ACBAM 69: Taste

After having breakfast, Su Shijin packed several egg tarts and a few other delicious snacks. Since he had bought quite a lot, when they arrived at the hospital, Gu Weiyang got out of the car and helped carry the bags inside.

The receptionist at the front desk greeted Su Shijin with a smile as usual. “Good morning, Dr. Su.”

Su Shijin nodded slightly and said, “Good morning.”

Gu Weiyang, holding the snacks, stood beside Su Shijin and exchanged glances with the two receptionists, giving a small nod as a greeting.

Ran Tian swallowed the second “good morning” that was on the tip of her tongue and also gave a nod in response.

“Just put the stuff here, thank you for your trouble.” Su Shijin led Gu Weiyang to the lounge and placed the items on the table.

Gu Weiyang mimicked him, placing the snacks neatly before saying, “The suitcase is still in the car. I’ll take it out for you when I take you to the station in the afternoon.”

“Alright.” Su Shijin nodded in response.

“I’ll head back first, and come over again around 2 p.m. this afternoon,” Gu Weiyang said.

Su Shijin glanced at the time. As Gu Weiyang turned to leave, he reached out and gently tugged at the corner of his shirt.

Gu Weiyang paused for a moment, looked down at the fingers tugging at the hem of his shirt, and then followed the fingers up to meet Su Shijin’s gaze.

“What’s wrong?” Gu Weiyang turned around, and Su Shijin released his fingers as he did.

“Do you want to have lunch together?” Su Shijin asked.

Gu Weiyang was a little surprised, not expecting an invitation for lunch from Su Shijin, but he responded quickly, “Of course, what time?”

It was already 9 o’clock, and the two had just finished breakfast at the tea house not long ago. They would probably get hungry later in the afternoon.

Su Shijin thought for a moment and said, “How about around 1 p.m.? Will that interfere with your lunch break?”

“It won’t,” Gu Weiyang smiled. He was pleased to receive the invitation from Dr. Su and was more than happy to skip his lunch break for it.

“Then I’ll come around 1 p.m. and call you when I arrive at the door.”

“Alright.” Su Shijin nodded, then followed Gu Weiyang out of the lounge and watched him get into the car.

It wasn’t until Gu Weiyang’s car had disappeared from view that Su Shijin slowly withdrew his gaze and turned to head back into the hospital.

There were already people at the front desk, queuing with their pets for check-ups. Su Shijin didn’t waste any more time. After informing the hospital group chat that there was breakfast in the lounge, he went to the changing room to change into his uniform.

When he came out after changing, he happened to run into Dr. Liu walking in this direction.

“Good morning, Dr. Liu,” Su Shijin greeted politely, nodding.

“Oh, Dr. Su, good morning!” Dr. Liu said briskly, heading toward the lounge. “The breakfast is in the lounge, right? I woke up late this morning and didn’t have time to eat. I was about to grab a cookie to tide me over when I saw your message.”

Su Shijin nodded, “Hmm.” He then added, “I have some work to hand over to you. Let me know when you’re done eating, and I’ll come find you.”

Dr. Liu stopped in her tracks and suddenly remembered, “Oh right, you took a short leave. Are you going on a honeymoon with your partner?”

“It’s not that,” Su Shijin replied. “I have some personal matters to take care of.”

Dr. Liu didn’t press further, understanding the hint. Instead, she said, “Alright, give me a few minutes. I’ll grab something to eat to tide me over and come right over.”

“Alright.” Su Shijin nodded, then while Dr. Liu was having breakfast, he went to the inpatient department to check on the cats and dogs that were hospitalized.

Since he had already taken time off, he had come in this morning specifically to hand over his work. As a result, the receptionists hadn’t scheduled any patients in his consultation room.

After Dr. Liu finished her breakfast, Su Shijin received a call and came out from the inpatient department. He sent the electronic work handover sheet he had prepared in advance to Dr. Liu, then while holding a stack of documents, proceeded to go through the handover details with her, item by item, according to the list.

Fortunately, Su Shijin was always diligent with his work, so even though he was taking nearly half a month off, there wasn’t much to hand over. Within half an hour, most of the work had been successfully transferred to Dr. Liu.

“Don’t worry, if there’s anything unclear, I’ll call you,” Dr. Liu said.

Su Shijin nodded, feeling very reassured by Dr. Liu.

—

At 1 p.m., Su Shijin received a call from Gu Weiyang right on time.

“Just one more traffic light, and I’ll be there,” Gu Weiyang said.

“Alright.” Su Shijin had already changed into his clothes. He grabbed his backpack, waved goodbye to his colleagues, and walked out the door.

In less than a minute, a familiar Porsche Cayenne appeared in his line of sight, slowly coming to a stop in front of him.

Once Su Shijin had gotten into the car and fastened his seatbelt, Gu Weiyang gently pressed the accelerator and merged onto the main road at the intersection ahead.

“What do you want to eat for lunch?” Gu Weiyang asked.

Su Shijin thought for a moment and said, “There’s a noodle shop nearby that tastes pretty good, but I’m not sure if you’ll like it. Do you want to give it a try?”

Gu Weiyang of course wouldn’t refuse, “What’s it called? I’ll set the navigation.”

“Wei Tianxia Noodle Shop. No need for navigation, just turn right up ahead, and it’ll be at the next traffic light,” Su Shijin pointed to the road ahead.

Gu Weiyang checked the rearview mirror, confirming there were no cars behind, then moved into the right-turn lane. Following Su Shijin’s directions, he easily found the noodle shop.

The street where the noodle shop was located wasn’t very wide, and all the parking spaces along the curb were occupied. Gu Weiyang had no choice but to park in a spot on the next street, then he and Su Shijin walked over to the noodle shop.

“Sometimes, when work isn’t too busy, I come here for lunch,” Su Shijin said, walking along the shaded side near the wall. He glanced at the cars parked along the roadside and added, “There have been several times when I couldn’t find a parking spot, so I just ended up walking here instead.”

“Walking here? That would take at least twenty minutes, right?” Gu Weiyang calculated the walking time.

“Yeah, that’s why I only come when it’s not too busy,” Su Shijin replied.

By the time they reached Wei Tianxia Noodle Shop, Gu Weiyang noticed it was already past the usual lunch hour, yet the shop was still quite crowded, with almost no empty tables left.

“There are several noodle shops around here with the name Wei Tianxia, but this one has the best flavor,” Su Shijin said, leading Gu Weiyang to the counter to place their order. “One bowl of white broth noodles with fine noodles, topped with braised beef, snow bamboo shoots, and shrimp.”

“Alright, what would the other person like to order?” the cashier asked, looking at Gu Weiyang.

Gu Weiyang furrowed his brow slightly, unsure which topping would be good, but since he trusted Su Shijin’s taste, he decided to follow his lead and try the same. “I’ll have the same as him…”

“This shop’s toppings are all good,” Su Shijin interrupted him, not letting him order the same as himself. “You can choose whatever you like.”

“Spicy chicken giblets and tomato sauce beef are also quite good, they’re the shop’s specialties,” Su Shijin said.

Gu Weiyang looked up at the large menu posted on the wall, scanning the signature toppings, and then said, “In that case, I’ll have the spicy shredded chicken, fried pork chop, and dry-sliced beef.”

Su Shijin slowly blinked, gaining some insight into Gu Weiyang’s taste preferences.

He liked meat, preferred spicy flavors, and seemed to favor shredded chicken over giblets, possibly because he didn’t like animal innards.

“What kind of soup base would you like? Red broth or white broth?” the cashier asked.

“Red broth,” Gu Weiyang replied.

“What about the noodles? We have some samples here,” the cashier said, pointing to a small rack nearby, where each bowl contained noodles of different thicknesses.

“This one,” Gu Weiyang chose the hand-pulled noodles.

“Alright, the total for two orders is 119 yuan. You can scan the QR code here to pay,” the cashier said.

Su Shijin had already opened the QR code and paid before Gu Weiyang had the chance. He then reached out to take the small receipts for the various toppings from the cashier.

“It’s on me,” Su Shijin said.

Gu Weiyang paused for a moment, staring at Su Shijin’s face, a little lost in thought.

“What’s wrong?” Su Shijin gently tugged at his sleeve to move him aside, so as not to block the customers behind them.

“Nothing, I just felt my heart beating a bit fast just now,” Gu Weiyang said, stepping to the side as he followed Su Shijin’s gentle pull.

“Is your heart uncomfortable?” Su Shijin frowned, thinking that there might be something wrong with his health.

“Not that, it’s not that my heart is uncomfortable,” Gu Weiyang said, covering his chest, then added, “It’s just that my heart skipped a beat.”

Su Shijin: “…”

“?”

Su Shijin felt like he might never be able to keep up with Gu Weiyang’s thought process.