“Hey, Guard Chen, bringing in a new person today!” Wan Aiguo greeted warmly.
“Mm.” Guard Chen merely twitched the corners of her lips, barely managing a trace of a smile in response.
Wan Aiguo felt no awkwardness. With a couple of dry, laughing “haha” sounds, he reached out his hand to Ning Xiaofei and said, “I am Wan Aiguo. I don’t know what our new colleague’s name is?”
“Ning Xiaofei!” Ning Xiaofei reached out politely as well, but Guard Chen pulled her back, shot Wan Aiguo a sidelong glance, and said, “You are in the Medical Department while she is in the Discipline Management Department. You aren’t colleagues at all, so stop trying to cozy up!”
“Oh! Auntie Chen, aren’t you going a bit too far!” Wan Aiguo stammered slightly, not without a trace of irritation.
Ning Xiaofei shrugged and smiled helplessly, signaling that this wasn’t her intentionally being rude.
Guard Chen let out a “humph” and ignored him completely. Immediately after, two more men stepped into the elevator. Both of them greeted Guard Chen with even more warmth than usual, and then turned to chat with Ning Xiaofei, but their fate ended up identical to Wan Aiguo’s.
“Tch, old hag!”
As soon as they stepped out of the elevator, Wan Aiguo couldn’t help whispering his complaints to Chu Xichen. “Senior, don’t you think we should help that old hag book an appointment with you? Since she can’t get married herself, she shouldn’t prevent other young women from mingling with men. If that isn’t a mental illness, what is?”
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On the other side, Guard Chen was busy telling Ning Xiaofei, “These men act as if they’ve never seen a pretty girl before. You’ve only been here for a single morning, and they’re already dying to glue their eyeballs onto you. Don’t pay any attention to them!”
“It’s not as exaggerated as you make it sound, is it? Weren’t those other doctors cold and aloof just now? Besides, wouldn’t it be too impolite of us to act like this?” Ning Xiaofei laughed.
“What impoliteness? If you reply to every single one of them, will you be able to handle it later? You’ll be annoyed to death. After all, I promised your mother to keep a close eye on you. Also, as for that Chu Xichen, don’t get any ideas just because he looks good. That man looks like the type who would never dote on his wife. Whoever marries him should just prepare to work like an ox and a horse for him all her life, treating him like an emperor on a pedestal.”
Ning Xiaofei was covered in black lines. You are really thinking far ahead, aren’t you? Who said anything about marrying him? Huh? Ning Xiaofei paused, realizing she seemed to have heard a familiar name just now. “What did you say his name was again?”
“Chu Xichen. Why?”
“Chu Xichen? Is he the one transferred from the city hospital?”
“Yes!”
“So he is that guy!” A cunning glint flashed across Ning Xiaofei’s eyes, thinking to herself that it really was a small world! Even though her brother told her not to mess with him, making things a bit difficult for him from time to time and giving him a hard time wasn’t something he could control anyway.
“What is it? Are you actually having some thoughts about him? You can’t have a man who’s too good-looking; they attract unwanted romantic attention the easiest. Look at him, he only arrived yesterday, and by today, almost all the staff know that this kind of character has newly arrived here.”
“Oh, it’s not like that at all.”
Chu Xichen and Wan Aiguo were sitting together eating their meal when Ning Xiaofei walked over carrying her food tray, harboring bad intentions. Just as she approached Chu Xichen’s side, she deliberately slipped, and the bowl of soup on her tray splashed directly toward Chu Xichen’s head.
Wan Aiguo, sitting across from Chu Xichen, let out a startled “ah” and stood up, trying to pull Chu Xichen out of the way. However, Chu Xichen reacted faster than him and stood up to dodge it, causing the soup to splash all over Wan Aiguo’s arm instead.
“Ah! I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, my hand slipped!” Ning Xiaofei hadn’t expected this outcome and hurriedly apologized to Wan Aiguo.
“Oh, that is indeed quite terrible!” Wan Aiguo shook the vegetable leaves off his sleeve, rolling it up to wipe himself while looking at Ning Xiaofei with a wronged expression. “I think I need to add the beauty’s WeChat to compensate for my emotional damages.”
Chu Xichen, sitting beside them with a calm expression, was inwardly astounded by Wan Aiguo’s operation. He thought to himself that this guy actually claimed he didn’t have a girlfriend, which hardly seemed real. With just that mouth and that thick skin, how could he possibly be twenty-five and still have no girlfriend? He must mean he didn’t have a new girlfriend yet.
“Hey, what’s the problem with that?” Ning Xiaofei gave a generous smile and took out her phone.
“No rush, no rush, beauty, please sit down!” Wan Aiguo beamed, pulling back the chair next to him, hoping to keep her there first.
Ning Xiaofei frowned, shook her head, and pointed her chin toward a table not far away. “Sorry, Guard Zhang over there is still waiting for me.”
“Oh, oh.” Wan Aiguo glanced over in that direction and sure enough, saw Guard Zhang scowling with a wrinkled nose as she looked toward their side. Cursing the old hag in his heart, he smiled outwardly and said, “Alright then, let’s hang out together next time!” He hurriedly brought up his WeChat QR code for Ning Xiaofei to scan.
After Ning Xiaofei left, Chu Xichen originally intended to say thank you to Wan Aiguo, even though he hadn’t needed his help just then, the man had stepped in out of good intentions anyway. But seeing Wan Aiguo just staring down at his phone with a cheerful grin, busy texting away, he simply decided to save the thanks.
When getting off work in the afternoon, Ning Xiaofei received a call from Ning Anyu and was taken aback.
“Why did you come here?”
“It’s your first day at work, and I was worried, so I came to check on you.” Ning Anyu stood outside the sanatorium holding his phone, tilting his head up to examine the tall, solemn gates that reflected a chilling white light.
Ning Xiaofei walked briskly toward the exit while answering the phone. “Are you for real? Why do I feel like this is a bit abnormal? Since when have you cared about me this much?”
“I’ve always cared about you, okay? It’s just that most of the time you don’t need me to worry about you at all. Anyway, I’m already here now. If you don’t want to see me, then I’ll just head back.”
“I’m coming right out! Wait there!”
Ning Xiaofei walked briskly toward Ning Anyu, looked left and right, and asked in confusion, “Why are you all by yourself? Where’s your caregiver?”
“I told him to stay a bit further away and just follow quietly within visual range.” Ning Anyu curled the corners of his lips in a smile.
“How can you do that? What if you have an episode out on the street and he can’t make it in time?” Ning Xiaofei worried aloud.
“He won’t. These past two days, my heart has felt a lot steadier, so I shouldn’t be having an episode again so soon.”
“But what if?”
“There are no what ifs. Besides, he isn’t far away. I’m just really annoyed, having no personal space at all. Do you understand that feeling?” Ning Anyu looked at his younger sister, his brow furrowing slightly.
“Sigh.” Ning Xiaofei let out a sigh, casting a heart-aching gaze toward her older brother.
Although Ning Anyu was two years older than her, in her heart she felt as though he were a younger brother, because she had watched him suffer frequent episodes since childhood, during which he looked both pitiful and fragile.
“Alright, alright. As long as you’re truly confident in your own mind, then there’s no problem. Let’s go, we can walk around the neighborhood and find somewhere to eat along the way.”
“Aren’t you going to take me inside to see where you work? Look at how heavily guarded it is on the outside, I wonder what it’s actually like on the inside.” Ning Anyu put his hands behind his back, looking thoroughly intrigued.