CH 59.1

Jiang Xu has been feeling upset recently.

Shen Fangyu was distancing himself from him.

It wasn’t very obvious on the surface, they still commuted together, took leave together, and ate together from time to time, and Shen Fangyu no longer deliberately went to the living room to work, but Jiang Xu just had this feeling.

It was subtle.

But Shen Fangyu was still smiling most of the time, joking around now and then and not looking distant at all, so Jiang Xu didn’t know how to say anything even if he wanted to. It was like punching soft cotton.

“Dr. Jiang, do you have something on your mind?”

Ren Miao and her parents were walking beside Jiang Xu. After her chemotherapy treatment, the little girl had put on a wig, presumably from Ren Han, and the shoulder-length blonde hair complemented her. She looked like a princess in a fairy tale.

She had finished her chemotherapy treatment and had to go home to recuperate as she waited for her next treatment. Jiang Xu happened to bump into her as she was being discharged from the hospital, and he decided to escort her out.

He didn’t realize that his thoughts were written all over his face.

Jiang Xu was thinking of what to say when he raised his eyes and accidentally bumped into Shen Fangyu, who was returning from the inpatient unit. He paused in his footsteps, it felt like Shen Fangyu wanted to hide from him.

It had never been like this before.

He would just greet him with a big grin and then start running his mouth or ruffling his feathers.

“Miao Miao, don’t pry into Dr. Jiang’s personal affairs.” Ren Miao’s father said from the side.

Ren Miao’s face drooped. “I know.”

“It’s alright.” Jiang Xu lowered his gaze.

“Dr. Shen!” Ren Miao suddenly called out.

Because of Ren Han, Ren Miao also got to know Shen Fangyu. Dr. Shen loved to joke with them and didn’t put on airs, so Ren Miao soon got acquainted with him.

From the time she started hanging out with Ren Han, Ren Miao’s personality had become more and more cheerful, and when she saw Shen Fangyu, Ren Miao was not afraid and she greeted him warmly. She was very different from the quiet girl she had been at the beginning.

“Ren Miao?” Shen Fangyu’s feet stopped in front of them, and Ren Miao’s parents nodded politely to Shen Fangyu.

“Did you get discharged?” He asked with a smile.

Ren Miao nodded and replied, “Dr. Jiang is sending me off.”

When he heard her say that, Shen Fangyu’s face looked slightly unnatural. In fact, from the moment Ren Miao called him, he felt Jiang Xu’s gaze fall on him, but he didn’t dare to turn his head and look at Jiang Xu. Both his conversation and his eyes were firmly fixed on Ren Miao, as if Jiang Xu would see through him if he strayed even an inch.

Unexpectedly, Jiang Xu said, “Can we see them off together?”

They were a few steps away from the gate of the inpatient department, and Shen Fangyu wanted to find something to avoid it. Sadly, he has been so busy that he is now free and can’t find anything he has to do to get out of here.

So he nodded stiffly and accompanied Ren Miao out the door.

Sure enough, Jiang Xu stopped as soon as they reached the gate of the inpatient department.

“Happy discharge.” He said to Ren Miao.

“Dr Jiang, can I shake your hand?” Ren Miao suddenly said.

“Sure.” Jiang Xu extended his hand and said, “I wish you a speedy recovery.”

He originally thought that Ren Miao was just trying to express her gratitude to him, until the moment she let go of his hand and he saw the panic in the little girl’s eyes.

Jiang Xu seemed to understand something.

Ren Miao feared death, and she was probably looking for strength in the person who had saved her.

He glanced at Ren Miao’s parents, and the two adults looked at each other and took a few steps back, leaving space for their daughter. Jiang Xu lowered his head, pointed to a statue on the patch of lawn beside Ren Miao, and asked her, “Do you know who she is?”

The white statue was of a female doctor in a white coat. She looked very old, her short hair was neatly combed, and her face was emaciated and kind.

Ren Miao shook her head; she did not know the old doctor.

“That’s Dr Lin Qiaozhi,” Jiang Xu introduced her, “one of the founders of the department of obstetrics and gynecology here. She was a great obstetrician and gynecologist who has saved many, many lives.”

He said, “Many of the patients in our department would ask her to bless them.”

Ren Miao smiled. “Then she must be very busy.”

Jiang Xu turned to face Dr. Lin head-on, put both hands together, and said, “I hope you bless Ren Miao with good health and a speedy recovery.”

Ren Miao’s eyelashes fluttered, not expecting Jiang Xu to pray for her. The emotion spread along her chest and after a while, she looked at the wrinkles on Dr. Lin’s forehead and became a little melancholic.

She remembered the old saying: “Do your best and listen to God.”

The doctor had done what he could; the rest …… can only be left to fate.

Perhaps Jiang Xu sensed Ren Miao’s discouragement, and he suddenly said, “Let me tell you a secret, okay?”

Ren Miao’s gloomy thoughts were interrupted, and he became a little interested when she heard the word “secret.”

Jiang Xu gave an “mmm” and lowered his eyes to the ground.

“I …… am also sick, and in a little while, I’m going to need a very dangerous operation as well.”

He said, “…… I don’t know if I’ll survive either.”

Ren Miao raised his eyes in surprise.

Jiang Xu glanced at the gracious statue of Dr. Lin in the sunlight and said to Ren Miao, “So let’s make a pact; next year, when Dr. Lin’s birthday is celebrated, we’ll meet here and give her a bouquet together.”

“You’ll be alive then,” he said, “and I’ll be alive too.”

Ren Miao’s eyes were a little complicated as she listened, but if you looked closely, you could see that the bit of discouragement in them had disappeared, and on the contrary, they had become much more determined.

“Okay.” She suddenly stretched out her hand to make a promise with Jiang Xu: “Doctor Jiang, I will come, and you must come too.”

“Well,” Jiang Xu said, “it’s a deal.”

He watched Ren Miao walk back to her parents and wave goodbye to him; even her pace was much lighter, and for a moment he was a little lost in thought.

After a long time, Shen Fangyu, who had been standing by the side, suddenly walked up to him and bowed to the statue of Dr Lin.

“I hope you can also bless Jiang Xu.”

Jiang Xu looked back at him with some surprise.

“Since you’ve bowed for Ren Miao, why don’t you bow for yourself?” Shen Fangyu asked.

Jiang Xu turned his face away at the words, then moved his gaze back to the tall, stately statue.

“Aren’t you there?”

“I ……”

It was overwhelming when a cold person suddenly said something sentimental. Shen Fangyu was speechless, only feeling a slight itch in his heart.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with you lately,” Jiang Xu pursed his lips, “but I hope we can go back to the way we used to be.”

Shen Fangyu took a slow, deep breath and tugged at his tie.

He knew that it might not be possible to go back.

He had tried to stuff back the feelings that had crossed the line, but once they had taken root and broken through, it seemed that anything else he could do would be futile. Apart from not admitting it and escaping, he didn’t know what else he could do.

In the middle of his thoughts, Jiang Xu suddenly turned to Shen Fangyu and said in a light voice, “I want to eat tiger skin green peppers tonight.”

Every time Shen Fangyu invited Jiang Xu home for dinner, Jiang Xu had never said such a thing on his own initiative, and Shen Fangyu was momentarily stunned.

It wasn’t that he didn’t know how to make the dish, but he didn’t know what had gone wrong. Whenever the word “tiger skin green peppers” was mentioned, he would remember that his grandfather had asked him to make the dish for his future wife.

The Inexplicable guilt made him a little afraid to look into Jiang Xu’s eyes, but Jiang Xu did not relent and insisted on meeting his gaze. “Is it okay?” He asked again.

“Maybe next time,” Shen Fangyu gulped, “tonight I—”

“Gege.”

Shen Fangyu’s heart missed a beat, and the words of refusal were instantly held back in his throat.

What had Jiang Xu just called him?

Gege?

Shen Fangyu felt as if ten thousand beautiful fireworks had been set off in his head; they crackled constantly, almost short-circuiting his brain with the heat.

Jiang Xu’s gaze was clean and free of any thoughts, but Shen Fangyu was so dizzy and dazzled by his “gege” that his eyes were sparkling and his internal organs seemed to have flown beyond the Milky Way. It was as if he had been struck on the back of the head with a fierce blow, making him numb from head to toe and almost making him forget what his name was.

It was a common name.

Those salesmen in the pharmaceutical industry would always say things like that; it was even worse in the streets.

But Shen Fangyu couldn’t come back to his senses for a long time.

Perhaps it was because of the heart-to-heart tale at the Jiang Xu family house, where he had unintentionally said that it would be nice if he was the older brother.

Or maybe it was because Jiang Xu was actually half a year older than him in terms of age, and it was hard for a proud man like him to call someone he was older than “gege”.

Or maybe it was just because it was Jiang Xu.

Shen Fangyu felt like his heart was about to jump out of his chest.

Seeing that he was in a daze, Jiang Xu said gently, “It’s okay; don’t come back tonight if you can’t.”

“I will,” Shen Fangyu said in a distracted voice, “I will definitely make it for you.”

At this moment, he could run around the world twice, not to mention cook a dish.

Jiang Xu gave him an inexplicable look, stuck his hand in his pocket, and turned to walk back to the hospital wing.

Yu Sang’s book was finally reliable for once.

After running out of patience at his last failed attempt, Jiang Xu was unconvinced for a few days, and he opened the book once again, almost reciting the entire text before he finally got the hang of it.

To be honest, he was quite uncomfortable with Shen Fangyu’s squirmy attitude. If Shen Fangyu had something against him, he would have preferred that Shen Fangyu spoke out frankly instead of leaving him guessing like he was doing now and having to go through the trouble of reading some emotional book to learn how to maintain a relationship.

Dr Jiang has no shortage of friends or colleagues.

If this person wasn’t Shen Fangyu, he would probably have gone along with him and distanced himself as well. He was so busy at work that he didn’t want to spend time on this.

But for Shen Fangyu …… Jiang Xu was a bit depressed to realize that he seemed a bit reluctant to distance himself from him.

If Shen Fangyu was still like this after another week, then he would grant his wish.

By the time Shen Fangyu had recovered from the aftershock of Jiang Xu’s “gege”, the other party had already walked away.

Shen Fangyu watched his back disappear into the inpatient building, and he was still half-dazed when a sudden voice came to his ear, “Senior Brother, what are you doing here?”

It was Zhong Lan.

Shen Fangyu tilted his head to look at her and found a random excuse: “Sunbathing.”

Zhong Lan joked with him, “Sunbathing with pay? I’m going to report you to Director Cui.”

She was standing in front of the statue of Dr. Lin, who seemed to have no worries and was able to encompass everything. Zhong Lan had a smile on her lips, her neatly done bun shining in the light of the sun.

Shen Fangyu’s heart lit up, and he suddenly asked, “Are you free after work today?”

“Huh?” Zhong Lan didn’t expect him to say this, “I think so. What’s wrong, senior brother?”

“I want to ask you out for a meal.” Shen Fangyu said.