When encountering a situation, don’t panic—just tough it out with a thick skin.
So what if it’s awkward? As long as he didn’t feel embarrassed, the awkwardness would belong to the other person.
Thus, Bai Mu Ning quickly transformed into a master of changing faces, squinting his eyes and smiling, “Wow, Dr. Wen, what a coincidence oh! Are you also waiting for the bus?”
Wen Jing was wearing a white coat, looking as if he had just stepped out for a while and would be heading back soon.
Bai Mu Ning automatically ignored this detail, as if talking to himself, “But this bus sure is slow. It hasn’t come in such a long time.”
Wen Jing didn’t respond and just fixed his sharp, phoenix eyes on him.
Bai Mu Ning knew that look all too well. Back at the Civil Affairs Bureau, Wen Jing had looked at him the same way, as if saying, “Go on, keep bulshitting slowly, I’m listening.”
What to do?
Bai Mu Ning racked his brains to come up with an excuse. After all, badmouthing someone behind their back wasn’t right—being overheard made it even worse.
But people are naturally inclined to seek benefits and avoid harm. Even in this situation, he had to maintain a harmonious front.
Especially since Bai Mu Ning couldn’t afford to tear his face with Wen Jing—after all, this was his target.
He still needed to date Wen Jing!
“Dr. Wen, what a coincidence. Just now, I was talking to my friend about an unscrupulous doctor I had encountered before, and you happened to overhear. Please don’t misunderstand oh, I wasn’t talking about you.”
“In my heart, you’re the best traditional Chinese medicine doctor. I mean, you look so handsome, have a great figure, and being treated by you is practically an enjoyment.”
“You know what? You’re a model among traditional Chinese medicine doctors, a guardian of life, a gatekeeper of health. I respect and admire you—how could I possibly speak ill of you behind your back?”
Thousands of things may fail, but flattery never does. Bai Mu Ning hoped that Wen Jing would see how hard he was buttering him up, turn a big problem into a small one, and then let it slide—then they’d just share a knowing smile and walk away.
However, Wen Jing was not someone who let things go easily—he was exceptionally good at holding grudges.
“Thanks for the compliment,” Wen Jing’s lips curled slightly before his tone abruptly changed. “But next time, don’t bother with the praise. Your level is mediocre, your wording is inappropriate, and your intentions are insincere. Besides, how could a black-hearted doctor like me be worthy of your praise?”
“…?”
See? Told you he holds grudges—absolutely right, not willing to take a single loss.
Bai Mu Ning froze on the spot, unable to refute.
At this moment, his HP was depleted, and he had been KO’d.
He couldn’t outtalk him. It could be considered as him finally having met his match.
Bai Mu Ning forced a smile, his hand holding the bag of Chinese medicine almost numb from the cold. “This is all a misunderstanding, absolutely a misunderstanding.”
Wen Jing didn’t believe his nonsense at all. He took out a wad of cash from his coat pocket and handed it to Bai Mu Ning. “I said I’d take responsibility for you, so I won’t charge you.”
Watching Wen Jing’s retreating figure and then looking at the money he got back, Bai Mu Ning thought, did Wen Jing come to find him just to return the money?
It seems like he had misunderstood the person.
With a heavy heart, Bai Mu Ning returned to school. Downstairs, he received a WeChat message from Li Li.
Li Li was overjoyed, saying that her ex-husband had been dumbfounded by Bai Mu Ning’s scolding and surprisingly had a change of heart, transferring several large sums of money to her.
Each amount was significant, exceeding what was stipulated in the divorce agreement.
Earlier that day at the Civil Affairs Bureau, Li Li and her ex-husband had argued over the terms of the divorce agreement.
Her ex-husband believed that since Li Li was a housewife who had never earned a cent, she shouldn’t get a share of his assets.
He claimed that after supporting her for so many years, providing for her for free, it should be Li Li who owed him money.
What had originally been a promise of “I’ll support you ah” turned into “I’ve supported you.” Li Li just found him disgusting and couldn’t utter a word. In the end, a Civil Affairs Bureau staff member intervened, saying, “If you can’t settle the divorce agreement, just file a lawsuit. Stop wasting words here.”
Her ex-husband was in a hurry to marry his new lover and couldn’t afford to drag things out, so he finally compromised by giving a small portion of the money.
Li Li didn’t mind anymore; she just wanted to divorce him quickly, so she agreed.
She hadn’t expected that her ex-husband would actually show a bit of conscience and not push her to the brink.
Reading Li Li’s message, Bai Mu Ning felt something was off.
Her ex-husband’s attitude changed too quickly, as if someone had given him advice that suddenly made him more reasonable.
If something seems unusual, there must be a demon. Bai Mu Ning didn’t believe her ex-husband had genuinely grown a conscience.
Bai Mu Ning had handled many relationship issues for his employers before and understood some of the tricks involved, so he was a bit worried for Li Li.
He called Li Li to remind her, “Li-jie, be careful that your ex-husband doesn’t scam you.”
Li Li asked, “What do you mean?”
“Li-jie, one of my previous employers got scammed by her ex-husband and ended up burdened with massive debt.”
“The employer’s ex-husband knew she was determined to divorce him, so before the divorce, he borrowed a lot of money and then transferred small amounts to her several times. After the divorce, the ex-husband went abroad to live it up, while the employer was left hounded by creditors to repay the debts.”
“The worst part was that my employer really got the short end of the stick. The ex-husband only transferred her 300,000, but she had to bear over five million in debt.”
After hearing this, Li Li questioned, “Loans taken out unilaterally can’t be considered marital debt. Didn’t your employer know that?”
Bai Mu Ning said, “There is indeed such a regulation, but there’s another rule: if the loan was used for household expenses, it can be recognized as marital debt. That’s how my employer got scammed.”
“Her ex-husband pretended to be generous by transferring her money in installments, and later used the excuse of household expenses to make her pay off his debts.”
“There are too many cases like this. Li-jie, I suggest you check if your ex-husband recently took out any loans. If he did, make sure to hire a lawyer to protect your rights.”
The saying “divorce reveals true character” was absolutely accurate. Many people seemed to put their entire life’s worth of intelligence into their marriage, scheming and playing mind games with their partner just to ensure they got the most out of a potential divorce.
The human heart is unpredictable, and true feelings are hard to find, which is why marriage has become a fortress that many hesitate to enter.
Li Li took Bai Mu Ning’s words to heart. She thanked him and hurriedly hung up the phone.
Putting the phone back into his pocket, Bai Mu Ning finally went upstairs and returned to the dorm.
As the dormitory door opened, Li Anche came up to him, touched Bai Mu Ning’s forehead, and then touched his own. “Mu Ning, what kind of miracle pill did you take? You went out this morning looking sickly, but now you’re lively and full of energy. Are you better?”
“That was way too fast!”
If Li Anche hadn’t reminded him, Bai Mu Ning would have almost forgotten about his fever.
He touched his forehead and found it was back to normal and not hot anymore.
When he went out in the morning, he had measured his temperature at 38.6°C and still felt unwell after taking medicine.
After Wen Jing’s treatment, Bai Mu Ning felt completely refreshed, even healthier than before.
It was as if his blocked energy channels had been cleared, and he was bursting with energy.
Wen Jing was truly remarkable—Bai Mu Ning had misunderstood him.
Thinking back to his earlier complaints about Wen Jing, calling him black-hearted and a con artist, Bai Mu Ning now felt deeply embarrassed.
Not only had Wen Jing treated his illness, but he also hadn’t charged him. Meanwhile, Bai Mu Ning had spoken ill of him.
Ai, he had unintentionally strained the relationship that had just started to improve.
How could he make it up and make someone happy?
That evening, Bai Mu Ning treated Li Anche to hot pot. He had made some money, so it was only right to take his good friend out for a meal.
They went to a revolving hot pot place—reasonably priced and affordable per person. Most importantly, they could eat to their heart’s content.
After eating and walking on their way back, Li Anche spotted a familiar figure. He told Bai Mu Ning to go ahead and hurriedly chased after the person.
Bai Mu Ning glanced over and saw that the person Li Anche was chasing was a tall guy. The guy walked quickly, and Li Anche struggled to catch up, while the guy didn’t seem to have any intention of waiting for him.
Bai Mu Ning recognized the guy—his name was Zheng Kejian, Li Anche’s friend.
Zheng Kejian used to be Li Anche’s tutor for four years. Unfortunately, Li Anche wasn’t cut out for studying and didn’t get into an undergraduate program, ending up in a junior college instead.
Currently, Zheng Kejian was in his second year of graduate school and would graduate next year—a true xueba.
Come to think of it, Wen Jing was also quite accomplished academically. He had a Ph.D. from Jingnan University’s Traditional Chinese Medicine program and, after graduating, went straight to work at a private clinic—a promising future indeed.
Since Li Anche didn’t seem to be coming back anytime soon, Bai Mu Ning decided not to rush back either and headed to Sanwen Hall instead.
He needed to resolve today’s issue. After all, he had misunderstood Wen Jing and should apologize in person.
By now, Sanwen Hall was almost empty, with only a few scattered people waiting to pick up their prescriptions.
Chen Haonan was still at the payment counter, busy with something.
Bai Mu Ning walked over and asked, “Hello, is Dr. Wen here?”
Chen Haonan looked up and smiled, “Little kid, Dr. Wen isn’t here. What do you need him for?”
He spoke as if coaxing a child, his tone casual and nonchalant.
Bai Mu Ning had a feeling that this guy was definitely a sea king[1]—a womanizer who never spoke seriously.
“I’m not a little kid, thank you,” Bai Mu Ning emphasized. “I’m already 20.”
“Has Dr. Wen gotten off work?” Bai Mu Ning glanced toward Wen Jing’s office. The door was slightly ajar, but the room inside was dark, making it impossible to see anything.
It seemed that he really had left.
“Yeah, little kid already being 20 is impressive. Dr. Wen has finished work and left. Why are you looking for him? You can also tell me.”
Bai Mu Ning looked at him without speaking, his expression clearly one of refusal.
Chen Haonan laughed heartily, “It’s fine if you don’t want to say. But I advise you not to look for him now. After Dr. Wen came back from delivering you the money, he left with a sour face. I was going to ask you what you did to annoy him.”
“Our Dr. Wen rarely gets angry. You’re the second person who managed to piss him off.”
There was no need to ask; Bai Mu Ning already knew who the first person was—it was definitely Wen Jing’s little sister, Sun Jin.
Bai Mu Ning refused to engage in further conversation or gossip. “I just want to find Dr. Wen. Can you give me his contact information?”
“Of course.”
However, just as Bai Mu Ning was about to feel happy, Chen Haonan spoke again, “But you have to tell me what happened between you two first. Otherwise, I won’t betray my friend.”
“…?”
So telling you would mean betraying him?
Is your friendship that flimsy?
Wen Jing definitely wouldn’t give out his contact information, so Bai Mu Ning had to rely on the person in front of him. “I misunderstood him and want to apologize.”
Of course, he couldn’t say too much—just hinting at it was enough.
That reason seemed acceptable, and Chen Haonan, looking rather satisfied, said, “Here, write down Dr. Wen’s phone number.”
Chen Haonan held his phone, scrolling through the contacts, and asked, “Do you need his WeChat ID too?”
Bai Mu Ning: “…?”
Did Wen Jing know you were selling him out like this?
“Need it.”
Bai Mu Ning had quite a fruitful day—not only did he get Wen Jing’s phone number, but he also added him on WeChat. The only question was whether Wen Jing would accept the friend request.
Chen Haonan gave a friendly reminder, “Dr. Wen rarely adds strangers. Remember to try adding him a few more times. Little kid, good luck.”
Bai Mu Ning couldn’t shake the feeling that Chen Haonan was acting weird, as if he really wanted him to get closer to Wen Jing.
What was this guy’s deal?
The WeChat friend request remained pending, so Bai Mu Ning decided to send a message.
[Hello, Dr. Wen, this is Bai Mu Ning. Thank you for treating me today. I misunderstood you, and I want to apologize. I’m sorry, it was my fault.]
He clicked send, but there was still no response.
Unwilling to give up, Bai Mu Ning sent another message.
[I added you on WeChat. Please approve it when you’re available.]
[Dr. Wen, did you see it? Please approve, okay?]
All the messages seemed to disappear into the void, as if Wen Jing hadn’t seen any of them, completely ignoring him.
Feeling dejected, Bai Mu Ning slumped into the chair, thinking Wen Jing was really hard to deal with.
Just when Bai Mu Ning was troubled about what to do next, his silent phone vibrated.
[Sorry, I just saw it. I accept your apology, but there’s no need to add me on WeChat. If you need anything, please contact Sanwen Hall’s customer service number. I don’t reply during private time, thanks.]
After being rejected, Bai Mu Ning began to reflect on his interactions with Wen Jing during this time.
Wen Jing was a very difficult person to approach. Even though Bai Mu Ning had his contact information, he still couldn’t add him on WeChat. This was enough to prove that Wen Jing wasn’t someone who played around—he was very committed when it came to relationships.
But at the same time, he was also someone who liked to hide within his comfort zone, unwilling to step out.
For someone like that, the only option was to be more proactive—using roundabout strategies wouldn’t work. Bai Mu Ning thought he should go for a straightforward confession.
The saying “a strong-willed woman fears a persistent man” also applied to Wen Jing.
Yes, he was going to confess—boldly and passionately—hoping to warm Wen Jing’s cold heart.
The plan was set. Tomorrow, he would buy roses and confess.
He would loudly say to Wen Jing, “Dr. Wen, I like you.”
Author’s Note:
Brave Xiao Ning, boldly pursuing love. I wonder if Dr. Wen can handle it.
[1] A playful metaphor for someone who “casts a wide net” in the dating scene. A player who dates multiple people at once.