PDGUT - 33

After tidying up her appearance and touching up her makeup in the restroom, Yu Tian reappeared in the grand hall once again, radiant and glowing. Her presence indeed caused a small stir, and alumni she knew—and even some she didn’t—approached her to ask for her contact information.

While smiling and politely handling these requests, Yu Tian glanced around the room, looking for Yan Ming. After he had left the small balcony earlier, she hadn’t seen where he went, nor could she find him in the hall now.

But it was understandable. Doctors like Yan Ming were usually very busy. Yu Tian had heard that many alumni similar to him had only come briefly to donate money and then rushed back to work or catch up on sleep, skipping the evening auction altogether.

Donations could be made anytime, but if someone wanted to participate in the fun charity auction, they needed to register beforehand to receive the bidding paddles distributed to all participants.

With just a quick glance, Yu Tian noticed that the number of people registered to bid on the chance to take her for a drive was quite high. She didn’t look through the list carefully, but she did confirm that Chen Ming had indeed signed up.

Yu Tian smiled faintly.

Though she hadn’t found Yan Ming, she quickly spotted Qi Sihao. With a plan forming in her mind, she immediately pulled Qi Sihao aside and began whispering instructions into his ear—

“Go register for the auction right now and join the bidding for the chance to drive with me.”

Qi Sihao naturally resisted: “What’s the point? What kind of relationship do we have? You want me to pay money just to drive with you? Are you even human?”

“I’m not asking you to pay to drive with me—I don’t even want to drive with you. I just need you to create some chaos. Stir things up during my auction, drive up the price, but be smart about it. Know when to stop. Pay attention to Chen Ming’s expressions and figure out if he’s still going to bid. Don’t get yourself stuck holding the bag, alright?”

Yu Tian brought up Chen Ming, still feeling indignant: “That hypocrite deserves to bleed his wallet a little. It’ll be like indirectly earning himself some karma.”

Qi Sihao immediately understood and winked mischievously: “Don’t worry, leave this to me. I guarantee you’ll be satisfied.”

After briefing Qi Sihao, Yu Tian finally felt relieved. She relaxed, nibbled on some snacks from the charity banquet, and chatted with a few familiar alumni about her science popularization self-media platform. Not long after, the charity auction began.

It had to be said, the format of this auction was indeed quite novel. The items being auctioned were quirky and unusual—even including an all-inclusive health checkup conducted by an alumnus. The atmosphere was lively, and everyone seemed to be smiling.

Soon, the auction for the chance to drive with Yu Tian began.

This clearly became the most heated auction item of the evening, with numerous men raising their paddles. To add an element of surprise, Yu Tian, who had put her time up for auction, was required by the counselor to step onstage before the bidding began to greet everyone and give a motivational speech. During the auction, she had to wait backstage until the bidding ended, at which point she would be escorted to the front to meet the successful bidder.

To further motivate Chen Ming to bid enthusiastically, Yu Tian deliberately approached him before the auction began, teasing and hinting subtly. As she stood on stage delivering her eloquent speech, she saw Chen Ming gazing at her with burning eyes. Just as she coyly smiled, her peripheral vision caught sight of Yan Ming.

He hadn’t left. He was sitting calmly in the middle of the room, his expression cold as he watched her.

Yu Tian suddenly lost her smile, feeling awkward. She hastily mumbled a few polite words and fled backstage like a frightened animal.

Yan Ming shouldn’t be a doctor, Yu Tian thought. He should be a school principal.

In reality, Yan Ming hadn’t done anything, but Yu Tian still felt guilty. Recalling the scene on the small balcony, her face flushed with heat once again.

Fortunately, the frequent sounds of competitive bidding outside drew her attention. Yu Tian could hear the counselor, acting as the host, enthusiastically hyping up the atmosphere—

“Five thousand yuan once! Five thousand yuan twice! Ah! Fifty-five thousand! A new bid has appeared! Fifty-five thousand once! Sixty thousand! Sixty thousand!”

Although she had instructed Qi Sihao to stir up trouble, the starting price had been only five thousand yuan. Seeing it climb tenfold to over fifty thousand left Yu Tian shocked and filled with a sense of guilt. Fifty or sixty thousand yuan—even for Rong Medical University alumni—was likely more than half a year’s salary. While Chen Ming might inwardly look down on people with disabilities and speak disrespectfully, Yu Tian’s original intention had only been to make his wallet bleed a little. She hadn’t expected the price to skyrocket to such heights…

Yet fifty or sixty thousand wasn’t the end. Uneasily seated backstage, Yu Tian listened as the voices from the front grew louder and the prices climbed higher.

Finally—

“One hundred thousand once! One hundred thousand twice! One hundred thousand three times! Sold!”

Half an hour of driving with Yu Tian had been auctioned off for an astronomical one hundred thousand yuan.

The price made Yu Tian feel so uneasy she could barely sit still.

The counselor’s voice was almost distorted with excitement: “Thank you all for your enthusiastic participation! The bids and donations today have been absolutely incredible! Now, let’s invite the successful bidder to meet our leading lady backstage for a surprise encounter!”

Sitting backstage, Yu Tian felt no excitement—only regret.

At first, it had been a spur-of-the-moment decision, but now, faced with this moment, she suddenly felt an overwhelming wave of regret.

Beyond the money, there was another, more important reason.

Only now did Yu Tian realize that she didn’t want to spend even half an hour alone with Chen Ming. The mere thought of being alone with him made even ten minutes seem unbearable.

Yu Tian felt deeply reluctant and tried to psych herself up—At least he paid one hundred thousand yuan. That money might help several impoverished patients in urgent need.

Nervously seated on the chair, the backstage door opened briefly, leaking in the excited chatter from the front. Then the person entered, calmly closing the door behind them, shutting out the noise. The only sound left was the old ceiling fan creaking as it turned overhead.

Yu Tian listened to the approaching footsteps, her heart heavy with tension.

Then the footsteps stopped behind her. The person didn’t speak.

You win some, you lose some—it’s time to face the music!

Yu Tian took a deep breath, forced a smile, and finally mustered the courage to turn around.

Her awkward smile froze on her face, turning into genuine surprise. Instinctively, she blurted out—

“Yan Ming?”

Standing behind her was not Chen Ming, but unmistakably Yan Ming.

Yu Tian frowned slightly: “Where’s Chen Ming?”

Yan Ming raised his eyelids: “Are you disappointed that it’s not Chen Ming?”

A bad feeling crept into Yu Tian’s heart: “Did you win the auction?”

Yan Ming pursed his lips, saying nothing, tacitly confirming Yu Tian’s guess.

Yu Tian couldn’t hold back her expression anymore. Like a cat, she began rubbing her temples: “How could this happen? I wanted to trick Chen Ming, make him bleed his wallet. I even got Qi Sihao to drive up the price. Did you join the bidding just to help inflate the price too?”

Deep down, Yu Tian felt a small, indescribable flicker of joy, but her rationality quickly suppressed it like a hammer smashing down.

Though avoiding a drive with Chen Ming was good news, Yan Ming had spent one hundred thousand yuan.

Yan Ming had witnessed her entire interaction with Chen Ming. Being as sharp as he was, he surely understood her intention to make Chen Ming bid. Likely, he had joined the auction to help drive the price up—but…

The outcome was clear now. Yan Ming had accidentally gotten himself stuck with the winning bid, while Chen Ming, who had claimed he was determined to win the drive with her, had abandoned ship at the sight of one hundred thousand yuan.

“What a coward!”

Yu Tian cursed Chen Ming, feeling both angry and guilty. She looked at Yan Ming: “I’ll pay you back the one hundred thousand yuan, but it might have to be in installments. My self-media account does generate revenue, but it’s not that fast…”

“No need to pay me back.” Yan Ming interrupted her, shifting his gaze slightly. “I didn’t join the bidding just to inflate the price.”

Yu Tian’s heartbeat quickened again.

What Yan Ming meant was…

Had he participated in the auction purely for the sake of winning it?

Yu Tian lowered her head, staring at her stiletto heels, trying to hide her inexplicable nervousness: “Then weren’t you being foolish? You could’ve driven with me anytime for free. Wouldn’t it have been better to let that hypocrite Chen Ming bleed his wallet instead?”

Yan Ming pursed his lips: “Do you really want to drive with him?”

Under Yan Ming’s gaze, Yu Tian crumbled. Her lips drooped: “Of course not. Who wants to see someone like that? He’s utterly nauseating.”

“So don’t drive with him.”

Though there was a fan running backstage, Yu Tian felt the air growing thinner, making her gaze wander aimlessly. She avoided looking at Yan Ming, her voice muffled: “But if he had donated one hundred thousand yuan, I could’ve tolerated driving with him…”

“So I paid one hundred thousand yuan to ensure you don’t drive with him.” Yan Ming’s voice was calm, but the stuffy backstage environment seemed to affect him too. His pale face flushed slightly, and his ears turned red. “There’s no need to make yourself unhappy. Your half-hour is valuable—it’s not worth wasting on someone like him.”

“Don’t feel any burden. I just couldn’t stand it. I was already planning to donate, so it was just convenient.”

Yan Ming avoided looking at Yu Tian, speaking a bit faster: “You don’t actually have to drive with me. I’ll go now.”

“That won’t do.”

Yu Tian felt uneasy accepting such a large sum without giving something in return.

Her face reddened, and her voice wavered, but she feigned composure as she walked to stand behind Yan Ming: “Since you paid one hundred thousand yuan to win the chance to drive with me, then of course we still need to drive together.”

Yu Tian’s gaze wandered to a cluttered corner of the backstage: “Anyway, I don’t have anything else to do.”

Her bright, mischievous eyes turned to Yan Ming: “Shall I take you for a drive?” She grinned slyly like a fox. “Let’s escape! Disappear directly from backstage—what do you say?”

According to the normal procedure, after the successful bidder and the auctioned person met backstage, they were supposed to return to the stage, deliver a polished speech urging everyone to contribute to helping impoverished patients, and then take a group photo before leaving the stage.

If they escaped directly from backstage…

This completely contradicted Yan Ming’s usual rule-abiding nature.

But Yu Tian gave Yan Ming no time to think. She had already taken off her stilettos, holding them in one hand, while the other lifted her dress hem as she scrambled onto the window leading outside.

Beyond the window lay the serene night, alive with the chirping of cicadas and a star-filled sky.

Yu Tian sat astride the windowsill, her beautiful, pale face turned toward Yan Ming. She extended her hand to him: “Let’s go.” Her eyes were innocent and questioning. “Are you staying?”

In that moment, Yan Ming didn’t know what possessed him.

By the time he realized it, he had already reached out and grabbed Yu Tian’s hand, following her as they both climbed out the window and fled from backstage.

What had started as a spontaneous escape attempt by two people instantly drew the attention of campus security patrolling nearby.

The unsuspecting security guard, unaware of the event taking place in the auditorium, dutifully treated the two figures climbing out of the window under the cover of night as suspicious individuals. Though still some distance away, he showed no intention of letting them go easily and immediately pursued them with a flashlight—

“Hey, you two! Stop right there!”

Yan Ming looked at Yu Tian with exasperation. The instigator simply stuck out her tongue at him.

Her face, illuminated by the night, was stunningly beautiful, like a blooming night-blooming cereus, but also quite mischievous: “If we’re caught, they might call the police and make us write a statement. That would be embarrassing, wouldn’t it? There might even be an announcement—Rong Medical University’s distinguished graduate Yan Ming fled in the middle of the night, suspected of regretting his donation pledge of one hundred thousand yuan after the auction…”

Yu Tian grinned impishly: “You know how cruel public opinion can be. Even if you transferred the donation via your bank card later, people might still think you ran away because you didn’t want to donate.”

“…”

Yu Tian narrowed her eyes slightly, smiling as she looked at Yan Ming, seemingly planning to dump this mess entirely on him: “What are we going to do?”

What else could they do?

Yan Ming felt like he had been kidnapped and forced onto Yu Tian’s pirate ship. To avoid capsizing and drowning, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and keep rowing.

He felt a headache coming on, mixed with a sense of helplessness, but ultimately, as the security guard’s shouts and curses grew closer, he grabbed Yu Tian’s hand.

“Let’s run!”

The night breeze brushed past their ears, and the speed of their running made the wind feel faster. Faint traces of night-blooming jasmine lingered in the air. Yu Tian’s hand was soft but tightly gripping his. Her hurried escape, clutching her dress hem, was both clumsy and amusing. Her hair, disheveled by the combined effects of running and the wind, stood on end with static electricity, resembling a hedgehog. She looked far less refined than when she had been wearing her elegant gown and high heels, yet Yan Ming’s heart pounded heavily.

Yan Ming felt he had never been so rebellious in his life.

The security guard’s voice was close now, cursing loudly and threatening to call the police.

But beyond running, it seemed there was truly no other option.