Jiang Ruoqi felt he was just humoring her. She grabbed his hand and held it in hers. "Like coaxing a child. Dr. Meng, are you sure you usually work in cardiothoracic surgery, not pediatrics?"
Meng Shang thought for a moment, then nodded. "Our department also has young patients. Sometimes we consult with pediatric colleagues during joint consultations."
"That doesn't apply to me. Send it back for revision."
"Mm, I'll revise it then. I'll ask some married colleagues how to properly appease my wife." Meng Shang's voice was still hoarse from just waking up, and it sounded in her ear, stirring Jiang Ruoqi's heart with desire.
Unable to get what she wanted, Jiang Ruoqi protested, "Dr. Meng, you weren't like this before. That person at Ada's wedding who acted like he wanted to stay ten meters away from me—was that you or not?"
"It was." Meng Shang admitted. "But now that we're married, there's no need to pretend anymore."
"Pretend what? Pretend to be aloof? Pretend not to want to talk to me?" Jiang Ruoqi raised an eyebrow, feeling there was more to his words. "How did you feel about me when we first met? Tell me in detail."
How did he feel?
Actually, it hadn't been that long ago, and Meng Shang had an excellent memory. So the people and events of that day were still vivid.
Including Jiang Ruoqi—her outfit, her long hair falling as she turned to exchange pleasantries, her flushed face as she toasted him.
Meng Shang was sure that what she said to him back then was mostly insincere. The only real thing was her interest in him as a person.
Like an experienced angler casting a line, and he, from across the water, had taken a liking to her at first sight.
He had fallen for her instantly, but at the time, rationality prevailed, causing his behavior then to differ greatly from now. And Jiang Ruoqi had just found a point to tease him about.
"We should get going. Wait for me—I'll be ready in a second."
Meng Shang let out a breath, pushed Jiang Ruoqi to sit down on the sofa, and turned back toward the bedroom. Clearly, when faced with a question he couldn't answer, even the famously taciturn Dr. Meng had to choose to run away.
"Don't you want to eat something?"
Jiang Ruoqi decided to let him off the hook for now. She pulled her legs onto the sofa, turned around and leaned on the backrest, propping her chin on her hand to avoid smudging her foundation, and watched his somewhat dejected retreating back with great interest.
"Just woke up, no appetite." Meng Shang instinctively refused, but then, remembering the food was made by her, he added for the sake of her feelings, "I'll take it with me and eat on the road."
"Fine." Jiang Ruoqi got up to pack the food. An eighty-percent satisfactory answer—at least she couldn't complain.
The distance from Xinhai to Hangxiang was less than 200 kilometers on the map. Without traffic jams, the drive took about two and a half hours. So when Meng Shang parked the car in the hospital's underground garage, it was exactly three o'clock, a typical afternoon.
Jiang Ruoqi wasn't exactly nervous about meeting Meng Shang's family.
After all, with her biological father finding her a stepmother and her biological mother having a boyfriend, she had managed to sit down and eat in such an awkward situation. Meeting Meng Shang's family was nothing.
Meng Shang's mother, Yun Dan, had worked in social assistance in the civil affairs system before retiring. She had a gentle and kind demeanor, very fair skin, and looked extremely scholarly, yet as her name suggested, she was as calm as a cloud.
Jiang Ruoqi had some memory of her. At the high school graduation rally where parents were invited, Jiang Ruoqi had served as a student volunteer. She had noticed her then because she knew she was Meng Shang's mother.
As for Meng Shang's father, Meng Gaoyi, he rarely appeared. Not to mention Jiang Ruoqi—even Meng Shang himself had only seen him a handful of times a year throughout his childhood.
He was also a doctor, the director of thoracic surgery at a military medical university's affiliated hospital, and he was a military doctor himself.
Thus, he was resolute and upright to the point of being almost extreme. Besides the sense of mission as a "white angel" to heal the sick and save the dying, he had even more of a sense of responsibility as a soldier toward the people.
Externally, he would rush to lead teams for medical aid trips to other provinces and cities. During the high-risk pneumonia outbreak years ago, he had voluntarily requested to go deep into the affected areas.
Internally, he worried about patients with financial difficulties using the green channel to pay their bills, and he would even soften his heart and cover part of the cost when they couldn't pay. The rule that department heads didn't have to work night shifts didn't apply to him. He simply said he couldn't let the young ones do all the hard work.
When Meng Shang was a child, he was raised by his grandmother, because both parents were too busy to take care of him, and his grandmother couldn't bear to see the third generation going without meals.
Whoever raised him, he naturally had deeper feelings for them. Meng Shang cared most about his grandmother. But after settling in Xinhai for work, he was often busy and rarely had time to visit the elderly.
And who could have predicted that the old woman, who had seemed so healthy, would collapse like this?
Having two doctors in the family, they understood the progression and symptoms of cancer all too well. But now that things had come to this, they were powerless.
Even as doctors, even with their achievements in their respective fields, they still couldn't escape the fate of being unable to save the ones they cared about most.
And at that age, a person might be genuinely confused or might pretend to be confused.
No one had told Meng Shang's grandmother about her condition, but after staying in the hospital for a while, she probably understood she had a serious illness. She kept saying she wanted to see Meng Shang get married.
Meng Shang's grandmother had also had a hard life. Fortunately, her children were successful. Currently, her only worry was the third generation she had raised.
Indeed, only such family affection would make someone like Meng Shang weigh the options and finally decide to find someone to settle down with as a placeholder, fulfilling the elder's last wish.
Meng Shang stood outside the ward holding things.
This was the hospital where his father worked, and he had managed to get a single room. Being tall, through the glass panel on the ward door, he could directly see his grandmother lying on the hospital bed.
He hadn't been back for a few weeks, only video-calling, and the old woman looked even more withered and thin than she did through the phone screen.
His heart ached. His hand, about to push the door, trembled as it touched the doorframe, but he hesitated.
Jiang Ruoqi saw it all.
Regarding family affection, she was very different from Meng Shang. For more than half her life, she had been learning to be independent.
She left home to study at a young age, and her father raised her to plan for himself and his stepson. The only person she cared about a little, her mother Jiang Yun, after a long separation, was no longer a must-have option for each other.
Jiang Ruoqi might want it, but she didn't necessarily need what was called family affection. She couldn't empathize with Meng Shang's grief, but she understood human relationships and would try to maintain everyone's emotional dignity.
"Meng Shang, we're here to see Grandma today. Don't let sadness show on your face. Be good, okay?" Jiang Ruoqi gently comforted him, then patted his back to help him calm down.
Meng Shang was silent for a moment, then nodded and replied, "I will."
He prepared to knock and push the door open, but Jiang Ruoqi's hand followed and covered his.
"Take a deep breath. Don't worry, I'm with you."
Only Yun Dan, Meng Shang's mother, was inside the ward. With her back to the afternoon sunlight, she was peeling an apple for Grandma.
Imported red delicious apples had a thick skin as if they were waxed. But cut in half and scraped with a spoon to eat, the powdery texture was quite suitable for the elderly.
"Grandma, Mom, I'm back."
The old woman on the bed lit up, swallowed two bites of the apple, and waved at Meng Shang, urgently asking, "Xiao Shang's back! Did you bring your wife?"
"Yes, I did." Meng Shang stepped aside slightly, and Jiang Ruoqi, following behind him, popped her head out with a smile.
Jiang Ruoqi was natural and at ease. Introducing herself, she had none of the shyness or unease of meeting parents for the first time.
"Hello, Grandma, Mom. I'm sorry for not visiting sooner. I'm Jiang Ruoqi. You can call me Ruoqi or Xiaoqi, whichever you like."
"Good child, come over and let Grandma have a look."
Meng Shang's grandmother took Jiang Ruoqi's hand and made her sit by the bed. She praised her good looks, then chatted casually with Meng Shang's mother, asking questions about Jiang Ruoqi's family and work.
They had gotten their marriage certificate hastily. Although it was a done deal, the elders were still uneasy and wanted to know as much as they could.
Jiang Ruoqi was prepared. In a few sentences, she narrated the love story they had colluded on, her family background, and her work arrangements like telling a story.
As long as Jiang Ruoqi wanted to, she could handle interpersonal relationships flawlessly.
So, Meng Shang, for the first time in a long time, was neglected by his grandmother. Watching her and his mother listen to Jiang Ruoqi talk about her parents' divorce, her tumultuous childhood, and her years studying and working in Gangcheng, they clearly understood why the two had married so quickly.
Full of sympathy for her, the elders felt that with Jiang Ruoqi's excellent personal conditions, giving up her job to return to the mainland for Meng Shang meant their family owed her.
Compounded by her less-than-ideal family background and family not being around, then their family had to be even better to the young lady.
Meng Shang's grandmother called him to the bedside. On her withered hand, covered only by a layer of skin, was the IV cannula.
Holding one hand each, she firmly grasped Jiang Ruoqi's and Meng Shang's hands and placed them together. "Xiaoqi, it hasn't been easy for you alone. If Xiao Shang ever bullies you in the future, tell Grandma. Grandma will hit him for you."
The contrast between old age and youth, withered and vibrant, was too striking.
Everyone present knew that this promise was probably just a verbal one, because this rare warmth and liveliness made it even sadder.
Perhaps even more heartbreaking than a sudden departure was the pain of being torn between false hope and the known truth.
Meng Shang didn't respond. Only Jiang Ruoqi took the chance to squeeze his palm, raised her other hand, and made a fist. "Did you hear that? Be good to me. I have Grandma on my side!"
Meng Shang smiled helplessly and smoothed down her flyaway hair, made static by the dry air. He replied in a low voice, "I heard. Both ears heard."
"I will definitely treat you well."