PDGUT - 11

Yu Tian had received five thousand yuan from Yan Ming, and her conscience was deeply troubled.

Fortunately, Qi Sihao had finally started working at the First Affiliated Hospital where Yan Ming worked. By a stroke of luck—or bad luck—he was assigned to rotate through the ophthalmology department and brought back some important information.

“Even though we’re just here for rotation and don’t need to do specialized work, just helping patients with refraction tests, vision checks, and eye pressure measurements keeps us so busy we barely have time to catch our breath. I don’t get to eat lunch until almost one-thirty every day!”

Qi Sihao stared into space, his voice tinged with sympathy: “But compared to doctors like Yan Ming, I still have it pretty good. Sometimes he doesn’t even get to eat until two in the afternoon. He’s so meticulous with his patients, and he can never say no to those who’ve traveled far to see him. He often adds extra appointments during his clinic hours, and by the time he finishes seeing all the patients, there’s barely time to eat before he has to rush off to surgery in the afternoon.”

Yu Tian felt a pang of unease: “Can’t he just order takeout?”

“When he’s in clinic, he doesn’t even have time to pick up his phone to order food. And even if he does manage to order something, he doesn’t have time to go pick it up and eat.”

While Qi Sihao admired Yan Ming, he couldn’t resist taking a jab at this romantic rival: “What can you expect from your ‘Brother Yan Ming’ who’s too dense to fall in love? Another male doctor in his department has a girlfriend. Even though he’s just as busy, his girlfriend brings him lunch every day, always cooking stomach-nourishing dishes that keep him well-fed and plump…”

Qi Sihao spoke without much thought, but Yu Tian listened with intent.

She had guiltily accepted five thousand yuan from Yan Ming, not to mention the favor he’d done her by tying her shoelaces during the school anniversary celebration. On top of that, her mother was still dating his father. She had been struggling to find a way to ingratiate herself with Yan Ming, and now Qi Sihao’s words had given her an idea.

Since she had recently started live-streaming recipes for therapeutic meals—partly to rehabilitate her injured hand—why not kill several birds with one stone? While Yan Ming was on duty, she could stream a few episodes about stomach-nourishing recipes and then deliver the finished dishes to him.

Yu Tian was a woman of action. Once she decided on something, she wasted no time.

Today was Yan Ming’s clinic day.

Yu Tian prepared congee, a few home-cooked dishes, and a freshly refrigerated cheesecake. Then she headed to the First Affiliated Hospital.

On the way, she sent Yan Ming a message.

But when she arrived at the hospital, she only received a polite reply from Yan Ming, delayed as usual:

“No need, just eat it yourself. I’m in a meeting and can’t leave. Thank you for your kindness, but there’s no need to go through this trouble next time.”

This wouldn’t do!

Hadn’t she come all this way to curry favor with Yan Ming?

“It’s fine, Brother Yan Ming! I made your favorite cheesecake, and I only made one, specifically for you. Since I’m free this afternoon, I’ll wait for you on the first floor for another half hour. If the meeting doesn’t end soon, I’ll leave.”

Yan Ming’s refusal was firm: “No need, just go. This meeting will last at least another hour. I appreciate your thoughtfulness, but there’s no need to trouble yourself like this. Thank you.”

Yu Tian stared at Yan Ming’s curt and formal reply, feeling confused.

It seemed that today wasn’t her lucky day—she wouldn’t be able to deliver the meal to Yan Ming after all.

Still, it wasn’t a complete loss. At least her intentions were clear.

As she looked at the word “thanks,” she felt she had at least earned some goodwill in Yan Ming’s eyes.

Then she glanced at the lunch boxes in her hands.

Her right hand wasn’t fully functional yet, so everything had taken her much longer to prepare. Since she had already come all the way to the hospital, it would be a shame to let the food go to waste, even if Yan Ming couldn’t accept it…

Coincidentally—or perhaps not—just as Yan Ming finished replying to Yu Tian, the vice president who had called the meeting suddenly had a change of schedule and ended the meeting within five minutes.

Yan Ming checked the time and decided to go downstairs to collect the meal Yu Tian had brought, intending to tell her not to bother in the future.

After all, accepting favors created obligations.

Yan Ming wasn’t a child lacking companionship, nor did he intend to develop any overly close relationship with his potential stepsister. It was best to avoid unnecessary entanglements with Yu Tian.

But Yu Tian had said she would wait another hour.

Yan Ming considered himself a kind person. He didn’t approve of wasting food or other people’s time.

As he hurried downstairs, however, he didn’t see Yu Tian anywhere in the lobby.

Hadn’t she said she’d wait on the first floor?

With a frown, Yan Ming scanned the area and finally spotted Yu Tian in the small garden attached to the hospital. She was sitting on a wooden bench, her back to him. Beside her sat what appeared to be a patient, partially obscured by a tree. On her other side was a tall stack of food containers.

The height of the stack reassured Yan Ming that Yu Tian had put effort into this. Perhaps she really had meant it for him.

A faint smile crossed Yan Ming’s face.

But as he approached, he realized the person sitting next to Yu Tian wasn’t a patient—it was Qi Sihao.

They were chatting animatedly.

Then Yu Tian opened the tall stack of food containers, took out one layer, and handed it to Qi Sihao.

Wasn’t this meal supposed to be for him?

Yan Ming frowned and moved closer, finally catching snippets of their conversation.

“See how nice I am to you? It’s only your first week rotating here at the First Affiliated, and I’ve already brought you food.”

Qi Sihao munched away, clearly grateful: “Little Yu, you’re so sweet to me! Is this just for me? Did you bring any for your Brother Yan Ming?”

Yu Tian’s voice was sincere: “Qi Sihao, how can you compare yourself to Yan Ming? You’ve been my friend for over twenty years—you mean something special to me! This meal is just for you; Yan Ming didn’t get any!”

“But isn’t Yan Ming your idol?”

“He’s my idol, yes, but idols can’t compare to real-life friends! Besides, the reason I’m nice to Yan Ming is because his dad is dating my mom. His dad listens to him when it comes to remarriage, and I want my mom to have a happy second marriage. I’ve only known Yan Ming for a short time, but you and I have been friends for over a decade, haven’t we? So I treat you differently—I genuinely care about you as a friend! You’re important to me!”

The smile on Yan Ming’s face slowly faded.

Yu Tian’s plan had worked perfectly.

One box, two uses.

She had used the food containers to make an impression on Yan Ming, then repurposed them to give to Qi Sihao under the guise of generosity.

Everything had gone smoothly.

As expected, Qi Sihao—a self-proclaimed foodie—was utterly won over by Yu Tian’s homemade dishes, eating with such emotion that he was practically moved to tears.

Seizing the moment, Yu Tian pressed on: “True friendship means being there for each other. While you’re rotating here, I’ll bring you food. Now that I’m starting a medical education platform on social media, shouldn’t you support your friend by making appearances too?”

Qi Sihao, unsuspecting, nodded enthusiastically: “Sure, sure! I’ll appear in five more videos for you!”

Five times?!

Just as Yu Tian was about to celebrate inwardly, a cold, familiar voice sounded behind her—

“Yu Tian.”

It was Yan Ming’s voice?!

But wasn’t he still in a meeting…?

Oh no…

Yu Tian froze for a few seconds, then turned stiffly.

Standing behind her was none other than Yan Ming.

“Yan Ming… Brother Yan Ming…”

Yan Ming simply looked at her, his expression unreadable. “I felt guilty about you waiting here for an hour with a meal specially made for me, so I came down after the meeting ended early.”

He enunciated each word: “So where’s the meal you promised me, Yu Tian?”

“…”

Almost instinctively, Yu Tian used her body to block the food containers beside her.

Fortunately, Qi Sihao, ever the dedicated eater, was completely oblivious to the situation, focused solely on devouring his food.

Taking advantage of Qi Sihao’s distraction, Yu Tian quickly stepped forward and rushed toward Yan Ming.

She looked up at him, forcing an awkward laugh: “You said the meeting wouldn’t end, so… I happened to walk out of the hospital and saw a starving homeless man who looked malnourished. I thought, why not do some good on your behalf and donate the food you didn’t need to someone in need…?”

At this point, there was no way Yu Tian could magically produce another meal.

She had no choice but to brazen it out.

But fate had other plans. Just as Qi Sihao, who had been engrossed in eating, suddenly sensed something and turned around, he called out to Yu Tian’s back—

“Little Yu, your food is amazing! Can I place an order? Could you make sweet and sour pork tomorrow? Or maybe yellow-braised chicken?”

As Qi Sihao looked up, he finally noticed Yan Ming. He waved enthusiastically, clearly pleased with himself: “Senior Yan Ming, what a coincidence! Yu Tian brought me food—it’s absolutely delicious!”

“…” Shut up, Qi Sihao!

Yu Tian regretted not slipping something into Qi Sihao’s food to silence him.

Yan Ming glanced at Qi Sihao, who was happily devouring the food, then turned his gaze back to Yu Tian, his expression unreadable.

“The homeless man you donated to doesn’t seem malnourished at all—in fact, he looks quite strong.”

Yu Tian was so embarrassed she couldn’t even meet Yan Ming’s eyes.

Still, she tried to salvage the situation: “Qi Sihao may be physically strong, but he’s mentally simple. In modern society, there’s a new type of homelessness—spiritual homelessness. People like him are spiritually empty and intellectually impoverished…”

Yu Tian struggled to recover from this unexpected disaster, her embarrassment palpable.

“Brother Yan Ming, if you don’t have surgery this afternoon, let me treat you to dinner! My cooking skills are just average, nowhere near as good as the restaurants outside… After thinking it over, I realized the food I made isn’t worthy of you. To treat someone like you, it should at least be a Michelin three-star restaurant…”

Unfortunately, Yan Ming declined her invitation.

“No need.” He glanced at her. “You should eat with the friends you truly care about. Who else matters more than a genuine friend? True friendships last a lifetime—after all, you’ve known each other for over a decade.”

“…”

“There’s no need to make or bring me food in the future either. Thanks for doing me a favor by donating it directly to your friend.” Yan Ming’s tone was icy. “It’s convenient since your friend Qi Sihao is also in my department. The better he eats, the more energy he’ll have to work, and the more night shifts he can take on.”

“…” Yu Tian hesitated, uneasy. “Isn’t this a bit… inappropriate?”

“How so?” Yan Ming smiled faintly. “Didn’t you say he’s physically strong but mentally empty? It’s perfect—he can learn more while he’s here. His strong limbs show he’s physically fit, which is useful for night shifts, and his empty mind can be filled with medical knowledge and practice. Sounds good to me.”

With that, Yan Ming turned and walked away, leaving Yu Tian feeling guilty as she glanced at Qi Sihao.

The guy was still stuffing his face, completely unaware of the impending danger.