Lin Qimian couldn’t help but laugh.
Xu Yueliang’s expression was just too adorable.
Logically speaking, a big-time streamer like her shouldn’t be short on cash, but Xu Yueliang was dead serious about it—like if Lin Qimian named a price, she’d slam the door in her face and bolt right then and there.
“No charge,” Lin Qimian said, pulling open a drawer and taking out a cotton swab. “Take off the mask. Now I can see your face.”
Xu Yueliang stood there frozen for a moment, then suddenly got very sharp: “No, no, Doctor Lin, you can’t use a room like this for free.”
Lin Qimian: “…”
Lin Qimian: “You’re not being admitted. You’re just here for a quick IV drip. It’ll be done in under two hours.”
Xu Yueliang: “Then it’s the hourly rate.”
Lin Qimian: “…”
Lin Qimian was still holding the cotton swab: “If you’d requested it, yeah, you’d have to pay. But the hospital’s short on resources right now, so we’re covering the cost.”
“Oh, okay,” Xu Yueliang said, only half convinced.
Lin Qimian kept a straight face and kept spinning the tale: “Why else would I have come out to get you? If you’re still worried, you can pull out your phone and record this.”
“Ah, no, no…” Xu Yueliang waved her hands frantically. “I trust you, Doctor Lin. I just didn’t expect…”
She rubbed her hands together and gave a dopey little smile. “Something this good to happen to me.”
Lin Qimian paused, but by then Xu Yueliang had already sat back down obediently. She took off her mask and hat, revealing her puffy, puppy-like face.
Lin Qimian studied her face, and Xu Yueliang said, “Go ahead and laugh, Doctor Lin. I crack up every time I look in the mirror.”
Lin Qimian didn’t feel like laughing. Faces didn’t swell up like Xu Yueliang’s very often after a tooth extraction. And ones that only called the hospital after getting this bad? Even rarer.
Lin Qimian checked the wound. No issues. She gently pressed her fingertip against Xu Yueliang’s cheek and felt the distinct hard lump beneath.
Xu Yueliang grimaced, and Lin Qimian arched a brow. “Does it hurt?”
Xu Yueliang nodded, then hurried to explain: “It’s not that bad, really. My face just feels so heavy.”
“Didn’t you say when you asked for my contact that you’d reach out if anything came up?” Lin Qimian tossed the cotton swab and straightened up, looking at her. “Doesn’t this count as something coming up?”
“I looked it up…” Xu Yueliang said. “The internet said some inflammation is normal…”
Lin Qimian: “The internet’s being awfully nice to you.”
Xu Yueliang: “…”
Xu Yueliang fell silent, shrinking back into the look of a schoolkid who’d done something wrong.
Lin Qimian opened the fridge, grabbed a bottle of water, and set it in front of her. “Rest for a bit. I’ll go get the meds.”
Xu Yueliang nodded vigorously. “Thanks, Doctor Lin.”
Lin Qimian left the room, headed downstairs, crossed the sweltering outdoors, and returned to her clinic room. She placed the order, got the meds, picked them up, and headed back out.
It was nearly quitting time by now. Zhenzhen watched her bustling around, unsure if she should stick around to help.
She trailed after Lin Qimian, reaching tentatively for the things in her hands. “Teacher, where’s this for?”
“Never mind,” Lin Qimian said, dodging her eager grasp.
“Oh, okay.” Zhenzhen’s hands froze, her mouth shut, but her feet kept following.
Before they left the main building, Lin Qimian stopped and turned. “What are you up to?”
Zhenzhen eyed the items in her hands. “Teacher, I… Giving shots isn’t the infusion room’s job, but if not, it should be me…”
Lin Qimian: “Can’t I do it?”
Zhenzhen: “!!!”
Zhenzhen: “Teacher, it’s not about whether you can…”
Lin Qimian: “Not good enough?”
Zhenzhen: “Teacher, it’s not about good or bad…”
Lin Qimian glanced at her watch. “Go home. You’re off.”
With that, Lin Qimian turned and strode off, her movements crisp and efficient.
Zhenzhen watched her go, then looked down at herself abandoned on the spot. A wave of worry hit her—was it something she’d done? Was she about to lose her job?
Otherwise, how would giving someone a shot ever fall to Attending Physician Lin?!
But Doctor Lin didn’t care what kind of work she did, or that it was after hours.
She returned to the VIP top floor of the new building, pushed open the door, and asked the obediently waiting Xu Yueliang: “Sitting or lying down?”
Xu Yueliang glanced at the pristine white sheets, not a wrinkle in sight. “Sitting.”
Lin Qimian nodded toward the spot. “Over there, then.”
Xu Yueliang scooted over quickly. Lin Qimian set down the tray and crouched beside her. “Arm.”
Xu Yueliang stuck out her hand—pale and slender, her wrist as delicate as a slice of lotus root, though the back was nicely padded.
Lin Qimian grabbed that wrist with a doctor’s ruthless efficiency and the quickest speed possible, delivering two sharp slaps to the back of Xu Yueliang’s hand.
Each slap made Xu Yueliang flinch.
When she finally let go, Xu Yueliang asked in a small voice, “Doctor, is the back of my hand really that hard to stick a needle into?”
Lin Qimian: “Mm-hmm.”
Lin Qimian: “Skinny body, chubby hands.”
Xu Yueliang’s mouth drooped in a woeful pout.
Lin Qimian turned to grab the syringe and gave it a tap. “No rush. Skin test first.”
Those two slaps had been for nothing—the skin test went right into her wrist, nothing to do with the back of her hand.
As the needle pricked her skin, tears spilled from Xu Yueliang’s eyes. When Lin Qimian withdrew it, she turned her head away, trying not to let the doctor see.
But how could Lin Qimian miss those eyes? Ever since Xu Yueliang had appeared at her side, she hadn’t stopped watching them for a single moment.
Those eyes, brimming with emotion—joy, sorrow, fear—danced right on the tip of Lin Qimian’s heart.
Lin Qimian stepped back a couple paces. “Fifteen minutes. Tell me if you feel anything off.”
“Mm.” Xu Yueliang nodded, head still tilted.
Lin Qimian settled onto a stool nearby to wait out the fifteen minutes.
When Xu Yueliang’s tilted head grew uncomfortable, she sneaked a glance at her.
To make it easier for Xu Yueliang to steal those looks, Lin Qimian pulled out her phone and pretended to be busy.
In truth, the screen was still on their WeChat chat, which she hadn’t bothered to exit. Just a few lines of text, a handful of messages, one selfie of a bumblebee-lookalike puppy—she scrolled up and down through it all, her mind blissfully blank, over and over.
Once the fifteen minutes were up, Lin Qimian administered the IV.
Xu Yueliang didn’t dare watch the process. Only when Lin Qimian had stepped away did she whip her head around. “It’s done? It didn’t even hurt?”
Lin Qimian smiled but didn’t dignify the silly question with an answer.
Four bottles of meds—this would take a while to drip. It was Lin Qimian’s off time now; she could easily stay in the room, keeping an eye on the IV bag and providing Xu Yueliang with the deluxe Doctor Lin treatment.
But Xu Yueliang probably wouldn’t dare accept it. Even during the skin test wait, her face had been a billboard screaming, “Doctor Lin, why are you still here? Doctor Lin, aren’t you busy? Doctor Lin, I’ll call you when it’s time, so Doctor Lin, why exactly are you lingering?” Lin Qimian figured if she stuck around any longer, Xu Yueliang might blurt out, “Doctor Lin, are you trying to rob my bank card or something?”
Lin Qimian picked up the remote, switched on the room’s TV, and set the remote within Xu Yueliang’s reach. “Watch some TV. Call me when the meds are done.”
Xu Yueliang: “Mm-hmm.”
Lin Qimian: “Voice message or phone call, whatever works.”
Xu Yueliang: “Mm-hmm-hmm.”
Lin Qimian left the room and shut the door behind her.
Through the wall, she could almost feel Xu Yueliang’s sigh of relief—and standing alone in the empty hallway, mask finally off, Lin Qimian let out a long breath of her own.
With nothing to do and not wanting to stray too far from the room, Lin Qimian headed to the break room at the end of the corridor. She punched in the code, unlocked the door, and slipped inside.
Moments later, someone knocked. “Who’s in there?”
Lin Qimian got up and opened the door. It was Dean Zhang.
“Dean Zhang,” she greeted.
“Oh, it’s you, Doctor Lin.” Dean Zhang peered inside. “What brings you over here?”
“There’s a patient in one of the rooms.” Lin Qimian saw no point in hiding it—with only two rooms lit up in this wing, it was obvious.
“Ohhh—” Dean Zhang drew out the sound. “Is it—”
Lin Qimian supplied the answer. “A little sister of mine.”
“Ah, got it, got it.” Dean Zhang chuckled, then asked, “What’s she in for?”
“Nothing serious,” Lin Qimian said with a smile. “Wisdom teeth extraction.”
Dean Zhang nodded knowingly and gave her a thumbs-up. “Right choice calling you for that.”
Lin Qimian: “Not at all.”
That wrapped up the small talk.
Dean Zhang checked his phone and grinned. “Time to clock out. Once you’re done, take your sister to that new place across the street… oh wait! Damn, can’t eat solids yet.”
“Here’s to your sister’s quick recovery,” Dean Zhang said. “And give my regards to President Lin while you’re at it.”
Lin Qimian: “Will do.”
Dean Zhang left. Lin Qimian returned to the break room and turned off the light.
Dusk was settling in. Lin Qimian sank into the sofa, doing nothing at all.
She waited for the phone alarms—one for each bottle of meds.
The IV drip speed that she had set for Xu Yueliang was something Xu Yueliang definitely wouldn’t dare to tamper with. That meant Lin Qimian could estimate with fair precision just when each bottle would run dry.
When it was time to swap in the second bottle, Lin Qimian stepped into the ward. Xu Yueliang was still chuckling away at the TV, but the moment she caught sight of her, she jolted in fright, trembling from head to toe.
She looked up in a panic. “Sorry, sorry, Doctor Lin! I thought it would last a little longer.”
By the time they reached the third bottle, Lin Qimian’s alarm still had three minutes on the clock when Xu Yueliang’s message came through—a short voice clip, her tone all weak and whiny: “Doctor Lin, it looks like it’s almost done~~”
Lin Qimian played it back three times before finally rising to her feet.
As she hooked up the final bottle, Xu Yueliang clutched at her stomach, which let out a long, rumbling growl.
She had only sipped halfway through the water bottle Lin Qimian had given her, and it sat perched on the edge of the bedside table.
“Do you need to use the bathroom?” Lin Qimian asked Xu Yueliang.
“No, no need.” Xu Yueliang shook her head vigorously. “I went already. I can handle it myself.”
“Then… do you want something to eat?”
Xu Yueliang’s eyes lit up like they were about to spill over. “Can I?”
“Of course,” Lin Qimian said. “As long as it doesn’t hurt.”
“It hurts.” Xu Yueliang’s shoulders slumped. “I can’t open my mouth. Can’t chew. Can’t eat.”
“Mm.”
Lin Qimian lifted a hand in a casual wave. “In that case, I’m off to grab some food. There’s a barbecue joint across the street—everyone raves about it.”
“Bar…becue…”
Lin Qimian smiled. “Be a good girl and behave, and you’ll get to eat soon enough.”
“Mm………”
Xu Yueliang wilted like a patch of grass parched for days without a drop of water.
Lin Qimian had to admit it—bringing up meat had been deliberate on her part.
Xu Yueliang in this state always stirred the urge in her to tease her just a little more… and then spoil her rotten.
“I’ll grab you a milk tea too—the kind you can actually drink,” Lin Qimian said, turning to Xu Yueliang. “What’s your favorite flavor?”
