“Excuse me.”

Jiang Jiusheng turned around and saw a young girl with a backpack, about 17 or 18. She nodded to her.

The girl was clearly excited. “Are you Sheng Ye?”

Out of politeness, Jiang Jiusheng took off the mask and said hello. She smiled with ease and idleness—like a mysterious, indifferent cat.

The girl was surprised. Her eyes were wide open. “I have been your fan for so long.” She took out a pen from her pack, hands trembling, and asked with sincerity and expectation, “Can I have your autograph?”

“Sure.” Jiang Jiusheng took the pen. “Where?”

The girl pulled her coat open, revealing the T-shirt inside, and pointed to her chest. Her eyes were shining, “Here! Here! Sign at my heart!”

Jiang Jiusheng looked down with a smile and sighed her name on the T-shirt. Her calligraphy was tidy and neat, unlike the signatures of other celebrities, which were difficult to recognize.

Just as she finished, someone shouted out loud, “It’s Jiang Jiusheng!”

Upon hearing the shout, the crowd gathered from the hallway and blocked the entrance at the corner within a second. The peace of the hospital was broken at that moment. The shout drew the attention of more and more onlookers, fans or not, and they rushed from the hallway and surrounded the parking lot.

“It’s Jiang Jiusheng!”

“Jiang Jiusheng!”

“Sheng Ye, I love you…!”

Jiang Jiusheng was speechless. She had always kept a low profile. With no agent or assistant by her side, she felt overwhelmed by the scene in front of her eyes.

“Sheng Ye.”

Jiang Jiusheng looked at the girl who had asked her autograph. She was getting ready to step up and protect her from the front, like a hero willing to sacrifice himself for his mission.

“Go now!” she said. “I’ll stall them.”

This was a real fan.

Jiang Jiusheng thanked her sincerely. She hesitated for a moment, then turned around, her back to the crowd that was pressing in.

“This is a hospital! Quiet!”

“Calm down, everyone!”

“Sheng Ye is…!”

Jiang Jiusheng’s fans were famous for their loyalty. Most of them were young girls. The young fan couldn’t hold them for long, and the crowd was pushing through.

Jiang Jiusheng didn’t want to cause a scene at the hospital. As she ran past a corner, someone seized her by the hand before she could take off in her chosen direction. It was a dry, cold hand with great strength.

Startled, Jiang Jiusheng was led to a dark entrance of the stairway. She looked up and met a pair of eyes as beautiful as the starry sky, albeit a bit distant. There was a smell of disinfectant fluid, clean and pungent. Jiang Jiusheng was surprised for a moment before she said, “Dr. Shi.”

Shi Jin was wearing his white gown, and he smiled gently. He lowered his voice and said, “Excuse me.” Then he took her arm and shifted their direction with mild strength. “Come with me,” he said.

Jiang Jiusheng felt safe and kept silent as this man she barely knew took her hand and walked through darkness.

He took her to an elevator accessible only to the staff of the hospital, unlocking the door with his fingerprint. Jiang Jiusheng stared at his hand as he pushed his finger on the button. Jiang Jiusheng was immersed in thought and only came to her senses when Shi Jin loosed the hand that had been holding just now. It was sweaty and cool.

“Sorry.”

Jiang Jiusheng shook her head and thanked him.

Shi Jin pushed the button of the Basement 1 floor, and his finger lingered on the button. Blue light came from the button, illuminating his finger. It appeared long, slim, and beautiful. How could a man have such a pair of fine hands?

Her hat dropped without her noticing, and her face was half-covered by her hair. She looked down at the hand of Shi Jin.

“Your hand.” She hesitated for a moment, then said, “Can I touch it again?”

Shi Jin drew his hand back calmly and looked at her with a deep and attentive gaze. “Do you touch all the hands you think are beautiful?”

Jiang Jiusheng was shocked by the question. This was just the third time they had met. It was truly impolite of her to request such a thing, but his hands made her a little crazy, causing her to cross the line again and again.

“Sorry for being impolite.” She thought for a sec and shook her head. “You are the only one.”

Even now, she could not explain why she was so crazy about his hands. Why was she able to hold herself back in front of other beautiful hands but not his? It was not that she hadn’t seen beautiful hands before. Her schoolmate Xie Dang had a pair of delicate violinist’s hands. But she’d never thought of touching them.

Shi Jin’s pursed lips loosened. The corner of his mouth pulled up, and his brows flattened. It was an impressive look on him.

“I have surgery,” he said. “I’ve cleaned my hands, so there’s a smell of alcohol. If you don’t mind.” He reached his hand to her.

She seized his hand crazily without a moment’s hesitation. She smiled, her eyes like the crescent moon. She looked pure and satisfied, unlike her usual cool and nonchalant appearance. How she wanted to take these hands as her own.

At 10 o’clock, a man exited the clinic room, where a cardiopulmonary bypass surgery was scheduled. Prep work had been done, but the attending wasn’t there yet.

Shi Jin’s assistant, Xiao Yi, paced anxiously outside the OR, and the assistant doctor in the OR was urging him to hurry when there came the sound of footsteps.

Xiao Yi looked up, and his brows flattened. “Dr. Shi.”

Shi Jin nodded and went straight into the quarantined changing room.

Xiao Yi followed him, asking, “Was there something urgent?”

It was the first time he’d ever seen Shi Jin come to the OR just as surgery was about to begin.

“Nothing.” Shi Jin took off his white shirt and switched it for the green sterilized gown and mask, covering his face. The hair in front of his forehead cast a shadow on his face. “All ready?”

Xiao Yi answered, “Yes.”

Shi Jin looked down and walked to the OR.

Xiao Yi took the sterilized gloves and followed him with a question. “Won’t you scrub again? ”

“I did.”

Usually, he would scrub his hands a second time even if he had already done it before. He was a bit of a clean freak. How strange that this time he didn’t scrub again but instead wore two sets of gloves. When the surgery was finished, he didn’t go to scrub up right away.

At 9:00 p.m., Jiang Jiusheng posted a tweet.

Jiang JiushengV: Wanna take it as mine.

The image was a sketch of a hand. With few strokes, the hand appeared so gorgeous.