Salt Soda and Mint - Chapter 1

At the library of Xinhai University.

By 7:00 AM, quite a few students had already arrived. In the quiet, brightly lit space, Nan Sui set down the hot soy milk she had brought from the cafeteria and took her seat at a pre-reserved desk.

She opened her laptop and put on her headphones.

Locating the footage she had shot a few days ago, she prepared to begin editing.

The library was tranquil and warm, with everyone busy with their own tasks, undisturbed by those around them. Nan Sui’s fingertips glided across her mouse.

She checked the time every now and then.

She wasn’t very focused, and the project that usually took her two hours to edit was progressing at a sluggish pace.

She slowly finished her soy milk, finally waiting until the time for the results to be released.

The results for the postgraduate entrance exam had been announced a few days prior, and today was the day the top universities released their cutoff scores. Nan Sui had suffered from insomnia the night before, only falling asleep at 3:00 AM. Now, after agonizing over the wait for so long, she suddenly felt she lacked the courage to actually check.

Throwing away the empty container, she slowly sat back down in front of her computer.

She took a deep breath.

She typed in the website address and clicked through.

The site was a bit congested, and it took a few minutes before she successfully gained access.

Immediately, her gaze darkened.

She hadn’t passed. She hadn’t made the cut.

Even though she had expected it, the moment reality settled in, her heart was filled with an irrepressible sorrow. She sat in silence for a long while, slowly closed her computer, and walked out of the library, feeling as though she had lost her soul.

Back at the dorm, she lay on her bed without saying a word and pulled the curtains shut. Having never seen her in such a withdrawn state, her roommate, Pu Ning, could vaguely guess why. Through the curtains, she tried to comfort her, “Little Sui, don’t be too sad. Even if you didn’t get into Beicheng University, your scores are high enough for plenty of other good schools.“

“…“

“Besides, the intelligent technology major at Beicheng University isn’t necessarily better than the one at A University. Why don’t you consider A University?“

A muffled voice came from behind the curtains, “I just want to go to Beicheng.“

“Why, is there someone you like there?” Pu Ning teased.

There was no sound from inside.

After a moment of silence.

Pu Ning was browsing messages on her phone when she saw something and said to her, “There’s a lecture at our college tonight. Do you want to come and listen with me? It might help you change your mood.“

“I’m not going,” Nan Sui said, feeling antisocial.

“Come on, come on. I’ll treat you to something good after the lecture. Plus, there are lots of handsome guys and beautiful girls in our medical school. Who knows, you might see someone you like, or you could just go to keep me company.“

Nan Sui was lying on the bed, her face turned toward the wall, remaining silent. Just then, a message popped up on her phone.

Photography Yang Yu: [Senior Sister Nan, sorry to bother you!]

Photography Yang Yu: [It’s like this, there is a lecture at the medical school at 7:00 PM tonight. The school needs someone to take photos for our official account promotion. This job was supposed to be Senior Sister Li’s, but she’s suddenly feeling unwell today. So, could I trouble you to do it? You can get extra credits for this!!]

She stared at it for a while.

Nan Sui typed back listlessly: [I don’t feel well either.]

Photography Yang Yu: [Ah, this…]

Photography Yang Yu: [Besides the extra credits, the leaders are also offering a 300-yuan reward! Are you really not going to consider it!!]

“Oh, come on, Little Sui, just go,” Pu Ning was still persistently pestering her. Nan Sui had never been able to bear refusing others, so she finally agreed: [Fine.]

Learning that Nan Sui had to work on the shoot, Pu Ning was considerate and didn’t force her to stay by her side.

Nan Sui was the former president of the photography club. After starting her senior year, she had voluntarily stepped down from the position to focus on her studies. She was also the publicity officer for the student union. Previously, whenever the school had a promotional event, she and the other members were almost always the ones responsible for taking the on-site photos, pictures of leaders shaking hands, and so on.

At noon, the two went to the cafeteria to buy lunch. On the way back to the dorm, Pu Ning asked with interest, “Speaking of which, why are you so set on going to Beicheng University? Who exactly is at Beicheng University?”

“…”

“Could it be that your secret crush is over there?”

“Can you stop being such a gossip?” Nan Sui snapped, denying it, “I don’t have a secret crush. I just like that university, is that not allowed?”

“Fine, then what are your plans now?”

“I don’t know yet. Let’s just finish taking the photos for the lecture first.”

The lecture started at 7:00 PM. By 6:30 PM, the lecture hall was already packed. Given her previous work experience, Nan Sui wasn’t a complete stranger to the medical school, and she walked in with Pu Ning.

Pu Ning pointed to a seat, “I’m going to sit down first. Let’s meet at the entrance when it’s over.”

Nan Sui nodded, “Okay.”

It was an evening in early March, and the cold air hadn’t yet dissipated, nipping at people’s skin and bodies. Now that she was in the lecture hall, with the crowd and the air conditioning running, Nan Sui felt a bit warm.

She looked around and took off the down jacket she had kept tightly wrapped around herself the whole way, placing it on a seat in the corner of a row.

Concerned about the crowd, she paused and looked at the female student next to her, asking apologetically, “Excuse me?”

Anyone sitting in a front-row seat at a lecture was surely a top student in the medical school. The female student looked over at the sound of her voice. She was wearing an apricot-colored mask, making it impossible to see her features clearly, and the two made eye contact.

Nan Sui looked into her eyes and was momentarily stunned.

A few seconds of silence followed.

“Is something the matter?” the person asked.

The voice was mellow, with a soft and pleasant tone. The way she looked at her didn’t carry the impatience one usually shows toward a stranger; it was inclusive and gentle.

Nan Sui was taken aback for a moment before regaining her senses, “Classmate, I’m leaving my coat here. Could I trouble you to keep an eye on it for me?”

Hearing this, the person’s long lashes drooped slightly as she looked at the black down jacket beside her.

After thinking for a moment, she lifted her gaze, “Sure.”

“Thank you,” Nan Sui said. Ignoring a strange feeling that had welled up for an instant, she quickly looked away and adjusted the filters and parameters on her camera.

It wasn’t lecture time yet, and people were still streaming into the hall. Before long, the Party Secretary and the Dean of the Medical School walked in with beaming smiles, followed by the guest speakers for the lecture.

The speakers were all experienced frontline professionals from the hospital who had spent decades cultivating their craft in the industry. They were synonyms for saving lives and the pillars in the hearts of both the hospital and the patients.

As they entered one after another, the chattering of the students in the lecture hall began to fade.

Nan Sui stood near the entrance, adjusted her camera, and hung it around her neck. In her peripheral vision, she noticed that as those bigwigs walked in, they even chatted with the female student in the first row, smiling and laughing.

Do students have such status too?

She mused to herself. Soon after, the Dean of the Medical School took the stage, holding a microphone. After the room fell silent, he began to speak slowly about the intent behind this lecture and briefly introduced the three invited speakers.

Nan Sui picked up her camera, constantly changing angles to take several shots of him. At the same time, she noticed that all the bigwigs in the room had gathered in the first row by mutual agreement.

And that female student didn’t seem to feel that sitting next to the bigwigs was an awkward or unsettling thing at all. Her expression was neutral, and she didn’t seem to be listening very intently to the Dean; instead, she lowered her lashes and looked at the notes in front of her.

After taking photos of the Dean, Nan Sui stood to one side, seemingly listening quietly, but in reality, her gaze was secretly examining the female student.

In the warm air, she was wearing a thick, fluffy white coat over a light-colored, slim-fitting dress. Her neckline was low, and her sitting posture was very upright. When she lowered her eyes to read her notes, her neck formed a slender, white line.

Compared to the restlessness of the other students, she was abnormally quiet and steady.

It seemed she had been staring for a bit too long, as the person’s lashes flickered and she lifted her eyes.

Just then, the Dean stepped down, and a white-haired doctor took the stage amidst a round of applause. He pulled up a PowerPoint presentation, and Nan Sui looked away, picking up her camera once more.

Whatever the medical students in the room were feeling, for a science student like Nan Sui, such lectures were still a bit too dry. Once she had taken enough photos from different angles and the speaker was still rambling on, Nan Sui went to the first row and sat down where she had left her coat.

The person beside her glanced at her.

Nan Sui gave her an apologetic smile and immediately took out her phone to harass Pu Ning: [Is this actually interesting?]

Pu Ning: [To be honest, I’m getting a bit sleepy.]

Nan Sui: [What are we going to eat tonight? Spicy hot pot?]

Pu Ning: [We’ve eaten that for days now, let’s try something else.]

Nan Sui: [Hot pot?]

Pu Ning: [Mm-hmm.]

After a while.

Nan Sui: [If the photos are done, can we leave early?]

Pu Ning: [Theoretically yes, but I want to hear Dr. Lu speak.]

Nan Sui: [What Dr. Lu?]

Pu Ning: [I came to this lecture specifically for her, hehe. Don’t you know her?]

Pu Ning: [The one sitting next to you is her.]

Nan Sui stared at the screen for several seconds before slowly turning her gaze away to look at the person beside her again. At such a close distance, the woman’s fair skin and distinct, long lashes were fully visible.

Realizing that she had mistaken the other person’s identity and had even had the audacity to ask her to watch her coat, a look of horror appeared on Nan Sui’s calm face. Her fingertips slowly tightened around her coat, and she was just about to sneak away.

The next second.

“Alright, that’s all I’ll share about my experience. Now, let us welcome Dr. Lu Ling. She is a chief surgeon in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery and an expert in the field of heart surgery. Since entering the profession, she has had zero surgical errors. Although she hasn’t been in the industry as long as I have, she is a junior I deeply admire. Come, let’s give her a round of applause.”

After Lu Ling stood up, Nan Sui had already instinctively moved to give her space. Lu Ling offered her a gentle word of thanks. As they brushed past each other, Nan Sui caught the faint, clean scent from her hair.

It seemed she didn’t mind having been misidentified at all. Nan Sui secretly breathed a sigh of relief and, realizing it a beat late, picked up her camera to adjust the focal length.

During the interval before taking the stage, Lu Ling removed her mask.

It revealed a face that could only be described as stunningly beautiful.

Nan Sui found a good angle, half-crouched, and through the square viewfinder, she saw the woman’s face clearly.

She paused and slowly lifted her head.

In that instant, the calm on her face was replaced by shock, astonishment, and other complex, indescribable emotions. They intertwined, her brain buzzed, and she even forgot to press the shutter.

The woman on stage let her ink-black hair fall softly. Her temperament was gentle and noble, not much different from how she looked in Nan Sui’s memory.

Those mild, patient brows had become even more dazzling and eye-catching after several years of refinement.

Amidst the whispering of the crowd, Nan Sui didn’t move, freezing in place with her eyes locked firmly onto the woman.

But the woman on stage didn’t look at her again. As she went through her movements, the PowerPoint on the screen changed.

Nan Sui realized it a moment later and looked at the first page.

Her self-introduction was brief and understated.

Lu Ling, Cardiothoracic Surgeon, practicing at Xinhai Medical Center.