23
Missing You a Little Bit
Lu Xuanzhou held the lunchbox, occasionally glancing toward the corridor.
He had urgent matters to attend to last night and couldn’t return home, unsure if Lin Jianchun would mind—after all, yesterday was their first day as a married couple. Though they’d agreed on a one-month trial period, he shouldn’t have been absent on such an important day.
“Brother Zhou~~~~”
Lu Xuanzhou looked up to see Lin Jianchun beaming with joy as she jogged toward him.
“Be careful, don’t trip.”
Lu Xuanzhou reached out to steady her as she came to a halt before him. “The logistics department just mopped the floors. Don’t run so fast—you might slip.”
Lin Jianchun nodded absently, and Lu Xuanzhou knew she hadn’t taken his words to heart.
He sighed helplessly and handed her the lunchbox. “Mom asked me to bring you lunch.”
“Aren’t you working this afternoon?”
Lu Xuanzhou nodded. “I just applied for marriage leave today. I don’t need to go to work all week, though someone will call me if anything urgent comes up at the factory.”
“Then let me show you my office.”
Lin Jianchun’s office was converted from a consultation room, spacious enough for her sole use.
She unpacked the lunch containers one by one. “Wow, Mom prepared so many dishes! I can’t finish them alone—eat with me.”
“No need, I’ll eat at home later.”
Lin Jianchun gave him no chance to refuse, feeding him a bite each time she took one herself.
By the end of the meal, she’d discovered her latent talent for kindergarten teaching—though unfortunately, no kindergarten contained such a well-behaved “big baby” like Lu Xuanzhou.
Lu Xuanzhou proactively cleared the dishes. “I’ll head back now.”
Lin Jianchun rubbed her full belly and waved him off.
“Mom wanted me to ask if your first day at work went smoothly.”
Lin Jianchun burst into peals of laughter. This reserved man had held back the question throughout the entire meal before finally spitting it out.
“Do you want to know, or does Mom want to know?”
Lu Xuanzhou tightened his grip on the cloth bag. “Is there a difference?”
Lin Jianchun blinked mischievously. “Of course there is. If Mom wants to know, I’ll tell her myself after work. If you want to know… then come here.”
Lu Xuanzhou walked away without looking back.
Lin Jianchun clicked her tongue lightly. Lu Xuanzhou was so easily flustered—fleeing just like that.
As she turned around, the door creaked open again.
Lu Xuanzhou reappeared in the doorway, enunciating each word clearly: “I want to know. How was your first day at work? Was anyone unkind to you?”
Lin Jianchun’s eyes sparkled as she crooked her finger at him. “Come here, and I’ll tell you.”
Obediently, Lu Xuanzhou approached the desk and bent down at her gesture.
Lin Jianchun leaned against his stiff shoulders, whispering by his ear: “No one bothered me, but I didn’t have a great day. I missed you—just a little.”
The tips of Lu Xuanzhou’s ears turned pink, and Lin Jianchun couldn’t resist giving one a playful pinch.
He sprang back abruptly just as Yu Zhenzhen knocked on the door: “Dr. Lin—”
“I should go.” Lu Xuanzhou opened the door to let Yu Zhenzhen in.
Yu Zhenzhen reported, “Dr. Lin, the logistics department has delivered all the meals to the conference room.”
“Thank you, Comrade Yu.”
Yu Zhenzhen waved her hand dismissively. “No need to thank me for such a small favor, Dr. Lin. Please don’t be so formal—just call me Zhenzhen.”
“Then you shouldn’t call me Dr. Lin either. I’m not actually a doctor, and I’m probably a bit older than you, so just call me sister.”
Yu Zhenzhen readily agreed. “Sister, I haven’t properly thanked you for what happened the day before yesterday. When are you free? I’d like to treat you to a meal at the State-run Restaurant. I still haven’t used last month’s meat coupons.”
“When would I have time lately? Are you quite free?”
Yu Zhenzhen nodded. “I’m just a small nurse in ophthalmology, but we don’t have many patients there. I’m like a brick that gets moved wherever needed.”
“Then why don’t you come listen to my lectures?”
“How would a small nurse like me qualify? The senior directors at our hospital nearly came to blows fighting for spots in the first batch of lectures. The first three batches have already been reserved by department heads.”
Lin Jianchun had a sudden inspiration. “Would you like to attend my lectures? How about I request you as my assistant?”
“Can that really happen? Sister, you’re my real sister!”
Afraid Lin Jianchun might change her mind, Yu Zhenzhen immediately pushed her toward Dean Su’s office.
“Uncle, my sister says she wants me as her assistant! You can’t object.”
Lin Jianchun was startled—Dean Su was actually Yu Zhenzhen’s uncle. If the Song family knew they’d let such a big fish slip away, she wondered if their intestines were turning green with regret.
Dean Su massaged his forehead. “Are you sure Xiao Lin isn’t just agreeing because you pestered her into it?”
Lin Jianchun cleared her throat lightly. “Since the medical staff attending the lectures are generally older, I need an assistant to help with miscellaneous tasks, like arranging lunch for the students.”
With Lin Jianchun saying this, Dean Su naturally didn’t object further.
When the afternoon session began, Yu Zhenzhen followed Lin Jianchun into the conference room under the envious gazes of everyone present.
“So far, only four students have completed the recitation assessment with me. What difficulties are the remaining fourteen students facing?”
Dead silence.
Yu Zhenzhen was stunned—when had she ever seen department heads being so obedient???
“Students, lift your heads.”
The fourteen middle-aged and elderly students who hadn’t completed the assessment slowly raised their heads. They had brought shame to their hospital and departments. They were prepared—prepared to receive Dr. Lin’s criticism.
“The problem lies with me. I didn’t consider each student’s foundation before rigidly assigning such intensive homework. After class, each student should report to Assistant Yu Zhenzhen to schedule their recitation completion time based on their individual foundation.”
“Next we’ll proceed to the practical session. Seeing the actual equipment will help everyone memorize better.”
Lin Jianchun led the eighteen people, plus Yu Zhenzhen, to the radiology department.
With the power turned off, she explained while demonstrating, then had everyone practice in pairs.
After everyone had learned, Lin Jianchun asked Yu Zhenzhen to request permission from Dean Su: “Could we disassemble this machine to explain its internal structure?”
Dean Su hurried over. “Xiao Lin, everyone here is just a doctor. There’s no need to force our way into machine repair territory. Could we leave some work for the actual repair technicians, please?”
Lin Jianchun reluctantly agreed. “Since we can’t disassemble the machine, our two classes end here. The content I taught this morning was slightly beyond the syllabus. If you find it useful, you can memorize it appropriately—after all, there’s no harm in learning more.”
Dean Su was surprised. “You’ve all mastered it?”
The eighteen middle-aged and elderly students replied in unison, “Of course! Such a small machine is extremely simple. If Dean Su hadn’t forbidden us from dismantling it, we’d definitely be competing with repair technicians for business.”
After bidding farewell to her students one by one, Lin Jianchun asked Dean Su to arrange for the second batch of learners to come tomorrow.
When these eighteen students returned to their six hospitals, colleagues inquired about Lin Jianchun’s teaching. They unanimously gave thumbs up and said, “Having Dr. Lin teach us how to use the C-machine is truly underutilizing her talent.”