsored to become a talent."
"Mr. Carter, let me treat you to a meal. I really want to repay you. Please give me this opportunity," Nathanael said. Timothy still wanted to refuse, but Queenie pulled the hem of his clothes and winked at him. Timothy thought for a while and said, "Okay!" Nathanael breathed a sigh of relief and revealed a big smile. The moment his gloom faded away, he looked a little cute, completely different from the mature and stern man in the office.
Well, Queenie didn't expect that Timothy was still as charming as before. How could Nathanael be so happy just because he could have a meal with Timothy?
They went to a restaurant not far away from home. Queenie said that it was cold and she wanted to eat spicy food, so Timothy chose this restaurant. The food was delicious and clean, and there were few people waiting for seats.
On the way, Queenie couldn't help but ask, "How do you know Nathanael?"
"I have sponsored him." Timothy sat aside and said, "He is very pitiful. He doesn't have parents. He gets up at five or six o'clock in the morning to help his grandmother to sell vegetables. He has to go to school after selling vegetables. However, he still got first place in his class every year. I think he is a really good boy, so I sponsor some of his tuition and living expenses. It doesn't cost me much money. I think it's a good thing!"
"You are so kind." Queenie couldn't help but praise him, "Then how long have you doing that?"
"More than 10 years," Timothy said flatly.
"So you haven't contacted him since then?" Queenie asked.
"No." Timothy shook his head and said, "Since he can rely on his own, there is no need for me to contact him anymore. I didn't intend to ask for a return by doing something good." Queenie kept staring at Timothy, her eyes full of admiration. Timothy was always a kind person. She knew that Timothy's salary was not high at that time. He needed to take care of his family had sponsored a child at the same time. She guessed that he must have lived a hard life. Queenie's heart ached at the thought.
In fact, what Queenie didn't know was that after Timothy got his master's degree, he got a job at a well-known domestic drug company, and his salary had increased several times. Later, he worked alone and led the team to develop several new drugs. The profit from selling the patents alone was astonishing. Not to mention raising two children, he could afford to raise ten more. Nathanael was so excited. He looked at the black car in front of him, and the trees on both sides of the road were constantly retreating. He seemed to have recalled the memory of his childhood.
That year, when his father had just disappeared, the families of the missing passengers in the car came to his house to make trouble. Some people tore his mother's hair, forcing her to tell his father's whereabouts. Some people even roared at him and abused him, saying that his father had kidnapped their families.
At that time, he was only nine years old. He hid in his grandmother's arms and didn't dare to move.
He didn't know why the world had changed overnight. He had just come back from the ski resort in a park with his peers that morning.
He even waited for his father to come back early to cook food for him. His father had promised him that and he had been looking forward to it for a week. He still remembered that the faces of those who came to make trouble were so fierce and horrible, full of resentment as if they were going to tear him into pieces and swallow him.
Someone even took out the cash in their house and wanted to take the money away, saying that it was compensation because his father killed their relatives. They even wanted to take his family's belongings away.
Seeing that the only color TV was about to be moved away, he rushed out of his grandmother's arms in a hurry. He held that man and cried, "You can't take this away. This is my TV. This is mine."
But the man kicked him away and said, "Your father sold my wife. I haven't caught you and sold you. If you dare to yell at me again, I'll sell you!"
"Yes, sell him!" An angry and irrational man shouted in the crowd.
Nathanael was so frightened that he stepped back in a hurry. His grandmother came up to him and hugged him, crying, "Take it. Take it away!"
"This is nothing compared to what we lost. We want our family back. They are in your car!"
"Yes, you are a group of traffickers!"
"Go to hell! Give my parents back!"
The crowd gradually lost control in anger. Hiding in the arms of his grandmother and mother, Nathanael was trembling with fear. He closed his eyes tightly and didn't dare to look at those terrible faces outside. He even heard someone pounding on the backs of his mother and grandmother. He could feel that his mother and grandmother were holding him tightly and tried their best to protect him with their thin shoulders. He cried in fear and the accusation of his family seemed to have lasted for a long time until a figure stood in front of their house and shouted in a calm and calm voice, "What are you doing? Setting up a public court? This is against the law! Do you want to be arrested?"
The crowd was scared by his righteous look, but some of them roared at him, "Our families were missing in their car. Shouldn't we ask them for an explanation? Shouldn't we ask them for compensation?"
The man said, "I know how you feel. My wife is also in that car. But what we need to do is to find that car, not to torture this orphan and his mother."
"If you are not here for an explanation, what are you doing here?"
"Yes, I'm here to ask about the driver's whereabouts. But I'm not a fan of violence. Things are not clear yet. Maybe the driver is also a victim, and they have also lost their family member. We shouldn't do this to them."
That man stood steadily in front of Nathanael's family and persuaded the angry crowd. His unyielding, brave, and broad-minded behavior was deeply engraved in Nathanael's heart. Nathanael thought that he would also become such a person when he grew up.
Later, as time went by, fewer and fewer people came to Nathanael's house to look for his father's whereabouts and ask about their missing families. Later, no one came to ask if his father had come back.
Only this man came one or two times a year. Every time he came, he would bring something to him and his grandmother. In fact, the man might not know Nathanael did not know the whereabouts of his father at all. Like the man, he did not have any news of his father at all.
One day, when his grandmother was sick, he couldn't send her to the hospital at all because he was only thirteen years old. He called Timothy. In less than half an hour, Timothy called a friend and sent his grandmother to the hospital. At that time, he was really grateful to Timothy. He decided to tell Timothy the truth and tell Timothy not to think about getting any news about his father from him.
He found the man who specially came to visit his grandmother. He stood in front of the man awkwardly and said softly, "I really don't know where my father is. He has never contacted me. Maybe my father's car took them to fall off the cliff and they all died. You won't get any news from me."
However, the man bent down with a smile, patted him on the shoulder, and said gently, "I know."
After saying that, Nathanael was actually a little afraid that the man would never come to see them again, so that no one in the world would care about him and his grandmother anymore.
Fortunately, the man still came to visit him once a year, and even his grandmother's death was taken care of by the man.
He said "thank you" to the man.
The man just lowered his head and smiled bitterly. "No, I've done this many times."
Nathanael could feel that the man seemed to become more and more quiet, resolute, and even depressed, but the occasional weakness he showed was as deep as the sea.
At that time, Nathanael thought that this person seemed not to be happy at all!
Nathanael was extremely grateful to the man. It was the man who silently guarded him in the years when he did not have a father, and even helped him to go to school. When he went to college, the first thing he did was apply for a student loan. He studied hard every year and got a full scholarship. He hoped that he could reduce the burden on the man, but he did not expect that when he called the man and told him that he did not need any help, the man hung up on him.
The man was like a person who did good things without leaving his name. He disappeared completely and never wanted Nathanael to pay back a little.
But Nathanael still remembered him and always wanted to find him and repay him.
Although Nathanael knew that this man didn't want that, he still hoped to thank him.