Huang Jingyi placed the thermos on his desk and said sweetly, "I heard from Wenquan that you don't have time to eat breakfast every day. I brought you some porridge. Drink it while it's hot."

At this moment, the young people in the office started making a commotion.

One glance from Qiao Muting and everyone fell silent.

"Thank you. You don't need to go through that trouble next time. I don't have an appetite in the morning. If I want to eat, I'll just go to the cafeteria."

"No matter how good the cafeteria food is, it can't taste as good as home cooking." Huang Jingyi opened the thermos, ladled out a bowl, and placed it in front of him.

He instinctively stepped back, and only straightened himself after she withdrew her hand.

Huang Jingyi and her sister-in-law did indeed take extra care of Wenquan. Sometimes when he was on night shift, they would take the initiative to bring warmth home.

This put Qiao Muting at ease a lot.

Comrade Huang had brought him breakfast twice already, but he had politely declined both times with an excuse.

But always rejecting other people's kindness seems a bit too deliberate.

Thinking of this, he scooped up a spoonful of porridge and put it in his mouth: "Mmm, delicious. Thank you. Don't bring it next time."

But for Huang Jingyi, that mouthful of porridge he ate was of extraordinary significance.

Indeed, "Where there's a will, there's a way." Her sister-in-law was absolutely right.

Looking down, Huang Jingyi noticed the water bottle she was still holding and remembered the request from someone else.

"Oh, right. A woman asked me to give this to you."

Handkerchiefs, water bottles!

Upon seeing this, Qiao Muting immediately threw down his soup spoon.

Where is she?

"They're gone..."

Before he could finish speaking, Qiao Muting had already vanished.

He strode downstairs with his two-meter-long legs. Unfortunately, amidst the sea of ​​people, he couldn't find him.

Damn it, I missed it again!

Qiao Muting stood on the stairs, looking down at the crowd below. He slammed his fist against the wall, feeling both frustrated and disappointed!

These past few days have felt like an eternity; it's been unbearable!

When reading the report, I couldn't even turn a single page in an hour; all I could see was her smiling face.

While prescribing medicine for the patient, a scene soon appeared under the pen: Hua Cheng serving her food.

I was just washing my hands, the water was running, and before my eyes stood her barefoot outside the bathroom door, like a lotus emerging from the water.

Eating, walking, even driving, I see her everywhere.

When I got home in the evening, I finally had some peace and quiet.

But as soon as he opened the closet door, the few shirts lined up and confused his thoughts.

Standing in front of the mirror and looking up, the "strawberry garden" deep in my neck is still faintly visible.

When I opened my eyes, I saw her smiling playfully at me with her eyes narrowed.

With my eyes closed, I pictured her sexy and graceful figure in a pure white evening gown.

Now, he can't even bear to see a hot spring. The moment he sees a hot spring, his little mouth seems to be pointing at him, saying, "That's my favorite auntie."

Uh! Uh! Uh!

He ruffled his hair, looking somewhat exasperated.

Why was I so slow to react that day?

We should stop her immediately and ask her what happened.

However, after being sad for so many days, she actually came today, but she avoided seeing me.

He had originally thought that as long as these two items weren't returned, he would still have hope for the future.

But right now, she...

Does she never want to see me again?

She wants to cut ties completely?

"Deputy Director Qiao, are you... alright? Is the person who delivered this important? I... I don't know."

Huang Jingyi knew she had made a huge mistake. She couldn't let the little bit of goodwill she had just built up be wiped out overnight because of something so trivial!

With no hope of finding the person, Qiao Muting composed himself.

He twisted his hand, which had been pounding against the wall, and said in a hoarse voice, "It's alright, Comrade Huang. I'm sorry. It's not your fault..."

He silently walked back, and Fang Wenjie chased after him.

Only he knew what Qiao Muting had gone through these days.

"Mu Ting, is that Xiao Ran?" he asked softly.

Qiao Muting remained silent, his messy hair, bruised hands, and dejected expression all of which made Fang Wenjie very worried.

"Old Fang, I'm free this afternoon, so I'd like to ask for half a day off."

Fang Wenjie immediately became anxious upon hearing this and lowered his voice to remind him: "Have you forgotten? This afternoon, an important patient is being transferred from the city, and the authorities specifically requested that you be the one to treat him."

If you accept this important assignment, you won't need to go to the front lines next month.

Qiao Muting pondered for a moment, patted his shoulder, and said, "I should still take on the patients, and I will also go to the front lines."

I'll personally go to the Municipal People's Hospital to handle the handover in a bit. Once he arrives, please make the necessary arrangements for me.

Fang Wenjie watched his retreating figure helplessly. This man was becoming more and more eccentric, making him unpredictable.

On the other side, after delivering the items, Qian Lai boarded the newly opened shuttle bus between the city and the military region, and arrived at the medical university research institute in just over half an hour.

The research institute is located on the campus of a medical university.

Despite its unassuming appearance, it houses all the highest-level laboratories of the medical university.

Fortunately, she had made an appointment with Dr. John Brown in advance; otherwise, without a letter of introduction and a recommender, she wouldn't even have been able to get into the institute.

As soon as Xiao Han, Dr. Brown's Chinese assistant, arrived at the laboratory door, he heard a heated argument inside.

Xiao Han looked embarrassed and apologized repeatedly: "Comrade Qian, I'm so sorry. Dr. Brown and Leng Gaoyan have some academic disagreements. They are discussing it now. Can we wait here for a bit?"

Qian Lai nodded, listening intently to the argument inside.

After listening for a while, I understood that all the controversy revolved around the quantitative measurement method of gene expression levels.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!