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Chapter 14
“Hug!”

Because it was so clear and concise, no matter how she looked at it, it couldn’t be wrong. Chu Zhixia read it twice, her heart stopped beating, her vision darkened, and she felt faint.

Maybe because she didn’t respond, another message came through, still without any tone: “I’m at your door.”

Chu Zhixia closed her eyes. She wasn’t someone who only acted tough behind closed doors. With a resolute heart, she stepped forward and pulled open the security door.

The next moment, her heart suddenly softened.

Had she been too harsh?

Shen Qingshi looked like he had just gotten off work and changed clothes. He wore casual pants below, and with the recent drop in temperature, a soft, high-quality dark gray sweater on top.

—not as clean as a white coat, nor as formal and cold as the black shirt he wore that day. Instead, it was simple, clean, and without an intimidating distance.

Chu Zhixia was momentarily stunned, meeting his eyes.

Under the light, his pupils were especially dark, like ink, filled with many indescribable emotions. The light fell on his lashes, lowered, dim and unclear—confused, faintly cold, with a bit of restraint and patience.

So even someone as good as him could have a temper.

Chu Zhixia bit her lip but still said stubbornly, “What are you doing? Didn’t you say I’m suited to be a Blanche? Then you should know I’d go crazy. If you can’t handle it, just delete me.”

He had one hand in the pocket of his casual pants, the other holding the phone he’d used to message her earlier. Chu Zhixia glanced at that hand as she spoke.

Shen Qingshi didn’t move or react. His long, pale fingers lightly squeezed the phone as he quietly looked at her with lowered lashes.

More confusion in his eyes.

Chu Zhixia felt even more guilty under his gaze but couldn’t bring herself to apologize. She looked outside and lowered her voice: “Are you here to argue? If so, come in and don’t disturb the neighbors downstairs.”

“I’m not as patient as your other female patients.”

Chu Zhixia said that and was about to go inside, thinking she could smooth things over slowly. But just as she was about to step in, her right wrist was grabbed by his hand.

It was a bit cold tonight. He had come late at night; his palm was cool, his slender fingers strong, with clearly defined knuckles.

She struggled twice but couldn’t break free. Turning her head to look at him, she blinked her moist eyes.

He seemed to finally understand the root of the problem, furrowing his brows and letting out a faint sigh.

“There were a lot of patients today. It’s not that I don’t care about you.”

“Well, if you saw me, shouldn’t you at least greet me? And when you left just now, you turned your back and didn’t say a word. You—” She paused, suddenly realizing she had been strange this afternoon. It wasn’t just because of his apparent indifference that day, but also because… was she actually jealous? A little upset?

“Zhixia.” Seeing her turn around, Shen Qingshi didn’t let go of her wrist. Instead, he pulled her closer. Their breaths mingled as his eyes settled firmly on her face, quietly asking, “Why are you angry?”

She turned her face away, tightened her lips without answering. His tone was calm and clear: “The one who should be angry is me.”

He hadn’t shown anger that day because he thought about her exam and didn’t want to affect her mood. Nor did he want her to waste energy explaining.

Besides, he wouldn’t just take others’ words to heart or easily believe rumors.

With that said, she might as well sleep more and practice more questions.

Hearing this, Chu Zhixia felt like a punctured balloon—her arrogance completely deflated. She twisted her wrist and held his hand instead, her lashes trembling as she softly asked, “Are you angry?”

Shen Qingshi was silent for two seconds, then honestly said, “A little.”

Hearing him admit he was angry, not indifferent as she had imagined, all her frustration, unhappiness, and disappointment vanished, and her heart softened. “I thought…”

“Then what are you angry about?” She took the initiative, holding his long hand tightly and stepping closer, looking straight into his eyes as her breath quickened.

Shen Qingshi’s eyes were calm. This time he didn’t avoid her gaze but answered quietly, “What do you think?”

“Hmph.”

Being looked at like this, thinking about her behavior all day, Chu Zhixia felt a little embarrassed, softly humming, cheeks flushed, lowering her head and playing with his neat, beautiful fingers.

She understood a bit now—he cared about her. It wasn’t just polite behavior toward a patient.

Thinking this, she relaxed and became much happier.

She looked up and explained, “Zhou Haoying is my senior I grew up with. His mom and my mom are good friends, but I just treat him as a senior and close friend.”

“Mm.”

“Those things he said were nonsense. As for you, I…” She lightly cleared her throat, met his deep, dark eyes that seemed to see right through her, ears reddening, feeling a bit shy, “Anyway, it’s not just a fling. That’s enough for you to know.”

“Mm—”

While explaining, she kept playing with his fingers, practically exploring every one. Shen Qingshi glanced over, frowning with some helplessness.

“Alright, why are we standing at the door? Why don’t you come in and sit?” Chu Zhixia slowly let go of his hand, turned slightly, and invited him in with a gentle tone.

Then she realized something was off. She hadn’t been able to focus on studying from afternoon till evening, had been irritably packing, and the house was a mess.

“No.” Shen Qingshi noticed her suitcase by her feet and knew she was about to leave for the exam soon. “Don’t disturb your rest. It’s late, I’ll go first.”

“Don’t go!”

His sweater today looked like a soft, noble big cat’s fur, very hug-worthy. Chu Zhixia had been thinking about him these days and felt reluctant to let him leave. She kicked her suitcase across the floor. “Just stay with me for ten minutes. Let’s go out for a walk and get some fresh air, okay? I’m about to suffocate.”

They had known each other for almost a month. Now thinking back, they only met at the hospital or at her home—they were both very busy, overwhelmingly so. Walking side by side slowly outdoors like this had only happened once when he picked up a package.

The neighborhood’s night view was beautiful, the lawn quiet, trees rustling in the breeze, a gravel path in the middle, brass lanterns in the corners casting a soft warm orange glow.

“It’s a bit cold.” The temperature dropped tonight; another gust of wind made Chu Zhixia tighten her neck.

She noticed Shen Qingshi instinctively raise his arm and touch his clothes.

“What a pity—it’s a sweater, you can’t take it off.” Chu Zhixia saw his movement and thought he had on a jacket he wanted to take off for her.

Shen Qingshi stopped walking and, thinking of the exam and worried she might catch a cold, said, “Shall we go back?”

“Then it won’t be cold.”

Not pitying at all, Chu Zhixia took his arm and held it tightly, pressing close to him, feeling his warm body heat. His sweater was really soft!

Shen Qingshi lowered his gaze to her, his jaw slightly tight, but said nothing.

Chu Zhixia walked half the way like this, her heart racing, though some worries kept coming up.

They stopped by some tables and chairs outside the property center. Inside, the offices were closed, only dim warm orange light shining through glass.

Chu Zhixia pulled out a chair under a large umbrella and sat, resting her cheek on her arm on the wooden table, gazing at the spiral garden in the distance.

Shen Qingshi, having noticed her mood earlier, sat across from her. “What’s wrong?”

“Dr. Shen… Shen Qingshi.” She suddenly remembered to address him properly and looked at him. He nodded lightly, encouraging her to continue.

“I was just thinking… what if I don’t pass the retest? What if I don’t get admitted?” She touched her ear, drawing circles on the table with the other hand.

Everyone said she had no problem and that her initial ranking was decent—fifth place, easily able to get into the top three.

But she felt she might not be that good, and her mindset wasn’t as calm and carefree as it appeared. She was afraid. She was scared. She felt a lot of pressure.

But no one to talk to.

And no one really listened.

Shen Qingshi also looked at the garden, then turned quietly to gaze at her, resting one elbow on the armrest. “Then what will you do?”

“I don’t know. I’m actually quite confused. I used to do well at work, hosting a sports show on TV. I don’t know if you’ve seen me.”

Nowadays, few people watch TV. Someone like Shen Qingshi, busy enough to be anxious even about eating, definitely wouldn’t watch TV. Chu Zhixia wasn’t surprised and continued slowly:

“I probably did well. My bosses liked me a lot. When I left, it was messy and unhappy. I can’t go back. So what about the future? What will the future be? Am I just going to find an office job, mess around? Just a random job?”

She didn’t want to return to that industry. But if she didn’t pass the graduate exam and didn’t change careers, what should she do?

What was her profession?

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“Sorry, Dr. Shen. I probably haven’t been sleeping well recently and have been a bit negative.” Chu Zhixia looked into his calm and gentle eyes in the night and also felt that after a long busy day at work, he must be tired, and she shouldn’t just vent all her emotions on him.

“It’s okay.” Shen Qingshi paused, deliberately waiting for her to vent everything out, then said slowly, “But from my experience, solving the problem is more important than dealing with the emotions. Because usually problems themselves are easier to solve than emotions. No matter how difficult the problem is, it’s still just a problem.”

“When you solve the problem itself, the emotions will naturally resolve too.”

“Solving the problem is more important than solving the emotions…” Chu Zhixia repeated this sentence to herself a few times, feeling it made sense and gradually understanding what he meant.

If she looked only at the problem itself, it wasn’t so hard to solve.

For the graduate exam, it’s simply about doing well in each retest subject—very concrete tasks, like speaking, introductions, monologues, physical presentation… objective and clear issues.

But somehow, once emotions get involved and her mind starts wandering with all kinds of thoughts, it suddenly becomes very difficult.

“I get what you mean now—it’s that I always like to think too much.”

Following this thought, Chu Zhixia suddenly felt a bit relieved, then curiously asked, “But you said just now, from your experience, do you also have moments like this?”

“Everyone does.” Shen Qingshi was silent for a moment. His tone was a bit lighter than usual, and somewhat teasing: “Like when you bombard me with WeChat messages.”

Chu Zhixia: “…”

How did it come back to this?

She suddenly realized.

So this is how you solve problems—show up directly and solve it.

Not like her, just venting emotions again and again, sulking, sending messages.

“I won’t do that anymore.” Chu Zhixia said.

“Hm?” He looked doubtful.

“Hmph, I’m not talking to you anymore.” Chu Zhixia glanced around. The night was growing quieter and quieter. No matter how much she wished time would slow down, time still passed. When it hit midnight, there were only two days left before the exam, and she still had to go to the test center.

“Let’s go.” Shen Qingshi understood well, stood up, and helped push her chair back.

He said, “Zhixia, no need to guess—the result will come eventually.”

They walked slowly back along the line of brass lanterns.

“I know, I know—” After talking like this, her mood really felt much lighter, and her steps became lighter too. She glanced at the corner lanterns and said, “Isn’t there a song that goes like this? I know the lights won’t turn on for me at any time—whether good or bad, whether to expect or not—we don’t need to guess~~*”

Shen Qingshi: “…”

“Actually, I could be a rapper.” Objectively speaking, it wasn’t a song but rap. Chu Zhixia finished with rhythm and gave him a salute gesture.

Chu Zhixia really could rap—all kinds of art interested her. She had even asked Zhou Haoying if she could use rap in the retest, but he ruthlessly refused.

Shen Qingshi: “…………”

“Is everyone in your profession like this?” He pinched his nose, relieved there was no one nearby.

“What do you mean?” Chu Zhixia was still immersed in her beat.

“Nothing.”

“Well, maybe art schools are freer. If you study art in a comprehensive university, it might be more conservative.” Chu Zhixia explained to him, so maybe he had never met people as interesting as her.

“Mm.”

On the way back, it wasn’t so cold anymore. Shen Qingshi saw her to the hallway but didn’t go up with her.

“Good luck.” He stood at the door, his eyes deep, saying to her.

“Dr. Shen, wait for me to finish the exam. I will find you.”

I will give you an explanation.

After saying this, Chu Zhixia pressed the elevator button. The elevator remained on the first floor. The doors slowly opened. She was about to step in but suddenly stopped, turned, and ran back to him.

She had wanted to hug him for a long time, really wanted to.

This exam meant at least five or six days without seeing each other.

She stretched out her arms and hugged him tightly.

Shen Qingshi’s tall body stiffened.

Worried he might resist, she tightened her arms around his slender waist and looked up pitifully: “I’m so scared, let me get some of your study luck.”

Shen Qingshi: “…”

After a moment, he bent down and slowly wrapped his arms around her too, pulling her closer. His body pressed against hers; she could clearly feel the soft texture of his sweater. Chu Zhixia suddenly felt her whole skin warm, as if electricity ran through his hands around her waist. She didn’t dare to breathe, her waist and stomach tense.

“You…”

“Don’t be afraid. Call me if you need anything.”

He also found it hard to understand how someone could be that afraid of an exam.

“Mm.”

He hesitated a moment, then reached out a hand and gently patted her head in reassurance. “Go.”