When the morning’s classes ended, Jiang Xu’s throat was parched. He stood in front of the cafeteria at A Medical University for ten minutes before finally deciding to buy a flatbread from the noodle window.
Ever since getting pregnant, the same Jiang Xu who could once live on bread for an entire exam month had inexplicably grown picky about food.
The cafeteria at A Med had an inverse relationship between food quality and teaching standards—decades of being both expensive and terrible.
By the time he returned to the hospital, Jiang Xu mercilessly tossed the remaining half of the flatbread into the trash.
As soon as he walked into the department, he remembered that note from earlier and instinctively glanced toward Shen Fangyu’s desk, empty.
He looked away, not yet having put down his briefcase, when Yu Sang suddenly popped up from nowhere, waggling his brows and saying, “Brother Jiang, your girlfriend’s pretty cute.”
The moment he spoke, the previously quiet office instantly filled with gossip. People whispered, some jeered—
“When’s Dr. Jiang treating us? We’re waiting for the wedding banquet!”
Jiang Xu asked in puzzlement, “What girlfriend?”
“Don’t play dumb,” Wu Rui said with a knowing smile, the air of an old hand. “She came all the way here with a homemade lunch for you. We told her you were off teaching, so she’s waiting for you in the break room. What’s with you, going to class without telling your girlfriend? Almost made her come for nothing.”
At that, Jiang Xu strode straight out of the office toward the break room, walking briskly enough to miss the sight of Shen Fangyu wandering out of the elevator ten meters away, carrying a box of milk.
When Shen reached the office, he happened to run into Yu Sang, still grinning smugly. Shen lifted the milk toward Jiang Xu’s desk. “Where’s your Teacher Jiang?”
As Jiang Xu’s prized protégé and number one bootlicker, Yu Sang had long been in the habit of butting heads with Shen Fangyu. Asked so bluntly, he naturally answered with relish, “Went to see his girlfriend.”
“Girlfriend?”
Seeing the shift in Shen Fangyu’s expression, Yu Sang only became more animated, as if his very features were about to start performing. His head was still full of the petty grudge over the conference slots. “Our Dr. Jiang’s girlfriend is a real beauty. Even made a homemade lunch and brought it here. Not like some people…”
His gaze flicked to the milk in Shen Fangyu’s hand as he drawled mockingly, “…who can only drink milk by themselves.”
Shen Fangyu: “…”
Watching Shen’s expression darken, Yu Sang knew when to stop. Having scored his point, he sauntered away in victory, though he couldn’t help regretting that Jiang Xu hadn’t seen Shen Fangyu’s face just now.
Shen stood silent for a moment, then set the milk down heavily on his own desk, startling Wu Rui, who glanced over.
Meeting Wu Rui’s eyes, Shen asked for confirmation, “Brother Wu, is what Yu Sang said true?”
Wu Rui didn’t know whether to nod or shake his head. Something about Shen’s expression seemed… off, but for the life of him, he couldn’t figure out why Shen would be upset.
Yes, they’d been romantic rivals for a time, but Jiang Xu’s supposed girlfriend clearly wasn’t Zhong Lan.
Was he upset because Jiang Xu had found someone before him?
But it wasn’t like Shen lacked admirers, if he wanted a partner, it would take him all of five minutes.
The pretty, smart young nurse from Neonatology next door was always coming over to chat with him, and he’d never seemed especially enthusiastic in return.
Wu Rui, stuck between the two men and always hoping they’d get along, tried to speak diplomatically. “Fangyu, don’t be discouraged. Next time, let your brother introduce you to someone too, you can definitely find someone even better.”
“Thanks, Brother Wu, but no need to trouble your wife.”
Shen opened a carton of milk, stuck a straw in, and smiled at Wu Rui, a smile that sent goosebumps up Wu Rui’s arms.
As soon as Jiang Xu reached the door, he saw through the window a sweetly dressed young woman sitting inside. He pushed the door open and said, with a hint of hesitation, “Hello.”
The girl was quite outgoing. She turned to see him, stood up warmly, and reached out to shake his hand. “Hello, my name is Yu Xin. You’re Dr. Jiang Xu, right?”
Jiang Xu shook her hand politely, and when his eyes dropped, he noticed she was holding a four-tier stainless steel insulated lunch carrier. Seeing his gaze, Yu Xin explained first, “This is from Auntie Jiang, she asked me to bring it to you.”
“My aunt?”
Jiang Xu’s parents lived in City B. In City A, the only relative with the surname Jiang was his aunt.
“Yes,” Yu Xin quickly continued. “I’m the blind date Auntie arranged for you.”
“…” Jiang Xu was stunned. He never would have imagined his own mother had gotten so desperate to push marriage. Unable to reach him in far-off City A, she had roped in his aunt there as her right-hand accomplice.
His mother had mentioned before that she wanted his aunt to arrange a blind date for him, and Jiang Xu had thought she was joking. Clearly, he had underestimated the formidable matchmaking determination of women of his mother’s generation.
What made it even more suffocating was when Yu Xin continued, “My mom and your aunt met at the matchmaking corner in Xiangzhang Park.”
Jiang Xu knew that matchmaking corner… In City A, about 80% of parents eager to marry off their children gathered there year-round, hawking their sons and daughters like they were selling sunflower seeds and peanuts.
The thought that his photo might be displayed there, possibly accompanied by his aunt loudly advertising him, made his chest tighten like a heart attack, his vision going black.
Yu Xin was a straightforward and cheerful girl. Seeing the dark cloud of mortification over Jiang Xu’s head, she laughed. “Honestly, I didn’t believe my mom could find any high-quality men at Xiangzhang Park’s matchmaking corner. When she showed me your picture, I thought it was Photoshopped.”
She gave him a once-over. “Didn’t expect you to be even more handsome in person.”
Struggling to recover from his embarrassment, Jiang Xu forced an awkward smile. “Thank you. You’re very pretty too.”
Yu Xin plopped herself down casually and began unpacking the lunch boxes his aunt had prepared. “Want to eat together?”
His aunt’s cooking was excellent, and Jiang Xu hadn’t had home-style food in a while. At the sight of the colorful dishes, his appetite actually stirred.
He sat down with her, and they each held a box of food, eating quietly. After a while, Yu Xin suddenly bit the tip of her chopsticks and asked, “Have you ever had a girlfriend?”
Jiang Xu shook his head and took a sip of the milky fish soup.
“I heard from Auntie… you used to be pursuing a female doctor in your department?” Yu Xin asked.
Back when his mother was pressuring him the hardest, Jiang Xu had used the excuse of chasing Zhong Lan to fob her off. He hadn’t expected even his aunt to know about it.
He didn’t have Shen Fangyu’s gift for tailoring his words to his audience, nor was he skilled at small talk unrelated to medicine with people he didn’t know well. So all he said to Yu Xin was a helpless “Mm,” leaving it at that.
“What do you think of me, then?” Yu Xin, sensing that the female doctor was in the past, spoke frankly. “I’m an illustrator, but I’ve always wanted to date a doctor. My social circle’s small, so that’s why my mom went to the matchmaking corner.”
The implication was that she was satisfied with Jiang Xu.
Hearing this, Jiang Xu’s fingers paused. Setting down his chopsticks, he considered his words. “I’m sorry, Miss Yu. You’re an excellent person, but for some personal and rather special reasons, I’m not in a position to date right now. My mother doesn’t know about this situation, so I’ve wasted your trip here. I really am sorry.”
In all seriousness, even leaving aside the mental shadow of that inexplicable night he’d slept with Shen Fangyu, he was in no state to start a relationship any time soon, especially with a baby in his belly. Going on a blind date now would be no different from deceiving someone into marriage.
Jiang Xu wasn’t capable of doing that.
Yu Xin’s expression turned subtly complicated after hearing him out. “That’s fine,” she said. “We’ve only just met, after all.”
“How about this, Miss Yu.” Jiang Xu took out his wallet and handed her a parking card. “I’ve wasted your time, and I’m not sure how to make up for your travel costs. This is a new parking card for our hospital, it covers two hundred hours.”
Ever the practical type, Jiang Xu saw nothing wrong with giving a hospital parking card to a girl he’d just met.
But it was the first time Yu Xin had ever seen someone give a parking card as a blind date gift. She froze for a moment, then waved it off. “That’s… not necessary.”
Jiang Xu glanced outside and said quietly, “Parking at Jihua is expensive. You should take it.”
It was true, parking at Jihua Hospital cost thirty yuan an hour without an internal card, and even then spaces were often unavailable. Still… Yu Xin sneaked a glance at Jiang Xu.
His lips were thin, and from the moment he entered, his face had barely shown any expression. Though handsome, whether it was the glasses or his bearing, there was always a sense of distance, making him seem hard to approach.
Yu Xin had assumed he was an aloof “flower on a high peak,” but here he was, down-to-earth enough to complain about his own hospital’s parking fees.
So she accepted the card with a smile. “In return, I’ll make you a painting.”
Opening her Weibo app, she handed her phone to him. “Follow me.”
Jiang Xu was silent for a beat. “What app is this?”
Yu Xin stared at him blankly for a moment, then silently withdrew her phone. Suddenly, the young man before her seemed to merge with the image of her grandfather clutching an old flip phone. Any faint annoyance at being turned down vanished entirely.
She pressed her lips together and ventured, “Then I’ll print it out and mail it to you?”
“No need to trouble yourself.” Jiang Xu rarely took photos and didn’t care much about such things. Seeing that they’d both nearly finished eating, he asked, “Shall I pack this up?”
“I’ll help.” Yu Xin stood as well, just about to lend a hand when an uninvited guest pushed the door open, his tone laced with a half-smile, half-sneer. “I hear your girlfriend’s here. Thought I’d come take a look.”
A carton of milk traced an arc through the air into the trash, and the man, wearing a light brown shirt over a black turtleneck that emphasized his tall, jade-like figure, smiled without warmth.
“Jiang Xu, aren’t you going to introduce us?”
Author’s note:
A completely irresponsible, out-of-character mini skit unrelated to the main text—
At the matchmaking corner in Xiangzhang Park—
Aunt Jiang, voice booming: “Beer, soda, mineral water! Peanuts, sunflower seeds, eight-treasure porridge! Don’t miss this chance, folks! Come take a look at our high-quality bachelor, only 998! Handsome young OB-GYN Dr. Jiang Xu to take home today!”
Shen melancholy, milk in mouth Fangyu: “So you’re the one selling my wife?”
Aunt Jiang: “?”