Chapter 38

His Youyi.

Youyi actually really liked those four words. Even though as a free person, she was unwilling to become someone’s appendage, she didn’t think there was anything wrong with those words.

In fact, they made her feel happy.

“It’s okay,” Youyi said suddenly as she was held tightly in his arms. “I think, actually, it’s a process of constantly having conflicts and constantly forgiving.”

She briefly became a philosopher, comforting herself like Huang Youyi.

Years of deeply rooted thoughts couldn’t be easily changed by her family. Many future moments would be about reconciling with herself.

“After your exams are over, shall we go traveling?” He hadn’t gone out with her yet, or rather, it would be their honeymoon trip.

“Will you still cry then?” Fu Cheng asked.

Youyi paused and retorted, “I wasn’t crying anyway.”

Fu Cheng: “I meant later.”

Anyway, she knew this was the only time when crying wouldn’t help.

The best comfort was the most intense fierceness.

*

In the next two weeks, Youyi plunged into an intense exam preparation mode.

For medical students, finals were all about focusing on the key points in the textbooks. Patients, however, don’t get sick according to your key points.

There were also various physical exams and procedures to review and memorize.

Youyi almost got up at 7 a.m. every day, spent the day in the library, and came back around 9 or 10 p.m. For the following week, there were almost daily exams.

Every exam seemed to strip away a layer of skin. Youyi said she had lost five pounds.

It really was a tough lesson.

The last exam was on the 15th, ending at 10 a.m., followed by winter break.

A few people in the dorm had already packed their things and bought their tickets. Tian Ning even brought a suitcase to the exam room, ready to head straight to the airport once the exam was over.

She was from the northeast, the farthest away. Taking a plane home meant another two transfers. The journey home would take at least until 7 or 8 p.m.

“Youyi, are you going home this year?” After coming out of the classroom, Huang Youyi seemed relieved and finally had time to ask.

Youyi shook her head, “I don’t know.”

“Fu Cheng said we should first go to Sanya,” Youyi said, “Sanya is very warm now.”

As a child from the inland, Youyi had never seen the sea, so she was actually looking forward to it.

“I want to spend the New Year in Sanya,” Huang Youyi sighed. “But never mind, there’s no point in going alone.”

Huang Youyi’s ticket was for 3 p.m. In the meantime, she accompanied her for lunch.

Fu Cheng sent Youyi a message saying he would be late today due to some matters and that she didn’t need to wait for him.

Youyi was smiling when she replied to the message.

“It seems you’re more and more satisfied with him now?”

“No,” Huang Youyi denied.

“I think, this is what you call fate.”

It wasn’t just simple liking or satisfaction. It had risen to the level of “fate,” a spiritual alignment and high degree of compatibility. It meant recognizing this person and including him in her own circle.

Huang Youyi stared into her eyes. After a few seconds, she said, “Actually, I still find it quite amazing.”

She had never really seen how Youyi and Fu Cheng interacted. In her perception, Fu Cheng was that stern and fierce instructor. The thought of him being gentle was something she could hardly imagine.

But evidently, Youyi had come to trust him deeply.

“Then in the future, you’ll be the prime example of a young marriage.”

Huang Youyi couldn’t help but reach out and gently rub her cheek.

Youyi really was beautiful and adorable.

“If you go to Sanya, don’t forget to bring us a gift,” Huang Youyi said. “When school starts, I’ll be the first to check.”

Huang Youyi spent two hours with Youyi before she headed to the high-speed rail station, and then Youyi prepared to go home.

While packing, Youyi pulled out a marriage certificate from a compartment in her bag.

It had a bright red cover with a few gilded characters. Since the day they got it, Youyi hadn’t really taken it out again.

She opened it.

The photos inside showed the couple looking quite distant. They were taken on the day they received the certificate, and the clothes they wore were just borrowed.

So the clothes didn’t fit very well.

Other couples either used their own photos or dressed up carefully for the shoot, making her and Fu Cheng look like outliers among them.

There was no interaction, not even eye contact or touch. After taking the certificate, they simply went their separate ways.

At the time, the marriage certificate didn’t feel very real to Youyi.

She suddenly thought of something, ran over to the bookshelf, and opened the cabinet. Indeed, there was another marriage certificate inside.

She placed the two certificates side by side.

Youyi took out her phone and snapped a photo of them.

She zoomed in on the photo, unable to stop herself from looking. Her mood felt like it had grown wings, soaring out of the room’s window.

Fu Cheng did come back very late, and Youyi was already asleep from exhaustion before she could wait for him.

During this time, she had been staying up very late. Arriving home at ten, she would brush her teeth, wash her face, and tidy up by eleven, and still needed to continue studying.

To have more study time, she would often stay up until nearly two in the morning.

After the exams, she could finally relax. Thus, she slept deeply, falling asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. The next morning, she woke up around nine.

Instinctively, she reached out beside her.

The blanket beside her was cold—Fu Cheng wasn’t there.

He should have come back last night, right?

Youyi thought to herself that she hadn’t heard a single sound.

She got up to wash up. She stopped in the living room, looked into the kitchen, but still didn’t see Fu Cheng.

As she was finishing her routine, she heard a noise at the door.

It was Fu Cheng coming back.

“You seem busier than I am lately,” Youyi said, tying up her hair. “Did you come back very late yesterday?”

Fu Cheng replied, “A bit late. I was afraid of disturbing you, so I slept in the living room.”

No wonder she hadn’t heard any noise.

Fu Cheng looked at her with a hint of something he seemed to want to say, his gaze carrying a touch of complexity.

He beckoned to Youyi.

“I need to go out again later.”

Youyi walked over to him, looked up, and listened carefully.

“And what should I eat tonight? I’ll bring something back for you.” Fu Cheng’s right hand hung by his side while his left hand gently touched her head.

Youyi thought for a moment.

“Let’s have hot pot tonight,” Youyi suggested. “I’ll go to the supermarket this afternoon to buy the ingredients and hot pot base. We can have it when you come back.”

“Okay,” Fu Cheng agreed.

In the afternoon, Youyi went to the nearby supermarket and bought a lot of items. She spent time in the kitchen preparing everything, placing each item neatly on plates.

Checking the time, it was already six o’clock.

She called Fu Cheng.

It rang for a long time without anyone picking up.

Youyi hesitated.

It was not that the call had been hung up or that the phone was off, but that no one answered.

After a while, there was still no message or callback.

She swallowed nervously, stood up from the chair, and made another call.

After a few seconds, the call was finally answered.

“Fu Cheng,” Youyi said first.

There was no quick response from the other end. She could hear some background noise, suggesting a crowded place, and some urgent shouting.

It sounded like… a hospital.

“Um… the owner of this phone left it here,” a female voice said. “This is the emergency room.”

Before the person on the other end could finish speaking.

“Which hospital?”

“Shenglin University Affiliated.”

“Please help me put the phone on the triage desk,” Youyi said as she grabbed her coat and ran outside without putting it on. “I’ll come pick it up right away.”

The affiliated hospital was only two kilometers from home. Youyi hailed a taxi downstairs and arrived in five minutes. She ran straight into the emergency room.

The nurse at the triage desk was holding the phone and asked if it was hers.

Youyi nodded.

“What’s the password?”

“200610.”

The nurse entered the password, and the phone was unlocked.

She handed the phone to Youyi.

Youyi took the phone and immediately checked the chat history.

She knew Fu Cheng’s phone password, which was the day they received the certificate, but she had never thought of checking his phone or doing anything else. But now, she felt a strong sense of unease.

This unease reached its peak as she stood there.

During this period, due to her exams, she had been extremely busy, coming and going early and late. Besides knowing that Fu Cheng was also busy, she didn’t know what he was up to.

But it was clear that something was off.

Fu Cheng’s WeChat friends were few, and aside from work, he rarely kept in touch with anyone. Most of the messages he received were from her.

He had a public account related to the affiliated hospital saved on his phone.

Youyi clicked on it and found the payment information.

Half a month ago, it was for a daytime surgery.

Two hours ago, it was for emergency payment.

Youyi had done an internship in the emergency department recently, so she was familiar with the basic layout. She searched around and saw Fu Cheng coming out of the small surgical room in the surgery department.

His right hand was wrapped in bandages, with extra pressure applied at the base of his thumb. When he saw Youyi, he was momentarily stunned.

“How come you’re here?”

Youyi only looked at his hand.

“What happened to your hand?”

“It’s nothing, just a minor injury.”

“How did you get injured?”

“Just a small wound.”

He didn’t answer further, and Youyi’s frustration grew. She shoved her phone back into his hand.

“You never tell me when something is wrong.”