Chapter 147 — The Long-Awaited...

Yang Ce, on the other hand, had deliberately slicked his hair into something immaculate to match Xiao Qing, and now looked much more mature—like a young man of twenty-seven or twenty-eight.

As a result, Yang Ce actually seemed a few years older than Xiao Qing.

"Qingqing, from now on, in front of other people, you'll have to call me Brother Yang, and I'll call you Sister Qing," Yang Ce said with a grin.

"What 'Sister Qing'? That sounds awful," Xiao Qing scolded him, though there was a trace of delight in her voice. After all, Yang Ce had said she looked young, and that naturally made her happy.

"I said Sister Qing. You misheard," Yang Ce said.

Xiao Qing's face flushed red. I know perfectly well it was Sister Qing, she thought. But what difference is there between that and 'sweetheart'?

It was only Yang Ce's first day of school, and the day was mainly for a class meeting—going over the rules for the new semester, study plans, and the like. Xiao Qing called Xie Yongqiang directly and said there was a little something at home, so she'd like to take the morning off. Xie Yongqiang knew that Yang Ce was Xiao Qing's honorary younger brother and Liu Yan's honorary son, so he agreed without hesitation.

As for Xiao Qing herself, she told the department's deputy director that she would not be coming to school until the afternoon.

Yang Ce drove Xiao Qing toward the city's First People's Hospital. Yang Ce had no idea where this illness of Xiao Qing's was best treated, and Xiao Qing had never paid much attention to such information herself, so on the spur of the moment the two of them settled on Songjiang's most famous hospital, the First People's Hospital.

Coming to the hospital so abruptly to have this condition examined left Xiao Qing a little flustered. In the end it was Yang Ce who went to register, and then the two of them sat with their number outside the gynecology clinic.

It was early in the morning, and there were not many patients—only one or two people waiting. Before long Xiao Qing's number was called, and Yang Ce went into the consulting room with her.

"Sir, and you are?" The person seated in the specialist's chair was a middle-aged woman in her forties. Seeing Yang Ce come in together with Xiao Qing, she asked.

After all, a gynecology visit often required removing one's trousers and could involve certain matters, so even if Yang Ce were Xiao Qing's relative, he could not be present.

"I'm her husband," Yang Ce said quite naturally.

"Oh, all right then, you can stay here." The doctor nodded after hearing Yang Ce's words and allowed him to sit: "What seems to be the trouble?"

"I..." Xiao Qing hesitated, somewhat embarrassed.

Seeing her expression, Yang Ce gave a faint smile and said, "Let me explain. My wife and I have been married for many years, and lately we've been wanting a child, but we just haven't..."

"Oh, I see." The doctor saw at least eight or ten cases like this every day, so she was not particularly surprised. She merely asked routinely, "Have you taken contraceptive medication of any kind over a long period before?"

"No," Yang Ce said. "We've never taken any precautions at all."

"Oh. Have you been examined?" the doctor asked, glancing at Yang Ce.

Yang Ce broke into a sweat and said, "I've been examined. The problem isn't with me."

"I—all right." The doctor nodded and said, "I'll write out a few test orders. Take your wife to have routine blood and urine tests, then bring the results back to me."

"All right, thank you for the trouble," Yang Ce said again and again.

"I thought your wife was much younger than you. I didn't expect her to be thirty already—you really can't tell," the doctor said casually, glancing at the age on the medical record Xiao Qing had just filled out.

Yang Ce's face darkened with exasperation. If he had known, he would not have deliberately dressed himself up; now he looked quite aged, and had actually been made fun of for it.

Yang Ce gave a dry laugh and said, "Yes, she takes good care of herself."

Yang Ce took the orders the doctor had written, and he and Xiao Qing left the consulting room. They paid the fees first, then he took her to have the tests done. The blood draw was simple and painless, and was quickly finished. The second item, the urine test, was what gave Xiao Qing trouble.

"Is it all right now?" Yang Ce tossed the empty mineral water bottle into the trash and looked at Xiao Qing expectantly.

"Not yet." Xiao Qing's little face was bright red with embarrassment, but the more anxious she was, the less she felt the urge. The two of them sat quietly in the hospital corridor, waiting for Xiao Qing's body to respond.

"How about I go buy another bottle of water?" Yang Ce asked, looking at Xiao Qing helplessly.

"Better not. Right now, every time I move, I can hear water sloshing around in my belly," Xiao Qing said with a rueful expression.

"How about we get some exercise?" Yang Ce suggested. "It's already like this—there's no rushing it."

"I suppose that's all we can do." Xiao Qing nodded, stood up, and walked out of the hospital with Yan.

To be continued

1063. An Old Friend and Classmate

1063 An Old Friend and Classmate. Yang Ce and Xiao Qing left the hospital and walked around the grounds for a while. Feeling a bit cold, they got into the car.

"Let's find somewhere to eat first. The blood draw's already done anyway," Yang Ce suggested.

Neither of them had eaten breakfast earlier, for the sake of Xiao Qing's blood test, so by now they really were a little hungry.

"Sure, let's get something to eat first," Xiao Qing agreed with a nod.

"What do you feel like eating?" Yang Ce asked.

"Something like a bowl of hot congee," Xiao Qing said.

So Yang Ce drove aimlessly along the roadside until at last he spotted a congee shop that looked decent enough. He parked in front of it, and he and Xiao Qing got out of the car.

Congee shops were a newly risen breakfast trade in Songjiang, more commonly seen down south, but here in Songjiang they had been adapted quite a bit to local tastes—some of the sweetness had been removed so the congee was not so cloying, and they had proved rather popular with the public.

This particular congee shop followed a marketing model similar to KFC's, a fast-food style of establishment where you paid and ordered at the counter, then took your food and found a seat wherever you liked.

Yang Ce and Xiao Qing each ordered a bowl of plain white congee and a few specialty side dishes, then carried their trays off to find seats. It was just past nine in the morning, the breakfast crowd was thick, and after scanning the hall they found no empty table, so they had no choice but to share a four-person table already occupied by two people.

Yang Ce set down the tray and sat across from a middle-aged couple with Xiao Qing. He slid the bowl of congee in front of her and said, "Qingqing, careful, it's hot."

"Mm." Xiao Qing smiled a small, happy smile. Their relationship was hard to make public, but she savored the way Yang Ce looked after her like a lover.

"You—are you Xiao Qing?" The young wife seated across from them lifted her head hesitantly and stared at Xiao Qing.

"Ah?" Xiao Qing blinked, studying the woman in turn. She seemed vaguely familiar, but for the moment she could not place her. "You are—"

"I'm Zhang Yue! Are you really Xiao Qing? We were college classmates—we shared a dorm room!" Zhang Yue said, her voice rising with excitement.

"Zhang Yue, it's you!" Xiao Qing finally recognized her, and yes, she could see traces of the face she remembered in the woman before her.

"What a coincidence!" Zhang Yue nodded. "I can't believe how well you've kept yourself—you look exactly the same as seven or eight years ago. I thought it was you, but I didn't dare say so. I took you for your own younger sister."

Xiao Qing was pleased by the compliment. "Zhang Yue, you're no slouch yourself. You don't look like a woman of thirty at all."