Chapter 23

Lin Shengwen remained silent. He looked up and his gaze met Zhou Xin, who was standing only a few steps away. Zhou Xin exuded an elite demeanor. His shirt was crisp and clearly ironed, and the faint pattern on his tie bore the faint logo of a luxury brand. Under his suit pants were thin-soled leather shoes.

He rarely saw any doctor dressed like this in the hospital, especially with those leather shoes. The noise they made was one thing, but more importantly, it was inconvenient for them to move around the hospital. The neurosurgery department would often be called by the emergency center for emergency consultations, and wearing shoes like this meant they didn't care about TPO at all - Time, Place, Asion.

The only use may be to show off.

Lin Shengwen said goodbye to handmade leather shoes on his first day at work - although his mother would still ask someone to make him a pair every once in a while.

"Li Ye, is the seat next to you still empty? Xiao Zhou, just sit there. If you need anything, talk to Lao Yu." Dean Hong Li said to Zhou Xin and gave Li Ye a look.

The dean called Li Ye's name. Li Ye was caught off guard and knocked over the thermos cup beside him. Fortunately, there was no water in it, but the "bang" sound was quite harsh. Lin Shengwen frowned unconsciously and forced himself to adapt to the roar of his eardrum.

"Okay, Dean, I'll help you clean up." Li Ye was embarrassed and his face flushed red. His butt was still on the computer chair. He stepped back slightly and wanted to pick up his water cup.

Zhou Xin had long, slender legs and took big steps. He walked to Li Ye, squatted down, picked up the water cup for Li Ye, and placed it on Li Ye's desk.

"Too many medical records on the table can easily lead to things being overturned."

His behavior shocked Li Ye. When he learned that Zhou Xin was a relative of the dean, he had a prejudice against this person whom he had never met. In his mind, Zhou Xin was fixed as an annoying person who looked down on others because of his backing. However, he did not expect that Zhou Xin would help him out in public.

"Take good care of me."

Although his words were clearly directed at Li Ye, Lin Shengwen felt a warm gaze falling on him.

The heat has not subsided since Zhou Xin entered the Medical Bureau office.

Lin Shengwen deliberately ignored it, which seemed a bit rude, so he nodded to Zhou Xin as a greeting.

After the Monday morning meeting, Lin Shengwen looked through the emails accumulated over the past two days, picked out a few high-priority ones and typed replies. When it was almost time, he got up and prepared to go to the operating room.

Lin Shengwen served as an assistant and supervised Tao Tao's surgery.

The child had been an assistant for more than two years, and this was his first time as the main surgeon. Although it was just a relatively simple operation called posterior spinal decompression, Tao Tao was still restless and kept muttering to himself the whole time. Fortunately, when he put on the sterile suit, he finally calmed down. After positioning himself with the nurse, he finally started the incision.

"Yes, cut a little deeper with the electric knife. When you think the vertebral lamina is clearly exposed, you can stop."

Under the guidance of Lin Shengwen, Tao Tao made the incision in an orderly manner, and asked the instrument nurse to replace the bone chisel for him. After removing the remaining attachments on the surface, he used a drill to remove the vertebral plate inch by inch.

Although it was not Lin Shengwen's own surgery, he was more focused than usual. He not only had to ensure Tao Tao's surgical field of view, but also had to pay attention to his operation to prevent the child from accidentally touching the yellow ligament below.

When Tao Tao was using the drill, Lin Shengwen would rinse it with saline solution after a while and remind him to pay attention to the direction of the drill bit.

"Flatten it a little, Tao Tao...Okay, stop."

Lin Shengwen's voice was like a reassurance, and Tao Tao completed the operation without any danger. He found that his back was already covered with sweat, and when he came out of the operating room, his legs went weak and he almost collapsed to the ground.

In a flash, Lin Shengwen grabbed his upper arm, steadying Tao Tao and letting him move slowly by supporting himself against the wall with his hands.

Tao Tao said: "...It should be hypoglycemia."

"Please put some candies and chocolates in your pocket," Lin Shengwen asked again, "Did you miss breakfast?"

Tao Tao nodded, and after a moment of daze, he came to his senses and made out what Lin Shengwen murmured after asking him the question.

"Just like him, all bad habits..."

Lin Shengwen was about to go back to the clinic with him, but he received a call for a consultation. He ran downstairs, leaving Tao Tao alone to walk back slowly.

As soon as he entered the medical office, he found Zhou Xin chatting and laughing with a few people. He was turning a pen in his hand. It was different from the ballpoint pens that were often circulated in the hospital. It was a very exquisite, timeless pen.

"...The hospital I worked in before should be about the same level of business as the First Hospital of Ting University..." Zhou Xin was stunned when he saw Tao Tao coming in alone, but he turned around and finished the second half of the sentence.

Tao Tao entered the conversation halfway through and couldn't keep up with what they were saying for a moment, but he could roughly guess that his colleagues were probably quite interested in Zhou Xin, who had returned from studying abroad, and were asking him about Country A.

Tao Tao originally wanted to pick up the article that Lin Shengwen had annotated for him with suggestions for revisions, go to the cafe downstairs to order a latte and make some changes.

Unexpectedly, Zhou Xin suddenly brought the topic to him.

"Doctor Tao Tao...was he brought here by Doctor Lin?"

Tao Tao nodded: "Yes."

He couldn't figure out Zhou Xin's purpose in suddenly grabbing him and questioning him, but his subconscious reaction made him feel a little wary of Zhou Xin - mentioning his name when his teacher was not around, was he trying to find out something?

"Doctor Lin seems very busy. I want to communicate with him. Is it difficult to have the opportunity?" Zhou Xin asked with a smile in his eyes.

"There are definitely plenty of opportunities." Tao Tao said with certainty.

Zhou Xin narrowed his eyes, his narrow, long eyes appearing somewhat sinister. He stared at Tao Tao and suddenly smiled, his voice rising a little higher than before: "My previous advisor was a leading figure in the field of Dr. Lin's doctoral research. I was thinking of introducing Dr. Lin to him."

Tao Tao subconsciously wanted to frown, but he suppressed it.

"Of course." He replied politely, took out the folder at hand, indicated that he was going out, and left without stopping.

After that day, such things happened from time to time. Tao Tao was miserable and dissatisfied with Zhou Xin's behavior of being polite on the surface but secretly belittling Lin Shengwen. However, Zhou Xin was parachuted in and his rank was higher than his. In addition, he had a relationship with the dean, so Tao Tao had to endure it.

One day, he and Li Ye were getting food in the cafeteria together. Somehow, Li Ye brought up Zhou Xin in the conversation. Tao Tao then sighed and started complaining.

"I really hope he can let me go... He loves Teacher Lin so much, why doesn't he just confront Teacher Lin directly? He probably doesn't dare. Teacher Lin is the top neurosurgeon in our department. What can he use to compare with Teacher Lin?" Tao Tao pouted, and it seemed that he had a lot of complaints about Zhou Xin's behavior.

Li Ye generally agreed, but corrected him: "But he's already had several surgeries during his time here, and they weren't too serious. I happened to be free that day, so I went to assist him. He's very skillful, and he can perform surgeries of the same difficulty in about the same amount of time as Sheng Wen."

Tao Tao became even more depressed after hearing this. He took a sip of soup and closed his mouth.

Lin Shengwen had already sensed that a storm was coming. He was rational most of the time, but his intuition was very accurate. Sometimes he would indeed act on his intuition and then do a second verification, and he had never failed.

But he didn't take Zhou Xin's indirect provocation seriously for the time being. He had more important things to care about now.

Just two days ago, Liang Xun grabbed his hand and looked into Lin Shengwen's eyes. He raised his head and stared into Lin Shengwen's eyes, almost throwing himself into Lin Shengwen's arms.

Lin Shengwen's heart rhythm became disordered, and he hit his chest hard. It was like a palpitation, but it didn't match.

He looked down, and Liang Xun raised his eyes, completely exposing the teardrop mole under his slightly red eyelids.

Lin Shengwen heard the sound of his own heartbeat, which was obviously faster than usual, and the blood flow rate also increased.

Liang Xun squeezed his hand.

In Lin Shengwen's perception, this period lasted for a long time.

But in fact, Liang Xun just blinked. He said to Lin Shengwen seriously: "Lin Shengwen, I was wondering if I could free you from your role as a cook."

"You are so busy. I've been busy with the club's project recently and often have to work overtime. It would be too much trouble for you to cook three meals a day for me." He continued.

Lin Shengwen selectively listened to him. He frowned slightly, then relaxed his brows. With a hint of resentment, he asked, "Liang Xun, when Professor Yu came last week, what did you call me in front of him?"

Liang Xun's brain stopped thinking for a second, and he blinked again, not understanding what Lin Shengwen said. He asked him to recall that day... Did he think calling him "Shengwen" was more intimate than calling his full name, so he blurted it out? But how could he have imagined that Lin Shengwen would actually remember it now?

"Shengwen," Liang Xun suddenly wanted to act like a slut, "What else do you want me to call you? Shengwen, Wenwen, Shengwen baby...husband?"

“——Ah.” Lin Shengwen responded hurriedly when he listed the last one.

The corners of Liang Xun's mouth twitched. The phrase "riding a tiger and unable to get off" perfectly described his current state. But after a while, Liang Xun coughed, pretended to be calm, and ignored Lin Shengwen's request.

"Hmm, Shengwen, listen to me. From now on, I will find something to eat on my own. You have already established the habit of eating three meals a day in me. I will eat well."

He didn't know that Lin Shengwen was actually a bit stubborn by nature, mostly due to his desire for control. But after thinking for a moment, Lin Shengwen still respected his decision.

"Okay." He responded indifferently.

Liang Xun heard the reluctance in his voice, he held Lin Shengwen's hand tightly, stood on tiptoe and kissed Lin Shengwen's... nose.

"I will take pictures and clock in for you at every meal, okay? Didn't you say that you have a difficult patient recently, and that the new colleague is secretly making you unhappy... If you still have to worry about trivial matters like my meals, then a few voices will not be enough, right?" Liang Xun said.

Lin Shengwen suddenly let go of the hand that Liang Xun was holding, and interlocked his fingers with Liang Xun's, pulling him into his arms. He used some strength, and Liang Xun felt a slight pain in his ribs. Lin Shengwen buried his head in the side of his neck, and his muffled voice floated through the gap between their skin.

"You have to make it up to me."