Pei Qi was a young artifact restorer, spending his days with a group of master craftsmen. His personal life, however, remained a mystery.

His relative, Zhang Luo, decided to set him up on a blind date: “He’s a handsome doctor, he’s the one who did my appendectomy. His skills are amazing, it didn’t hurt at all.”

Pei Qi, lacking experience in blind dates, was unaware that appendectomy was a dating advantage.

His relative continued: “You fix things, he fixes people, you’re a perfect match.”

Pei Qi thought… it makes sense.

Later that day, they met.

“Hello, Mr. Pei.” The tall and handsome appendectomy doctor extended his hand, polite and courteous.

Those sharp eyes behind the silver-rimmed glasses awakened a memory in Pei Qi’s mind.

He saw the man holding his waist, his eyes filled with desire, whispering “baby” to him.

The young man felt a wave of sweat washing over him, his appendix starting to ache. “Hello…”

The appendectomy doctor quickly withdrew his hand, adjusting his glasses, his voice flat: “You should be familiar with my basic situation, from that night.”

Pei Qi hurriedly avoided his gaze, the man’s low voice echoing in his ears: “Baby, help me take off my glasses.”

One stormy night, Pei Qi found himself in bed with a random stranger from a bar, fleeing in a panic afterwards and condemning his own uncontrollable behavior.

This incident prompted Pei Qi to seek a blind date, to confront his needs.

But…

How could he end up on a blind date with the random stranger?

What a crazy and chaotic development.

The appendectomy doctor: “You ran away that morning?”

Pei Qi couldn’t look up, unable to utter a single coherent sentence: “I went downstairs to buy breakfast, do you believe me?”

Wow, that’s pathetic.

The man across from him nodded, uttering only three words: “Marry me?”

Pei Qi: “?”

The appendectomy doctor: “Problems?”

It seemed like… there weren’t any problems.

One day after their marriage, Pei Qi went downstairs to buy breakfast.

The man said softly: “Don’t lose it again this time.”

Pei Qi: “…”

Pei Qi felt that Guan Yue might be holding a grudge, so he weakly explained: “I didn’t mean to…”

The man: “Then why did you go on a blind date so quickly?”

Pei Qi reacted quickly this time: “You did too.”

The man: “I did not.”

You wouldn’t understand, I went to that coffee shop because I knew.

That you would be sitting across from me.

It’s probably a “marry first, love later” sweet story.

A very sweet story, a mindless bedtime sweet treat!

It was the rainy season, a time that made people feel restless.

There was a light drizzle as Pei Qi stepped out of the station.

He had forgotten his umbrella, and his hair and spring-style hoodie were dampened by the moisture. He stood under the awning for a while to “air dry” before entering his workplace.

The ancient books in his workplace were most afraid of humidity.

“Beep.”

The door lock unlocked.

It was a new addition to the building, built in the 1980s, a fingerprint unlock system.

Just like Pei Qi, who had just graduated from college.

Brand new.

At that moment, Old Jiang, supporting his reading glasses, stood at his workstation, raising his pale eyebrows: “Pei Qi, come here quickly.”

Pei Qi responded, quickening his pace: “What good stuff did you get?”

Old Jiang: “Take a look.”

On the protective paper on the workbench lay a “fragile” bound book.

There was a damaged area from the bottom right corner, with crumbling edges.

Bound books became popular after the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty. After observing for a week, the young man focused his gaze on the damaged and yellowed old paper, where the red seal, undimmed by time, remained.

Pei Qi: “Tian Lu Lin Lang.”

Tian Lu Lin Lang was a library.

But this library belonged to Emperor Qianlong.

It housed the emperor’s favorite treasures, a collection of his beloved books.

Just last month, Pei Qi went to an auction to appreciate the items. The bidders in the audience had bid exorbitant sums for a half-set of “Tian Lu Lin Lang.”

Old Jiang took off his reading glasses and turned his back: “Are you confident? I’m entrusting it to you.”

The young man was stunned for two seconds, his gaze fixed on the damaged book, which was slowly turning into a crispy egg tart crust in the river of time.

“I’m confident.”

“Good.” Old Jiang took off his thick reading glasses and stretched: “I’ll leave it to you, I have to go out for a bit.”

The young man’s gaze remained fixed on the damaged book on the table, he sat down at his workstation, observing it closely, “Master, you should smoke less.”

Open flames were prohibited in the workplace, so when the masters said they were going out for a while, it meant they were going outside to light a cigarette.

Old Jiang “tsk”ed: “I’m going to order paper from the paper mill, so you guys don’t have to keep complaining about running out of paper.”

No reply.

The young man picked up the tweezers beside him, gently clamping a piece of debris that had fallen off the book.

He needed to take an X-ray of the debris to see how badly the fibers had aged.

Old Jiang stared at him for a while, but the young man seemed oblivious.

The old master sighed and turned to leave.

He was almost at the bottom of the stairs.

Only then did the young man lift the tweezers holding the debris, his brain taking two seconds to process, what did the master just say?

…

The master wouldn’t lose it.

He’ll send it for inspection first.

The century-old debris was now safely stored in a sealed bag by the young man.

It was like a piece of flaky crust that had fallen off a pie.

It was this insignificant “crumb” that, through slides and modern inspection techniques, could make this ancient book speak.

In the afternoon, the inspection results came back, showing severe fiber aging, with the structure basically lost.

“Hydrolysis oxidation is too severe.” Dan Jie, the inspector, was typing on her computer, recording the inspection results. “It’s bamboo paper fiber, have you found similar paper?”

The paper in the warehouse was running low.

The paper used in restoration work often had high requirements, it had to be made using ancient methods, but the demand was low, so many paper mills were unwilling to take on the job.

“I found some.” While waiting for the inspection results, Pei Qi had searched the warehouse for a long time and found a small amount of similar bamboo paper.

“Old Jiang really trusts Pei Qi, he even entrusted him with the Tian Lu Lin Lang collection.” It was time for lunch break, and the masters in the studio all stopped their work and started teasing the youngest.

Su Mo, Pei Qi’s fellow apprentice, was particularly protective of his younger apprentice: “Our little apprentice is a prodigy, we were nowhere near as calm as him when we were in our twenties.”

Old He, the oldest in the group, nodded in agreement: “When I was in my twenties, I was busy using ration coupons to exchange for cloth coupons, tailoring clothes, and going on blind dates. My blind date at the time…”

The group outside the workstation chatted excitedly.

The young man stood in front of the workbench, seemingly oblivious to their conversation, arranging the brushes on the table.

They had just purchased a new batch of brushes, the bristles were new but not as good as the old ones.

These tools were picky.

He had to find an old acquaintance.

“Senior brother, do you have any old brushes?” The young man finally looked up.

“Old what brush, go eat first.” Su Mo put his arm around the young man’s shoulder.

Pei Qi waved his arms frantically: “Wait… wait, I’ll pack this up first.”

Su Mo: “Alright, alright, alright.”

It was his first time independently restoring a collection of the “Tian Lu Lin Lang” level, Pei Qi was exceptionally focused, even a little excited.

Emperor Qianlong’s collection.

He suddenly felt that Qianlong’s love for stamping seals was actually useful, it provided some clues to the identity of the ancient books for future generations.

After lunch, he took the brush he had borrowed from his senior brother and started to gently apply glue to the yellowed bamboo paper, bit by bit.

His fingers held the glue brush, controlling the force, not too heavy, not too light, the soft goat hair brush gently touched the old bamboo paper, bit by bit, caressing it.

It was already time to get off work, but he wanted to finish the last bit of work on the second page.

While he was working, his phone in his pocket started to vibrate.

The young man put down the brush he had borrowed from his senior brother and took out his phone.

It was a call from his third aunt.

Pei Qi hurriedly answered: “What’s wrong, Third Aunt?”

“Have you left yet? The other person is almost here.”

A sudden realization dawned on him.

No wonder he felt like he had forgotten something today.

He had forgotten his blind date.

“Don’t forget to sign, Dr. Guan.” The circulating nurse reminded Guan Yue as he stepped off the operating table.

The man took off his surgical gown, which was slightly stained with blood, and threw it into the laundry bin, turning around to sign the surgery record.

His well-defined knuckles had been in close contact with the sterile gloves for too long, leaving them damp with sweat.

“Okay, I’ll be going now.” The man picked up the pen and signed his name with a flowing stroke.

The intern on the table nodded: “Okay, I just have one more stitch to finish, Senior Brother, let’s go together…” for dinner.

Before he could finish, the door to the operating room “whoosh”ed open, and the man hurried out.

The door closed “whoosh” a few seconds later.

The anesthetist yawned: “Dr. Guan hasn’t left the operating table all day, he’s probably going to sleep as soon as he gets home, where would he have the energy to go out for dinner?”

Indeed, Guan Yue had no energy for dinner, nor time to sleep.

He took a shower in the locker room bathroom and rushed to the parking lot.