Chapter 4: Muted

Lu Canran didn’t move.

Liang Yuanzheng didn’t move either. His handsome, cold-featured face still showed no expression.

Only the little red heart above his head trembled slightly, as if it had caught a cold.

“Are you feeling very unwell?” Liang Yuanzheng said. “I’ll take you—”

“Senior?”

Uncertainly, Lu Canran called out to him again, wanting to confirm her suspicion.

Then she saw another heart above Liang Yuanzheng’s head appear with a soft pop.

Lu Canran shakily stood up. “I think I might have food poisoning. Senior, I’ve been having auditory and visual hallucinations all day, and now it feels like I’m even having delusions…”

Liang Yuanzheng took only five minutes to guide her to the correct department, more efficient than any of Lu Canran’s previous visits.

His phone kept ringing; the emergency department was busy almost every day, urging him back to work. Before leaving, Liang Yuanzheng asked for her phone number.

He dialed once, and after Lu Canran’s phone rang, he told her expressionlessly, “Save my number. If anything happens later, you can call me directly.”

Lu Canran said thank you, her eyes fixed on the top of his head.

There were still two bouncing red hearts above it.

Other than that, there was nothing else.

The doctor asked Lu Canran about the time she had eaten, her specific symptoms. For an experienced doctor, mushroom poisoning wasn’t uncommon—every mushroom season brought a whole wave of such cases.

Among the crowd of people vomiting, having diarrhea, screaming, panicking, fainting, or even ending up in the ICU, Lu Canran, who could still speak coherently and showed no other severe adverse reactions, was as normal as could be.

Too much time had passed since she ate, and there was no leftover mushroom soup base, nor did she know exactly what type of mushrooms she had consumed. Gastric lavage and antitoxin injections were both unsuitable, so Lu Canran was sent for a blood test and given two bottles of medicine to be administered via IV.

Fortunately, the blood test report showed no liver damage. Since Lu Canran was seeing the doctor alone and suspected of mushroom poisoning, she was assigned to the emergency observation room for her IV treatment.

The doctor could only advise her to drink plenty of water and metabolize it quickly.

There weren’t many people in the emergency observation room, and a nurse was monitoring everything in real time. Half a bottle of IV fluid had gone in, and Lu Canran still couldn’t avoid seeing bullet screens popping up above the others’ heads one after another, all filled with strange hospital gossip.

Thankfully, Liang Yuanzheng pushed the door open and entered—otherwise, Lu Canran would have been forced to witness the full details of a nurse catching an orthopedist kissing his own sister in the ward, a scandalous and morally outrageous incident.

Liang Yuanzheng interrupted the nurse’s gossip-filled bullet screen. At the moment the nurse turned around, Lu Canran caught a glimpse of the text above her head: [So handsome, so handsome].

Lu Canran couldn’t help but feel a little delighted that her taste was being affirmed.

“Dr. Liang,” the nurse asked, “you’ve been working overtime all night. Still on duty?”

“Yeah.” Liang Yuanzheng picked up the folder by Lu Canran’s bed, flipped it open to review her test report and the monitored data like temperature, blood pressure, and heart rate. “Everything still normal?”

Lu Canran wanted to answer in the nurse’s place: not normal, because right now the bullet screen above the nurse’s head had changed to [Help, how can Dr. Liang be this handsome and still love working overtime? No normal person likes working overtime. No wonder he doesn’t have a girlfriend yet].

“Everything’s normal,” the nurse said with a smile. “She’s young, with a fast metabolism.”

The bullet screen above her head read: [Eek~ what’s the relationship between you two?]

“Still having auditory or visual hallucinations?” Liang Yuanzheng returned the folder to its place and looked at Lu Canran. “Any other symptoms—why is your face so red?”

“N-no,” Lu Canran stammered. “I just feel a little hot.”

“Hot?”

Liang Yuanzheng looked surprised and turned to check the temperature display on the wall-mounted air conditioner.

Nurse: [Tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk, the hospital always sets the air conditioning cold to inhibit bacteria and protect the equipment. It’s only twenty degrees right now and I’m freezing to the point of getting menstrual cramps. What’s hot about this? Looks like you’re getting all fluttery from seeing a handsome guy, little sister~]

Lu Canran’s face grew redder and redder.

Liang Yuanzheng went to adjust the air conditioning, but Lu Canran immediately called out, “There’s no need, Senior. I’m not hot anymore.”

Liang Yuanzheng frowned at her, his expression serious.

The three hearts above his head were dancing erratically.

“Hot and cold flashes?” he asked carefully. “Any other symptoms?”

Lu Canran replied, “…No.”

Nurse: [Aiya aiya aiya aiya, Dr. Liang is really too dense. If he had even a tiny bit of romance in his brain, he’d know the girl is just shy. Is Dr. Liang single? He totally doesn’t understand a girl’s heart hahahahaha.]

Liang Yuanzheng paused for a moment, then said seriously, “Don’t worry. I’m a doctor. Whatever reaction you’re having, you can tell me directly.”

Nurse: [Physiological reaction hahaha. Oh, the night shift is really giving me something tonight, such juicy gossip—speaking of which, I could really use a pack of dried tangerine peel-flavored sunflower seeds right now.]

Forced to see it all, Lu Canran was nearly in tears. “Really, there’s nothing. I just… maybe got a little nervous seeing you, Senior.”

She then watched as the three hearts above Liang Yuanzheng’s head went biu biu biu, pierced by three arrows, and with a crisp crack, they shattered and turned gray and lifeless.

—Aaaaahhhhh!!!

Take it back—Lu Canran wanted to take back what she had just said.

“Mm,” Liang Yuanzheng didn’t look at her. “Have you had lunch yet? Anyone here with you? Boyfriend?”

Nurse: [Oho, tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk]

Lu Canran said, “Huh? Oh, no, I haven’t eaten yet. And… no, I didn’t tell any friends. I don’t have a boyfriend.”

She was too nervous. The last sentence came out fast, soft, and trembling. She worried he hadn’t heard it clearly—and also worried he had heard it too clearly, the emphasis behind her words.

Nurse: [Ehehehehehe]

Liang Yuanzheng gave a quiet “Okay,” then told the nurse, “She’s my junior. She has a history of allergies. No need to order her lunch. I’ll bring it over later.”

The nurse beamed. “Alright.”

[Shipping it, shipping it, totally shipping it]

Lu Canran softly said, “Thank you, Senior.”

Liang Yuanzheng responded coolly, “It’s what I should do.”

Before he left, Lu Canran called out again, “Senior.” Liang Yuanzheng turned back and asked what was wrong. Lu Canran waited awkwardly for a long fifteen seconds, but no little heart appeared above his head.

She blamed herself and said, “Sorry for the trouble.”

Liang Yuanzheng gave a formulaic “It’s no trouble” and walked out calmly.

Lu Canran closed her eyes.

The nurse leaned over. “Are you a direct junior of Dr. Liang?”

“Ah, no,” Lu Canran hurriedly opened her eyes and, seeing a full screen of [Gossip alert] above the nurse’s head, forced herself to reply, “We just went to the same university—and the same high school too.”

The nurse smiled.

Lu Canran used the excuse that she was sleepy and wanted to rest for a bit, then closed her eyes and hid under the blanket to message her dorm group chat.

—She had a bad feeling. If—if what she was seeing wasn’t just normal hallucinations, but something like a movie-level mind-reading superpower—then what should she do?

—Did the nurse really figure out that she had feelings for Liang Yuanzheng?

CBO First Edition: 【Wuwuwuwu I really was too obvious after all】

CBO First Edition: 【Feels like so many people have already figured out I have a crush on Liang Yuanzheng】

CBO First Edition: 【[Crying.jpg]】

Zhu Huaxin: 【Hold on, I’m in PUBG. Let me finish this kill first and I’ll get back to you】

Xu Qiao didn’t reply—she was probably still grinding hard with her postgrad study partner. Qin Bingshuang asked what was going on, and Lu Canran said she was at a follow-up appointment, but the nurse had been subtly teasing her and Liang Yuanzheng.

Qin Bingshuang sent a long voice message. She was good at comforting people, saying, why wasn’t the nurse teasing anyone else? A slap doesn’t make a sound on its own, and flies don’t land on seamless eggs. Maybe think about whether Liang Yuanzheng also had something going on. Otherwise, why wasn’t the nurse teasing him with any other girl? Doesn’t this just prove you two are a perfect ma—oops, I mean a match made in heaven.

Lu Canran felt much better after that.

She decided to change her WeChat name, to get rid of the one that was far too blatant—she’d switch to something plain and common.

Lu Canran and Liang Yuanzheng—both of their names contained the character for “mountain.” What’s the tallest mountain in the world? Mount Everest in the Himalayas; and “Yuanzheng” also carried the meaning of lofty and steep like a mountain—

Silently, Lu Canran changed her WeChat nickname to “Mount Everest.”

The blanket was getting stuffy, so she came out for some air, only to be surprised by the long, loooong bullet screen scrolling above the little nurse’s head.

[…also likes her, but Director Xue values Dr. Liang too and wants him as a son-in-law. What are we going to do about that? Xue Ningyuan is still chasing after Dr. Liang, tsk tsk tsk…]

Lu Canran chatted casually with the nurse. “Hi, do you get a lot of patients like me?”

The nurse replied, “It’s manageable. After all, we’re not in Yunnan, so there isn’t a huge variety of mushrooms. There aren’t that many cases of accidental poisoning.”

Lu Canran asked, “Has it been busy lately?”

The nurse said, “Busy, of course. When is a hospital ever not busy… Dr. Liang too. He had already gotten off work last night, but then the emergency department received a patient injured in a fight—looked like a restaurant owner who got beaten up by two drunkards. Dr. Liang came rushing back and stayed overnight on duty.”

Lu Canran asked, “Is Xue Ningyuan the daughter of Director Xue?”

The nurse said, “Yeah, you know her? Oh, right, the three of you went to the same school.”

Lu Canran smiled gently.

—She had never heard the name Xue Ningyuan before, but now she knew.

First: her “hallucinations” were indeed mind-reading.

Second: Liang Yuanzheng’s kink was being called “Senior.”

Third: Liang Yuanzheng’s supervising doctor wanted to set him up with his daughter.

…And most importantly, her senior’s kink was a bit odd. Hard to understand, but acceptable.

Lu Canran closed her eyes, torn in her shock for a long time, and finally decided to keep this matter to herself for now.

What if they thought she was under too much mental stress and sent her to the psychiatric ward?

What if she really was under too much stress and having hallucinations?

Just imagining her roommates telling the doctor that she was secretly in love with Liang Yuanzheng for the sake of evaluating her mental state—how terrifying.

A mental issue was minor, but being exposed for a secret crush was a total social death.

Lu Canran decided to say nothing.

…What a pity. If she really had suddenly gained a superpower, she wished it could let her see what Liang Yuanzheng was thinking.

Lunch was delivered by Liang Yuanzheng as well. He didn’t stay long, just performed his rounds in a methodical, proper manner, then left.

After finishing the IV drip, Lu Canran’s arm felt cold and numb. From lying down too long, her butt and legs were also a bit tingly.

The nurse didn’t know what the next step was and went out to ask the attending doctor. Lu Canran sat on the edge of the bed, clutching her arm, and when her head spun, she nearly toppled over.

Just then, Liang Yuanzheng pushed the door open and caught her in time.

Lu Canran crashed straight into his chest. Under the white coat was a white dress shirt, and the hard button jabbed into her forehead. His body heat, mixed with the cold metallic scent, invaded her breath. After steadying her, Liang Yuanzheng let go, stepped back two paces, and said coolly, “Be careful.”

Lu Canran looked up, wanting to thank him, but the words stuck in her throat.

Above Liang Yuanzheng’s head was a bizarre string of characters.

[口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口口]^[1]Footnote: The repeated character 「口」 (kǒu), meaning “mouth,” is commonly used in Chinese visual language or internet slang to represent censorship or blocking, similar to “■■■” … Continue reading

In her pocket, her phone started pinging nonstop. The screen lit up with incoming messages.

Zhu Huaxin: 【I’m back from killing people】

Zhu Huaxin: 【What’s going on, Canran】

Zhu Huaxin: 【Where are you】