Chapter 25: Mu Nanshu
The woman was close in age to Lu Cheng, wearing loose-fitting wide-leg pants and a tight t-shirt, appearing relaxed and easygoing.
“Thanks a lot, Doctor Han. You can order whatever you like…” Lu Cheng said politely to Han Jingyi before turning to leave.
Even though he didn’t know how Mu Nanshu and Han Jingyi met and appeared at this coffee shop at the same time, nor how they knew Teacher Wang Xinyue, Lu Cheng didn’t care.
“Old classmate, why didn’t you say hello when you got back?” Lu Cheng calmly walked over.
Mu Nanshu’s casual attire could no longer hide her unease; she nervously twisted her neck and said softly, “I knew Han Jingyi was unreliable, and she sold me out in just a few minutes.”
The corners of her peach blossom eyes were tinged with a faint blush, her eyelashes as fine as crow’s feathers, casting butterfly-wing-shaped shadows beneath her eyes when she blinked. A light brown mole was hidden at the end of her right eye, deliberately covered with matte eyeshadow.
Her chestnut-colored long curly hair fell to her waist, the ends slightly reflecting an amber glow. A mother-of-pearl hairpin was clipped three fingers above her left ear. Mu Nanshu, as always, unconsciously twirled a lock of her curly hair, straightening it before letting it go.
“Mu Nanshu, I came here for a serious blind date, and you’re here to ruin it, how should we settle this?”
“As Doctor Han just said, should I find another one?” Lu Cheng sat opposite Mu Nanshu.
Mu Nanshu looked up, her lips maintaining a 5-degree upward angle, her pupils fixed on Lu Cheng’s glabella, pretending to be calm: “Didn’t I find a replacement for you?”
Lu Cheng naturally glanced in Han Jingyi’s direction again and said, “This is a ‘research assistant’ from the professor at my previous standardized training unit. I can’t afford to associate with them now.”
“You’re not ‘Wang Xinyue’ with a different account, are you? If not, I’d still like to send her a message before setting a time.”
Mu Nanshu’s tone was calm: “Then send it…”
“I’ll send it later.”
“When did you return to the country?” Lu Cheng asked.
Calculating the time, it had been over seven years since Mu Nanshu graduated from undergraduate, six years for her Master’s and Doctorate, and she graduated last year.
“I haven’t been back long; I had a delayed graduation of over half a year…” Mu Nanshu said.
“So where are you working now? Huashan? Xiangya? Xiehe?” Lu Cheng asked calmly again.
With Mu Nanshu’s academic qualifications from her first degree to her doctorate, any hospital in the country would be an option with sufficient research output, and even institutions with first-degree discrimination would not dare to discriminate against Fuda University, where Mu Nanshu studied.
Mu Nanshu replied: “I’m currently stationed at Hanshi Xiehe…”
Lu Cheng was slightly confused: “Why did you go to Hanshi Xiehe?”
There were two Xiehe hospitals: Kyoto Xiehe and Hanshi Xiehe Hospital affiliated with Huazhong University. Lu Cheng had expected Mu Nanshu to go to Kyoto or Magic City, but not Hanshi Xiehe.
Mu Nanshu’s gaze wandered slightly: “I was just looking for a job, blindly submitting applications, going wherever they’d take me. A doctorate degree isn’t as impressive as it used to be.”
“You don’t think my resume is automatically gilded just because I studied abroad, do you?”
“This is a vacation before starting my job. I’m visiting my parents and my old classmate, you… Where are you working now?” Mu Nanshu fixed her gaze on Lu Cheng.
Mu Nanshu’s family background wasn’t particularly good initially; her parents, like Lu Cheng’s, were both laborers. However, around 2010, Mu Nanshu’s parents seemed to take off like a rocket, and their net worth is now at least tens of millions, possibly with tens of millions in cash flow.
Although Uncle Mu still runs his business and lives in Xiangxi, he has already bought a house in Shashi… naturally, he has the financial means to send Mu Nanshu abroad to study…
“Don’t you already know? Long County People’s Hospital, just a junior attending physician in the Emergency Department… Hmm, I just transferred to the Emergency Department this month. I used to be an orthopedic doctor.” Lu Cheng didn’t pursue whether Mu Nanshu was Teacher Wang Xinyue, implicitly assuming she knew everything.
Although Mu Nanshu and Lu Cheng were classmates from fifth grade, junior high, and high school, that was in the past.
Mu Nanshu looked somewhat surprised: “You really didn’t retake the postgraduate entrance examination after that?”
Mu Nanshu wouldn’t pretend to be ignorant about why Lu Cheng went to Fuda University; their academic performance had always been good from elementary school through high school.
Although not in the absolute top tier of the school, they were always in the top five, and many even considered them a “couple of scholars” or “golden couple.”
There was no doubt they had mutual feelings, and their parents were aware of it. They only advised against early dating but didn’t actively prevent anything.
“It was okay during standardized training. The situation for trainees and Master of Professional Degree students at Zhongnan Hospital was quite similar, the only difference being the quality of guidance from teachers.”
“In reality, the Master’s and Doctoral Supervisors at Zhongnan Hospital only spent a small amount of time teaching; most of it was spent practicing basic skills. The gap only widened infinitely after entering the workforce…”
Lu Cheng sighed softly: “Back then, my vision was ultimately too narrow and I was too impulsive. Looking back now, I should have taken the exam again.”
Lu Cheng’s aptitude wasn’t poor; being able to go from a Small Town Test-Taker to a bachelor’s degree at Hanshi University showed some talent for studying.
As a Small Town Test-Taker with limited experience, Lu Cheng only knew how to study. However, everyone admitted to Hanshi University had some talent, and Lu Cheng, with his “average experience,” couldn’t stand out there.
Lu Cheng had no club experience and no financial support from his family, so he couldn’t accumulate enough “extracurricular” points, thus missing out on opportunities for “guaranteed admission to graduate school” or “direct doctorate.”
For children from ordinary families, what else could they rely on but studying?
Lu Cheng achieved this goal; he ranked first in the written examination for the postgraduate entrance examination to Fuda University. However, during the second round of examination, he realized that others were evaluated based on “comprehensive scores,” and they already had research achievements and even research project plans for their graduate studies.
Being good at studying was useless, having a high written examination score was useless, and having some practical skills wasn’t that useful either…
Lu Cheng, who didn’t understand the operating rules of Medicine, was squeezed out to this extent, suffering greatly!
Only by continuously studying and improving one’s academic qualifications could one change their “destiny” more, at least in the field of Medicine.
Seeing Mu Nanshu continuing to twirl her hair without speaking, Lu Cheng knew she was thinking seriously, and that habit hadn’t changed: “Enough about me, what do you want to eat later?”
“Plastic Western food? Or hot pot? Or local specialties from Long County?”
“There’s wood-fired chicken, hot pot chicken, teppanyaki, lamb… I’ve been back for four or five years, and several delicious places have good flavors…” Lu Cheng asked.
It’s best not to talk about the past, and besides, Lu Cheng wasn’t a “hero” back then, just a young person who could study a bit.
At this age, bringing up past school days felt like forcing melancholy.
The present is the present. The current Lu Cheng is just an ordinary emergency department doctor at a county hospital, no longer the high school student who was deemed a “top student” after the college entrance examination, nor a university student from a prestigious school.
“You choose one… I’m fine with anything,” Mu Nanshu said calmly, with a slight smile.
“Then let’s have teppanyaki. I remember you like spicy food.”
“Doctor Han, should she join us later?” Lu Cheng asked.
Doctor Han was from Feng County, so she would surely be accustomed to the flavors of Long County.
“Doctor Han has to go back later; she has something to do in her hometown.”
“Do you have a car? We can give her a ride later,” Mu Nanshu suggested.
“Yes, I do,” Lu Cheng replied with a smile, feeling calm.
