Chapter 1
“Call the person pinned at the top of your contact list, put them on speakerphone, and ask, ‘Can I kiss you?’”
After Jiang Wu dramatically read aloud the dare on the card, the lively, heated atmosphere in the private room instantly fell silent.
Everyone turned in unison to look at the person who had drawn the card.
Zhao Xuning, the youngest cardiac surgeon at their hospital.
At just twenty-four, she had graduated from one of the world’s most prestigious medical schools. Upon returning to China, she was already qualified to perform surgery independently. While medical students her age were still undergoing standardized residency training, she was already standing at the operating table, even supervising residents older than herself.
In less than a year, there were already signs that she might be promoted to associate chief physician.
Her career advancement was practically rocket-powered.
Even at one of China’s top-tier, Class III Grade A hospitals, where talented professionals were everywhere, she could still be called a genius.
But she was far too cold.
Cold through and through.
No matter how cheerful or outgoing her colleagues and residents were, they all became perfectly well-behaved around her.
Today’s gathering had been a spontaneous decision. Jiang Wu happened to see Zhao Xuning getting off work, so she invited her out of courtesy, never actually expecting her to come.
To her surprise, Zhao Xuning stood there in a daze for a moment. Jiang Wu could already see the annoyance in her eyes, yet she still agreed.
Jiang Wu almost wondered whether she’d somehow held a scalpel to Zhao Xuning’s throat.
After dinner, they’d moved on to a KTV for the second round of festivities. This genius didn’t seem to have an extra nose or anything compared to everyone else, so the group naturally began to relax around her.
But the moment they relaxed, trouble struck.
Who didn’t know that this woman was famously cold and abstinent? When she first joined the hospital, the Omegas and Betas she’d rejected could have formed a line circling the hospital three times.
Jiang Wu secretly glanced at Zhao Xuning.
She had a sharply defined face and a slender build that still conveyed a sense of strength. A perfectly ordinary pair of glasses concealed her narrow, fox-like eyes and the seductive beauty mark beneath one of them, lending her a slightly refined yet roguish air.
There were plenty of beautiful women, but in the entire hospital, she was the only one whose beauty made people afraid to entertain even the slightest improper thought.
Even when she sat quietly and calmly in a corner, her presence was impossible to ignore.
“How about… we forget it?” Jiang Wu tried to discreetly slip the card back into the deck amid the commotion, not wanting to make things awkward for everyone.
But a slender, fair hand reached out, two fingers catching the card. Zhao Xuning’s voice was cool and distant. “No need. I can take a dare.”
Everyone in the private room exchanged glances.
Jiang Wu didn’t dare offend her supervising physician, so she gave an awkward smile and kept quiet.
The others, however, quickly recovered. Never ones to shy away from a spectacle, they gave Zhao Xuning a thumbs-up. “Dr. Zhao, you’ve got guts.”
Zhao Xuning replied evenly, “A bet’s a bet.”
With that, she picked up her phone, paused, and asked, “WeChat or a phone call?”
“A phone call, I guess.” Someone joked, “Someone as proper as Dr. Zhao probably has her parents pinned at the top of her WeChat. If she called her mom and dad this late at night and said something like that, she’d scare the life out of them.”
Zhao Xuning slid her finger across the screen and stopped at the first contact on the list.
Normally, everyone would have crowded around by now to see whose name was on her screen.
But this was Zhao Xuning. No matter how they looked at it, everyone felt there was an invisible barrier between geniuses and ordinary people.
Especially when that genius was so aloof and taciturn. Naturally, everyone respected her personal space.
Jiang Wu, who was sitting closest to her, happened to catch a glimpse. It was a string of numbers that looked like a phone number, but it had been marked as a favorite and had three extra A’s at the beginning, like something a WeChat merchant would do.3
In the end, Zhao Xuning made the call.
During dinner earlier, she’d had two glasses of alcohol, neither particularly strong.
But just now, while sitting in the corner watching everyone else have fun with nothing better to do, she’d drunk a glass of baijiu.
It had a complex flavor, bitter and lingering, completely different from the alcohol she’d drunk before. As far as she could remember, she’d only had it once, back in university.
Zhao Xuning wasn’t particularly good at holding her liquor. By now, a faint blush had spread across her fair face, even tinting the corners of her eyes red.
Everyone was still joking around. “Who is Dr. Zhao calling? Don’t tell me it’s an ex?”1
It was an ordinary joke, one nobody took seriously.
After all, at gatherings like this, talking about personal matters was the easiest way to get closer to one another. The topics were always the same tired ones: exes, current partners, blind dates, marriage, and all those other thoroughly clichéd subjects.
Zhao Xuning didn’t answer. From the moment she dialed the number and turned on speakerphone, she’d been holding her breath, concentrating entirely on waiting for the person on the other end to pick up.
Someone laughed. “Ranran, what kind of joke is that? This is Dr. Zhao we’re talking about! Do you think someone could achieve what Dr. Zhao has and still have time for romance? If she’s ever dated anyone, I’ll get down on my knees and kowtow to you.”
“You said it!” Liu Weiran joined in excitedly. “Once Dr. Zhao finishes this call, if I draw the next card, I’m definitely asking whether she’s ever dated anyone. You’re going to kowtow to this lady today, whether you like it or not.”
“Fine, fine, I said it. But if Dr. Zhao’s never dated anyone, you’re the one who has to kowtow to me.”
“Shh!” Jiang Wu raised a finger to her lips, signaling for silence, then pointed toward Zhao Xuning’s phone.
The long series of ringing tones hadn’t ended yet. Once everyone abruptly fell silent, the sound seemed especially desolate.
Particularly when they noticed Zhao Xuning’s fingers trembling.
The lighting was dim, but everyone there had exceptionally sharp eyes. They were all utterly astonished. After exchanging glances, they hurried to steal a few more looks at Zhao Xuning’s trembling hand, like a bunch of country bumpkins witnessing something extraordinary for the first time.
When Zhao Xuning first joined the hospital, many people had been unconvinced of her abilities. Her first surgery had been open for observation, and plenty of people had gone to watch from the observation room.
Her hands had been steadier than a machine. Every incision was unbelievably precise, and even after a five-hour operation, she’d emerged looking as calm and unruffled as ever.
So seeing her hands tremble today left everyone both astonished and frightened.
Jiang Wu was even worried that Zhao Xuning might have developed some neurological disorder. She wanted to ask her discreetly, but she’d barely opened her mouth and said, “Dr. Zhao…”
When the call connected, Zhao Xuning gently raised a hand to stop her, cutting off Jiang Wu’s words.
From the moment Zhao Xuning started making the call, she’d automatically shut out every sound around her. Yet the instant the call connected, everything outside her suddenly came vividly back to life.
Those nervous, shallow breaths could only fade into the background.
Zhao Xuning’s own breathing grew tense. Her throat felt a little dry, and the gland at the back of her neck began to heat up.
She’d only received the latest long-acting suppressant injection a month ago, so there was absolutely no way her pheromones could be leaking. Besides, Alpha ruts were practically nonexistent for her.
As long as Shen Hui wasn’t standing in front of her.
Zhao Xuning suspected it was the alcohol. The physical discomfort left her feeling completely unsettled, and her nervousness kept making her mind go blank.
Like an old cassette tape that kept getting stuck, stuttering along.
A layer of clammy sweat had formed on her palms, and even speaking felt difficult. “Are you asleep?”6
The voice on the other end was icy, tinged with anger. “Speak.”
Zhao Xuning’s fingers trembled, and so did her lips. Not only were her fair cheeks flushed, but her eyes were also red to an alarming degree.
However, she was wearing glasses and had her head lowered, so nobody noticed.
All they could see was the unusual trembling of her hands.
“Can I kiss you?” Zhao Xuning tried her best to make it sound like a joke, but she’d always been serious by nature, especially under circumstances like these. As a result, she sounded about as solemn as anyone possibly could.
Everyone in the private room: “…”
Dr. Zhao didn’t sound like she was asking to kiss someone. She sounded more like she was about to perform surgery on them.
After a moment of silence, the person on the other end suddenly laughed. Her beautiful voice carried an indescribable allure. “You want to kiss me? Zhao Xuning, why the hell are you being such a shameless bitch?”
Zhao Xuning could have salvaged her dignity by explaining that she’d lost a dare, but she didn’t. Instead, she replied lightly, “Mm. Just being shameless for a moment.”
Everyone: “…?”
Every pair of eyes turned toward Zhao Xuning, their gazes openly burning with curiosity. Everyone looked as though they’d just seen a ghost.
Was this really their stern, unapproachable, genius, aloof, abstinent Dr. Zhao?
Zhao Xuning ignored them, utterly unconcerned.
She quietly waited for the other person’s reply.
Eleven seconds passed before a contemptuous laugh, thick with suppressed anger, came through the phone. “If murder weren’t illegal, I’d fucking kill you, Zhao Xuning.”
Hearing those words, Zhao Xuning suddenly breathed a sigh of relief. She lifted her head slightly, revealing her beautiful jawline to everyone again. Then the corners of her lips curved into a smile. “I’ll be waiting.”
Everyone in the private room immediately huddled together for warmth, terrified they might be possessed by a ghost next.
Jiang Wu had nobody to cling to. She nearly crumpled the dare card in her hand, while one thought echoed through her mind: Oh, so Dr. Zhao can smile.
She can smile!
So she really can smile!!!
Fireworks were practically exploding in Jiang Wu’s head when she heard that beautiful voice on the other end curse, “You’re insane.”
Then the call ended.
The corners of Zhao Xuning’s lips lifted again, curving into an even brighter smile.
Jiang Wu exclaimed in surprise, “Dr. Zhao, you actually have dimples!”
She’d only meant to marvel at it privately, but somehow the words had slipped out.
Everyone else had already been numbed by one shock after another, so they barely reacted.
But Jiang Wu’s remark abruptly brought Zhao Xuning back to her senses. It was as though she’d been pulled out of a quiet, secluded little world. Everything around her began moving again, and all the sounds became clear.
Her smile vanished instantly, and she returned to her usual cold expression. “I’ve finished the call.”
Zhao Xuning didn’t want to spoil everyone’s fun, but from the looks of things, her presence was still putting considerable pressure on them.
Nobody was speaking anymore. They were all staring at her with complicated expressions.
Zhao Xuning adjusted her glasses. “Are you going to keep playing?”
Everyone froze and looked at one another. “Are we… going to keep playing?”
Zhao Xuning pressed her lips together. “I’m asking you.”
How were they supposed to know?
Right now, all they wanted was to open the hospital gossip group, put on anonymous identities, and gossip like crazy about Dr. Zhao’s romantic escapades and her downright “perverted” capacity for putting up with abuse.
They’d never seen anyone smile so happily after being called insane.
Especially when that person was Dr. Zhao. How was that any different from seeing a ghost?
After all, if you told someone you’d seen a ghost, they wouldn’t believe you. And if you told them Dr. Zhao could smile, they wouldn’t believe that either.
Zhao Xuning was helpless. She rubbed the space between her eyebrows and stood up. “Then let’s call it a night. I’ll head out first.”
With that, she walked toward the exit. But when she reached the door, she turned back. “Oh, right, Jiang Wu. Send me a message when you get home. If you’re taking a taxi, remember to send me the license plate number.”
Jiang Wu nodded obediently. “Okay. Take care on your way home, Dr. Zhao.”
Zhao Xuning frowned slightly. After a moment’s hesitation, she added, “Tomorrow morning at nine, remember to have the pathology research report on my desk.”
Those words were a bit of a mood killer, like a bucket of cold water dumped over Jiang Wu’s head, washing away every last bit of her good mood. Still, she forced herself to smile. “Okay, Dr. Zhao.”
Worst came to worst, she’d just have to pull an all-nighter!
Zhao Xuning left carrying her long, dark-gray wool coat. At over 170 centimeters tall, she had the figure of a clothes model. Even in a simple white shirt and jeans, she looked beautiful from behind.
About five minutes after she left, someone in the private room suddenly exclaimed, “Holy shit! We forgot to ask Dr. Zhao something!”
Only then did the silent room erupt into excitement again.
“Oh my god! Was that really Dr. Zhao just now? Has anyone considered the possibility of possession?”
“That had to be her girlfriend, right? Right?!”
“Who talks to their girlfriend like that? That’s definitely a love rival!”
“…”
Everyone was enthusiastically discussing the matter. Only the stubborn Liu Weiran still remembered their earlier bet. Mustering her courage, she sent Zhao Xuning a message.
It was already early winter, and the moment Zhao Xuning stepped outside, a cold wind struck her face.
Her mind instantly cleared. She put on her wool coat and stood by the entrance, waiting for her designated driver.
Her phone vibrated softly. It was a message from a resident in her department.
[Liu Weiran – Group Two Resident: Dr. Zhao, I hope you don’t mind me asking, but have you ever been in a relationship?]
When Zhao Xuning saw the message, her first instinct was to assume Liu Weiran had lost a dare. She was about to pretend she hadn’t seen it when another message arrived.
[Liu Weiran – Group Two Resident: Kneeling devoutly on the ground with hands clasped together, begging.jpg]
It was an adorable little sticker.
It instantly reminded Zhao Xuning of the past, and her heart softened a little.
[Liu Weiran – Group Two Resident: Dr. Zhao, you’re such a wonderful person. Please just tell me, was that your ex-girlfriend on the phone?]
Zhao Xuning raised her wrist and checked her watch. The designated driver was one minute late.
Liu Weiran sent her another incredibly cute sticker.
Zhao Xuning sighed softly and replied: [Yes. We were together for six years.]
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