11. Abdominal Calf

At Prosperity Hall, Tang Yiyi and Xu Bin worked together to lower the wooden plank, opened the door, and patients began to arrive, taking seats one after another. Tang Yiyi wiped down the desks and chairs of the three consulting physicians, cleaned the cloth thoroughly, chased Xu Bin out from behind the counter, and wiped both sides until everything was spotless.

Then she filled each of the three physicians’ fountain pens with ink and placed them neatly beside the prescription pads.

Among the waiting patients, an elderly lady chuckled, “Is this Xu Bin’s girlfriend?”

“No!” Xu Bin and Tang Yiyi replied in unison.

“Aunt Wang,” Xu Bin said loudly to the old woman, “can you please stop assuming every girl you see is my girlfriend?”

“This girl is nice. You have good taste,” the old lady said, squinting at Xu Bin and giving him a thumbs-up.

“I… Oh, never mind,” Xu Bin glanced at Tang Yiyi, pursed his lips toward the old lady, and traced his index finger twice beside his ear. Someone nearby laughed, “You’ll have to speak even louder if you want Aunt Wang to hear you.”

Tang Yiyi smiled helplessly; she had long given up complaining about older women’s propensity for matchmaking.

At eight o’clock, Xu Mingtang came downstairs with a teacup, donned his white coat, and sat at his desk. He gestured to the chair beside him for Tang Yiyi to sit. “Did you finish reviewing yesterday’s prescriptions?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Today, write your prescriptions in my format.”

“Yes, Master.”

“Any parts you don’t understand?”

“No, the pulse readings, inquiry notes, and symptoms are all there. It’s clear at a glance.”

“I know your foundation is solid, but you’re still far from diagnosing and prescribing independently. If you have any questions, anything unclear, you must ask. Don’t assume something is correct just because it’s my prescription, and don’t simply memorize it. You need to understand the dialectics behind every addition and subtraction of each herb.”

“Don’t worry, Master. I understand.”

Xu Mingtang nodded in satisfaction.

Just then, Dr. Liu Qi entered and, seeing the exchange between master and apprentice, smiled, “Dr. Xu is a rare and excellent mentor. Yiyi, you must cherish this.”

“I will, Dr. Liu.”

Xu Mingtang also smiled, “My apprentice is yours as well. Please guide her more.”

“You don’t need to say it. I like Yiyi myself.”

Zuo Chengjiang nudged Xu Bin with his elbow behind the counter. “This girl is really good—hardworking, steady, and fair-skinned. Why don’t you like her?”

Xu Bin folded his arms, expressionless. “She has a boyfriend.”

“They’re not married yet. It’s free competition. If you step in now, you’re not a homewrecker.”

“Uncle, you seem to know everything, huh.”

The morning consultations went smoothly. At noon, while eating, Tang Yiyi glanced at her phone. Wang Yufeng had sent a message: “Drank too much last night, can’t remember how I got home. Are you alright? Are you busy today? I’ve got things to do, let’s talk later.”

Tang Yiyi retreated upstairs, feeling stifled and gloomy. This relationship was like sand slipping through her fingers, gradually disappearing. Love that can’t withstand the test of distance is not true love; he was retreating.

With fifteen minutes left before her master began consultations, she sighed and stood. Though traditional medicine wasn’t emergency surgery, it required the same undistracted focus.

She stepped outside and lifted her face to the midday sun—hot and intense. Someone once said that looking up at the sky at a forty-five-degree angle makes it harder for tears to fall, but now it seemed the sun had simply dried them away.

As she pondered, the sound of bones being chopped suddenly came from next door. Tang Yiyi walked to the railing and looked down. On the second-floor terrace, Qin Baike, dressed in a sleeveless black vest, his arms bare, was swiftly chopping pig’s trotters.

Beside the chopping board was a basin of freshly cleaned trotters. Xiao Xie was still washing another basin at the sink, carefully cleaning them with a small knife. So, they didn’t only work at night after all.

Tang Yiyi was about to call out a greeting, but before she could say “hi,” Qin Baike suddenly looked up at her. Tang Yiyi instinctively withdrew a little; his gaze was intense and focused, impossible to describe. After a moment, he lowered his head and resumed chopping.

Tang Yiyi’s greeting stuck in her throat, so she coughed twice instead. Xiao Xie looked up in response, “Yiyi, what are you doing up there?”

“I… cough… uh… nothing. I’m heading down now, my master’s starting consultations.”

“Oh, come have noodles tonight, sis. The pig’s trotters are especially good today.”

“Alright… sure.”

As Tang Yiyi went downstairs, she couldn’t help but grumble inwardly about Qin Baike: “Why can’t he just greet people like a normal person? Why does he always make things so awkward?”