The door opened, revealing a woman with a neat, short haircut and a mole on her left jaw that was said to be a Beauty's mark.
"That's your cousin auntie, call her quick," Sun Rongfang hinted to her daughter with a nudge.
"Cousin auntie," Xie Wanying murmured softly.
"Come in," Zhou Ruomei invited them inside, heading back to the living room herself.
Sun Rongfang followed her cousin sister into the house and helped her close the door.
"Remember to change into slippers," reminded Zhou Ruomei.
After putting on the house slippers at the entrance, Sun Rongfang smiled at her cousin sister, "Your slippers are really beautiful."
Zhou Ruomei, flattered by her cousin sister's compliment, laughed, "They brought them back from abroad."
"Slippers from abroad?" Sun Rongfang took a closer look at the slippers she was wearing.
"Mom, let's go sit down," Xie Wanying tugged at her mother.
Sun Rongfang, unbothered by the slippers, took the opportunity to instruct her daughter, "Learn from your cousin auntie well, and in future, let someone gift you things from abroad too."
Zhou Ruomei couldn't stop smiling and when she asked them to take a seat, she said to her cousin, "Help yourself to the tea canisters under the coffee table. Whatever you want to drink, serve yourself. I've got every type of tea here—foreign black tea, domestic Tieguanyin, Longjing from the West Lake; it's all there, see for yourself."
Hearing her cousin sister say this, Sun Rongfang was delighted and hurried to fill the kettle at the sink, eager to make tea.
Xie Wanying found a small stool to sit on, clasping her school bag on her lap.
Zhou Ruomei across from her surreptitiously sized up her features.
Sun Rongfang returned with the filled kettle, asking her cousin sister, "Where's your husband?"
"He's in the room reading," Zhou Ruomei replied.
Sun Rongfang voiced her request, "I was hoping Yingying could get some advice from your husband. Yingying says she's thinking of studying to become a surgeon."
"Surgery?" Zhou Ruomei was seemingly taken aback, "Does she want to study medicine?"
"Yes. Didn't I tell you over the phone? When Yingying graduates, you'll help her find a way to stay at your hospital."
"It's tough to stay in our hospital now. These days, the educational qualifications for doctors are getting higher. In our hospital, in a few years, they probably won't accept undergraduates anymore; they'll only want postgraduate degrees. I'm afraid she won't make it in time."
Hearing her cousin sister say this, Sun Rongfang grew anxious, "You mean you can't even introduce Yingying to a position at your hospital?"
"How could I? If you're capable, go make acquaintances with the hospital director. But the son of our hospital director has already married and had children; there's no chance for that," Zhou Ruomei chuckled.
Agitated, Sun Rongfang asked, "Cousin sister, surely there's something you can do?"
"There's one way. Unless Yingying gets in on her own merit," Zhou Ruomei casually suggested, "Let's see how Yingying does on her college entrance exams, no rush. We don't even know her situation yet."
"Her teacher said she's doing well. She ranked within the top hundred in the city for all three mock exams."
"So what if she's among the best in the city? When my son took the exam for Zhongshan Medical, he was one of the top three hundred in the province and got into the clinical medicine course. If Yingying wants to study medicine, don't bother unless she can get into Zhongshan Medical within the province. Without it, her degree will be worthless. People will think she's incompetent. The top hospitals in the province only hire graduates from Zhongshan Medical. Do you really want your daughter to end up as a health worker in a county-level clinic?"
After hearing all this, Sun Rongfang was stunned: if this was the case, should her daughter even bother applying for medical school?
"Last year, the lowest score to be admitted into the clinical medicine program at Zhongshan Medical University was for students who ranked within the top two thousand in the province. Your Yingying definitely won't be able to get in," declared Zhou Ruomei.
"So, cousin sister, do you mean your daughter got in because—"