“Ningning, why are you here? My dad is looking for you everywhere.”
Ding Ning shook her head and smiled bitterly. Just when he was about to call her sister to tell her that he wouldn’t go back at tonight, Guan Shilin’s surprising voice suddenly sounded.
Xu Minglu had already got through, but he didn’t know what to say. Thus, enquiringly, he looked at Ding Ning.
“Forget it. Here comes my feast.”
Ding Ning said and smiled, a little embarrassedly.
“I’m sorry. I have dialed the wrong number.”
Without batting an eyelid, Xu Minglu said and hung up the phone. Wrinkling his noses in a grimace, he looked at Ding Ning and asked, “Who is this girl?”
“Commander Guan’s daughter.”
Ding Ning knew that he thought too much again, so he introduced with a wry smile.
Xu Minglu sighed enviously and said, “It’s so good to be young and handsome. After such a short period, she even begins to call you Ningning.”
“It’s not what you think…”
Ding Ning was about to explain, but Guan Shilin had already walked up to him. She nodded politely to Xu Minglu and then casually took Ding Ning’s arm, saying, “Ningning, my father asked me to invite you to dinner.”
“Ahem, how about calling me Ding Ning instead?”
“I understood.” Xu Minglu spoke to Ding Ning with his eyes, but Ding Ning found that this thing was beyond dispute. Thus, without turning a hair, he broke away from her arms and said seriously.
“That’s not going to work. I’ll call you Ningning. It is a nickname of love.”
Guan Shilin blinked her innocent eyes and said firmly.
“Keke…”
But when Xu Minglu heard it was “a name of love,” he burst out laughing. The rice grains and soy-braised pork jetted out of his mouth and landed all over Ding Ning’s face.
Stupefied, Ding Ning stood there still, feeling like weeping but having no tears. Xu Minglu was red in the face. While trying not to laugh, he brought out a box of napkins in a flurry. “Sorry, sorry, let me help you with that.”
Seeing Ding Ning’s awkward appearance, Guan Shilin couldn’t refrain from laughing.
A little annoyed, Ding Ning glanced at her and said, “Why do you still have the nerve to smile? The name of love that you talked about should take the blame.”
“Hahaha, but I’m right. All members of our fan club call you Ningning because the name sounds nice and warm. Surely, it is a name of love.”
Guan Shilin knew that Xu Minglu had misunderstood them. She explained, shaking forward and backward with laughter.
Well then, Xu Minglu knew that he had misunderstood them, but Ding Ning’s appearance now was really not suitable for a banquet. Thus, Guan Shilin volunteered to arrange a vacant ward for him so that Ding Ning could take a bath and change clothes.
All the wards in the sanatorium were decorated like rooms in the five-star hotels. Except the kitchen, everything was readily available in the ward, and certainly, there was the bathroom.
Surely, Ding Ning felt quite disgusting. Even if he was not obsessively tidy, he certainly felt uncomfortable with rice and braised pork on his head. He could only wave goodbye to Xu Minglu, who still kept himself from laughing and kept apologizing. Then, he followed Guan Shilin to take a bath.
It was easy to take a bath, but Ding Ning’s problem was that he didn’t have clean clothes to change. He had some clothes in the Mermaid Space, but he couldn’t go in there with empty hands and then expected to go out with clean clothes. This awkward situation made Ding Ning very depressed.
“Tock! Tock! Tock!”
Suddenly there came a knock on the door.
“Who is it?” Ding Ning asked alertly.
“Ningning, I found a suit of my father’s clothes for you. You can change them first. I have hung these clothes on the door handle. You can take them yourself.”
Guan Shilin’s slightly shy voice came from outside the door. After all, her idol was taking a bath inside. As soon as she thought of the scene, her heart would race uncontrollably.
“Oh, thanks!”
Ding Ning said, breathing a sigh of relief. Commander Guan, who was about the same height as him, was just a little bigger than Ding Ning. Thus, Ding Ning could make the suit do tonight.
Ding Ning opened the door a crack and took the suit in, but he was instantly dumbfounded. “Why did she bring me a suit of military uniform? And it is a uniform of a major general.”
Ding Ning had no other choice but to wear the clothes.
When he opened the door, Guan Shilin’s eyes instantly lit up with surprise. She quickly picked up her phone and took a few photos while exclaiming, “Ningning, you are so handsome in the military uniform.”
Ding Ning felt a little uncomfortable and said, “It is probably not very appropriate.”
“Why do you think it is inappropriate? Anyway, just a few of us will be present, and there are no strangers.”
With a brilliant smile, Guan Shilin held his arm and pulled him away, not allowing him to refuse. Along the way, she murmured in admiration, “I thought that you were quite thin so that my father’s clothes would be one size larger. But I didn’t expect that you are actually strongly built. This suit fits you well looked like your tailor-made suit.”
Ding Ning was a little helpless. “This girl should be old enough to know that there should be a prudent reserve between males and females. How can she keep on pawing me?”
Of course, Ding Ning knew that Guan Shilin was an innocent girl who simply admired him a lot and had a feeling of gratitude to him for he saved her mother. Otherwise, he would have suspected that she deliberately seduced him.
“Greetings, Chief!”
As soon as he stepped out of inpatient department’s small western-style building, the two armed police soldiers who came face to face instantly stood upright and saluted him, giving their regards to Ding Ning.
“Er, okay!”
Ding Ning responded with a sort of guilty feeling in his heart. “Am I impersonating a military officer?”
Seeing that Ding Ning’s face was full of embarrassment, Guan Shilin giggled as happily as a lark. She had been living carelessly. Only after her mother’s illness did she know the pain of parting forever with someone she loved.
In her most desperate moment, Ding Ning appeared like an angel, which made her feel very grateful. Besides, Ding Ning was her idol, so she was willing to trust him with all her heart and treated him as one of her closest persons.
Guan Shilin was indeed a vivacious and cheerful girl. Along the way, she chirped endlessly with enthusiasm, and hence Ding Ning had gained some understanding of her.
To his surprise, this girl was a gifted student from Yanjing University, the best university in Shenzhou Country. She was just 19 years old but was already a graduate student, which made Ding Ning, who considered himself as a genius, feel ashamed of his unworthiness.
But as he remembered that Zhao Xin’s marvel sister had enrolled in a Ph.D. program when she was 18 years old, he felt less surprised. However, Ding Ning felt a little puzzled. “Zhao Xin has been keen on introducing his sister to me, but why didn’t he mention anything about his sister in our gathering of the roommates last time?”
“Is his sister actually a very ugly girl who can’t go out in public?” Ding Ning guessed with malicious intent.
Ding Ning didn’t have too many fantasies about Zhao Xin’s sister, but it would be fake to say that he didn’t interest in her at all.
It was not that Ding Ning wanted to build an intimate relationship with her. He just felt a little pity that he didn’t get a chance to meet this girl whom her brother had been talking about for several years.
After all, anyone, whether male or female, had such high intelligence would arouse Ding Ning’s curiosity.
The canteen of the sanatorium offered Commander Guan and his guest a special feast. When Guan Shilin, who held Ding Ning’s arm very naturally, appeared in the box that Commander Guan had reserved, Guan Jianfeng’s expression turned very strange. “Why does Ding Ning come here in a major general’s uniform? My sister openly holds his arm and goes to this party together with him as if they were a couple. Is it appropriate?”
On the contrary, Commander Guan smiled happily. It seemed to him that his previous idea was absolutely right—Ding Ning and his daughter, both of whom were very talented and good-looking, could make an ideal couple.
Mayor Du, who came here sometime, smiled with interest and exclaimed regrettably, “This kid has a wandering eye. In the daytime, he accompanied Chen Xi intimately. While at night, he appears to be so close to Commander Guan’s daughter.”
“This kid is very nice, but he has no loyal feelings towards girls… Alas, Ding Ning cannot possibly afford to offend either the Xiao Family or the Guan Family.”
But Mayor Du would never gossip about young people’s feelings, let alone that he still owed Ding Ning a big favor.
Nevertheless, he had secretly made up his mind that he would never allow his daughter, who was now studying abroad to meet Ding Ning. If, by any chance, this guy successfully attracted his daughter, he would be too sad to cry.
Originally, Mayor Du admired Ding Ning a lot and even gave birth to the idea of making him his son-in-law. But at this moment, this idea vanished all of a sudden. Finally, he decided to be strictly on guard and would never give his daughter any chance to meet Ding Ning.
Ding Ning was quite embarrassed. While maintaining his composure, he rid himself of Guan Shilin’s hands. He knew that Guan Shilin had no improper desire for him, but others didn’t think so. Commander Guan’s gratified smile made Ding Ning’s blood froze uncontrollably. “Does this old guy want me to be his live-in son-in-law? Absolutely not!” Ding Ning cried out in his heart.
Fortunately, Commander Guan still concerned a lot about his prestige and his daughter’s reputation, so he didn’t say it directly and only said a few words to hint about his purpose. But by pretending to be ignorant of this matter, Ding Ning muddled through.
Commander Guan was not in a hurry because he believed that his daughter was the best, and Ding Ning would never allow himself to miss such a great girl.
Except for this embarrassing matter, they all enjoyed this pleasant meal. The chefs’ skills were pretty good, and Ding Ning was really very hungry. After he ate five bowls of rice in a row, he was finally willing to put down his chopsticks, fully satisfied.
After the check, all Lyu Mengwan’s cancer cells were proved to have been wiped out, and her health was completely restored. The whole sanatorium had been thoroughly aroused. One after another, people asked Commander Guan what had happened. Commander Guan kept his promise and did not betray Ding Ning. He only told them that he didn’t know what was going on. It was just that Wan’er became energetic all of a sudden and somehow was fully recovered.
Of course, it was none of his business whether they would believe his bullshit or not. It was said that some people had figured out the truth based on previous clues. They noted that Commander Guan had invited a master to treat his wife, but no one knew who precisely this master was. Anyway, Commander Guan insisted that this rumor was groundless.
But his wife’s recovery brought Commander Guan a good mood. Together with Mayor Du and Ding Ning, he kept plying them with liquor. Mayor Du evaded of drinking too much on the excuse that he had something else to do tonight. Moreover, he said that Ding Ning was the hero here so that Commander Guan should drink more cups of wine with him.
When Guan Shilin had finished, she went back to the ward to accompany her mother. Outside his daughter’s control, Commander Guan behaved like a runaway horse, saying that Ding Ning must get drunk with him this time. Since it was hard for Ding Ning to turn down his warm-hearted offer, he had to play the drinking match with him. Seeing this, Guan Jianfeng volunteered to join the game of drinking.
His eyes narrowing into a slit with smile, Mayor Du felt very pleased in his heart for he was waiting to see Ding Ning make a fool of himself. Of course, he didn’t have any malicious intentions. It was just a harmless prank.
After all, Ding Ning usually behaved too cool. With his calm composure, he looked excessively composed and mature, totally unlike a young man who was only in his early twenties. Commander Guan was eager to see if Ding Ning would act madly and say something bullshit after he got drunk. If so, he could have a little fun!
Commander Guan, also called the wine immortal, was famous for his amazing drinking capacity in the army. Commander Guan had an impressive history—he had once drunk three bottles of Wuliangye (Shenzhou Country’s famous spirit distilled from five kinds of grain) and still was able to stay sober. Although Guan Jianfeng was much weaker, he had completely inherited his father’s drinking capacity and had a record of staying sober after drinking 1.25 kilograms of wine.
Commander Guan believed that together with his son, who could also be called as a wine immortal, they could certainly make Ding Ning drunk.
But to Mayor Du’s great surprise, Ding Ning’s face turned white from red and then turned back to white. There were several times that Ding Ning appeared to be pretty drunk, but he just never succumbed to the effect of alcohol.
After they finished two boxes of strong wine, Moutai, Commander Guan could not even speak clearly. Putting his arm over Ding Ning’s shoulder, he insisted on calling him “big brother”. Well, Guan Jianfeng’s condition was even worse—he crawled under the table and stayed there, falling asleep.
But Ding Ning was still half drunk. Though his eyes dulled and his tongue became thick, Ding Ning made no ugly scene, which greatly disappointed Mayor Du.
Completely drunken, Commander Guan and Guan Jianfeng were taken home with the help of his bodyguards.
Feeling both funny and annoying, Mayor Du supported Ding Ning and arranged a room for him to rest.
As soon as Mayor Du closed the door and left, Ding Ning, who was supposed to sleep soundly in bed, suddenly opened his eyes. Ding Ning’s eyes looked quite clear—he was not drunk at all.
He instantly got up and jumped out of bed. Then, a series of mysterious runes flashed across, and a figure that looked the same as Ding Ning appeared on the bed, producing a string of slightly snoring sounds.
It was a substitute charm, which could create an illusion of a substitute. Ding Ning had just learned it. As long as no one touched this substitute, it would never disappear.
