Even sitting in the movie theater, Yu Tian’s face continued to burn with heat.

Normally, she was quite skilled at joking around, and she’d never shown mercy when teasing Qi Sihao, but when it came to Yan Ming, her usually sharp tongue seemed to have been sealed.

She didn’t know when Yan Ming had returned or how much he’d heard—she just felt utterly embarrassed. Even during closed-book exams for Ideological and Moral Cultivation and Legal Fundamentals, when faced with completely incomprehensible legal questions, Yu Tian could struggle to write a few hundred words, trying to earn sympathy points. But the moment Yan Ming spoke, Yu Tian seemed to completely lose her will to survive—before the enemy even revealed their weapons, she had already surrendered and fallen apart…

In the end, she hadn’t managed to say a single word.

Like a poor novice diver whose oxygen tank malfunctioned underwater, her face turned red from holding her breath, her whole body filled with signals of suffocation and pleading for rescue.

Fortunately, Yan Ming didn’t pursue the matter of Yu Tian casually arranging his marriage.

Because soon, the movie they were waiting for began checking tickets for entry.

Yu Tian pretended nothing had happened and rushed into the screening room first with a composed, calm expression.

After the screening room dimmed and the movie officially began, under the cover of darkness, Yu Tian felt like she had come back to life.

She felt like an evening primrose avoiding sunlight, finally waiting for nightfall to dare stretch her branches and breathe and bloom under the moonlight.

But only cautiously.

However, Yan Ming sat too close to her. His arm lightly rested on the armrest beside her. Yu Tian only slightly raised her hand, trying to position the popcorn properly, when she accidentally touched his arm.

She didn’t dare move carelessly.

This was her idol!

Lost in uncontrollable distraction, Yu Tian had no mind to pay attention to the movie content being played.

The cinema seats were very soft and comfortable, the backrests even ergonomically designed, constantly tempting Yu Tian to lean back. She had to exert tremendous willpower to maintain sitting upright with proper posture.

She had to make a good impression on Yan Ming at this moment.

But probably because of her trembling purpose, the more she cared about something, the less she seemed able to do it well.

Yu Tian desperately tried to maintain dignity and quiet, but no matter how she sat, she felt uncomfortable, always wanting to shift and change position.

But Yan Ming, beside her, was different.

Since taking his seat, he seemed to have maintained the same posture without any change.

This was probably what “sitting like a pine tree” meant.

Truly worthy of Yan Ming.

This was what a mature man should be like!

Using the faint light from the screen, Yu Tian secretly observed the silhouette of the man beside her with her peripheral vision.

His slender hand rested casually and naturally on the armrest. His fingers were as elegant as the man himself, his pale skin still striking even under the ambiguous lighting of the screening room.

Yu Tian’s gaze secretly traveled up from Yan Ming’s fingertips.

She saw his Adam’s apple, creating smooth and sexy curved lines at his neck, then his distinct jawline.

Honestly speaking, Yan Ming indeed had an otherworldly beauty, and Yu Tian believed the most unforgettable feature among his facial features was his eyes.

They seemed to hold affection, yet seemed not to.

As if gentle to everyone, yet as if showing only uniform indifference to all.

Yan Ming was like the embodiment of perfection.

Beautiful, powerful, elegant, with coldness and nobility.

Like the bright silver moon on a snowy night—even if one could only look but never reach it, it still inspired peaceful longing in travelers, making them willing to endure cold and chill to journey through wind and snow toward the moonlight.

Yu Tian’s heart began beating heavily again.

Mixed with excitement, nervousness, and indescribable complexity, like a little girl finally meeting her idol.

Yu Tian carefully restrained her gaze. Even under the cover of darkness, when Yan Ming couldn’t possibly notice her stare, Yu Tian was still so nervous that even her eyelashes trembled like butterfly wings breaking out of their cocoon for the first time.

But when she finally built up her courage and looked toward Yan Ming’s eyes, she discovered those beautiful eyes had closed at some point, like an expensive exhibition that suddenly shut down without warning.

With the help of suddenly bright screen light from the movie, Yu Tian realized Yan Ming’s stillness wasn’t due to proper posture, but simply because—he had fallen asleep.

His eyes were closed, eyelashes casting shadows, quietly leaning against the chair back, his diamond-shaped lips slightly pursed, looking peaceful and harmless. This made Yan Ming seem less extraordinary, giving Yu Tian the illusion that the moon might also come to her and belong to her.

The movie was showing the scene where the male and female leads said goodbye, and quite a few female viewers let out uncontrollable sobs.

Yet amid such sounds, Yan Ming still slept quietly as if disconnected from this world.

With a bit of unguarded vulnerability and fatigue.

In all the legends at medical school, Yan Ming was like a distant, lofty, deified figure, but at this moment, he was just an ordinary person who would get tired after a night shift.

Yu Tian suddenly felt like she had gotten a bit closer to Yan Ming.

Though he fell asleep while accompanying her to watch a movie, Yu Tian wasn’t angry at all. On the contrary, she even felt a secret sense of responsibility—she was like the guardian of Yan Ming’s sleep.

When he slept well, he could go to work with fuller energy and treat more patients.

Going back and forth like this, even Yu Tian felt this ordinary movie had become sacred.

She didn’t want to disturb Yan Ming’s sleep at all.

Yan Ming woke up ten minutes before the movie ended.

In Yu Tian’s peripheral vision, she watched his eyes change from drowsy confusion to clear calmness again, finally becoming rationally indifferent, mixed with some relief, he thought no one had noticed.

Acting serious as if the person who had fallen asleep wasn’t himself.

Yu Tian also pretended she hadn’t noticed anything and didn’t expose Yan Ming.

The two left the screening room. Yan Ming checked the time, then looked at Yu Tian: “Where do you live? I’ll take you home.”

Yu Tian waved her hands repeatedly: “No need, no need. I’ve already wasted too much of your time today. My home isn’t far from here—taking the subway is very convenient.”

Yan Ming frowned slightly but still insisted: “I’ll take you.”

Yu Tian naturally knew Yan Ming’s gesture was probably due to Yan Wenhua’s requirements—while he didn’t need to be too considerate of Yu Tian, he at least needed to meet the passing grade.

But Yu Tian sincerely didn’t want him to take her home: “I’m not being polite with you—really no need!”

Yan Ming glanced at Yu Tian: “Feeling embarrassed now?”

Yu Tian paused, then realized he was probably referring to her boldly arranging Yan Ming’s marriage to Ren Yali unilaterally, but…

“It’s not embarrassing.” Yu Tian thought for a moment and decided to tactfully remind him: “It’s just that I’m quite afraid of death… Since you’re a doctor, you must also know that life only comes once, life is most precious, so you should understand my feelings about wanting to take the subway home…”

Yu Tian dry-laughed twice: “Of thousands of roads, safety comes first.”

She said sincerely, “Senior Yan Ming, let me call you a designated driver!”

Yan Ming frowned, his lips becoming somewhat flat: “Why would I need a designated driver? My driving skills are very good, and I follow traffic rules carefully.”

Yan Ming didn’t want others to know he’d slept through the entire movie, so Yu Tian didn’t directly expose him, just hinted: “So what kind of story did today’s movie tell?”

Yan Ming had slept through it, so naturally he didn’t know.

Yu Tian thought he would give up, but unexpectedly, this person relied on his past movie-watching experience to say seriously, “The male and female protagonists went through hardships and obstacles, overcame countless difficulties, and finally got together.”

Before Yu Tian could refute, a couple passing by naturally provided feedback on Yan Ming’s answer—

“Wuu wuu wuu, so tragic, how could both the male and female leads die in the end…”

Yu Tian looked at Yan Ming expressionlessly.

Yan Ming remained calm: “The male lead died, the female lead also died, so they finally died together. That’s also being together.”

“…”

He glanced at Yu Tian without changing expression: “What does this topic have to do with me driving?”

Yu Tian had heard about the shift system at the First Affiliated Hospital. One night shift was nominally 24 hours, but after working a full 24-hour shift, they had to continue with the next day’s day shift.

Especially for doctors like Yan Ming, who also needed to manage their assigned inpatients, by the time they could finally get off work, most had worked continuously for over 30 hours.

And Yan Ming had come directly after finishing his night shift. Based on his arrival time, he probably encountered emergency surgery or patients with sudden complications, so his working hours might have exceeded even 30-plus hours…

Even though there might be chances for intermittent sleep during hospital shifts when things were quiet, and he’d just slept a bit in the cinema, such fragmented sleep was poor quality and nowhere near enough to compensate for normal sleep time.

“It’s just… when people are really tired, they might naturally and uncontrollably fall asleep while doing certain things, you know? So if you continue driving now, that would be fatigued driving, and if I took your car…”

Yu Tian blinked: “Besides, you haven’t bought additional personal accident insurance.”

“…”

“So I’ll take the subway home myself.” Worried that Yan Ming would still insist on driving home himself, Yu Tian directly called a designated driver for him. “I’ve already called a designated driver for you. Since I don’t know your home address, you can tell the driver directly after getting in the car.”

Although Yan Ming was expressionless, he seemed emotionally stable and accepted Yu Tian’s arrangement.

“Should we add each other on WeChat?”

Yu Tian felt the timing was good. She took out her phone and brought up her QR code: “You can scan mine.”

However, Yan Ming refused her.

“No need.”

“?”

Yan Ming’s lips pressed into an unfriendly expression: “I’m afraid you’ll arrange my marriage and my WeChat to even more people.”

This man said in a flat tone: “I’m quite scared, after all, bigamy is illegal now.”

“…”

Before this, Yu Tian had never actively asked a member of the opposite sex for their WeChat.

She’d never needed to actively ask members of the opposite sex for WeChat—instead, she more often had to refuse others.

But unexpectedly, mustering the courage to try to appear natural while asking for WeChat for the first time in her life, she was rejected.

Although Yan Ming was indeed her idol, Yu Tian wasn’t a crazy, obsessive fan. Being able to understand and get close to Yan Ming would naturally be great, but Yu Tian hadn’t reached the point where she had to drill into every aspect of Yan Ming’s social circle. This time, actively asking Yan Ming for WeChat was partly based on her interest, and partly as part of her plan for her mother’s sake.

But…

She was rejected.

Rejected.

The shame and embarrassment of this unexpected development crashed over her like a tsunami, catching the completely unprepared Yu Tian off guard.

She almost instinctively wanted to cover up her awkwardness and anxiety.

She didn’t want to admit or face the embarrassment of being rejected.

Probably out of a stubborn mentality of saving face.

By the time Yu Tian realized it, she had already naturally opened her mouth and lied.

“Actually… have you ever thought that although wanting to add WeChat does have some personal interest, it’s mainly to conveniently ask you for reimbursement after I finish paying for the designated driver…”

“…”

Yan Ming’s seemingly calm expression finally showed a crack: “Have you ever thought that the actual passenger can pay for designated driver fees themselves? Adding WeChat isn’t necessarily required?”

The moment she told the lie to save face, Yu Tian regretted it.

But now she was caught between a rock and a hard place.

So Yu Tian could only stiffen her neck. Though her heart was collapsing, she had to maintain a composed appearance.

She said seriously, “Although that’s true, many passengers forget to pay, and the order ultimately requires the person who placed it to pay.”

“…”

Yu Tian wanted to dig a hole and escape.

What was she even saying? Were these human words!

Why was she so nervous facing Yan Ming?

She dejectedly wanted to cover her face: “That’s not what I meant…”

Yan Ming didn’t respond, but he took out his wallet, pulled out several bills, and stuffed them into Yu Tian’s hands.

Yu Tian was truly at a loss whether to laugh or cry: “Really no need, I didn’t think that way, I just wanted a…”

Her “contact method” was cut off by Yan Ming’s calm interruption—

“Take it, it’s appropriate.” He glanced at Yu Tian. “You complimented me well.”

Yu Tian paused, then realized what Yan Ming was referring to.

He had indeed heard everything she said while frantically praising him in front of Ren Yali…

Yu Tian looked at the thick stack of bills in her hands, feeling quite embarrassed, and reached out to stuff them back to Yan Ming: “Even if it’s a red envelope for complimenting you, you’re giving too much…”

“Not much, the rest is a name-change fee.”

Name-change fee? Did he mean what she thought he meant?!

Yu Tian’s eyes brightened, somewhat embarrassed: “You agree to let me call you brother? Calling you brother comes from my heart—no need for any name-change fee…”

Yan Ming’s voice was chilly: “No, it’s asking you to change how you address me—stop calling me brother.”

“…”