Chapter 1844: Lifelong Bachelor

Xu Shu pressed down on her chopsticks and glanced into the bowl. “Don’t like it?”

“No, I’m full, I really can’t eat anymore. Brother Shu, help me finish it.”

Xu Shu hummed, picked up the stuffed winter melon and ate it.

As they were talking, a call came in on his phone. He had just picked up and said a couple of sentences when Xu Tingting shot a look over.

The disappointment between her brows and eyes was hard to hide.

Xu Shu didn’t look at her, yet he knew perfectly well what expression she was making. He pinched her cheek and said to everyone, “There’s a last-minute surgery and they’re short-handed. I have to go back.”

Bo Yanching stood up. “I’ll drive you.”

He hadn’t been drinking, and Xu Shu hadn’t driven here either, so Xu Shu agreed.

“I’ll be back soon. Have some pastry and wait for me.” Bo Yanching bent down at just the right angle, speaking in a warm, gentle tone, and casually set the caramel milk tofu in front of Nan Jiaojiao.

Nan Jiaojiao brushed her fingers against his hand. “Okay.”

Bo Yanching raised his hand to lightly rest it on the top of her head, then hooked his car key with his finger and turned back to call Xu Shu to head out together.

Xu Tingting wanted to go along too—she had already left her chair—but then thought that even if she went, she’d just end up waiting in the office, and instantly lost the mood. She cupped her face in her hands and sighed. “I am absolutely never becoming a doctor in this lifetime.”

Nan Jiaojiao said, “Your major isn’t medicine anyway.”

“That was on purpose. I flat-out refused to apply to med school. I watched how my Brother Shu slogged his way through all this—it’s brutal. If I’d known, back when my mom insisted he inherit the mantle, I should’ve stopped her!”

Nan Jiaojiao had a sudden flash of inspiration. She exchanged a look with Chu Yao, and the two of them each picked up their bowls and slid in on either side of Xu Tingting, sandwiching her in the middle.

One of them said, “Oh? Family secrets, huh? Convenient to share?”

Chu Yao: “Mind elaborating a bit?”

“It’s not like it’s some huge secret. On my grandpa’s side, they’ve been doctors since his generation. By the time it got to my mom, her talent was a bit lacking. She did a few years as a surgeon, but then stepped down and went behind the scenes into management. When it came to our generation, originally my grandpa wanted to train my second brother, but my grandpa on my dad’s side and my dad themselves absolutely refused. They watched my second brother like a hawk when we were kids. Anytime someone from my mom’s family came over, my grandpa and my dad acted like bandits had invaded the village, guarding me and my second brother like crazy. My maternal grandpa really had no choice, so he went to pester Brother Shu instead, got him exposed to medicine from a young age. Later on, I don’t know who talked him into it, or maybe he was interested himself. He asked my mom’s opinion, and she didn’t object—she even encouraged him. So he just dove headfirst into the medical field.”

Xu Tingting cupped her face. “So pitiful. Every day it’s either seeing patients or being in the OR. He doesn’t even have time to date. He’s pushing thirty now, practically an old man and still single since birth.”

Chu Yao smelled gossip in the air and quietly scooted a bit closer. “You mean on the surface he hasn’t, right?”

“Huh?”

Xu Tingting looked completely baffled, with that slightly dumb, pure-college-girl vibe. Chu Yao couldn’t bring herself to phrase it too crudely, so she asked more tactfully, “There must have been at least a few pretty sisters who were willing to share a blanket and play games with your brother, right?”

Xu Tingting froze for a second, and then her face instantly flushed bright red.

Even the palms of her hands, still holding her cheeks, were burning.

She panicked and wanted to cry for help, but when her gaze slid over to Nan Jiaojiao, she found that this long-time gossip enthusiast, who was usually curled up like a cat, was staring at her with eyes shining.

Xu Tingting nearly jumped up. “Sister Xiao Yao!”

“What’s the big deal? Your brother’s thirty. At his age, if he’s never used it, it’d be atrophied by now. A normal man needs regular… maintenance. Otherwise, say he gets married one day and on the wedding night the bride finds out he’s not exactly up to par—how embarrassing would that be?”