Jiang Yang shook his head: "It's not stress. He seems… happier." And that kind of happiness wasn't common before.
Ding Qihang scrubbed his hands silently, not responding. 'Who wouldn't be happy with a girlfriend? And his girlfriend seems to be a highly educated woman with a great personality. Even the head nurse of our Neurosurgery ward praised her elegance.' Ding Qihang really didn't want to lie to Jiang Yang. He hoped time would pass quickly, say three to five months. If Jiang Yang still pressed by then, he might drop a hint. For now, he had no choice but to keep quiet.
--
Shi Wenli hadn't seen Xu Qinghe all day. Recently, she was only scheduled for neurosurgery surgeries every other day, and when she did get assigned, they were other directors' cases. Only after the Spring Festival would she spend more time in the neurosurgery operating room.
After the afternoon surgery, as soon as he returned to his office, he got a call for an emergency consultation. Putting on his white coat without even stopping for a drink of water, he rushed to the emergency room. A patient had an epileptic seizure. The emergency doctor had brought it under control with medication and asked him to evaluate whether the patient should be admitted. While he was busy, Xu Qinghe sent a message, but he didn't have time to read it.
Xu Qinghe: [I just picked up an emergency surgery. It might be ten by the time I finish. You go home first.]
Shi Wenli didn't see the message until half an hour later. After returning from the ER, he didn't go home. Instead, he stayed in the office working overtime and treated his team to dinner. When he was single, he often treated them as a reward, and they thought it was because he was a good boss. Now that he treated them, Ding Qihang's first thought was: 'The boss is in love. He's in a good mood.'
While Shi Wenli was busy, his phone rang. It was his mother. Recently, due to his sister's wedding, he had been in more contact with his parents. Before that, unless it was urgent, he'd call them only a few times a year. Ever since he was little, the most common thing his parents said to him on the phone was: 'Wenli, take care of your sister.' For him and his sister, having each other could never replace the longing for parental love. Sometimes, when he couldn't hold it in anymore, he would make demands: 'But sister misses you.' He missed them too. And whenever that happened, his parents would be silent for a few seconds and then repeat what they said before: 'Take care of your sister.'
Eventually, he and his parents became unable to talk about anything meaningful.
Shi Wenli answered: "Mom, what's up?"
Zhao Moyin: "Wenli, are you off work? I'm almost at your apartment complex."
"Mom, I'm working overtime today. I'm still at the hospital."
Zhao Moyin said it was no rush: "You're busy, I don't have anything important. I'll wait for you to come home."
Shi Wenli asked, "What is it? You can tell me over the phone."
Some things were hard to explain over the phone; they needed to be said face-to-face. From his aunt, she had heard that Dean Jiang had introduced a suitable match to him, but he didn't even meet her and turned it down flat. She was worried that her son didn't want to get married and that living alone wasn't a solution. So she came to see what was going on.
Zhao Moyin only said, "I brought you a few things."
Shi Wenli thought his mother was bringing food: "Miao Miao already stocked up for me from the supermarket before her honeymoon. The fridge is almost overflowing. I eat in the cafeteria every day except for breakfast; I rarely cook at home. You don't need to go to the trouble of sending things in the future."
Between mother and son, there had always been a polite distance; sometimes they were less intimate than friends. It was only recently that Zhao Moyin realized it wasn't that her son deliberately kept his distance; it was that she had completely neglected him over the years. When he was four or five, before she divorced his father, he was a child who would cuddle in her arms and be very close to her. Later, after she and his father divorced, she always thought he was sensible and didn't need too much worry. But she forgot that he was only a few years old at that time. He also needed her care. After missing the opportunity to rely on his mother for so long, he could no longer be close to her.
Zhao Moyin: "It's not just food." There were also a few coats. "You go ahead and work. I'll wait until you get off."
Shi Wenli: "I might not be done until after ten, maybe even later. Mom, you should go home and rest early."
Ten o'clock was too late, not ideal for talking about marriage. Besides, the New Year was coming soon. She would come back once he was on holiday.
Zhao Moyin: "Then I'll leave the things at the security booth. Remember to pick them up."
After hanging up, Shi Wenli stared blankly at his computer screen for a moment. Every time he got a call from his mother, his emotions were complicated. The person he once relied on the most, the one he missed as a child, had slowly drifted away.
Shaking off his thoughts, he continued reviewing medical records. He worked until nine, then sent Xu Qinghe a message: [Call me when you're out of surgery. I'm in the office.]
He waited another twenty minutes before Xu Qinghe came out of the operating room: [Why are you waiting for me again? If you go home early, you can rest a bit.]
Shi Wenli: [Going home would just be working overtime anyway. Same thing.]
Xu Qinghe came out of the main building, and the familiar car was waiting at the bottom of the stairs. So blatant that no one paid it any mind. Xu Qinghe got into the passenger seat and turned to look at him: "If your team sees you waiting specifically for me, do you think they'll start guessing?"
Shi Wenli took her coat and put it in the back seat. "It's fine. Even if they figure out our relationship, they won't come asking me about it." Some things, between him and Ding Qihang and the others, were an unspoken understanding; they wouldn't seek confirmation face-to-face.
There was no traffic at night, so they reached the entrance of her apartment complex in just a few minutes. Shi Wenli glanced at the parcel station through the window. The door was closed; it was already after hours. He withdrew his gaze. "Can't pick up the package today. I'll get it for you tomorrow at noon."
Xu Qinghe had even forgotten she had a delivery. "It's fine. I don't need it urgently." She was off tomorrow: "I'll come get it myself."
Shi Wenli said, "I'll be passing by anyway on my way home from work. You don't have to make a special trip."
The next day, Xu Qinghe intended to pick up the package, but after getting up, she ended up trying on clothes and shoes and doing her makeup, completely forgetting about the parcel station.
Xu Bingduo saw his daughter rummaging through chests and cabinets early in the morning, looking for shoes. After searching for a long time, she seemed unable to find a suitable pair. Two entire dressing rooms full of shoes, yet she couldn't find a decent pair for a date—no one would believe it if he told them.
Xu Bingduo told his wife, "Maybe you should sponsor her a pair. In the middle of winter, she can't wear her Crocs on a date, right?"
Chi Min: "..."
Apart from Crocs, Xu Qinghe's shoes were mostly sneakers. She did have shoes to go with skirts, but they were all old styles from years ago; she hadn't bought a single pair in the last two or three years.
Before Chi Min could go to her daughter, her daughter came to her. "Mom, lend me a pair of shoes."
Borrowing shoes for a date. Chi Min didn't know what to say to her daughter. "What style do you want? Your dad and I will go buy you a pair right now. Wenli doesn't get off work until after twelve; there's plenty of time."
Xu Qinghe wasn't modest: "Something that goes with this skirt I'm wearing."
"How about you come shopping with us? We'll get you a few more outfits."
"I don't have time to shop. I need to figure out my makeup for today. It's been so long since I last wore makeup; my hands are rusty."
"..."
She fussed until 11:40, finally ready. She had done a natural, translucent makeup look, let her long hair down, and put on the new skirt and shoes her parents had bought her. When she appeared in front of Shi Wenli, he almost didn't recognize her.
Xu Qinghe pointed at her clothes and shoes and smiled, "Just bought this morning."
Shi Wenli also smiled and said, "You look good."
Xu Qinghe handed him her phone: "Take a picture for me."
Behind her was the flowerbed in front of his building. Along that path by the flowerbed, she had walked countless times over the years, but she couldn't remember the exact number. Shi Wenli carefully composed the shot and took a few pictures.
Today was a particularly memorable day for her. Buying rings was equivalent to Shi Wenli proposing. Xu Qinghe wasn't picky about jewelry at all. What made it meaningful was the act of buying the wedding rings together with him, not the rings themselves. Buying wedding rings meant they were about to enter into marriage, to live together, to build a small family—a joyful and anticipated event. It had little to do with how expensive the rings were, how big the diamond was, or whether the cut and design were romantic. The first jewelry store they had visited, she had already chosen a ring and said to Shi Wenli, "This one."
Shi Wenli: "How about we look around a bit more before deciding? What if you like another one better later?"
Xu Qinghe said, "No need."
They walked out of the jewelry store. Xu Qinghe took the shopping bag from him. Once they were in the car, she opened the velvet box as soon as she sat down, intending to put on the ring. She wouldn't be able to wear it during the week; only on weekends and days off.
Shi Wenli reached out to stop her. "Wait."
Xu Qinghe smiled and said, "We don't need to say vows or anything, do we?"
"Not those kinds of things, but there are things I still need to say." Shi Wenli looked at her. "We've just gotten together. The time we've spent as boyfriend and girlfriend is too short; there are many things I'm still figuring out. When we've been together longer, I'll do better than I am now." He carefully took the diamond ring out of the velvet box. "I hope that many years from now, you'll still think that marrying me wasn't such a bad idea. And I hope that while I am your life partner, I can still be your very good friend." "Since it's not public, I can only give you such a simple proposal. When we go public, I'll make up for it."
Xu Qinghe extended her hand to him. "It's not simple at all. I think this is perfect." She was content.
Shi Wenli slowly slid the ring onto her finger.