Shi Wenli pushed the door fully open, then stood at the entrance, letting Xu Qinghe decide whether to come in or not.
Xu Qinghe had a good sense of boundaries, so she waited outside.
It was her first time here. She glanced inside—the apartment wasn't large but was exceptionally tidy.
Not far from the door stood a wooden dining table pushed against the wall. The table legs looked a bit old, but the surface was covered with a fresh tablecloth, and against the wall sat an elegant vase—empty, with no flowers.
With such simple decor, the table's age wasn't noticeable.
Soon, Shi Wenli came out of the bedroom carrying a stack of notebooks.
"Five in total. The top two are what my grandmother wrote during her career; the bottom three are copies she transcribed and organized after retirement."
Xu Qinghe picked up the top one. It was thick, with slightly curled edges.
She gently opened it. The paper had long become brittle and stiff from age, but the blue-black ink was barely faded.
Every stroke was steady and crisp, with the ink penetrating the paper.
Dense anesthesia case records filled the pages: vital signs, detailed medication logs, various intraoperative adverse reactions, and how they were managed with resuscitation and drug adjustments.
As she read, she became completely absorbed.
She completely forgot she was standing at Shi Wenli's doorstep, and that he was holding the other notebooks waiting for her to take them.
Shi Wenli wasn't surprised at all by her state.
Otherwise, why would she have let her first driver's license expire and get a new one without ever touching the steering wheel?
Maybe she was born to be an anesthesiologist—while others found case reports boring, she found them fascinating.
"Come in. I'll pour you a glass of water, and you can take your time reading."
Xu Qinghe quickly looked up from the notebook. Knowing he was busy with his sister's wedding, she didn't want to impose: "No need. I'll read them at home. You go ahead."
She closed the notebook, placed it back on top, and took the entire stack from him.
"Thank you. And thank your grandmother too."
Shi Wenli smiled. "I'll accept your thanks on my grandmother's behalf."
Xu Qinghe hugged the notebooks and said goodbye. Only after she turned into the elevator lobby did he close the door.
Shi Wenli didn't take off his coat, ready to go out at any moment.
He sent a message to his brother-in-law Min Ting, asking what time they should head to the wedding venue.
To surprise his sister at the wedding, he and his brother-in-law had been busy decorating the venue recently.
Min Ting quickly replied: [It's almost done. No need to come. Thanks for all the trouble lately—you've been running around despite being so busy with surgeries.]
Shi Wenli: [We're family. No need to be polite.]
His sister had a whirlwind marriage, and he had just returned from abroad. He wasn't very familiar with his brother-in-law yet, so sometimes they would deliberate for a long time before sending each other messages.
When his sister first married in haste, he worried she might not be happy, especially since his brother-in-law was born into a top-tier powerful family—their social statuses were mismatched, and the two had no emotional foundation.
But after spending time with his brother-in-law recently, he found his concerns were somewhat unnecessary.
Things his sister had longed for but never obtained as a child, his brother-in-law was now fulfilling one by one.
His only wish had always been for his sister to be happy and to have a home that truly belonged to her.
That wish had finally come true.
--
On the morning of the ninth, Xu Qinghe set an alarm for 9:30.
If she let herself sleep in, she probably wouldn't wake up until noon.
Since there was a wedding banquet at noon, she just had half a glass of milk for breakfast to tide her over.
The hotel where Shi Miao's wedding was held wasn't far from her apartment. The sun was shining today, and since she usually left early and returned late, she hadn't sunbathed in a long time.
So she changed clothes, left early, and strolled over slowly.
Sometimes you shouldn't be too eager for a banquet.
Halfway there, her phone buzzed.
She pulled it out and saw it was Jiang Yang calling.
Other than work, she rarely interacted with Dean Jiang's "good son" in private.
Thinking it might be an urgent consultation from the cardiac surgery department, Xu Qinghe quickly answered.
"Sis, are you heading to the hotel for the banquet?"
"…"
Xu Qinghe instinctively turned to look at the road and saw a long wedding motorcade waiting at a traffic light.
Was this Shi Miao and Min Ting's motorcade?
The next second, she dismissed the thought.
In a big city like Beijing, there were many couples getting married on an auspicious day; it couldn't be that coincidental.