Yu Tian couldn’t care less about whether Yan Ming would get angry or not.

She almost dodged his gaze and mumbled some vague excuse, then sleepwalked into the study like a zombie.

Originally, she just wanted to go into the study to pack up her computer and notes, but when she discovered a surgical video she’d been watching halfway through, Yu Tian was once again drawn in by interest. To calm her mood and divert her attention, she simply sat down and quietly continued watching.

Unfortunately, it proved the saying “there are always troublemakers trying to harm me.”

Just when Yu Tian was watching with great interest, Yan Ming knocked on the glass sliding door of the study.

Yu Tian turned around to see Yan Ming leaning lazily and casually against the door frame.

“These videos were all filmed by me during my visiting studies. They have great learning and reference value, don’t they?”

When discussing professional matters, Yu Tian felt much more at ease and forgot her previous embarrassment. She nodded, her eyes brightening a bit: “Yes.”

“Want to finish watching them?”

Yu Tian nodded vigorously: “Actually, I’ve already watched two-thirds. Only one-third left to finish.”

She was about to praise Yan Ming for his generous sharing when he interrupted her.

He looked at Yu Tian and smiled: “Internal materials. Can only be viewed here, no borrowing allowed.”

Outside the window was Rong City’s night scene, reflected in the glass. However, due to the lighting, anyone looking toward the glass window would see the figures of the two people in the brightly lit study more clearly than the bustling traffic in the night.

The warm lighting brought the lazy, cozy texture of an early autumn night. Yan Ming wore cotton loungewear, shedding his usual cold edges. His tone was so ordinary it seemed like stating the most obvious fact, yet the tail end of his voice contained some kind of dangerous persuasion—

“So if you move out tomorrow, you won’t be able to continue watching.”

This man stared at Yu Tian with his beautiful eyes that had turned tea-colored under the lamplight, hitting the mark with perfect restraint.

“Good night.”

He quickly left the study and walked toward his room.

Yan Ming looked very calm, but Yu Tian’s heart was completely the opposite.

She felt somewhat irritated and huffing mad.

Why could he always remain so composed?

Yu Tian felt frustrated, angry at herself for being unable to settle her mind.

Qi Sihao’s every move affected Gao Mei, but Yan Ming always seemed unperturbed, like the ocean. Even if mischievous children played pranks and threw stones into the waves with all their might, apart from the tiny splash the moment the stone dropped, everything would quickly return to nothing.

The ocean swallowed all restlessness and emotions, responding to everything with unchanging encompassment, always quickly returning to calm. No one could truly change it.

Yan Ming was the same.

He might have emotional fluctuations, but would quickly return to composed indifference.

Sometimes Yu Tian felt Yan Ming cared about her, but sometimes she felt he didn’t.

Because if he cared, why wouldn’t he just say something directly?

Whether subtle attempts to make her stay or unclear displays of anger, they were all like scratching an itch through a boot—never able to hit the point directly and decisively.

Yu Tian didn’t want half-hearted ambiguity.

She held back her frustration.

She wouldn’t flee in panic because of Yan Ming, not even finishing watching the precious surgical video materials.

Wasn’t it just one-third left?

Just stay up all night to finish watching!

Move out normally tomorrow!

Yan Ming hadn’t been very happy since last night.

He had declined a gathering with several other doctors from his cohort and came home early, but Yu Tian was delayed in returning.

Yan Ming just sat on the living room sofa, waiting. Finally, at 9:37, the doorbell rang, but when he opened the door, he found it was Gao Mei.

Yu Tian didn’t return until 9:41.

And she wasn’t alone.

She was with Qi Sihao.

Although he had long known Yu Tian and Qi Sihao had a good relationship, and understood that based on first-come-first-served, Qi Sihao had appeared in Yu Tian’s life before him, accepting Yu Tian meant inevitably having to accept Qi Sihao as well, like accepting some new drug treatment that always came with unavoidable side effects.

But not this kind of acceptance.

Qi Sihao’s intimacy with Yu Tian was too excessive.

Moreover, didn’t Qi Sihao claim he wanted to pursue Gao Mei? How could he be so ambiguous with Yu Tian in front of Gao Mei?

Regarding this, Qi Sihao seemed completely unconcerned, and Yu Tian had no intention of explaining or clarifying. Yu Tian even appeared quite righteous, actually showing a complete lack of attachment to him and his home.

Yan Ming worked very hard to pretend not to care, and seemed quite successful at it, because Yu Tian appeared completely indifferent to whether he lived or died. This made Yan Ming even angrier.

However, the next morning, when he got up for work, seeing the guest room door tightly closed with Yu Tian still sound asleep inside, Yan Ming’s mood finally improved somewhat.

Just throwing a tantrum and using harsh words.

Like children fighting and shouting, “I’ll never play with you again”—in reality, before the next day comes, they’ll be laughing and playing together again.

How could Yu Tian possibly leave?

Her house had tenants living in it, the living conditions at her studio were far inferior to his place, and more importantly, even if Yan Ming wasn’t completely confident in himself, he was confident in those precious medical materials in his study.

Before finishing watching those, Yu Tian couldn’t possibly leave.

Besides, Yan Ming himself lived here too.

Yu Tian definitely wouldn’t leave.

Yan Ming still remembered Yu Tian’s expression when she heard Chen Xi would also be staying here—that stormy, tiger-like glare. She didn’t look like the type to give up easily.

Like an incompletely mature tiger cub—not strong enough, but fierce enough, very imposing and also very cute, making one unable to resist teasing her.

Yan Ming had never been sensitive to off-work hours before, but today he couldn’t help frequently checking his watch.

After finishing work, he didn’t linger at the hospital as usual, going to the cafeteria for dinner before leaving. Instead, he drove home immediately. Passing by a bubble tea shop, he even queued up to buy a milk tea and dessert that the nurses had been recommending recently.

This trendy bubble tea shop sold not only milk tea, desserts and drinks, but also part-time sold flowers.

The server was very enthusiastic: “We’re celebrating our store anniversary today. If you choose milk tea and buy flowers, you can get them half price! Sir, is this milk tea for your girlfriend? Why not consider buying a bouquet too?”

Yan Ming was stunned for a moment. Rarely did he refuse directly. He pressed his lips together: “I don’t know what flowers she likes.”

“Then choose the flowers you think best match her temperament! After all, every girl is like a flower!” The server smiled, “Receiving both milk tea and flowers, she’ll be very happy.”

Without the server saying so, Yan Ming could already imagine Yu Tian’s bright, sparkling eyes when she received the milk tea.

Unlike other pretty girls who were precious and high-maintenance, Yu Tian seemed very easy to please.

Not very particular, with interests different from other girls.

They say girls are like flowers, so Yu Tian must be a flower different from all others.

Others were roses, Chinese roses, freesias—Yu Tian was…

A sunflower.

It was rush hour with heavy traffic, but Yan Ming’s mood wasn’t affected by the traffic jam. Beside him was the milk tea, and on the passenger seat was a bouquet of brilliantly blooming sunflowers, like summer’s dying embers, burning all hidden emotions until the very end.

Yan Ming carried the milk tea, held the sunflowers, put on a natural and calm expression, and opened the door—

Then discovered Yu Tian wasn’t there.

The guest room showed no traces of anyone having lived there. Everything had been cleaned spotless, and Yu Tian’s luggage was completely gone.

Only after a moment did Yan Ming truly realize that Yu Tian had moved out.

This was her freedom; Yan Ming shouldn’t interfere. But by the time he came to his senses, he had already dialed Yu Tian’s number.

Soon, he heard the connection sound—

“Hello?”

Yan Ming forgot about beating around the bush, forgot his usual composure, forgot that he should appear completely indifferent: “Why did you leave?”

Only after a moment did he remember to cover his loss of composure. He coughed lightly: “I mean, the materials in the study—isn’t there still one-third you haven’t watched? Don’t you plan to continue?”

From the other end came Yu Tian’s unhesitating and cheerful voice: “I finished watching!” She said proudly, “I stayed up all night and watched everything!”

“…”

The background of Yu Tian’s voice was very noisy, like she was at an outdoor dinner gathering.

“You didn’t sleep all night. How are you still out?”

As if to confirm Yan Ming’s guess, strange male voices came from the other end calling for Yu Tian—

“Xiao Yu, we haven’t added each other’s contact info yet. Come on, let’s add each other.”

“Little sister Xiao Yu, add your brother Zhang too!”

“Qi Sihao, you’re not a good friend! How come you didn’t introduce us to your friend Yu Tian earlier?”

Yan Ming felt he could no longer pretend to be composed.

Where had she run off to? Why were there so many men in the background? And they were all asking for her contact information? Did she give it to all of them without discrimination?

He was about to be infuriated to death by Yu Tian.

On the other side, Yu Tian was in quite a good mood.

Early this morning, because she had stayed up all night, by the time she woke up, Yan Ming had already gone to work. This, fortunately, avoided the awkwardness of moving out.

So Yu Tian first went to the hospital to visit her mother, confirmed the discharge information for tomorrow, then grabbed Qi Sihao, who was on rotation break, to help move and tidy up the studio.

Qi Sihao was beaming with joy. Almost as soon as he saw Yu Tian, he dropped a bombshell—

“Gao Mei and I are together!”

This man was showing off endlessly, starting to crazily force-feed Yu Tian dog food with his additional scenes.

“You know what? Last night, Gao Mei drove me home, but she didn’t take me home. She stopped halfway and couldn’t hold it in anymore, so she cornered me and demanded to know whether I was with you. If I didn’t answer clearly, she wouldn’t take me home.”

While helping Yu Tian sweep the floor, Qi Sihao seemed still intoxicated, reminiscing about last night: “I was still thinking about how to build up the mood and hint to this little fool, but unexpectedly she was the one questioning me first, completely not playing by the rules.”

He seemed to complain but was very pleased: “Such a fool. Doesn’t she know that in a relationship, if a girl shows her cards first, she can easily be taken advantage of and become passive? Just stimulated a little by my small scheme, and she actually cried with anger, confessed to me incoherently. I felt so sorry for her when she cried.”

The more Qi Sihao talked, the sweeter he became, but the more Yu Tian listened, the angrier she got.

With Gao Mei’s mild temperament, just a little stimulation could produce such a reaction, yet Yan Ming was like still water.

Trash!

But this guy Qi Sihao, who valued romance over friendship, actually delivered another devastating blow to Yu Tian at this moment: “By the way, helping you move today and introducing you to some seniors and juniors, we’re even now. Although I explained my relationship with you to Gao Mei repeatedly yesterday, and she understood, I’m afraid our little fool might still misunderstand and feel sad. So I need to keep my distance from you in the future, Xiao Yu. At least recently, I need to avoid suspicion with you. You’d better hurry up and find a boyfriend, too, so Gao Mei won’t misunderstand and think I have feelings for you.”

Yu Tian was so angry that she laughed. But Qi Sihao, as a newly single-escaped person, got intoxicated with himself first—

“I know I’m excellent. Having been immersed in my kind of temperament for years, it’s indeed difficult for you to find someone with a gap not too big from me. High standards lead to a high probability of staying single. But don’t worry, Xiao Yu. Tonight, we rotating doctors are having a gathering, and you can pick and choose.”

Once Qi Sihao started dating, his whole person became inflated.

Yu Tian was speechless to the extreme. She almost reflexively retorted: “Aren’t you being a bit too self-satisfied? Don’t I have anyone better than you around me? Isn’t Yan Ming better than you?”

“Yan Ming does indeed have slightly better looks than I, but his personality is terrible!” Qi Sihao said matter-of-factly, “So cold and aloof, not down-to-earth. Would he like anyone? I can hardly imagine what he’d be like in a relationship. Would he humble himself for someone? I can’t even picture that scene. When I think of Yan Ming, my brain automatically plays scenes of him scolding me…”

As an ophthalmology rotating doctor, Qi Sihao naturally couldn’t avoid being criticized and corrected by Yan Ming. Speaking of this, his face still showed some lingering fear: “Yan Ming is the scariest person in the entire hospital. When he scolds you, he doesn’t even use dirty words. One cold glance sweeps over, as if your operation is something only an idiot would do. You instantly feel despised, your personality trampled and devastated…”

But soon, Qi Sihao became happy again: “But it doesn’t matter, because now I’m the man who defeated Yan Ming. Look at our little fool—she originally foolishly liked Yan Ming, but in the end realized that Yan Ming’s type of high mountain flower looks good but isn’t practical as a boyfriend. My type of handsome neighbor boy is better.”

Yu Tian couldn’t listen anymore.

She snatched the broom from Qi Sihao’s hands: “Hurry up and leave.”

“?”

Yu Tian said expressionlessly, “Aren’t you excellent enough to defeat Yan Ming? I’m afraid if I keep seeing such an excellent you, I’ll never be able to get married in this lifetime.”

“…”

But despite Qi Sihao’s smugness, he still kept his word on what he promised.

That evening, he dragged Yu Tian to their rotating doctors’ gathering.

“All the rotating doctors in Rong City are here, mostly young people, most without partners or families, which is why they have free time to attend gatherings.” Qi Sihao winked at Yu Tian, “Seize the opportunity yourself. I’ll help you warm up the scene first, then leave early. I still need to go on a date with Gao Mei.”

It had to be said that keeping his word was something Qi Sihao had always practiced well.

Once they entered, Yu Tian discovered that most attending this rotating doctors’ gathering were young male doctors with decent looks and good temperament, from all departments.

Qi Sihao had good connections and introduced Yu Tian around. Soon, Yu Tian had added contact information with most of the doctors, many of whom were either her schoolmates or from other medical schools in Rong City—all in the same circle. Chatting felt very familiar, all being colleagues or half-colleagues, so there was no shortage of topics or awkward cold moments.

They were all rotating doctors who had just started working recently. The gathering venue was just an affordable dining restaurant—not the smoky, noisy type, but the kind where young people could gather after work and watch sports games together. The atmosphere was quite good.

Because the restaurant location was rather remote, tonight, apart from this group of rotating doctors, there were no other customers, making it feel like a private booking.

Sitting among them, Yu Tian listened to several male doctors vividly complaining about their supervising doctors, finding it quite interesting.

However, just as Yu Tian started chatting with one male doctor about her self-media medical education entrepreneurship, the restaurant’s main door suddenly made the wind chime sound of being opened.

Yu Tian instinctively looked toward the sound, then saw an unexpected guest.

It was Yan Ming.

He wore a dark coat, straight and imposing in temperament. Having left his white coat behind, he seemed to have also shed his doctor persona, becoming simply a cold, proud, handsome man.

For some reason, Yu Tian instinctively felt a bit guilty and flustered.

Her heartbeat also quickened.

Had Yan Ming come looking for her?

She lowered her head, somewhat wanting to hide, not knowing how to face him.

However, Yan Ming quickly proved with his actions that Yu Tian was overthinking.

This man walked straight in without looking sideways, didn’t go looking for Yu Tian at all, just found an empty seat and sat down, then called over a server and ordered tea.

Could it be a coincidence? Passing by? A chance encounter?

Yu Tian couldn’t quite figure it out.

Respond to all changes with no change.

She straightened her back and refocused her attention on the male doctor in front of her: “In summary, my medical education account…”

Just as Yu Tian perked up to present her proposal to the other party, she caught sight in her peripheral vision of a female doctor from the Second Affiliated Hospital being pushed by another female doctor, shyly and nervously walking toward Yan Ming.

The other party had an expression like a startled deer, her intention obvious at a glance.

Nothing surprising about it.

It was normal for someone like Yan Ming to be approached by others, but given his personality, he would never casually give out his contact information to outsiders.

Yu Tian paid no attention and turned her head away, continuing to chat with the male doctor about her medical education account operations.

But her peripheral vision still couldn’t help but unconsciously glance in Yan Ming’s direction—

That female rotating doctor was indeed asking for his number. She looked at Yan Ming somewhat nervously, took out her phone, and said something.

However, the cold refusal Yu Tian had imagined didn’t appear. Yan Ming smiled, then very naturally and smoothly took out his phone from his coat pocket. From Yu Tian’s angle, she could see his beautiful jawline. His expression still didn’t change much, but such an action meant…

He was going to exchange numbers with someone else?!

Yu Tian almost jumped up.

Why was it so difficult only when she wanted his contact information? It seemed like only she received differential treatment.

She was angry.

Very, very angry, practically fuming.

By the time she realized it, she had already left the male doctor she was talking to mid-conversation and walked directly to Yan Ming’s table.

Only then did Yan Ming seem to finally notice her. He looked up, his deep eyes like two wells. The restaurant played elegant piano music, the background sound becoming sometimes near, sometimes far, like some elusive emotion with secrets hidden in every musical accent, as if their mutual gaze would reveal everything.

Yu Tian and Yan Ming looked at each other simultaneously, as if wanting to probe each other’s hidden hearts, yet almost instantly, both unnaturally looked away, with the same intention—not wanting to be seen through by the other.

Their gazes didn’t even intersect much, just some kind of emotional, tentative touching.

They want to lure the enemy in deep, yet only dare to barely scratch the surface themselves.

The restaurant was very large, but Yu Tian felt it was very small, so small that even minute emotional details couldn’t be hidden.

The brief minute seemed magnified and slowed down countless times.

In Yu Tian’s almost unbearable anxiety, Yan Ming finally glanced at Yu Tian again, then he lowered his gaze and put away his phone while addressing the female rotating doctor who came for his number: “Sorry, it’s not very convenient to add contact information.”

The female doctor was quite disappointed: “But you took out your phone just now… why won’t you add me now?”

Yan Ming was quite calm, his gaze sweeping toward Yu Tian: “Ran into someone who owes me money. Planning to collect the debt first. I’m staging a sit-in protest. I took out my phone, originally planning to message her.”

“…” Who owes you money!

How incredibly boring!

Yu Tian simply didn’t want to deal with him. She felt she shouldn’t have walked over to him in the first place, and simply turned around to walk back to the male doctor she had been chatting with.

Unfortunately, Yu Tian underestimated the bee-and-butterfly-attracting power of Yan Ming’s face. Even with the precedent of failed approaches, other female doctors still went to ask for his contact information.

And each time, Yu Tian couldn’t help herself, couldn’t control her gaze from secretly glancing over, like monitoring a married man for potential infidelity.

Even though each time Yan Ming refused these girls who proactively asked to add contact information, the next time a girl approached, Yu Tian still couldn’t help but divide her attention and focus there.

Although ultimately Yan Ming didn’t add anyone, Yu Tian’s originally good networking event was thus interrupted and fragmented. She only managed to chat briefly with several male doctors about collaboration intentions, not even having time to chat casually and warm up relationships with them.