Jiang Xu was woken up by a phone call.
He always kept his phone by his pillow when he slept, just in case something came up and he needed to answer right away.
“Hello?”
As soon as he spoke, Jiang Xu startled himself, his voice was hoarse, painfully so. Maybe it was because he was dehydrated from a hangover. It even hurt a little.
“Is that Xiaoxu? It’s your Auntie—”
Jiang Xu thought about it. His mom was an only child. He shouldn’t have any aunts. Just as he was about to say something, the voice on the other end clarified, “It’s your mom’s neighbor’s second cousin’s brother-in-law’s half-sister.”
“…Oh.”
Ever since he became a doctor, Jiang Xu felt like his number of relatives, acquaintances, and family friends had doubled.
He rubbed his temples, feeling an odd soreness in his arms, like he had been lifting weights all night.
“What is it, Auntie?” he asked, coughing twice, his throat still uncomfortable.
“Well, it’s your cousin Lili, you remember, I told your mom about her before. She’s due to give birth in about two or three months. Would you be able to deliver the baby for her?”
“…,” Jiang Xu replied, “I don’t do deliveries.”
“Oh come on, you’re an OB-GYN, right? Your mom told me you’re even the department head! It’s settled then, okay? Come over to Auntie’s house for dinner this weekend—”
Normally, Jiang Xu might have explained things, but today he really didn’t have the energy to say even half a word more than necessary. So he gave a very perfunctory “Mm” and figured he’d ask his mom what the deal was later.
Many people misunderstand OB-GYN doctors, assuming they’re the main ones delivering babies. But in reality, for most healthy women with smooth labor, doctors don’t even need to step in from delivery to discharge.
Uncomplicated vaginal births are typically handled by midwives. Doctors only get involved in emergencies—if labor isn’t going well, there’s heavy bleeding, or something else suddenly goes wrong. That’s when they step in to manage the delivery and decide whether the patient needs to be taken to the OR for emergency surgery.
So the ones who end up in Jiang Xu’s care are usually not low-risk. It’s either critical cases or complicated C-sections.
It’s kind of like how some patients are eager to get the chief physician’s attention, but if you really have several department heads swarming around you every day, chances are your condition… isn’t good.
So for this cousin Lili, Jiang Xu’s sincerest wish was that she’d never have to meet him professionally at all.
After hanging up the call, he felt inexplicably drained. He lazily dropped the phone on the bed, and with a thud, the back of his hand hit something soft and furry.
He snapped his eyes open, only to see… a head beneath his hand.
In that moment, a flood of disorganized memories surged into his brain. He furrowed his brows, trying to piece together what had happened last night. Dinner, getting rejected by Zhong Lan… and then?
…Then he went to the bar with Shen Fangyu.
Jiang Xu’s expression instantly turned panicked.
Carefully, he pinched the edge of the blanket near that head and gently lifted it to take a peek.
F*ck.
It really was Shen Fangyu.
Fuming, Jiang Xu kicked him hard, sending both Shen Fangyu and half the blanket tumbling off the bed. Somehow, the guy didn’t even wake up. How the hell did he sleep so soundly?
But the moment he kicked, Jiang Xu gasped sharply.
It felt like every bone in his body had been disassembled and then glued back together. Pain shot through him, making him frown. A certain very specific area also throbbed with a strange, sore ache, like the muscles had been overstretched.
What the hell had happened last night? Had he gotten into an all-night brawl with Shen Fangyu?
He shook his head, trying to recall something, anything, and suddenly, a stream of fragmented, R-rated images burst into his mind.
Jiang Xu’s eyes widened.
After a long moment, he stiffly lowered his head and looked down.
Question: When you wake up in bed with your archnemesis, your chest and inner thighs are covered in kiss marks and purplish bruises, and there’s a strange soreness coming from behind…
What most likely happened between you two?
A. You slept together.
B. You slept together.
C. You slept together.
Jiang Xu, face pale with fury, “I choose D.”
D. You got f*cked.
F*ck your whole damn family.
Jiang Xu silently glanced at Shen Fangyu on the floor. Half of the man’s body was exposed. It was an objectively beautiful body: lean, well-proportioned, no extra fat, clean muscle lines, defined bones, clear veins.
The kind of body that would make a great model for an anatomy class.
Jiang Xu even felt like he’d already figured out exactly where he’d make the first incision.
After silently reciting the Core Socialist Values ten times, Dr. Jiang, veins bulging with rage, barely managed to restrain his homicidal urge to dismember someone.
The bed they had messed around in all night was an absolute disaster zone, sheets in disarray, pillows thrown everywhere, clothes scattered across the floor. His once-crisp white shirt was now as wrinkled as pickled cabbage. Everything at the scene screamed of last night’s reckless debauchery.
Jiang Xu took a deep breath and decided to get out of this mess as soon as possible, before even the Core Socialist Values failed him.
He had never gotten dressed so efficiently in his life. Showered, brushed, ironed his shirt, done in one fluid sequence. By the time he looked in the mirror again, Jiang Xu was once more the impeccably dressed Dr. Jiang, composed, refined, the picture of calm elegance.
Except… something around his neck seemed to be missing.
His gaze fell on a black tie tossed aside. It was new, the first time he’d worn it was yesterday.
But just as he reached out to pick it up, a vivid memory flashed through his mind. That damn idiot, using this very tie to bind his hands, pushing them above his head.
Some people are dead to you even while they’re still breathing.
With a loud RIP, the poor tie, dead before it ever truly lived, was torn clean in two. Without so much as a backward glance, Jiang Xu coldly tossed it into the hotel lobby trash can.
He had a surgery scheduled that morning, an ovarian cancer case. Thankfully, it had been caught early, and all the pre-op assessments looked good.
The operating room was thick with the scent of disinfectant. Jiang Xu wore a surgical mask and sterile cap, revealing only his eyes.
Today, the OR was unusually silent. Since stepping inside, Jiang Xu had spoken only the bare minimum—issuing necessary instructions, and not a word more.
Yu Sang was assisting him. He kept sneaking glances at Jiang Xu’s face, a knot of unease in his chest.
Post-abdominal exploration, the patient’s condition was actually better than expected. No significant infiltration or metastasis, and the tumor didn’t look hard to remove.
Everything was proceeding according to plan. It should’ve been a relatively easy day. But Jiang Xu stared into the laparoscopic view with such a dark expression that Yu Sang couldn’t help but question if he’d missed something important.
But clearly, he hadn’t. The surgery went surprisingly smoothly. Jiang Xu’s technique was, as always, clean and efficient. Once the tumor was excised and the surrounding lymph nodes cleared, he passed the stitching portion to Yu Sang as usual.
Changing out of his contaminated gloves, Jiang Xu stepped aside to observe. He was always strict when supervising juniors, able to catch even the slightest hesitation or mistake and correct it instantly. That made every new doctor assigned to him extra anxious during surgery.
Thankfully, Yu Sang had grown more experienced. Under Jiang Xu’s watch, he had started completing lower-difficulty surgeries on his own and wasn’t as terrified of him anymore.
But today’s Jiang Xu had him on edge again. Yu Sang’s eyelid kept twitching. He had this gut feeling that something bad was going to happen.
And as it turned out, his instincts were spot-on.
Halfway through the suturing, the motion sensor lights in the OR flickered. An uninvited guest strolled in.
Yu Sang looked up and locked eyes with a pair of familiar, flirtatious peach blossom eyes.
At that moment, it felt like the very air around them froze.