Chapter 94: The Braised Pork in the Canteen is Delicious
Around half past twelve, Jiang An and Ren Lin followed Dr. Li, who was incessantly recomnding so delicious dishes from the hospital canteen. The two of them passed by a row of plates that Dr. Li had enthusiastically recomnded they heap up.
Dr. Li was a genuine Dongbei native, and his accent would occasionally show when he spoke. He led them to sit down and strongly recomnded the canteen’s Guo Bao Rou, claiming it was authentically Dongbei in flavor.
It was lunchti, and the canteen was bustling with people coming and going. When acquaintances passed by, they would say hello to Dr. Li, "Oh, here cos so newbies."
Dr. Li nodded to acknowledge them, then turned back to ponder in front of the two, and struck up a conversation, "Hey, how does it feel to start working fresh out of school?"
Jiang An and Ren Lin briefly paused their eating, looked at each other, and Ren Lin was the first to laughingly answer, "Feeling pretty excited about it."
Jiang An nodded in agreent. dical students spent several more years in study compared to other majors, and after years of hard work at dical College, most were eager to start their clinical internships.
Dr. Li picked up a piece of braised eggplant from his plate and took a bite, listening to the young n’s answers and laughing softly, "You guys are still so young. For us who’ve worked longer, what we wish for the most is to go back to our college days. It was so great back then. Seeing you reminds of when I first started at dical College..."
The man at the table kept talking about his younger days in a tone filled with nostalgia. Jiang An and Ren Lin listened attentively. Dr. Li was hearty and humorous, occasionally making the two burst into laughter.
As the trio was enjoying their ti at the table, a young male doctor in a white coat stopped by their table and, seeing their smiling faces, couldn’t help but teasingly say, "Look at you, Old Li, flirting with the interns again."
Jiang An vaguely rembered the doctor’s surna was Bai, from the sa office as Dr. Liu this morning.
"What’s with you, eating alone?" Dr. Li squinted and teased the man who was by himself with a plate.
Dr. Bai’s lips curled up at the jest, usually he and Dr. Li ate together, and now Dr. Li’s ’entourage’ ant Dr. Bai was flying solo. But he wasn’t one to give in to such teasing, showing a look of disdain, "I’m off to find Lao Gao."
After saying this, he started walking towards the other side of the canteen. Jiang An turned his head to look, and saw Gao Chuan sitting a few tables behind them, head down, eating lunch at a leisurely pace, unaware of the group’s gaze on him.
Dr. Bai strolled over and took a seat opposite Gao Chuan. The latter lifted his head, his handso face coming into the spreading view of the girl, and seed to notice Jiang An. His gaze moved towards them, expression steady and unchanged.
Jiang An noticed the man had seen him and quickly turned his head back, only to hear Dr. Li "tsk" in dissatisfaction, "That playboy, falling for soone new so quickly."
Jiang An and Ren Lin couldn’t help but laugh together, followed by Dr. Li introducing to them, "The Dr. Bai you just t is the youngest male doctor in our departnt. You can also chat with him when you’re free."
"Sitting opposite him is Dr. Gao. You must’ve read his papers during your studies. He’s the deputy director of our departnt," the man thodically continued his introduction, then suddenly turned to ask the two, "What do you think, who’s more handso, or Dr. Gao?"
The two who were engrossed in eating nearly choked on their food, thinking to themselves, is midlife male appearance anxiety this serious?
Under Dr. Li’s pressing interrogation, Jiang An still uttered a reluctance, weakly letting out the phrase: "You’re handso."
The simple two words fell into the ears of Dr. Li sitting opposite them, and the man laughed heartily, excitedly patted the table, and loudly said, "I knew it; I am indeed the one responsible for our departnt’s good looks."
The noise made by the three people imdiately attracted the sidelong glances of many in the cafeteria, Gao Chuan also turned towards the commotion but could only see Jiang An’s back. Dr. Bai, sitting opposite, also glanced at the proudly smiling Dr. Li and, turning back with a "tsk tsk tsk" sound, said to Gao Chuan, "Look how smug he gets just by ntoring an intern."
Jiang An had also not expected such a big reaction from the man to her comnt, and she too was startled by Dr. Li’s laughter, turning her head to exchange puzzled looks with the equally stunned Ren Lin.
"As expected of my pupil, great taste." Dr. Li finally cald down and gave the two a thumbs up.
"Are you two dating?" Dr. Li didn’t scoop a few bites of his food before starting to gossip.
The two youngsters, already scared stiff by Dr. Li’s devilish laughter just now, fell into silence upon hearing his unexpected question.
Ren Lin glanced at Jiang An beside him, who was blushing slightly, and answered, "No."
"What about you, Jiang?" Dr. Li looked at Jiang An, who was looking down, and pressed on with his questioning.
Jiang An tapped her chopsticks in her hand and whispered, "Not... yet."
As a married person, telling such fibs made her heart tremble in guilt.
The next second, the marriage-push expert Dr. Li logged on, advising as soone who had been through it, "You’d better hurry up. Right now, you’re relatively free, but once you get busy, there will be no ti."
Jiang An kept nodding, and couldn’t help but guiltily look back at Gao Chuan sitting behind her. Whether intentionally or accidentally, just as the girl turned her head, she locked eyes with Gao Chuan, who seed to have finished his al and was about to get up and leave. The girl’s blushing face unexpectedly broke into his view, and before the image could even settle, she shyly turned away.
"Lao Gao, let’s go, what are you spacing out for!" Dr. Bai, who had already left the table, saw the man standing still and reminded him.
Gao Chuan then ca to his senses and followed the man out with his tray.
After turning her face away, Jiang An felt her cheeks suddenly heat up; today, she had already unintentionally exchanged glances with Dr. Gao three tis, and her heartbeat thudded violently in her chest.
Having finished her lunch and returned to the departnt, Jiang An received her uniform and na badge. The girl changed into a clean white coat, adjusted her collar, and scrutinized herself in the mirror, hanging the na-engraved badge on her left chest. Once everything was ready, she revealed a slight smile to her reflection in the mirror.
During the lunch break, a few off-duty doctors and nurses were resting in the break room, lying on the tables. Jiang An tiptoed out, finally finding ti to pull out her phone from her pocket and check the ssages she had missed.
Opening WeChat, she discovered a ssage from Dr. Gao at the very top of the conversation list sent not long ago. The girl stretched out her finger to click it open; a few simple words ca into view, making her light brown pupils instantly twinkle with intense amusent.
Gao Chuan: The braised pork in the canteen is really good.
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