“What?”
“How could he be the reincarnation of Hua Tuo after six months at college?” Fang Qiu’s father asked with a smile as he looked at Fang Qiu’s mother. He clearly didn’t believe Fang Qiu’s mother’s words.
“Of course,” Fang Qiu’s mother said as she walked up to Fang Qiu. Then, she looked at Fang Qiu with a bright smile and said, “You weren’t around earlier, so you missed our son busying himself seeing patients from the moment he got home until just moments before you came home. He spent two hours diagnosing our neighbors and relatives and cured them all. Isn’t this just like Hua Tuo?”
“Hmm?” Fang Qiu’s father froze in surprise and turned to look at Fang Qiu.
“Wow, are you lying on the sofa because you’re so exhausted from seeing patients today?” He asked.
“Sigh, so much for my holiday.”
Fang Qiu said with a wry smile.
“Go on, tell me what kind of ailments did you treat today? Who did you treat? Did you give them a prescription or did you manage to treat them on the spot?” Fang Qiu’s father asked in surprise as he sat on the sofa.
Undoubtedly, before Fang Qiu could even speak, Fang Qiu’s mother immediately detailed everything that happened that afternoon and even exaggerated some part of it.
“Are you really that skilled?” Fang Qiu’s father turned to Fang Qiu in surprise and asked, “I guess you chose the right college. You seem to be excelling in your studies.”
“Haha,” Fang Qiu said with a laugh.
“Wow, let’s toast to that later since it’s such a great day today,” Fang Qiu’s father sad.
Fang Qiu suddenly sat up from the sofa as though he had remembered something and rushed into his room.
“Dad, mom, give me a moment,” he said.
Soon, he emerged from the room with two beautifully wrapped gifts.
“Dad, mom, these are the gifts I’ve brought back from Jiangjing.”
Then, he gave the presents he prepared to his parents.
His parents froze in surprise when they saw his gifts, exchanged a look, and couldn’t hold back their smiles as they accepted his gifts.
They were very happy.
Their only wish as parents was for their child to grow up healthily. Now that their son was all grown up and knew how to be filial to them, this made them even happier and they were touched by his gesture.
…
At 6:00 pm, the entire family gathered in the kitchen and had a meal together.
During dinner, Fang Qiu’s father, Fang Liwen’s happy expression was wiped from his face and he said gravely, “Fang Qiu, you’ve always excelled in your studies since elementary school and you’ve done equally well in middle school and high school as well. I’ve also discussed this with your mother and were willing to support you if you entered a branded college such as the Capital University or the Chinese University. Although the school fees are expensive, we were willing to sell the house to support you if you were willing to study hard.”
“Yes, unfortunately…” Fang Qiu’s mother nodded and looked a little resigned.
“What do you mean by ‘unfortunately’?” Fang Liwen said as he shot his wife a look, “I finally realized that our son has grown up. He could have easily entered a branded college domestically or internationally but instead, he chose Chinese Medicine, an ancient Chinese skill. He is doing our ancestors proud, so why must you use the word ‘unfortunately’? I’m proud of him for choosing to major in Chinese Medicine.”
Fang Qiu’s mother rolled her eyes at his words.
Fang Qiu couldn’t help but laugh to himself.
“Son,” Fang Liwen set his chopsticks aside and said, “Chinese Medicine has been part of our history for the past 5,000 years and this is a precious legacy left behind by our ancestors. Since you’ve chosen this path, you must not become a terrible doctor. You must be a good doctor and deliver the best treatment to your patients, do you understand?”
“Yes,” Fang Qiu immediately nodded.
“Remember to do good without expecting anything in return,” Fang Liwen said.
“I’ll hold your words close to me,” Fang Qiu said and immediately nodded. “Let’s make this our house rule.”
“Sure,” Fang Liwen said with a laugh.
“What do you mean when you said, ‘without expecting anything in return’?” Fang Qiu’s mother asked.
She glared at Fang Liwen and Fang Qiu and said, “Will you still work without expecting anything in return when you don’t even have money to eat? In this modern society, the only people who have the ability to save others and those without money will have to wait to be saved. Are you not allowed to earn money if you’re skilled in what you do? Would you be able to put food on the table if you only focus on saving people?”
Fang Qiu and his father exchanged a glance and quickly ate their dinner quietly. No one dared to utter another word.
Finally, Fang Qiu quickly gobbled his food as his mother nagged incessantly and ran back into his room.
He was about to start studying when his phone in his pocket suddenly rang.
“Beep beep beep…”
He dug out his phone and saw that it was Jiang Miaoyu.
Fang Qiu smiled and immediately picked up her call.
“Hello?” Fang Qiu said happily. “What’s wrong? It hasn’t been long since our last call so are you missing me already?”
“Humph,” Jiang Miaoyu said. “Don’t get the wrong idea. I just wanted to ask if you’ve reached home safely.”
“Yes, I’ve reached some time ago,” Fang Qiu said with a laugh. “Are you sure you don’t miss me?” He added.
“What about you?” Jiang Miaoyu asked.
“I miss you,” Fang Qiu said immediately.
“I miss you too,” Jiang Miaoyu said.
Although they didn’t say much to each other, they both felt incredibly happy. They were in different locations but they both wore the same happy smiles on their faces.
“Creak.”
Fang Qiu opened his mouth to say something when the door suddenly creaked open. His mother stuck her head in, looked at Fang Qiu who lay on the bed and asked in confusion, “Who do you miss?”
Fang Qiu felt extremely embarrassed.
He immediately put down his phone and his heart raced.
On the other end of the line, Jiang Miaoyu was startled by the unfamiliar voice in Fang Qiu’s room.
She could tell that the voice belonged to Fang Qiu’s mother.
She immediately hung up, blushing furiously.
On the other end, Fang Qiu looked at his confused mother and said with a chuckle, “Mom, I miss you.”
“Who else would I be missing?”
“Cut the crap.” Fang Qiu’s mother strode right up to Fang Qiu, glanced furtively at his phone as she said, “Tell me truth.”
“I’m telling you the truth,” Fang Qiu said and as he sighed and splayed out his hands. He deliberately placed his phone in a conspicuous location and showed it to his mother.
His mother looked at his phone suspiciously and wondered if he wasn’t on a call earlier.
She didn’t manage to catch what Fang Qiu had been saying earlier before she walked into the room.
Thus, she couldn’t pursue the matter any further.
“Alright, mom. I’ve worked the whole day so I’m going to bed now.”
Fang Qiu made it clear that his mother wasn’t welcome.
“Your terrible child, you were just telling me that you missed me earlier. Why are you chasing me out of your room now?” Fang Qiu’s mother rolled her eyes at him before she walked out of his room.
Fang Qiu breathed a sigh of relief after his mother left the room.
He quickly checked if his mother was eavesdropping outside his door before he locked the door and went back to lie on his bed.
Now that he thought about it, he was only 17 years old.
Although he had already started college and had autonomy over his own life, the adults would think that it was still too early for him to be dating.
Moreover, he was still in his freshman year at the University of Chinese Medicine, so his parents would expect him to focus on his studies.
More importantly, they had just started dating, so he didn’t think that it was a good time to let his parents know about his relationship. He didn’t want this relationship to die before it even started to bloom.
“Why did you hang up?”
He quickly dug out his phone and sent Jiang Miaoyu a text message.
Soon, she replied.
“I wanted to!”
Her reply consisted of three simple words.
Fang Qiu was left speechless.
…
The next day.
After his neighbors and relatives went back to spread the word, all his neighbors and relatives knew that he was not only a student at the University of Chinese Medicine but he had also become an incredibly skilled physician after six months at college.
They were told that Fang Qiu was able to make an accurate diagnosis after he saw the patient.
His treatment worked like a charm and he was even better than the doctors at the hospital.
All these rumors spread like wildfire.
Fang Qiu’s house was full of visitors by noon.
All these people had come after hearing the rumors.
Since Fang Qiu was their relative and also a highly-skilled physician, they felt that it was only natural for him to treat them.
Moreover, medical bills were so expensive these days.
Although it didn’t cost much to make an appointment, the bills would add up after consulting a doctor and collecting their prescribed medication. Thus, everyone was afraid to head to the hospital.
However, one would still have to head to the hospital for treatment of serious illnesses.
If they had such a highly-skilled relative who also happened to be their junior, shouldn’t they make full use of this opportunity and get him to treat them too?
Fang Qiu who was hiding inside his room couldn’t help but smile wryly when he heard the commotion in the living room.
He had expected this to happen.
He knew that after he spent the first day treating patients, he would not be able to have a moment of rest.
He was a little sad at the thought of losing his holidays but these people were his relatives, so he couldn’t continue hiding in his room.
He sighed to himself, then opened the door and strode out.
The moment he emerged from his room, everyone in the living room stared eagerly at him.
“Fang Qiu, you’re awake?”
“Were you taking an afternoon nap?”
“Look, these Chinese Medicine students really know how to take care of themselves. We would never take afternoon naps.”
“Hey, not bad, Fang Qiu. You must be excelling in college. I’ll be looking for you in the future now that I know how highly-skilled you are.”
“Look at how much he’s grown since the last time we saw him. He’s become so handsome!”
“Yes, he’s becoming more and more handsome.”
He heard everyone heaping praises on him.
Fang Qiu froze in shock as he looked at the crowd that gathered around him.
“Xiao Fang, I’m sure college must be fun. Have you gotten a girlfriend?”
“You’re such a handsome boy, so I’m sure you’re popular with the ladies.”
His relatives heaped praises on him in an effort to curry favor with him.
Fang Qiu felt his head hurt.
“Let me take a look at your ailments,” he said as he walked toward the sofa.
When they head his words, they were stunned that he was willing to treat them without them having to curry favor with him.
Who would want to pass up on such an opportunity?
Soon, Fang Qiu sat down and everyone immediately lined up in an orderly manner.
He didn’t hesitate and immediately started seeing patients.
He saw many patients and they were plagued with chronic ailments.
He gave them prescriptions but at the same time, he also explained that chronic ailments were not serious. As long as one took care of one’s health, they could slowly recover from it.