Shine on Me

I had everything planned out—what to wear for the two wedding banquets on the 1st and 2nd. But man proposes, God disposes. On the evening of the 31st, the temperature suddenly dropped by ten degrees, plunging us straight into the depths of winter.

This left me in a dilemma.

Most of my clothes were back at my home in Wuxi. The ones I had in Suzhou suitable for this weather... were... well... only... my work uniform...

If I went shopping...

I checked the time. I'd woken up late, and it was already 12:30 p.m. Lin Yusen would pick me up at 2 p.m., so there was no time to go shopping.

After struggling between style and warmth for a long time, I resolutely chose warmth and appeared punctually at the company entrance at two o'clock.

Lin Yusen's car was parked by the roadside. He had probably been waiting for me for a while. When he saw me, he opened the car door and stepped out, then frowned slightly.

I quickly explained, "I won’t wear this to the wedding. I’ll take it off when we get out of the car. I’m just wearing it now to block the cold wind."

He studied me for several seconds before finally saying tactfully, "Nie Xiguang, this is the first time I’m bringing a female companion to a friend’s wedding."

"Huh?"

"So, could you please not make it seem like you’re accompanying me to work overtime?"

I sighed helplessly. "I don’t have a choice. I don’t have any warm clothes here, and there’s no time to buy any now."

He looked me up and down. "Get in the car. I’ll take you somewhere."

"Where?"

"I used to have a patient in Suzhou who represents some clothing brands. I’ll take you there to take a look."

All this fuss?

I hesitated. "Is this really necessary?"

While flipping through his phone contacts, he casually replied, "Mm, I care about face."

"..." I could only fall silent.

Lin Yusen's former patient was a cheerful and enthusiastic middle-aged woman who introduced herself as Sister Wang. She was already waiting at the store entrance when we arrived. As soon as we got out of the car, she warmly greeted us, "Dr. Lin! What a rare guest!"

Then she looked at me. "Is this your girlfriend, Dr. Lin? Oh, she’s lovely! When I was in the hospital, I used to wonder which lucky girl would get to be Dr. Lin’s girlfriend someday."

I was about to deny it, but she was too quick. Before I could say anything, she had already dashed off to fetch some catalogues for me.

I broke into a sweat and awkwardly glanced at Lin Yusen. "She seems to have misunderstood."

Lin Yusen remained unperturbed. "It’s fine. Misunderstandings lead to discounts."

...That statement was so powerful! For a moment, I actually felt that letting her misunderstand might not be so bad.

But my remaining conscience weakly reminded me, "This doesn’t seem right..."

"Do you think it’d be better if I said I brought an employee here to buy clothes?"

"..."

Alright then...

At this point, the moment to clarify had passed anyway. I couldn’t just rush up and say I wasn’t Lin Yusen’s girlfriend—that would be too awkward. Since we probably wouldn’t meet again, and there was... a discount... I might as well let it slide.

Soon, Sister Wang returned with a stack of catalogues, accompanied by a young woman.

"This is Anne, our store’s top salesperson with excellent taste. I’ve asked her to help you pick out some clothes to try on. Here are also the latest catalogues from a few other brands I represent. Take a look."

"Great, thank you." I accepted the catalogues.Anne circled around me.

“This young lady is very easy to dress—you can try all sorts of styles. What kind of clothes do you usually prefer?”

“Simple and comfortable ones.”

“Oh, then how about these?” She flipped through a few pages of a catalog to show me. “Or would you like to try a different style, like this sweet and feminine look?”

I nodded indifferently. “Sure.”

She quickly grabbed a pile of clothes for me to try on.

I had to admit, professionals really knew their craft. After trying on several outfits, I actually liked all of them. Considering I hadn’t bought new clothes in a while, I decided to take them all.

“For the wedding banquet, I suggest Miss Nie wear this one. It’s a bit formal but not overly so—very fresh and sweet. We also have matching hair accessories. Would you like me to style your hair?”

Her eager expression was hard to refuse, so in no time, my hair was transformed into a slightly loose updo, adorned with a small, tilted hairpin.

Aside from attending my godmother’s banquet, it had been ages since I’d dressed up so elaborately. Suddenly feeling a bit self-conscious, I couldn’t help but glance at Lin Yusen to ask if I met his standards for saving face.

But why did this feeling of dressing up for him seem so strange…

So I quickly turned 180 degrees and said to Anne, “Anne, thank you. I really like all these clothes. Let’s settle the bill together.”

Anne beamed at me. “Mr. Lin already paid while you were trying on the clothes.”

The said Mr. Lin, having nothing better to do, had been flipping through a magazine. Only when I turned to him in surprise did he leisurely lift his gaze and give me a dignified nod.

My thoughts froze for a split second—not because I felt offended that he paid, but because his posture and gesture just then were impossibly suave.

It took me a while to snap out of my dazed state. I walked over and asked awkwardly, “You already paid? How did you know I’d buy these?”

“They all looked good on you,” he said, closing the magazine with utter nonchalance.

“…”

Who was the one buying clothes here?

Just then, Sister Wang returned with the bank card, insisting on returning it to Lin Yusen. “Anne was being thoughtless to take your card, Dr. Lin. How could I accept payment when you’ve brought your girlfriend here to shop? You saved my life, after all.”

Lin Yusen smiled. “I’ll bring her here again for more clothes. If you don’t charge me, how can I come back next time?”

He glanced at me.

I blinked and immediately chimed in, “Right, right, let him pay.”

Only then did Sister Wang reluctantly proceed with the payment.

Carrying the shopping bags, we stepped out of the store. Before I could even speak, Lin Yusen handed me a slip of paper.

“The receipt.”

“I cooperated well just now, didn’t I? I’ll pay you back later.” Feeling smug, I took the receipt and glanced at it—then froze. “…Th-three percent off?”

I immediately stopped in my tracks.

“Wait a minute, I just remembered another set I liked. I need to go back and buy—”

Lin Yusen grabbed my arm, looking exasperated. “Miss Nie, we’re going to be late for the banquet.”

We nearly were. By the time we reached the hotel, the bride and groom were already preparing to make their entrance.The bride standing at the entrance of the banquet hall spotted us and immediately walked over, her dress trailing behind her. She complained, "Dr. Lin, I thought you weren't coming! Oh, and who is this young lady?"

She looked at me with a curious and gossipy expression.

Huh? She doesn’t know me? Didn’t she invite me? I glanced suspiciously at Lin Yusen.

Lin Yusen smiled. "She’s the one you scared into falling off the building. Didn’t you ask me to bring her?"

"Ah… right, right, right!" The bride exclaimed, immediately apologizing profusely. "I’m so sorry, I was so busy I completely forgot! I really didn’t mean it last time—I have acrophobia, so seeing people standing high up terrifies me. I didn’t recognize you just now, sorry about that! I was so scared back then, and Yusen was blocking the way, so I didn’t get a good look at you. You know, Yusen was absolutely terrifying at the time…"

She went on talking to me for a full three minutes, her words coming so fast there was barely any punctuation. Then she introduced me to the groom, a somewhat goofy-looking but sincere burly man, who also apologized to me earnestly.

I was starting to feel a little embarrassed, but thankfully, the emcee nearby urged them to get ready for their entrance, so she finally stopped. Just as Lin Yusen and I were about to enter the banquet hall, the bride called out to him again.

"Yusen, I invited your teacher too. He’s been really worried about you. Since you brought Xiguang with you, why don’t you take her to see him? It’ll put his mind at ease."

Huh? What does that mean? Could it be…?

I stopped in my tracks.

"Wait a second, did your classmate just misunderstand? Does she think…?"

Lin Yusen seemed snapped out of his thoughts by my question. He stopped and looked at me. "Think what?"

"Like with the clothes shopping earlier…"

Lin Yusen pretended to ponder for a moment. "Actually, a little misunderstanding wouldn’t hurt. After all these years without a girlfriend, it’s a bit embarrassing for someone as handsome as me to show up alone. You wouldn’t be at a disadvantage either…"

Just how vain are you?! And calling yourself handsome—I nearly laughed but managed to keep a straight face. "No way! There’s no discount this time!"

"Really not?" he pressed.

I shook my head firmly.

"Alright." He didn’t push further, simply giving me a faint smile.

Suddenly, I felt like I’d fallen into a trap… but I couldn’t figure out why, since I’d already refused.

Dr. Fang was there too, waving at us as soon as we entered the banquet hall. However, Lin Yusen didn’t go straight to him. Instead, he headed to the main table and stopped behind an elderly man with silver hair.

"Teacher."

The old man turned around, looking pleasantly surprised. "Yusen! You came."

"Yes, I’m here."

The old man tried to stand up shakily, but Lin Yusen stopped him. Instead, Lin Yusen crouched down to his level and asked with concern, "How’s your health lately, Teacher? What’s your fasting blood sugar?"

The old man waved him off. "I’m a doctor too, and your teacher at that. Do you really need to worry about me?" Then he looked at me, his face lighting up with relief. "Is this your girlfriend? That’s wonderful, wonderful."

Lin Yusen paused before saying, "No."

I breathed a sigh of relief. Vice President Lin, you do have some principles after all! But seeing the old man’s disappointed expression, I actually felt a little bad.

Lin Yusen and his teacher… seemed to share a very close bond.Then I heard Lin Yusen say softly to the old man, "I'm still pursuing her."

The old man's expression instantly shifted from disappointment to delight as he looked at me with evident joy. I was startled by Lin Yusen's words, my heart skipping a beat as I turned to him in surprise.

He met my gaze with the same look he’d given me in the clothing store—the one that silently urged me to play along.

Seeing the old man’s silver hair and frail, trembling figure, I couldn’t help but nod slightly. "Mm."

Only after nodding did I realize—he hadn’t outright claimed I was his girlfriend, just told the old man he was "pursuing" me. Did that really require my acknowledgment?

Still, my response clearly made the old man even happier. He looked deeply comforted, repeatedly saying, "Good, good, good. It’s good to have a goal. I was just afraid you’d be like before. Yusen, even if you can’t hold a scalpel anymore, life isn’t just about scalpels. No matter what, you must live your life well."

The old man’s words were simple, but the deep affection in them, combined with thoughts of Lin Yusen’s past struggles, made my eyes sting with emotion.

Lin Yusen nodded. "I will, Teacher."