I don’t know how it all happened, but suddenly I didn’t dislike Lin Yusen anymore.

It was already the ninth day of my hospitalization.

At noon, Dr. Fang called me to have lunch again. At a café near the hospital, they chatted about their topics while I ate my food.

Today they weren’t discussing work-related matters though. Dr. Yuan was talking about a newly released movie.

“It’s got high ratings online. I’m planning to watch it on my day off the day after tomorrow.”

Dr. Qin said, “Isn’t that a horror movie? You’re going to watch a horror movie by yourself? You should find someone to go with you, or you’ll end up running out of the theater crying with no one to comfort you.”

Dr. Yuan sighed helplessly, “I want to, but I can’t find anyone. All the girls are too scared to watch horror movies with me.”

Dr. Qin expressed his regret, “It’s a shame I’m on duty, otherwise I could’ve accompanied you as a friend.”

After Dr. Qin spoke, nobody said anything, creating a sudden awkward silence.

Dr. Fang laughed to break the tension, “Speaking of horror movies, it reminds me of an embarrassing story from my past.”

He continued with an expression of deep regret: “Back then, I finally managed to date a foreign girl, and invited her to watch a movie at my apartment. You know what I mean, but when I played what I thought was an adult film, it turned out to be a ghost movie. In the end, I was the one trembling while hugging her! She just pushed me away and left…”

Dr. Qin almost spat out his food from laughing: “I can’t believe that happened! You’re not even embarrassed to tell that story?”

“What’s there to be embarrassed about!” Dr. Fang chuckled and said, “As a man, being led astray by beauty is inevitable, nothing shameful about it.”

He paused thoughtfully, “Hey, that phrase sounds familiar, didn’t someone say that before?”

Lin Yusen glanced at him, “I said it. What about it?”

Dr. Fang just grinned.

The table fell silent for a while. I sensed something odd in the atmosphere and looked up from my bowl confused, but everyone was just eating their food normally.

Lin Yusen looked at me: “After you finish eating, go back and rest early.”

“It’s fine, keep talking. I’ll go back with you all later, I have something to discuss with you.”

After a moment, Lin Yusen responded with a simple “Mm.”

Dr. Fang, wearing a bright smile, suddenly seemed to remember something and asked Lin Yusen: “Junior, do you have plans this afternoon?”

“No.”

“Oh.” Dr. Fang said with a hint of admiration: “My junior here has always been quick with his hands and surgeries. Your senior truly admires you…”

Lin Yusen took a sip of coffee and set it down, his lips curling slightly upward, “You’re too kind.”

We didn’t eat for too long because Dr. Fang soon received a phone call about a multiple-vehicle accident nearby, with patients being transported to the hospital. They hurriedly returned.

As we were approaching the hospital, a woman in her fifties stopped Dr. Fang.

“Dr. Fang, what a coincidence, I was just coming to find you. I’m from Director Zhang’s family, we contacted you before. This is my daughter Nannan. We just got her brain and lung CT scans, and I wanted to ask you to take a look, and see if there are any issues…”

Dr. Fang casually handed the CT envelope to Lin Yusen, “This is my junior colleague, a neurosurgery specialist. He’ll help you take a look. I have emergency patients to attend to.”

Then he hurried away with Dr. Qin and Dr. Yuan.

The woman looked at Lin Yusen skeptically.

Lin Yusen casually pulled out the scans and held them up to the light: “There’s calcification in both lungs and brain. Did she previously have tuberculosis?”

The woman’s expression immediately changed, and she nodded vigorously, “Yes, yes, Nannan had tuberculosis when she was young, but what about her brain? Will there be any problems in the future… we’re all very worried, that’s why we check every year.”

“I don’t see any issues with the brain. Tuberculosis indeed causes calcification, but it won’t become cancerous. Unless your tuberculosis reactivates and increases the calcification.” Lin Yusen returned the scans to her and said gently, “Also, CT scans affect the body, so you shouldn’t do them every year.”

The mother and daughter left immensely relieved, and Lin Yusen’s gaze fell on me, “Why are you staring at me?”

“…”

Was I?

I laughed awkwardly and looked away, “I just suddenly remembered, didn’t you say I needed a follow-up CT scan? We never did it, did we?”

“Oh? What happened?”

“…I’m asking you.”

“But I don’t seem to be your attending physician, am I?”

“…”

But weren’t you the one who said I needed the scan? I expressed my doubt strongly with my eyes but ultimately surrendered under his “it’s not my responsibility” gaze.

He smiled, “What did you want to see me about?”

“Ah, right.” I almost forgot the main point, “I finished the report you asked me to write, I’ll give it to you in a bit.”

He paused, “…Just that?”

Of course not!

I nodded and said: “Yes, just that. Will you come with me to the ward to get it?”

I returned to the ward somewhat anxiously, handed him the prepared report, and then tried to gain some credit: “Vice President, I didn’t forget about work even while hospitalized, so I should get my regular salary for these days, right?”

Lin Yusen flipped through the report, his voice carrying a hint of teasing: “Miss Nie is working for her own family’s company, yet still concerned about such things?”

“…You talk as if you don’t take a salary yourself.”

“I’m an employee, of course, I take a salary,” he said in a casual tone.

I was stumped by his response.

But remembering my main purpose, I quickly changed the subject, taking out a gaming console from the drawer to give to him, “Well, we can forget about overtime pay, but could you help me pass level five? I just can’t get through it no matter what.”

His motion of reviewing the report froze for a moment.

“Alright,” he said after several seconds, taking the console and casually putting it in his coat pocket.

“You’re not going to play it now?” I looked at him expectantly.

“…”

He paused again, but then put down the report and took the console out of his pocket, playing it casually for a few moments before looking up at me.

He must have noticed.

Many games don’t require the left hand at all, like the one I just gave him.

I urged him: “Come on, play! I want to see if you can pass level five.”

Lin Yusen lowered his head and began seriously attempting to clear the level.

Finally, I got to witness just how precise, quick, and steady a surgeon’s hands could be. He managed to breeze through several levels of this insanely difficult game, truly like a god-like existence.

“You’re amazing!” I gave him a thumbs up, praising him sincerely.

“Nie Xiguang, have you noticed that you…”

“What?” I was still excited about the rapid level clearing.

He didn’t answer me, his gaze falling on my face, a faint trace of amusement passing through his eyes.

“You can be discharged,” he said.

The next afternoon, I stood at the hospital entrance calling my mother.

“Mom, I’m coming home today, I want bone soup for dinner!”

Mom replied irritably: “When have you ever come home without requesting specific dishes? Why are you coming back before the weekend?”

“Oh, because I got injured!”

“What?! What happened? Is it serious?” Mom’s voice immediately became anxious.

I said with a grin: “It’s nothing, just twisted my foot while going down the stairs.”

Needless to say, I got scolded by Mom.

After hanging up, I realized Lin Yusen had already come over and was standing at the entrance watching me.

“I once treated a patient who fell from the top of a truck, landing right on a rock. Skull fracture, intracranial hematoma, ruptured spleen. He stayed in the ICU for a month before getting out of danger. His fall was from a lower height than yours.”

“…”

Why did he suddenly switch into scary doctor mode?

“If you know people will worry, don’t do things that make them worry.”

I quickly raised my hand and swore: “I got it! Promise it won’t happen again.”

Halfway through raising my hand, I realized how silly this gesture was. However, this silly behavior seemed to amuse Lin Yusen, his eyes immediately softening considerably, apparently having deactivated his scary doctor mode.

I somewhat awkwardly lowered my hand. Perhaps because I was too excited about being discharged, I started speaking and acting without thinking… But when did I start feeling so relaxed and natural when talking with him?

It seemed to have happened just in these past couple of days.

But there’s nothing wrong with that. However, I’m a bit worried – what if the hospital is a special environment, and once we leave it, our relationship becomes as stiff as before?

That would be… quite a shame.

“Um, thank you for these past few days, and for Auntie Chen’s meals.”

He nodded, “Auntie Chen said you sent her a gift, she liked it.”

“Oh, I had Yin Jie buy it outside for me. I’m glad she liked it.”

“Nie Xiguang, I’ve noticed you’re not very good at grasping the main point.”

“Huh? What?”

He had no interest in explaining it to me, tossing me the bag in his hand as he walked toward the parking lot. “Come on, I’ll drive you.”

I caught the bag and looked inside, immediately getting a headache. Besides my credit card that I’d given him to settle the bill, everything else was medical records and such – I definitely couldn’t let Mom see these. I hurriedly caught up with him: “Vice President, could you help me destroy the evidence?”

It started raining shortly after we got in the car.

I looked out the window dejectedly: “Why did it have to rain right when I got discharged?”

It would have been better if I’d been discharged in the morning when the weather was still nice, but Dr. Fang had something come up, so it got delayed until the afternoon. The weather forecast said it would rain today, and sure enough, it was right.

Wait a minute…

Seeing the toll station ahead, I belatedly realized we were already on the highway.

I looked at Lin Yusen in surprise.

Lin Yusen calmly said: “It’s raining, I’ll drive you directly to Wuxi.”

“…Actually, I could have just gone to the train station by myself.”

“Where’s your house? Set up the navigation on my phone.” He tossed me his phone, completely ignoring my comment.

“…” I silently took his phone.

“There’s a password.”

“Hold on.” While stopped at the toll station to get his card, he leaned over and entered the password on the phone. The warm breath touched and left instantly, making me pause for a moment before lowering my head to set up the destination in the navigation.

“Done.” I handed the phone back to him.

He took the phone and glanced at it, then reached for the glasses case above the windshield and took out a pair of glasses.

I was slightly puzzled: “You wear glasses while driving?”

“My eyes were somewhat affected after the car accident, and rain affects visibility.”

I instinctively said: “So that car accident was pretty serious.”

As soon as the words left my mouth, I regretted them, wishing I could take them back. I was such an idiot, why did I have to bring up his injury? Fortunately, he just responded with an “mm,” his attitude showing no particular change.

I decided to try to make up for it, “Actually, you’re amazing.”

“Oh? How so?”

“The company’s performance has improved significantly since you came, you’re good at managing production.” I emphasized, “So, you’re good at everything.”

He looked ahead and smiled.

“…What are you smiling about?” Was my flattery too obvious?

“Getting praise from the future… boss, shouldn’t I smile?”

“…I’m not your future boss.”

The journey from Suzhou to Wuxi took just a short while, and Lin Yusen drove me directly to my building. I got out of the car and bent down to say “thank you” to him sitting in the car.

Just as I was about to leave, I remembered his two unfortunate car accidents and couldn’t help but lean back to the window, “Drive carefully on your way back.”

He gave me an unexpected look, and perhaps it was the way the light reflected off his glasses, but I thought his expression became incredibly gentle in that moment, like snow melting – tender and warm.