Chapter 96: Everyone Changes

Chapter 96: Chapter 96: Everyone Changes

The restaurant Qi Yue chose was a high-end Shandong cuisine restaurant specializing in Jiaodong seafood, a place he had taken Yu Zhiming and Yu Xiangwan to once before.

For the past two days, Qi Yue had been worried sick about Yu Zhiming, barely eating or sleeping well.

So, when it was time to order, he didn’t hold back with the kid and ordered all the best dishes.

And that girl, Gu Qingning, was also sharp-tongued and ruthless. The two dishes she seemingly picked at random were also quite impressive.

Zhou Mo, on the other hand, stuck to her usual standard and only ordered crystal shrimp.

With a table full of food, plus the expensive drinks, Yu Zhiming felt his heart ache when he saw the final bill was a little over eight thousand.

Fortunately, his earning power was nothing like it used to be.

Just from the physical exam subsidies over the past two days, a rough calculation showed he had earned over ten thousand...

During the meal, Qi Yue told the three Yu siblings.

He said that for Yu Zhiming, this matter was temporarily concluded, but the hospital would have a follow-up response, and they should wait patiently...

After ten at night, the three well-fed Yu siblings and Gu Qingning took a hired car back to their residence in the Zijin Garden District.

After walking into the residential district, Yu Zhiming’s phone rang again.

He took out his phone, glanced at the caller ID, and froze.

It was a call from Su Tong.

Over the past two days, Yu Zhiming had received concerned texts or calls from some friends and relatives.

After today’s pathology report was released, Yu Zhiming’s phone was practically blowing up.

Those people were calling specifically to offer their sympathy and congratulations.

At the time, Yu Zhiming was busy with the physical examinations and had no free time to answer, so he had Zhou Mo handle the calls for him.

Yu Zhiming knew that few offer help in a blizzard while many add flowers to brocade; it was just human nature and the way of the world, so he didn’t take it to heart.

But he had paid special attention to Su Tong, with whom he once had a close relationship.

This was the first time Su Tong had called in three days.

After hesitating for a moment, Yu Zhiming answered the call.

"Hello, Su Tong!"

"Zhiming, I’ve been busy with a critical experiment these past few days. I’ve been eating and sleeping at the lab, completely cut off from the outside world."

"I just got some free time now and found out that something so major had happened to you."

Su Tong explained eagerly over the phone, then asked with concern, "Zhiming, are you okay now?"

Yu Zhiming chuckled softly. "The sky has cleared after the storm. The squall has passed, and things are quite good now."

"I’m just a little tired and want to get some good rest."

Su Tong heard the implication in his words and replied, "Then I won’t disturb you. Rest well."

"Once I’m done with this phase of my doctoral thesis, I’ll come visit you in Binhai."

"Okay..."

After Yu Zhiming ended the call with Su Tong, he felt a little unsettled.

He really wanted to believe Su Tong’s explanation, but it just seemed too far-fetched.

With such a huge storm of public opinion online, and as someone also in the medical field, how could she possibly have known nothing?

More than four years had passed since their university graduation, and there was one fact Yu Zhiming had to admit.

He himself had changed quite a bit.

Gao Yun’s transformation was even more drastic, to the point of being unbelievable.

Su Tong wouldn’t have remained the same either.

’People... they all change...’

’After all, the relatively simple and pure friendships of university couldn’t withstand the erosion of harsh, real-world societal interests...’

Suddenly, Gu Qingning sidled up to Yu Zhiming and patted him on the shoulder.

"Was Su Tong your old flame?"

"Eavesdropping on other people’s calls is rude!"

Yu Zhiming replied with distaste, taking a step away from the girl as he explained casually, "A university classmate. We were on pretty good terms back in college."

Gu Qingning pouted. "Doesn’t sound like it. The tone you used with her sounded like it was hiding a thousand emotions."

After a brief pause, she suddenly leaned close to Yu Zhiming again and said meaningfully, "Ah, Yu Zhiming. ’Too big for one hand to grasp’—that’s your favorite, isn’t it."

"Now that all this is over, and there are no outsiders here..."

"Be honest. You examined her for so long. Did you really not have the slightest thought of taking the opportunity to cop a feel and enjoy it?"

Yu Zhiming stopped in his tracks, meeting Gu Qingning’s glittering eyes.

"Only someone with a dirty mind would judge others by their own standards and think I’d use the opportunity to cop a feel. My professionalism is max level!"

"Also, Gu Qingning..."

Yu Zhiming said with a straight face, "I’m not into big boobs at all. I like things to be proportional, natural, and just right."

Gu Qingning quickly looked down at her own ample chest.

She even puffed it out, then used her fingers to gesture at its size and shape.

"Would you say mine are ’just right’? Or are they ’big boobs’?"

Suddenly, she realized what he’d said and shouted indignantly, "Hey... you dare call me dirty-minded!"

"Yu Zhiming, get back here!"

"I’m so mad! Let’s you and I have a one-on-one fight until one of us is beaten down and can’t move..."

With his two older sisters, Yu Zhaoxia and Yu Xiangwan, present, there was no way Gu Qingning was going to get her one-on-one fight with Yu Zhiming.

Back at their residence, all she could do was puff her cheeks in anger and relentlessly shoot sharp, invisible, murderous, sword-like glares at Yu Zhiming, hoping to inflict internal injuries.

Yu Zhaoxia, holding back a smile, turned to Yu Zhiming to discuss business. "Fifth Brother, Third Aunt Qin contacted me again this evening."

"She said she and her husband repeatedly questioned their second son, but the little guy insisted up and down that he wasn’t faking it."

"Third Uncle Qin got angry and hit the boy again, and he ended up spitting blood again."

"This time he spat blood, they’re certain he didn’t have any ketchup in his mouth beforehand."

"Third Aunt Qin also said they checked his mouth carefully; he hadn’t bitten his tongue, lips, or the inside of his mouth."

Seeing Yu Zhiming deep in thought, Yu Zhaoxia added softly, "Third Aunt Qin said school starts in a little over half a month, and they want to get this blood-spitting problem of his completely cured."

"Fifth Brother, should we have them make a trip to Binhai?"

Yu Zhiming said thoughtfully, "When I examined the little guy, I didn’t find any problems with his throat, esophagus, trachea, stomach, or lungs."

"Sigh, I should have had Third Uncle Qin give that brat a good beating right in front of me back then..."

Yu Zhiming suddenly had a thought. "Maybe I was thinking about this the wrong way."

"The blood might have been a nosebleed."

"There’s a Kiesselbach’s plexus on the posterior lateral wall of the nasal cavity."

He murmured to himself, "If the brat’s Kiesselbach’s plexus is located a little further back, it’s quite possible that bleeding from there would flow directly into his oral cavity."

Yu Zhiming looked at his eldest sister and explained, "Big Sis, it’s like how some people get a nosebleed when they get excited seeing a beautiful woman."

"Every time that kid gets hit, his high-stress response causes a nosebleed."

"It’s just that for some reason, the blood doesn’t flow out of his nostrils but instead flows into his mouth."

Yu Zhiming felt a sense of accomplishment, as if he had solved a puzzle.

"This is a very strong possibility for their second son."

"Big Sis, have them take their second son back to the county hospital on Monday and have Doctor Nie perform a nasal endoscopy on him."

"I’ll give Doctor Nie a heads-up beforehand."

Yu Zhaoxia nodded in agreement.

Just then, Yu Xiangwan chimed in, "Fifth Brother, tomorrow is Sunday, and you don’t have to work."

"How about we go with Big Sis to Binhai Jiaotong University and see how Xiaoxue is doing with her military training?"

Yu Zhiming happily agreed.

Gu Qingning also said eagerly, "I’m going too, I’m going too! I should get to know Xiaoxue as well."

Yu Zhiming teased, "What’s the point of you getting to know her?"

"You’re only staying for two or three more days at most. You won’t have anything to do with Xiaoxue in the future, so there’s no need to meet her."

Yu Zhaoxia was so annoyed that she stood up and smacked Yu Zhiming on the back.

"If you don’t know how to talk, then shut up and say less."

Yu Zhaoxia had put some force into that slap. It made a crisp sound, and Yu Zhiming winced in pain but didn’t dare to fight back, only managing to put on a small, aggrieved expression.

Seeing this, Gu Qingning’s eyes immediately brightened. A new idea for dealing with Yu Zhiming had popped into her head...