Chapter 102: Studying Is Hard!
September 15th, the first day of the eighth lunar month in the Gui Mao year, is auspicious for weddings… travel… moving… with no taboos.
Tuesday, E Province, Hanshi City, Jiefang Avenue, eleven o’clock at night.
Lu Cheng sat by the hotel window with his legs crossed, slowly sipping his milk tea and looking at his mobile phone screen.
22:00:03: “Can you meet up? I’d like to treat you to a meal.”
Mu Nanshu came out of the laboratory and waited for the elevator, her breathing a little ragged: “???”
“Treat me to a video? Quantum eating?”
Lu Cheng said, “I’m at the hotel near your hospital…”
“I’m not very familiar with Hankou or Hanyang; the place I used to go to most often was Wuchang District.”
“Hot pot? Or grilled fish, you choose one.”
The 15th and 16th are not Lu Cheng’s birthday, but there’s no rule that says you can’t treat someone on a non-birthday, right? If you have to be on duty on your birthday, you have to take leave to treat people, don’t you?
In reality, Lu Cheng’s birthday was encroached upon by a training class. Lu Cheng had already paid the fees, and the five-day training class started on the 16th.
With a cost of twenty-five thousand, Lu Cheng still had to make the most of it.
“Can you send me a photo?” Mu Nanshu, while she believed Lu Cheng wouldn’t lie to her, still found it a bit sudden.
After Lu Cheng sent a picture showing “Xiehe Hospital,” Mu Nanshu said, “Wait for me for twenty minutes… I need to finish up what I’m doing.”
After sending the message, Mu Nanshu began to calm herself down.
Although she was a bit ‘clumsy,’ she wasn’t intellectually challenged. Upon seeing Lu Cheng’s first message, she already had a suspicion.
Lu Cheng put down his phone, stretched all his joints, and then picked up his phone and room key to go downstairs.
It wasn’t far from Xiehe Hospital, but Mu Nanshu might not have a good sense of direction to find it; he would have to go to the hospital entrance to wait for her.
That is, if she was still the same little directionally challenged person.
More than ten minutes later, Lu Cheng saw a girl from the other side of the main entrance holding her mobile phone and dialing, turning her body and looking around.
A voice came from the phone: “Where are you? I’m at the entrance.”
“To your right, walking towards you,” Lu Cheng said as he took the phone.
Mu Nanshu probably heard Lu Cheng’s voice and turned her head. Seeing that it was Lu Cheng, she lightly lifted her left arm.
She turned with small steps, and as Lu Cheng approached, she said frankly, “Why did you come to Hanshi City today? Didn’t you say you had to be on duty on the 15th?”
“Yes, I’m on duty today, but I took leave after 5 PM.”
“Are you still able to eat?” Lu Cheng asked.
“I can eat more with you,” Mu Nanshu said, still a bit surprised by Lu Cheng’s sudden appearance.
“Let’s go, shall we take a taxi?” Lu Cheng suggested.
Mu Nanshu said, “Why don’t you drive my car? The main thing is I’m only confident driving the route from the hospital back to my residential area right now.”
“It will be convenient for going back and forth later.”
“That works too!~” Lu Cheng nodded.
Hanshi City was very hot; even in September, the weather hadn’t cooled down. By the time Mu Nanshu led Lu Cheng to her Cadillac, her neck was already covered in sweat.
Lu Cheng wasn’t much better off; the collar of his shirt was already sweat-soaked. After getting into the car, Lu Cheng immediately turned on the air conditioner.
As he started adjusting the seat, Lu Cheng asked, “Have you thought about what you want to eat? I haven’t been to Hanshi City for seven or eight years. If you want my suggestion, fish would be a better choice.”
“Or Haidilao. The grilled fish and hot pot places I’m familiar with are quite far from here. However, Tan Yu Grilled Fish is a chain,” Lu Cheng suggested to Mu Nanshu.
“Then let’s go to Haidilao. Haidilao probably isn’t too far,” said Mu Nanshu, who was sitting in the passenger seat, wiping her sweat with a tissue and handing some to Lu Cheng.
Mu Nanshu said, “You used to say Hanshi City was like a furnace, but now I realize it’s even hotter than Magic City. I really wasn’t used to it when I first came.”
“Right? One of the authentic furnaces… but it doesn’t affect eating hot pot…” Lu Cheng said calmly.
Lu Cheng opened the car’s built-in navigation and slowly drove out.
Haidilao on a weekday wasn’t very crowded. Although Lu Cheng had made a reservation, it was the same as not having one; they could just go in.
After Lu Cheng ordered two kinds of soup bases and some meat dishes, he handed the iPad to Mu Nanshu, “Don’t be polite with me today, order whatever you like.”
“Even though the salary in the county isn’t high, occasionally treating yourself here is affordable,” Lu Cheng said jokingly.
Mu Nanshu wasn’t sitting opposite Lu Cheng but next to him. Today, she was wearing a floral print long dress with her hair tied in a ponytail.
Mu Nanshu was intently staring at the menu on the screen, her fair and delicate neck moving from side to side like a little hamster’s, her dark eyes darting around within her peach blossom eyes.
“One whole portion of yellow throat… and beef tripe is also good.”
“Kelp sprouts, fried tofu skin, crispy pork, that’s all for now…” After Mu Nanshu roughly finished ordering, she looked up and saw Lu Cheng staring at her, she slightly and shyly tucked her chin.
“Why are you looking at me? Is my makeup smudged?” Mu Nanshu raised her phone with her right hand, her fair fingers busy, to check in the mirror.
“Your makeup isn’t smudged… I just find it amazing. You’re very different from a few years ago,” Lu Cheng said calmly.
The Mu Nanshu of that year was truly a bit ‘dumb and awkward’ and reserved, far from the poised and confident person she was now.
“How am I different? Am I just getting older…” Mu Nanshu put away her phone and then stared at Lu Cheng.
It was very evident that Lu Cheng’s eyes seemed a bit duller than before, and even the expression on his face carried a hint of ‘worldliness’ that was not entirely natural.
Lu Cheng waved at the waiter, “We’ve ordered. Could you please bring the soup base and dishes quickly? I’m a bit hungry. Thank you for your trouble.”
“Okay, okay!~” Haidilao’s service was always excellent. The waiter immediately urged through their walkie-talkie, “Table 13 guests are hungry, please prepare the dishes faster in the kitchen…”
“Boss, would you like water or a drink? We have unlimited self-serve drinks here.”
“I’ll have warm water,” Mu Nanshu said.
“I’ll have water too, with some ice,” Lu Cheng replied.
Although drinking ice water isn’t good for the stomach, the taste is refreshing. Lu Cheng didn’t feel like he had reached the age where he needed to start focusing on his health.
Twenty minutes later.
The hot pot soup base was bubbling. Mu Nanshu sat to Lu Cheng’s right, scalding beef tripe, and said, “I only found out after I decided to go abroad that Stanford requires MCAT exam scores.”
“Our year was exactly the second year of the MCAT exam reform. The exams were entirely in reading comprehension format, with each section requiring students to read 9–11 passages and answer questions. All question types were multiple-choice.”
“A score close to the 90th percentile, meaning in the top 10% nationally, would give you a good chance of getting an interview for a Master’s degree in Medicine.”
“The total score is 528. The top 10% that year was 513. I was so worried at the time…”
“This was just the beginning. After officially starting my master’s studies, I regretted choosing Stanford…”
“There, the four-year graduation rate is 73%, and the six-year graduation rate is 95%. The medical program’s rate is definitely lower than that.”
“I also delayed my graduation. Later, the pressure became too much, so I had to keep attending various training classes to improve myself…”
“I remember one of the worst times; in three days, I flew to five different places to attend classes,” Mu Nanshu said with a wry smile, pouting her rosy lips, looking quite cute.
But also troubled.
