He was a disabled military officer who doted on his research work in the Northwest.

"What did Tangtang say?" Doctor Chen asked, looking at Shen Tang.

Shen Tang placed the form on the table and glanced up at Mu Qinghan.

His gaze fell on her, and he didn't speak, but his deep eyes seemed to say, "You don't have to waste your time for me."

Shen Tang withdrew her gaze and smiled at Dr. Chen: "Okay. Report to Dr. Chen to administer the injection; I'll coordinate the timing. You'll be at school in the mornings, see patients on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, and come for massage every other day."

Doctor Chen breathed a sigh of relief and slapped his thigh: "Great! I'll get the paperwork done for you within three days!"

After saying that, he happily left with his medical record book, but turned back at the door to add, "I'll talk to the school; they'll make sure it doesn't interfere with your classes."

The door closed.

The ward fell silent again.

Mu Qinghan looked down at the bowl of sauerkraut fish soup noodles in front of her, which had cooled down slightly, and finally picked up her chopsticks to eat slowly.

Shen Tang sat on the chair next to him, looking down at the terms and conditions on the application form. "Cousin."

Mu Qinghan paused, his chopsticks holding the noodles still. Every time she called out like that, he felt a tightness in his chest, as if he had done something very stupid, but he could only silently endure it.

"What's wrong?" he replied.

"You just said you didn't need me to bring you food anymore—" Shen Tang finally looked up at his profile, her tone relaxed and slightly teasing, "Did you think my cooking wasn't good enough?"

Mu Qinghan looked at the noodles in the bowl; the broth at the bottom of the bowl was almost gone.

His lips moved slightly. "...No."

...It's not that I think her cooking is bad.

It's because I'm afraid of being too greedy.

"That's fine then." Shen Tang folded the application form and stuffed it into her canvas bag. She stood up and stretched. "Although we won't be going to the cafeteria anymore, I can cook for you in my little kitchen at home when I have time. Let's try a new recipe tomorrow—you've had steamed eggs before, right? Add some dried shrimp and chopped green onions; it's good for calcium and bone recovery."

He felt a mix of sadness and warmth as he prepared the food for him when he got home. Mu Qinghan nodded, "Okay, focus on your studies, don't overwork yourself."

"It's alright, I'll do it when I have time." She got up to pack her things, thinking that he was currently in the recovery period, and with the spiritual spring water, the recovery would be twice as effective. "Let's go, cousin."

The door closed.

Mu Qinghan sat there, holding the empty bowl, staring at the closed door for a long while before finally looking away. He glanced down at his right foot.

Through the thin socks, he could feel his toes twitching slightly.

……

Shen Tang's first Monday after officially starting school.

As dawn broke in the Northwest, the military compound was already bustling with activity.

Several military wives were waiting at the alley entrance early in the morning, carrying various things in their hands—a floral schoolbag sewn by Lin Qiaozhen, two notebooks, a fountain pen ink, and two boiled eggs wrapped in a cloth by Wang Xiulian.

"Tangtang, eat breakfast on the way! Don't go to class hungry!" Wang Xiulian stuffed an egg into her new schoolbag, then pulled her hand and looked her up and down, "Are your clothes neat? Is your braid frizzy?"

"Sister-in-law, I'm going to school, not on a blind date," Shen Tang said, both amused and exasperated.

Upon hearing the words "blind date," Wang Xiulian recalled the gossip she had overheard in the cafeteria yesterday and was momentarily speechless. "What nonsense are you talking about? You should dress neatly for school. Let everyone see how pretty the girls from our compound are."

The military vehicle stopped at the gate on time. Today, Xiao Li had specially cleaned the jeep inside and out, even turning the canvas seat cushions in the back over to reveal the clean side.

"Comrade Shen, let's go!"

Shen Tang jumped into the car and waved at the alley entrance. Several military wives stood in the morning light waving at her. Hu Zi chased after the car for a few steps, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Go, Sister Shen Tang!"

As the car drove out of the compound, Shen Tang leaned back in the back seat and glanced down at the contents of her schoolbag—Tiger's pencil, Niu Niu's eraser, boiled eggs, a floral schoolbag, and a box of new fountain pens that Mu Qinghan had asked Xiao Li to deliver last night.

There was a note tucked inside the pen case, with Mu Qinghan's powerful handwriting on it:

"Pay attention in class. Help me with my homework when I get home tonight."

Short and abrupt, but when Shen Tang looked at those words, the corners of her mouth unconsciously turned up. She folded the note and put it in the side pocket of her backpack, then peeled an egg and ate it.

……

A high school for children of employees.

When Shen Tang arrived at the classroom, most of the students in Class 2 had already arrived.

Ms. Sun assigned her to the third-to-last row, a window seat. The students around her cast curious glances her way—the news of her getting first place in last week's transfer exam had already spread, and everyone wanted to see what this top student from the countryside looked like.

Shen Tang sat down with composure and arranged the books.

"Hey."

A hushed voice came from the side.

Shen Tang turned her head and saw the boy next to her grinning at her—a tall, thin boy with thick, dark eyebrows and darting eyes; he was clearly someone who couldn't sit still.

"You're Shen Tang? The one who got 103 in math?" he said in a low voice, his tone filled with undisguised curiosity.

"Um."

"Awesome!" The boy gave a thumbs up, then quickly pulled it back and gestured towards the podium—Teacher Sun was wiping the blackboard with her back to them, but it seemed as if she had eyes on the back of her head.

"My name is Gu Bei," he introduced himself with lightning speed. "If you need anything in the future, just let me know. I know this school well."

Before Shen Tang could reply, Teacher Sun turned around.

"Gu Bei, whispering to each other before the first class has even started? Are you planning to clean the blackboard for the whole class for a week?"

Gu Bei immediately sat up straight, solemnly opened his textbook, and muttered, "Teacher Sun, your hearing is really good..."

"I have hearing problems, and your voice is loud."

Several classmates suppressed their laughter. Shen Tang couldn't help but smile slightly—this Gu Bei was quite interesting.

The first day of classes was uneventful.

The Chinese class was about Lu Xun's "Medicine," which Shen Tang could recite from memory in his previous life.

In math class, when they were teaching quadratic functions, she could solve them with her eyes closed.

Needless to say, political classes were taught by rote.

For Shen Tang, these things were so simple they were boring.

Every day, she sits by the window, twirling a pencil in her hand, her eyes fixed on her textbook, but her mind is preoccupied with the growth of the alkali-tolerant alfalfa in the space, whether Mu Qinghan's massage therapy should be intensified, and whether the acupuncture techniques for the two patients with lumbar spine injuries she sees today should be adjusted.

As I was thinking, my hand unconsciously started moving across the draft paper.

This is a habit I developed in the laboratory in my previous life—when my mind is idle, my hands will find something to do on their own.

She is accustomed to using a self-created symbol system to quickly memorize the ideas in her mind: abbreviations of chemical formulas, variable labels for mathematical modeling, connecting lines, labeled arrows, plus some abbreviation codes that only she can understand.

Her writing resembled doodles or a code—so illegible that even she herself would have to decipher it after a couple of days, let alone others.

This was a high school, surrounded by other high school students, so she wasn't too worried about being seen. She figured no one would understand her writing anyway. At most, they'd think she was just scribbling aimlessly on paper—no different from drawing little figures on her desk during break.

Gu Bei once stole a glance at her draft paper, his eyes widening in disbelief: "What are you writing? Is this some kind of cryptic script?"

"It's just scribbling." Shen Tang lazily flipped the paper over.

"It doesn't look like scribbling..." Gu Bei clicked his tongue in amazement, "It looks like the markings on those battle maps on my dad's desk."

She laughed: "So your dad's battle map was just a random scribble too?"

Gu Bei raised an eyebrow. "...You wait, I'll go back and tell on you."

……

The next day during break, Shen Tang went to the water room at the end of the corridor to get some water. As she passed the door of Class 1, she heard a soft, nasal voice coming from inside—

"...I don't blame my sister. Even though she doesn't want our family anymore, she's still very pitiful."

Shen Tang paused for a moment.

It was Shen Yao's voice.