15 Chapter 15 A well-defined hand had already appeared before him

Su Nian noticed Xie Jingqiu's assistant twisting open a bottle of mineral water, as though intending to use it to rinse the wound, her brow furrowing tightly.

Originally, Su Nian hadn't wanted to get involved…

But driven by her medical instincts, Su Nian still took a deep breath and walked over, restraining the hand that Xie Jingqiu's assistant was using to hold the water bottle.

Xie Jingqiu looked up, and Su Nian's delicate, fair face was reflected in his deep, dark pupils.

As their eyes met, Xie Jingqiu's features carried the inscrutability of years honed in the business world, his imposing presence overwhelming, causing Su Nian's heart to skip lightly.

"Do you have iodine?" Su Nian averted her gaze, asking Xie Jingqiu's assistant.

The assistant snapped back to reality and nodded fervently. He recognized Su Nian since he had seen this doctor stitching a child's wound in the emergency hall at noon today, where she stood out in the hospital for her beauty… hence, he remembered her.

"Yes, yes, yes! I just bought some from the pharmacy…" The assistant opened the plastic bag bearing the pharmacy's name, showing Su Nian to check if anything was missing, "I thought of washing off the bloodstains with water first, then disinfecting with iodine. Cotton balls, tweezers… gauze, I've bought them all, please see if there's anything missing, I'll go buy it!"

The assistant had indeed bought a pretty comprehensive set, Su Nian pinched the cotton ball soaked in iodine and bent down to help Jingqiu clean the blood around the wound.

She supported Xie Jingqiu's arm with one hand, while with the other she pinched the iodine-soaked cotton ball to clean his wound.

Su Nian's soft, gentle hand rested on Xie Jingqiu's strong, muscular wrist—at times even feeling the steady pulse of his heartbeat.

Xie Jingqiu's shirt was undone for a few buttons because the movement at the time… left his collar quite open, and Su Nian found it hard not to notice the firm, well-defined chest muscles of Xie Jingqiu.

With the two of them so close, the serene fragrance from Su Nian wafted into Xie Jingqiu's nostrils in waves, and Xie Jingqiu looked up…

Su Nian's delicate, curled eyelashes lowered, her attention focused neatly on his wound, her movements crisp and professional.

After dressing the wound, Su Nian, with the assistant's help, washed her hands beneath a tree using mineral water, while Xie Jingqiu put a cigarette to his lips, rolled down his shirt sleeves, and covered the gauze on his arm.

As Su Nian straightened up, she was met with a hand featuring distinct knuckles, holding a handkerchief in its palm.

"Thank you," Su Nian said, accepting the handkerchief Xie Jingqiu handed her to wipe her hands.

Then she watched as Xie Jingqiu donned the suit jacket he had hanging on his forearm, with the cigarette still between his fine lips, the white smoke blurring his facial expressions.

He meticulously adjusted his cuffs with graceful, steadied moves, while Su Nian too, kept her head down, wiping her delicate hands.

The sky, at some point, had begun to drizzle fine rain, casting a dreamy, dusk-yellow hue from street lamps, making the distance between Su Nian and Xie Jingqiu seem especially hazy.

After Su Nian finished wiping her hands, she felt somewhat uneasy, not knowing whether she should return the handkerchief.

After all… she had dirtied it.

Su Nian looked up and said to Xie Jingqiu, "The handkerchief, I've soiled it, I'll compensate you with a new one…"

Xie Jingqiu, biting on his cigarette, gazed at Su Nian, his voice deep and steady, "No need."

Xie Jingqiu's assistant, with good tact, stepped forward to take the handkerchief from Su Nian's hands and then retreated to the side.

Following her medical instinct, Su Nian still admonished Xie Jingqiu, "This is only a temporary treatment of the wound. You should still go to a hospital tomorrow to change the dressing, and for a while, you definitely must not get it wet."