Bai Mu Ning became even more alert because of that message he could no longer withdraw after two minutes.
Was he crippled in the hands or something? Why were two words missing?
Did his phone automatically censor those words while typing?
Bai Mu Ning wasn’t sure whether Wen Jing had seen it, and if he had, how would he feel about it? Would he think he was a pervert?
He tried to comfort himself. Was it even that big? He had added modifiers before it, okay? “It’s snowing here”—those words were just a prefix. It didn’t necessarily have to mean something lewd. Big eyes, big ears, big hands, big feet, big snow?
There were many possible interpretations. It didn’t necessarily have to be that one.
Wen Jing was a doctor and a proper gentleman. How could he possibly have the same dirty thoughts as some sleazy guy?
He must be pure, super innocent, and wouldn’t twist the meaning.
Bai Mu Ning managed to talk himself into calmness and was about to go to sleep when a new message came through on his quiet phone. After reading it, he completely fell apart.
[Wen Jing: It’s pretty big. Do you want to see it?]
Was he possessed? What kind of dirty talk was this?
The perfect image of Wen Jing in Bai Mu Ning’s mind collapsed in an instant from a celibate male god to a greasy pervert.
This man must be poisonous. See what? Who wants to see you?
Sleazy. Perverted. Scumbag.
Bai Mu Ning shut off his phone and decided to ignore Wen Jing.
He couldn’t make sense of how Wen Jing managed to interpret it that way?
Or was Wen Jing a pervert all along, just hiding it until now?
With his eyes closed, Bai Mu Ning couldn’t fall asleep no matter what. Fuming, he sat up and grabbed his phone, ready to curse Wen Jing out.
However, Wen Jing’s video call came through first.
The video call popped up out of nowhere, startling Bai Mu Ning. He wondered: What’s Wen Jing doing sending me a video call?
Li Anche was still asleep, so Bai Mu Ning grabbed his phone and hurried to the restroom.
Their school dorm was very old, and the rooms didn’t have private bathrooms. The sink area, toilets, and laundry room were all communal.
It was already past eleven. Most of the guys were either sleeping or playing games in their rooms, so the sink area was empty and a bit chilly.
The video request was still going. Bai Mu Ning unconsciously tidied up his hair and then tapped “Accept.”
He regretted it immediately. Why the hell did he pick up in the middle of the night? He should have declined.
And why did he come to the restroom? It was freezing, ah!!!
Hugging his arms, Bai Mu Ning cleared his throat and coldly asked with a terrible attitude, “Hey, why are you video calling me?”
On screen, Wen Jing looked like he had just taken a shower. His hair was still dripping wet. He was wearing a bathrobe, and although the sash was properly tied, his collarbones and a portion of his chest were still exposed.
Normally, Wen Jing always wore white shirts. His figure was completely hidden, and one could only make vague guesses about his physique from the way the fabric fit him.
Now that he had a glimpse, Bai Mu Ning couldn’t help but marvel. Wen Jing really did have a great body.
He was over thirty and hadn’t gained any weight. Did he work out regularly?
Wen Jing chuckled softly. He stood up to get a bottle of water from the fridge, then took a sip and said, “What, I’m not allowed to contact you?”
Bai Mu Ning kept his eyes glued to Wen Jing on the other end of the call. He didn’t want to miss a single movement of him drinking the water.
He had to admit that when someone’s good-looking, even drinking water looks like a commercial.
Moist lips, a bobbing Adam’s apple, and a single droplet of water that slid from the corner of his mouth, disappearing into the robe.
Bai Mu Ning swallowed hard, suddenly feeling thirsty himself.
“Aren’t you going to sleep?”
The room behind Wen Jing was brightly lit, not at all like someone preparing for bed.
Sure enough, even a traditional Chinese medicine doctor couldn’t go to bed at ten o’clock. How dare he tell patients to sleep early?
Bai Mu Ning started blaming Wen Jing. “I was already asleep. You woke me up.”
“A minute ago, the chat window still showed ‘typing…’” Wen Jing looked at him with a smirk. “You fall asleep real fast!”
Alright, he couldn’t win against Wen Jing. Bai Mu Ning admitted defeat.
“Fine, what did you contact me for? If it’s nothing, I’m going back to sleep.”
To prove how sleepy he was, Bai Mu Ning even let out a coordinated yawn.
“Wait a moment.”
The video screen began to shake as Wen Jing stood up, heading somewhere.
“Didn’t you say you wanted to see? I’ll show you.”
“…?”
Bai Mu Ning’s mind instantly conjured up that shockingly suggestive message Wen Jing had sent earlier: [It’s pretty big. Do you want to see it?]
Holy shit. Wen Jing wouldn’t really be a pervert, right? Was he really going to show him that?
So Wen Jing was an exhibitionist after all.
Panicking, Bai Mu Ning blurted out, “Who wants to see you ah! Are you insane? Pervert, lewd, rogue. Don’t pollute my eyes!”
As soon as he finished yelling, the camera flipped, and Bai Mu Ning’s heart jumped to his throat. He was caught somewhere between shutting his eyes and keeping them open, not sure whether he was bracing for impact or secretly anticipating something.
The screen soon shifted from the warm indoor setting to the chilly scene outside the window, and Bai Mu Ning inexplicably let out a sigh of relief.
Scared him.
Wen Jing lived on a high floor, offering a panoramic view of the night cityscape. Neon lights twinkled in the darkness, stunningly beautiful.
It was still snowing. Wen Jing reached out a hand to catch the falling flakes and said, “Pretty big, isn’t it?”
A few snowflakes had clumped together into a single fluffy piece; it did look rather large.
It was pretty big.
Bai Mu Ning breathed out. “So it was snow, ah!”
He had seriously thought Wen Jing was some huge pervert, but it turned out he was actually very pure.
A chuckle came from the video. “What else would it be? If it’s not about snow, what else could it be?”
Bai Mu Ning’s ears flushed red as he clenched his back teeth. “Nothing else. I was clearly talking about snow.”
He hadn’t been thinking about anything dirty. Not even for a second. It had always been about snow.
“En, our Student Xiao Ning was definitely talking about snow.”
Wen Jing’s voice seemed to carry an electric current, tingling as it buzzed in his ears, especially when he said “our Student Xiao Ning.”
Bai Mu Ning had been called many things growing up, all sorts of nicknames. But somehow, the way Wen Jing addressed him had a pampering quality to it, like he was coaxing a child.
That feeling, however, vanished in the blink of an eye. The ever-gentle Wen Jing followed up with the most infuriating words: “By the way, Xiao Ning, why did you just call me a pervert, a lewd, and a rogue? Weren’t you the one talking about snow?”
“Then what were you talking about?” Wen Jing even had the nerve to feign innocence with a look of confusion.
“…?”
Alright, forget what he said earlier about Wen Jing being pure and praise-worthy. This man was definitely bad news!
He clearly knew everything, yet now he was teasing him again.
Bad guy.
“I didn’t say anything,” Bai Mu Ning said with a straight face, ready to end the video call. “Alright, I’ve seen the snow now. Dr. Wen, can I go to sleep?”
He had been anxious and tense just moments ago; scared, annoyed, too worked up to sleep. But now that he had relaxed, sleepiness was already creeping in.
“Wait a bit more. Do you remember what I taught you today? Let’s review.”
Why the sudden pop quiz?
Bai Mu Ning glanced at his wrist. There was only a faint black smudge left; the handwriting was nearly illegible now. He tried hard to recall and said, “Left hand is Yin, right hand is Yang. The cun, guan, and chi correspond to different organs…” Enjoying the story? Read on at NovelPing.
He repeated everything Wen Jing had taught him. Wen Jing praised, “Xiao Ning is really smart, just one time, and you already remembered it all.”
The compliment made Bai Mu Ning feel proud. He lifted his chin slightly and said smugly, “Of course I’m smart la!”
Wen Jing laughed on the other end of the video and said, “Alright, go to sleep now. Good night, Xiao Ning.”
“Good night, Dr. Wen.”
After hanging up, Bai Mu Ning rubbed his ears hard to ease the lingering tingling sensation.
He couldn’t help but wonder how Wen Jing’s voice felt like it carried an electric charge?
On Wednesday at work, Bai Mu Ning changed the water in the tank for the arowana, then put in the newly bought algae eater.
He also changed the arowana’s food, dropping in some small, live feeder fish. They swam frantically around, trying to escape, but were eventually eaten by the arowana anyway.
After the water surface calmed, leftover food bits sank to the bottom, and the algae eater began nibbling on its meal.
There weren’t many patients consulting Chen Haonan today, so Bai Mu Ning spent most of the time standing nearby to help.
Watching the lively, vigorous arowana swimming around, he felt a bit comforted. “Brother Dragon, stay healthy. Our fortune here depends on you.”
“Bless us with wealth and riches.”
Bai Mu Ning reminded him, “Haonan-ge, wouldn’t it be better to pray to the God of Wealth instead?”
“You’ve got a point.”
After packing up the tools, Chen Haonan said, “My friend just opened a new escape room. Wanna go over to play after work?”
Chen Haonan and Wen Jing had completely different personalities—one loved to have fun, the other was focused on work.
That’s why Chen Haonan often took the lead in organizing ways for everyone to relax. A practice jokingly referred to as getting rid of the clinic vibes.
Thanks to his fine moral character of enjoying life with his people, Chen Haonan had even earned the honorary title of Most Handsome and Generous Boss.
Bai Mu Ning had never played escape room games before, so he immediately broke into a happy grin. “Yes, ah. I’ve always wanted to go.”
Living frugally as he did, Bai Mu Ning had never spent on such things, but he was curious about all the popular trends.
His classmates had gone and said escape rooms were fun. Bai Mu Ning had always wanted to try, but the price had always scared him off.
Zhuang Yumian also raised her hand. “I was supposed to have dinner with my boyfriend tonight, but he can step aside now. I’m going to the escape room.”
“Great, it’s settled then. I’ll go ask Old Wen if he wants to join. The more people, the better.”
Less than three minutes later, Chen Haonan came back looking defeated. He said, “Old Wen’s not going. Said nothing is interesting about those places that pretend to be in contact with the supernatural. Seriously, he’s so boring. Whatever, he’s out, we’ll go ourselves!”
Wen Jing not going actually suit his personality. It was easy to imagine him in an escape room. While others screamed in fright, he’d remain expressionless and indifferent. That really would kill the vibe.
Since Bai Mu Ning wouldn’t be able to study with Wen Jing after work because of the escape room plan, he brought it up during their break.
“Dr. Wen, I won’t be able to study tonight. I’m going with Haonan-ge and the others to play escape room. Let’s continue tomorrow.”
Wen Jing looked over and said, “You’re going?”
“Of course?” Bai Mu Ning began enthusiastically, “Dr. Wen, it’s such a pity you’re not coming. Escape rooms are thrilling and exciting. It’s a game that not only tests your intelligence but also your courage.”
“I’ve heard escape rooms can be super scary. Some people faint and have to be carried out, others even pee their pants,” Bai Mu Ning laughed. “I want to see just how scary it really is.”
“Mm, then let’s go together tonight,” Wen Jing said casually.
Bai Mu Ning let out a surprised “Ah?” and asked, “Dr. Wen, weren’t you going?”
“Who said I wasn’t going?” Wen Jing replied. “I think it sounds quite interesting.”
Bai Mu Ning: “……?”
So then who was the one saying about going to those places that pretends to be in contact with the supernatural?
Author’s Note:
Chen Haonan: It’s him, it’s him, it’s definitely him, the man who loves to slap himself in the face.