Lu Kuo

Biodata

Background / History

Lu Kuo grew up with his parents, unlike his younger brother, Lu Heng, who went missing as a child. Interested in medicine since childhood, Lu Kuo had no intention of inheriting the family business. The family eventually recovered Lu Heng and cultivated his business talents instead 10.

His parents treat him with greater warmth than they show Lu Heng. Their concern that Lu Kuo should marry someone he actually likes contrasts with the marriage forced on his younger brother. Lu Kuo recognizes that the Lu and Xia families wronged Lu Heng, but admits that his own absorption in hospital work left him poorly informed about events at home 10 16.

At twenty-nine, Lu Kuo has little interest in romance and little time to date. He allows his grandmother to arrange introductions, despite plans to pursue further studies abroad the following year 10.

Appearance

• Facial features: Handsome, with a refined smile 9.
• Glasses: Wears gold-rimmed glasses 9.
• First impression: Xia Zhi finds his appearance suggestive of a “cultured scoundrel,” but considers his smile upright and immediately likable 9.
• Expression: His warm smile is contrasted with Lu Heng’s colder, more restrained manner 28.

Personality

Lu Kuo is playful and irreverent around his family, particularly with Lu Heng. Teasing his younger brother is one of his favorite amusements, and he readily turns the couple’s awkward exchanges into suggestive jokes. His grandmother notes that this liveliness does not always extend to outsiders, with whom he can struggle to sustain a conversation 11 16 27 28.

He is openly confident about his looks and accomplishments. When Xia Zhi praises him before his blind date, he replies that he already knows; when reviewing a photograph, he credits the attractive subject rather than the photographer 28 29.

Beneath the joking, Lu Kuo cares about his brother’s treatment and happiness. He challenges their mother’s interference in Lu Heng’s company and acknowledges the family’s debt to him. He also draws a firm line over possible infidelity: although willing to trust Xia Zhi, he warns her that he does not want Lu Heng hurt 11 16 19 33.

His manner changes sharply when medical work demands his attention. During an emergency call, his usual casualness gives way to rapid instructions and a seriousness that Xia Zhi finds authoritative and reassuring 31.

Abilities & Skills

Surgery and Patient Care

• Performs three surgeries before his blind date, leaving him without time for lunch 28.
• Returns to the hospital when an emergency operation is added unexpectedly, giving instructions by phone during the journey 31.
• Remains responsible for ward patients alongside his surgical duties 38 39.

Medical Study and Medicines

• Studies late into the night while preparing an important paper 15.
• Keeps an extensive collection of medicines in a dedicated room at the family residence 15.
• Supplies Lu Heng with ointment for Xia Zhi’s injuries, describing it as effective for scratches, scrapes, and tears without leaving scars 16.

Equipment / Items

• Medicine room: Occupies an entire room in his courtyard. Its extensive stock is arranged haphazardly enough to make finding a specific medicine difficult 15 16.
• Car: Temporarily left with Xia Zhi after he is called back to the hospital; she later returns the keys 31 32 39.
• Hospital wardrobe: Holds clothing and personal belongings in a shared break room. He usually uses the bottom bunk, though the beds are used in rotation 38.

Relationships

• Lu Heng — Younger brother. Lu Kuo regrets neglecting him during the family’s earlier mistreatment, supports his authority over the company, and welcomes signs that his marriage is improving. His affection coexists with persistent teasing 11 16 27.
• Xia Zhi — Sister-in-law. He offers her practical help and comes to believe that she deeply loves Lu Heng after she argues for better treatment of him. She later serves as his wingwoman on his first blind date 9 19 28.
• Ji Qinghe — Blind-date partner chosen through the family’s matchmaking arrangements. Their first meeting is awkward, but they exchange WeChat contacts, and Lu Kuo later says he would not mind asking her out again 29 30 39.
• Old Madam Lu — Grandmother. He trusts her judgment enough to let her arrange marriage introductions; she recruits Xia Zhi to keep his date conversation from falling flat 10 28.
• Mrs. Lu (Zhao Xiaohui) — Mother. She prioritizes his preferences in marriage, but he opposes her attempt to pressure Lu Heng into hiring their relative Taozi 10 11 12.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Family Dinner and Lu Heng’s Treatment

Lu Kuo first meets the transmigrated Xia Zhi when she becomes lost looking for a bathroom at the Lu residence. He offers to guide her, but Lu Heng intervenes and takes over. During the subsequent family gathering, Old Madam Lu raises Lu Kuo’s marriage prospects and arranges an introduction to the Ji family’s second daughter 9 10.

The gathering exposes the difference between the brothers’ treatment. When their mother presses Lu Heng to give Taozi a company position and dismisses his grief over his adoptive parents, Lu Kuo tells her to stop meddling in a business already entrusted to Lu Heng. He remains uneasy even after Lu Heng agrees to the request 11 12.

Recognizing the Couple’s Changing Relationship

Lu Heng’s late-night request for the best injury medicine convinces Lu Kuo that his brother has begun caring about Xia Zhi. He supplies the ointment while teasing Lu Heng about the supposed intimacy behind her injuries 15 16.

Afterward, Xia Zhi urges him to persuade their parents to value Lu Heng before their neglect permanently alienates him. Lu Kuo agrees that the family has let his brother down. Interpreting her concern as profound romantic devotion, he feels a little envious and wonders whether anyone will ever love him as deeply 19.

Blind Date with Ji Qinghe

At his grandmother’s request, Lu Kuo brings Xia Zhi along to help with his first blind date. Ji Qinghe is late, and he starts eating because he has missed lunch after performing three surgeries. He also sends photographs to Lu Heng and takes Xia Zhi’s phone to tell his brother to stop interrupting their meal. The photographs prompt Lu Heng to rearrange his business trip and return early 28 29.

The date begins poorly: Lu Kuo eats while Xia Zhi and Ji Qinghe converse, and Ji Qinghe later refuses to speak to him until she has finished her own meal. With Xia Zhi’s encouragement, he eventually asks to add Ji Qinghe on WeChat. An emergency surgery then cuts short the journey home 29 30 31.

Warning About the Circulating Photographs

After photographs of Xia Zhi with Fu Ting’an spread through their social circle, Lu Kuo calls to warn her that Lu Heng may have seen them. He gives her the benefit of the doubt but insists that she explain the situation and end any affair if one exists. His concern is explicitly for Lu Heng’s well-being 33.

Xia Zhi’s Hair-Collection Mission

Xia Zhi later visits the hospital with Lu Heng, ostensibly to return Lu Kuo’s car, while secretly seeking one of his hairs for a system task. Her inspection of his break room and wardrobe leaves him baffled. When she lunges toward him, she explains her behavior by claiming to have spotted a gray hair 38.

Lu Heng plucks out hairs himself, allowing Xia Zhi to collect them and complete her mission. During the same visit, Lu Kuo says Ji Qinghe differs from the usual wealthy heiresses and that he would consider another date. After the couple leaves, he checks his reflection for gray hairs before returning to his patients 39.