I had everything planned out, including what to wear to both wedding banquets on the first and second, but man proposes, and God disposes. On the evening of the thirty-first, the temperature suddenly dropped by ten degrees, and we entered winter in the blink of an eye.

Now I was troubled.

Most of my clothes were at home in Wuxi, and among the clothes I had in Suzhou, the only thing suitable for this weather was… my… work uniform…

If I were to go shopping…

I checked the time – I’d woken up late, it was already 12:30, and Lin Yusen was coming to pick me up at two. There simply wasn’t enough time.

After struggling between style and warmth for a long time, I finally resolutely chose warmth, appearing at the company entrance precisely at two.

Lin Yusen’s car was parked by the roadside; he had probably been waiting for a while. Seeing me, he got out of the car and then frowned.

I quickly explained: “I won’t wear this to the wedding, I’ll take it off when we get out of the car, I’m just wearing it now to block the cold wind.”

He looked at me for several more seconds before finally speaking tactfully: “Nie Xiguang, this is the first time I’m bringing a female companion to a friend’s wedding.”

“Uh?”

“So, could you please not make it look like you’re working overtime with me?”

I explained helplessly, “I have no choice, I don’t have any warm clothes here, and there’s not enough time to buy any.”

He looked me up and down, “Get in, I’ll take you somewhere.”

“Where?”

“I had a former patient in Suzhou who represents some clothing brands, I’ll take you there to look.”

Such a big production?

I hesitated, “Is this necessary?”

While flipping through his phone book, he casually answered: “Mm, I care about face.”

“…” I could only remain silent.

Lin Yusen’s former patient was a very enthusiastic and cheerful middle-aged woman who called herself Sister Wang. When we arrived, she was already waiting at the store entrance. As soon as we got out of the car, she warmly welcomed us: “Dr. Lin, what a rare guest!”

Looking at me, she said, “Is this Dr. Lin’s girlfriend? Oh my, how lovely! When I was hospitalized, I used to wonder which lucky girl would become Dr. Lin’s girlfriend.”

I was about to deny it, but she was so energetic that before I could speak, she had already run off saying she would bring catalogs.

I felt awkward and looked at Lin Yusen embarrassedly: “She seems to have misunderstood.”

Lin Yusen was very calm: “It’s fine, misunderstandings lead to discounts.”

…That statement was too powerful! For a moment, I thought maybe letting people misunderstand wasn’t so bad.

But my remaining sense of integrity weakly reminded me: “This doesn’t seem right…”

“You think telling her I brought an employee to buy clothes would be better?”

“…”

Well…

It was already too late to explain anyway. I couldn’t rush up and say I wasn’t Lin Yusen’s girlfriend, that would be too awkward. Besides, we probably wouldn’t meet again, and we could get… a discount, so let it be.

Soon, Sister Wang came running back with a stack of catalogs, leading a young woman.

“This is Anne, our store’s No.1 sales assistant. She has an excellent eye for fashion. I’ve asked her to help you find some clothes to try on, and here are new catalogs from the other brands I represent, take a look.”

“Okay, thank you.” I took the catalogs.

Anne walked around me in a circle.

“This young lady would look good in any style, we can try different looks. What kind of clothes do you usually prefer?”

“Simple and comfortable ones.”

“Oh, how about these?” She quickly flipped through several pages to show me, “Or would you like to try a different style, like this sweet look?”

I nodded indifferently: “Sure.”

She quickly brought a pile of clothes for me to try.

I have to say, she was truly professional. I tried on several outfits and found them all quite nice. Considering I hadn’t bought clothes in a long time, I decided to take them all.

“For the wedding banquet, I suggest Miss Nie wear this one. It’s somewhat formal but not too formal, fresh and sweet. We also have matching hair accessories, shall I style your hair?”

She looked so eager that it was hard to refuse, so in no time, my hair was restyled with a slightly puffy bun and a slanted hairpin.

Apart from attending my godmother’s banquet, I hadn’t dressed up like this in a long time. I suddenly felt a bit self-conscious and couldn’t help wanting to turn around to look at Lin Yusen, to ask if I met his face-saving standards.

But somehow, the feeling of dressing up for him to see felt strange…

So I quickly made a 180-degree turn and said to Anne: “Anne, thank you, I like all these clothes. Let’s check out.”

Anne replied with a bright smile: “While you were trying on clothes, Mr. Lin already paid.”

That Mr. Lin, having nothing else to do, was reading a magazine. Only when I turned to look at him in surprise did he calmly look up, giving me a dignified nod.

My thoughts were interrupted for a moment, not because I felt offended by him paying, but because his posture and gesture were just too stylish.

It took me a while to recover from being dazzled. I walked over and asked somewhat uncomfortably: “You already paid? How did you know I wanted to buy all these?”

“They all looked good,” he closed the magazine and said with complete naturalness.

“…”

Who exactly was buying clothes here?

Just then, Sister Wang came back with the bank card, insisting on returning it to Lin Yusen: “Anne was thoughtless to take your card. Dr. Lin bringing his girlfriend to buy clothes – how could I accept payment? You saved my life.”

Lin Yusen smiled and said: “I’ll bring her back for more clothes in the future. If you don’t accept payment now, how can I come back?”

He looked at me.

I blinked and immediately agreed: “That’s right, let him pay.”

Only then did Sister Wang reluctantly process the payment.

Carrying the bags out of the store, before I could speak, Lin Yusen handed me the receipt.

“The bill.”

“I played along well, right? I’ll pay you back later.” While feeling pleased with myself, I took the receipt and looked at it, then froze, “…Sev-seventy percent off?”

I immediately stopped walking.

“Wait, I just saw another outfit that was nice too, I want to go back and buy…”

Lin Yusen grabbed my arm and said with a headache: “Miss Nie, we’re going to be late for the wedding.”

We almost were late. When we arrived at the hotel, the bride and groom were preparing for their entrance.

The bride, standing at the banquet hall entrance, saw us and immediately walked over in her dress, complaining: “Dr. Lin, I thought you weren’t coming! Oh, who is this lady?”

She looked at me with a curious and gossipy expression.

Uh, she doesn’t recognize me? Wasn’t she the one who invited me? I looked at Lin Yusen suspiciously.

Lin Yusen smiled: “She’s the one who fell from upstairs when you scared her, didn’t you ask me to bring her?”

“Ah…right, right, right!” The bride exclaimed, apologizing repeatedly: “I’m so sorry, I’ve been so busy I forgot! Last time I really didn’t mean to, I have acrophobia, I get scared just seeing people at heights. Sorry I didn’t recognize you just now, I was terrified that time, and Yusen was blocking my view, you know, Yusen was so scary then…”

She held onto me and talked for a full three minutes, speaking so fast there were barely any pauses, then introduced me to the groom, a burly man with a somewhat simple demeanor who very sincerely apologized to me again.

I was starting to feel embarrassed, but fortunately, the wedding coordinator urged them to prepare for their entrance, and she finally stopped. As Lin Yusen and I were about to walk into the banquet hall, the bride called out to him again.

“Yusen, I invited Teacher too, he’s been very worried about you. Since you brought Xiguang, take her to see him, it’ll help put his mind at ease.”

Uh, what does that mean? Could it be…

I stopped walking.

“Wait, did your classmate misunderstand just now? Does she think…”

Lin Yusen seemed to be startled from his thoughts, stopped, and looked at me: “Think what?”

“Like at the clothing store just now…”

Lin Yusen appeared to ponder: “Actually, a misunderstanding wouldn’t be so bad. Not having had a girlfriend for so many years is a bit face-losing for me. I’m quite a catch, you wouldn’t be at a disadvantage…”

How much do you care about your face? And ‘quite a catch’ – I almost laughed out loud, trying hard to keep a straight face as I said: “No way! There’s no discount involved this time!”

“Not okay?” he asked once more.

I shook my head firmly.

“Alright.” He very straightforwardly stopped asking, giving me a slight smile.

I suddenly had the feeling of falling into a trap… but couldn’t figure out why I would feel this way after refusing.

Dr. Fang was here too, waving to us as soon as we entered the banquet hall. However, Lin Yusen didn’t go directly to him, but instead went to the main table, stopping behind an elderly man with white hair.

“Teacher.”

The old man turned around, looking at us with some pleasant surprise: “Ah, Yusen! You came.”

“Mm, I came.”

The old man shakily tried to stand up, but Lin Yusen stopped him, crouching down his tall frame to ask with concern: “Teacher, how’s your health recently? What’s your fasting blood sugar?”

The old man waved his hand: “I’m a doctor too, and your teacher at that, do I need you worrying about this?” Then he looked at me and asked contentedly: “Is this your girlfriend? Very good, very good.”

Lin Yusen paused before saying: “No.”

I breathed a sigh of relief – Vice President Lin, you do have principles! But seeing the old man’s disappointed expression, I somehow felt bad.

Lin Yusen and his teacher seemed to have a very good relationship.

Then I heard Lin Yusen say softly to the old man: “I’m still pursuing her.”

The old man’s expression instantly changed from disappointment to joy, happily looking me over. I was startled by Lin Yusen, my heart trembling as I looked at him in astonishment.

He looked back at me with the same expression from the clothing store, the one asking me to play along.

Looking at the old man’s silver hair and trembling appearance, I unconsciously nodded, “Mm.”

Only after nodding did I realize – he hadn’t said I was his girlfriend, he just told the old man he was “pursuing” me, did that need my confirmation?

But my acknowledgment made the old man happier. He looked deeply satisfied, saying repeatedly: “Good, good, good, having a goal is good. The teacher was just worried you’d be like before. Yusen, you can’t hold a scalpel anymore, but life isn’t just about the scalpel. No matter what, you must live your life well.”

The old man’s words were very ordinary, but the deep care in them, combined with thoughts of what Lin Yusen had been through, made my eyes grow hot.

Lin Yusen nodded and said: “Teacher, I will.”