บท 16: The Motorcycle Lady
บรรณาธิการ: EndlessFantasy Translation
Yang Hu was a little hesitant as he stood in front of the door to Lower Groove Clinic.
The front door of the clinic was mottled and old, giving off a sense that it had been around for some time. It went very well with the style of the entire alley and was also similar to the style style of the Yang Family's knife-cut noodles restaurant. However, even though he rarely went to his father's knife-cut noodles shop when he was younger, Yang Hu knew how fast news traveled in neighborhoods like this.
Should he apologize in a well-behaved manner, or should he hide like a coward?
Yang Hu may have been pushing the wheelchair, but he was also going around in circles, showing how indecisive he was. Yang Zhongshu had no choice but to remind him, "Son, I feel a little dizzy."
Yang Hu immediately stopped and scratched his head in embarrassment. His hairline had receded a little. It felt smooth and pleasant to the touch, but unsightly to the eyes.
Yang Hu's thoughts inevitably wandered. 'One disadvantage of being a white-collar worker is that it's very taxing on the hair quality. I don't know what the doctors in the hospital are doing, too. After I went through the trouble of registering for a consultation, they dismiss me only after a few sentences, leaving me with no choice but to go to the small clinics. And the small clinics only want to earn money, they don't have any quality…
'Or more accurately, apart from this small clinic, other small clinics, especially those that claim to cure hair loss, don't really have standards…'
Yang Hu raised his head and looked at Lower Groove Clinic's signboard again. He knew that by coming here, he had actually made his decision.
Yang Hu lowered his head and mocked himself internally, 'I've worked for so many years and have been insulted by clients countless times. Are there still things that I'm ashamed of?'
He then changed his mind. 'Come to think of it, between doctors and patients, patients are the clients. Why am I, the patient, coming to this clinic to apologize?'
Nevertheless, even though Yang Hu had a myriad of thoughts running through his mind, he still extended his hand and knocked on the mottled front door several times.
He still had to apologize, and return the wheelchair he had petulantly pushed away that day. There was also the medical fee that he had yet to pay. Otherwise, the better his father was at making his knife-cut noodles, the more Yang Hu's name would be sullied in the neighborhood.
More importantly, they would also have to visit the clinic and ask them for help when it came to the rehabilitation and follow-up examinations.
"Ling Ran's in Lower Groove Clinic, right?" a crisp voice asked from behind the father-son duo. It was accompanied by the sound of a motorcycle exhaust pipe that was emitting smoke.
Yang Hu and his father turned in unison to see a black Honda motorcycle parked a few feet away. A young woman with long hair and long fair legs sat up straight before she lifted her chin slightly.
"Yes."
"Why are you looking for Ling Ran?"
The father-son duo answered at the same time. Yang Zhongshu was more cautious and he responded with a question, but his son had answered too hastily.
The motorcycle lady smiled and hopped off her bike by swinging one leg over it. She went forward obstinately and gave the clinic's front door a few loud knocks.
Yang Hu could not help but feel rather regretful. The young woman before his eyes was youthful and pretty, but he had acted in a cowardly manner.
*Thud, thud, thud.*
While the young woman was beautiful, she behaved in a pretty uncouth manner. She spread her slim fingers and struck the door as if she wanted to smash it. Loud sounds rang out from her banging.
*Thud, thud, thud.*
Based on the rate at which she was pounding on the door, they could tell just how impatient she was.
"Coming, coming." Ling Jiezhou finally heard the knocking from inside the clinic. He called out as he put on his clothes, "There's no doctor in the clinic right now. If you need emergency treatment, you have to go to the hospital."
After a moment, the door was opened. Ling Jiezhou stared at the female motorcyclist who bared a large portion of her fair legs. He was shocked and asked, "Are you sick?"
"You're the one who's sick." The female motorcyclist's voice was a little hoarse, but it had its own charm. Her eyebrows—drawn with an eyebrow pencil—were as sharp as knives. "Is Ling Ran here?"
"About that…" Ling Jiezhou could not help but feel a little worried.
"I'm here to give him a fish." The motorcyclist seemed aware of his concerns. There was a ghost of a smile on her face as she untied a plastic box from the motorcycle's backseat. Then, she threw the box on the ground. The box was very heavy and appeared to have a good texture. It was obviously of good quality.
It was not just Ling Jiezhou, Yang Zhongshu and Yang Hu also stared at the female motorcyclist in bewilderment.
The young woman pointed at the box with her chin and said, "Take a look."
Ling Jiezhou wracked his brain as he tried to recall what the gifting of fish signified colloquially. After a long time had passed, Ling Jiezhou lifted the cover of the heavy box under the curious eyes of the Yang father and son.
A salmon with protruding eyes lay quietly on the ice cubes, its scales looked like they were sparkling.
"A large Norwegian salmon, just arrived today. That's eighteen pounds of fresh fish. It tastes good no matter how you cook it." The young woman paused for a moment before saying, "It's my elder brother's gift to Ling Ran. Now, can you ask him to come out?"
"Who's your elder brother?" Ling Jiezhou was confused. In his many years of running the clinic, this was the first time he saw someone give a salmon as a gift.
But it was obviously not the young woman's first time doing this. She jabbed the salmon with her hand and said, "My family runs a fish shop. Ling Ran stitched up my elder brother's gash, and even managed to keep his tattoo. My brother asked me to give him a fish as thanks."
Ling Jiezhou finally understood. He straightened his body pridefully and yelled in the direction of the courtyard, "Son, a patient is here to give you a gift!"
Ling Jiezhou had always known about the custom of patients giving things like gift baskets and red packets to doctors. However, even after operating the clinic for decades, the gifts he had received could still be counted on one hand.
The fact that his son was already starting to receive gifts after only being a doctor for a few days, or rather, after only being a medical intern in the hospital for a few days, made Ling Jiezhou extremely proud. How he wished for all his neighbors to know about it.
"Ling Ran, a patient is here with a gift. It's in a really large box. Come here quickly and carry it." Ling Jiezhou straightened his body even more, and he desperately sucked in his protruding beer belly.
When Ling Jiezhou was young, he was also very good-looking, but life in the clinic had been too leisured. He put on weight every day, and in the end, became a plump middle-aged man.
Nevertheless, his voice was still loud and clear.
In the past, the love songs he sang were loud enough to travel through the entire region. Now, his voice was still loud enough to reverberate throughout Lower Groove.
*Bang... Bang, bang.*
The sound of windows being opened came from both sides of the alley.
Most of the houses in Lower Groove were built around twenty to thirty years ago. Families who did not renovate their houses or change their window lattices were still using windows with frames divided into four squares by wooden bars. Those windows could be opened by pushing their frames outwards like a door. The windows would produce a creaking sound when they were either being opened or closed.
Ling Jiezhou was rather pleased with himself. He maintained his posture of sticking out his chest and sucking in his belly while his eyes were trained on the courtyard.
"Ling Ran! A patient is here with a gift for you!" When Ling Jiezhou did not hear any more sounds of windows opening, he yelled again.
*Bang, bang.*
More people opened their windows to have a look at their clinic.
Ling Ran put on a T-shirt and went downstairs. He felt rather tired at that moment because he had only slept after he studied late into the night.
Throughout their lives, doctors were always learning, and many people found this lifestyle extremely torturous. Ling Ran did not mind, though. He liked the beauty of precision in surgical medicine, like how the doctors would cut the exact length they said they would without any deviation.
Nevertheless, Ling Ran was not in a good mood once he was forced to wake up after only a few hours of sleep. However, as the female motorcyclist stared at Ling Ran, her mood became so good that she was almost drooling over him.
She had seen quite a lot of handsome men. After all, nowadays there were even some men who put on foundation and makeup. But she had never seen such an elegantly handsome man with perfect facial features.
"Nice to meet you. My name is Lu Jinling, and I'm here to thank you on my elder brother's behalf." The female motorcyclist adjusted her demeanor, instantly looking less fierce.
Ling Ran rubbed his face and asked a little stiffly, "Who's your elder brother?"
"Oh, I forgot to tell you. My elder brother's name is Lu Haishan. Everyone in the market calls him the Deer King." When she saw that Ling Ran still did not understand who she was talking about, Lu Jinling pointed at the top of her fair arm and said, "He has a deer tattoo here. You stitched it up for him a few days ago…"
"The unicorn?" What Ling Ran uttered was his first impression.
Lu Jinling's expression changed. "My brother hates it the most when other people call him a unicorn."
It was as if the alley had suddenly become cold and quiet. The wind blew past the aged asphalt ground and stirred up a few pieces of fallen leaves.
When Lu Jinling saw that Ling Ran's expression did not change, the butterflies in her stomach grew even more violent. Her voice became gentler and gentler. "Forget about it. My brother isn't here anyway. Don't call him that again the next time you see him, or you might suffer."
Ling Ran declined to comment. Even though he had studied the unicorn guy's tattoo for a long time when he sutured the gash, he did not sense any anger or dissatisfaction from the other party.
"By the way, this is a gift from my brother." Lu Jinling took the initiative to open the large box on the ground and revealed the beautiful large fish again. The cold ice cubes made it seem as if there was fog inside the box.
Lu Jinling had originally planned to leave after she had delivered the fish, but at this moment, she was rather reluctant to move. She could not refrain from saying, "Do you usually eat salmon? Let me prepare it for you."
Once she said that, before the Ling father and son could respond, she pointed at Yang Hu and said, "Come and carry the box for me."
Yang Hu was already dumbfounded by the sight in front of his eyes. He wanted to say no, but Lu Jinling had already strode into the Ling Family's courtyard with her long fair legs.
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