Meanwhile, in the Capital City, outside the inpatient department of Peking Union Medical College Hospital.

Shen Yu was picking up Xu Juan, who was being discharged.

With her were her other two roommates, who had made a special trip back early.

One was Liu Xiaotian, a hopeless romantic who couldn’t resist sneaking glances at the male doctors even at the hospital.

The other was Yan Tong, who wore glasses and clutched a book—the dorm’s resident scholar.

"Okay, I’ve got everything." Xu Juan walked out of the inpatient lobby, holding her discharge summary.

She seemed to be in good spirits.

Yan Tong pushed up her glasses and asked, "Your dad couldn’t make it to pick you up today?"

"My dad had an emergency consultation in his department and couldn’t get away." Xu Juan smiled. "Besides, I’m a grown woman. I don’t need him to escort me. Let’s go, back to school!"

The four of them hailed a cab and headed straight for North Normal University.

To celebrate Xu Juan’s discharge, the four of them picked a stir-fry restaurant near the campus entrance.

Prices in ’08 were still reasonable; a dry-pot cabbage was just over ten yuan.

The waiter brought over a paper menu and a pencil.

Shen Yu ticked off a few dishes, adding a special request, "Everything with less oil and salt, and nothing spicy."

Xu Juan was in the early recovery stage of her kidney disease, so her diet had to be strictly controlled.

While waiting for the food, Shen Yu scalded their bowls and chopsticks with hot water.

Across from her, Liu Xiaotian was slumped over the table in boredom when her gaze suddenly fixed on Shen Yu’s left hand as she poured the water.

"Huh?" Liu Xiaotian froze for a second.

Shen Yu quickly put down the kettle, guiltily trying to hide her left hand. "What is it?"

Liu Xiaotian ignored her completely, grabbed Shen Yu’s wrist, and yanked her left hand onto the tabletop.

The moment she saw the plain silver ring on Shen Yu’s middle finger, Liu Xiaotian lost her cool. She clapped her hands over her mouth and shrieked.

"AHH! Honey! Don’t tell me you have a boyfriend! Oh my god! And a ring! Good heavens! When are you two getting married? Have you kissed? Have you held hands? AHHH!!!"

Shen Yu’s cheeks instantly grew scalding hot from the commotion, a blush spreading all the way to the tips of her ears.

"Stop shouting... It’s not what you think. I won this ring from a game..."

"Won it from a game?"

Yan Tong adjusted her glasses. "Schopenhauer said that humans often invent more absurd lies to conceal the truth. That being the case, take the ring off. Let me observe it."

As she spoke, Yan Tong made a move to pull the ring off Shen Yu’s hand.

Shen Yu snatched her hand back, clutching it tightly to her chest. Her tone was firm. "I can’t."

Yan Tong paused, raising an eyebrow at her.

"I promised him." Shen Yu lowered her head, her voice softening. "I can’t just take it off..."

The private room fell silent for two seconds.

THUD!

Liu Xiaotian slammed her head onto the table. "Help me, oh my god! That’s too sweet!"

Yan Tong, however, nodded with a deadpan expression. "Mm, very good. The defensive action of refusing to remove the ring has sufficiently proven the existence of an unusually intimate relationship between you two. Your lie has collapsed on its own."

Shen Yu was completely cornered. She could only play dead, looking down and fiddling with the teacup in front of her.

Liu Xiaotian suddenly shot up and turned to Xu Juan, who had been sitting beside them, smiling silently. "Juanzi! You’ve met this guy, right? Tell us, what’s he like?"

Xu Juan took a sip of water, thought for a moment, and said:

"He’s really great."

"He’s tall, handsome, and has a great personality. He’s also extremely steady and reliable. The key thing is, he’s very talented and capable."

Liu Xiaotian’s eyes lit up as she listened. "And? And?"

"He’s also a man of good character. For the past few days, our dear Shen Xiaoyu has been throwing herself at him, even limping across half the Capital City to bring him food. But he never took the opportunity to make a move. He has an excellent sense of propriety."

Xu Juan concluded, "Judging from all that, I think he’s a pretty good catch. Of course, the most important thing is that Shen Xiaoyu likes him."

After hearing this, Liu Xiaotian got as excited as if she were the one in a new relationship, grabbing Shen Yu’s shoulders and shaking her.

"This is amazing! You were the only one in our dorm who’d never dated, Shen Xiaoyu. You’re finally off the market!"

Shen Yu was terribly embarrassed. She quickly twisted the cap off a bottle of juice and filled everyone’s glass.

"Come on, cheers!"

The four glasses clinked together mid-air with a crisp sound.

They started talking about Xu Juan’s condition.

The mood relaxed after they learned that as long as Xu Juan took her medicine on time, had regular check-ups, and made sure to rest and recuperate, she would be fine.

Shen Yu chewed on her chopsticks, glancing first at Liu Xiaotian, then at Yan Tong, looking like she wanted to say something but was hesitating.

Finally, she seized a lull in the conversation, put down her chopsticks, and said meekly, "Um..."

Liu Xiaotian: "What’s up?"

"Actually, there’s something I’d like to ask your advice on."

Yan Tong: "What is it? Go ahead."

Shen Yu said quietly, "I want to... take a few days off at the end of October and go to Southern China."

Xu Juan: "?"

Liu Xiaotian asked, "Why? Are you going to skip class?"

"A couple of days ago... I was on QQ and went to Dr. Jiang’s profile page."

Shen Yu quickly added, "I deleted the visitor record! He doesn’t know I was there."

Xu Juan: "You idiot, is that the point? Keep talking!"

"Oh, right. I just kept scrolling and got to last year."

"And then?" Yan Tong pressed.

"Then last year, on October 30th, he made a post that said ’Happy Birthday.’ So I’m guessing his birthday is October 30th, and I plan to go find him that day to celebrate it with him."

Her three roommates fell silent.

Then, Yan Tong asked, "Didn’t you say you weren’t dating him? And now you’re going to skip class and travel two thousand kilometers to celebrate his birthday with him?"

Shen Yu gave a dry laugh. "Well... he didn’t just help me with my sprained ankle, he also took care of me for several days, right? One must know how to be grateful, so I just want to thank him, heh heh."

Shen Yu’s two laughs sounded particularly hollow in the private room.

The three girls didn’t respond, just stared at her with blank expressions.

The smile on Shen Yu’s face slowly faltered and then collapsed.

"Oh, come on, don’t look at me like that. I mainly wanted to ask if I’d scare him by showing up suddenly like this. Would that be a bad idea? You all have experience, so give me some advice."

Xu Juan thought for a moment, then calmly asked, "Do you have enough money for a plane ticket?"

"I do." Shen Yu nodded. "I’ve saved up enough of my living allowance for a discount ticket."

Liu Xiaotian’s romance-obsessed brain kicked into gear. "Then what are you waiting for! Book the ticket! If this were a Taiwanese romance novel, this would totally be the female lead’s plotline! Quick, quick, let’s draw up a battle plan right now!"

But Yan Tong was more meticulous. "First, you need to confirm if he was celebrating his own birthday last year. What if he was wishing a happy birthday to an ex-girlfriend?"

Liu Xiaotian was shocked. "Holy crap, that’s a possibility?"

Shen Yu shook her head. "No way. Dr. Jiang said he’s never been in a relationship. But... it’s possible he was posting it for a friend."

Xu Juan thought for a moment and said, "Alright, leave it to me. Jiang He introduced me to one of his roommates. I’ll just ask him..."

In the early autumn of the Capital City, a plan for a surprise visit across two thousand kilometers began to quietly take shape.

「Meanwhile.」

Two thousand kilometers away, at Nanshan Medical University.

After answering a few more questions on the Garden, Jiang He closed the webpage.

His gaze shifted to the desk calendar.

On the calendar, he had circled October 30th in red ink.

It was the final round of the South China Region’s Medical Student Clinical Skills and Diagnostic Thinking Competition.

Not only would the top medical students from every province in Southern China be competing against each other, but several titans of the country’s surgical field would also be sitting on the judges’ panel.

At the same time, that day was also his birthday.

’What a coincidence.’

Jiang He closed his eyes and thought:

’I should review some more, just in case something unexpected happens.’

’My birthday isn’t important.’

A thought flickered through his mind: ’It would be nice to spend it with my wife. It’s been so long since we celebrated a birthday together...’

But the thought was fleeting.

’—Impossible. My wife has classes that day. There’s no way she could come. I shouldn’t overthink it. Time to study.’