"What?"
Pan Haitang was greatly alarmed, her expression as if she had missed out on a windfall of hundreds of millions.
"Alas!"
Sighing again, Zheng Youen said with a wry smile, "Mom, don't rush. After I finish my bath, I'll ask Dr. Chen to give you another bowl!"
"What if he doesn't?"
Pan Haitang made up her mind and, disregarding her image, knelt down and scooped up the Ba Ni soup from the broken bowl, drinking it greedily.
Zheng Youen recalled the embarrassing scene of drinking residual medicinal dregs at Zhou Wannong's house last night and couldn't help but cover her forehead.
After drinking all the remaining Ba Ni soup from the broken bowl in one gulp, Pan Haitang, ignoring the unique taste of the Ba Ni soup, quickly raised her hand and sniffed her armpit.
Soon, when she discovered that the body odor on her body was rapidly fading and then disappearing, she was utterly shocked and exclaimed in disbelief, her voice trembling, "It's... it's real! There really is a miracle cure for hereditary body odor in Traditional Chinese Medicine, and it's so effective that it works instantly!"
Zheng Youen was both amused and exasperated. "Mom, don't get too excited yet. Because you didn't drink enough, the effect will probably only last for three days. To get rid of it permanently, you need to apologize sincerely to Dr. Chen."
"This..."
Pan Haitang's intestines turned green with regret, and she was so anxious that she was about to cry. "But... but can he forgive me?"
Zheng Youen said without hesitation, "If you can make the decision for my father and cut off the financial support for that parasite Zheng Youzhi, Dr. Chen should be able to let bygones be bygones."
"He has a conflict with Zheng Youzhi?"
Pan Haitang's eyes lit up, and she was about to go out to find Chen Xiao.
Just then, Chen Xiao returned, having changed into dry clothes.
Pan Haitang immediately felt as awkward as a mischievous student being called out by the teacher, and instinctively lowered her head to apologize, "Chen Xiao, after all, it concerns my daughter's reputation. Please forgive my rudeness earlier."
Chen Xiao, grateful for Pan Haitang's diligent teaching over the past five years, smiled and said, "Professor Pan, please wait. I'll brew another bowl of Ba Ni soup for you and Miss Youen right away."
"I'll help you."
Pan Haitang was overjoyed and directly abandoned Zheng Youen, who was still in the medicinal bath, completely naked.
Afterward, by the small stove at the entrance of Jishetang, Pan Haitang became Chen Xiao's assistant in decocting medicine, gathering firewood and stoking the fire, busy all around.
Seeing with her own eyes that the eight herbs used to decoct the Ba Ni soup were all very common, Pan Haitang felt even more that Chen Xiao's medical skills had reached a divine realm, capable of turning decay into magic. She couldn't help but say, "Chen Xiao, did you not take the hospital entrance exam after graduating from university?"
Although Pan Haitang was a TCM professor, she was not optimistic about the future of Jishetang. She paused and then said enthusiastically, "If you're willing, I can arrange for you to be a chief physician in the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine at the First Affiliated Hospital of Shenwu Medical University."
Chen Xiao shook his head without hesitation and politely declined, "Professor Pan, thank you for your kindness, but my mother is not well, and traveling back and forth from Shenwu City is inconvenient. Besides... besides..."
He hesitated for a moment, then added with a self-deprecating tone, "Besides, I was just fired from the Central Hospital yesterday. I don't think any public hospital will hire me anymore."
Pan Haitang was speechless, and felt indignant. "Is the Central Hospital crazy? How could they fire such a super medical king with unfathomable TCM skills?"
To speak up for Chen Xiao, she thought for a moment and then used the excuse of going to the restroom to prepare to call the current president of the Central Hospital.
Coincidentally, just as she went to the restroom, three luxury cars majestically stopped at the entrance of Jishetang.
The first to get out was Li Bingxue, heavily made up and dressed provocatively like a streetwalker.
Following closely behind were seven or eight men in suits and ties, who swarmed around Li Bingxue like flies, vying to show their attentiveness.
Chen Xiao recognized them all as Li Bingxue's sycophants from their five years at university and felt disgusted. Disregarding the camaraderie of fellow alumni, he got up to go inside, cursing his bad luck inwardly.
But Li Bingxue and her group were clearly there for him. Before he could enter, a tall man standing next to Li Bingxue said with a half-smile, "Chen Xiao, why aren't you even saying hello when everyone's here? We've all come specifically to pick you up for the class reunion."
The tall man was named Pan Jian. He was said to be a second-generation rich kid with a very bad reputation during his five years at university. On the eve of graduation, he was almost expelled for getting a female classmate pregnant. However, he is now an intern in the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine at the First Affiliated Hospital of Shenwu Medical University.
To show off his current job, he had been planning the class reunion for half a month, inviting primarily his like-minded cronies from the same year and fellow alumni like Chen Xiao who had performed much better academically but were now not doing as well.
Since Chen Xiao had cut ties with Li Bingxue, he naturally had no intention of forcing himself to attend such a boring gathering. He shook his head without hesitation and said, "You guys have fun. I won't be going."