Yan Ming pressed his lips together without speaking. He didn’t ask Yu Tian any questions either, simply leading her away from the alumni celebration scene to the most famous “Ends of the Earth” spot near the sports complex at Rong Medical University.

“Ends of the World” was naturally not by the seaside, but situated at the edge of a small freshwater lake in Rong City. However, even this small lake still appeared vast and expansive before humans.

Yu Tian’s school had built a walking path by the lake where Rong Medical University students could stroll around the lake and enjoy the scenery in the early mornings and evenings. Parts of the walkway were densely planted on both sides, creating a natural, fresh environment with sufficient privacy – it could be considered the dating paradise of Rong Medical University. Over time, students had given it the romantic name “Ends of the Earth.”

Yan Ming brought Yu Tian to the section of the walkway that had no plant cover and directly faced the lake.

Here, there were no noisy crowds, no probing curious gazes, no external emotions or stares of any kind.

Only wind, sunlight, and the faint distant background music from the gymnasium in the air, but it seemed to come from another world.

Before Yu Tian stretched only green lawns, the blue and vast lake surface, golden reflections, and the wooden walkway.

And the quiet, silent Yan Ming.

He still looked as unapproachable as ever.

But Yu Tian felt that with light falling on Yan Ming, his silhouette was peaceful and bright, and all sounds and sensations became distant.

Only Yan Ming remained in Yu Tian’s eyes, like the sole shining sun in darkness, yet the light was gentle, not glaring.

His silence and lack of questions made Yu Tian want to speak.

“That time was simply because he kept inviting me persistently. He happened to be in the outpatient clinic, probably hoping I’d see him looking professional in his white coat. He insisted I come find him and wait for his morning work to finish so we could have lunch together.”

Yu Tian took a deep breath: “I didn’t want to go originally, but since I was doing medical science education content for social media, I was thinking of doing an episode on pediatrics. He was rotating in pediatrics, so I thought it wouldn’t hurt to go understand the pediatric situation, so I went.”

“The person who caused the medical disturbance wasn’t a local from Rong City. He came from a very remote rural area with poor family conditions. His daughter was born with a cleft lip and palate, his wife had run away early, and he was raising the child alone while working. He had specifically saved money to come to Rong City for cleft lip and palate repair surgery, but unexpectedly, during the operation, blood choked into the trachea. What should have been a simple cleft lip repair surgery cost the child her life.”

Yu Tian didn’t look at Yan Ming’s face, but gazed toward the lake: “That day was the seventh day after his child’s death. He had lost everything, got drunk, rushed into the hospital, and randomly found a consultation room – it happened to be the one where Zheng Tingfu was.”

“The morning outpatient clinic had already ended. There was only one last little patient left, waiting for his father to bring back the lab results for one final check before leaving. I originally planned to wait outside the consultation room, but Zheng Tingfu insisted on pulling me inside…”

After the accident, to escape, Yu Tian rarely directly mentioned her hand injury. Song Chunxiang and Qi Sihao tactfully cooperated with this.

Over time, Yu Tian thought she had forgotten, but only now did she realize – no, it was impossible to forget so easily.

Every detail of that day, after waking up in the hospital bed after the injury, Yu Tian had repeatedly and torturously reviewed, almost self-blamingly analyzing every tiny detail, constantly speculating and searching for evidence of how she could have originally avoided this disaster.

The shouting, struggling, and crying of that day, all the chaos accompanied by panic and terror, followed her like a shadow.

Yu Tian’s voice unconsciously began to tremble. Her left hand neurotically protected her right hand: “When the person causing the medical disturbance came in with a knife, I hadn’t reacted yet, but Zheng Tingfu had already seen his knife. He escaped almost immediately. I actually… actually could have escaped originally, too, but the person was already completely emotionally out of control. When he saw that child in the consultation room, he even wanted to attack him.”

“If I had also left, what would have happened to this child?”

Recalling that moment, Yu Tian still felt bone-deep cold.

Her right hand had already healed, but she still seemed to feel the pain of the knife cutting down in that moment.

“He raised the knife…”

“Yu Tian.”

Yan Ming’s voice was calm and steady. He interrupted Yu Tian: “Don’t say anymore.”

He looked at Yu Tian with the naturally compassionate and gentle eyes of a healer: “I understand. You don’t need to say anymore.”

“It doesn’t matter now.”

Yan Ming’s voice still carried a cold texture, but his tone was gentle.

“It’s all in the past.”

Yu Tian hadn’t cried when she was sent to the hospital after being attacked, hadn’t cried when she woke up from her coma in the ICU, hadn’t cried when she learned her right hand would never be able to do fine work again, hadn’t cried when she gave up continuing her advanced studies at Rong Medical University, hadn’t cried when she was forced to change her dreams and career plans.

But at this moment, Yu Tian was like a slow, half-beat child who had previously ignored her parents’ punishments due to stubbornness and shortsightedness, only now realizing the consequences these punishments would bring, belatedly feeling hurt and pain.

Yu Tian wanted to hold back, but by the time she realized, tears had already flowed down on their own.

Yu Tian became somewhat unnatural, coughing awkwardly, but still calmly explained with a slightly hoarse voice tinged with crying:

“The wind by the lake is strong, so I’m tearing up from the wind.”

“If it’s tearing from wind, it could be viral or bacterial conjunctivitis, or corneal epithelial abrasion, or possibly corneal or conjunctival ulceration…”

“…”

Yan Ming looked away toward the lake: “If needed, you can come to my clinic for an appointment.”

“…”

“But my appointments are hard to get, and I won’t let you cut in line or add an extra slot. You can get up early to grab an appointment.”

“…”

Yu Tian had been feeling somewhat sentimental, but now she was puzzled.

“Senior Yan Ming, this kind of situation usually isn’t comforted this way; or if you don’t want to comfort me, you could just change the subject with me…”

Yan Ming paused, his expression looking somewhat serious and troubled: “I’m not very good at it.”

“But you’re a doctor. Doctors encounter so many patients, you must habitually comfort patients with a few words…”

Yan Ming pressed his lips: “I’m very good at that kind of comfort for patients, but are you sure you need that kind?”

Yan Ming didn’t seem like someone who should be comforting her, and besides, he would soon have to speak as a guest representative at the alumni celebration.

Yu Tian couldn’t describe her feelings. Her heart harbored a dormant fire.

She bit her lip, looked at Yan Ming, and nodded: “Mm, that kind of comfort would be fine.”

“I usually tell my patients, it’s okay, your eyes aren’t blind and won’t go blind.” Yan Ming paused. “But I feel saying this to you might not be appropriate.”

“?”

“Don’t you think your eyesight is a bit blind?”

“…”

Yan Ming pressed his lips: “Your boyfriend aside from character issues – don’t you think just appearance-wise, he’s not that great? He’s younger than me, right? But his scalp vegetation coverage is already somewhat low. Don’t you think hair loss is a major genetic disadvantage for us medical people?”

“How would I know he has little hair on top!” Yu Tian was devastated. “I’m shorter than him, I can’t see the top of his head!”

Yu Tian suddenly stopped feeling melancholy and became somewhat indignant: “And I need to clarify – Zheng Tingfu is not my boyfriend!”

Yan Ming was quite accommodating: “Oh, sorry, I forgot. He’s your ex-boyfriend. Your current boyfriend is Qi Sihao.”

“…”

Yu Tian rubbed her temples: “I need to clarify again – Zheng Tingfu is not my ex-boyfriend! Qi Sihao is not my boyfriend either!”

Yan Ming was stunned: “You change boyfriends this fast? Qi Sihao got laid off, too?”

“…”

Yu Tian was somewhat broken: “Have you considered that maybe none of them are my boyfriends or ex-boyfriends?”

Yu Tian couldn’t help muttering: “How could my taste be that bad? When I’m matchmaking for others, I at least know how to arrange you for them. I wouldn’t settle for someone inferior to myself.”

“Zheng Tingfu was completely his wishful thinking; Qi Sihao is just my friend and neighbor. Last time, I only pretended to be his girlfriend to help him reject his pursuer so she’d give up. If I had to have Qi Sihao as my boyfriend, I wouldn’t want him even if he paid me. His appetite is huge, he keeps coming over to mooch meals, and he’s almost eating my family into poverty…”

“…”

“But just now, thank you very much.”

Yu Tian’s thanks came from the heart, then she looked at Yan Ming carefully: “But can I still call you Brother Yan Ming in the future? If I call you senior, because of Zheng Tingfu, I might develop a bias against the word ‘senior,’ always feeling it’s used to address scumbags…”

Yan Ming frowned: “What similarities do I have with the word scumbag?”

Yu Tian carefully chose her words: “Do you want to hear the truth or a lie?”

With Yu Tian looking like this, Yan Ming could already guess she wouldn’t say anything good without her speaking.

He said calmly, “You better not speak.”

Yu Tian was somewhat unwilling: “But I haven’t said anything yet!”

Yan Ming said expressionlessly: “You’re probably going to say I look like a scumbag.”

“…”

Yu Tian was somewhat embarrassed. She struggled: “This is an indirect affirmation of your appearance! Would you rather I say you look like an honest man? In modern society, an honest man is no longer a complimentary term!”

Yu Tian tugged at her clothes: “Besides, between honest man and scumbag, if you had to choose, what would you pick? Better to choose being a scumbag.”

Yan Ming looked at Yu Tian very calmly: “I choose to be a normal person.”

After saying this, he checked the time: “It’s almost my turn to go on stage. I’ll go first.”

“I’ll walk with you, Brother Yan Ming!”

Yu Tian couldn’t care about anything else. She decided to be shameless and follow Yan Ming step by step: “Actually, I’ve dreamed of having a brother since I was little.”

This was indeed Yu Tian’s genuine feeling.

She didn’t know why, but originally Yu Tian had always been somewhat formal around Yan Ming.

But perhaps because Yan Ming crouched down to tie her shoelaces was like a key opening some safe.

Yu Tian suddenly felt that even Yan Ming, with his inhuman-like appearance, seemed to be a real person existing beside her, not unreachable, and could even truly become a friend, a brother.

Yu Tian had always been lively by nature. Due to the subtle change in her heart, her entire attitude toward Yan Ming became more intimate and bold, and her conversation became much more open:

“I used to think, if I had a brother, my mom would hit him first when she got angry. While she was hitting my brother, I could run away; if I ever did something wrong and my mom wanted to scold me, I could deflect by betraying my brother’s secrets, like secretly dating, to divert trouble and make my mom scold my brother first; if I ran out of allowance, I could ask my brother for money; if my brother needed errands run, I could charge him for income; if I couldn’t solve homework problems, I could have my brother tutor me…”

Yan Ming hadn’t intended to listen seriously, but couldn’t help but hear Yu Tian chattering like a little chatterbox in his ear.

He originally didn’t want to pay attention, but really couldn’t hold back:

“You get so much, so what would being your brother get?”

“He would get a loyal flatterer!”

Yu Tian was quite proud: “I would praise him indiscriminately! Support him! Encourage him spiritually! Make him confident! Strong! So that in society, he could withstand greater setbacks! My brother would be the world’s most mentally robust king! Able to face any storm!”

“…” Yan Ming was almost speechless. “So he should thank you?”

“Not necessary. Between siblings, we don’t talk about such superficial things. We’re all family, this little favor is nothing.”

After Yu Tian finished speaking, she looked at Yan Ming ingratiatingly: “But Brother Yan Ming, if you were my brother, I definitely wouldn’t treat you this way. I absolutely wouldn’t steal your allowance, wouldn’t set you up to get beaten by my mom, wouldn’t report you or tell your secrets. I’d be a good follower for you…”

“I’ll repay you for today’s matter too!”

Yu Tian said solemnly, “In short, from now on, I’ll treat you like my real brother and be filial to you! Although I can’t be a doctor anymore and got a disability certificate, I’m still a very useful person!”

Yan Ming was about to comfort Yu Tian that even with her hand injury, normal-minded people wouldn’t look down on her for it, and she shouldn’t be overly sensitive about the disability certificate.

Then he heard Yu Tian say proudly, “The boyfriends are fake, but the disability certificate is real. So, Brother Yan Ming, if you need to go somewhere with difficult parking, you can take me along, because I have a disability certificate and can park in disabled parking spaces! All parking lots in Rong City now have designated disabled parking spaces!”

“…”

“And I want to have a brother!”

Yu Tian changed direction and began earnestly flattering: “I’ve longed for a brother for many years and constructed an image of him in my mind.”

“The brother in my heart works in life-saving professions, is tall, handsome, has a slow-to-warm personality, but precisely because he’s slow to warm up, it shows he’s a principled person. He definitely wouldn’t be like those warm guys who are like central air conditioning. My brother has principles, with coldness and a touch of unapproachability, but once you truly understand him, you’d be conquered by his charm.”

Yu Tian spoke while frantically hinting, glancing at Yan Ming, hoping he’d give some feedback.

“Anyway, this has always been my ideal brother.”

Unfortunately, Yan Ming seemed unmoved.

Having no choice, Yu Tian was getting somewhat parched. She looked up at Yan Ming and continued earnestly: “Also, the only brother I’ve ever envisioned in my heart. Except for this type of brother, I haven’t thought of letting any other type be my brother, and couldn’t accept any other type as my brother.”

Yan Ming raised an eyebrow: “Your vision is quite specific. What if your mother’s remarriage doesn’t include this type of brother?”

Yu Tian immediately declared loyalty: “Only this type of brother is what I want and can accept. Other brothers, honestly, I definitely couldn’t treat them as brothers so quickly in my heart. After all, at my age, if it were other types, they could only be familiar strangers, but if it’s the type of brother I want, it makes me want to get close.”

After she finished speaking, she realized that although Yan Ming had been nodding to her words, indicating he was listening seriously, his facial expression was very meaningful.

She hadn’t noticed while bragging, but after finishing, Yu Tian also felt what she said was somewhat exaggerated.

She cleared her throat: “I know others might not believe these words, but these are truly my heartfelt feelings…”

“You already said others wouldn’t believe them.” Yan Ming smiled. “So better not say them.”

“…”