Chapter 99 - 99 – An Extra Sweet

The professor's motivating speech inspired all the students in the class – they were youngsters after all, and the professor had successfully gotten their blood pumping and laid the seed for dedicated medical work.

The class on medical ethics continued for a while, and then the bell rang loudly, indicating that it was time for lunch.

There was a lovingly built canteen in the SIMS complex, and Fang had paid extra attention to this one – since he wanted to make sure that unlike regular canteen food, what would be served in SIMS would always be both tasty and healthy. Fang knew how picky about food Ren was (actually, Fang suspected that Ren had turned out to be such an outstanding cook simply because he got tired of eating sub standard food made by other people and, in the end, decided that if he wanted to eat something decent, he would have to make it himself and thus entered the world of cooking – and if the truth behind Ren's foray into the cooking arena in his previous life in the other world were to be taken into account, Fang's suspicions were actually much closer to the truth than Ren would ever admit!) – and Fang wanted to make sure that there would be decent quality food in the canteen so that the two of them could eat there regularly. After all, they were the ones who had built SIMS – and if they were themselves not eating the food being serves at the canteen in SIMS – wouldn't that send out the wrong signals to everyone? Wouldn't that make it look as if Ren and Fang were too lofty to eat in the canteen and they were looking down on everyone else?

Ren wasn't really too concerned about all this – in fact, it wasn't something that would have even occurred to him. After all, in both his lives, Ren was a rich young master and was used to good food, and saw food as something to enjoy. Unless someone flung a plate of food at his face (or at someone else) and were vocal about this displeasure of the food being served – Ren wouldn't know the subtleties and the myriad of thoughts (and rumours) that could be triggered simply by his choice of food in a public place. For all his meetings in this world, Pax was the one dealing with these mundane tasks.

But Fang was much more sensitive to these things, having lived in the orphanage and knowing how much food mattered when it came to who made it and who gave it and what the maker or the giver were eating themselves. Thus, Fang had declared earlier that he wanted to eat in the canteen while they were in medical school – much to the displeasure of their Chef Jules – and Ren, of course, would always happily go along with whatever Fang suggested with almost everything, so there were no complaints from Ren's side on this aspect. If Fang wanted to eat in the canteen, Ren would be more than happy to indulge his little darling – well, his big darling now.

And thus, the two of them headed to the canteen for lunch, much to the surprise of everyone else – they had not expected the great Chairman Ren and his fiancé Fang to eat in the canteen like regular people at all!

Ren was oblivious to a great extent – but Fang, who was quite sensitive to these things, noted the reactions that they were gathering, and smiled to himself, knowing that his decision had been right. This was a small but excellent way to generate goodwill among their classmates and staff members – after all, Ren and Fang were human beings, too – and everyone needed to know that.

And thus, Fang took Ren's hand and walked to the counter.

"Set C for my partner, and Set A for me, please," he said politely to the server at the counter.

The server, a middle aged lady, smiled cheerfully without looking at them and said, "Sure, sweetie, give me a moment."

Then she slid two set meals on the counter and looked up with a smiling, chubby face. And then she froze.

"Chair – Chairman Ren?" she asked in shock. "You – you are eating here…?!"

Ren blinked at her – looking like an innocent puppy (in fact, Fang knew exactly where he had seen this particular expression and this particular eye movement before – their two little pups at home, Smoke and Shadow, often used this trick on their hapless Papa and Daddy!). It made him look younger and utterly sweet and innocent, so much so that kind hearted aunts and uncles would pat his head for being a good boy and hand him lollipops and chocolates.

Fang nearly rolled his eyes and nudged Ren with his elbow.

"Yes, my big darling?" Ren asked Fang, turning to look at him.

"The set meals look rather good, don't they?" Fang prompted.

Ren looked at the trays on the counter and smiled. "They do look very appetising," he said. Then he looked up at the canteen lady who was staring at him with her mouth wide open in shock. "Thank you very much, ma'am," he said politely.

The canteen lady looked ready to faint when Ren called her 'ma'am'! Fang could see the hearts and bubbles in her eyes and knew that she was itching to pat Ren's head like a little kid – and he could also see the bragging this canteen lady would do about how the great Chairman Ren called her 'ma'am' in public!

Fang smiled to himself – his Ren was really quite charming and adorable – and most of the time, he didn't even know it himself!

"Chairman Ren – you – you can call me Auntie Lily like everyone else," the canteen lady said shyly.

Ren smiled at her. "Sure, Auntie Lily, I can do that – but then you have to call me Ren and not Chairman Ren, all right? Here, at SIMS, I'm just Ren until I become Dr. Ren!" Ren told her in his typical good natured manner when dealing with elderly people.

Auntie Lily beamed at him and said, "Wait a moment, Ren, I'll give you an extra sweet – it turned out especially well today!"

And then, before either Ren or Fang could stop her, she dashed off and then returned with a small bowl with two sweets in it.

"It is really good," she told the young couple. "I heard you guys got engaged recently – so think of this as a treat from Auntie Lily for that. Do remember to share it with your beautiful fiancé, Ren!"

Ren and Fang thanked her and then started looking for a place to sit.

Then Ren spotted Ash sitting all by herself in a corner table, and walked over with Fang in tow. Thanks to Ren and Fang sitting with the girl, several others joined in within minutes and the table became rather lively.

Ren was quite pleased with how all the classes and demos were conducted throughout the day. A few people did faint in the observation chamber when they were viewing the post mortem operation – but Ren knew that it was a perfectly normal thing to happen in any medical school. What actually surprised him was that the ones who had fainted, when they were revived, they immediately became even more determined to learn and overcome any squeamish tendencies that they might have!

As for Ren – he simply dazzled the class with his knowledge before he realised that he needed to tone it down – but by then, it was already too late, and word had spread like wildfire that Chairman Ren was a medical genius and someone who was exceptionally talented in the field of medicine!

All in all – Ren and Fang were quite tired but quite happy with their first day of medical school when they went back home. Both of them ran straight into the shower and scrubbed themselves clean quickly, and then the young couple cuddled with their whining babies and pacified them with treats and cuddles.

Ren had actually intended to make dinner personally – but he was too tired at the end of the day and really didn't feel like cooking at all.

"I wanted to cook dinner for you…" Ren murmured, burying his face in Fang's shoulder.

Fang could see the exhaustion on Ren's handsome face and a protective feeling washed over him.

"Not today, love," Fang said gently and pressed a kiss on Ren's brow. "You know that our schedule tomorrow at medical school is quite rigorous, right? Let's have an early dinner and get some sleep, all right?" he cajoled.

Ren smiled slightly, knowing that Fang was saying this because he had noticed how tired Ren was. Fang himself would be quite tired as well.

Thus, their Chef Jules, who felt rather insecure and neglected whenever Ren took over the kitchen – was more than happy (and secretly delighted) to make a delicious dinner for everyone. In fact, Chef Jules had actually outdone himself today, and both Ren and Fang ended up eating a lot more than they usually ate.

"What a wonderful meal," Ren murmured, leaning back in his chair and rubbing his tummy. "Chef Jules – you have really made the food of the gods today. Thank you."

Chef Jules beamed at Ren. "It is my pleasure, Master Ren.. For tomorrow, would you like me to pack lunch for you?" he asked.