Once Upon a Time

Yang Cha and the others had made themselves perfectly clear. There was no ambiguity; every important point had been laid out.

Wei Yin understood at once. Her hospitalization costs weren’t four thousand yuan after the ninety-percent reduction Hua Yu had mentioned. No, that wasn’t right either—the hospital bill couldn’t be fabricated, and ten percent really did come to four thousand.

Then what about the rest? The remaining thirty-six thousand. Hua Yu had paid it herself.

At that moment, Wei Yin was strangely calm. Maybe her emotional swings had always been subtle; inside, she might have turned over a thousand different feelings, but what showed on her face was only a hazy, delayed reaction.

She even had the energy to mock herself. So you really hadn’t expected this at all? You’re not even surprised now—did you already suspect the truth about the hospitalization?

Wei Xiaoyin, you’re not just timid. You’re a little shameless too.

The timid Wei Yin took two seconds to decide that she couldn’t take advantage of this.

Knowing something and still pretending not to know wasn’t shameless. It was vile.

Wei Yin turned her head and handed the little cake to them, asking casually, “Is Dr. Hua always this busy every day?”

Yang Cha nodded as she ate. “Pretty much. She mostly does surgeries, and there are too many patients for her to keep up with.”

Another young nurse said, “Dr. Hua lives near the hospital, and whenever something comes up at the last minute, people love calling her. She basically shows up whenever she’s needed; she doesn’t have much personal time.”

Anyone who let work take up most of their time was either obsessed with work, money, or power, or else one of those against-the-current types who carried dedication all the way to the bitter end.

Clearly, Hua Yu was not the former.

Doctors really did deserve respect.

“Then her personal life must be pretty perfunctory,” Wei Yin said, almost to herself, but just loud enough for both of them to hear.

Yang Cha waved a hand. “Anyway, Dr. Hua always eats in the cafeteria. Aside from these past few days while you’ve been hospitalized, she changes clothes every day; usually it’s just two or three versatile outfits she rotates through.”

The nurse opened her mouth, feeling that gossiping about Hua Yu behind her back wasn’t quite right, but she couldn’t think of a rebuttal and ended up nodding too. “Dr. Hua really doesn’t pay much attention to her personal life. She doesn’t even date; every day is just work.”

As soon as she said that, she suddenly realized that the person sitting in front of her seemed to have some kind of “dating” relationship with Hua Yu. The nurse gave an awkward smile and quietly turned her head to whisper to Yang Cha.

“Can you say something nice about Hua-tou? What if she doesn’t want to date our Hua-tou anymore?”

“Who’s to blame for that? Hua-tou’s a workaholic. Who’s ever seen her look single-mindedly in love?”

“Shut up and eat your cake.”

Wei Yin became even more certain of the decision in her heart.

She had no money, but she still had some strength (?) left.

When Hua Yu came back, she saw the three of them each doing their own thing, eating cake separately.

Wei Yin cut a piece and handed it to her. Hua Yu reached out to take it, but Wei Yin didn’t let go.

Hua Yu: “Hm?” Why wasn’t she letting go?

Wei Yin smiled brightly and pointed outside. “Dr. Hua, I have something I want to talk to you about alone.”

Hua Yu was always willing to go along. “Alright, come to my office.”

Ignoring the two blazing, gossip-heavy gazes behind them, Hua Yu picked up Wei Yin’s little bundle, took the remaining half of the cake with her, and even reminded Zhao Qi to behave and not bounce around.

Zhao Qi had originally wanted to curse the two nurses to their faces for gossiping about her, but now she only thought, Hmph! I absolutely won’t tell you they were just talking smack about you! You dead lesbian!

In the office, Hua Yu let Wei Yin sit in her chair, then opened the wardrobe and took off her white coat.

Wei Yin noticed Hua Yu’s movement and immediately looked away, her lips going a little dry.

What Hua Yu wore underneath was a fitted short-sleeved shirt. Because the hospital was cool, she’d chosen a soft cotton-linen fabric that clung even more closely to her body.

Wei Yin felt a faint, troubled complaint rise in her chest, and gave herself one minute of self-reproach for never being able to stop looking at Hua Yu.

Self-reproach complete.

Liking to look at beautiful things was human nature.

Back to normal, Wei Yin cleared her throat. “Dr. Hua, can you change the job you introduced me to?”

“Why change it?” Hua Yu didn’t refuse; she asked why instead.

This job only required picking up and dropping off children from school. Occasionally, if the parents got off work late, she’d need to stay home with the child and wait a while; it could be said to pay well, require little effort, and be close to home.

Wait—home.

Could it be the commute?

Hua Yu tested the waters. “Is it very far from your home?”

Wei Yin shook her head. “I still haven’t rented a place.”

Her previous employer had required her to live in. Although Wei Yin only handled things like shopping and cleaning the outer rooms, the employer still thought a servant running around outside every day was unclean, so Wei Yin still had nowhere to stay.

Hua Yu was silent for a moment. “Go on.”

Hua Yu didn’t know what had happened. Wei Yin wasn’t a picky person, nor did she like troubling others; there had to be another reason.

Wei Yin stood up and lifted her pitch-black eyes to stare straight at Hua Yu.

“The job Dr. Hua introduced is very good. It’s just that the salary is a little low,” Wei Yin said, pressing her lips together. “My previous average salary was twelve thousand.”

Hua Yu didn’t show any other reaction and quietly waited for her to continue.

Wei Yin’s voice was neither too loud nor too soft; it was obvious she was thinking seriously. “I still want to make more money.”

Hua Yu asked, “Are you very short of money?”

Wei Yin nodded. “Mm. I need to repay a debt.”

“What debt?” Hua Yu frowned.

Wei Yin said, “Thirty-seven thousand.”

Hua Yu subconsciously wanted to say, I’ll lend it to you. But before she could speak, she met Wei Yin’s eyes.

There were little sparks of excitement in them. No—not excitement. More like she was about to bring charges against someone.

This was not normal.

Hua Yu fell silent, thought through the cause and effect for a moment, and understood.

“Thirty-six thousand,” Hua Yu couldn’t help but sigh. “Did you add the interest yourself?”

Wei Yin stared at her. “I need to repay the debt.”

Hua Yu pinched the bridge of her nose and took off her glasses, handing them to Wei Yin. “Help me wipe them. The lenses are blurry. I’m dizzy.”

Wei Yin took them with both hands. “Okay.”

Then she reacted and gave Hua Yu a faint, resentful look.

Hua Yu’s tone was calm. “If I said you don’t need to pay it back, would you listen?”

Wei Yin said, “No.”

After saying that, she frowned. Wei Yin rarely made that expression; only when she ran into a truly difficult problem she couldn’t understand, couldn’t solve, and could only stubbornly insist on her own way would she look like that.

Wei Yin pointed at herself. “You said you weren’t familiar with me.”

The implication was clear: if they weren’t familiar with each other, why had she paid such an expensive medical bill for her? Why had she quietly given so much under the guise of a “kind lie”?

So Wei Yin didn’t really understand why Hua Yu was doing this.

Hua Yu didn’t really understand herself either.

She had reached out to Wei Yin and taken care of her carefully because she wanted the freedom to do as she pleased, and because it felt justified and right.

Hua Yu had never once been able to stand by and do nothing when it came to Wei Yin.

If Wei Yin still had her memories from before, Hua Yu could have snapped and asked, “How did you end up in this state?” Then she could have coldly questioned whether Wei Yin had regretted rejecting her back then.

After all, they had once been each other’s closest friends. No one was obligated to accommodate or yield to the other.

But Wei Yin remembered nothing.

Those past events were sealed deep in Wei Yin’s mind; right now, she was exactly the same as when Hua Yu first met her: shy, slow, kind, and timid.

Hua Yu couldn’t get angry, so she could only be good to her.

And as she kept being good to her, even Hua Yu no longer bothered to hide it.

But not bothering to hide her kindness toward her didn’t mean Hua Yu wasn’t angry anymore; nor did it mean she could accept her now.

Hua Yu was half a head taller than Wei Yin; when her gaze lowered, there was a quiet tenderness to it. She let out a soft sigh. “If I told you this is something I owe you, would you believe me?”

What a deeply affectionate tone; paired with her silent expression, it made her look like someone with a story she couldn’t bear to revisit.

Wei Yin used her sharp instinct to puncture it, shaking her head. “I don’t believe you.”

Hua Yu looked at her for a few seconds, then turned her head away and laughed. “Damn it, I don’t believe it either.”

Wei Yin said, “Dr. Hua, you’re not used to putting yourself on display, are you? It’s too fake.”

Hua Yu was helpless, the corner of her lips lifting slightly, but she didn’t speak.

Wei Yin circled back to the serious topic. “Were we very close before?”

Her inner curious child had returned. Hua Yu wasn’t just helpless now; she had already accepted the fact that Wei Yin was going to keep digging. After all, this was a stubborn person who never let go once she’d made up her mind; if Hua Yu didn’t say something, Wei Yin would definitely bring up “repaying the debt” again.

Hua Yu thought for a few seconds, picked out one story, and told her, “You should know you’re not sensitive to pheromones.”

Wei Yin pulled over a chair and sat down, looking as if she were listening earnestly, her eyes wide. “Mm.”

“So at the start of term, the student council dragged you off to rescue an alpha in heat who was trapped in the equipment room,” Hua Yu said, taking the glasses Wei Yin had rubbed even blurrier and wiping them with a tissue. “That alpha was a strict, self-disciplined person. She took suppressants on time and in the proper dose, calculated her heat cycle carefully, and never let herself go into heat in public. But that time, there was an accident.”

Hua Yu finished wiping the glasses. The thin metal frame caught a cool glint as it settled on the bridge of her straight nose. Her gaze passed through the lenses and landed on Wei Yin.

“Do you know why?”