Xiao Mandong had just turned around when she bumped straight into someone.
With a clatter, the oil-paper wrapper in that person's hand fell to the ground, and the pastries scattered all over the floor.
Xiao Mandong staggered backward from the collision, her footing unsteady, and her whole body tipped backward.
The next second, a strong hand curled around her waist and pulled her sharply back.
She crashed into a warm chest, her nose knocking against his chest so hard that it ached, and tears almost welled up in her eyes.
In her flustered state, Xiao Mandong's hands pressed against the man's chest.
It was firm.
Through a thin cotton shirt, she could clearly feel the defined lines of his solid muscles, and the warm heat seeping through the fabric.
At the end of the corridor, Gu Shaoting had just turned the corner. When he saw the scene, he froze in place. He swallowed hard and rubbed his eyes to make sure he was not seeing things.
He opened his mouth, about to call out, but then held back the words. He just stared blankly, completely stunned. His older brother was... holding a woman? And he was not letting go? He was even looking down at her?
Xiao Mandong did not fall.
But the man still did not loosen his grip.
Xiao Mandong looked up and met a pair of deep dark eyes. They were so close that she could see her own reflection in his pupils, and feel his breath fanning across her face.
The man was also looking down at her, his gaze seeming unfocused at first. He only thought that this face looked vaguely familiar, especially the tiny mole at the tail of her eyebrow, like he had seen it somewhere before, but he could not recall the memory right away.
Xiao Mandong's heartbeat skipped a beat, no, several beats.
She stepped back, but he did not release her.
She stepped back again, and he seemed to snap back to his senses, quickly letting go of her.
But Xiao Mandong had stepped back too hastily, and she staggered again on her unsteady feet.
He reached out once more to steady her arm, and did not pull his hand away until she was standing firmly on her own.
A faint scent of soap lingered in the air around her, clean and crisp. The scent drifted into his nostrils, and his own heartbeat suddenly sped up.
He had always been disgusted by the presence of all women, but for the first time, he felt no revulsion at being close to a strange woman.
"Are you... alright?" he asked, his voice low, with a deep, magnetic quality.
"I... I'm fine," Xiao Mandong said after steadying herself. She squatted down in a fluster to pick up the pastries scattered on the ground.
The man also squatted down to help her.
When both of them reached for the same pastry at the same time, their fingertips brushed against each other.
She flinched her hand back as if she had been shocked by electricity, her face flushing bright red. She wrapped the pastries back up in the paper and pushed the whole package into the man's hand.
It was then that Xiao Mandong got a proper look at this man.
He was wearing a crisp white shirt, its sleeves rolled up to his forearms to reveal a glinting watch. His trousers were made of navy blue fabric with a razor-sharp crease running down each leg, and his feet were clad in a pair of spotless, polished black leather shoes.
In this era, an outfit like this was far beyond the means of an ordinary family.
Xiao Mandong was lost in these thoughts when a shout came from the end of the corridor.
"Doctor Xiao, Doctor Xiao!" She turned to see a young nurse hurrying over.
"Doctor Xiao, the dean is looking for you. He says you need to go to his office right now."
"Alright, I'm coming." Xiao Mandong looked back at the man in front of her. He was still watching her, holding the oil-paper wrapper in his hand.
Their eyes met for a second, and Xiao Mandong gave him a small, awkward nod before turning around and hurrying away.
Her heart was thumping wildly in her chest, and she had no idea what had come over her. There was no such thing as love at first sight in the world, right? But this man was so strikingly handsome, it was almost overwhelming. She felt like a total fool for acting so smitten.
The man stood where he was, watching her retreating back, and the corners of his mouth slowly curled into a smile.
Gu Shaoting saw the grin on his older brother's face and was over the moon with amusement. That's it, that's it. His older brother, the old iron tree, was finally blossoming.
He quickly stepped forward, his tone full of gossipy curiosity. "Brother, you hugged her just now, didn't you?"
The man ignored his younger brother. Seeing the figure he had been watching about to disappear from sight, he called out quickly.
"My name is Gu Jianghan. What's yours?"
Xiao Mandong stopped in her tracks abruptly, but she did not turn around, and kept walking quickly forward.
Gu Jianghan? Brother Jianghan?
Fragments of a memory suddenly flashed through her mind. It was when she was about seven or eight years old, in the middle of a winter. A large group of strangers, adults and children alike, had come to her house and stayed there for quite a while.
That winter, the snow had fallen exceptionally heavily. She had led the group of kids to ride the wooden sled her father had made, sliding down from the top of a small hillside. But the sled veered off course, and she and the board had tumbled straight down into a sunken old grave pit.
At first, she had not been scared at all, and tried to climb out on her own. But the snow was too slippery, and she slipped halfway up and fell right back down.
That time, she landed inside the open old coffin, and saw the white bones resting inside. She was so terrified that she sat in the coffin wailing at the top of her lungs.
It was Brother Jianghan who had jumped down into the grave pit, carried her out on his back, and walked all the way home with her.
After she got home that day, she ran a high fever for days, delirious and calling out Brother Jianghan's name nonstop.
When she finally woke up four days later, Brother Jianghan and his family had already left.
Brother Jianghan and his family never came to visit again after that.
Later, her grandmother told her that Brother Jianghan's grandmother had come to find her grandfather for medical treatment. Once she had recovered, there was no reason for them to come back.
Xiao Mandong did not turn around. That was just a silly childhood memory. Besides, there was no way something that coincidental could be real.
The door to Dean Cao's office was ajar. Hearing her footsteps, Dean Cao immediately stood up to greet her, a wide warm smile on his face.
"Mandong, you're here. Come in, sit down, sit down."
He then personally poured her a cup of hot water, his tone full of concern.
"How have you been lately? Are you settling into the new house well?"
Xiao Mandong sat down gently and nodded. "It's very comfortable."
She waited for Dean Cao to get to the point, and she already had a pretty good idea of what he wanted to talk about.
The dean cleared his throat and stopped beating around the bush. "You must have heard what happened to Director Qi. He was badly injured, and with his stubborn temper... well, he insisted on retiring early."
He paused, his tone taking on a pleading edge. "Mandong, our hospital is really short-staffed right now. I was hoping you could temporarily take over his work. The higher-ups have already promised that they will assign two more doctors to our hospital by the end of the year."
Xiao Mandong did not give him an answer right away. She knew perfectly well how understaffed the hospital was. With Director Qi injured, the entire internal medicine department only had a few young, inexperienced doctors left. If a real emergency came in, they would not be able to handle it.
But then... she sighed, and finally agreed to take the job.
The dean had not expected her to say yes so readily, and his face lit up with a broad, relieved smile.
Xiao Mandong walked out of the dean's office and headed back to her own office. She had barely sat down in her chair when Shunzi came rushing in.
"Educated Youth Xiao, come home with me right now. Someone pried the lock on your house."
"What?" Xiao Mandong shot to her feet immediately, heading for the door as she asked, "What on earth happened?"
Shunzi hurried to keep up with her pace.
"It's that group of people who came to see you before, your biological mother who disowned you, plus your stepfather, your maternal grandmother, and a whole bunch of others. They showed up out of nowhere, insisting on moving into your house and living there."
"Your dad isn't home right now. He's at the train station picking up a group of new educated youth that's arriving today. We didn't dare lay a hand on any of them, they're all a bunch of old, weak, and infirm people."
Xiao Mandong understood immediately. The result of the report she had filed against them must have come out.
They could no longer stay in the capital, so they all trooped over here together? How ridiculous. They thought they could just seize her house for themselves?
Luckily, Diandian was safe in her spatial pocket, otherwise she would be frantic with worry about Diandian's safety right now.
Xiao Mandong climbed onto Shunzi's tractor, which rumbled and chugged its way toward the village. How dare someone pry open her door? They really had gotten far too bold for their own good.
