21. It Begins with a Touch

Tang Yiyi rolled over and grabbed her phone. It was a message from her university dorm group: 518518, the number of their dorm room.

Li Huan had sent a message: “Darlings, I found a job in the provincial capital. Congratulate me!”

Two of the other girls immediately replied with celebratory GIFs, and Tang Yiyi quickly sent one too.

Li Huan tagged her and asked how she’d been and why she hadn’t been on WeChat for so long.

So Tang Yiyi told them about the people and happenings at Shengshi Hall, and the stories from Magnolia Alley—everything she’d meant to say to Wang Yufeng, she now told her sisters. When the group heard that Xu Bin’s band was so impressive, they expressed their admiration in unison. Hearing about the mouthwatering pork trotter noodles and spicy noodles, they all sent drooling emojis.

Sometimes, friendship is indeed more reliable than love. After their cheerful conversation, Tang Yiyi drifted contentedly into sleep.

With the addition of acupuncture to her studies, Tang Yiyi now had less time for pulse diagnosis and prescription practice.

Xu Mingtang told her, “There’s no rush. Medicine is a lifelong pursuit. A few days sooner or later makes little difference. Just plan your time well and practice both at once.”

In the mornings, whenever Wu Siping had patients needing acupuncture, he would have her learn by identifying acupoints. For some distal points, he’d let her insert the needles, so she could get used to the feel.

Although there were now machines that could help identify acupoints, Wu Siping insisted Tang Yiyi learn to locate them on her own. “This is fundamental,” he said. “Your hands are your instruments.”

Xu Bin spent his mornings with Zuo Chengjiang, busily preparing herbal prescriptions, so there was hardly any free time. As a result, their orthopedic practice had to wait until the afternoons.

At lunchtime, Wu Siping said to Xu Bin, “Start by studying some simple meridian diagrams. No need to look at any other books.”

Xu Bin asked, “Not even anatomy? Wouldn’t learning anatomy first help me understand bones and muscles better?”

Wu Siping replied, “Absolutely not. Remember, from today on you’re to start palpating people.”

Xu Bin gave a crooked smile. “Palpate people?”

Wu Siping said, “Start with shoulders and arms. Feel every arm you can get your hands on. But don’t just touch randomly—feel for nerve pathways, acupoints, muscle grooves, and tendons.”

“But I don’t even know where those are. How am I supposed to find them?” Xu Bin’s mind was a jumble.

“That’s your problem, not mine. In addition to what I just mentioned, pay attention to changes in temperature as you feel. You must focus your attention and truly sense what you’re touching. In a month, I’ll test you.”

“How will you test me?”

“Give me a massage!” Wu Siping patted his own shoulder.

“…”

So, every afternoon when patients were few, Tang Yiyi and Xu Bin would practice on each other—one identifying acupoints, the other palpating bones. To outsiders, the two seemed exceptionally close.

In Tang Yiyi’s heart, Xu Bin gradually became her male confidant. Whenever patients asked if they were a couple, she would always laugh and wave her hand in denial: Not at all.

Older folks simply couldn’t grasp the nature of their friendship. To them, genuine friendship between men and women was impossible—unless one of them was too unattractive for romance to develop.

But these two were far from unattractive, and so the elders could only sigh to themselves: Times have changed, and we are already out of step.

Aside from Xu Bin, her male confidant, Tang Yiyi also became good friends with Xiao Xie and Liu Xin from next door.

Liu Xin’s persistent acne refused to yield, even after taking some heat-clearing medicine. So Tang Yiyi started by regulating his digestion, paired with moxibustion and external ointment. At last, his acne began to subside, and as a bonus, his chronic enteritis was also cured.

Only then did Tang Yiyi realize, belatedly, that since Liu Xin’s acne was concentrated on the lower part of his face, it indicated digestive issues. Look, listen, question, and feel—the first step is to observe. Why hadn’t she thought to consider the problem as gastrointestinal? That was a lesson learned!

As for Qin Baike, Tang Yiyi was never sure if he counted as a friend. Whenever they met, he never greeted her the way friends usually would.

And yet, if he wasn’t a friend, why did he always buy two strings of magnolia flowers from the old lady outside—one for Xiao Xie, and one for her?

Once, the young woman from the hair salon across the street saw him and said, “Brother Bai, buy one for me too!” But he replied, “You’re not short of a couple of yuan. Buying one from her is just my way of helping an old lady.”

Perhaps in his heart, she was someone who, like Xiao Xie, needed taking care of.

As for the favor he once asked—finding out Xiao Xie’s interests—Tang Yiyi had seriously questioned Xiao Xie, but the girl only looked bewildered. After thinking for a long while, she admitted she didn’t know what she liked to do—except eat.

In the end, Tang Yiyi reported to Qin Baike that Xiao Xie was best suited to be a chef, a pastry cook, or a hotpot restaurant owner. And if none of those worked out, perhaps she could simply be the wife of a hotpot restaurant owner.