Chapter 23

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Shi Jin glanced at his screen, rose, and said, “I’m sorry.” He lifted his phone and answered the call before he was even through the door of the conference room. In a low voice, he said, “Shengsheng, it’s me.”

Shengsheng… It was a woman’s name. All the experts and professors in the conference room exchanged looks. The doctor who was giving the presentation was so shocked that he spilled his coffee. When had Shi Jin gotten involved with a woman?

The top floor was not used for anything other than conducting conferences, so it was very quiet. Shi Jin leaned against the wall and spoke in a low voice. There was a small smile on his lips that could not be held back no matter what.

“What’s wrong?” His tone was very sweet and gentle.

“I’m outside the hospital. There are paparazzi following me. I can’t enter,” said the voice on the other end of the call.

Shi Jin lifted his head and walked toward the staircase. “Drive to Gate 1’s underground parking garage. I’ll meet you there.”

“All right.” After hanging up the call, Jiang Jiusheng told Xie Dang, “Go to Gate 1’s underground parking garage.”

Xie Dang changed gears and asked while turning the steering wheel, “Who?”

“A friend.” Jiang Jiusheng did not explain any further. She shut her eyes, her face now dreadfully pale.

Gate 1 of the undergrounding parking garage of Tian Bei First Hospital was only open to hospital employees and their family members. Shi Jin’s name was recorded on the vehicle registration to enter the lot. He was already waiting there when Jiang Jiusheng emerged from the car.

She broke the silence first. “I’m sorry to trouble you.”

Shi Jin shook his head and assured her that it was no trouble at all. “Are you hurt?”

His gaze landed on Jiang Jiusheng’s face. There was a small bloodstain on the left side of the mask she was wearing.

“It’s no big deal,” she said.

Shi Jin stared at her tightly pursed lips, which were growing increasingly pale. His face darkened slightly. “Where did you get injured?”

It seemed as if Shi Jin was a bit angry. His eyes were so cold that he looked like a stranger. Jiang Jiusheng replied, “My left hand.”

He walked over and reached out with the intention of touching her left hand, but then stopped midway and left it hovering in the air. He fixed his gaze on her extremely swollen hand as his frown grew deeper. “Is it painful?”

Jiang Jiusheng nodded.

His face darkened even more, and his silhouette remained where it was. “Can you lift it?” he asked.

She shook her head.

Paying no mind to the other two people in the vehicle, Shi Jin asked Jiang Jiusheng to follow her before leading her to the elevator that was only accessible to hospital employees. He scanned his fingerprints, and just before the elevator doors shut, a pretty hand reached in.

Xie Dang took a long stride and stood beside Jiang Jiusheng. His eyes were hesitant and defensive when he looked at Shi Jin.

“Where are you taking Sheng Sheng?” said Xie Dang.

The other party’s words were concise. “To see a doctor.”

Mo Bing followed them into the elevator as well. Shi Jin pressed the button for the fifth floor and lowered his head to make a phone call.

“Dr. Sun, this is Shi Jin.”

It was very quiet in the elevator. The only thing that could be heard was Shi Jin’s low voice. His words flowed slowly, like a cello being played—elegant and mellow.

He has a good voice! Xie Dang thought out of nowhere as he stared at Shi Jin.

Shi Jin had slightly turned his back to him and was speaking into the phone. “Do you have time to come out between 3:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m.?” The other party must have then asked some irrelevant questions, but Shi Jin answered patiently and politely, “Yes, she’s my friend.” He did not go into details, and after a few more quick words, he said, “Sorry to trouble you.”

After conveying his gratitude, he hung up the call. His eyes were bright as he looked at Jiang Jiusheng’s face. “After cleaning your wound, I’ll take you to the orthopedic department.”

Jiang Jiusheng suddenly had the notion that having a doctor as a “fan” was a very fortunate thing. She nodded, agreed, and enjoyed her “idol treatment.”

The two of them were reticent by nature, yet they could connect with each other on a deeper level that felt both intimate and unfamiliar at the same time.

Xie Dang was displeased when he heard that. He took a step forward and shielded Jiang Jiusheng behind him as he swept his beautiful red phoenix eyes over Shi Jin. “Who are you?”

Shi Jin replied, “A doctor.”

Doctors look like that these days? Damn! He could probably debut as a celebrity.

Xie Dang was just about to continue interrogating him when they arrived on the fifth floor. The elevator doors opened. Shi Jin’s office at the heart surgery department happened to be right across from them.

A man appeared before them as well. He looked about 30 years old and was dressed in a white lab coat. He had phoenix eyes and sharp features that looked stern, but when he smiled, two deep dimples surfaced and made him look as if he carried the sunshine with him. He wore glasses and was very tall.

After sweeping his eyes over all the people in the elevator, the man directed his gaze back at Shi Jin. In a conference of surgery specialists, the only person who could not be missing was Shi Jin. “Why did you leave without saying anything?” he asked. “Our discussion—”

Shi Jin interrupted the man before he could finish. “Push the conference back by two hours.”

The man was stunned. He would never have expected such a gentlemanly doctor, with such good manners, to interrupt him

Shi Jin spoke again, and this time, his tone was gentle. “Dr. Xu, I’ll have to trouble you to bring Miss Mo here to Dr. Zhou in the emergency room.”

The man was named Xu Qingbo, and he was the deputy chief physician of the neurosurgery department.

Is Shi Jin ordering me around like a nurse? Me? The head of the neurosurgery department? Xu Qingbo spoke up. “I said—”

Shi Jin made a detour around him. “Thank you,” he said, cutting him off again.

Xu Qingbo was speechless and dumbfounded.

Mo Bing was also stupefied. Perhaps it was an occupational disease, but all she thought about along the entire journey was how she could get this doctor to sign a contract with her. He was bound to be a source of easy money. With his looks, he wouldn’t need to sing or act—the only thing he would need to do was stand in front of the camera like that.

She figured he must have been Shengsheng’s neighbor—the one she’d mentioned who had beautiful hands. Mo Bing’s gaze slowly shifted down to Shi Jin’s hands.

They really are beautiful. That was Mo Bing’s first and only impression, as she could not find any other words to describe them. I think this doctor could make a living and be a source of easy money without relying on his face—he could do hand modeling.

Xu Qingbo seemed to have something else to say as he stood before the doors, obstructing the path.

Shi Jin gazed at him. “Please excuse us.” He looked like he was staring at a passerby.

Xu Qingbo and Shi Jin had been classmates at the same medical school. They had known each other for eight years and had been colleagues for two. The passerby, whose surname was Xu, stepped aside to give them space.

Shi Jin turned around and looked at the lady wearing the mask inside the elevator. “Shengsheng, come with me.”

He sounded so incredibly gentle that it was as if he was trying to coax her.

Xu Qingbo suspected himself of hallucinating. In the eight years he had known Shi Jin, he had never seen such a gentle side of him.

“Dr. Xu!” someone called.

Xu Qingbo returned to his senses. “Huh?”

Mo Bing did not follow Jiang Jiusheng after greeting her. “Where is the emergency room?”

“I’ll bring you over there right now, Miss Mo.”

Xu Qingbo kept turning around as he walked. He was exceptionally curious about this lady who was capable of making someone like Shi Jin behave as he was right now.

Shi Jin took Jiang Jiusheng to get her wound stitched up while Xie Dang followed blindly, staying close behind them. His beautiful red phoenix eyes looked around defensively. He couldn’t shake off the feeling that this doctor, who had appeared out of nowhere, was quite dangerous.

The independent office was located on the east side of the fifth floor a few steps away. Xie Dang glanced at the nameplate on the door. Heart surgeon, Shi Jin.

He was just about to follow them into the room when Shi Jin placed his hand on the door handle. He turned around and said impartially, “Non-family members of the patient have to wait outside.”

Xie Dang displayed an apparent willingness to accept the rules. “I am the patient’s father,” he said.

Jiang Jiusheng was speechless.