Chapter 15: A Blinding Crush part 1

Back then, he hadn’t understood what was going on with himself. Now, Qin Lang seemed to get it at least a little. He pulled out a cigarette and handed one to Chi Ye. The Dupont lighter snapped shut with a crisp, satisfying ding.

Wisps of smoke curled around the two of them.

“Chi Ye, just tell me the truth. Do you like Lin Yuran?”

He waited two whole minutes after asking, and still Chi Ye said nothing. That silence wasn’t like him. Which only made the answer clearer.

“Lin Yuran and that childhood friend of hers today… yeah, that was confusing. But honestly, when you grow up together, it’s natural to be a little close. Doesn’t have to mean anything.”

“Hasn’t she always said Dr. Lin is just a good friend? They’ve known each other for years and are still just friends. That says something, doesn’t it?”

Qin Lang tapped the ash off his cigarette and continued, “Anyway, whether she has someone in her heart or not, if you like her, go for it. You’re a man. Why get caught up in all the little details?”

Chi Ye let out a bitter laugh, put the cigarette to his lips, took a deep drag, and exhaled. The bluish smoke he breathed out blurred the sharp angles of his face.

Watching him, Qin Lang suddenly realized something felt off about what he’d just said. “Whether she has someone or not, go for it.” Wasn’t that basically poaching? At best, it sounded like stealing someone’s girl; at worst, like being a homewrecker. Maybe that advice would fly with most guys, but not with Chi Ye.

He’d known Chi Ye forever. The man had always been a neat freak, physically and mentally. He didn’t cross certain lines.

Qin Lang didn’t know what else to say. He changed the subject. “Let’s hit a bar later. Couple drinks’ll clear your head.”

Just then, Ji Mo and Yan Xi came out after finishing treatment.

Ji Mo was swinging his wrist around. “Not gonna lie, Sister Yuran didn’t let me down. My wrist barely hurts anymore.”

Yan Xi chimed in, “My back feels great too. Dr. Lin’s got real skills. I’m totally signing up as his VIP patient from now on.”

Qin Lang cleared his throat, cutting them off. “Hey, we’re heading to a bar later. You guys in?”

“A bar? Hell yes.”

As soon as the bar was mentioned, not a single person said no.

Noticing Chi Ye glance behind them, Qin Lang added, “Yuran said we should go on ahead. Her family member’s still hospitalized, she’s going to visit them.”

Chi Ye frowned slightly. “You guys go ahead. I’ve got something else to do.”

“Tsk.” Qin Lang sighed, “The whole point of drinking is to vent. If you’re not there, what’s the d**n point?”

Chi Ye said nothing, just lit another cigarette. He was a man, after all. When life got rough, it was nothing a few packs of cigarettes and a few bottles of booze couldn’t fix. Qin Lang didn’t push further. He waved everyone else to the car, said goodbye to Chi Ye, and drove off to the bar.

— — — 

After finishing a full-body massage for Yao A-Ping, Lin Yuran tried to lift her into a wheelchair for a foot soak.

Yao A-Ping had been bedridden for years. Her muscles were severely atrophied. Even with decent nutrition, she was skin and bones. Lin Yuran’s slim arms and legs made it difficult to lift her alone.

Just then, Lin Yiqun finished his rounds and came to the eighth floor. He helped her move A-Ping into the wheelchair.

“When are you heading home? I’ll wait for you,” Lin Yiqun offered.

“I brought my friends over pretty late today. You already worked overtime an extra hour. Don’t wait for me. You’ve got studying to do, remember?” Lin Yuran replied.

So Lin Yiqun left without lingering.

The road to mastering traditional Chinese medicine was long. With more and more patients coming because of his reputation, he had to keep pushing himself. Each night after work, he’d review the day’s cases. Anything he didn’t fully understand, he’d consult his mentor about. If he wanted to really succeed in this field, he still had a long way to go in both study and practice.

As Lin Yuran tested the water temperature for the foot soak, her phone on the bed suddenly rang. She glanced at the screen: Uncle Yao Ping. She rejected the call immediately.

Tossing a pack of herbal medicine into the foot bath, she dipped Yao A-Ping’s feet in. The phone rang again. Still him.

Annoyed, Lin Yuran frowned and answered sharply, “What do you want?”

Yao Ping’s tone was immediately irritated. “Well, well, my dear niece. Not even gonna say ‘Uncle’?”

You? Call you Uncle?

Lin Yuran sneered. “Cut the crap. I’m busy. Say what you need to say or I’m hanging up.”

Sensing her impatience, Yao Ping didn’t dare drag it out any longer. “Your grandma’s condition’s gotten pretty serious. Medical bills are piling up. I’m shouldering everything here. All these years, your side hasn’t contributed a cent to her support. At least help out with the hospital bills?”

Lin Yuran exploded. “You want me to help pay? My mom’s in the hospital. You know the room number. Go ask her.”

Yao Ping shouted back, “Your mom’s out of commission. You’re still around, aren’t you?”

What a shameless b*st*d.

“Liu Huandi is not even my mom,” Lin Yuran snapped, directly using her grandmother’s full name. “Why the hell should I pay her medical bills?”

Her voice dropped cold. “Don’t give me that crap. If you think I owe you anything, sue me. If the court says I have to pay, I’ll pay every d**n cent. Not one less.”

With that, she hung up and blocked his number without hesitation.

She looked at the unconscious Yao A-Ping in the wheelchair. “Mom, did you hear that? Your brother won’t stop till he drains every last drop of bl00d from you.”

Back when Lin Yuran was in her first year of high school, her father, Lin Wencheng, was diagnosed with late-stage liver cancer. The crushing medical bills left her mother desperate. She swallowed her pride and asked her brother, the very one who had borrowed money from her for years, for help.

Any decent human being would pitch in at a time like that, even without being asked. But not Yao Ping. Not only did he refuse to pay her back, he had the audacity to claim it wasn’t a loan. “What’s wrong with a little brother taking money from his sister?” he’d said. “That’s only natural.”

When her father was alive, he’d constantly helped out her grandmother and uncle, financially and otherwise. But once he was sick in bed, Yao Ping started showing up empty-handed, hinting it was pointless to treat him in the late stage. He said that it was just prolonging the pain and wasting money.

Truth was, he saw her father as a lost cause and was already plotting to push her mother into a new marriage, just to squeeze more dowry out of it. That way, he could mooch some more off the old woman.

Unable to gather enough money, her mother sold the house at a loss to pay for her father’s treatment. In the end, after enduring Yao Ping’s constant ‘suggestions,’ her father jumped to his death one night, wanting to leave something behind for his wife and daughter. That was the first seed of hatred Lin Yuran ever bore toward Yao Ping.

Later, her mother became a vegetable. Yao Ping never once visited, too afraid he’d have to fork out cash.

Back then, to cover her mother’s medical bills, Lin Yuran had knocked on every relative’s door. Even distant family helped a little. But not Yao Ping. After taking so much from them, he didn’t lift a finger.