Cai Xing hung up the phone and quickly sought the elderly Chinese dicine practitioner who usually managed his health. However, the doctor couldn’t reach any conclusions, and Cai Xing naturally did not reveal the reason he had been called.
The elderly practitioner was Niu Deyuan. Before becoming a private doctor for the Cai family, he had been a renowned expert at a top-tier hospital in Shen City. As he aged, however, he couldn’t keep up with the regular shifts, which was why he chose to retire into private practice, giving him more freedom while still allowing him to contribute.
He had been the one to first discover Cai Xing’s condition, so he had always been in charge of managing it.
It was rare for Cai Xing to summon him so urgently, so Niu Deyuan asked, "Chairman Cai, have your symptoms flared up again?"
"Doctor Niu truly lives up to his na."
Cai Xing smiled. "I went to the mountains the day before yesterday. If soone hadn’t saved , I might not have returned at all."
Niu Deyuan was shocked by his words and nearly shot to his feet. "Chairman Cai?"
"Ah, it’s nothing, it’s nothing. I survived, didn’t I? That’s why I asked you to co and see what’s going on."
Cai Xing offered a brief explanation but omitted what Wang Jian had said. He then asked, "Did you find anything?"
The question struck Niu Deyuan like a torpedo, forcing him to ntally review the pulse he had just taken, but he could find nothing amiss. Worried about making a mistake, Niu Deyuan reexamined Cai Xing’s general condition, his expression, and even so externally visible symptoms, but still noticed nothing.
Panic began to set in. The way Cai Xing asked implied he knew sothing was wrong, yet Niu Deyuan couldn’t see it. This is absurd.
Wiping non-existent sweat from his forehead, Niu Deyuan proposed, "Chairman Cai, how about I take your pulse again?"
"Okay!"
Cai Xing nodded. "Then I’ll have to trouble you, Doctor Niu. Don’t overthink it. Perhaps I’m just being paranoid."
"Of course, of course."
As Niu Deyuan placed his right hand on the pulse, he grew calm, focusing his entire attention on the sensation. It felt no different from his initial examination. Releasing his hand, he said, "Chairman Cai, from what I can tell, I don’t detect anything unusual from your pulse. You must continue to be diligent in caring for your heart, but..."
Noticing Cai Xing’s earnest expression and knowing he wasn’t one to make a fuss over nothing, Niu Deyuan added, "If you’re truly worried, you could have your heart examined with specialized equipnt. I’m getting older and might not perceive things as clearly, but the data from the equipnt won’t lie."
"Why don’t you give it a try, Chairman Cai?"
Cai Xing hesitated. His condition was a secret; undergoing an official examination at a hospital would likely expose it to his family.
"Chairman Cai..." Seeing his expression, Niu Deyuan knew what he was thinking and quickly urged, "Heart problems can be fatal at any mont. This isn’t sothing you can hide."
"..."
Cai Xing sighed. Of course, he knew Niu Deyuan was right, but the Cai family was far from peaceful.
「***」
The news of Wang Jian opening a clinic had spread like wildfire ever since the large crew of workers arrived in the village that morning.
Now, regardless of whether they knew Wang Jian had returned to his hotown, almost everyone in the village had heard about it.
Li Dayu was having lunch at ho when his wife, Wang Cuihua, brought it up, her expression excited. "Hey, old man, that clinic of ours was set up in just half a day. It’s not just for show, is it?"
"Nonsense."
Li Dayu took a large mouthful of rice and scoffed, "Those people from the Cai Family treat that Wang Jian kid like their own son. Good heavens, the equipnt, the instrunts, the efficiency... I’ve never seen anything like it, not even at the town hospital."
Hearing this, Wang Cuihua put down her bowl. "Does that an our village doctor is even better than the ones in town?"
"Nonsense!"
Li Dayu retorted again, perhaps out of jealousy. He channeled this emotion into his appetite, shoveling several large bites of food and rice into his mouth before mumbling indistinctly, "Wang Jian is just a kid. He only ca back because he couldn’t make it out there. He probably learned nothing at dical school. Isn’t he just going to be a nace to us all?"
Wang Cuihua glared at him. "Then why did you approve him to open a clinic?"
"Heh," Li Dayu laughed. "That’s what you don’t understand. No matter how little Wang Jian learned, he must have so real skills. Besides, what kind of serious illnesses can a village clinic treat? It’s just colds and fevers. What could go wrong? He studied dicine in Beijing; surely he knows how to handle a common cold?
"Anyway, I didn’t let him open this clinic for the dicine. I did it for the connection to the Cai Family. You’re a woman; you wouldn’t get it.
"Oh, right, if you ever get sick with sothing serious, don’t you go to that kid’s place. You can go for a cold or a fever, you hear?"
Wang Cuihua scoffed at him. "What kind of talk is that? Don’t jinx ."
Of course, Wang Jian knew nothing of this.
After his conversation with Cai Xing, Wang Jian hadn’t even gone ho. He spent the entire afternoon at the clinic organizing everything. This included taking inventory of all the dicinal herbs and equipnt. He had to determine which conditions he could treat on-site and which ones would require imdiate referral to a larger hospital, to ensure no patient’s treatnt was delayed.
After finishing up, Wang Jian went to the village committee office to print out an A4 sheet of paper with his mobile number on it, which he then posted on the clinic door. He knew he wouldn’t always be there, and it was crucial that people could reach him in an ergency. A phone call would allow him to give first-aid instructions, even if he couldn’t get there imdiately.
Only after everything was properly arranged did Wang Jian feel at ease enough to leave.
But he had barely taken a step before soone at the village committee office stopped him.
It was Yang Rong, the widow from Mr. Niu’s family. Her face was flushed, her eyes were moist, and her forehead was beaded with sweat. Even her clothes were disheveled. Spotting Wang Jian, she rushed over and grabbed his arm. It was clear she had run all the way here, as she was still trying to catch her breath.
Seeing her gasping for air, her chest heaving, and seemingly unconcerned about her state of disarray, Wang Jian took the initiative to ask, "What’s wrong with Xiao Li?"
Having just engaged in strenuous activity in bed followed by a mad dash across the village, Yang Rong was utterly exhausted. "There’s been an accident!" she gasped. "Co ho with , quick! You have to save soone."
Seeing her genuine urgency, Wang Jian found it hard to refuse and nodded.
"What happened? Give a quick summary so I can be prepared. If it’s sothing serious, I’ll need to grab so tools."
"Well..."
At his question, Yang Rong glanced around the village committee office. Seeing no one, she lowered her voice. "You know about and Liu Zi. Just now, we were at ho... doing that, but..."
Yang Rong stamred for a while, but Wang Jian eventually pieced together the problem. Once he understood, he had to suppress a laugh. He was a professional, after all, trained to maintain his composure in front of patients—unless he absolutely couldn’t help it.
Wang Jian beckoned her closer, whispering a solution into her ear while making a small gesture with his hand.
"Just find sothing suitable. It’s not a major issue. But tell him to control himself more in the future and to abstain for a while afterward. Otherwise, if sothing really goes wrong, I won’t be held responsible."
"Huh?"
Yang Rong looked baffled, mimicking his gesture with her hand. "Is it really that simple? Just one poke will fix it?"
"Of course. It’s a minor problem, and these sorts of folk redies are often the most convenient solution. Go back and try it, you’ll see. Anyway, I live right next door. If it really doesn’t work, you can find again."
After Wang Jian finished, Yang Rong didn’t waste another mont. She nodded and sprinted back toward her house.
Though they were heading in the sa direction, Yang Rong couldn’t afford to wait; the man was still lying in bed, in pain.
Before seeking Wang Jian, she had worried that she was the cause of the problem. Now, it seed it was the man’s fault, not hers.
Her mind racing, Yang Rong returned ho, found a pushpin, and went straight to the second-floor room where she and Liu Zi had been.
Liu Zi was still naked, moaning in agony on the bed. Seeing Yang Rong return, he looked at her as if she were a lifesaver.
"What happened? Is Doctor Wang here?"
Liu Zi could have never imagined that the lie he’d told when they were caught together last ti would now co true. They really did need to call Doctor Wang.
He felt quite blaless. Everything had been perfectly normal, just your usual vigorous activity. Who could have known sothing like this would happen?
"Doctor Wang isn’t here."
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