The three girls and the two teachers were overjoyed in surprise. “Really?”
“Of course!”
Ding Ning did not explain further, but his tone was firm, so no one would doubt it.
“Thank you, brother!”
Ye Huan and Ye Le cheered and kissed his cheeks, and Pan Xiangyun also wanted to do so, but lost her courage when she heard the laughter of the crowd.
Mosquito rolled her eyes and muttered to Wen Rourou, “The situation is very serious! Will our brother-in-law go to other women? Do we need to tell it to Sister Nuo?”
“Come on, don’t make trouble. Believe in Brother Ning’s personality. I believe that their relationship is pure.”
Wen Rourou said generously and then whispered, “Mosquito, I want to go to Ninghai.”
“You go to Ninghai? What for?” Mosquito asked in surprise.
Wen Rourou looked at Ding Ning hotly. “I want to learn medicine from Brother Ning.”
“Do you have a fever? You make decisions so casually.”
Mosquito had so much suspicion and touched Wen Rourou’s forehead with her hand. “You don’t!”
“You have a fever! I’m serious. I feel very happy today, and I have never had this feeling since I was young,” Wen Rourou stared straight at Ding Ning and murmured.
Shocked, Mosquito looked around nervously and asked in a whisper, “Damn, you have fallen in love with our brother-in-law, haven’t you? Aren’t you afraid that Sister Nuo will fight you with her life?”
“Fuck off! What are you talking about?”
Wen Rourou rolled her eyes. “I’m saying that when I saw those patients get rid of the tortures from their illnesses after Brother Ning cured them, they had a sincere smile that I have never experienced before since I was young. Although I was only Brother Ning’s assistant, that strong sense of fulfillment and happiness makes me feel full and happy.”
“Good, good, as long as you are not trying to take the man from Sister Nuo.”
Mosquito patted her chest with lingering fear and then changed her tone to ask suspiciously, “Fuck, is it that you will deliberately go to Ninghai to avoid giving me your cash gift at my wedding?”
“Go away! How can I not give you my cash gift that you sold yourself for?” Wen Rourou shouted in an angry, tough manner, attracting the eyes of the crowd.
“What’s the matter? What’s wrong?”
Huzi, who was organizing stuff, ran over obediently and asked with great concern, “Who sold oneself?”
“Of course, it is your Mosquito,” Wen Rourou pursed her lips and ridiculed.
“Get lost! You sold yourself.”
Annoyed, Mosquito shouted and kicked Wen Rourou angrily.
“Huh, if you didn’t sell yourself to Brother Huzi, how did you get a bulging belly?”
Wen Rourou smiled like a little fox, making Mosquito feel too shamed to show her face, but Huzi kept grinning.
These people walked downstairs, laughing and joking. Ding Ning shook hands with Xu Qingsong politely and invited him to go with them to eat the late-night meal. Since he had occupied the man’s place for a night and the man did not charge them for the meal, he felt very embarrassed.
Xu Qingsong did want to build ties with these rich and powerful Childes, but he was smart and knew that if he shamelessly went with them, his action was too dirty.
Instantly, he thanked Ding Ning but declined him, but he exchanged phone numbers with him. He had thought about it clearly: As long as Ye Huan and Ye Le still stayed at his hotel and he took good care of them, he would have opportunities to communicate with him in the future.
Ding Ning didn’t force him. After saying goodbye to him, he then took Lan Mengdie, who was a little too embarrassed to follow them, to go downstairs. Surely, the good-for-nothing scums are always generous to beautiful women.
As the Imperial Capital of Shenzhou Country, Yan Jing had a rich nightlife, and the first choice for having late-night meals was Gui Street.
Located in Dongzhimen, Gui Street was surrounded by many embassies, so that foreign tourists and foreign employees working in Beijing could easily taste the authentic Shenzhou food. This place was called Yan Jing’s dining street.
Gui Street, which was lively and ablaze with lights, always shone brightly in the dim night of the city, making Ding Ning, who was here for the first time, feel another great charm of Yan Jing.
Gui Street was originally called Ghost Street. Speaking of this, there is a historical allusion.
According to legend, Dongzhimen was a rural-urban fringe zone during the Qing Dynasty. Naturally, the initial morning market formed within the city gate. The hawkers selling sundries and vegetables in some certain selected places within Dongzhimen began to sell their goods by shouting in the second half of the night, but when dawn broke, they would disperse. These hawkers used kerosene lamps to get light, so the scene looked dim when people watched them from a distance. Besides that, coffin shops and shops that provided equipment, manpower, and musical instruments for the funeral were seen everywhere, making this place very creepy, so it was called “Ghost Market”.
Strangely, after the reform and opening up, many businesses and shops on both sides of Dongzhimen Street began to do various businesses, but all of their owners almost lost all their money because of poor business, and even the only state-owned department store had to be closed down. Truly, the misfortune of this place was hard to understand.
But then people found that only the restaurant business on this street could be successful, and the restaurants here were rarely visited during the day, but at night, it was prosperous and bustling with heavy traffic. Whether it was like what the local seniors said—ghosts would enter the city to eat at night and then form such prosperity, no one could explain it.
Anyway, the word “ghost” was indecent, so the government managers began to think hard about changing the name of Ghost Street, but most of the bosses doing business here disagreed, saying that they were afraid that changing the name would break the feng shui so that they would not be able to do business in the future.
At this time, the government workers found that the word “gui” in the dictionary shares the same sound with China’s “ghost” character but is written in a different form, and is related to eating. Therefore, they began to widely publicize it and also made a big bronze statue of “gui” at the end of the Dongzhimen overpass on one side of Ghost Street. Then, there was today’s “Gui Street”.
Ding Ning and his companions, who came here for the first time, listened to all the people talking about the origin of the street, while eating bittern flapjack, cooked tripe, lamb spine hot pot, and others with Yan Jing’s characteristics, and then they drank beer. This was perfect.
Apparently, these girls preferred spicy crawfish, Sautéed Bullfrog in Chili Sauce, and Chongqing roast fish. Although the dishes were so spicy that they gasped, they still gobbled the food without caring about their images.
Speaking of eating spicy food, Pan Xiangyun, who was studying at the Shuzhou Conservatory of Music, was obviously more excellent. Calmly, she ate the bright red hot peppers like eating dishes, making the others feel astonished and defeated.
It was troublesome for more than 100 people to eat together. Fortunately, it was not chilly during the night in November, though it was a little cold. They asked the shop owner to take out the tables and chairs and divide them into more than a dozen groups. In this way, they all could have seats.
The joy of eating the late-night meal was enjoying the feeling. What they ate was not the point, and the point was drinking. Mosquito was pregnant, so she could not drink at all.
The four girls would have to do rehearsals tomorrow. Naturally, the others did not let them drink. Although Wen Rourou was a woman, she was as good as a man and drained the cup as soon as it came to her lips. She was so bold and forthright.
After a few rounds of drinking, she took a beer bottle and went to drink a toast to Ding Ning like a female bandit. “When will you return to Ninghai, Brother Ning?”
“What? Are you tired of me? I still have something to do in Yan Jing. I’ll only be back in a few days.” Ding Ning joked with a smile.
“No, how could I be tired of you? I mean that when you go back to Ninghai, let me know, and I will go back with you. Anyway, I’ll be with you in this life.”
No matter how much she could drink, she was a little drunk after drinking with so many people. Hearing these words, all others were silent and looked at her with widely opened mouths.
“Damn, even if you confess your love, you have to keep a low profile, okay? After all, he is Xiao Nuo’s boyfriend. It is so cruel for you to rob someone’s love this way, isn’t it?”
Also quite shocked, Ding Ning touched his face subconsciously and asked in quite a narcissistic way, “Am I so charming?”
“Yes!”
Ye Huan, Ye Le, and the other two girls said in unison, making Ding Ning feel honored, and his smile became a little simple and honest.
Wen Rourou rolled her eyes. “What are you thinking about? I mean I want you to be my master, and I want to learn medicine from you.”
“Oh, I’m so sad. It turns out I’m so unattractive.”
Ding Ning had got acquainted with her and made a harmless joke, but as for Wen Rourou’s sudden request of asking him to be her master, he did not know whether it was her whim or she had made up her mind, so he didn’t immediately express his position.
With a soft chuckle, Wen Rourou raised the bottle in her hand and said, “This is the beer I’ll use to give a toast to my master. I will drain the bottle in a gulp, and you must take me as your student.”
“Right, take her, take her.”
These Childes who enjoyed watching the fun winked and shouted.
Ding Ning became sullen, took away the beer bottle in her hand, and persuaded her kindly. “You can eat, drink, and play in Yan Jing. Is this not good? Studying medicine is a hard job.”
“I’m not afraid of the hard job, but I’m afraid of living without taste, like a walking dead every day. When I looked at the relaxed smiles of those patients today, I suddenly felt that I had found the meaning of living, I want to be a doctor like you because it makes me feel full and meaningful while being alive. I have made up my mind and will never give up halfway. Master, please accept me.”
Wen Rourou’s eyes gleamed, and she looked determined.
Ding Ning was slightly moved. He did not expect Wen Rourou to suddenly have such a firm idea, but when he remembered that Xiaoyao fell in love with the Black Masked Man inexplicably and then determined to stay in Ninghai, it seemed he could easily understand why Wen Rourou made such a choice.
After all, they all had the similar birth and experience and powerful family backgrounds, so that from the moment they were born, they were destined to have no worries about food, clothing, or money in their lives.
Things that others might not be able to obtain after struggling for a lifetime to get could be easily obtained by them, as long as they opened their mouths, so they, who had lost their life goals, were more likely to get lost in the empty and confused life.
These men’s condition was a little better because they would bear the expectations of the elders of the family, or fight for the succession of the head of the family, or make achievements in a certain field and accomplish great things to realize their life value.
In contrast, women were more of a bargaining chip for interest exchange in rich families. Their families did not need them to be excellent and only wanted them to be very beautiful. Those who could build marriage bonds with families of equal status and also love each other like Mosquito were extremely rare, after all.
Therefore, they were emptier and more bored than men of the same identity. Coupled with the confusion and fear of their future, both Xiaoyao and Wen Rourou all wanted to get out of their current lifestyles subconsciously. When they found something novel that they were extremely interested in, they would be stubborn and even paranoid to think that it was what they were after.
All of them were silent, waiting for Ding Ning’s answer. They understood why Wen Rourou made this choice and even shared her feeling.
Beneath their bright and beautiful family backgrounds were many lonely and decadent hearts. Without faith or life goals, they lived an illusory, luxurious, and decadent life and could not find the meaning of their existence.
So, they were self-willed, empty, and bored and tried different ways to show their existence by looking for ways that could make them feel excited.
Ding Ning was silent. If Wen Rourou needed his help, no matter how much pressure he bore, he would lend her a helping hand without hesitation.
However, studying medicine was very rigorous, directly related to the life safety of the patient. Before he could make sure of Wen Rourou’s attitude, he would never make a decision easily.
