(Tomorrow is the legendary Western Valentine’s Day, and as a heartfelt wish, I hope every reader of "The Unbeatable Expert in the City" and their loved ones will enjoy a pleasant holiday. I wish happiness and togetherness for every friend who supports this book!)
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Xiao Yi had planned to et Wang Qingqing after class and then visit Wang Xiaohu together, but Wang Qingqing told him she was tutoring at ho because her student was about to take an exam and she needed to give him a last-minute tutorial. She guessed she wouldn’t have any ti.
Wang Xiaohu’s health had improved rapidly. Dr. Zhang had called him a few days ago to say that after observing him for a few more days, he should be ready to be discharged. Therefore, the pressure in Wang Qingqing’s heart had lessened, and she no longer needed to spend all her free ti at the hospital like before.
Since Wang Qingqing wasn’t going, Xiao Yi decided not to go either. He had visited Wang Xiaohu personally a couple of days ago, and there was no longer any need to worry about him. After agreeing with Wang Qingqing to go together another day, he imdiately left the campus and headed for Azure Waterfront.
Nowadays, whenever he had ti, he would choose to go straight ho and devotedly practice his Kungfu to enhance his strength. Strategically overlooking others was one thing, but tactically, he never dared to take it lightly. He didn’t really believe that those assassins and fearless rcenaries from the rcenary organization were all like ants that he could squish at will, like Jin Xiaohan and Gao Junjie were.
He was very clear that under the current circumstances, diligently improving his strength was his greatest protection in life.
As for what the monk had said about not leaving the campus, Xiao Yi had long since dismissed it.
He didn’t believe in any of that nonsense.
However, just as he stepped off campus, a phone call disrupted his plan to go straight ho and practice.
The call was from Elder An. When he heard Elder An’s voice, tinged with a hint of interrogation, even Xiao Yi, with his thick skin, couldn’t help but blush. He had long ago promised to visit Elder An and see him, but after helping out, he ended up completely forgetting about it.
"Um, Grandpa An, I’m really sorry, it’s my fault, my fault. How about this, are you free tomorrow? I’ll visit you then."
Xiao Yi chuckled awkwardly and hurriedly said.
"You know, why wait for another day when today is just as good? Let’s not do tomorrow; co over to my house for dinner tonight. That’s settled then, lest you forget again tomorrow."
Listening to Xiao Yi’s apologetic voice and his tone, Elder An felt sowhat appeased. He no longer wanted to hear about tomorrow and insisted that Xiao Yi co over today.
He had been looking forward to seeing Xiao Yi like he had been waiting for the moon and stars.
He truly admired and liked Xiao Yi. In all these years, he had never encountered a young man with such excellent dical skills, and he genuinely respected Xiao Yi’s dical expertise.
More importantly, over the years, he had seen many people, including so-called talented youths, all eager to show off in front of him. But none were as likable as Xiao Yi, who had a strong sense of justice and an open mind. Whenever he asked sothing, Xiao Yi never kept any secrets, and these traits could not be feigned; they were entirely natural.
Of course, he enjoyed chatting with Xiao Yi, partly because he could learn a lot about dicine during their conversations. Often, a casual remark from Xiao Yi could greatly inspire him, and he hoped to learn more from what Xiao Yi considered simple and evident.
But his urgency in contacting Xiao Yi today was due to another reason. One of his patients had suddenly deteriorated. He had long intended to consult Xiao Yi about it, but since Xiao Yi had already promised to co over, he hadn’t rushed to call him. Little did he know that it would take so long for him to see the patient again, and upon seeing his condition, he could no longer hold back.
Although he wasn’t particularly fond of this patient, as a doctor, he still hoped to cure the patient’s illness.
"Ah? Today?"
Upon hearing Elder An’s words, Xiao Yi was taken aback, having not expected him to be so urgent. He wasn’t even prepared yet.
"Yes, are you free now? If you are, co over now. I’m at ho."
Elder An said.
"I am free, but..."
"If you’re free, then co over. Right, you don’t know where I live, do you? I don’t think I’ve told you. Take note, I live at XXX Road, XXX Community, Building A1, Room 302."
Xiao Yi was just about to say that today might be too rushed, but before he could get the words out, Elder An interrupted him.
"Alright then, I’ll be disturbing you, Elder An."
Elder An had said it, so Xiao Yi had no choice but to nod in helplessness. He chuckled bitterly inside, realizing that in Elder An’s eyes, his credibility had plumted to zero.
"Hey, why say that? I’m happy enough that you’d honor with a visit. Alright, let’s leave it at that, see you in a bit. I’ll make a phone call to have my granddaughter buy so extra groceries and cook a few good dishes, hehe!"
Hearing that Xiao Yi agreed to co right over, Elder An’s mood seed to lift considerably, and with a nonchalant remark, he happily ended the call.
Even Xiao Yi, on the other side of the phone, could feel Elder An’s joyous mood.
After hanging up the phone, Xiao Yi’s face grew increasingly guilty. Elder An, a highly respected elder, had treated him so sincerely, yet he, as a younger relative, had almost forgotten what he had promised, which was utterly wrong. More importantly, there were also the matters of Li Xiaoi and Wang Xiaohu that had troubled Elder An.
It seed like he only rembered the elderly man when he needed sothing and forgot him otherwise.
The more he thought about it, the redder Xiao Yi’s face beca, almost as if he was about to run a fever.
No matter what, since this was his first visit, he definitely had to prepare a significant gift to properly express his gratitude.
After a while, Xiao Yi snapped out of his guilt and silently decided in his heart.
But, what should he give as a gift?
Xiao Yi began to feel overwheld again.
At Elder An’s caliber, ordinary supermarket gift packs obviously wouldn’t do, and definitely not just a basket of fruit. As for those gifts made mostly of sugar water, the so-called gift sets advertised on TV, those could be outright dismissed. After all, Elder An was a dignified person; giving such items wouldn’t be gifting health as the ads claid, but rather a slap in the face...
Maybe buy a bottle of fine wine?
Or maybe...
...
Several ideas spun around in Xiao Yi’s mind and were imdiately rejected. If they weren’t inappropriate, then they seed insufficiently substantial, too tacky, or just too rushed.
Alas, it was all too rushed. If only there were more ti to prepare, Xiao Yi sighed quietly. Even just one extra day would have made the procurent of a gift much simpler.
Eureka!
Suddenly, Xiao Yi’s eyes lit up, an idea struck him, and a look of excitent appeared on his face as he slapped his thigh.
There was still a little ti, it might just be enough.
Xiao Yi picked up his mobile phone, checked the ti, and without minding the surprised and puzzled looks of others, he dashed toward a street ahead. From his mory, there was a national pharmacy on that street.
In Xiao Yi’s ideal scenario, giving Elder An a Life-Extending Pill or similar high-quality dicinal pills would be most fitting. However, given the ti constraints and not having any ready-made versions, as they required rare ingredients and were not easy to prepare, he had almost given up. But just when he was about to relinquish the idea, he rembered that a slightly lower-grade version might still be manageable, like crafting a simplified version of the Life-Extending Pill.
This so-called simplified version involved substituting so of the special ingredients with more commonly available dicinal herbs with similar properties. Although the efficacy would certainly be significantly reduced, it would still be many tis better than the ordinary products sold in pharmacies and advertised on TV.
After purchasing the required herbs from the national pharmacy and recalling Elder An’s ntion of his granddaughter’s return, Xiao Yi went back and bought another batch of herbs. Then, under the astonished and incredulous gaze of the pharmacist, he carried out big and small bags of various herbs.
Leaving the pharmacy, Xiao Yi then went to a supermarket to buy so special utensils, then hurried straight to Azure Waterfront.
Upon arriving at Azure Waterfront, he imdiately got to work. He arranged the bowls and special utensils he had bought from the supermarket, placed each herb in the appropriate containers, and then began his very first official pill-making process since coming to G City.
Compared to acupuncture, Xiao Yi had much less interest in dicine, devoted less effort to it, and naturally, his skills were much less developed. As he slowly began the process, he couldn’t help but regret not having spent more ti on this art before.
After over two hours, Xiao Yi finally lifted his head from the heap of herbs, took a long breath, wiped the sweat that had appeared on his forehead without him noticing, and looked with satisfaction at his creation: four dark, thumb-sized dicinal pills and a small bowl of similarly dark, sticky substance.
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