Today wasn’t a holiday, so the restaurant was sparsely populated. Zhou Che, the wealthy second-generation heir, even considered booking the entire dining hall. Lin Xitang held back her urge to kick him.
Completely unnecessary.
What a lunatic.
“Stop showing off. Sit down and order. I’m starving to death.”
Lin Xitang was studying medicine, and her courses were particularly intense, with considerable academic pressure.
Every meal felt like a “hungry wolf hunting its prey.”
She was in her first year of graduate school and had been Xu Zhizhi’s middle school classmate. Although Xu Zhizhi had skipped grades all along and they had shared a desk for less than half a year, perhaps they simply clicked—there was a natural affinity—and they had remained friends for several years.
“Xu Zhizhi, you’re not planning to pursue a Ph.D., are you?” Lin Xitang asked.
Xu Zhizhi replied calmly, “No.”
She didn’t like school, and she knew people whispered behind her back, saying there was something wrong with her mind.
She didn’t want to go.
“If you don’t want to, then don’t,” Lin Xitang told her. “The advisor who mentored you before asked my advisor about your situation. He was quite disappointed to hear you weren’t continuing.”
“No need for disappointment. If she had to stay in school for a few more years, you’d probably be able to take her straight to the psychiatric department for admission when you returned,” Zhou Che said. “Or the psychology department.”
Both he and Lin Xitang knew about Xu Zhizhi’s years in graduate school—she had been too repressed, unable to endure staying in school.
Indeed, Lin Xitang couldn’t help but recall the legendary tales about Xu Zhizhi that circulated in middle and high school.
A legendary figure—a learning machine—who studied sixteen hours a day, twenty-four hours a day.
A terrifying human who completed middle school coursework in one year and high school coursework in a year and a half.
The principal wiped Xu Zhizhi’s photo on the honor roll seven times a week.
Because of her, the school dormitory building was renovated twice in one year, for fear she might be uncomfortable.
But she also had flaws—a genius in academics, a fool in daily life.
Almost every student in the school knew that Class A of the affiliated middle school had an academic prodigy with something wrong in the head.
Thinking of this, Lin Xitang said, “I plan to switch majors when I pursue my Ph.D.”
Zhou Che asked, “To what?”
“Psychology.”
Zhou Che didn’t want to discourage her, but for the sake of the likely medical disputes that would occur later, he couldn’t help but say, “The probability of you getting into a fight with a patient is ninety-five percent.”
“Alright, you can shut up now,” Lin Xitang said, her lips curling and her eyes narrowing slightly.
How did she end up with this boyfriend?
Lin Xitang’s flaw: she had no patience for irrelevant people.
Fatal flaw: she had absolutely no patience for people who couldn’t understand what was being said.
During her internship two years ago, she encountered a young “old man” who was hard of hearing and had a terrible temper. After his medical insurance coverage was exhausted, he had to pay out of pocket. After barely making him understand, Lin Xitang thought he would either settle the bill or leave complaining about the cost. Instead, he started yelling about why he wasn’t being reimbursed.
He wouldn’t listen to explanations and threatened to report her.
He accused her, as a service provider, of having low quality and a bad temper, and of withholding government subsidies meant for the people.
Lin Xitang laughed in anger.
Go ahead, go report me. Hurry up.
Later, her supervisor called her in to discuss her mistakes. Lin Xitang didn’t hold back either. She glanced at him and asked nonchalantly, “Are you blind? Can’t you see the reason?”
What was she supposed to do after the coverage ran out? Pay out of her own pocket or have the hospital give him the medicine for free?
The supervisor was so angry he nearly ended up in the emergency room.
But Lin Xitang wasn’t someone to be trifled with, and neither was her family. Since she hadn’t done anything wrong, the hospital didn’t dare take any action against her.
During those few months at work, she encountered almost every kind of idiot in the world.
It infuriated her so much that she developed mammary hyperplasia.
During that time, Zhou Che didn’t dare provoke her at all, fearing the young lady might silence him for good.
Later, she complained to Zhou Che, saying something like, “Forget about whether the population is large or small—how about addressing the issue of intellectual disability?”
There were just too many people who couldn’t understand what was being said.
“You’ve been studying Traditional Chinese Medicine so well. Whether you pursue a Ph.D. or not, stick with TCM. Don’t switch,” Zhou Che advised her.
Xu Zhizhi rested her chin on the menu, her eyes momentarily dazed. “You got into a Ph.D. program?”
Lin Xitang: “Little mouth—”
These two were purely here to poke at her sore spots.
When the appetizers arrived, Xu Zhizhi stopped listening to them and focused intently on the food on her plate.
After the meal, they ran into a junior from Lin Xitang’s club. One of them complained in a somewhat resentful tone, “Senior, you’re leaving soon, and you didn’t even come to the last club gathering. Don’t you like us? Senior He even specially picked a hotpot restaurant you like. Everyone was waiting for you.”
The junior was quite cute and dressed somewhat similarly to Xu Zhizhi, but every time she spoke, she was aggressive, with a confrontational tone.
And, bringing up some senior in front of her boyfriend…
Both she and Zhou Che knew He Conglan, but the way the junior said it made it sound like there was something illicit between them.
Lin Xitang frowned slightly. “Sorry, but before I leave, I still want to spend time with my boyfriend and my bestie.”
Zhou Che silently translated her tone in his mind: Who do you think you are? Some distant, barely-related junior. Are we so close that I should treat you to a meal before I leave?
“Alright, Senior He will be out soon. Do you want to talk to him?”
Lin Xitang was so amused she almost wanted to curse.
Xu Zhizhi, having eaten her fill and rubbing her round belly, spoke up in confusion, “Does he need to see a doctor?”
Her tone was flat and indifferent. Everyone looked at Xu Zhizhi, who was at the back. The junior paused. “Senior He is in good health.”
That remark carried hidden meanings. Lin Xitang glanced at the junior.
Xu Zhizhi added, “If he’s not sick, why is he looking for Tangtang?”
As everyone knew, Lin Xitang specialized in treating gynecological diseases and—was a master at relieving menstrual pain.
“Or are you sick?” She rummaged through Lin Xitang’s small bag, pulled out a business card, and reluctantly shoved it into the junior’s hand. “If you’re sick, make an appointment. If not, move aside.”
Blocking the way and not leaving is so annoying! She still wanted to go back and write ().
Updating ten thousand words a day wasn’t just a dream.
The junior glanced sideways, and suddenly her eyes welled up with tears, which soon began to fall in a steady stream.
Everyone was speechless. She started the trouble herself and then started crying.
He Conglan came out after settling the bill and saw everyone looking at him strangely—some rolling their eyes, others crying. He was baffled.
Seeing Zhou Che, he greeted him with a smile. “Having dinner with your girlfriend? We’ve got another gathering. It’s been a while since we had a drink together. Come join us.”
He ignored the crying junior, mainly because this girl cried in front of him three times a day.
For a moment, he couldn’t tell whether he was the one with issues or she was.
Zhou Che: “Forget it. I drove here today. I need to make sure my wife and little girl get home safely.”
The little girl glared at him angrily again but didn’t say a word.
Lin Xitang, Zhou Che, and He Conglan were also classmates—elementary school classmates, all from moderately wealthy families.
They shared similar values, were decent people, and took their studies seriously, so naturally, they got along well.
“Call a designated driver later, don’t worry, your wife and kids won’t get lost. Let’s all have some fun together.” He looked at Xu Zhizhi behind Lin Xitang. “The little girl hasn’t grown much taller, drink more milk.”
Xu Zhizhi: “!”
If the tiger doesn’t show its might, do they really think she has a good temper?
And so, she unleashed a small storm of fury once again.