Chapter 589 - 508: May 1st
Chapter 589: Chapter 508: May 1st
In the days leading up to May Day, the traditional Chinese medicine department at De Ren Hospital became increasingly busy. The acupuncture room, in particular, was almost never empty, with an endless stream of patients coming in for treatment every day. Xiao Man had personally trained two batches of acupuncturists in the Sun’s Acupuncture Method, and these acupuncturists then went on to train the next group of students.
But for some reason, the reputation of Doctor Xiao Tang and her miraculous cures grew more and more legendary. Every patient who came for acupuncture wanted to be treated by Doctor Xiao Tang personally. Xiao Man wasn’t Sun Wukong; she couldn’t create clones of herself. Besides, she was still a student, so naturally, she couldn’t be at the hospital all the time. She only came to the hospital three days a week, and the patients who managed to see her all exclaimed how lucky they were. Some people would come to the hospital and register, only to find out that Doctor Xiao Tang wasn’t in that day. They would simply not see a doctor at all and come back the next day, waiting until they could finally see Xiao Man. This created a difficult situation for the hospital, and Xiao Man felt quite helpless about it.
On this day, Xiao Man and two other acupuncturists finally managed to finish treating and send off all the patients. She breathed a sigh of relief, washed her hands, and was about to drink a cup of water when she received a call from Yang Liu’er. Yang Liu’er had previously called the school and learned Xiao Man was at the hospital. The moment she heard her voice, she immediately said, "Wait right there, I’m on my way!"
With a CLICK, she hung up.
Xiao Man: "..."
’What’s with all the rush? She’s not coming here for a treatment, is she?’
Xiao Man didn’t know where Yang Liu’er was coming from, but she appeared before her in less than twenty minutes, still panting from the rush. Her face was flushed as if she’d applied rouge, a festive, bright red.
Xiao Man led her into the staff lounge and asked with a smile, "What’s going on? What’s got you in such a flustered hurry?"
"Who’s in a flustered hurry?" Yang Liu’er said, glancing down at herself. When she looked back up at Xiao Man, her gaze flickered, and she was clearly feeling a bit self-conscious.
"Heh, fine, don’t tell me if you don’t want to. It’s not like I enjoy prying into other people’s business."
Yang Liu’er’s face grew even redder. She took a breath and started pulling something out of her backpack. Today, she was carrying a genuine leather backpack that was considered very fashionable and high-end for the time. Xiao Man had one too, an imported item Zheng Shaolian had brought back for her, but she had found it too big and gave it to Mrs. Ai.
Yang Liu’er’s bag was likely from a foreign trade store. Around this time, Huaxia Country’s economy was beginning to take off, and people’s lives were much better than in previous years. But material goods weren’t yet abundant, and high-end imported items were still something only the privileged and the wealthy could afford. By the standards of the time, Yang Liu’er was quite a rich woman.
Xiao Man looked at the newspaper-wrapped package Yang Liu’er placed on the table. It was encircled with a band of red paper and even had a paper-cut "double happiness" character pasted on it. She curiously picked it up to examine it more closely, then a thought struck her. She suddenly pointed at Yang Liu’er in astonishment. "Wedding candy! Yours?"
The blush on Yang Liu’er’s face hadn’t faded as she nodded matter-of-factly. "I’m married. We got the certificate!"
"Who with? Don’t tell me you really just pulled someone off the street?"
"Of course not. I have a brain."
"Then..."
"Weiwei’s dad."
"Oh, so it’s Brother Lu. That’s great. At least it’s someone you know."
Xiao Man unwrapped a milk candy and popped it into her mouth. She squinted her eyes and joked, "So sweet! I’ve heard that rabbits don’t eat the grass around their burrows, but you’ve just proven that sometimes, it’s perfectly fine to eat!"
Yang Liu’er’s face flushed crimson again. She grabbed Xiao Man’s arm and gave her a playful shove. "He’s the one who ate me! No, that’s not... Ugh, anyway, that’s how it is! Brother Lu said he wouldn’t feel at ease with an outsider and insisted on marrying me himself... I warned him!"
"What? You have to warn someone before you marry them? How do you do that? You have to teach me."
"You... Tang Manman, you’re terrible! Such a young girl, and you’re already so mischievous!"
The two of them laughed and joked around in the staff lounge for a while before Xiao Man took the bag of wedding candy out to share with the doctors and nurses, all of whom smiled and congratulated Yang Liu’er.
After walking Yang Liu’er to the hospital entrance, Xiao Man asked why Brother Lu hadn’t come. Shouldn’t a couple hand out wedding candy together?
Yang Liu’er explained that on the day they registered their marriage, they had gone to a furniture store. She wasn’t quite satisfied with the ready-made furniture, so Brother Lu said they should have it custom-made. These past few days he had been very busy looking everywhere for good-quality wood. Handing out candy was a small matter, so she could just do it herself.
Xiao Man nodded in understanding, smiled, and waved goodbye.
It wasn’t until she was seated on the public bus that Yang Liu’er let out a long breath. ’Now that we’re registered, I definitely had to tell Xiao Man. This bag of wedding candy was only the third one she had given out.’
One of the other two bags had gone to Luo Chunxiang. The other was sent directly to the Bai Family’s residence—not for the Bai family, of course, but for her paternal aunt, Yang Shunma.
Even though she had made up her mind and registered her marriage with Lu Jian Country, she still felt uncertain. It wasn’t because of her own feelings, but she was worried about Lu Jian Country.
Her life with the Lu Family was peaceful and comfortable, and she got along harmoniously with them. She felt the Lu Family deserved to be happy and peaceful forever. If Lu Jian Country had married another, innocent girl, then their lives would surely have been perfect and blissful. But he had insisted on marrying her.
’I’m not some innocent young maiden, and I’m entangled with Bai Junfan and the Bai Family. I don’t know what kind of trouble might appear in the future, and I would never want it to bring disaster upon the Lu Family! So, subconsciously, I don’t want to bring Lu Jian Country into the public eye. Lu Jian Country is a good man. He insisted on marrying me because he wanted to protect me. I can also see that Brother Lu has feelings for me, but... how do I put it? I’ll just have to let things be for now. Maybe one day, Brother Lu will change his mind.’
She had finally convinced Uncle Lu not to hold a wedding banquet, using the excuse that she hadn’t graduated from university yet. Uncle Lu had relented, but he couldn’t contain his joy. He went out and bought a huge pile of wedding candy to distribute to the neighbors, only saying that Lu Jian Country and Yang Liu’er were engaged and would hold a grand banquet after she graduated. He also had her and Lu Jian Country give some to their close friends and relatives. She had no choice, so she only gave out those three bags. There was no hiding it from Xiao Man. Luo Chunxiang had already divorced Bai Lihua, received a sum of money, and, like Yang Liu’er, had bought a small courtyard to live in alone; they would visit each other like relatives from now on. As for Yang Shunma, it was a way to tell that bunch from the Bai Family through her—that she, Yang Liu’er, keeps her word. Even after leaving their Bai Junfan, she could still get married!
As for her teachers and classmates at school, and other acquaintances she knew, Yang Liu’er told none of them.
Dad Tang and Mrs. Ai had said they would come back early, but they delayed until May Day itself to return to Beijing.
This was all because Dad Tang was too busy with work. Although Mrs. Ai had gone to Liaozhou to live with her husband, in reality, she saw him two or three times a week at most. Spending lonely nights in an empty house was a common occurrence. Dad Tang could only call home to comfort her whenever he had a spare moment and ask if the little one in her belly was behaving.
Anyone in Dad Tang’s position who wanted to achieve significant political results would have to make sacrifices.
Ai Wenli was clearly showing, her belly quite large. Grandma Tang was both delighted and pained to see her. She personally helped her daughter-in-law to the sofa, then immediately began bustling up and down the stairs, bringing out all sorts of tasty things one after another until the coffee table in front of Ai Wenli was completely filled. In front of Tang Qingshan, however, there was nothing. He calmly drank the glass of water Xiao Man had handed him. It tasted sweet and refreshing. ’Thank goodness I have a daughter,’ he thought. ’Otherwise, I’d be heartbroken from my own mother’s neglect.’