茶杯狐 -CUPFOX

Because the station’s doctor stepped in and the ambulance promptly arrived, and the old man’s local family was contacted through his unlocked mobile phone, the young Dr. Zhou Yiqing didn’t go to the hospital.

Today, he had a prearranged dinner at his elders’ house, and looking at the time, he was already running late. He hurried out of the station and hailed a cab to his relatives’ place.

While in the car, he couldn’t help but replay the scene of the heart surgeon’s intervention in his mind.

Although he wasn’t from the same specialty, as a qualified medical university graduate with several years of experience, he had a basic understanding of heart-related issues.

Yet, he found the cardiac surgeon’s “procedure” puzzling. He saw him placing his hands on the patient’s chest, not in the standard chest compression gesture, and didn’t notice any specific movements or strong pressures. How did the doctor manage to revive the patient by simply holding his hands there?

Were there some techniques he didn’t see clearly or didn’t understand?

Or perhaps the patient’s heartbeat recovered just as the doctor felt it, which prompted him to get up and leave?

But from his actions, he didn’t seem to check the patient’s heartbeat or breathing in the usual way.

Besides, before he had made space for the heart surgeon, he had confirmed that the old man’s heartbeat, and breathing had not yet resumed.

Never mind, he should just go to the Cardiac Surgery Department at the Medical University’s affiliated hospital and consult the doctor in person.

It was a pity that he didn’t get a clear look at the doctor’s face, nor did he ask for his name.

However, there aren’t that many heart surgeons in one hospital. With a bit of effort, it shouldn’t be too hard to find him.

On the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month, a time also referred to as “Mini New Year’s Eve”, friends and family would visit each other and gather for a meal.

Xia Libing’s parents couldn’t come back from abroad for the Spring Festival, but she wasn’t entirely alone in Citong City.

Her third uncle and his wife were also in Citong City, and naturally, they would invite her over to their house around this time.

Xia Libing initially refused using the excuse that she had the night shift at the hospital. However, her aunt, who was the Deputy Dean of the hospital, pulled some strings, adjusted the shift schedule a little, and personally drove Xia Libing from the hospital to their home.

Her third uncle and aunt had a son and a daughter. The older one, a middle school girl, and the younger one, a boy in fourth-grade elementary school.

These kids were quite a handful; they were infamous for being rebellious in the entire Xia family. It was a big headache for their parents, especially the older girl, who was currently going through her rebellious phase, always contradicting her parents. Punishments, rebukes, or withholding pocket money seemed to have no effect on her. Just before the final exams, she even went and got a row of earrings, which made their aunt so livid, she accidentally injured her finger hitting the door frame.

However, these troublesome kids were unusually well-behaved in front of Xia Libing. They had been like this since they were toddlers—whenever they saw Xia Libing, they would behave as timidly as mice confronted by a cat.

Even now, in Xia Libing’s presence, they acted obedient, not daring to cause a fuss. All traces of their rebelliousness and rambunctious behavior disappeared completely.

Of course, their aunt was extremely curious about this, but ever since they were young, she had asked both her children and Xia Libing about this, but never received an answer.

Since Xia Libing’s arrival in Citong City, her third aunt didn’t miss any chance to invite her to live at their home, intending to “discipline” her two unruly children. However, Xia Libing proved reluctant, preferring to rent a house near the hospital herself. While her aunt had a higher status being an elder and the hospital’s official, she still found Xia Libing impossible to manage, even more elusive than her own children.

Today, she brought Xia Libing home for dinner without informing her children beforehand. The moment they saw Xia Libing’s tall figure following their mother into the house, the daughter who positioned herself as the “boss” of the house, and the son who’d get lost in his own world while playing mobile games, both dropped whatever they were doing, as if electrified. They ran over, respectfully greeted their cousin with a simple, “Sister Bing.”

Xia Libing gave a casual nod, called their names, and sent them off to their own pursuits.

The third aunt watched the two suddenly obedient children with some envy, and for the umpteenth time asked Xia Libing, “Little Bing, how did you manage to make my two ‘demons’ so afraid of you?”

Xia Libing’s response was the same as before, “I scared them when they were young, left a shadow in their minds.”

“You never did tell me how you scared them. If I could do it too, managing them wouldn’t be such a hard task,” the third aunt said helplessly.

Xia Libing shook her head, “You wouldn’t be able to do it, and even if you could, it wouldn’t work now.”

“Can’t you educate them a bit, make them listen to me more?” her third aunt asked.

“I can’t,” replied Xia Libing, shaking her head with an honest air.

While they were chatting, Xia Libing’s third uncle returned home.

The third uncle and aunt, both extremely busy people, went to the kitchen to start cooking. Though they were both able to cook, they rarely got the chance. They mostly had a housekeeper do it. The housekeeper had gone back home, thus they had to cook themselves for the time being.

Seeing the food was almost ready and no one called to eat, Xia Libing sat on the sofa and chatted. She guessed they must be waiting for someone else.

As expected, the doorbell rang at half-past six and a tall, handsome man entered with a beaming smile.

“Uncle Xia, Aunt Shen!” The handsome man greeted Xia Libing’s third uncle and aunt enthusiastically, also saluting the two children and handing them gifts.

The children, in contrast, seemed much more familiar and close to this handsome man than they did to Xia Libing.

Third Aunt introduced the man as Zhou Yiqing to Xia Libing, explaining he was her former colleague’s son, and that their families had been acquainted for years. After graduating from the Medical University, he was now working in a hospital in a major city. He’d come back during his vacation. His family had almost no relatives left in town, so her third aunt was the closest relation he had.

By observing their expressions, attitudes, and conversations, Xia Libing was able to sense that her third aunt seemed to have intentions of introducing Zhou Yiqing to her as a potential love interest. Neither her third uncle nor Zhou Yiqing himself seemed aware of this.

Xia Libing continued her usual demeanor: observing carefully, speaking sparingly, and eating a lot.

However, once they started eating, she remembered Xiang Kun’s cooking – while her uncle’s and aunt’s meals were just okay, using expensive ingredients and tasting nothing too special. Compared to the dishes cooked by Xiang Kun, there was indeed quite a gap in the eating experience.

Xia Libing recalled seeing a chat in the group chat where Xiang Kun mentioned that he was also returning today. Perhaps he had already arrived in Citong City.

During his stay, she should find the opportunity to mooch another meal… no, make it two meals from him, Xia Libing thought to herself.

At the dinner table, the third aunt was asking Zhou Yiqing if the roads were congested at this time to which the handsome young doctor responded, “There weren’t many cars on the road, so it wasn’t congested. Though, I got caught up at the station because of an incident.”

He then proceeded to tell the story about how he had saved an elderly man who had fallen ill at the train station. During the rescue process, another person claiming to be a cardiothoracic surgeon from the Medical University’s affiliated hospital placed his hand on the elderly man’s chest for a moment which instantly revived the man’s heartbeat and breathing.

Aunt Shen was puzzled, “His hand rested there, but he didn’t perform CPR? That means your earlier CPR must have already helped the patient recover his heartbeat and breathing. He said he was a cardiac surgeon from the attached hospital of the Medical University? That should be either Old Qin or Old Xie…”

Just as she was talking, Aunt Shen’s daughter, Xia Nianqing suddenly shouted with her phone in hand, “Brother Yiqing is on Douyin (TikTok)!”

Aunt Shen was about to scold her daughter for using her phone at the dinner table, but hearing these words, she couldn’t help but take the phone to look. Sure enough, she saw a short Douyin video about the incident that had previously occurred at Citong City Train Station. The title was “Extremely handsome doctor saves lives at the station, it’s simply too heart-wrenching!”

The video mainly focused on Zhou Yiqing, showing a portion of the process of him performing CPR on the elderly man, and after the man’s heartbeat was restored, everyone applauding, and the man being taken away by an ambulance was all edited together. The appearance and departure of the self-proclaimed cardiac surgeon were all cut out.

Xia Nianqing, a middle-school girl, already had positive feelings towards handsome Yiqing. When she saw this attractive rescue clip, she naturally had stars in her eyes. If her parents and Old Xia weren’t at the dinner table, she wouldn’t be able to resist shouting, “Brother Yiqing is so handsome.”

“It hasn’t even been an hour yet, and it’s already online…” Zhou Yiqing was quite surprised as he looked at the video. He remembered something, picked up his own phone to search, and did indeed find a more complete video. A post on a local forum was also discussing the incident at the station, but the posted video included the back of the cardiac surgeon. Of course, the attention of the post’s original writer and other repliers wasn’t on him. The most replies were still praising Zhou Yiqing’s good looks.

“So handsome! And so kind-hearted! Plus, he’s a doctor! He’s just my type!” —— This was the highest rated reply.

“AWSL!” —— This was the second highest rated reply.

Zhou Yiqing didn’t pay attention to the flattering replies, he only paused at the clip with the “cardiac surgeon”‘s back and showed it to Xia Libing’s Aunt Shen, “Aunt Shen, look, this is the doctor.”

Even though the person had his hood up and his face couldn’t be seen clearly, but just a look at that tall and sturdy back, Aunt Shen immediately shook her head, “It’s not Old Qin or Old Xie, they’re not that big, could it be a new doctor in their cardiac surgery department?”

Having been quiet all along, Xia Libing, who initially wasn’t interested in this matter, happened to glance at the paused video clip when Zhou Yiqing was showing it to Aunt Shen. However, she was immediately attracted by the familiar figure in the clip.

Is it Xiang Kun? —— This was her first thought.

Despite the figure wearing a hoodie, Xia Libing had studied many video clips related to Xiang Kun, and so she was very familiar with his back silhouette. Most importantly, Xiang Kun had worn that outerwear before. During the recent days at Tongshi Town, he had consistently worn this piece.

Xia Libing did not join the conversation but instead picked up her own phone. She searched for that post and looked at the video a few times on her own. After repeatedly observing the “cardiac surgeon”‘s movements, she was more than 95% certain —— the self-proclaimed cardiac surgeon, who had mysteriously touched the old man’s chest and walked away, was Xiang Kun.

If that person was Xiang Kun, then Zhou Yiqing’s assumption was likely to be accurate —— the elderly man was probably saved by Xiang Kun.

Though she didn’t know how Xiang Kun had managed to do it, based on her understanding of him, in a situation concerning life and death, Xiang Kun wouldn’t fake being a cardiac surgeon just for the sake of creating spectacle or playing pranks.

His impersonation of a cardiac surgeon was probably to gain the right to take over the rescue.

Thinking of this, Xia Libing sent a WeChat message to Xiang Kun: “Have you arrived at Citong now?”

“Alright, enough of the phones. Let’s eat, we should eat! The food is almost cold!” Seeing everyone flipping through their phones and discussing, Uncle Xia could finally hold on no longer.

After dinner, Zhou Yiqing stayed for a while, drinking tea and chatting, and but he didn’t leave until nearly nine o’clock.

On the drive to send Xia Libing home, Aunt Shen asked with a smile, “What do you think? Yiqing’s quite handsome, right? I just confirmed a couple of days ago, he currently doesn’t have a girlfriend.”

She then briefly introduced Zhou Yiqing’s situation. This tall and handsome young man was the son of a very good former colleague of hers. Over a decade ago, that colleague passed away. Aunt Shen had always taken care of Zhou Yiqing, especially after his father’s death, she provided him with a lot of help. He could be said to have been under her care since he was small and she knew him even better than Xia Libing.

After waiting for Aunt Shen to finish speaking, Xia Libing, her expression unchanged, said, “Aunt Shen, I do not wish to get into a relationship or get married at the moment.”

Aunt San laughed, “You’re also of a suitable age, Yiqing is two years older than you. You two are essentially peers, and both of you are doctors. There should be common topics between the two of you. A little chat would not hurt, it’s also good to be friends. Yiqing is a nice guy, and perhaps he will return to the province next year…”

Xia Libing said, “Aunt San, have you discussed this matter with my parents?”

Aunt San was perplexed, “Indeed, I have not… But I believe your parents would be supportive…”

“You can ask them to find out.” Xia Libing stated before getting off the car.

Watching Xia Libing enter the neighborhood where she rents her apartment, Aunt San picked up her phone in confusion and called Xia Libing’s mother. After exchanging simple pleasantries, she went straight to the main point, mentioning Dr. Zhou Yiqing coming for dinner today, her plan to matchmake Xia Libing with Zhou Yiqing, and she introduced Zhou Yiqing’s circumstances.

To her surprise, Xia Libing’s mother, after thanking her, gently said, “Xiao Bing is still young, there’s no rush to find her a boyfriend. Let her will be done, just let things flow naturally, hehe, naturally…”

After returning home with many questions in her mind, Aunt San brought her husband to the balcony and perplexedly relayed her conversation with Xia Libing and the call with Xia Libing’s mother.

“It’s a bit strange. Xiao Bing is not still in school. She has studied for a Masters twice and even started working. In a few more years, she’ll also be approaching thirty. How can they say ‘she’s still young’? With Xiao Bing being their only child, technically speaking… they should be in a rush to have grandchildren…”

After listening to his wife’s words, Xia Libing’s uncle pondered for a moment, then said, “Since Aunt Shen said so, she must have her reasons. They certainly understand Xiao Bing better than any of us. We should do as they say. As for Xiao Bing’s childhood…never mind, I’m not entirely clear about it. Anyway, we don’t need to worry about this matter. Given Xiao Bing’s situation, does she have to worry about finding a boyfriend at any time?”

Aunt San thought for a moment, nodding, “That makes sense.” Similarly, Zhou Yiqing isn’t someone who would worry about finding a girlfriend.

Meanwhile, across Citong City, Xiang Kun had just finished dinner with his parents.

At dinner, Xiang’s father enjoyed several cups of the wine Xiang Kun brought back, and now stared at the white porcelain bottle with satisfaction, commenting, “There’s not a single word or trademark on this bottle, but it tastes aromatic, a fine liquor indeed. Where did you buy it?”

Xiang Kun laughed, “A friend gave it to me before I left, apparently you can’t buy it anywhere.”

Tang Baona knew he was going home for the New Year today, so she and Yang Zhen Er visited him at the train station with two bottles of wine and some tea leaves, which supposedly came from her grandfather. She intended them as gifts for his parents.

The amount of items Yang Zhen Er sent for him to take was even more significant — most of the things in his bag were from her— but not for him, they were for Old Xia.

On this trip home, he had only packed one set of clothes for himself, but the New Year clothes that Yang Zhen Er bought for Old Xia half-filled the bag.

After dinner, Xiang Kun chatted with his parents for a while before shouldering his bag and heading out.

He originally planned to give the items to Old Xia tomorrow, but during dinner, Old Xia asked if he had returned to Citong. After a short chat, they decided to meet after dinner and deliver the items directly.

Previously, Xiang Kun specially made a pair of “Emotional Infusion” chopsticks with the emotions of Little Fatty Girl eating, and originally intended to send them to Old Xia by courier first. However, the SF Express courier told him that although they would still collect items during the Spring Festival, the delivery time might be affected and possibly delayed by one or two days.

If there might be a delay of one day, it would be better for Xiang Kun to carry them back himself.

If he handed the chopsticks to Old Xia tonight, and if his previous line of thought was correct that this “Emotional Infusion” mode could resonate with Old Xia, perhaps it could trigger Old Xia’s dreamland tonight.

After leaving the house, Xiang Kun originally planned to take a taxi directly to the place where Old Xia was staying. However, after letting her know in advance, Old Xia sent him the address of a coffee shop — she had just returned home to find that the whole neighborhood was experiencing a power outage. The electricity company was still investigating the issue, so she brought her laptop to a coffee shop to get some work done.