Yu Tian went back to the restroom to fix her appearance and touch up her makeup. When she reappeared in the auditorium hall, she was once again radiant and dazzling. Her appearance indeed caused a small commotion, with various alumni, whether familiar or not, continuously approaching to ask for her contact information.

Yu Tian smiled while dealing with them, looking around and searching everywhere.

After Yan Ming left the small balcony, she didn’t know where he had gone. Yu Tian couldn’t find him in the main hall.

But this was understandable, because doctors like Yan Ming were generally very busy. Yu Tian heard that many alumni like him only rushed over to make donations and had no time to participate in the evening auction segment, hurrying back to work or catching up on sleep.

Donations could be made at any time, but to participate in the fun charity auction, one needed to register in advance so that bidding paddles could be distributed to all registered participants.

Yu Tian only glanced briefly and found that many people had registered to bid for the project of taking a drive with her. She didn’t look carefully, just confirmed that Chen Ming had indeed registered.

Yu Tian smiled.

Although she hadn’t found Yan Ming, she quickly found Qi Sihao. Yu Tian had a plan in mind and immediately pulled Qi Sihao over, beginning to give him detailed instructions—

“You need to quickly register to bid for the chance to take a drive with me, too.”

Qi Sihao naturally refused: “What for? What’s our relationship? You want me to pay money to drive around with you? Are you even human?”

“I’m not asking you to pay to drive with me – I don’t want to drive with you either. Just have you contribute some manpower to liven things up.” Yu Tian briefly explained about Chen Ming, “You’ll be responsible for causing trouble later, muddying the waters in my auction, driving up prices. But remember to be smart about it and quit while you’re ahead. Watch Chen Ming’s expression, judge whether he’ll keep bidding, don’t let it backfire on you.”

Mentioning Chen Ming, Yu Tian still felt indignant: “This kind of hypocrite should have his wallet bleed a little – it’s like indirectly helping him accumulate good karma.”

Qi Sihao immediately understood, winking and nodding: “Don’t worry, leave this to me. I guarantee you’ll be satisfied.”

After coordinating with Qi Sihao, Yu Tian finally relaxed. She loosened up, ate some small pastries at the charity banquet, chatted with some familiar alumni about her science popularization social media, and before long, the charity auction began.

It had to be said, the format of this auction was indeed quite novel. The items being auctioned were strange and varied – there was even one offering comprehensive medical examinations by alumni. The atmosphere was quite pleasant, with everyone smiling.

Soon, the auction for taking a drive with Yu Tian also began.

This became the most enthusiastically participated auction item of the entire event, with numerous men raising their paddles. To add surprise, Yu Tian, who was auctioning her time, was required by the counselor to go on stage before the auction started to greet everyone and encourage participation. During the entire bidding process, she needed to sit backstage and wait until the auction ended before being brought to the front to meet the successful bidder.

To increase Chen Ming’s enthusiasm for bidding, Yu Tian deliberately went to Chen Ming before the auction started to flirt and hint at him. Standing on stage saying high-sounding words, she indeed saw Chen Ming staring at her with burning eyes. Yu Tian was about to smile coquettishly when she caught sight of Yan Ming in her peripheral vision.

He hadn’t left. He was now sitting in the venue with a cold expression, looking at Yu Tian emotionlessly.

Yu Tian suddenly couldn’t smile anymore. She awkwardly said a few perfunctory polite words and immediately fled backstage to wait.

Yan Ming shouldn’t be a doctor, Yu Tian thought – he should be a school principal.

Yan Ming hadn’t done anything, but Yu Tian still felt guilty. Recalling the scene on the small balcony, her face flushed with heat again.

Fortunately, the frequent bidding calls from outside attracted her attention. Yu Tian could hear the counselor as the host excitedly building the atmosphere—

“Fifty thousand once! Fifty thousand twice! Ah! Fifty-five thousand! A new bid appears! Fifty-five thousand once! Sixty thousand! Sixty thousand now!”

Although she had arranged for Qi Sihao to muddy the waters, with a starting price of only five thousand, it had surprisingly risen steadily to more than ten times that amount. Yu Tian was still shocked and even felt somewhat guilty inside. Even for Rong Medical University graduates, fifty or sixty thousand was probably most of half a year’s salary. Although Chen Ming looked down on disabled people and spoke inappropriately, Yu Tian’s original intention was just to make his wallet bleed a little – she hadn’t expected it to skyrocket to this price…

However, fifty or sixty thousand wasn’t the end. Yu Tian sat uneasily backstage, listening to various lively sounds from the front, with prices getting higher and higher.

Finally—

“One hundred thousand once! One hundred thousand twice! One hundred thousand three times! Sold!”

Taking a drive with Yu Tian for half an hour had been auctioned for the astronomical price of one hundred thousand.

This price made Yu Tian quite restless.

The counselor was so happy her voice was almost distorted: “Thank you, all our alumni, for your enthusiastic participation. Today’s auction and donation amounts are truly amazing! Come, come, now let’s invite our successful bidder backstage for a surprise meeting with our leading lady!”

Sitting backstage, Yu Tian felt no surprise at all, only regret.

It had started as a sudden whim and impulse, but when this moment arrived, she suddenly very much regretted her actions.

Besides the money, there was a more important reason.

Because at this moment, Yu Tian realized she fundamentally didn’t want to spend half an hour alone with Chen Ming. Just thinking about being alone with him made even ten minutes seem unbearable.

Yu Tian was extremely reluctant inside and could only keep building herself up psychologically – at least he had paid one hundred thousand, and these funds might help several impoverished patients solve urgent problems.

Yu Tian sat anxiously in her chair. The backstage door was pushed open, briefly letting in the lively sounds from the front stage, then the person calmly closed the door, shutting out the noise and leaving only the creaking sound of the old overhead fan.

Yu Tian listened to the gradually approaching footsteps, feeling tormented inside.

Then the footsteps stopped behind her, and the person didn’t speak.

What’s done is done – she had to face it!

Yu Tian took a deep breath, forced out a smile, and finally gathered the courage to turn around.

Her awkward smile froze on her face, truly becoming surprised as she instinctively called out—

“Yan Ming?”

Standing behind her wasn’t Chen Ming at all, but Yan Ming.

Yu Tian frowned slightly: “Where’s Chen Ming?”

Yan Ming lifted his eyelids: “Are you disappointed that it’s me instead of Chen Ming?”

Yu Tian had a bad premonition: “You’re the successful bidder?”

Yan Ming pressed his lips together without speaking, tacitly confirming Yu Tian’s guess.

Yu Tian really couldn’t maintain her expression now. She rubbed her head like a cat: “How could this happen? I was trying to trap Chen Ming, make him pay big. I even asked Qi Sihao to drive up prices. Were you also helping me raise the price?”

Yu Tian felt some indescribable small excitement inside, but it was quickly suppressed and beaten down by her rationality.

Although not having to drive with Chen Ming was good, Yan Ming had to pay this one hundred thousand.

Yan Ming had witnessed the entire incident with Chen Ming. Being so smart, he naturally knew her intention in getting Chen Ming to bid. He probably entered the bidding to help raise the price, but then…

Now this outcome was obviously because Yan Ming wasn’t careful and got stuck with it. Chen Ming, who claimed he was determined to win and drive with her, directly gave up and ran when faced with one hundred thousand.

“What a coward!”

Yu Tian cursed Chen Ming, feeling somewhat angry, then guilty as she looked at Yan Ming: “I’ll pay back this one hundred thousand, but it might have to be in installments. My social media account has revenue sharing, but not that quickly…”

“You don’t need to pay me back.” Yan Ming directly interrupted Yu Tian, slightly averting his gaze, “I didn’t join the bidding to raise the price.”

Yu Tian’s heartbeat quickened again.

Yan Ming’s meaning…

So he was purely bidding to bid?

Yu Tian looked down at her stilettos, trying to hide her inexplicable nervousness: “Then aren’t you silly? You could ask me to drive with you anytime for free. This time, it would have been better to let that hypocrite Chen Ming bleed a little.”

Yan Ming pressed his lips: “Did you want to drive with him?”

Under Yan Ming’s gaze, Yu Tian was defeated. Her mouth turned down: “Of course not. Who wants to see that kind of person? Completely disgusting.”

“So don’t drive with him.”

Although there was a fan backstage, Yu Tian felt the air seemed increasingly thin, making her gaze wander – she could look anywhere except at Yan Ming. Her voice was muffled: “But if he could donate one hundred thousand, I think I could reluctantly tolerate driving with him…”

“So I paid one hundred thousand to keep you from driving with him.” Yan Ming’s voice was calm, but he also seemed affected by the stuffy backstage environment. His fair face was slightly red, and his ears had also turned somewhat red. “There’s no need to make yourself unhappy. Your half hour is also very valuable and not worth wasting on that kind of person.”

“Don’t feel any psychological burden. I just couldn’t stand it. I came here to donate anyway, just doing it conveniently.”

Yan Ming didn’t look at Yu Tian, speaking somewhat quickly: “You don’t need to drive with me either. I’m leaving first.”

“That won’t do.”

Yu Tian felt she couldn’t accept benefits without giving anything in return – she couldn’t just let Yan Ming pay one hundred thousand without any gesture from her.

Her face was somewhat red, her voice a bit unsteady, but she still walked calmly behind Yan Ming: “Since you paid one hundred thousand to auction the chance to drive with me, of course, we still need to drive.”

Yu Tian looked randomly toward a corner of the messy backstage area: “I don’t have anything else to do anyway.”

Her bright eyes looked at Yan Ming: “Want me to take you for a drive?” Sly like a fox, “Let’s escape? Disappear directly from backstage, how about it?”

According to normal procedure, after the successful bidder and the person auctioning their time met backstage, they needed to return to the front stage to make more high-sounding speeches, once again calling on everyone to show love for impoverished patients, then take a photo together on stage before leaving.

If they directly escaped from backstage…

This completely went against Yan Ming’s standard of doing things by the rules.

But Yu Tian gave Yan Ming no time to think. She had already taken off her stilettos, holding them in one hand, while using her other hand to lift her skirt hem and clumsily climb onto the window leading outdoors from backstage.

Outside the window was a liquid-like night, cicadas singing, and a starry sky.

Yu Tian sat straddling the window, her beautiful, fair face looking at Yan Ming as she extended her hand toward him: “Let’s go.” Her eyes held innocence and confusion. “Are you staying?”

At this moment, Yan Ming didn’t know what had bewitched him.

By the time he realized it, he had already reached out to grab Yu Tian’s hand, following her out the window, escaping from backstage.

But what was originally just a spontaneous escape by two people attracted campus security guards the moment Yan Ming landed.

The uninformed security guard didn’t understand what activity was being held in the auditorium. He just dutifully treated these two people climbing out of windows in the night as suspicious individuals. Although still some distance from Yan Ming and Yu Tian, he was unwilling to give up the chase easily and immediately pursued them with a flashlight—

“You two in front, stop!”

Yan Ming looked at Yu Tian quite speechlessly. The instigator just stuck her tongue out at him.

Her face was very beautiful in the night, like a night-blooming cereus in full bloom, but also quite wicked: “If we get caught, they might call the police, maybe even need to go make statements to explain clearly. That would be quite ugly, and they might even issue an announcement – Rong Medical University distinguished graduate Yan Ming escaped by climbing walls at night, suspected of regretting after auctioning and pledging one hundred thousand…”

Yu Tian smiled mischievously: “You know, rumors are fearsome. Even if you normally transfer the donation from your bank account later, people might still think you ran from backstage because you didn’t want to donate.”

“…”

Yu Tian’s eyes narrowed slightly as she smiled at Yan Ming, as if she had planned to dump this mess on him: “What to do?”

What else could they do?

Yan Ming felt he had been kidnapped onto Yu Tian’s pirate ship. To avoid capsizing and drowning, he could only grit his teeth and keep rowing.

He felt somewhat troubled and helpless, but ultimately could only grab Yu Tian’s hand as the security guard’s increasingly real angry roars and shouts approached from far to near.

“Run!”

Night wind brushed past their ears. Running made the wind seem faster. The night breeze carried the faint fragrance of evening primrose. Yu Tian’s hand was soft, but it gripped his tightly. She looked disheveled but amusing, lifting her skirt to run, her hair becoming messy under the double effect of running and wind, static electricity making small strands stand up like a hedgehog – far from the refined look when she wore a formal dress and stilettos with careful makeup. But Yan Ming’s heart pounded heavily.

Yan Ming felt he had never been so rebellious in his entire life.

The security guard’s voice was also close behind, angrily cursing and threatening to call the police.

But besides running, there seemed to be no other option.