There was another reason why Ruan Qiu did not want to talk about it: ever since Xiaotao had been hospitalized, not a single family member had shown up. Either Xiaotao’s family was still in the countryside and did not know the situation, or Xiaotao was an orphan with no family left.
Under these circumstances, the only people keeping Xiaotao alive were the doctors and nurses.
“I understand. Thank you, Sister-in-law.”
Chen Ji did not press any further.
When it was time to clock out, Ruan Qiu walked out of the hospital and stretched her arms.
“Sister-in-law.”
Tian Ruanruan caught up, grabbed Ruan Qiu’s arm, and said warmly, “Congratulations on successfully passing your probation. I am treating you to dinner today.”
Ruan Qiu wanted to refuse, but before the words could leave her mouth, she was already being dragged away by Tian Ruanruan toward a restaurant.
The dishes at the state-run restaurant were not cheap. Zhou Yinian haggled with the restaurant waiter for quite a while, but not a single penny was knocked off the price.
“If you cannot afford to eat here, go somewhere else. You want to show off, but you are too stingy to spend money. Who acts like you?”
Zhou Yinian clutched the food coupons in his hand. These were coupons he had saved up for a very long time. If Ruanruan had not insisted on treating Ruan Qiu to dinner, he would not have been willing to take them out.
Of course, Tian Ruanruan had contributed some food coupons to this meal as well.
If he and Ruanruan used all these coupons themselves, they would have lasted them a very long time.
Whatever. You have to spend a sprat to catch a mackerel.
He could not let Ruanruan think he was petty. It was just a meal; once he became the Tian family’s son-in-law and stepped into success overnight, what did a few food coupons matter?
With that thought, Zhou Yinian finally placed the food coupons on the counter and waved his hand grandly, “Bring out every single specialty dish your restaurant has.”
When the waiter saw the food coupons, a smile finally appeared on his face, and he immediately went to the kitchen to tell them to start cooking.
As Ruan Qiu and Tian Ruanruan entered the restaurant, Zhou Yinian hurriedly got up to greet them.
“Ruanruan, you are here?”
When Zhou Yinian spoke, his eyes remained fixed entirely on Tian Ruanruan, not deigning to spare Ruan Qiu even a glance.
Ruan Qiu could not be bothered to look at him either.
“Sister-in-law, please take a seat,” Tian Ruanruan greeted Ruan Qiu warmly.
They say you do not hit a smiling person. Since the girl was being so gentle, Ruan Qiu could not be too lacking in human decency.
Ruan Qiu sat down. “You two went to the trouble of treating me.”
“You said it. We spent two months’ worth of food coupons this time,” Zhou Yinian muttered discontentedly.
Tian Ruanruan raised her hand and gently shook Zhou Yinian’s arm. “How is it that exaggerated? Besides, if we really run out, I can just ask my parents for more later.”
“Ruanruan, you always have such a great mindset.” Zhou Yinian looked at her with pure romance.
Ruan Qiu got goosebumps all over her body.
The meal was quite awkward. The entire time was essentially spent watching Zhou Yinian gaslight Tian Ruanruan, whispering unrealistic yet intoxicating sweet nothings.
“Sister-in-law, you did not know a single character when you were in the countryside, yet upon coming to the city, you are suddenly able to heal the sick and save lives, and you even passed your probation so quickly. Is that not a bit mind-boggling?” In the end, Zhou Yinian could not suppress his internal doubts and asked what was really on his mind.
Ruan Qiu looked at Zhou Yinian with a half-smile. “We are not even from the same village. How is it that you know me so well?”
With that single sentence, Zhou Yinian almost jumped out of his skin.
“I heard about it.”
“You are an educated man, do you not understand what hearsay is? Most of the time, you have to believe what your own eyes see, not just listen. Things you hear are too illusory and too fake,” Ruan Qiu said pointedly.
Zhou Yinian hated her to the core. Ruan Qiu’s tongue was still as venomous as ever, only now her venom came packaged in education.
“Yinian, Sister-in-law is right. We have to seek truth from facts and not rely on gossip. At first, I also thought Sister-in-law came from the country and would not know a thing, but I was wrong. Sister-in-law is not only professional in her nursing knowledge, but she can also diagnose people’s conditions based on their appearance. That is genuinely impressive!” Tian Ruanruan’s admiration came straight from the heart.
Zhou Yinian looked at Tian Ruanruan as if she were an idiot.
Ruan Qiu looked at Zhou Yinian as if he were an idiot.
So, what if he was reborn? A person of bad character could be reborn a hundred times and still never change his narrow-minded nature.
Ruan Qiu thoroughly enjoyed the meal. She knew all too well how stingy Zhou Yinian was; such a large table of dishes would make his heart ache for months.
Ruan Qiu happily waved goodbye to the two of them, leaving Zhou Yinian with murder hidden in his eyes.
“Yinian, stop holding a grudge against Sister-in-law; she is genuinely very nice. Let me tell you, the son of Director Tan at our hospital used to hate studying medicine. Ever since he was blown away by Sister-in-law’s medical skills, he has been nagging her every day to take him on as an apprentice,” Tian Ruanruan said casually.
Zhou Yinian frowned. “There is such a thing?”
“Yeah. Is Sister-in-law not amazing? Alright, Yinian. Sister-in-law is doing well, so the Zhou family does well. If the Zhou family does well, you do well too, right?” Tian Ruanruan was considering the honor and disgrace of the entire Zhou family.
Zhou Yinian did not see it that way.
As the villain who had slashed him in his past life, Ruan Qiu did not deserve such a position.
And Zhou Yishen, as the adopted son of the Zhou family, had no qualification to bring glory to his ancestors either.
The glory of the Zhou family was something he would fight for.
The moral character of the Zhou family would also be upheld by Ruanruan.
As for Ruan Qiu, she only deserved to live in a gutter, hidden from the light for the rest of her life.
Ruan Qiu sneezed again.
This time she sneezed several times in a row, feeling like she might actually have caught a cold. She gave herself a guasha treatment and then fell asleep in a daze.
Early the next morning, when she arrived at work and reached the hospital, Head Nurse Yan immediately called her into the office.
“Ruan Qiu, you are a military dependent, and we respect you for that. But your behavior is frivolous, you are unvirtuous, and you are bringing shame upon your husband’s contributions!”
Head Nurse Yan seized the opportunity, launching into a sweeping tirade and slamming an anonymous report letter onto the desk.
“Take a look at this yourself. Someone wrote an anonymous letter detailing all your scandalous deeds. You have barely been at the hospital for long before stirring up this kind of trouble. You are truly a disgrace to our hospital.”
Ruan Qiu picked up the envelope, opened it, and glanced at the handwriting. Without even guessing, she knew Zhou Yinian was the one who did this.
“Head Nurse Yan, regarding this matter, I want to hear the Director’s decision.”
With that, Ruan Qiu took the anonymous letter and went straight to find the Director.
Head Nurse Yan was utterly dumbfounded. Any other young girl would have been crying and at a complete loss.
Not only was Ruan Qiu fine, but she even dared to take the letter straight to the Director.
“Ruan Qiu, as a medical worker, what qualifications do you have to see the Director?”
Head Nurse Yan chased after Ruan Qiu to block her path. “All nursing staff are managed by Director Tian. If she says she does not want you, she does not want you. It does you no good to see anyone. Going to the Director will only make you lose even more face.”
“Then I will just lose my face in broad daylight, crystal clear. Otherwise, would it not lack a bit of personality?”
What?
This was the first time Head Nurse Yan had ever seen someone so thick-skinned.
She wanted to lose face and make a spectacle of it too.
“What is going on?” Director Tian walked over, asking.
“Director Tian, we received an anonymous letter claiming that Ruan Qiu behaves frivolously, does not deserve to stay at the hospital, and demanding that we fire her,” Head Nurse Yan said, striking first.
Ruan Qiu turned her head to look at Head Nurse Yan’s righteous expression.
“You are getting so worked up. Could it be that you are the one who wrote this anonymous letter?”