CHAPTER 298: CHAPTER 293: PHOENIX MAN

Upon seeing his daughter’s demeanor and hearing her words, Zhang Changfeng knew the matter was thorny—his daughter was obviously in deep love. Could he really make them break up? Besides, he didn’t want to be the villain in his daughter’s heart.

"What’s the situation with that boy? Tell Dad about him," Zhang Changfeng cautiously asked.

Seeing that her father wasn’t particularly opposed, Zhang Meng shyly began to list Ye Qiu’s strengths: "His name is Ye Qiu, he’s a classmate of mine. Dad, Ye Qiu is really incredible, he has always been the top student in our major in the exams, and this summer he was even introduced by Professor Wang from our college to intern at the Provincial Hospital! He’s the only one from our school who got this opportunity."

Upon hearing his daughter’s words, Zhang Changfeng was surprised. Being a doctor himself, who had fought hard over the years to successfully establish the first high-end private hospital in F City, he was very much aware of how outstanding a person must be to intern at the Provincial Hospital in their junior year of college. It seemed this young man did have some impressive qualities.

"What about his family background?" Zhang Changfeng inquired subconsciously.

To his surprise, Zhang Meng hesitated: "Dad, who asks about someone else’s family situation the first time they meet? We’ve just started dating; I don’t really know much about his family."

Zhang Changfeng had only asked casually, not expecting it to reveal an actual issue. He wasn’t someone who despised the poor and loved the rich; with the assets he had accumulated over decades, he could easily provide a comfortable life for his daughter in the future. However, he didn’t want someone to approach his daughter with ulterior motives because of wealth.

"Alright, alright, I won’t ask. But you can at least tell me who pursued who, right?"

"I pursued him," said Zhang Meng, her face turning red, but subconsciously omitting to mention that Ye Qiu had liked her first. "Dad, you’re not allowed to laugh at me. At first, Ye Qiu was really cold towards me; I had to pester him for a long time before I succeeded!"

After hearing this, although Zhang Changfeng knew that the other party wasn’t intentionally approaching his daughter for money, he was still quite displeased. His darling daughter that he had cherished and protected for twenty years, how could she belittle herself to chase after a man? She lacked discernment; his Mengmeng was so outstanding!

"Dad, I’m not going to talk about this anymore, okay? You should also rest early."

How difficult it is to keep a grown-up daughter at home! Zhang Changfeng sighed.

After Zhang Meng returned to her room, she continued texting Ye Qiu: "Ye Qiu, my dad knows about you now."

"I bet your dad really dislikes me, the man who’s stealing his daughter away."

"Not at all! My dad really admires you after hearing how outstanding you are." After sending this message, Zhang Meng felt somewhat guilty.

"If a man suddenly appeared and stole our daughter away, I would definitely be furious."

Their daughter?

Zhang Meng’s heart skipped a beat. Why did the topic suddenly switch to this? But considering how nice Ye Qiu’s temperament was, she found it hard to imagine him getting angry.

On the other end, Ye Qiu, having not received a reply from Zhang Meng for a while, guessed that she was probably feeling shy again. A slight smile appeared on his face as his fingers swiftly flew over his phone screen: "I’m going to make my rounds now, you should rest early, goodnight."

"Goodnight." After sending these two words, Zhang Meng buried her head under the blanket. What to do? Ye Qiu’s face completely filled her mind. If they had a daughter, what would she look like?

The two months of summer vacation passed in a flash, and during these months, Ye Qiu’s performance at the Provincial Hospital received a lot of praise. The vice president even made it clear that Ye Qiu was welcome to continue his internship whenever he had the time, which clearly indicated an intent to keep him at the hospital.

However, Ye Qiu had his own plans. This time, when he crossed over, he chose the Poison Scripture and Medicine Manual Skill from the System. The Poison Scripture and Medicine Manual contained many recipes for treating illnesses and saving lives, and he hoped to benefit the world with it.

After his senior year, Ye Qiu, in addition to completing his major, also minored in pharmacy. In just two years, he had earned the praise of the dean of that faculty, to the point where the dean of clinical medicine wanted to fight for him as a student. Eventually, Ye Qiu pursued a combined master’s and doctoral degree in pharmacy, which at the time caused quite a stir at the school.

"Ye Qiu, my dad wants to meet you." At this point, they had been dating for two years, but because of the high intensity of their studies, and their hometowns being far apart, they hadn’t yet met each other’s parents.

Zhang Changfeng happened to be coming to City A to attend a seminar and wanted to meet Ye Qiu upon hearing that he had given up clinical medicine to switch to pharmacy midway through his studies.

"I was negligent. I should have taken the initiative to meet with your uncle," Ye Qiu said with an apologetic smile, holding Zhang Meng’s hand. "When will your uncle come? I’ll go pick him up."

"Tomorrow’s flight, we’ll go together."

"Okay."

As soon as Zhang Changfeng got off the plane, he saw a tall and handsome young man next to his daughter, and he couldn’t help but internally praise his good looks. No wonder his daughter had taken the initiative to pursue him, but then he began to worry that such good looks might attract too much unwanted attention.

Ye Qiu didn’t know what he had done to displease his future father-in-law, but he carefully took his luggage and respectfully said, "Hello, uncle."

"Hmph!" Zhang Changfeng couldn’t hide his irritation. This youngster, still in school, and already seducing young girls, must be up to no good.

After picking him up, they went straight to rent a car and headed to a well-known local restaurant. The private room had already been booked, but the dishes were not yet decided, waiting for Zhang Changfeng to choose.

"You decide."

Zhang Changfeng didn’t order, so the waiter passed the menu to Zhang Meng who ordered four dishes and one soup, two of which were favorites of Ye Qiu, and two were favorites of Zhang Changfeng.

Seeing this, Ye Qiu took the menu and removed one of his favorite dishes, adding instead two dishes that Zhang Meng liked. Only then did Zhang Changfeng’s hitherto sullen face start to look better.

Being in a restaurant, there was a bit of a wait for the food, so Zhang Changfeng said to his daughter, "Go to the supermarket and buy a bottle of the juice I always drink."

"Dad, the supermarket is several minutes walk from here, and besides, the restaurant should have that kind of juice," Zhang Meng knew her father was deliberately sending her away, but she didn’t want to leave Ye Qiu to face any difficulties alone.

"If I tell you to go, just go. Are you not listening to me because I’m getting old?" Zhang Changfeng said, staring.

Ye Qiu secretly squeezed Zhang Meng’s hand under the table, signaling her not to worry, and she reluctantly left.

As soon as Zhang Meng left, the room suddenly became somewhat silent. Zhang Changfeng stared at Ye Qiu with a profound gaze, the wisdom of a successful man in his eyes.

"Uncle..." Ye Qiu started the conversation.

Apart from the two of them, no one knew what was discussed in those twenty minutes. When Zhang Meng returned, the tense atmosphere in the private room was gone, and the two men were conversing intimately like father and son about recent international medical achievements.