Chapter 9 (1/2)

***

Outside the conference room of the hospital

“Xia Feng your proposal was quite good, the hospital will consider it carefully.” Dr. Cui said, nodding.

“The two American experts also expressed their interest in your new treatment for the tumor, and said they would be interested in working with us.” Dr. Cui continued.

“President, I will continue to work hard.”

“Young people sure are energetic!” Dr. Cui nodded and left.

At this time, Shao Yifan, who was hiding in a corner came out and heard Dr. Cui’s parting words:

” ‘Young people are energetic,’ President Cui was praising you a lot. It seems that your publication will go well this time.”

“What did you do yesterday?” Xia Feng looked at Shao Yifan.

“Yesterday I was singing karaoke. It was too noisy, and I didn’t hear your initial phone call and when I called you back later, you said you didn’t need help.” Shao Yifan remembered that Xia Feng had called him yesterday but couldn’t get through. He only saw the texts asking for help later in the night. “But I see you managed to finish it in time.”

“If Yu Dong didn’t help, I reckon I’d still be sorting out through my data.”

“Really?” Shao Yifan was shocked to hear that Yu Dong helped. “Does she know medicine?”

“She helped me translate my data into English.” Xia Feng explained.

Xia Feng was too lazy to further explain, so he just started walking towards their office.

“Not necessarily, many people in the hospital are scrambling for a place in New York’s Edward Hospital, I might not necessarily get chosen.” Xia Feng shook his head.

“How can that be, other people rely on hospital recommendations, but you directly showed your face in front of American experts. Didn’t the president just say that the other side is very interested in your new treatment idea.” Shao Yifan said.

“You spent the whole night sorting through your data, and literally just finished a 2 hour presentation. How are you not sleepy!” When Shao Yifan saw that Xia Feng had no intention of stopping and was going to see his patients, he couldn’t help but exclaim.

“Oh, look at this public display of affection!” Shao Yifan exaggerated.

It was already 6:00 p.m when Yu Dong woke up with a headache and her biological clock in disarray. She stayed in bed for a few minutes before managing to feebly get out of bed.

When she went into the kitchen to get some water from the refrigerator, she found a post-it note on it.

‘Although it’s summer, it isn’t good to directly drink ice water. There’s honeyed water that I made on the table, just drink that if you’re thirsty, and I cooked some egg fried rice, just microwave it when you get hungry.

P.S Thank you for helping me with my files!

–Xia Feng. ‘

After eating, Yu Dong felt much better.

Suddenly her phone rang.

Yu Dong looked at her phone screen and saw the caller to be her brother, Yu Song.

Yu Dong suddenly felt morose as she held her phone. She had been happily living for more than a month since her rebirth. She had never called home, had never thought about it, but now that she was confronted with this situation she became afraid.

Before Yu Dong’s rebirth, her family’s urging to get married reached unprecedented heights after she turned 28. Even her older brother, who always ignored family affairs, began to join pressure her.

Yu Dong often got pulled aside and lectured about it. That marriage was so integral to life, how this relationship was similar to the relationship between the left hand and right hand. How her likes or dislikes were no relevant when picking a man.

Yu Dong remembered one time when she went home for a visit, she happened to bump into Yu Song who just came back from work. When he saw her, he opened his mouth, and the first thing he said to her was: “What the hell are you going to do? Being so picky, do you think you’re still in your early 20s ah, thinking you’re so high and mighty. You think we’re willing to take care of you? If it weren’t for the fact that you’re my sister, I wouldn’t even bother with you. Look at you, every day you get older and older. Did you not think that everyone else has already married out except you?”

Then her mother, who was usually picky said, “The last man was good, you complained that he was a little short at 166 cm, but you’re only 158 cm anyway. Any taller and he’d be a tree. You also complained about his low salary, but it’s not like you can’t live with 3000 yuan a month. Better than nothing.”

Even her father finally said, “I beg of you, stop being picky and get married quickly.”

No matter how close she was with her loved ones, in the end, they became a miserable existence.

So she began to dread festivals and holidays.

Yu Dong didn’t even dare visit her hometown, because even the street next to theirs knew of a girl who can’t marry out of her home!

The phone stopped, and after a while, it started it ring again. Yu Dong gathered her courage and connected the phone.

“Answer your phone!” Her brother’s voice roared, “What have you been doing lately? You didn’t really marry your boyfriend did you?”

“No!”

“No? Because you ran away from home with your suitcase, mom got sick.” Her elder brother yelled some more, then asked: “Where are you, what are you doing now?”

“Work, love.”

“What? Have you found a job?” Yu Song said, “It’s good that your boyfriend’s family doesn’t disagree with the marriage, but at least bring him back first. Don’t be in such a rush marrying when you’re still young.”

“Brother?” Yu Dong suddenly asked, “If I break up with my boyfriend and end up not marrying, will you dislike me?”

“What nonsense are you spouting? Is that man bullying you? You tell me, brother will find him!”

“No, I was just asking.”

“That’s no good, if you’re being bullied you tell me, and pay attention to your surroundings, a girl out in the big city alone has to pay extra attention to her safety. And don’t wait for mom to get angry before calling home!”

“Why are you asking this?” Yu Dong said, “We never had any real objections towards you marrying, but we’ve never even met your boyfriend, and we always hear from others that you’re working hard to earn money to buy things for him. We never hear anything about what he does for you, that’s why we’re uneasy, afraid that you’re being bullied. You have to find a good man, someone worthy of my sister.”

“Brother, would you always think so?”