Amidst the gazes of everyone along the way, Nie Lingchuan returned to his office and saw three people sitting inside.
One of them was his third uncle, Feng Wei, currently a professor at the Imperial Capital University Medical School and also the head of the dermatology department at this hospital.
"You're back." Feng Wei smiled as he looked at Feng Zhan. "My nephew just returned from abroad. He's twenty years old this year and is already a rising star in the surgical department of the main hospital."
After saying this, he turned to Feng Zhan and asked, "Did you perform surgery?"
"A kidney transplant." Feng Zhan poured himself a cup of hot water, leaned against the desk, and lowered his brows, seemingly lost in thought.
Nie Lingchuan couldn't help but feel shocked. This young man was a true genius.
Most twenty-year-olds were still studying in school. To stand in front of the operating table as the lead surgeon, even the better ones would have to wait until they were thirty, let alone perform such intricate surgeries as kidney transplants.
Moreover, the young man before him was tall and long-legged, with stunning features that absolutely crushed the currently popular young idols in the industry. Even top-tier celebrities couldn't compare to his looks.
"Is he the son of the eldest Feng?" The Feng family was a medical dynasty. The eldest son had gone into politics, the second into the military, and the third, Feng Wei, had inherited the career of the Nie family's patriarch and become a doctor.
The Feng family's ancestors had also practiced medicine for generations.
Nie Lingchuan had known Feng Wei for many years but rarely visited the Feng family. He had gone once before and was intimidated by the aura of the Feng family patriarch, who was one of the top medical experts in the country today, with the title of academician.
Although the patriarch was a very kind old man, Nie Lingchuan felt uneasy in every way when facing him.
"Your nephew is good, but he's still the son of the eldest Feng. I have a daughter, you know." Nie Lingchuan refused to be outdone.
Feng Wei looked disdainful. "You're just showing off in front of the young lady. What's there to be proud of? My nephew graduated from the top medical school in the world."
Nie Fuyao found it amusing. Were these two so competitive when they got together?
As for Nie Lingchuan, he glanced back at his well-behaved daughter, feeling an itch in his heart.
"My daughter is eighteen years old…" After saying this, Nie Lingchuan faltered.
How could he compare?
His daughter had just been found, and he didn't even know what special talents his precious girl had.
Nie Fuyao reached out and poked his back, giving him an encouraging look with her eyes. "Your daughter is proficient in nine languages."
"…"
The three of them were slightly stunned and looked at Nie Fuyao.
Especially Feng Zhan, whose gaze was calm and deep, as if anyone who met his eyes would be drawn into them.
Nie Lingchuan seemed to have heard an illusion. He blinked. "Nine languages?"
"Yes. Chinese, English, French, German, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Italian, and Indonesian."
Feng Zhan, who had maintained a faint expression all along, now had a hint of curiosity in his eyes.
The next moment, Feng Zhan spoke a sentence.
To those who didn't understand, it sounded like "gibberish," almost like chanting.
"Self-taught." Nie Fuyao looked at him, curling her lips into a light smile. "I'm a language genius."
She replied to him in the same language.
The two elders looked at each other, dumbfounded, watching the two younger ones switch languages and converse with each other.
"Your nephew is indeed impressive." Nie Lingchuan said.
Feng Wei raised an eyebrow. "I saw online that your daughter is being heavily criticized. Aren't you going to clarify things?"
Initially, he had also thought that the daughter his friend had found was unsightly, especially since many people online had started leaking information.
Classmates, teachers, even people from the same village—all spoke with such certainty.
They were merely outsiders with no close relationship, yet they acted as if harboring some deep-seated grudge, eager to nail this eighteen-year-old girl to the pillar of shame, never to rise again.
"The company has planned a variety show, and I intend to take her along. Having been in this industry for over twenty years, I know that without solid evidence that convinces them, no matter how much I argue, they'll just think I'm boasting."
Nie Lingchuan saw all the comments online—how could he not feel heartache for his daughter?
But what good would heartache alone do? Only with powerful evidence could he slap them in the face and free his daughter from the endless stream of rumors in the future.
"You want your daughter to enter the entertainment industry?" Feng Wei didn’t think this was a good idea at all.
"It’s our own company’s variety show. I’m just taking her along for fun. The industry is too chaotic, and even with my protection, I worry she might fall victim to others’ schemes. It all depends on her plans for the future—I respect her opinion." The infighting in this industry was too severe; even a slightly ambiguous remark could ruin someone’s reputation. He didn’t want his daughter to join the circle.
But to shake off the baseless slander and mudslinging online, he would take his daughter to the variety show for a visit.
Regardless of the investigation results, Nie Lingchuan never believed his daughter’s character was despicable.
Feng Wei was on duty today and instructed Feng Zhan to take Nie Fuyao for a full-body checkup.
"Dr. Feng."
"Dr. Feng…"
Feng Zhan led her to the third floor. Along the way, everyone who saw him greeted him with smiles.
He didn’t particularly enjoy socializing; compared to maintaining superficial relationships with colleagues, he preferred examining patients’ internal organs.
From a very young age, he had loved flipping through his grandfather’s medical books. The first time he followed his grandfather into the operating room and saw the gleaming silver scalpel cut through the skin, revealing the crimson organs inside, the intoxicating thrill of that moment remained unforgettable.
"Good-looking people are welcomed everywhere," Nie Fuyao couldn’t help but chuckle.
Look at those young nurses—their cheeks flushed bright red at the sight of him. Girls’ feelings were so transparent and clear, utterly adorable.
Feng Zhan frowned slightly, not because of Nie Fuyao. He was well aware of his own situation—it was unavoidable.
As long as it didn’t interfere with his work, he could ignore it.
In fact, Nie Fuyao was also very beautiful. Though she was thin now, her bone structure was the most perfect Feng Zhan had seen in all these years.
He subtly flexed his fingers, his Adam’s apple bobbing a few times as he suppressed the itch in his heart.
An inexplicable urge arose—a desire to dissect her and take a look.
This was something he had never felt before.
They arrived on the third floor and completed a routine blood test. As they stepped out, they heard a commotion.
Before she could react, several people rushed over from a distance, roughly shoving Feng Zhan aside and cursing as they headed toward the end of the corridor.
Feng Zhan lost his balance, stumbling forward two steps and pinning Nie Fuyao against the wall, his lips pressing against her smooth forehead.
He bent his arm to brace against the wall, "trapping" her in his embrace, their posture intimate.
"…"
Both of them froze.
Nie Fuyao had never been "pinned against a wall" like this before, nor had she ever imagined such a scene.
The man carried a faint scent of disinfectant, which drifted into her nostrils, causing her steady heartbeat to suddenly accelerate.
The sensation on her forehead was soft and slightly cool. She could feel the movement of her bangs as his breath brushed against them.
She felt a parched thirst, and a tingling sensation that sprouted from the depths of her heart, as if a light feather had brushed by, bringing a shivering, subtle itch, inadvertently giving rise to endless reveries.
"Sorry." Feng Zhan quickly straightened up, avoiding her gaze as he slightly pursed his lips, a faint, elusive fragrance lingering between his lips and tongue.
It wasn't any artificial scent, but a natural fragrance emanating from within the body.
Commonly known as the fragrance of a maiden.
Scientifically, it is the scent released by hormones.