Chapter 502: Chapter 502: 11 Glances in Just 2 Minutes
"Professor Xia, why aren’t you saying anything? Are you too embarrassed to say it out loud?"
Seeing Xia Qiuming’s thoughtful expression, Gu Jiaojiao playfully fired off two questions in a row.
"Haha, what’s there to be embarrassed about? Every time she sees me, she’s like a mouse that’s seen a cat. If that’s not timid, what is?"
Especially when she tried to talk to him—she would just stutter. Xia Qiuming didn’t really have the heart to say that part out loud.
He was afraid she’d start crying if he mentioned it. The mere thought of that scene made Xia Qiuming laugh even more gleefully.
Xu Yue secretly snuck a glance at Xia Qiuming. His normally serious face was now lit up with a brilliant smile, which made her heart flutter.
Her heart suddenly started to THUMP, THUMP, THUMP. ’He really is the man I’ve had a crush on for years,’ she thought to herself. ’He looks so handsome when he smiles.’
She couldn’t help but envy the younger student who could make him laugh. The student stood across from him with natural grace.
She was also smiling, her eyes crinkling beautifully, like a sunflower blooming in the spring breeze. She looked exceptionally beautiful and captivating.
’The two of them look so good together. He must like her—is that why he’s smiling so warmly?’
This realization made Xu Yue’s heart skip a beat.
When she was a freshman, she ran into Professor Xia on campus. Only then did she understand what "love at first sight" truly meant.
Back then, many female students at the university chased after Professor Xia like crazy, but he never gave any of his pursuers so much as a single glance.
She had gone home and secretly asked her dad if she could pursue Professor Xia. What was it her dad had said?
Her dad had said, "Yuanyuan, you can go after Professor Xia. If you actually manage to win him over, I’ll use my pipe to bail out the Yellow River."
She would never forget how utterly self-assured her dad had looked when he said that.
Her dad’s words and his confident demeanor scared her into never telling anyone that she, too, liked Professor Xia.
The more she tried to forget, the clearer his image became, until his figure occupied her entire heart. She could only bury that secret crush deep inside.
Later, she went on countless blind dates, hoping to dilute her feelings by meeting more people.
She thought she could forget him this way, but instead, he only settled deeper into her heart.
She tried many methods but couldn’t drive his image from her mind, right up until it was time for her to leave the university for her internship.
Steeling her resolve, she asked her uncle to get her a position as an intern nurse at the very hospital where he worked.
That way, she could at least catch a few glimpses of him from afar. But she never initiated a conversation with him, because she’d start to stutter the moment she tried.
’Once he gets married and has children,’ she thought, ’I should be able to forget him completely.’
’So it’s not that he’s always serious,’ she thought bitterly. ’It’s just that I’m not the one who makes him smile and laugh!’
"Hello, you must be the new student here to learn at the hospital today. I’m Professor Xia’s temporary assistant, Xu Yue. It’s a pleasure to meet you."
Xu Yue smiled and greeted Gu Jiaojiao, her eyes full of sincerity.
Hearing her speak so fluently for the first time, Xia Qiuming was stunned. He blurted out, "Little nurse, how come you’re not stuttering?"
"Who... who’s... st-stuttering?" ’How can he be like this?’ Xu Yue was so angry she started stuttering again.
Xia Qiuming smiled and breathed a sigh of relief. Xu Yue really did stutter when she spoke to him; it wasn’t just his imagination.
"Haha... Xu Yue, right? My name is Gu Jiaojiao. It’s great to meet you, too."
Gu Jiaojiao burst out laughing without a care for her image, extending her hand to give Xu Yue’s a gentle shake.
She lifted her gaze to meet Xia Qiuming’s, and they exchanged a smile. Her look seemed to say, ’She might like you.’
Xia Qiuming didn’t understand what Gu Jiaojiao meant, but it didn’t matter. As long as his master was happy, his own mood was stellar.
Beaming, he invited Professor Frank and Principal Shen to walk in the front.
He and Gu Jiaojiao walked in the second row. He assumed the little nurse would follow, so he didn’t call out to her.
Several other doctors from the welcoming party invited the other mentors from the university to walk with them.
Xu Yue stood there, waiting to walk with her dad. The married female student deliberately squeezed in next to her.
"Xu Yue, are you Professor Xia’s new assistant? I saw he was paying special attention to you. You’d better keep it up!"
After saying this, she glanced at Wei Zhu, who was standing behind their mentor, her eyes filled with provocation.
Wei Zhu had seen Xu Yue standing next to Professor Xia the moment she got out of the car. She was already annoyed, and now she was being provoked by a classmate.
How could she tolerate that? "So what if she’s Professor Xia’s new assistant? You might be pretty, but Professor Xia didn’t ask you to walk with him, did he."
None of them knew that Xu Yue was their mentor’s youngest daughter, so they discussed her right in front of him.
Professor Xu listened to their conversation without saying a word, simply patting his daughter’s head to comfort her.
At such a young age, Professor Xia was already a leading figure in Western medicine and the "flower on a high peak" among the young and talented—utterly unattainable.
He was someone to be admired from afar, but never touched. Ordinary people shouldn’t even dream of having designs on him. At this moment, however, Professor Xu felt that the freshman student was actually a good match for him.
Understanding his unspoken message, Xu Yue winked at her dad and smiled playfully. "After you, Mentor."
"Pretty nurse, let’s walk together," Professor Xu said as he took his daughter’s hand and followed the group ahead.
Wei Zhu’s gaze, like that of a viper, was fixed on Xu Yue, her heart filled with endless hatred.
’A mere little nurse not only gets Professor Xia’s favor but also earns the affection of our mentor.’
’Others might not have noticed, but she saw it clearly: Professor Xia treated this little nurse differently.’
It wasn’t as if she hadn’t blatantly pursued Professor Xia herself, but he had never even spared her a glance.
Yet, in the two minutes they had been standing by the entrance, Professor Xia had looked at the little nurse eleven times.
Ever since she was a child, Wei Zhu knew she had to study hard. Only knowledge could change her destiny.
So she studied diligently, dreaming of escaping that poor alleyway she grew up in.
However, even though she was at the top of her class, knowledge hadn’t changed a thing. Years later, she was still living in that same alleyway.
Instead, she’d wasted her youth away, unmarried at twenty-five, and had become a cautionary tale the neighbors used to lecture their children.
So, she shifted her focus to finding a partner, hoping he could carry her across the great divide between wearing straw sandals and wearing leather shoes.
’That freshman, just because she’s pretty, can effortlessly achieve the dream I can’t reach no matter how hard I try.’
’She had tried to make things difficult for her, only to be nearly expelled by the principal.’
’How could she not hate her?’
’And now, this insignificant nurse was also getting special treatment from both Professor Xia and Professor Xu.’
’On what grounds?’
’Was Professor Xu walking with the nurse because he was afraid she would cause trouble for her?’
’The more he protected her, the more she wanted to destroy her.’
The more Wei Zhu thought about it, the angrier she became. She strode forward, put on a gentle smile, and said, "Nurse, let’s walk together."
"Who are you calling ’sister’? I’m probably younger than you! You’re grabbing me too hard, that hurts!" Xu Yue said angrily, trying to pull her hand away.
"What is wrong with you! Aren’t you the nurse assigned to host us? I just wanted to ask a few questions."
Wei Zhu was an unscrupulous and cruel person; only the suffering of others could bring her joy.
