Chapter 10

“Ah…” There was a stunned pause of a few seconds on the other end of the line.

Lin Qimian wasn’t in any rush. She waited quietly.

Even as the scorching heatwave battered her, she had more than enough patience.

After some muffled, sticky mumbling, a few words finally bubbled up from the phone: “Doctor… Lin?”

“Yes,” Lin Qimian replied. “Doctor Lin, the one who pulled your tooth.”

The voice on the other end softened instantly, sounding for all the world like it was wheedling: “Doctor Lin, my face is so swollen I can’t open my mouth. I’ve been living on porridge for two days—it’s all soupy mush. I’m starving…”

Hearing that description put Lin Qimian’s mind at ease.

No one came out of oral surgery without going hungry.

“Any other symptoms?” Lin Qimian asked.

“Sometimes I get a low fever, around 37.5. It goes down after I take some medicine,” Xu Yueliang said.

Lin Qimian asked knowingly, “Have you been resting properly these past couple of days?”

“No choice but to rest…” Xu Yueliang’s voice grew mournful at the thought. “Doctor Lin, I’m so swollen. I look so ugly…”

She paused, then her voice pitched up a little: “Doctor Lin, we’re both on WeChat, right? I added you—do you remember? My WeChat name is Jiaojiao, like the ‘jiao’ in bright moon.”

“Mm-hmm,” Lin Qimian acknowledged.

Xu Yueliang probed cautiously: “Can I send you a photo on WeChat? I’m really swollen…”

“Sure, go ahead,” Lin Qimian said.

She was handling this strictly as a professional matter. Everyone recovered differently after surgery, and if the inflammation was too severe, it needed prompt intervention.

After a string of thank-yous, Xu Yueliang hung up. The WeChat account that had been silent for days finally lit up with a new red notification dot.

A selfie from Xu Yueliang.

Her face was swollen halfway down to her neck, just like that internet meme of “the puppy stung by a bee.”

Lin Qimian’s heart clenched. She frowned and, without further delay, sent over a voice message.

“Come to the hospital. You need an IV.”

Xu Yueliang replied almost instantly: 【Oh oh oh, okay okay.】

Lin Qimian headed downstairs. When she reached her floor again, she ran into Peng Xiaoshuai.

They were on the same floor in the same department, so bumping into each other was normal enough. But this wasn’t a casual colleague nod-and-go. No, he had to steal a glance at her, then quickly look away. That was anything but normal.

Peng Xiaoshuai had already passed her and was walking backward.

Lin Qimian halted, staring at him. Just before he stepped into the elevator, his eyes flicked slyly her way.

Caught red-handed.

Peng Xiaoshuai’s gaze darted wildly. Lin Qimian smirked mockingly.

She turned and continued on her way, pulling out her phone to message Xu Yueliang: 【Has anyone else from the hospital called you these past couple days?】

Xu Yueliang’s reply was frank and direct: 【Yes.】

-【It was a guy. Called after hours, didn’t give his name.】

-【I thought it was a data leak and some scammer… so I hung up.】

-【Doctor Lin, he isn’t really a doctor from your hospital, is he???!!!】

-【Pitiful kitty pitiful kitty pitiful kitty.gif】

-【Wahhh Doctor Lin, I didn’t mean to. Our company’s been doing all this anti-scam training lately, and I… I just got carried away…】

Lin Qimian chuckled.

She couldn’t laugh too loudly in the hospital, so her chest shook with suppressed mirth.

Then she replied with perfect righteousness:

-【Good call.】

-【Total scammer.】

Xu Yueliang: 【Whoa!!!】

-【I’m awesome!!!】

-【I knew it! Who calls off-hours to check on my wound or ask if I was scared during surgery…】

Lin Qimian arched a brow. Xu Yueliang’s typing indicator flickered on and off before a reluctant message finally popped up: 【Except for Doctor Lin.】

Lin Qimian: “…”

Xu Yueliang unleashed a barrage of good-person cards: 【Doctor Lin is the best! I’m so lucky to have run into Doctor Lin!!!】

“Teacher!” Zhenzhen nearly crashed right into Lin Qimian.

Lin Qimian snapped back to reality and realized she’d reached the clinic room door. Zhenzhen was holding her insulated cup, a single red jujube bobbing on the surface of the water.

Lin Qimian stepped back, putting some distance between them.

Zhenzhen clutched the cup with both hands, her face paling in fright. “Phew, good thing I didn’t spill it on you.”

“It’s fine,” Lin Qimian said.

She brushed past Zhenzhen and walked inside, lowering her head to message Xu Yueliang: 【Call me when you’re close. Park at the side door where I dropped you off last time.】

Xu Yueliang: 【You really went out of your way to see me off last time…】

Lin Qimian: “…”

“Teacher!” Zhenzhen called again.

“Hmm?” Lin Qimian responded absentmindedly.

Zhenzhen doubled back, leaning in to peer at her. “The message I sent you—you haven’t replied yet.”

“Oh, really?” Lin Qimian glanced at the notification icons on her phone without switching away from her current screen. “What did it say?”

Zhenzhen said, “Professor Wu asked if you have time this afternoon. He wants to come in for a checkup on his teeth, but he might be a little late.”

“Oh, no,” Lin Qimian replied.

“????”

Lin Qimian slipped her phone into her pocket. “I’ve got a walk-in patient here who’ll take a while. Have him come tomorrow instead.”

“But Teacher,” Zhenzhen said, “you’re off the next couple of days.”

“Am I?” Lin Qimian tilted her head. “Well, no helping it then. He’ll have to come on a weekday.”

“Oh.”

She pointed at the item in her hand. “I’ll just add a few things and be right back—one minute!”

“No rush,” Lin Qimian said.

She pulled open a drawer and took out a face mask. “Once you’re done, just come sit in the clinic room. Give me a call if anything comes up.”

“????”

Zhenzhen was completely baffled.

Doctor Lin had a patient one moment and none the next; she was stuck at the hospital forever one second, ready to leave the next.

She was right there, yet somehow not; talking to her, yet acting as if Zhenzhen didn’t exist at all.

Her mind was a million miles away—strange and wondrous.

Zhenzhen studied Doctor Lin’s face intently. For the longest time, she’d seen it as perfect and eternal.

Now, that face—still as a winter lake—had developed faint cracks. Peering inside, she glimpsed gently flowing waters.

She must be happy.

Something worth anticipating was about to happen.

Zhenzhen decided she didn’t need to figure it out. The goddess’s business wasn’t hers to unravel.

All she had to do was be a good right-hand assistant. “You got it!” she replied brightly.

Lin Qimian checked the time and made a quick detour to the Infusion Room.

Youhai’s Infusion Room was well-equipped—clean and tidy, with places to sit or lie down, plus water dispensers and restrooms.

Lately, though, patients had filled nearly half the space. Men and women, young and old, all crammed together in the same room, making it perpetually noisy.

Wearing her white coat, Lin Qimian passed through the middle, drawing a full circuit of attention from nearly everyone.

Xu Yueliang would have gotten the same treatment.

It wasn’t that Lin Qimian was so famous everyone would notice her. Infusions were just deathly boring, and Xu Yueliang’s looks—even bare-faced and swollen—were impossible to ignore.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket. Lin Qimian answered the call.

Xu Yueliang’s voice was thick and garbled from her inability to open her mouth, but her bubbling excitement came through loud and clear.

“Doctor Lin! I’m here!”

Who knew why she was so thrilled about dragging her swollen face to the hospital for an IV.

Lin Qimian strode toward the exit, instructing her, “Don’t come in yet. Find somewhere cool to wait.”

Without questioning it, Xu Yueliang obeyed instantly. “Okay! I’ll head to the convenience store next door.”

Lin Qimian hung up and left the Comprehensive Building.

The sun blazed mercilessly, baking the ground in fierce heat.

She reached the Side Door and stepped into the convenience store.

Few people were inside, which made Xu Yueliang stand out all the more.

She wore a white baseball cap and a blue-and-white sailor-collar dress with a high waistline that accentuated her slender, endlessly long legs.

She looked like the youthful heroine straight out of a romance comic.

Lin Qimian gave her a few extra glances before walking over.

The moment she moved, Xu Yueliang turned her way. A large mask covered her face, but her eyes sparkled with irrepressible light.

“Doctor Lin…” she called softly, trotting up and tilting her head back to gaze at her with eager expectation.

“…Let’s go,” Lin Qimian said.

“Eh.” Xu Yueliang fell in step behind her.

Lin Qimian led her out of the store, through the Side Door, and off in another direction—farther and farther from the Comprehensive Building. Yet Xu Yueliang stayed utterly silent, as if she’d gone mute.

Lin Qimian glanced sideways at her, and Xu Yueliang immediately met her eyes.

Lin Qimian’s gaze drifted downward, and Xu Yueliang blinked rapidly. “Doctor Lin… want to see my face?”

“…”

Suggesting a face-check in this sweltering heat on the open road? Only she would think of it.

“No,” Lin Qimian replied, picking up her pace.

It wasn’t until they’d entered the New Building and the huge words “Inpatient Department” loomed right in Xu Yueliang’s face that she finally caught on. “Doctor Lin… do I have to be admitted?”

“You’re only asking now?” Lin Qimian said. “Your scam awareness could use some work.”

Xu Yueliang’s eyes drooped at once. Her eyes were naturally round, and with this dejected expression, she looked just like a pitiful puppy.

Those puppy-dog eyes brimmed with tears as she gazed at Lin Qimian, mumbling, “How did it… turn into hospitalization…”

“No hospital stay,” Lin Qimian said.

She was afraid that if she delayed her answer by even a second, the girl would dissolve into a blubbering mess.

“The Infusion Room over at the Comprehensive Building is packed, so I brought you here instead for the IV drip,” Lin Qimian explained. “I’ll take a look at you in a bit—it shouldn’t be anything serious. This is an anti-inflammatory med, stronger dose than pills, so it’ll work much better.”

“Oh, oh, okay.” Xu Yueliang piped up quickly, blinking back her tears.

Lin Qimian led her into the elevator, swiped her card, and they rode up to the top floor.

The place was spotlessly clean and bright, its brand-new light blue walls evoking the sea. Cool, comfortable air wafted from the central AC.

The hallway stood empty. Lin Qimian pushed open the door to a patient room and said, “Have a seat.”

Xu Yueliang stepped inside and plopped down on the sofa, her eyes wide. She sprang right back up.

Staring at the private bed, the en-suite bathroom, the sofa with its tea table, and the television, she asked in horror, “Doctor Lin, how much does a room like this cost?”