System Only Gives Me Useless Gifts

"Mr. Qi's son is a vet, you're a doctor, it's a good match," Mi Xuan's father said over the phone. "You're already 26, what are you going to do once you're an attending? You'll be too old to start dating. It will be better if you start now."

"I'm not old."

"Of course you're not, but you're a doctor, so you should know better than anyone else that this is the best time for a woman to start a family. Every year you hold off on marriage for your so-called career will make pregnancy much more difficult. Think about how harmful it is for a child's development."

"I know dad, but it's even more damaging if I enter a relationship that's doomed to fail."

"What's wrong with Qi Sho? He has a stable job and you have known him since he's a kid."

"Dad, how many times do I have to tell you?" Mi Xuan sounded exasperated; she expected the conversation from her mother. "I know him, so that's why we are unsuitable. I have always seen him as a brat and he's younger than me."

"He's 24, more than old enough to start a family. Mi Xuan, you got to think of your future. Who's going to look after you when you're old?"

"Dad, I have to go, patient's waiting," Mi Xuan hung up and wanted to knock her head on the wall. Why was it so difficult to live life the way she wanted to? This was the same person that didn't allow her to date in college, and now suddenly, there was a rush to start a family.

"Are you okay Mi Xuan?" Yang Kang asked as he passed by her in the hallway.

Mi Xuan nodded and dragged Yang Kang toward their next rotation. Yang Kang noticed that Mi Xuan had been acting strange the entire day. Although he didn't hear the whole conversation, he knew that it was probably her family pressuring her to marry. As a guy, there was still the pressure of marriage, but it was much harder for women as their biological clock was shorter.

"Why don't you just give it a shot?" Asked Yang Kang during their dinner break. "It would get them off your back for a while, and if it doesn't work out, just break it off."

Mi Xuan responded with an exasperated growl. "Do I have to seriously date that guy?"

"What guy? It sounds like you know him," Lui Jing asked when he saw them approaching. He was already with An Luchang and Li Yun. Although Li Yun was technically an attending, he still needed to attend some rotations to different departments for the experience.

"Some brat from high school," Mi Xuan replied.

"Ooh, a younger man," Yang Kang wondered who it was.

Mi Xuan shook her head in annoyance. Doctors and nurses were a chatty bunch, especially when they were waiting for the attending to arrive.

"Hey, why don't you tell your parents you're already dating?" asked An Luchang.

"Seriously, are you watching too many dramas?" asked Yang Kang. Yang Kang moved his mouth around as he thought about the feasibility of the idea. "It would help to delay a bit, but you're going to have trouble convincing your parents that since it is too coincidental. They will figure it out."

"You should help her out," Lui Jing looked to Yang Kang.

"Her parents already know me," said Yang Kang. "Although they don't know about my preference, I'm sure they suspect it."

"Why don't you call Qi Sho and make up an agreement to have a pretend relationship?" Li Yun suggested.

"Ooh, boss, that's another good drama plot right there," Yang Kang said as he gave him two thumbs up.

Mi Xuan tapped the chair for a moment to consider the idea. If they have an agreement beforehand, it wouldn't be as awkward. She already had his number, so it was easy for her to propose the idea.

"It's worth a try," Mi Xuan shrugged and decided to type out the message to Qi Sho.

Li Yun wasn't a relationship expert, but he could tell that Qi Sho had a crush on Mi Xuan. As for Mi Xuan, she genuinely did not like the idea of being with Qi Sho, but it seemed like it was a different sort of issue stemming from age and familiarity. But she cared for him to some extent to look after him after his accident. It could be that she had never been in a relationship before, and it was awkward for her to begin one.

After the rotation, Li Yun's phone rang, and looked at his schedule for the following week. He clicked his tongue in annoyance and headed to Chief Lim's office.

"Why am I assigned to be an interviewer?" Li Yun asked Chief Lim as he entered the office. According to the email, he was assigned to the second day of the interview. 

"Not even a hello?" Chief Lim stopped midway through drafting and email and looked at the intruder.

Li Yun quickly placed his feet together and saluted her, "Ma'am I'm busy in two weeks. Please don't tell me I'm a replacement for Chief Gao."

"Don't worry, Chief Gao couldn't escape this even if he wanted to. The vice director decided to take a vacation that week, so Chief Zhang wanted to have your input on the new batch of residents for next year."

Li Yun's head raised toward the ceiling, feeling tired of anything that wasn't related to surgery or patient care. Bufu had already dragged him into RSVPing their high school reunion.

"Why are you forming Doctor Hao's habit?" Chief Lim had to drag Doctor Hao into staff meetings and constantly berated him for missing paperwork.

"Why doesn't Doctor Hao get assigned these things?" Li Yun asked.

"Because I have seniority," Doctor Hao responded as he walked by the office.

"You're the replacement for day one buddy, no seniority there," Chief Lim responded.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Doctor Hao eyes looked around innocently.

"Just because you don't check your email, doesn't mean you can get out of this one. You've been verbally assigned Doctor Hao."

Doctor Hao gritted his teeth.

Li Yun checked his watch, it was still early before the 2nd shift. "Why are you here so early?" He asked Doctor Hao.

"I need a favor from you," Doctor Hao said.

It was rare for Doctor Hao to request a favor, so Li Yun wondered what it was. After their failed attempt to get out of the interviewing assignment, Li Yun walked to the ER with Doctor Hao.

"A friend of mine has an old injury, I don't know if this is something you can perform at your clinic," Doctor Hao asked.

Li Yun had heard rumors that Doctor Hao used to deal with the triad, so he wondered if the friend also had that sort of connection. He set up the clinic to study TCM, not to deal with shady underground people."Did he do anything illegal?"

"I wouldn't recommend anyone to you who's too dangerous. He's long retired. He really dislikes hospitals. He's in town to visit, and he looks pretty bad. I asked him to come in and let me perform some checkup, but he still refuses. He only got to TCM clinics for his illness. "

"Are you sure he's not avoiding some sort of authority?"

"Give it a break, he's harmless. He was just someone who took care of bookkeeping for those people. Nothing too dangerous, okay?"

"Bookkeeper? I don't like the sound of that. It sounds worse than an assassin."

"Are you going to look at him or not?"

"If you take him to the clinic during the afternoon on the weekends, I'll take a look at him," Li Yun replied.