Chapter 99 Birthday

Min Yue yelled inwardly, “Master is usually so smart, why is he a little blunt today? How can you blurt out such things as coming out of the closet, especially to Xu Boyu.

The grandparents are old-fashioned, unable to accept new things, and can’t use smart phones well, let alone the slogan of the new and new human beings such as “Same-sex is true love”.

Moreover, Xu Boyu gave people the impression that he was an old-fashioned, serious, and non-offensive image of the patriarch of the feudal society. Xu Mai’s words fell into his ears, and he was afraid that it would arouse his anger. What if he wanted to jump out of bed and beat someone? Although his leg is broken, he has crutches.

In just a few seconds, Min Yue thought wildly, deeply thinking that Xu Mai was abrupt, and he shouldn’t make shocking remarks at this time to scare the old man.

So she hurriedly broke free from Xu Mai’s hand, and introduced herself seriously: “Grandpa, my name is Min Yue, and I also work in the Department of Cardiac Surgery of the First Affiliated Hospital, and now I am a resident physician.”

Xu Boyu stared at her carefully, and after a while: “I remember you.”

When we met by chance outside the operating room that day, I didn’t expect him to have an impression of me. Min Yue smiled on his face: “Grandpa has a really good memory, I’m so envious. I have a bad memory. I took the final exam in college and memorized this book. Forget that book, and forget it all after the exam.”

Xu Boyu said: “You don’t understand, relying on rote memorization, it is normal to forget.”

Seeing that the atmosphere had eased a lot, the director felt relieved that it was inconvenient to meddle in their family affairs, so he said he still had work to do, and left.

Xu Boyu’s professional ability is extremely outstanding, he is very prestigious in J Provincial People’s Hospital and the university where he teaches, and he is also highly respected after retirement. This time he was hospitalized, the hospital leader specially arranged a single room for him.

As soon as the door was closed, Min Yue moved the stool and sat down beside the bed, and put the fruit basket she brought on the bedside table. I didn’t know what Xu Boyu’s illness was before I came here, and I didn’t bring any other gifts because I was afraid that the things I gave would be inappropriate. Now knowing that he was fractured, Min Yue knew it.

So Min Yue asked with a smile: “It’s almost lunch time, what would grandpa want to eat? I’ll go buy it.”

“It will be all right.”

Xu Boyu is over eighty years old. Older people have a poor appetite and don’t care much about what to eat, as long as they can bite and digest well. But he has a broken bone and needs calcium supplementation. Min Yue thought about it and suggested: “Scrambled eggs with tomato, cold tofu, steamed meat pie, fried seasonal vegetables, seaweed and shrimp skin soup, are these okay?”

“Too much.”

Min Yue blinked: “The three of us eat, the amount is about the same.”

Xu Boyu and Xu Mai looked at each other, then immediately looked away, looking to the side pretending to be calm. Min Yue stared back and forth at the two of them, and realized vaguely that they didn’t intend to have dinner together.

It seems that they are stranger than I imagined, but it’s okay, the dinner table can bring us closer together, and she arranged for this meal.

Min Yue got up and went out, ready to buy takeaway, but was held back by Xu Mai. “I’ll go.”

Min Yue originally wanted to create a chance for them to be alone, so the grandpa and grandson could talk to each other, but they were too embarrassed. This matter has to be done slowly, Min Yue didn’t insist anymore, and let Xu Mai go.

Min Yue sat back on the bench and talked with Xu Boyu: “Grandpa, do you know that our department recently admitted a patient, a girl in her twenties with dysplasia of the left ventricle. We performed a heart transplant on her, and her mother said , it was you who performed the third-stage operation on her when she was a child. Grandpa, you are so good, there are not many doctors in the whole country who can do it.”

Xu Boyu has been in the clinic all his life and has no family members. It can be said that he has devoted his whole life to the diagnosis and treatment of complicated congenital heart problems. He has brought out many students, and several of them have successfully learned this operation. It is a habit to preach and teach. Hearing what Min Yue said, he opened up the chatterbox.

There was a stack of newspapers beside the bed, Xu Boyu took them and spread them out, wrote and drew on them, and explained them to her in detail. The narrow hospital bed turned into a temporary podium. Min Yue listened carefully and responded positively, occasionally sighing suddenly.

“Oh, this is the way to do it here.”

“Wow, that’s right, I see.”

Min Yue’s grandfather and grandfather are also retired doctors. When they were in college, they often harassed them with textbooks. She is the best at dealing with the older generation. On the left, “Grandpa is the best in the world” and on the right, “I admire grandpa.” , coaxing them to smile.

Xu Boyu was serious and harsh, and Min Yue was quite afraid of him before coming here, but after meeting him, he became more relaxed, because he was really similar to Xu Mai in some ways.

The clear and beautiful hand-drawn anatomical diagrams, concise but to the point explanations, the demeanor of keeping a distance from others, and the expression that rarely fluctuates, all make Min Yue feel familiar. She got along well with Xu Mai, without any effort, she naturally had a smooth conversation with Xu Boyu.

Compared with the retired professor who is full of peaches and plums, Xu Boyu is now an empty nester. There was no wave on his face, but he was very happy that Min Yue had talked so much with him.

He looked down at the little girl sitting by the bed, wearing a skirt with puff sleeves, her waist was wider and empty, making her look very petite. With a ponytail, thin and fluffy forehead hair, big round eyes, staring at the picture he drew, with a pure and focused expression. From time to time, I would exclaim in a low voice, clap my little hands and clap, and smile gently, well-behaved and sensible.

“Grandpa” in one mouthful, the tone is natural and intimate, and it is very enjoyable to hear. The ideal granddaughter is probably like her.

Unable to think of his own granddaughter, Xu Boyu stopped writing, and suddenly asked: “What is your relationship with Xu Mai?”

Min Yue flickered her eyelashes, unconsciously grasped the shoulder strap of the backpack in nervousness, hesitated, and answered carefully: “She is my tutor.”

Xu Boyu closed the pen cap, and it clicked lightly. “That’s not what she said just now.”

Min Yue swallowed with difficulty, glanced at him from the corner of the eye, her face was expressionless, she couldn’t see if she was angry, she was not sure whether to tell the truth, she didn’t dare to speak.

Xu Boyu waited for a while, seeing that she didn’t speak, he acquiesced, and asked the second question: “Do your parents agree?”

“My parents like Master very much.” After thinking about it, Min Yue said anxiously: “Grandpa, do you…don’t agree?”

“I haven’t fulfilled my parenting responsibilities, so what right do I have to intervene in her affairs.” Xu Boyu’s tone was low, listening carefully, he could hear the self-blame under his forced composure.

Min Yue froze for a moment, remembering another purpose of this trip. Only the two parties know the past best, but I don’t know if Xu Boyu is willing to mention it. So she chose her words carefully and asked, “Why did Grandpa separate from Master?”

“She didn’t tell you?”

Min Yue shook his head.

Xu Boyu fell silent, his brows were furrowed, and a few deep wrinkles emerged.

That must not be a story that can be easily told, Min Yue waited patiently for a while, and heard him say: “Do you know what day it is today?”

Min Yue glanced at the calendar on the phone, and shook her head when there was no reminder of holidays.

“It’s her birthday.” Xu Boyu looked deeply at Min Yue with a sad expression. “It’s also the anniversary of her mother’s death…”

Min Yue suddenly clenched the phone tightly.

The door of the ward was pushed open, and Xu Mai walked in with a takeaway. Min Yue quickly adjusted his expression, went up to take the packing bag, and tried to say in a relaxed tone: “It smells so good, let’s eat, let’s eat.”

Empty the tabletop of the bedside table, use newspapers to pad it, and arrange the lunch box. It was inconvenient for Xu Boyu to get out of bed to eat, so Min Yue set up the small table standing by the bed, put it on the bed, put soup and rice on it, sat by the bed, and helped him add vegetables to the bowl.

Xu Mai stood motionless at the end of the bed, but was finally pulled over by Min Yue and sat down next to her. The atmosphere became awkward again, and Min Yue tried to tell a few jokes, but the two of them were as silent as a mountain.

Xu Mai stared at the rice in his hand, without looking up, Xu Boyu concentrated on drinking the seaweed soup, mouthful after mouthful, as if he could never finish it. Min Yue also had something on her mind, she talked less and less, and her thoughts drifted away.

Before Shen Fei celebrated her birthday, she casually asked what month and date Xu Mai’s birthday was, but she didn’t answer directly, she only said that she didn’t celebrate her birthday. I didn’t think much about it at the time, but now I understand that this is the reason.

Did something happen during production? Min Yue bit the tip of her chopsticks and looked at Xu Mai’s side face with complicated emotions. How sad Master must have been when he lost his mother on the day he was born.

After the meal, the male nurse came over to help Xu Boyu turn over and wipe his body. It was not convenient for the two of them to be present, so Xu Boyu said, “I’m going to do rehabilitation in the afternoon, so go ahead.”

Min Yue opened his mouth to say something, but he raised his hand to stop him. He looked at Xu Mai, pondered for a moment, and said, “Go and see your mother’s grave.”

Xu Mai was picking up the leftovers, but without making a sound, the plastic box in his hand was crushed hard.

Xu Boyu wrote the address on a note, folded it, and handed it to Min Yue, his eyes still looking at Xu Mai who said nothing. “I heard from your grandma that you have never been there… go once and show your girlfriend to her.”