YJDNY - 40

As soon as Zhou Xingyan stepped out of the car, he ran into President Zhou, who happened to be arriving at the hospital.

President Zhou was in his fifties, wearing thin gold-rimmed glasses. With a sturdy and upright figure, he didn’t look like someone in his fifties at all.

Seeing him, Zhou Xingyan stopped in his tracks and greeted him respectfully: “President.”

President Zhou nodded and continued walking inside without stopping. “Had enough vacation?”

Zhou Xingyan: “It was alright.”

“Mission accomplished?”

Zhou Xingyan thought for a moment: “More or less.”

The two entered the elevator, and Zhou Xingyan pressed the floor button. President Zhou adjusted his collar while glancing sideways at him with a dissatisfied expression: “What do you mean, ‘more or less’? Completed is completed, incomplete is incomplete. Can there be a ‘more or less’ on the operating table?”

“…”

The elevator dinged, and the doors opened. Zhou Xingyan remained expressionless: “President, there’s still a difference between the two.”

“What difference?” President Zhou frowned impatiently, gesturing with an imaginary knife in the air. “Chasing a girl is like performing surgery—your moves need to be quick, precise, and steady. If you delay even a second, blood starts gushing out. Every second counts.”

“…”

The elevator dinged, and the door opened. Zhou Xingyan’s face remained impassive. “President, I’ll be going now.”

“Hold on.” The president grabbed him and leaned over conspiratorially. “I heard it’s a model? Do you have any photos?”

Zhou Xingyan: “...”

“No, she’s not very famous.”

President Zhou didn’t seem too concerned and let go. “It’s fine. Isn’t she about to film a movie soon? I’ll ask your mother for it later.”

Zhou Xingyan: “...”

He exited the elevator and headed toward the office. Liang Shengxi happened to emerge from one of the wards and, spotting him, hurried over. “Back already? You sure had fun while we were drowning in work these past few days. I’m so exhausted I don’t even have the energy to poop.”

Zhou Xingyan glanced at him. “Don’t talk about that stuff while at work. If you want, eat it yourself when you get home.”

Liang Shengxi choked, looking at him with disdain. “You really are heartless. When will our little fairy realize your true colors? I can’t wait anymore.”

The two entered the office. Zhou Xingyan ignored him, directly taking off his coat and hanging it to the side. He picked up his white coat from the back of the chair and put it on. Liang Shengxi slowly sipped some water and continued complaining: “But honestly, you really don’t seem to match up well with our top model. That Director Fu seems pretty good—handsome, talented, and rich. You should have some sense of crisis.”

At this, Zhou Xingyan finally paused his actions, giving a bit of attention for the first time: “What Director Fu?”

“The Director Fu of the brand our fairy did endorsements for. Don’t tell me you didn’t know someone publicly declared they wanted to pursue your girl?”

Zhou Xingyan furrowed his brows and said nothing.

It was still early, and only Lin Ran and another person had arrived in the office. Upon hearing this, Lin Ran turned around and smiled. “Dr. Zhou has a girlfriend?”

Liang Shengxi, who had always felt sorry for this junior who started making her presence known since university, chuckled and pondered how to respond.

Without raising his eyes, Zhou Xingyan replied naturally and indifferently: “Yes.”

This time, even Liang Shengxi was a bit taken aback. The office fell silent for two seconds before a knock came at the door.

The awkward atmosphere was broken, and Liang Shengxi sighed in relief, turning his head toward the door. A clean-cut young man stood there holding two bags. After scanning the room, he walked straight toward Zhou Xingyan.

It was the same young man who had delivered breakfast before. Liang Shengxi recognized him, as did Lin Ran.

Judging by the packaging, it was dim sum from the same shop—rice rolls, chicken feet, and crystal dumplings. Cheng Mu placed the items down and left without saying a word. Just before leaving, he seemed to remember something and turned back to Zhou Xingyan: “Xiang Ge said you didn’t eat much this morning.”

Liang Shengxi and the doctor at the front desk gave a long “Ohhh—” The slightly plump male doctor shook his head. “Love is great. I want a girlfriend too.”

Liang Shengxi chuckled. “Brother Chen, don’t let your wife hear that. I might have to operate on you in a couple of days.”

Lin Ran’s face paled slightly, and she said nothing more.

While booting up his computer, Zhou Xingyan’s phone rang. Liang Shengxi sent over a screenshot from Weibo.

In rich red and black tones, the woman had deep black eyes, slightly lifted red lips, smiling coldly yet strikingly. Director Fu had reposted and confessed, wanting to pursue her as his girlfriend.

Liang Shengxi had even liked the post.

Zhou Xingyan showed no reaction on his face, clicked into the profile, blocked the user, and kicked them out.

Cheng Mu arrived quickly, appearing downstairs at her place just over an hour later.

Xiang Ge figured that since she was going to get scolded anyway, putting on heavy makeup wouldn’t help elicit sympathy from her boss. So, she took a shower and went bare-faced.

She had lost a significant amount of weight recently, with her weight plummeting over a week. It wasn’t easy to regain it, and she looked quite haggard.

Grabbing a random outfit, Xiang Ge went downstairs. As soon as she got into the car, she eagerly leaned forward toward the driver’s seat. “Did you deliver the things?”

Cheng Mu nodded.

“Was the female doctor there too?”

“Yes.”

“Did you say what you needed to say?”

The young man nodded again.

Xiang Ge was satisfied, her purpose achieved. She leaned back into her seat, licking the corner of her lips and laughing softly. “Little Wood, drive slower.”

Little Wood glanced at her through the rearview mirror, his expression puzzled. “Sister Xiang, Mr. Song seems quite urgent.”

“I know.” Xiang Ge pulled down the corners of her eyes with two fingers, feigning a dejected expression. “I hope the happy moments on this ride can last a bit longer. After all, once I get out of the car, I might be half-dead.”

Cheng Mu: “...”

The morning rush hour had mostly passed, and there wasn’t much traffic on the way. Xiang Ge got out of the car at the company entrance. Initially, she thought of visiting Qiao Xin, whom she hadn’t seen in a while, but ultimately decided to face the storm first.

She approached the massive office door, which was open. Song Zhi immediately saw her as he looked up.

The man watched her expressionlessly, then waved his hand, his face calm but hinting at an impending storm.

His demeanor was even scarier than when he threw things.

Xiang Ge hesitated for a moment and walked in respectfully: “Mr. Song.”

Song Zhi sneered. “What did I tell you?”

“That Director Fu is a playboy. Don’t provoke him.” Xiang Ge repeated his words verbatim. “I didn’t provoke him, and that Weibo post didn’t have anything too extreme.”

“Nothing too extreme?” Song Zhi laughed bitterly. “Do you understand what kind of place this industry is? Even using a punctuation mark incorrectly can get you roasted until the New Year. You might think it’s fine now, but when you become famous, people will dig up your early career days. Any trivial nonsense can be sensationalized into headlines.”

Xiang Ge didn’t speak, unsure whether to thank or apologize to Song Zhi for his trust. She raised her head to look at him, exhaling softly. “Mr. Song, I don’t want to enter the entertainment industry.”

Song Zhi had more to say but was silenced by her statement. “What did you say?”

“I know I’m a bit short for a model, but there are precedents. I don’t want to choose not to do something just because it’s difficult. I used to think I didn’t really like this profession; I just fit the external criteria, so I did it. But now, it seems that’s not the case. I’m sorry for disappointing your expectations.” She bowed deeply, lowering her head.

“‘Cocoon’ is something I really want to shoot now. Thank you so much for giving me such a great opportunity and resources. Thanks to this movie, I’ve clarified some things. However, it ends here. It’s not that I don’t want to, but I feel I won’t be able to portray other roles well after this.”

She straightened up and smiled. “I can’t even figure out my own life. How could I possibly act out someone else’s?”

Xiang Ge stayed in Song Zhi’s office for nearly two hours. In the end, the man said nothing more and let her leave.

Filming for Cocoon was about to begin. In the afternoon, she planned to go home and review the script. But then she realized she still didn’t have Zhou Xingyan’s house keys, so she had no choice but to go to the hospital to ask him for them.

When she arrived at the hospital, his lunch break hadn’t ended yet. Since he wasn’t on duty today, he must have just finished eating. He was sitting by the window in the office talking to Liang Shengxi. Liang handed him a piece of dried okra snack, which he accepted and bit into.

Xiang Ge smiled, turned her head, and texted him: [Is the okra tasty?]

The phone vibrated on the table. Zhou Xingyan picked it up, glanced at it, visibly relaxed, and looked up toward the door.

Xiang Ge leaned against the wall by the office door, lazily extending her hand and beckoning him with her index finger.

Zhou Xingyan casually shoved the half-eaten okra into Liang Shengxi’s hand and stood up to walk over.

Behind him, Liang Shengxi held up the dried okra snack and called out to his back: “What does it mean to take a bite and give it to me? Am I supposed to care?”

Xiang Ge couldn’t help but laugh.

By this time, Zhou Xingyan had already exited the office and walked over to her. He looked down at her: “Why are you here?”

“I’m off work,” Xiang Ge straightened up. “I came to get the keys to go home.”

Liang Shengxi had already spotted Xiang Ge at the door. He exclaimed in realization, naturally popping the half-eaten okra snack into his mouth. He stood up and walked to the doorway, leaning against the frame to greet Xiang Ge: “Sister Xiang Ge, did you miss Brother Shengxi?”

Xiang Ge was amused and responded frankly: “Of course I did.”

Before she finished speaking, Zhou Xingyan tugged her wrist and pulled her away. Behind them, Liang Shengxi stretched his neck and called out louder to their retreating backs: “Hey, Dr. Zhou, are you really jealous even of your brother-in-law? Sister Xiang Ge, remember to miss me and visit often!”

Zhou Xingyan led Xiang Ge to the end of the corridor, pushed open the iron door, and entered the safety staircase.

Few people used the hospital stairs, and the safety staircase landing was quiet and spacious. High heels echoed hollowly against the floor. Due to the lack of sunlight year-round, it was somewhat chilly.

Standing at the stairwell entrance, Xiang Ge was still smiling.

Zhou Xingyan glanced at her: “You seem quite happy.”

Xiang Ge was dressed lightly and retreated a couple of steps away from the draft, standing with her back to the second iron door. “Your friends call you ‘brother-in-law.’” She tilted her body slightly, licked her lips, and teased him with a smile, “You’ve paid the deposit. What about the follow-up work? Shouldn’t you prepare the full payment?”

Zhou Xingyan didn’t speak, looking down at her with clear, dark eyes.

After a long pause, he spoke softly: “There’s no time to prepare.”

Xiang Ge tilted her head and blinked. “What?”

“Eight sedan chairs, gold and silver jewelry, fancy clothes—all of that can wait. But I can’t wait forty-nine days to pursue you.” Suddenly, he lowered his head, his long lashes casting shadows as he gently bit her lip corner. His tongue traced the outline of her lips, and then he pressed closer, his words muffled against her lips,

“Be my girlfriend now.”