Chapter 10: The Puppy Runs Away—TCM Is Just a Blind Cat Bumping into a Dead Mouse
Chen Quan waved his hand. “I don’t need it.”
He could eat, he could poop, he could sleep. There was nothing wrong with him at all. There was no need to waste time on this.
He couldn’t stand sitting there foolishly for so long like Zi Ning had.
And that rhinitis thing… you could probably hear the nasal tone just by listening carefully to Zi Ning’s speech. And the final argument about lung qi leading to spleen deficiency was simply too ridiculous.
Shen Jiang’s gaze lingered on his face for a few seconds, as if unwilling to give up. She continued to invite him to sit down, emphasizing, “I don’t charge a consultation fee.”
The corner of Chen Quan’s mouth twitched. Was this a matter of money? He didn’t want to see her for treatment at all.
Seeing Chen Quan’s evasiveness, Zi Ning flared up.
Such a skilled doctor like Dr. Shen had to humble herself and beg Chen Quan to let her treat him. Was she giving him too much face?
Zi Ning’s face darkened, and she ordered Chen Quan without any courtesy, “Hurry up. If it weren’t for Dr. Shen taking a liking to you today, do you think you could get a free consultation here?”
She glared at Chen Quan with a threatening look, as if to say, if you don’t come over now, you’re dead.
Chen Quan thought to himself that he was precisely the one who didn’t want to take advantage of this free offer. However, all his impatience was scolded away by Zi Ning. Looking at Zi Ning’s puffed-up face, he didn’t say a word and obediently sat down opposite Shen Jiang.
Let my body, as strong as an ox, give this little TCM doctor a shock from a healthy person.
Seeing that he was finally no longer being stubborn, Zi Ning cursed him inwardly for needing to be disciplined. She turned her head and gave Shen Jiang a brilliant smile. “I’ll film for you. Just pretend I’m not here. Relax, you’ll look better on camera.”
Shen Jiang was at a loss for whether to laugh or cry. This girl Zi Ning’s ability to change her expression was simply masterful. One moment she was giving Chen Quan a sour face, and the next she could be bright and sunny to someone else.
This little couple was also interesting. Every time the girlfriend lost her temper, the boyfriend would become inexplicably obedient, not minding at all that she was fierce to him in front of outsiders.
Although the two of them had never mentioned their relationship and had no cloying, intimate gestures, as an outsider, Shen Jiang could see the subtle atmosphere with pink bubbles between them at a glance.
It was truly a case of one being willing to hit and the other willing to be hit.
But this time, Shen Jiang’s expression was clearly much more serious than when she was taking Zi Ning’s pulse.
And unlike when she took Zi Ning’s pulse with only one hand, she gestured for Chen Quan to put both his hands up, and began to take his pulse with both her left and right hands at the same time.
Chen Quan completely attributed her performance to the fact that he hadn’t given this young female doctor face just now, and she was trying to show off because she couldn’t stand the embarrassment.
A few minutes passed, and Shen Jiang still hadn’t finished. Chen Quan started to get impatient. When Zi Ning was sitting here just now, he had scrolled through his phone, and time had flown by. Now that it was his turn, he realized why this pulse-taking was taking so long.
He had accompanied Zi Ning to many TCM clinics before. Although he had never seen a doctor himself, he had seen doctors treat other patients.
Didn’t it all take just a few minutes? Take the pulse, ask the patient about their condition, and then quickly write a prescription. It didn’t take more than a few minutes.
Chen Quan’s impression of traditional Chinese medicine was that it was all mystical. Just by placing three fingers on a patient’s wrist, they could tell you one, two, three, four. In his opinion, wasn’t there only a pulse on the wrist? But he would never say this in front of Zi Ning. Zi Ning’s obsession with traditional Chinese medicine was like that of a fan chasing a celebrity. If he dared to say half a bad word about traditional Chinese medicine, their partnership would probably end that very day.
Was this young female doctor any good at all?
He had already said he didn’t need her to see him, he didn’t need her to see him. She insisted on seeing him, and even put on a show of taking his pulse with both hands, purely for the camera.
Now, with his level of health, she knew what it meant to be in a difficult position, right?
He wanted to see how this little TCM doctor would find a way to save face later.
Shen Jiang could see that the nonchalant young man didn’t actually believe in traditional Chinese medicine as much as he said he did.
Especially since she started taking his pulse, the young man had shown a look of disinterest.
Shen Jiang had grown up in a clinic. She had seen countless patients like this. Many of them were dragged by their families to see a TCM doctor, and they all had the same look as Chen Quan.
The human pulse is ever-changing. There are twenty-eight types of pulses, and each type has three or four very similar pulses. Shen Jiang really wasn’t confident enough to make a definite diagnosis in a short amount of time.
Speaking of which, Chen Quan’s attitude was actually quite good. At least on the surface, he was cooperative, doing whatever she asked without being picky or making dissatisfied sounds.
It was still about the same process and time as before. Zi Ning was very used to this slow diagnosis method. She interpreted it as Shen Jiang, although skilled, being a young doctor after all, not comparable to those old TCM doctors, so she needed more time to take the pulse and confirm the diagnosis.
It doesn’t matter if it’s a black cat or a white cat, as long as it catches mice, it’s a good cat.
Chen Quan numbly stuck out his tongue for Shen Jiang to see as requested. He suppressed his impatience and put on a playful smile. “Am I too healthy, not a single problem? It’s not your fault if you can’t find anything wrong, Dr. Shen. You can only blame me for being too healthy. It’s okay, we don’t have to force a diagnosis. We can just not edit this part into the video.”
Seeing his playful look, Zi Ning was furious. And looking at Dr. Shen, her already serious face seemed to have gotten even uglier.
Dr. Shen must have been offended by this guy!
Zi Ning wanted to tell Chen Quan to shut his mouth and behave, but Shen Jiang finally relaxed her tightly furrowed brow and said:
“Your illness is a bit troublesome to treat.”
Chen Quan was stunned and retorted, “How can I be sick? You’re not mistaken, are you?”
Shen Jiang shook her head.
“Your pulse tells me you have a nodule, probably a thyroid nodule.”
In fact, she had taken the initiative to take Chen Quan’s pulse just now because she felt that his complexion was not right.
The body’s illnesses are all reflected on the face and in the eyes. Chen Quan didn’t wear makeup like a girl, so his face reflected the truest condition of his body, which Shen Jiang could see at a glance.
Chen Quan’s face darkened almost instantly. He said angrily, “Do you think you’re a CT machine? A thyroid nodule? Why don’t you just stick the words ‘miracle doctor’ on your forehead?”
These words were very aggressive, almost full of gunpowder.
Zi Ning suddenly poked her head out from behind the camera, wanting to tell him to be careful, they were still filming.
Unexpectedly, Chen Quan was uncharacteristically rude this time and said directly in a rough voice, “Alright, stop filming. There’s no point in recording anymore. I’m not sick at all.”
Only then did Zi Ning realize that her partner was really angry. Seeing that the atmosphere was not right, she quickly turned off the phone’s camera function and walked over to them.
Shen Jiang was completely unaffected by Chen Quan’s angry look and remained calm. “This illness is, in the end, an emotional illness. You need to maintain a happy mood. You should pay attention to your daily life, don’t stay up late, and don’t eat too much food with high iodine content like seaweed and kelp. Understand?”
Seeing that she was still putting on an act, Chen Quan was furious. He didn’t yell and curse, but he didn’t want to stay in this broken clinic any longer either. He stood up and walked out.
“Hey, Chen Quan, at least wait for me to pack up my things.”
Hearing Zi Ning’s call from behind, Chen Quan’s steps faltered slightly, then he immediately took even bigger strides and walked out of the clinic.
Seeing him walk away without looking back, Zi Ning sighed and apologized to Shen Jiang, “I’m sorry, Dr. Shen. My friend, he… he’s not usually like this. Please don’t take it to heart.”
Shen Jiang shook her head. She didn’t mind. “But are you still going to get medicine from me?”
“Of course I am. I’m counting on you to cure my rhinitis,” Zi Ning said with a natural smile and a nod. Then, a worried look appeared on her face. “…Does my friend really have a thyroid nodule? Is it serious?”
Seeing that she didn’t doubt her medical skills at all, Shen Jiang’s heart warmed. “Didn’t I just say there was also good news? I can cure his nodule.”
Seeing that it was getting late and she still had to go to the hospital to see her grandmother, Shen Jiang exchanged contact information with Zi Ning and said she would send her the medicine as soon as possible. The medicinal herbs in the clinic were not complete at the moment, so she couldn’t prepare the full prescription for now.
Zi Ning quickly packed up the camera equipment like the phone tripod. She was also in a hurry to find that guy Chen Quan. It was only when she was packing up that she realized his phone was still with her.
How many modern people carry cash on them? Was that kid planning to walk back to school?
Their school was more than twenty kilometers away from here!
After leaving Mingxin Hall, Zi Ning quickly hailed a taxi and specifically told the driver to drive slowly. She leaned against the window, letting the wind blow on her face, and slowly looked at both sides of the street.
After a few minutes, a tall figure walking with his head down came into Zi Ning’s view.
Zi Ning signaled the driver to stop the car and shouted at the familiar figure not far away, “Carpooling to Nanze University, one hundred per person, leaving as soon as you get in.”
The driver was startled and was about to say that she wasn’t that heartless, when a dark figure appeared next to the car, opened the door, and sat right in.
Wow, one dares to shout and the other dares to carpool.
Just as Chen Quan had fastened his seatbelt and the car started, he heard Zi Ning’s ferocious voice from the front row, “Alright, you little brat, now you’re playing the ‘storm off in a huff’ game. What, you want to rebel?”
Chen Quan took the phone she handed him, looking dejected, and said with a bitter smile, “Do you also think she’s right, that I’m really sick?”
Zi Ning’s expression froze slightly. Chen Quan rarely showed such a wronged look in front of her. It was clear that being diagnosed with an illness by Dr. Shen was probably much more serious for Chen Quan than she had thought.
Zi Ning was usually very direct with Chen Quan, but she didn’t dare to speak carelessly at a critical moment.
To be honest, Zi Ning had already accepted that Shen Jiang was a TCM doctor with some real skills. Although she was young, she was the first one to accurately state her own problems, and she had also pointed out that Chen Quan tended to keep things to himself.
However, diagnosing a nodule just by taking the pulse was too mysterious, and Zi Ning didn’t dare to jump to conclusions.
Zi Ning thought for a moment and suggested in a gentle voice, “Why don’t I go with you to the hospital for a check-up now? We can get a scan and see, just to put your mind at ease.”
She also thinks I’m really sick!
When Chen Quan thought of this, he imagined Zi Ning’s disgusted look from the front seat, and his blood rushed to his head.
“Driver, stop the car!”
The driver was afraid that the young man in the back would do something drastic and quickly pulled over.
“Hey, where are you going?” Zi Ning watched the young man striding away angrily, looking even angrier than before, completely ignoring her calls.
A question mark slowly rose in Zi Ning’s mind.
So I was just here to deliver his phone? I should have just let him walk back to school. I was being nosy.
She was so angry she wanted to laugh, and she actually did let out a cold laugh.
So what if he can edit some videos? It’s not like I can’t live without him.
If you have the guts, then don’t ever come looking for me to hang out again!