System Came When the Doctor was Thirty

”These are the slippers, and here’s your pajamas.”

”This is a towel!~”

Mu Nanshu, wearing pajamas, brought neatly folded toiletries to Lu Cheng. She said this, then awkwardly continued: ”I’ve got you covered with a change of clothes and pants, as well as men’s toiletries and a razor, but... I just didn’t buy any underwear.”

Lu Cheng knew Mu Nanshu meant she didn’t buy any boxers.

”How about I order delivery? It’s easy to get things these days.” Lu Cheng thought for a moment and didn’t stand on ceremony with Mu Nanshu.

”Okay, it’s best to buy disposable ones. You go take a shower; I’m going to do a face mask.” Mu Nanshu turned around, not particularly restrained.

Mu Nanshu was wearing a long autumn pajama dress with a light purple, big-eared bunny embroidered on the chest.

The nightgown was loose, yet form-fitting, and the lines unintentionally revealed as she walked made Lu Cheng daydream involuntarily...

Some past memories started surfacing clearly in his mind.

”No... this won’t do, what if I get pregnant?”

”Didn’t we agree that once we aren’t long-distance, we’ll get engaged? It hasn’t been long, okay.”

”We’ll get engaged after graduation; my parents have even asked about it.”

”I heard it’s not good to wear that for the first time... Ah, don’t be naughty.”

”...”

”Is the re-exam over? Let’s go eat, time to celebrate.”

”The orthopedics secretary just called me, telling me to get ready for reassignment early.”

”Impossible!~ Absolutely impossible, did you hear wrong?”

”I didn’t hear wrong.”

”Let’s go, let’s confront them and ask why. This is impossible!~ I inquired before, and he said a professor had their eye on you.” The usually clueless Mu Nanshu took Lu Cheng to argue.

Of course, they didn’t win the argument…

When Lu Cheng emerged from the bathroom, Mu Nanshu was blow-drying her hair, wearing a transparent face mask. She pointed to another hairdryer at Lu Cheng.

Lu Cheng said, ”In summer, I’m not used to blow-drying my hair. I usually just towel it dry and let it air dry.”

”It’s not long anyway... dries quickly.”

Finished speaking, Lu Cheng took a look around the small three-bedroom apartment and said, ”Your parents have good taste in decor, it’s quite refined.”

”My parents hired a designer, completely outsourced.”

Lu Cheng didn’t mind that Mu Nanshu’s parents were aware of his situation but didn’t explicitly mention it to Nanshu.

They were Mu Nanshu’s parents, of course, they hoped she could have a better partner.

Lu Cheng was promising back then, but now in their view, Lu Cheng still was somewhat outmatched compared to Mu Nanshu.

They didn’t directly interfere with Nanshu’s choice or cause trouble, so Lu Cheng was already very grateful to them.

Mu Nanshu was nearly done blow-drying her hair, her silky waist-length hair cascading down like a gentle waterfall.

She tidied the hem of her dress, then removed the mask, and started massaging her face as she asked, ”You’re coming to Han City for a training class; why didn’t you tell me before?”

”Even wasted a night’s hotel fee.”

Nanshu spoke to the mirror, turning her back to Lu Cheng.

Lu Cheng said, ”It’s a public expense trip, I’m here for hospital study tasks, so there’s no question of wasting anything.”

”Besides, I wasn’t sure when I’d get my leave approved; the class officially starts tomorrow, so if I committed beforehand and couldn’t manage the time, it would have been trouble.”

”Had I known I’d stay here, I’d have brought the suitcase over and got some stuff for you.”

Mu Nanshu smiled slightly, ”Just get it tomorrow, the suitcase isn’t going anywhere.”

”If you have to report tomorrow, you can sleep first; I’m working in the lab, I’m a nine-to-fiver.”

Mu Nanshu understood Lu Cheng’s plan; it was as he’d mentioned before.

If you want an exceptional acceptance at Union Hospital or a top teaching hospital, you need to be competent.

Skills don’t emerge out of thin air; you have to learn.

”No rush at the moment, we’re reporting between eight to ten tomorrow, there’s just six people in the class.”

”I thought I wouldn’t get selected but I did.”

”The class doesn’t officially start until two in the afternoon, so there’s no rush.”

Lu Cheng then asked, ”Book Bag, you mentioned you asked in advance about Huashan Hospital considering me; what was that about?”

Nanshu said, ”After your postgraduate scores came out, I inquired in orthopedics; the secretary there clearly told me you would surely be accepted with those scores.”

”But later I found out that the teacher who favored clinical students died of a heart attack unexpectedly in March that year...”

”And the other mentors have their own student preferences...”

”Oh. Thanks.” Lu Cheng felt a pang.

The opportunity slipped because a teacher passed away at their post.

Behind the scenes, Nanshu did many things for him; she just didn’t mention them when the outcome was futile.

”Remember later to send me your course schedule; as we discussed, I’ll take you for some good food.”

”Our research group has quite a few food enthusiasts who recommended lots of places I haven’t had the chance to try yet.”

”If I recall correctly, the training doesn’t run in the evenings.”

Nanshu herself had mentioned flying to lots of training classes abroad to complete her studies smoothly.

”Alright… if time permits, we could go to Wuchang District; I’m more familiar with that area.” Lu Cheng suggested.

”Sure…” Nanshu agreed without any hesitation.

…

Next morning, at 7:30 a.m.

Lu Cheng and Mu Nanshu drove to change their room card and collect luggage, loading the suitcase into the trunk. They then went to have hot dry noodles.

But Nanshu still wasn’t accustomed, so halfway she got fried dough sticks and soy milk instead.

When saying goodbye to Lu Cheng in the underground parking lot, Nanshu said, ”You can easily order from the delivery places I suggested, likely better than choosing randomly.”

”Of course, your training class provides meals, you could try them.”

”If you face any problems, just call me. Though I just settled here, I’m part of this institution, might be able to help.”

Nanshu instructed like a ”big sister.”

”Got it, thanks, Boss Shu.” Lu Cheng found it quite hard to adjust to this side of Nanshu.

”Enough with the nagging, you’re more used to roaming around than me.”

Nanshu glanced at her phone for the time, and then headed towards another building.

Lu Cheng followed the electronic directions on the ”entry notice,” winding through the Union Hospital’s functional lab building to the 12th floor, room 1215!

Unlike the grand entrance of the functional lab building, the 1215 lab had a rather ’old-fashioned’ vintage decor, paint peeling off the stainless-steel door even.

The doorway had just a worn-out table, with a ’registration form,’ bearing six names.

No one was there to oversee the registration.

Two people had already signed in above; seeing this scene, Lu Cheng wondered if he was being messed around with...

Is this it?

Fifteen thousand for five days?

Lu Cheng stood there for a bit until a portly guy, younger than himself by two years, waddled over, massaging his belly.

Seeing Lu Cheng looking conflicted at the table, he proactively asked, ”Sir, are you here to register for the hand surgery training class?”

”Yeah, I am!~” Lu Cheng replied.

”What’s your name? Can I have your ID, and fill in some information? Once done, I’ll give you your student ID, which allows you to dine at the hospital’s canteen...” the guy smiled kindly.

Lu Cheng thought to himself: Maybe he really was fooled.