Physician's Odyssey

Su Tao carried Ni Jingqiu to her bed and covered her up with the quilt. The mattress was soft and comfortable. Standing by the bed, Su Tao looked at Ni Jingqiu and smiled, “It seems like you’re truly exhausted.”

Ni Jingqiu turned around and tugged the quilt tightly. With her back facing Su Tao, she smiled, “Thank you for sending me to my bed.”

But when Su Tao heard that, he frowned, “Aren’t you a little too much? You feigned asleep and took advantage of me!”

“Yeah, I was a little lazy. I was just wondering if someone would put me to my bed. Well… it worked with a little trick.” Ni Jingqiu laughed.

Gnashing his teeth, Su Tao sourly snapped, “That’s too much!”

“Then what can you do about it?” Ni Jingqiu smiled, raising her brows.

“Of course there’s something I can do about it!” Su Tao snorted. He wrapped Ni Jingqiu in the quilt and carried her on his shoulder. Spreading his legs apart and striding to the living room, he threw her back on the couch.

But thanks to the fact that Ni Jingqiu was wrapped in the quilt, she was fine despite being thrown down on the couch.

Ni Jingqiu yelled when she was thrown onto the couch. It took her a long time to come back to her senses before she threw the quilt away and growled, “How can you do this to a lovely lady like me? Can’t you be gentle with a lady?”

Su Tao laughed, “You’re the one who tricked me first. So I’m just taking revenge on you.”

Ni Jingqiu was knocked down by Su Tao’s little wits and smiled bitterly, “Don’t you feel tired carrying me all over the place? So, why are you wasting your energy?”

Su Tao shrugged, “I’m still young and energetic. So it’s fine for me to do it seven or eight more times. Would you like to continue with it?”

“Bah! You’re being cheeky again.” Ni Jingqiu glared at Su Tao and sighed. She was defeated by Su Tao’s cheekiness and wanted to crawl her way out of the quilt.

“I’m serious about it!” Su Tao smiled and carried Ni Jingqiu up from the couch once more.

Ni Jingqiu was feeling both annoyed and amused by Su Tao. She gently patted on Su Tao’s shoulder and begged, “Alright, fine! I’ll believe you! You can put me down now!”

“I have to be a man of my word.” Su Tao grinned. With Ni Jingqiu on his shoulder, he walked into the bedroom.

Naturally, Ni Jingqiu wouldn’t go down without a fight and started fighting to get off Su Tao’s shoulder. Her constant fighting made Su Tao struggle to keep his balance as he walked into the bedroom. But when they entered the bedroom, Su Tao suddenly lost his balance and fell onto the bed with Ni Jingqiu on top of him. Looking at each other, the playful atmosphere suddenly disappeared and was instantly replaced by silence.

“What are you looking at?” Su Tao softly asked.

“I’m looking at myself through your eyes.” Ni Jingqiu replied.

“Can you even see yourself clearly?” Su Tao smiled. He purposely squinted his eyes to make his pupils smaller.

“Some say that you can see your truest self through somebody’s eyes. So, I’m trying to see if it’s true.” Ni Jingqiu smiled.

“And you’re saying that I’m more childish here? Since when are you superstitious, to begin with?” Su Tao sneered.

“You’re boring. You’re not being romantic at all.” Ni Jingqiu snorted.

“I can’t even breath with 50kg on me. So how can I be romantic?” Su Tao teased.

“Who’s 50kg here!” Ni Jingqiu gnashed her teeth. “I’m only 48kg!”

“Isn’t it 50kg if you round it off?” Su Tao burst into laughter. 

“Everything can be rounded off, but not a woman’s weight! Don’t you know the standard of a decent woman's age isn’t over 50?” Ni Jingqiu rolled her eyes.

But just when Ni Jingqiu wanted to get off, Su Tao suddenly spread his arms around her waist, “Let’s hug a little more.”

“What are you trying to do here? We’re friends, and you want to take advantage of me?” Ni Jingqiu knitted her brows.

“Be honest with me. Have you ever thought of wooing me?” Su Tao grinned.

Ni Jingqiu was stunned for a moment before she replied speechlessly, “Woo you? Are you dreaming? Have you ever heard of a woman wooing a man?”

“Why don’t it put it this way instead. Would you agree to my pursuit if I decide to woo you?” Su Tao asked. The two of them were close to each other. From such a distance, Su Tao could register the finest changes in Ni Jingqiu’s expression.

“Didn’t we say that we’re going to be a lifetime of best friends? Why are you going against your words now?” Ni Jingqiu knitted her brows.

“That’s before. Don’t you know that men are fickle? So I guess I’m starting to regret it now.” Su Tao listlessly replied.

“I’ve only heard of women being fickle.” Ni Jingqiu burst into laughter, revealing her pearly white teeth. “Let go of me. Go sleep in the guest room.”

“Answer my question first. Otherwise, I won’t let you sleep.” Su Tao shook his head.

Ni Jingqiu was left helpless by Su Tao’s shamelessness. She tried her best to struggle and jumped off the bed, “You can stay awake by yourself then. I won’t be sticking around. You can have the master bedroom to yourself.”

Seeing that Ni Jingqiu was prepared to leave, Su Tao sat up and threatened, “There’s a rabbit on your bed. So, as a wolf, are you not going after it?”

“The rabbit is too skinny. There’s no meat but a pile of bones. So this wolf isn’t interested.” Ni Jingqiu snorted.

Feeling humiliated, Su Tao held onto his chin, “So you’re a vegan wolf instead. But I’m a carnivorous rabbit. Don’t you think that it’s interesting if the rabbit goes after the wolf after the wolf is asleep?”

“You said that we were friends for a lifetime just a moment ago in the living room. So why did you change all of a sudden when you entered the room? Stop messing around. I’ll get mad.” Ni Jingqiu frowned as she waited for Su Tao.

“Well, let’s just ignore each other and go to sleep then.” Su Tao sighed softly. He pulled the quilt and covered his face with it.

Ni Jingqiu never expected that Su Tao would admit defeat so easily. She bit on her lips and headed to the guest room without looking back.

Closing his eyes, Su Tao started counting sheeps. He began to feel an itch in his heart like he was bitten by a mosquito. It made him feel uncomfortable. In the end, he headed to the kitchen and got himself a glass of water.

His gaze fell onto the guest room and started cursing himself. How could he do that to his best friend? There was no way he could do that or he would be too ashamed to meet Grandmaster Hua Tuo when he dies.

But a second later, a voice sounded out in his mind, “Humans are also a kind of animal. No words can explain the relationship between a man and woman. Why will a woman let you stay the night if she doesn’t have any good impression of you? Best friend? That’s just an excuse. Furthermore, this is a rare opportunity. Do you really plan on giving her to someone else? Can you guarantee that her next man won’t be a scumbag? If her next man is a scumbag, you will definitely regret it for a lifetime.”

Su Tao headed to the balcony. Looking at the moonlight shining down from the sky, Su Tao pondered over the voice in his head.

Just when he was wandering outside the guest room, he could hear a woman screaming at a man. Perking his ear, Su Tao listened to their conversation. It didn’t take long for him to figure out what was going on. So it was because the woman caught the man cheating. The man was whispering his begging, worried that the neighbours would hear them.

All of a sudden, the woman yelled out in pain and collapsed. Looking at the woman, the man suddenly raised his voice, “What’s wrong? Are you alright? Please don’t scare me!”

Ni Jingqiu hadn’t fallen asleep. When she heard the commotion, she put on a coat and came out asking, “What’s going on?”

“A young couple is fighting below. But the woman seems to be out of breath.” Su Tao bitterly smiled.

“Then what are you standing here for? Go down and take a look at her!” Ni Jingqiu remarked.

“What do you want me to do? Poke my nose in someone’s family business?” Su Tao shook his head with a bitter smile.

“You still have to go and take a look at it. It’ll be terrible if something happens to the woman.” Ni Jingqiu headed out of the house. In the end, Su Tao could only sigh and follow behind her.

There was already a crowd surrounding the couple when they got down. Thanks to Su Tao’s tall height, he could peek into the crowd. When he saw white foam from the woman’s mouth, he immediately separated the crowd and yelled, “I’m a doctor. Let me take a look!”

The crowd automatically parted for Su Tao. Seeing the woman with a cut on her forehead with blood flowing from the wound, he flipped her eyes and sighed, “Thank goodness that it’s just a superficial wound. She fainted because she was too emotional.”

The crowd began pointing fingers and accusing the man for having no conscience to lay hands on a woman.

But facing everyone’s criticism, the man said nothing and only held onto his mouth. In the end, Su Tao could only explain on the man’s behalf, “This is just a cut. If I guessed it right, this woman fell on her own and it has nothing to do with her husband.”

The man was stunned that Su Tao explained on his behalf. When he turned to look at Su Tao, his gaze had changed. Just a moment ago, he was trying to run with his wife chasing behind him. In the end, his wife accidentally tripped and bumped on the stone brick. This had nothing to do with him.

When Su Tao came down earlier, he brought his medicinal box along with him. Instead of treating the wound on her forehead, he inserted a few needles in her arm then cleaned up the wound and applied ointment along with a plaster.

The woman slowly regained her consciousness. When she saw her husband, she immediately became furious once more and wanted to yell at him.

But before she could snap, Su Tao quickly reminded, “Don’t get angry. It’s fortunate that you met me. Otherwise, your child might be in danger.”

“What? You’re saying that I’m pregnant?” It took awhile for the woman to react to Su Tao’s words.

“You’ve been pregnant for a month now. But you’re being too careless. This period is where the fetus is the most unstable. If help came half an hour later, the child will definitely not be safe.”

The woman was surprised by Su Tao’s words. She knew that her menstruation period had been delayed for more than a month, but she wasn’t too bothered about it since her previous menstruation period had also been late. She had no idea that she was pregnant.

The reason why her husband cheated on her was because they had no kids despite being married for years. So she was worried that she might be abandoned if her husband had a child with another woman.

“I’m really pregnant?” asked the woman in shock.

“Yeah. You can check it in the hospital if you don’t believe me.” Su Tao patiently explained. He would be a quack if he was wrong about it.

“He’s Su Tao of the Three Flavour Hall, a famous physician. Since he said that you’re pregnant, then you must be pregnant.” Ni Jingqiu added.

“What?! You’re Divine Physician Su?!” The woman suddenly burst into tears with excitement. She had been trying to nurse her health for years. So when she heard that TCM was effective, she went looking for remedies all around. She had visited the Three Flavour Hall many times and took medicine prescribed from that pharmacy. So she naturally heard of Su Tao’s name.

When the husband learned that his wife was pregnant, he sighed deeply. Right in front of everyone, he began slapping himself, “I’m a jerk! I’m a scumbag! I’m a human trash! Can you forgive me? I promise that I will not repeat my mistake ever again.”

However, the woman paid no attention to her husband because Su Tao said that she had to remain calm for the baby. In truth, she had already chosen to forgive her husband for their child’s sake.