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Liang Chengmin went home and found the ration ticket in another piece of clothing, feeling deeply regretful. Being scolded so harshly by Luan Mingrui left her feeling utterly embarrassed.
The next day after work, she ran into the family member of her previous patient. They kept asking her about the next treatment steps, wondering if they could save some money because their family funds had been exhausted.
Liang Chengmin patiently explained to them, “If the child’s surgery isn’t done soon, the condition will worsen, and it will only make things harder for the child.”
The parents cried across from her, breaking her heart. With red eyes, she comforted them for a long time, but still had no better solution. Liang Chengmin felt she wasn’t strong enough—these situations upset her for days.
By the time she parted with the patient’s family, it was almost dark. She stomped her foot in frustration, thinking, Great, next time they’ll accuse me of shirking responsibility again.
She rode her bike to the supply and marketing cooperative. At the entrance, she saw Luan Mingrui boldly sitting under the crooked-neck tree in front of the coop. His white shirt sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, the top two buttons of his collar undone, frowning at her for being late.
Liang Chengmin remained polite and handed him the ticket: “Sorry, I was held up at the hospital.”
Luan Mingrui didn’t reach out to take it: “Returning things late and making people wait—how can a doctor like you save lives?”
...Hearing this, Liang Chengmin instantly got mad and slapped the ticket down on the bench: “Here, take it. The crooked-neck tree is my witness. Whether you want it or not is your business. Anyway, your family is rich.”
“Consider it a gift. My family is rich anyway.” Luan Mingrui placed the ticket in her bike basket. He was tall, casting a shadow over Liang Chengmin. Looking down, he saw her eyelashes curled up, but she looked up and glared at him, clearly angry.
Luan Mingrui never liked to give in during conversations, and he found it novel that this young doctor refused to back down. Whether her family was rich or not didn’t matter—he just thought her temper needed taming. Completely forgetting that he himself was the one with the annoying temper.
“Who wants your lousy ticket!”
“Well, didn’t you use it yesterday to buy soy sauce?”
“...” Liang Chengmin had never met someone like him before. Her big eyes stared wide, anger rushing out, her chest heaving. Her eyes were wet with anger, tears about to fall. After a long while, she forced out, “Are you crazy?”
“Yeah, I am.”
What else could she say?
“Move!” Luan Mingrui blocked her bicycle and refused to move. Seeing this, Liang Chengmin turned her bike around, got on, and rode away. A young woman riding a large bike, swaying left and right, looked quite funny. Luan Mingrui chuckled.
He thought this young doctor was pretty amusing. Her temper was horrible, no wonder she was still unmarried at 27.
A few days later, after returning from Lianyungang, he saw Liang Chengmin in front of the state-run restaurant. It was strange—they seemed to run into each other a lot since their blind date. She was sitting on a wooden bench, holding a thick book. He approached and saw it was about human anatomy. Her fingers traced the pages as she muttered: “Like this, then like this, cut open, sew up.”
She looked very serious.
“Liang Chengmin,” he called out.
She looked up at him; her eyes immediately lit up—it was clear she remembered him this time. Then she looked down, ignoring him.
“Liang Chengmin, help me look at my wound.”
Luan Mingrui rolled up his sleeve and showed her a deep, bloody scar on his arm.
“Want medical help? Go register at the hospital tomorrow!”
Liang Chengmin looked down again but couldn’t help herself. Suddenly she grabbed his arm. The wound was too deep, with a long cut: “What happened? Did you get an injection? Why didn’t you get it bandaged?”
“I got the injection. We’re out of medical gauze at home.” Luan Mingrui lied; he hadn’t even gone home.
“Come with me!” Liang Chengmin stood up, looking serious, then suddenly remembered: she was here for a blind date. “Wait a moment!” She ran to the front of the restaurant and said to Old Wang, the barber: “Uncle, keep an eye out. A tall man with a rolled-up newspaper tube will come and sit on the chair. Tell him I have a patient and will be right back.”
Then she turned to Luan Mingrui: “Let’s go.”
Luan Mingrui walked beside her and glanced back. The man with the rolled-up newspaper tube had come, but hadn’t said anything. He turned back to mock her: “Another blind date?”
“What’s that to you?”
Liang Chengmin brought him to her doorstep: “Wait here.” Then she dashed inside.
Luan Mingrui heard a woman’s voice scolding her: “Why are you running? You’re an adult. So irresponsible.”
“I’m saving a life!” Liang Chengmin came out holding a small box, sitting on an old stone by her house. “Come here.”
Luan Mingrui squatted in front of her, stretched out his arm. She was really brave—not even flinching at that scary wound. She skillfully applied iodine and bandaged it. You might think she was clueless, but her expression was lively. Luan Mingrui didn’t know why, but he felt a little flutter inside.
“Did you get the injection? Why didn’t you get the wound bandaged?” Liang Chengmin finally reacted.
“No injection.” Luan Mingrui rolled up his sleeve. Squatting there, he was shorter than Liang Chengmin sitting on the stone, tilting his head up to look at her. His eyes behind the glasses were sharp like an eagle’s, making people nervous.
“...Ignorant!” Liang Chengmin got angry again. Since meeting Luan Mingrui, he always managed to annoy her. She didn’t know why; she was usually really nice when not working, but he repeatedly made her furious.
After returning the medical kit, remembering people were still waiting for her at the state-run restaurant for the blind date, she started to leave, but saw Luan Mingrui still standing there. On the southern bluestone pavement, he blocked half the path like a tough troublemaker.
“Why aren’t you leaving?”
“Are you going to the state-run restaurant for a blind date?” Luan Mingrui asked her.
“Yes.”
“Let’s go, it’s on my way.”
He was quite tall, with long legs, but he dawdled behind Liang Chengmin. She was anxious and turned back to say to him, “Hurry up, will you!”
“My arm hurts.”
“Your arm hurts but it’s not like your leg is broken! Why dawdle?”
“Late for a blind date with me, but in a hurry for another one?” Luan Mingrui said lightly, just refusing to speed up.
Liang Chengmin ignored him and quickened her pace. The floral blouse she wore fluttered in the breeze, billowing slightly on her back.
Luan Mingrui followed behind, thinking: You’re really eager to get married.
The man with the rolled-up newspaper had already left, impatient, without a single shadow left behind.
Luan Mingrui made a sarcastic remark: “You think everyone’s like me? You’re late and I still have to wait for you.”
“Is it blind dates all the time except when you’re working? Is blind dating so fun?”
“If you don’t go on blind dates, you won’t get married?”
“Luan Mingrui!” Liang Chengmin was annoyed by his nagging: “Are you ever tired of it?”
“What’s it to you if I go on blind dates? Why do you care so much?”
“Aren’t you going on blind dates too? How can you say that to me?”
“Besides, why was I late today? Wasn’t it because of you!”
“Well then, who was the reason you were late that day?” Luan Mingrui suddenly asked.
Luan Mingrui really held grudges.
Liang Chengmin was too lazy to answer, turned and tried to walk away, but heard Luan Mingrui ask: “Are you hungry?”
“No!”
“I’m going to eat, want to come?”
“No!”
“Don’t you like blind dates?” Luan Mingrui asked again. Seeing her eyes flicker, he knew she didn’t either. “Come eat with me, and I’ll tell you a way so you’ll never have to go on a blind date again.”
“Lying.”
“If I lie, I’m not human.”
The two went into the state-run restaurant and sat facing each other.
“What do you like to eat?” Luan Mingrui asked.
“Crabs, shrimp.” Liang Chengmin wasn’t lying—shrimp and crab were tricky to prepare in the past, but her father also got them, so she was used to good food since she was little.
“Oh.”
Luan Mingrui ordered boiled shrimp, drunken crab, and stir-fried greens. The dishes placed together looked quite nice.
Liang Chengmin wasn’t shy; she delicately picked shrimp with her fingers.
Luan Mingrui didn’t want to peel shrimp himself—he found it messy—so he waited for her to finish and then grabbed one. Liang Chengmin was quick and snatched it back. “You can’t eat that! You have to watch your diet!” Seeing him try again, she glared, “Try eating one! I’m a doctor!”
He withdrew his hand and only ate the vegetables, watching Liang Chengmin eat all the shrimp and crab clean.
When they finished, she asked, “You said you’d tell me how not to go on blind dates?”
“Don’t you hate blind dates that much?”
“Do you like them?”
“I don’t either,” Luan Mingrui curled his finger and beckoned her, “Come here, I’ll tell you how you won’t have to go on blind dates.”
Liang Chengmin actually leaned forward a little to listen. Luan Mingrui said, “It’s simple — marry me.”
At first, she didn’t react, then two seconds later her face flushed red. She tossed out, “Are you crazy?” and got up to run out.
What kind of person says that after just a few meetings!
She ran dozens of meters, then turned back and ran toward him again. Seeing him standing there looking at her, her face turned red again. “What’s wrong with you? Is that the kind of thing you joke about? You’re so frivolous!”
“We’ve only met a few times. Do I know who you are? Do I understand what kind of person you are?” Luan Mingrui said nothing, his dark eyes watching her, listening to her words like a machine gun.
He knew exactly what he was saying.
That day when he saw her standing in line to buy soy sauce, her back as still as a monk’s, a real idiot. He didn’t know why, but it stirred something inside him.
He really wanted to mess with her.
Seeing her so anxious, he thought it was fun.
After she scolded him, she ran off like a gust of wind.
The next day, after seeing all her patients, she sat at the desk waiting to get off work. After a while, someone knocked. She looked up and saw Luan Mingrui holding a slip: “I’m here to change my dressing.”
“Go find a nurse to do it.”
“Are you rushing your patients? Where’s your medical ethics?”
Luan Mingrui sat and refused to leave. Liang Chengmin had no choice but to get a nurse to bring bandages and medical alcohol to clean his wound.
The wound was itchy and painful, his gaze lowered to her earlobe.
Luan Mingrui was a strange guy. Always decisive—when he said he was doing business, he dropped everything to do business. When he said he wouldn’t marry, he didn’t. Now, he couldn’t explain why he liked this one—just this one.
He must marry her.
After changing his dressing, Liang Chengmin said, “No need to register tomorrow to change your dressing.”
“I registered just to ask: Are you still going to eat crab?”
…
“I’m in the seafood business. I can’t compare to you doctors with noble jobs. I’m just a nobody in others’ eyes, but one thing’s for sure: if you marry me, you can eat all the shrimp and crab you want.”
What kind of nonsense was that!
“Can’t my family afford crab?” Liang Chengmin was mad at him. “I can’t marry you. My parents want me to marry someone with a stable job—teacher, worker, doctor—anything but a self-employed guy.”
“You’re serious, huh?” Luan Mingrui looked at her.
“Why would I lie?” Her parents never said that; she was teasing him on purpose. He was the one who initially looked down on her family. Acting like having some money made you special.
She lowered her head, gave him his medicine, and told him to change the dressing himself at home. Then she heard the door slam as he left.
What a bad temper!
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