This doctor is already middle-aged, and he's only just started practicing medicine.

Chapter 157 Mu Leng Calls!
After the drizzle stopped, Lu Cheng wiped the water off his electric scooter and then stood still to make a phone call.

"Mom, I'm not coming home for dinner today!" At 5:35 p.m., Lu Cheng left work on time and called Tian Hui to report again.

However, to Lu Cheng's surprise, Professor Chen Song, who had already left, deliberately turned back several hundred steps and came closer to look at him.

The look in his eyes was as if he were looking at something strange and unusual.

But seeing that Lu Cheng was on the phone, he didn't say anything. He just pointed at Lu Cheng with his index finger and then swayed away.

After all, Lu Cheng used to never leave the ward before midnight, but now he leaves work promptly at 5:30.

It has to be said that love can be captivating to both the mind and the body; that's what Chen Song was thinking at that moment...

Lu Cheng, being thick-skinned, didn't even blush. After hanging up Tian Hui's call, he rode his electric scooter to pick up Mu Nanshu.

At 6:10 p.m., Lu Cheng saw Mu Nanshu at the entrance of the county bus station. He gestured for her to sit in the back seat and put on her helmet before asking, "Didn't you say you were coming back tomorrow?"

"Oh dear, I thought my grandpa was still in our hometown. I went back and found out that he had gone to Jilin City to visit a friend. He came all this way for nothing."

"It's fine to visit other relatives; there's no need to stay overnight."

After Mu Nanshu finished speaking, he chuckled to himself, "Half an hour after I called my grandfather, my father called and said that he had been severely scolded by my grandfather."

"My parents and my grandfather will probably be back tonight."

Lu Cheng said, "Then Uncle Mu must have really been scolded terribly."

Mu Nanshu had been abroad for so many years, and he was her only granddaughter. She went back to Long County specifically to see her grandfather, but he wasn't home. The problem was, Mu Leng hadn't mentioned it to him at all.

Mu Nanshu's father, Mu Leng, had two siblings, and all of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, except for Mu Nanshu, were sons, which made him very precious.

"What about your uncle? Didn't he let you stay overnight?" Lu Cheng asked.

Mu Nanshu tried to straighten her posture a little, but there was nowhere left to straighten it, so she blushed and hugged Lu Cheng's broad shoulders.

"Don't mention my uncle. He was planning to keep me here and even said he would set me up on blind dates."

"The person I was set up with on a blind date is my aunt's nephew." Mu Nanshu's tone was slightly irritated.

"Is it that guy, the one who passed the civil service exam in Jilin City?" Lu Cheng asked.

Mu Nanshu said, "Yes! ~ What's most infuriating is that he always uses you as a pretext."

"What is this...?" Mu Nanshu's tone suddenly became extremely harsh.

Lu Cheng said, "They probably think I'm doing much worse than her nephew now, so this kind of horizontal comparison is normal."

"The key is, you're just too sought after," Lu Cheng joked.

Mu Nanshu said, "Not to mention that he is my aunt's nephew, he is just a small-time employee in Jishi, yet he is being talked about as if he is someone you can't find anywhere else in the world."

"I really don't know where this confidence comes from..."

"Are you that angry?" Lu Cheng could tell that Mu Nanshu was in a particularly bad mood.

Mu Nanshu didn't reply, but she lowered her hands and wrapped them completely around Lu Cheng's waist, seemingly lost in thought.

Lu Cheng didn't ask any more questions.

Lu Cheng originally wanted to take Mu Nanshu out to eat, but when they passed by the market, Mu Nanshu suggested that Lu Cheng go to the market to buy groceries, so Lu Cheng complied.

One pound of beef ribs, one chicken, half a pound of eggplant, one head of cabbage, plus some side dishes.

……

The two had just arrived home when Mu Nanshu used her fingerprint to open the security door and pushed it open. Lu Cheng heard his phone ringing.

The caller ID showed Mu Leng, Mu Nanshu's father.

Lu Cheng simply showed his phone screen to Mu Nanshu, who then said, "I'll go cook and prepare the food first. You can cook after you finish your call."

"Okay!~"

Then, Lu Cheng answered the phone: "Uncle Mu, have you had dinner yet?"

Mu Leng: "I don't have time to eat right now, I just got scolded. Sigh..."

After Mu Leng finished her remark, she asked with a smile, "Xiao Lu, how did you and Xiao Shu agree on this?"

"Back then, your parents and I were quite bewildered. Xiaoshu suddenly said she wanted to go abroad, so we really couldn't discuss the engagement."

Mu Leng was very adept at navigating social situations, so she first pointed out the faults of her daughter to Lu Cheng.

Upon hearing this, Lu Cheng lowered his head and said, "Uncle, Xiao Shu and I were both too young before. We felt like the sky was falling when things didn't go as planned."

"Xiao Shu's decision to study abroad was absolutely the right one."

"As for me, I'm holding Xiaoshu back a bit right now, but we're discussing specific solutions."

Looking back, Lu Cheng and Mu Nanshu were indeed quite immature back then.

Lu Cheng doesn't blame his past self, nor does he blame Mu Nanshu from back then.

Mu Leng stated his position: "Xiao Lu, you are a good child, smart and sensible, and your uncle has always had high hopes for you."

"So, you and Xiaoshu used to play and study together often, and I never bothered you because I knew you were both sensible."

"But now that you're older, you probably understand that if you want to be a family, it's best not to have too much distance separating you."

"The thing that Uncle regrets most now is that he didn't give Xiaoshu the most companionship when she needed it most. Instead, he chose to go out and work hard."

Lu Cheng smiled and replied, "Uncle, please don't say that. You may think that way, but in reality, your choice back then wasn't wrong."

"The economic foundation is also extremely important."

"Uncle, yes, it's a big loss if the family can't be together, and I understand that too."

Mu Leng interrupted Lu Cheng: "If you can't improve, Xiao Shu said she can let you quit."

“I respect her opinion, but I don’t want you to feel embarrassed or stuck in a limbo because you’re too concerned about saving face.”

Do you understand what your uncle means?

Mu Leng's words made Lu Cheng feel a pang of sadness, yet also a sense of warmth.

This means that Mu Nanshu really had a serious talk with Mu Leng and the others. When Mu Nanshu said she could develop her career in a prefecture-level city, it wasn't just a joke.

Lu Cheng nodded: "Uncle, I understand. Thank you and Auntie for your understanding and support."

"To be more precise, it wasn't that we were particularly immature back then. It was that Xiaoshu argued so fiercely that she couldn't stay there anymore."

"As for me, I've always wanted to prove that Xiaoshu's argument wasn't in vain, so I was a bit stubborn and refused to take the exam again."

"I am naive and a bit vain on this issue! But I won't be particularly stubborn on the more core issues."

"Back then, it was I who made Nanshu determined to study abroad. We can't let our failures really break us down completely."

"To say something you might find foolish, if I were to become a deadbeat, I could just stand there frozen. Nan Shu is innocent."

"However, after so many years, the facts have proven that I was indeed very naive. I have proven my failure, and I failed completely."

After Lu Cheng finished speaking, he glanced at Mu Nanshu in the kitchen: "But there's one thing, Nanshu didn't let me lose." "Uncle, if there's really no chance to go outside, and Xiaoshu is still willing, coming back is a very good choice."

Lu Cheng summarized what happened back then.

Lu Cheng and Mu Nanshu decided to settle down in Shanghai, so of course they had to take the postgraduate entrance exam there. Lu Cheng, who ranked first in the written exam, failed the interview!

Can we blame Lu Cheng? No, we can't.

Mu Nanshu and Lu Cheng were both dissatisfied, so they had a fight. The fight was so fierce that Mu Nanshu couldn't save face and was persuaded by Lu Cheng to go abroad.

Lu Cheng himself, however, has been clinging to the lingering echoes of that argument, stubbornly wasting away for so many years...

Mu Leng thought about it for a moment and then didn't ask any more questions about the past.

Mu Leng knew Mu Nanshu's personality best. As for what happened back then, Mu Leng was helpless; what was he, Mu Leng, anyway?
Of course, all Mu Leng could do was use his wealth to support his daughter in making the choices she wanted.

Mu Leng couldn't interfere with Lu Cheng's decision.

Lu Cheng's considerations were well-founded and not exaggerated, which made Mu Leng believe him to some extent.

Mu Leng added, "If you need some financial support, your uncle can help you."

"I heard from Xiaoshu that there are many advanced training courses for doctors, which will greatly benefit you."

Mu Leng also loves his daughter very much, but his thinking is relatively advanced. Since he can't correct his daughter's choice, he thinks about how to make the person she has chosen even more outstanding.

Of course, this was on the premise that Mu Leng knew Lu Cheng was a promising talent.

If Lu Cheng were a complete idiot, he might break Mu Nanshu's legs and lock her up.

“Uncle, no need for that. I’ve saved up quite a bit of money myself over the years while I was working,” Lu Cheng said.

Mu Leng's tone was gentle: "See, you acted impulsively again, didn't you?"

"Some money is better used and enjoyed sooner. Borrow it first and pay it back later. If you are really confident in yourself, even with interest, you won't care about this little bit of money later."

"Unless you yourself have no ambition."

Lu Cheng was at a loss for words.

Lu Cheng had considered that Mu Leng might look down on him or support him and Mu Nanshu, but he never expected Mu Leng to say something like that.

This move caught Lu Cheng off guard.

Seeing that Lu Cheng remained silent, Mu Leng continued, "Little Lu, there are some things I shouldn't have told you, but they just make me uncomfortable."

"Xiaoshu went back to her hometown today and met her uncle and aunt."

“It was another person from our hometown who called. Her second aunt said that although our family is rich, it is not easy for Xiaoshu to find a partner nearby.”

"Because those who know her well know what happened before. They were already planning to get engaged, so she was considered a second-hand person."

"There aren't many people who wouldn't mind. Her nephew doesn't mind, and he has a good job... Hearing this makes me feel so suffocated..."

The weather is slightly cool, and there's a cold draft from the empty window, so there's no need to turn on the air conditioner

Lu Chengdu was a little stunned: "No?"

"Uncle, isn't there some misunderstanding? How could Xiaoshu's uncle and aunt say such awful things?"

Holy crap, Lu Cheng's thought process has been completely convoluted.

Mu Nanshu's aunt said that her nephew wouldn't look down on Mu Nanshu, since they are family and know her well, so he's not a slut?
Even a normal relative who has suffered a stroke for ten years wouldn't say such cruel things, right?

"One reason is that I had a falling out with his second uncle in the past, and another reason is..."

"Alas, public opinion is a fearsome thing."

"Whether you admit it or not, Xiao Lu, as two people from the same village, the girl is ultimately at a disadvantage."

"There's nothing we can do about all the rumors." Mu Leng felt quite helpless about it.

Mu Leng is very rich, but even with money, he can't control what others say.

To say that Lu Cheng and Mu Nanshu were very 'arrogant' before wouldn't be accurate; they were classmates, so it was normal for them to go to and from school together.

Mu Leng knew that Lu Cheng and Mu Nanshu had a purely platonic classmate relationship.

But others wouldn't understand...

With neither Mu Leng nor his wife at home, Lu Cheng often went to Mu Nanshu's old home.

You say you're doing homework, but outsiders might think you're doing homework or that you're a lone man and woman alone together.

Of course, they were still young at that time, and these rumors would not have spread among two junior high and high school students, unless they wanted Mu Leng to go berserk and kill someone.

But that was back then.

Mu Leng continued, "Of course, what angered Xiao Shu even more was that my second son said Nan Shu was collecting scraps, and that you, a mere employee at the county hospital, are no match for her wife's nephew..."

Lu Cheng covered his forehead.

Lu Cheng took a deep breath and calmly said, "Uncle, don't be angry. We can't afford to offend people like that, so we can only avoid them."

"I don't know how to evaluate their way of thinking."

Lu Cheng also has uncles and paternal uncles, but their wealth is probably not that different, so even with his paternal uncle's family, with whom he has the least close relationship, there is no conflict.

We're always very polite to each other when we meet.

"Xiao Lu, if I hadn't overheard so much today, I really wouldn't have called to bother you."

"But you know what, Uncle is feeling uncomfortable." Mu Leng and Lu Cheng were very familiar with each other.

During Mu Nanshu's time abroad, Mu Leng often came to Lu Cheng's house for drinks, so she was considered a relatively close elder.

Therefore, Lu Cheng could understand why Mu Leng suddenly revealed his difficulties to him at this moment.

Lu Cheng thought for a moment and said softly, "Uncle, can I tell you a little something I'm bragging about in private?"

"It definitely won't take two years; all these rumors will disappear completely!"

Mu Leng thought for a moment before saying, "Xiao Lu, the important thing is not to suppress the rumors, but that you young people choose your own path."

"To put it bluntly, I've been able to find out about your character, Lu Cheng, bit by bit, over the years."

"If you were a bad person, I would have broken Nan Shu's legs long ago!"

"And it's precisely because you're somewhat sensible that I've been struggling with this." Mu Leng finally said something blunt.

Mu Leng was also a local from Long County and had a certain bandit-like nature.

But even if you're thuggish, you can't just act recklessly.

At this point, Mu Leng said, "Let's leave it at that for now... I'll come find your father for a few drinks later..."

“Okay, Uncle.” Lu Cheng put down the phone, his eyes turning indifferent for a moment.

(End of this chapter)