Chapter 2113: 2040 Awkward

"Boss, can you not be so useless!" Su Yun saw Zheng Ren wearing a loser's expression, and said disparagingly: "You're after all a lifetime professor at Massachusetts General Hospital—how many people are asking to marry you?"

"Don't make a fuss, what's with all the begging." Zheng Ren said solemnly.

In between, giving myself a few hours could buffer my emotions, so my mind doesn't go blank and crash.

At the critical moment, Su Yun was still reliable, Zheng Ren thought, completely forgetting about going to see the sunrise earlier.

"Su Yun, your interview still isn't good enough?" Xie Yiren asked.

"Well, why not have your dad bring people back? This is a big deal—we need to seize the time to implement it." Su Yun said, "The earlier we can use it, the sooner we can avoid taking the line, so we don't have to occasionally go in."

"Mm-hmm." Xie Yiren nodded repeatedly, "If we can free it up, Zheng Ren won't have to wear lead clothing for surgery."

"Boss, don't look so cowardly, put on the emergency rescue demeanor." Su Yun said to Zheng Ren.

Emergency rescue— that's something I'm quite good at.

Just looking at one ordinary person after another, the system panel doesn't even give a diagnosis; Zheng Ren really can't imagine himself in that situation.

"Yiren, have you told your mom?"

"I did, and I sent Lin Wan's pre- and post-op photos over for comparison. This morning's photo shows the effect more clearly— the wrinkles really are gone!"

"Boss, your thoughts are really deep." Su Yun looked at Zheng Ren with disdain, wearing an expression that said, "I know exactly what you're planning."

Zheng Ren was speechless.

With Su Yun nagging on the side, Zheng Ren felt better, silently chanting "cabbage, cabbage" in his heart.

The plane landed successfully, the exit gate opened, and passengers began to leave.

Zheng Ren saw a lush green field of cabbages walking before his eyes.

He suddenly thought this was not bad— certainly better than staring at countless mosaics flashing before his eyes.

He continued chanting cabbage, but saw Xie Yiren lightly running up.

"Boss, go." Su Yun poked Zheng Ren twice from behind.

"Uh..."

Zheng Ren froze for a moment; among the cabbages were two familiar faces.

One was the head steward of Pengxi Township Hospital— if I needed anything, I just had to tell him. The other was a more mature-looking Xie Yiren, somewhat familiar.

"Boss, you're damn stupid!" Su Yun saw Zheng Ren like a big stone, unmoving no matter how she poked, and muttered a curse.

Zheng Ren stood stiffly, his whole reaction slowed by a full three seconds.

Those steady, calm eyes looked at me, hugged Xie Yiren, then walked over.

"Zheng Lao Ban." Xie Ning reached out his hand.

Su Yun covered her eyes directly— her own boss is hopeless, truly hopeless.

"Ning Shu..." Zheng Ren stretched out his cold hand and clasped Xie Ning's.

Xie Ning hadn't changed at all; the corners of his mouth held a smile, he looked at Zheng Ren calmly and gently.

But Zheng Lao Ban was quite flustered.

"Ning Shu, we've finally got you back." Su Yun appeared behind Zheng Ren, opened her arms, and warmly hugged Xie Ning.

"That side is biting down hard, refusing to let go no matter what." Su Yun complained, "I slipped out during a break in the negotiations; I wasn't at ease without you in my heart."

Xie Ning glanced at Su Yun, about to speak, when Xie Yiren pulled Lin Wan over.

"Mom, was the effect of Zheng Ren's surgery on Lin Wan yesterday especially good?"

Seeing Lin Wan arrive, Xie Ning ignored Zheng Ren, turned and started talking to Su Yun.

Without Xie Ning's gaze fixed on him, Zheng Ren felt better. He "came up with a clever idea in a crisis" and helped Lin Wan pull her luggage.

Lin Wan was clearly more interested in the wrinkle-removal surgery, and also liked this clueless son-in-law, chatting and laughing as she walked out.

Each got into their cars; Xie Ning and Lin Wan said a word, then took their people and Su Yun and left.

Only then did Zheng Ren notice that the group that got off the plane together should have been a team, with Xie Ning bringing the negotiation crew.

"Zheng Ren, I see you're quite nervous." After getting into Xie Yiren's car, Zheng Ren couldn't see Xie Ning's figure, and finally felt much more relaxed.

This time my performance seems to be even worse than before…

But last time I dragged Ning Shu around shopping to buy him a gift, that awkward feeling wasn't much better than today.

"Aunt Lin, I'm just a bit nervous; I'll be fine soon, soon." Zheng Ren weakly defended himself.

"Let auntie see, are the wrinkles serious?" Lin Wan leaned her head over, smiling, "I've never dared to have surgery, but yesterday Yiren said you operate without anesthesia, and the results looked especially good, so I got the idea."

"Not serious; the surgery will be a bit smaller than yesterday's, so the effect should be even better. Your skin elasticity is greater, overall cell renewal speed is fast, the effect should be good." Zheng Ren spoke about the surgery, treating Lin Wan as a patient, and his words flowed smoothly.

"Come on, come on, come on." Lin Wan couldn't wait.

"Zheng Ren, my mom means there should be no taboos— let's just do it." Xie Yiren started the Volvo, turned and glanced at Zheng Ren.

After all, it involves my own mother; if something went wrong…… Xie Yiren felt that if Zheng Ren wanted to ever enter the family home again, it would be harder than climbing to heaven.

"No taboos; the surgery should finish in about four hours." Zheng Ren recalled Lin Wan's eye wrinkles and remarked, "Your eye‑area skin has very few wrinkles— probably due to strong genetic effects on amino‑acid metabolism."

"Amino acids?" Lin Wan wondered, "I've been taking oral collagen supplements; that must be where it comes from."

"Aunt Lin, collagen is a biological macromolecule, the main component of animal connective tissue, and the most abundant and widely distributed functional protein in mammals, making up 25%–30% of total protein, even over 80% in some organisms." Zheng Ren said solemnly.

Xie Yiren's face turned green, with greasy white skin, looking like cabbage.

Is this Zheng Ren courting death?

Too bad his mother is sitting in the passenger seat today— he can't even warn him.

"Oh? But I think oral collagen is still useful." Lin Wan frowned, "Besides, many people get collagen injections and the effect is not bad."

"Injecting it— directly dumping the macromolecule where needed, a simple brute‑force fix— can't say it has no effect, but the chance of side effects is high, so it's not recommended." Zheng Ren completely failed to notice he was courting death.

"As for oral collagen, it turns into amino acids in the body—for example, amino acids are divided into……" Zheng Ren was about to elaborate, but his strong survival instinct cut him off.

"Then what?"

"You, it's just that your gene segment is too good!" Zheng Ren said, "In other words, it's innate— in about thirty years you'll still look like you're in your thirties."