Chapter 533: Owing an Explanation

Liang Wen's words landed, and the table by the window immediately entered a high-risk state.

Jiang Yuan held the piece of braised pork that Chu Che had transferred out of friendship, his chopsticks suspended in midair—he couldn't decide whether to eat or not.

Su Ming closed his eyes for two seconds.

He really wanted to slam Liang Wen's tray back onto the other person's head.

Considering the cafeteria's tight budget for public property repairs, he restrained himself.

Qin Zhixia put down her chopsticks, lifted her head, and looked at Liang Wen.

"You're free?"

Liang Wen plopped down beside Chu Che with a practiced move that made people suspect he'd rehearsed it beforehand.

At the four-person table, he somehow squeezed in to create the oppressive feeling of a five-person team-building exercise.

Chu Che shifted half an inch to the side.

Not much.

It was just enough for Liang Wen to avoid getting soup on his lab coat.

Liang Wen glanced down and clicked his tongue in amazement.

"Dr. Chu, your lab coat actually stays uncontaminated in the cafeteria during the reconstruction period."

He raised a hand to press his chest, his tone rising.

"This isn't cleanliness obsession; it's a solemn defiance against the chaotic world."

Su Ming rubbed his forehead.

"I'm not on the same path as him."

Jiang Yuan politely nodded.

"Dr. Chu, sorry to disturb you."

Chu Che gave a warm nod.

"No disturbance needed; the cafeteria isn't an examination room, so no registration is required."

Liang Wen's eyes lit up.

He glanced left and right at Qin Zhixia, then at Chu Che, and his whole person's gossip radar started spinning at high speed.

In those peach-blossom eyes, four big characters were clearly written.

There's melon; cut it quick.

Qin Zhixia had already anticipated the disaster.

But anticipation aside, Liang Wen is the type who gets more fired up the more you block him.

"Beautiful Team Leader Qin."

Liang Wen drew out his tone, propped his chin on one hand, and the hem of his black windcoat pretentiously draped over the chair back.

"Please allow this Dark-Blooded King to make a reasonable inquiry."

Qin Zhixia: "Not allowed."

Liang Wen automatically filtered it out.

"This person of extraordinary bearing, like a white knight radiating holy light, just who is he?"

He leaned forward.

"Leniency for confession, severity for resistance. Your atmosphere just now wasn't ordinary coworker chatter—it was a post-war limited side story."

Su Ming's motion of picking up vegetables halted.

"Did you put gospel seeds in your lunch?"

Liang Wen ignored him.

"Jiang Yuan, tell the truth—did you just smell that odor in the air?"

Jiang Yuan was very serious.

"The smell of disinfectant, rice, and the burnt note from Su Team's coffee."

Su Ming lifted his eyes.

"Say that again?"

Jiang Yuan lowered his head and ate his rice.

"I have no additional comments."

Qin Zhixia's temples twitched.

She originally didn't want to explain.

Liang Wen had already struck a pose of refusing to eat his meal until he'd finished chewing the melon.

What's worse, several nearby tables already had people slowing their eating pace.

A new trainee walked by holding a soup bowl, his steps absurdly slow.

Qin Zhixia lifted her eyes and glanced over.

The trainee immediately sped up, spilling soup all the way.

Liang Wen lowered his voice, his tone becoming even more exaggerated.

"Qin Team, you've gone silent."

"Silence means consent."

"Consent means the story is long."

"A long story means there's a backstory to catch up on."

Qin Zhixia could no longer tolerate it.

She set her chopsticks on the edge of the plate.

The crisp clatter silenced the whole table for half a beat.

"Alright."

Liang Wen's spirit surged.

"Please begin your statement."

Qin Zhixia looked at him, her tone crisp.

"Chu Che, Qiu Ce Yuan physician."

Liang Wen nodded.

"I've already got this."

Qin Zhixia continued.

"He was also my former blind‑date match."

Pat—.

Jiang Yuan's chopsticks fell onto the table.

The piece of braised pork rolled half a circle and stopped at the edge of the rice.

Jiang Yuan sat up straight, his pupils trembling as if contaminated by a high‑risk rule.

Su Ming finally lifted his head.

He glanced at Qin Zhixia, then at Chu Che.

Then he lowered his head and picked up a leaf of greens.

His spectator posture was extremely professional.

Liang Wen remained silent for a full three seconds.

Three seconds later, he sprang half his body up from the chair.

"What?"

Several tables in the Cafeteria turned their heads at once.

Qin Zhixia said coldly, "If you raise your voice any louder, the broadcast room won't need repairs."

Liang Wen immediately sat back down.

But his spirit had already popped champagne right there.

"Blind‑date match?"

He stretched his hand and drew a circle between Qin Zhixia and Chu Che.

"You two?"

"Iceberg War God Qin Zhixia, White‑Coat Medical Saint Chu Che?"

"Put this duo in a dating variety show and they'd dominate the rankings in the first episode."

Jiang Yuan bent down to pick up the chopsticks, his movement stiff.

"Qin Team, sorry, I didn't hear it on purpose."

Su Ming coolly added a cutting remark.

"Your chopsticks fell and the whole Cafeteria heard it."

Jiang Yuan shook his head and smiled.

Chu Che handed over a spare pair of chopsticks.

"Use these. The floor was just disinfected, but I wouldn't recommend challenging your stomach directly."

Jiang Yuan took them and thanked earnestly.

Liang Wen wasn't finished yet.

He crossed his hands under his chin, entering full interrogation mode.

"May I ask where the first meeting place is?"

Qin Zhixia: "Shut up."

"Who arrived first?"

"Shut up."

"Have you eaten?"

"Liang Wen."

"To what extent are we chatting?"

"Do you want to be burned by Ignorance?"

Liang Wen immediately shifted his chair toward Chu Che.

"Dr. Chu, save me; a physician's benevolent heart."

Chu Che smiled faintly at the plate, not rushing to reply.

His calm actually spurred Liang Wen on even more.

"Dr. Chu."

Liang Wen shifted his fire.

"I'm not the one blaming you; the opportunity was handed to you, why didn't you seize it?"

He pounded the table in anguish.

"Such a fierce Iceberg War God—cold outside, firm inside, left mechanical prosthetic, right‑hand Investigation Bureau clearance, combat power maxed, emotional value also rare."

"Back then, if you had taken even half a step forward, now kids of all ages would be reciting the Strange Rule handbook."

Qin Zhixia lifted her mechanical hand.

Click—.

The five silver-white fingers moved a little.

Liang Wen immediately changed wording.

"Of course, I'm just conducting a harmless discussion from a literary creation perspective."

Su Ming slowly sipped coffee.

"Continue, I love listening."

Qin Zhixia gave him a sideways glance.

Su Ming's expression remained unchanged.

"Post-war psychological counseling, reasonable recreation."

Jiang Yuan endured and endured, but still couldn't help asking softly.

"Qin Team, how did that blind date go...?"

After asking, he regretted it.

He even wanted to stuff himself into the plate.

Qin Zhixia stared at him.

Jiang Yuan sat up straighter.

"I withdraw the question."

Chu Che finally spoke up.

"Actually, it wasn't a failure."

Everyone's gaze fell on him.

Chu Che pushed his Gold Thread Glasses, his motion unhurried.

"That day, Zhixia spent twenty-seven minutes verifying my professional resume, family background, recent schedule, and financial status."

Liang Wen's eyes shone brighter.

"What a partner, turning the blind-date session into an interrogation?"

Chu Che nodded.

"From a professional perspective, the process was rigorous, the pace clear, and the questions flowed naturally."

He looked at Qin Zhixia, his tone gentle.

"If the waiter hadn't brought the food, I suspect Zhixia would have prepared to ask about my college scholarship details."

Qin Zhixia's expression was blank.

"Your answers were also smooth."

Chu Che said softly: "Because I indeed have."

Liang Wen slapped his thigh.

"It's over, this is a clash of masters."

He turned his head to look at Su Ming.

"Do you understand? Back then, they weren't on a blind date; it was mutual counter-espionage."

Su Ming's comment was quite fair.

"It sounds more respectable than your remarriage blind date."

Liang Wen was furious.

"My blind date was also respectable!"

Su Ming: "You opened by asking the young lady if she was willing to become a dark heiress princess."

Jiang Yuan froze.

"Liang Team, did you really ask that?"

Liang Wen coughed lightly.

"That's called a distinctive self-introduction."

Su Ming: "They called the police ten minutes later."

Liang Wen emphasized: "She misunderstood that I had escaped from a mental rehabilitation center."

Qin Zhixia lifted the soup bowl, her shoulder moving slightly.

Chu Che's eyes also showed a smile.

He looked at Liang Wen, delivering the finishing blow slowly and deliberately.

"Liang Team, actually you don't need to be too disheartened."

Liang Wen became alert.

"I feel like you're going to attack me."

Chu Che's tone was very serious.

"From a medical perspective, your desire to express is strong, your emotional output stable, your resilience strong, and you have a tendency to continually maintain your self-image."

Liang Wen listened, bewildered.

"Is this praising me?"

Chu Che nodded.

"Of course."

Liang Wen was about to feel proud.

Chu Che completed the second half of the sentence.

"Such patients, as long as they are willing to cooperate, still have clinical observational value in their probability of becoming single."

Jiang Yuan couldn't hold back, lowering his head and letting out a laugh.

Su Ming turned his head directly aside, and his shoulder twitched.

Qin Zhixia couldn't hold back either.

She blocked the lower lip with her right hand, the mechanical prosthetic lightly hooked the chair edge under the table, and the metal joint emitted a faint clack.

Liang Wen's eyes widened.

"Patient?"

Chu Che calmly picked up his chopsticks.

"Sorry, it's a professional habit."

Liang Wen covered his chest.

"Su Ming, write it down."

Su Ming: "Write down what?"

"Dr. Chu, hidden sharp‑tongued support, danger rating at least A Ji."

Su Ming: "I suggest rating S, after all he can keep you silent for more than three seconds."

Jiang Yuan smiled again.

This time he couldn't suppress it.

He only realized after finishing his laugh, then hurriedly lifted his soup bowl to cover it.

Liang Wen pointed at Jiang Yuan.

"Shadow Lord, you've changed."

Jiang Yuan set down the soup bowl and corrected seriously.

"I just think Dr. Chu's wording is very precise."

Liang Wen was pained.

"You both have betrayed the Dark faction."

Qin Zhixia finally spoke.

"You weren't even in the faction to begin with; you're a mood pollutant."

Liang Wen covered (himself) even tighter.

"Qin Team, your words hurt more than ignorance itself."

Chu Che pushed the napkin to the center of the table.

"From the perspective of wound management, Liang Team needs not bandaging but reduced self‑exposure."

Liang Wen fell silent for a moment.

Then he picked up his chopsticks and scooped a big mouthful of rice.

"I choose to restore dignity with carbs."

The atmosphere at the table loosened.

It was strange.

The people seated at this table had only recently been fighting desperately with Gao Wei's gaze, Gospel Church, and Sai Men.

Someone almost died on the battlefield.

Someone crawled out of the ruins of the containment zone.

Someone still had sutures hanging on their body.

Yet in this noisy Cafeteria, they actually laughed about an old blind‑date incident and a 38‑yuan piece of braised pork.

This lightness came very briefly.

So brief it was like a newly lit match that goes out with a gust of wind.

Qin Zhixia picked up that slightly tough braised pork and finally took a bite.

Salty.

A bit woody.

But edible.

She chewed a few times and suddenly spoke.

"After that blind date, I looked him up."

"Found no issues."

"But I still doubted him."

Chu Che paused his chopsticks, and the pad of his finger brushed lightly over the rim of the cup.

"Ha ha... it seems a too‑clean résumé will also be suspected."

Su Ming said nothing.

Jiang Yuan also fell silent.

The rice Liang Wen had just shoved into his mouth suddenly lost its fragrance.

Qin Zhixia did not evade.

"In this era, people who are too clean are harder to judge than those covered in stains."

Chu Che nodded.

"Reasonable."

He gave no explanation, no rebuttal, and simply caught the sentence with a very steady tone.

"People who have worked in hospitals for a long time also have similar experiences. If a patient's all indicators are normal yet claims to feel unwell, a doctor cannot, just because the report looks good, let him go home to wait for death."

He lifted his hand and pushed his glasses.

"The system can prove many things, but it cannot make judgments for a person."

Qin Zhixia looked at him for a long time.

That's absolutely right.

So right that she couldn't refute.

Liang Wen looked at this and that, muttering softly.

"Did you also chat like that when you went on a blind date? No wonder it didn't work out; normal people would start writing their will after hearing that."

Su Ming took the last piece of meat.

"You don't need to write; nobody would accept it."

Liang Wen: "Su Ming, your mouth will sooner or later be punished by the rules."

Su Ming: "Get in line; there are many things wanting to punish me."

Jiang Yuan ate the braised pork that Chu Che had given him, then gave a serious evaluation.

"Dr. Chu, thanks, the taste is still okay."

Su Ming looked at him.

"Your standard for 'okay' is too lenient."

Jiang Yuan thought for a moment.

"At least it truly exists."

After that sentence fell, the whole table fell silent for half a second.

Then Liang Wen burst out with an unstoppable laugh.

Jiang Yuan, you're increasingly having a philosopher's demeanor.

Chu Che also laughed lightly.

"Post-war cafeteria existentialism."

Qin Zhixia lowered her head to drink soup; the fatigue in her eyes was covered by the steam.

Outside on the playground, the new trainees were still running laps.

Some shouted they were tired, some cursed the street, some stumbled while helping companions forward.

Outside the broken wall, the construction crane slowly turned; the metal friction sound transmitted into the cafeteria, but was drowned out by people's voices.

The human world is very noisy.

And also rare.

Su Ming put down his chopsticks.

This time, he didn't respond to Liang Wen's words, nor did he continue complaining about prices.

He wiped his hands with a tissue, the motion clean and neat.

The ease at the table was cut into a fine gap by his pause.

Liang Wen was about to speak, but seeing Su Ming's expression, he swallowed his words back.

Jiang Yuan also sat up straighter.

Qin Zhixia sensed the atmosphere change, and turned her gaze toward Su Ming.

Chu Che lifted his eyes; the expression behind his lenses remained warm and moist.

Su Ming looked at him.

That earlier laxness disappeared completely.

He spoke, his tone pressed low, yet crystal clear.

"Dr. Chu, actually there's something; I owe you an explanation."