Jiang Ning turned to look at the person who had called out to her, a young man clad in a white lab coat. He was wearing a surgical mask, tall in stature, and even though she couldn’t see his face, he exuded an air of refined elegance.
Her gaze lingered on him, her eyes brimming with unfamiliarity.
The way the other party addressed her seemed to imply they knew each other well, yet his appearance didn’t ring any bells in Jiang Ning’s memory.
When Lou Yingyan saw Jiang Ning’s estranged look, even though he had suspected that she might have forgotten him, actually facing it still led to an inevitable sense of loss.
He reached up to remove his mask and kindly tried to jog Jiang Ning’s memory, "Don’t you remember? That day in the hospital corridor, there was a patient’s relative causing trouble, and you thankfully stepped in to help..."
At his words, Jiang Ning instantly remembered, "So it was you."
That day, she was actually there mainly to find Le Zhengling and hadn’t expected to encounter a patient’s relative causing a disturbance at the hospital.
After apprehending the culprit, the reward of a substantial amount of Merit Points was all that occupied Jiang Ning’s mind, with a fleeting regret that she hadn’t brought Qi Xingzhou along as well.
She had barely paid any attention to the person she had saved.
Lou Yingyan didn’t mind being forgotten so quickly by Jiang Ning. He patiently introduced himself again, "My surname is Lou, Lou Yingyan, and I am an ophthalmologist at this hospital."
"I was truly grateful for your help that day. I’ve been meaning to contact you to express my thanks again, but unfortunately, I didn’t have your contact information."
"It wasn’t a big deal; there’s no need to dwell on it," Jiang Ning said nonchalantly, waving her hand dismissively.
"I must," insisted Lou Yingyan earnestly. "I even had an honor banner specially made for you."
As he spoke, he shifted the topic and asked with concern, "Are you here at the hospital today because you’re feeling unwell?"
"No, I’m here to visit a friend."
Now that she knew his identity, she figured he’d likely stopped her just to convey his thanks, and there was no need to continue the conversation.
Jiang Ning took the initiative to end the conversation, "We have other matters to attend to, so we’ll be leaving now."
"Wait," Lou Yingyan hastily called out to Jiang Ning, facing her clear gaze once again, Doctor Lou—who could remain calm even in the face of major emergencies in the operating room—suddenly became nervous.
He looked down, clutching the surgical mask in his hands while asking, somewhat hastily yet expectantly, "Could I add you on WeChat? I left the honor banner at home, so whenever you have time, I can personally deliver it to you."
This was the first time he had actively asked a girl for her WeChat, and he had even used an excuse he had thought up over many days.
Lou Yingyan was so nervous that he didn’t dare look up at Jiang Ning, fearing she would notice his ulterior motive.
However, precisely because he didn’t meet Jiang Ning’s gaze did he fail to notice that the usually casual look in her eyes had suddenly become somewhat wary after he finished speaking.
Her keen feminine intuition told her that the man in front of her seemed to have other intentions—he was lying.
Curious to see if he actually had the honor banner made, Jiang Ning said, "I will be starting work soon, so just send the honor banner to the public security bureau on Yanjiang Road; they will keep it for me."
"Ah?" Lou Yingyan was taken aback, not expecting such a response at all.
Yet he responded, "...Okay."
Seeing this, Jiang Ning smiled satisfactorily and left with Qi Xingzhou.
Once they had walked a distance, Qi Xingzhou, trailing a step behind Jiang Ning, looked back and noticed that the man named Lou Yingyan was still standing there, seemingly staring at Jiang Ning’s retreating figure.
Qi Xingzhou, being petty, did something a bit malicious for the first time.
He deliberately followed close behind Jiang Ning, using his tall frame to block her figure from view, preventing the man named Lou Yingyan from watching her.
The moment Lou Yingyan had bowed his head and introduced himself seriously to Jiang Ning, Qi Xingzhou’s sharp gaze had fixedly observed him.
Qi Xingzhou keenly sensed something, especially the way Lou Yingyan looked at Jiang Ning, which evoked a strong sense of crisis in him.
Yet the man had not spoken a single word to him from beginning to end.
His good upbringing kept Qi Xingzhou from rudely interrupting Lou Yingyan.
So all he could do was purse his lips tightly, his eyes darkly trained on Lou Yingyan.
When he heard Lou Yingyan ask Jiang Ning for her contact information, Qi Xingzhou clenched his fists at his sides.
Ironically, even someone as oblivious as he could tell that Lou Yingyan was interested in Jiang Ning, yet Jiang Ning herself seemed unaware, treating him as if he were a villain to be guarded against.
Qi Xingzhou reflected on Jiang Ning’s reaction just now and his irritation suddenly faded away.
He hide behind her, silently snickering to himself, like a big rat sneaking licks of oil from a jar.