Chapter Fifteen: Missing You

In the following days, aside from being busy with academic exchanges, Jiang Shiyi kept sending messages to pester Huo Yixun. Whether he replied or not didn’t matter; she sent them anyway. She sent all the cheesy pickup lines from her past life to Huo Yixun, and if she ever ran out of ideas, she simply sent, “I miss you.”

Half a month later, Jiang Shiyi finished her academic exchange and sat on the train back to Shanghai, watching the scenery whiz past. A strange wave of emotion stirred in her heart.

Just as her thoughts wandered, Aunt Qiao called, saying that Old Master Xu’s health had mostly recovered and asked when Jiang Shiyi could come over for a simple meal.

After hanging up, she sent a text to Huo Yixun:

“Aunt Qiao said she wants to invite us over for dinner this weekend. Are you free to go?”

After sending the message, she didn’t expect a reply and leaned back in her seat to rest.

Just as she was about to fall asleep, the “old-fashioned” phone in her pocket suddenly vibrated several times.

“Hm?”

Jiang Shiyi immediately grabbed her phone to check.

In the inbox that had never received a reply before, there was now an unread message.

The sender was none other than Huo Yixun.

Jiang Shiyi instantly became excited.

She didn’t open the message right away but smiled mysteriously while holding the phone.

So, he could still see her messages.

Which meant that for the past half month, all those flirty and cheesy lines she’d sent had been read by him?

Well, well, that’s quite repressive.

Let me see just how much you’re moved.

But when she saw the “heartthrob score” was only twenty points, Jiang Shiyi nearly gasped for air.

Good grief!

How ascetic must this guy be?

Ahhh!

She began to scrutinize the timestamps of those points.

After a thorough check, she felt like the sky was falling.

At first, she could earn two or three points, but towards the end, she didn’t even get one.

Scores like these meant she was only a fleeting thought in his mind.

On closer inspection, the timing seemed a bit off.

She wanted to ponder more, but the train had already arrived.

Jiang Shiyi got off with a bright smack of her lips, and once again, Lin Yu was there to pick her up.

Lin Yu chatted with her about work matters first. They reached many professional agreements and seemed quite like-minded.

At the dorm building, Lin Yu asked if she wanted to visit the Zhou family.

Jiang Shiyi declined; after all, she wasn’t the original owner and had no ties to the Zhou family, having never met them.

Back in her dorm, after washing up, Jiang Shiyi eagerly checked for a reply.

Huo Yixun: “No time.”

Though she had expected this response, having a glimmer of hope beforehand only made the disappointment sting more.

But it was fine.

She wasn’t a delicate woman; she had her ways of drawing him out.

Academic exchanges were mentally and physically exhausting, and Jiang Shiyi slept straight through until afternoon.

There’s an old saying: more terrifying than insomnia at night is the silence after waking from a nap.

It had already been over a month since she had crossed into this world. She had exchanged four months of life with the system and was now edging closer to a tense countdown.

Jiang Shiyi couldn’t help but think she was ultimately a stranger here.

Her pursuit of the male lead was only to survive or to find a chance to return to her original world.

At one fleeting moment, she felt like a mayfly, living and dying within a single day.

Picking up her phone, she realized she hadn’t bothered Huo Yixun today yet.

As she was about to type some corny lines, a thought suddenly flashed through her mind. She deleted the old messages and typed anew:

“Do you like pine trees? They never betray the winter.”

Far away, deep in the mountains.

Rows of camouflage tents were pitched. The damp ground made movement difficult.

A group of rookies were undergoing training under Huo Yixun, secretly cursing him as a pervert.

Inside one tent, Huo Yixun had just finished reporting recent training work when Jiang Shiyi’s message came through.

He opened it.

The sly fox: “Do you like pine trees? They never betray the winter.”

He habitually replied: “No.”

Just as he was about to send it, his expression paused.

His finger hovered over the delete key.

Minister Huo: “What’s wrong?”

After sending the message, Huo Yixun himself was a little dazed.

Jiang Shiyi, seeing his reply, revealed a hunter’s smile.

While eating the cafeteria meal, she typed back: “Just missing you. It seems like it’s been a long time since we last met.”

This time, there was no response.

Jiang Shiyi didn’t dwell on it. Finishing her meal quickly, she picked up paper and pen to write down her reflections on the academic exchange.

The next day.

Jiang Shiyi returned to the hospital refreshed. Still pleased about the previous day’s reply, she smiled politely and greeted Chen Wanzhou when she encountered her.

After all, if Chen Wanzhou hadn’t stirred up trouble with the hospital administration, Jiang Shiyi wouldn’t have had this chance.

Seeing Jiang Shiyi’s bright smile, Chen Wanzhou and her small clique were momentarily stunned.

What’s up with her?

Chen Wanzhou glared with gritted teeth, wishing she could choke that woman.

That afternoon, a leader was to visit the hospital for an inspection, and each department needed to select a doctor to accompany them as a technical guide.

Other departments had already chosen their representatives when the notice was issued.

For their department, if Lin Yu were free, he would be the obvious choice, but he was still in the operating room.

The selection narrowed down to Chen Wanzhou and Jiang Shiyi.

Though both were relatively new, Jiang Shiyi’s medical skills were widely recognized.

However, her background was less than impressive, making it hard to introduce her properly.

Chen Wanzhou had performed excellently during this period and was even a returnee from overseas.

However, the misdiagnosis incident involving Chief Chen was notorious.

The department head hesitated as he looked at them.

“I just returned from outside and have many things to handle,” Jiang Shiyi said calmly.

Upon hearing this, Chen Wanzhou’s heart tightened.

She despised Jiang Shiyi’s attitude of not taking her seriously.

She was just a country bumpkin; last time, Xu Weiguo’s surgery succeeded only because Lin Yu was there. Did Jiang Shiyi really think she was a medical prodigy?

Seeing Jiang Shiyi’s words, the director naturally chose Chen Wanzhou as the companion.

Chen Wanzhou’s expression was priceless.

To others, it seemed she hadn’t earned this on her own merit but was given the chance because Jiang Shiyi declined it.

Why should that be?

She was excellent too.

The more she thought about it, the more hatred she felt toward Jiang Shiyi.

Jiang Shiyi, however, was unaware of these petty thoughts.

She chose not to compete because in her past life, she had experienced too many such situations and wasn’t bothered by them.

Moreover, this matter was ultimately meaningless.

She’d rather spend her spare time seeing more patients or studying surgical literature than waste it on pointless rivalries.

In any case, she wouldn’t squander her precious time on trivial matters like this.