The only doctor with the surname Jiang in the entire hospital—how could she be the same person as the Jiang-surnamed friend she had just met not long ago?
Oh my, what a coincidence.
Chen Zui’s eyes brightened, and she subconsciously glanced toward Jiang Feiwan’s hand.
It was covered by the long sleeves of her white lab coat, so there was no telling how the spot hit by the bicycle last time was doing.
Clearly, Jiang Feiwan was also stunned the moment she looked back and saw Chen Zui. She hadn’t expected to run into Chen Zui on an occasion like this, because a place like a psychological healing center was probably not somewhere people wandered into for no reason at all.
Jiang Feiwan’s eyebrows furrowed slightly, her gaze unable to help but linger on her for a few extra seconds, but then, remembering that the reservation name was written as Miss Li, her expression softened slightly, and only then did she look at the person next to Chen Zui: “Miss Li?”
Li Li looked slightly surprised, “Doctor Jiang knew it was me?”
Jiang Feiwan smiled gently, “I guessed.”
The guide had changed to her. Jiang Feiwan walked ahead of the two, heading deep into the corridor: “Sleep healing, right? Are there any records of this week’s sleep situation?”
“Yes, intermittently less than 5 hours, and quite light.”
“Have you taken any melatonin, sleeping pills, or sleep-aid-related medications?”
Not knowing where she pulled it from, Jiang Feiwan produced a recording notebook, resting it on her hand as she wrote.
Li Li grabbed Chen Zui’s steps, which were getting faster and faster, keeping her parallel to herself, and replied, “Yes, no obvious effect.”
After a few simple questions, the group stopped in front of a door. Jiang Feiwan had already closed the notebook, the usual gentleness hanging on her face, and her voice soft, “Let’s guide you into deep sleep first; your nerves are too tense.”
Li Li nodded, following the arrangement. She had originally booked the whole afternoon anyway; even if the doctor hadn’t let her sleep, she would have proactively suggested wanting to get a good sleep.
She was currently craving top-quality sleep.
Healing was always a one-on-one process. To make it convenient for visitors to fully immerse themselves in the treatment, the entry of a third person was usually not recommended, so Chen Zui was naturally arranged to wait outside.
Li Li wanted to give her the car keys so she could go back first.
Chen Zui returned the car keys to Li Li because she didn’t know how to drive.
Between four wheels and two legs, she preferred two legs.
Sitting in the waiting area outside, Chen Zui idly scrolled through videos, all of which were outdoor popular science, and Chen Zui swiped past them one by one.
She hadn’t opened her email since returning to Qingzhou. With time on her hands, Chen Zui clicked on an older email.
—It was a cooperation request to help find natural pigments.
The location was in the natural forest in the central part of Yun City, running from northwest to southeast. A portion had been developed into tourism, and no one dared to venture any further inward. The power of nature, after all, was not something humans could conquer just because they wanted to.
Chen Zui had been there once in her earlier years. Back then, she was still young and her equipment wasn’t complete, so she only took a casual look around the edge and came out without even seeing the lake inside. Now that there was another opportunity to go over, Chen Zui felt a bit moved and finished reading the remaining emails.
The person seeking cooperation was a pigment maker who wanted to find a shade of green rumored to exist only in the natural forest of Yun City, which would faintly cast a pale blue when light shone through it.
Chen Zui knew nothing about things like pigments. If she decided to take on this cooperation, fetching the pigment would be her task, not her main purpose.
She replied to the email, asking for a picture of the pigment and some questions about time before hastily exiting the mailbox.
Jiang Feiwan pushed the door open and came out.
Hearing the movement, Chen Zui immediately put away her phone, stood up, and walked toward the corridor.
“She fell asleep?” Chen Zui asked curiously, trying to see something through the glass.
—Not even a shadow of a person could be seen.
Jiang Feiwan, “Yeah, set an alarm.”
“Then what are you going to do now?” Chen Zui thought she had free time.
But she didn’t. Jiang Feiwan flipped through the records in her hand: “I need to make a long-term treatment analysis for Miss Li, but from what I gathered of her intentions, she seems to only plan to sleep.”
When Jiang Feiwan was thinking about things, she lost a bit of her softness and had a bit of seriousness to her! But not much, probably just the little bit piled up between her eyebrows.
“Are you going to wait here for your friend to wake up?” Jiang Feiwan raised her eyes to look at her, her tone polite and detached.
It didn’t seem as gentle as the day the two had dinner.
Chen Zui pursed the corners of her lips and nodded: “Maybe. I’ll wander around the annex in a bit and grab some lunch.”
“Haven’t eaten?” Jiang Feiwan’s attention completely shifted away from the record book in her hand.
“No.”
As soon as she finished speaking, Jiang Feiwan turned and went back into the office. The door wasn’t closed, so she would probably come out again in a moment. Chen Zui didn’t dare let her eyeballs wander blindly, so she rubbed her nose and waited at the door.
Soon, when Jiang Feiwan came out from inside again, the white lab coat had been taken off, replaced by a knitted long-sleeve shirt covering her arms.
Chen Zui had a feeling of wanting to follow yet hesitating, since the person hadn’t spoken, and they weren’t very close either…
“Come over.”
Jiang Feiwan’s warm and mellow voice came over, and Chen Zui immediately grinned from ear to ear and followed, “Is Doctor Jiang going out?”
“There’s a street behind. The wontons there are quite delicious. Let’s just make do with a bite.” Jiang Feiwan was concise, taking her to lunch.
“Turns out Doctor Jiang hasn’t eaten either.” Chen Zui smiled in a low voice, her steps turning brisk.
That street wasn’t far, and before Chen Zui could find a good topic to start, they had arrived. The business in the shop was booming. Even at this afternoon hour, customers patronizing the place were numerous. There were no air-conditioned seats inside, so the two had to choose a temporarily set-up table outside to sit down.
Besides being hot, the sun was bright.
Chen Zui moved the table further under the parasol until the shadow completely covered Jiang Feiwan’s side before sitting back down.
She couldn’t go any further in; going any further would mean bumping into the other table of guests.
“Let’s change places to eat,” Jiang Feiwan said, seeing the tip of Chen Zui’s nose starting to sweat.
Chen Zui refused, “We already ordered, eh. Let’s change to a different place next time.”
Next time.
Jiang Feiwan’s gaze flickered, forcing herself to ignore those two words, “Change seats. It’s too sunny there.”
She wiped the table on her left clean with a tissue, “Sit here. At least it blocks half the sun.”
Chen Zui didn’t stand on ceremony with her, changed seats, and couldn’t help worrying: “With a split table like this, and both of us sitting on the same side, won’t it flip over when we eat wontons later?”
“A split table?” Jiang Feiwan went to look at the table legs, instantly understanding what she meant by ‘split’, and was momentarily amused and exasperated, “No, this kind is fixed. Even if you sit on top, it won’t flip.”
“Then I—”
“Don’t actually try it.”
Chen Zui had no choice but to shift her center of gravity back to the stool.
The speed of serving dishes in the shop was fast. Two bowls of wontons—one without cilantro and one without scallions. Chen Zui took the bowl without scallions.
Having eaten only two, Chen Zui started biting into a wonton and spoke, “Is Doctor Jiang’s injury better?”
“It’s already healed.”
“Aww, that’s good.”
Eating this kind of food that had just come out of the pot and kept steaming in the summer was simply like throwing oil onto a fire, scalding Chen Zui until she was dripping with sweat, and soybean-sized beads of sweat began to pour down her forehead.
After eating more than half the bowl, her back was already soaked through.
Looking at Jiang Feiwan, on the other hand, she ate calmly, without even a single drop of sweat coming out.
Could it be that the food in her bowl wasn’t hot?
Chen Zui wanted to try one, but she was too embarrassed to bring it up. And she didn’t know if it was because Jiang Feiwan seemed to be in a bad mood today—when she smiled, her eyebrows didn’t arch, and those nice, slender peach-blossom eyes wouldn’t curve either.
In short, something was a bit off.
Jiang Feiwan and Chen Zui put down their chopsticks at the same time. Not a single wonton was left in the latter’s bowl, while the former had about a small half-bowl left.
“You’re not eating anymore?” Chen Zui glanced a few times at the bowl.
Jiang Feiwan nodded, noticing her gaze: “Do you want me to order another bowl for you?”
Chen Zui touched her belly and looked confused, “I can’t finish a full bowl. At most eat three or four more to fill the gaps.”
She really wasn’t full. She had eaten less for dinner that night, but that presupposed being full at lunch. A bowl of wontons was only thirteen or fourteen pieces; how could that fill anyone up?
Doctor Jiang’s stomach probably wasn’t any bigger than a little bird’s.
Clearly, her idea had shifted to the leftovers in Jiang Feiwan’s bowl.
“Do you despise me?”
Chen Zui asked this question.
As soon as it was asked, Jiang Feiwan didn’t react for a second, looking suspicious: “What?”
Chen Zui pointed in front of her: “Should I eat the rest? We’re both women; it shouldn’t be offensive, right?”
“No!” Jiang Feiwan flatly refused, making a move to call the boss to serve another bowl.
Chen Zui hurriedly stopped her: “I can’t eat a whole bowl anymore, I won’t eat!”
She just wanted to fill the gaps; why wouldn’t she let her?
She was still vexed all the way back on the road, her mind full of the wontons Jiang Feiwan hadn’t finished.
There were only four or five left; she wouldn’t even let her eat them to fill the gaps.
Why is Doctor Jiang so stingy.