Chapter 79: CH 71

Recently, there was a strange incident in the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department of Jihua Hospital that left people bewildered and wondering what was wrong— Dr. Shen Fangyu stopped taking pens from other people’s pockets.

After observing in secret for a few days, Yu Sang noticed that Dr. Shen had somehow acquired three boxes of pens, one red, one blue, and one black, instantly making him the wealthiest person in the department.

However, Dr. Shen was incredibly stingy with his pens. He locked them up tightly with a small key and refused to even lend one to Director Cui. He would proudly show off his boxes of pens whenever he had the chance, as if he were holding onto a precious treasure.

One day, after Yu Sang heard Dr. Shen boast about his pens again, he couldn’t hold back his anger any longer. He muttered to Jiang Xu, “I’ve never even heard of the brand of pens that Dr. Shen has. They’re probably not even good pens, so there’s no need for him to show off.”

Jiang Xu, who had been using the same pens for years, paused for a moment and then asked Yu Sang, “Are you sure you’ve never heard of them?”

Yu Sang was a little surprised that Jiang Xu didn’t join him in criticizing Dr. Shen. He thought carefully and recalled some vague fragments from his memory. “Well, they do look somewhat familiar. I think I’ve seen them somewhere before.”

Just as Jiang Xu was about to nod in satisfaction, Yu Sang snorted and said, “But regardless of the brand, they’re definitely not good pens. They might even leak ink and ruin his white coat someday.”

Upon hearing his gift being criticized by Yu Sang, Jiang Xu fell silent for a moment, and then said with a subtle expression, “I don’t think they will.”

“Why not? They definitely will!” Yu Sang insisted, and then speculated, “Hey, Brother Xu, do you think those pens were a gift from his partner?”

Jiang Xu, as the subject in question, confirmed, “Yes.”

“But I haven’t heard him say he has a girlfriend,” Yu Sang said, completely oblivious to the decisiveness in Jiang Xu’s words. His mind quickly jumped to another topic, “Brother Xu, how did you know? Have you met her? She must be pretty.”

It was a bit difficult for Jiang Xu to hear Yu Sang praise his looks directly. After pondering for a moment, he said cautiously, “Maybe… she looks similar to me.”

“Similar to you?” Yu Sang exclaimed, “Then she must be a stunning beauty! How lucky is Dr. Shen to have such a girlfriend!”

Hearing that Dr. Shen had a beautiful girlfriend, Yu Sang worried for Jiang Xu and said, “When are you going to find a girlfriend, Brother Xu? You can’t lose to him. Look, Dr. Shen has moved on from his failed pursuit of Zhong Lan, but you’re still stuck in the past.”

Jiang Xu:”…”

He suddenly felt that Yu Sang had a lot in common with his mother.

After thinking for a moment, Yu Sang continued, “But Brother Xu, you should try to lose the beer belly first. You seem to be getting fatter and it’s not easy for a handsome guy like you to find a girlfriend when you’re overweight.”

After finishing his remark, Yu Sang scrutinized Jiang Xu’s face. “But you’re different, with your good physique, it won’t show on your face even if you gain weight and you can just cover it up with clothes.”

“…”

Jiang Xu felt that he had underestimated Yu Sang. Yu Sang was even more formidable than his mother. At least his mother didn’t pressure him to lose weight.

Jiang Xu didn’t really want to discuss beer bellies and obesity with Yu Sang. Before Yu Sang could extend the topic to the dangers of high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and high cholesterol, he blurted out, “I have a partner too.”

“Wow, really!” Yu Sang exclaimed in shock, “Why didn’t you tell us earlier? It’s such a big thing and you kept it hidden. That’s not very thoughtful of you.”

Jiang Xu took a sip of water, suppressing the faint smile that appeared in his eyes, and said lightly, “We just started dating.”

“Hey,” Yu Sang, who was a devoted fan of Teacher Jiang Xu, was obviously very concerned about the outcome of Jiang Xu and Sheng Fangyu’s relationships, “Is your partner good-looking or is his partner good-looking?”

Jiang Xu glanced thoughtfully at the workstation farthest from him in the department. There was no one at the workstation, but there was a navy blue coat draped over the chair. He had bought the coat for Shen Fangyu on the second day of confirming their relationship, and the pens were from the first day.

Shen Fangyu’s peach blossom eyes shone with a vibrant charm, and the cool tones of the navy blue coat subdued his exuberant energy, making him look calm and not overly flashy, which was pleasing to the eye.

Jiang Xu recalled how Shen Fangyu looked in that coat and said to Yu Sang, “Anyway, my partner is exceptionally good-looking.”

And this exceptionally good-looking person was currently chatting with Zhang Cheng in front of the operating table. The patient had just been anesthetized, and he was confirming the patient’s anesthesia status while listening to Zhang Cheng say, “Do you know what? These past two days, I heard a particularly outrageous gossip about you.”

“What gossip?” Shen Fangyu didn’t care and said, “I’ve never cared about gossip.”

Zhang Cheng hesitated and said, “I heard that you and Jiang Xu are dating?”

Shen Fangyu: “?”

The man who had just been composed and calm couldn’t help but turn his face away and coughed twice, pretending to be calm, and said, “Who did you hear that from?”

“A classmate from our university days.”

Zhang Cheng had experienced an armed robbery and felt extremely wronged, so after surviving the ordeal, he wanted to shout to the whole world.

He didn’t attend the alumni reunion because he had something to do at the hospital. When he was crying to his old classmates, the old classmate comforted him and told him about the latest gossip.

As it turned out, this former classmate was also someone who hadn’t attended the reunion and relied on hearsay for information. Initially, the story was that Jiang Su angrily pulled Shen Fangyu’s hand and left the venue. But later, for some reason, it turned into Jiang Xu and Shen Fangyu holding hands at the event, and that they were dating.

In the more exaggerated versions of the story that Zhang Cheng heard, Jiang Xu and Shen Fangyu had been secretly dating for over a decade, but had to maintain their “school kings” image, they had to make the tough decision to compete against each other.

Moreover, Huang Bin suddenly posted a message in the group chat after attending the class reunion, apologizing for spreading rumors about Jiang Yu, clarifying that the reason for breaking up with his girlfriend was entirely his own fault, and thanking Shen Fangyu for making him realize his mistakes and giving him a chance to wake up and become a better person.

This led to some people speculating: Jiang Yu kicked Huang Bin that day because the latter called him fat, but he wasn’t actually fat, he was pregnant with Shen Fangyu’s child, so Shen Fangyu went to confront Huang Bin on his behalf.

After listening to Zhang Cheng, even Shen Fangyu, the person at the center of the gossip was shocked, “Where did you here the pregnancy rumor?”

If they had drawn the prophet card, he would go and assassinate them tonight.

“It think from the third-ranked student in our class before.” Zhang Chneg asked, “So what’s the real story? This is too exaggerated. They even asked me if I knew something, saying I have insider information because I’m close to you. I was dumbfounded. It doesn’t make any sense.”

Shen Fangyu paused for a moment, omitting the part about Huang Bin, and simply said, “I did something impulsive. Jiang Xu got angry and took me away. It’s not that complicated.”

“Jiang Xu got angry, so you just left?” Zhang Cheng was even more dumbfounded, “Damn, I look down on you, Shen Fangyu, can’t you have some competitiveness?”

Shen Fangyu’s hand didn’t stop, but it didn’t affect him from showing affection in front of the anesthetized patient and Zhang Cheng, “If you look down on me, then just look down on me.”

Anyway, he has a partner now.

The man immersed in the romantic relationship had lost his basic sense of competitiveness. His mind was filled with memories of Jiang Xu earnestly buttoning his clothes for him in front of the door this morning, his head was lowered and the soft ends of his hair kept brushing against his forehead. He could have easily hugged him with a single move.

Oh, and the look Jiang Xu gave him when they were doing ward rounds.

At that time, Jiang Xu was originally scolding a student for not properly fastening the buttons, and the first button was misaligned. Jiang Xu frowned and started to criticize, “What’s wrong with this button?”

But when he opened the office door, Jiang Xu glanced at him and casually changed his tone in front of the student, “…it’s quite unique.”

The unlucky student who was prepared to accept criticism was stunned, and then realized that Teacher Jiang, who had always been strict, walked past him and covered up the matter lightly.

He stood in place and looked down at the misaligned button on his clothes, muttering softly, “Does ‘quite unique’ mean… Teacher Jiang likes it?”

Dr. Shen, who had only buttoned two buttons, whispered meaningfully in the student’s ear, “It could also be a case of ‘love the house and also its crow’.”

*”Love the house and also its crow” means to love everything associated with a person, including their flaws or imperfections.

In the past, Dr. Shen simply didn’t like the hassle of fastening buttons properly. But now, Shen Fangyu deliberately left his buttons half-fastened in order to attract someone with OCD to help him fasten them.

Of course, this strategy didn’t always work.

For example, one night when Jiang Xu was brushing his teeth, Shen Fangyu insisted on wearing a shirt with only half of the buttons fastened and started wandering around him. Jiang Xu, who had been helping him fasten buttons for several days, finally couldn’t take it anymore. He glared at Shen Fangyu through the mirror and said, “If you can’t fasten your buttons properly, I’ll take all your clothes and replace the buttons with zippers.”

Shen Fangyu hugged him from behind and said, “Then you can help me with the zippers.”

Jiang Xu spat out toothpaste foam without any expression, and directly used his killer move, “Don’t come into the bedroom tonight.”

After they returned home from the hotel that day, Shen Fangyu finally sang the song of a liberated serf and confidently climbed into Jiang Xu’s bed. Although the quality of sleep on the bed was not much better than on the sofa because he was next to Jiang Xu, Shen Fangyu was determined not to go back to the sofa.

When Jiang Xu lay down on the bed, he saw Shen Fangyu diligently fasten the buttons on his pajamas and tentatively open the door.

Jiang Xu looked him up and down, nodded slightly with his head tilted back, and Shen Fangyu, who passed the security check, immediately lay down beside him, wasting no time in embracing him.

Jiang Xu leaned against him, and Shen Fangyu sat up, reaching out to knead his shoulders and waist, occasionally saying a few flirtatious words.

“What did you say to Zhang Cheng today?” Jiang Xu suddenly turned his head and asked.

When the two of them came out of the operating room, Jiang Xu saw Zhang Cheng talking to Shen Fangyu. They kept exchanging words, and Zhang Cheng would occasionally glance at him with a subtle expression.

Shen Fangyu curved the corner of his mouth and said, “That you look good.”

“Be honest.”

“Isn’t saying you look good the truth?” Shen Fangyu shamelessly said, “In my mind, this is the most reliable and objective truth, even more so than the papers from CNS and the top four journals.”

“But these papers are not that reliable either,” Shen Fangyu continued with a sigh. “The low reproducibility rate of results published in top journals has been a hot topic of discussion.”

Jiang Xu’s attempt to change the topic was futile as Shen Fangyu successfully redirected the conversation, looking at Jiang Xu with a helpless expression that melted his heart.

“By the way,” he suddenly said, looking at the side of Jiang Xu’s face, “I saw something today and thought I should tell you.”

He took out his phone and showed Jiang Xu a picture, which was a painting. In the painting, two men were depicted – one facing away, showing only the back of his head, and the other facing towards him though the face was blurred. It looked inexplicably familiar.

Jiang Xu was visibly surprised.

“A friend suddenly asked me this afternoon if I could recognize the person in the painting, saying that the background looked somewhat like our hospital,” Shen Fangyu explained.

“This is…” Jiang Xu frowned slightly.

Shen Fangyu reminded him, “It’s from that day your blind date came to see you.”

Jiang Xu frowned slightly, listening as Shen Fangyu continued, “My friend said she saw it online, so I asked her for the account of the person who posted the picture. I checked and it was indeed your blind date who drew this painting.”

Jiang Xu recalled that Yu Xin had mentioned being an artist and wanting to paint for him, but he had declined at that time.

“I brushed it off with that friend and said I don’t know the person,” Shen Fangyu said. “Then I contacted the girl and asked her to delete the picture of the person she painted. I saw on her Weibo that she mentioned painting it based on a photo, so I advised her against taking photos without consent and asked her to delete the photo as well.”

“Oh…”

Although Jiang Xu didn’t like being secretly photographed, he didn’t really care about such small matters. Moreover, Shen Fangyu had already resolved the issue, so there was no need to bring it up to him.

However, after a moment of silence, he suddenly realized something, and he looked at Shen Fangyu meaningfully.

This person wanted to be praised.

Shen Fangyu, on the other hand, was not embarrassed at being seen through, and he said sourly, “I thought that since she was your blind date, I should inform you. Besides, it’s photo of both of us, why didn’t she take a picture of my face?”

Jiang Xu reminisced about Shen Fangyu, who had a sudden mood swing that day for no reason, and came to a realization “Did you like me back then?”

Shen Fangyu obviously didn’t intend to follow the usual routine, and he asked in return, “Does it mean that the longer I like you, the happier you will be?”

Jiang Xu didn’t say anything, and a smile crept up on the corner of Shen Fangyu’s lips as he whispered in his ear, “Then I’ve liked you since I was born, and I’ve likes you for twenty or thirty years.”

Jiang Xu often felt that Shen Fangyu, whether he was his arch-enemy or not, had two completely different mouths. Both were like running trains – one ran towards his anger, and the other ran towards his heart.

He actually found Shen Fangyu’s habit of showering him with sweet words and romantic gestures irritating, but he realized, with some self-consciousness, that he actually liked it.

He was quite helpless.

Shen Fangyu glanced at his reddening ears and said affectionately, “It’s okay, if my coaxing makes you happy and you want to smile, just smile, you don’t have to hold it in.”

He withdrew his hand that was massaging Jiang Xu’s back, and pulled him into an embrace, saying, “But this reminds me, when should we take photos again?”

“What photos?” Jiang Xu asked, puzzled.

Wedding photos.”

Jiang Xu was taken aback, “When did I say I want to marry you?”

“You said you wanted to be serious with me, so I thought about marriage.” Shen Fangyu said, “What? Don’t you want that?”

Jiang Xu glanced at him, but Shen Fangyu was already lost in his own thoughts, “Let’s go take photos at the hibiscus tree. It would be meaningful, that’s where we reunited.”

Jiang Xu reminded him, “Hibiscus trees aren’t in bloom now.”

“I didn’t say we have to take them now,” Shen Fangyu was adept at picking up on the details in his words, “Does that mean you’re agreeing to marry me now?”

Jiang Xu: “…”

Seeing that he might provoke Jiang Xu’s anger soon, Shen Fangyu quickly changed the topic, “It’s fine if the flowers haven’t bloomed. There’s a plaque there with our names on it, it’s red like a wedding certificate and it would look nice as the background.”

“Or we could go to the internet café, the one in B city where we used to play games together, we could play a few rounds of games.”

Jiang Xu felt a bit sleepy, he pushed Shen Fangyu’s arm and lay down on his side, “The internet café is closed.”

“You know that too?” Shen Fangyu was surprised, then he lay down facing Jiang Xu, “Does that mean you also think about me? Did you have like me since birth?”

“… “ Jiang Xu wanted to complain, he didn’t realize Shen Fangyu was such a love brain before.

“When I was born, you weren’t even born yet,” he said.

Shen Fangyu pondered for a moment and then teased, “Then why did you call me ‘gege’?”

Jiang Xu choked, unable to come up with a response for a while.

When he had teased Shen Fangyu before, he didn’t think too much about it, he just followed the advice from Yu Sang’s book, it said that it’s important to give the other person a sense of respect, and it’s best to reflect it in the way of address.

Jiang Xu carefully picked from Mr. Shen, Professor Shen, Dr. Shen, and finally came up with “gege” by generalizing from those titles.

At that time, he didn’t think too much about it, and the term of address didn’t mean much. But now, lying on the same bed with Shen Fangyu, chatting as lovers, when he remembered that “gege”, Jiang Xu’s face suddenly flushed with belated realization, but Shen Fangyu wouldn’t let it go, coaxing him, “Say it again, just once more.”

Jiang Xu turned his head away, “Don’t even think about it.”

Rejected, Shen Fangyu looked aggrieved, and Jiang Xu hesitated for a moment before relenting, “Then you make any other request.”

Shen Fangyu didn’t hesitate at all and spoke as if he had already decided long ago, “Can I hold you while we sleep?”

Jiang Xu fell into a brief silence.

In fact, he and Shen Fangyu had hugging before, but there was still some difference between hugging on the bed and hugging off the bed.

Of course, Jiang Xu himself didn’t know that he had a habit of hugging people while asleep.

“If you don’t say anything, I’ll take it as you agreeing.” Shen Fangyu leaned forward, reached around Jiang Xu’s back and pulled him into his arms. But before he could get too close, his body was stopped by Jiang Xu’s stomach.

Then Xiaoxiao, who was inexplicably disturbed, angrily kicked her father through the belly.

Jiang Xu couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight of all this.

Jiang Xu rested his head against Shen Fangyu’s chest, and as he chuckled, the vibrations passed through his chest to Shen Fangyu’s body, causing him to shudder. Suddenly, Shen Fangyu felt his heart being filled with an intangible sense of happiness.

Shen Fangyu lowered his head and pressed his forehead against Jiang Xu’s, wishing he could just merge the person into his heart.

“Dr Albert has sent me a lot of information recently. He said that once the surgery is successful, he will share his experience with me over a call.” He whispered.

“Mmm.”

“Our Xiaoxiao will definitely be fine.”

“Mmm.”

“Jiang Xu,” Shen Fangyu’s hand rested on Jiang Xu’s body. He was gently caressing it when he suddenly changed the topic without warning, “Did you spill my cologne on the bed?”

“Mmm…huh?!”

Shen Fangyu’s embrace was comfortable, and as Jiang Xu listened to the words coming to his ear, he closed his eyes, brewing a drowsy feeling. He remained in a drowsy state until Shen Fangyu suddenly asked this question, which instantly woke him up.

He bit his lip nervously, and then heard Shen Fangyu continued, “Ever since I came back that day, I’ve noticed a strong scent on the bed but I thought it was just my imagination.” He sniffed earnestly and asked, “Can you smell it?”

Jiang Xu avoided the first question and pretended to be calm as he evaded, “It must be your scent.”

“My scent?” Shen Fangyu was taken aback, “Didn’t you say that you couldn’t smell due to your rhinitis?”

Jiang Xu hesitated for a moment, and said, “You’re too close to me now.”

“Oh…” Shen Fangyu thought Jiang Xu didn’t like the scent and tried to be understanding, “I’ll step back then.”

As he said that, he made a motion to let go of Jiang Xu, but unexpectedly, Jiang Xu instinctively reached out and grabbed the hem of his pajamas.

Realizing what he had done, Jiang Xu felt his brain freeze for a second.

And it was this one second that Shen Fangyu seized, holding onto the hand that Jiang Xu failed to retract in time.

The room suddenly became quiet, so quiet that even the sound of the wind was audible.

Jiang Xu’s other hand rested on Shen Fangyu’s abdomen, where the muscles were tight and warm, and the pulsing of the abdominal aorta transmitted through the skin and muscles to his fingertips, strong and distinct.

The two of them were tightly embraced under the cover of the blanket, and Jiang Xu could even feel Shen Fangyu’s heartbeat getting faster. Despite his calm demeanor on the surface, the pulse didn’t lie.

Jiang Xu gulped and lightly pressed his fingers against Shen Fangyu’s abdomen, feeling the firmness and resilience of his abdominal muscles.

It was a bit amusing.

He used to have some abs too, but they disappeared after he got pregnant. But now he realized that other people’s abs were more interesting.

He pulled back the hand Shen Fangyu was holding and traced along the abdominal muscles all the way down until he reached the area his stomach was pressed against. Shen Fangyu’s skin was pressed down by the pregnancy belly, and the body heat enveloped his lower abdomen. Jiang Xu traced along the edge with his fingertips, gently outlining the contours of the connecting area.

Shen Fangyu: “I…”

Jiang Xu suddenly withdrew his hand as Shen Fangyu sat up in a hurry, looking a bit flustered as he said, “I just remembered that I forgot to use hair conditioner when I took a shower. I’ll go take another shower.”

Jiang Xu, who lost his toy: “…”

Watching Shen Fangyu’s hurried figure as he left, Jiang Xu retrieved his hand and leaned against the spot where Shen Fangyu had just been lying, claiming his pillow.

After a while, Jiang Xu opened his eyes and carefully lowered his head to sniff.

Jiang- the-former-rhinitis-patient- now-a scent-detector-Xu discovered: There was a clear smell of hair conditioner on Shen Fangyu’s pillow.