Super Doctor - Chapter 103

Xu Qing blinked her beautiful eyes, looking at the equally surprised and bright-eyed girl across from her. She quickly regained her composure and chuckled inwardly. The way the other girl was staring seemed a bit off…

With a slight smile, she nodded and said, “Hello, you’re my brother’s classmate, right?”

“Your brother?” Sun Linfei was momentarily stunned, but then inexplicably felt a wave of relief. A smile spread across her face as she stepped closer and said, “Yes… I’m Aze’s classmate. My name is Sun Linfei. So you’re Aze’s sister…”

Xu Qing smiled as she studied the radiant girl, thinking to herself, My brother really has a way with girls—he’s already found himself another beautiful girlfriend.

“My name is Xu Qing. I just got here… Why don’t you take a seat? My brother hasn’t woken up yet. I’ll help him wash his face first…” Xu Qing gently wiped her brother’s face while smiling at Sun Linfei.

“Sure… No need to be so formal…” Sun Linfei had already visited once yesterday. Since she had no classes this afternoon, she rushed over after lunch to check if Xu Ze had woken up.

She walked closer and looked at Xu Ze, who was still unconscious. His handsome face was no longer as pale as it had been the day before, which eased her worries slightly.

Just as she was about to sit down, she noticed Xu Ze, who was being wiped clean by his sister, suddenly frown slightly before slowly opening his eyes.

Xu Ze furrowed his brows as he awoke, only to see two lovely faces—one sweet, the other coy. After a brief moment of surprise, he smiled and asked, “Qing’er, what are you doing here?”

“I heard you were hospitalized… Of course I had to come see you!” Hearing Xu Ze’s clear voice, Xu Qing finally relaxed and pouted. “Brother… You’re so careless! How could someone your age just faint like that? You really need to take better care of yourself!”

“Haha… Alright, alright, my dear Qing’er, don’t be mad. Your brother’s fine, isn’t he?” Xu Ze chuckled and tried to sit up.

Seeing his attempt, Sun Linfei and Xu Qing quickly grabbed his arms to help him up.

Xu Ze smiled faintly. His body didn’t really need this kind of care—he had only passed out due to severe mental exhaustion, and his body was recovering on its own.

But he didn’t resist. It wasn’t every day he got to be pampered by two beauties, so he might as well let them have their way.

“When did you get here? You didn’t take advantage of me while I was asleep, did you?” Freshly awake and in high spirits, Xu Ze narrowed his eyes with a teasing grin, provoking Miss Sun.

“Hmph… I just got here… after your sister. Even if I wanted to take advantage, I wouldn’t have had the chance!” For once, Miss Sun didn’t flare up at Xu Ze’s teasing. Instead, she shot him a coquettish glare.

“Eh?” Xu Ze was genuinely surprised by Miss Sun’s compliance. But after a moment’s thought, he figured, Well, maybe it’s because I’m a patient that she’s tolerating me.

“I ran into Old Man Tang downstairs earlier. He said that if you woke up, I should tell you that the aftermath has been handled and there won’t be any repercussions, so you don’t need to worry…” Sun Linfei glanced at the relaxed man and snorted. “You’ve got quite the nerve, stirring up such a scene there and slapping so many people in the face. That was a huge mess you made. Next time, think about the consequences before you act…”

“Haha… If I didn’t slap those faces, how could I face myself? How could I face Tao Xiao?” Xu Ze sighed with a bittersweet smile and shook his head. “I just caused trouble for Old Man Tang…”

“Hmph… At least you know it… To clean up your mess, Old Man Tang has already spread the word that you’re his adopted grandson…” Sun Linfei grinned at Xu Ze. “You’ve hit the jackpot… Countless people beg for that title every year during the holidays, and none have succeeded. But you managed to get it out of this disaster…”

“Adopted grandson…” Xu Ze rubbed his head in frustration but then suddenly chuckled. “Well, grandson it is. The old man’s age is enough to be my grandfather anyway…”

As the two bantered back and forth, Xu Qing, standing to the side, grew increasingly confused and worried. “Brother… What are you talking about? I don’t understand…”

Seeing the concern on Xu Qing’s face, Xu Ze smiled and pinched her cheek. “Adult matters. Kids shouldn’t get involved.”

“Who’s a kid? I’m almost twenty!” Xu Qing pouted indignantly.

“Alright, alright… You’re an adult… My little Qing’er is all grown up, haha…” Xu Ze laughed as he swung his legs off the bed. “Let’s go. I’ve been lying here so long I’m getting stiff. Time to check out.”

The three had dinner together outside before Sun Linfei escorted Xu Qing back to her university. By the time Xu Ze returned to the school gate, it was already dark. Glancing toward the clinic, he noticed there weren’t many people inside. After a moment’s thought, he headed toward the main gate.

Yesterday’s court hearing had drained most of the energy he had painstakingly stored, leaving him with less than 11%. Even Xiao Dao had nearly fallen into a deep sleep and was now in a shallow dormant state.

He needed to return early today and spend more time practicing his energy circulation. Without sufficient energy supply, not having Xiao Dao by his side was an unsettling thought.

As he stepped through the university gates, the familiar scenery and the lively crowds passing by filled him with a sense of comfort. After spending a full day and night in the hospital, he couldn’t help but sigh. There’s no place like home. Being back here just feels right.

Xu Ze walked along the path under the streetlights toward his dorm. But he had only gone a short distance when a girl passing by suddenly startled him.

“Xu Ze?” The sweet-looking girl tentatively called out to him.

Xu Ze turned and saw someone he didn’t recognize but nodded anyway, about to ask what she wanted.

Suddenly, the girl’s eyes lit up, and she let out an ear-piercing shriek of over 200 decibels: “Xu Ze! Xu Ze is back!”

The sudden scream stunned Xu Ze. Before he could react, the surroundings fell silent for a split second before erupting into chaos: “Xu Ze? Where’s Xu Ze?”

Then, figures from all directions turned and surged toward him.

In the blink of an eye, dozens of people had surrounded him. And from the looks of it, even more were rushing over from the distance.

Faced with a crowd of strangers eagerly asking if he had recovered and if he was feeling alright, Xu Ze was utterly dumbfounded. He could only force a smile and nod. “I’m fine… I’m fine now…”

Little did he know, those words would spell his doom.

The moment the crowd heard he was fine, they swarmed him—grabbing his hands, lifting his legs—and with cheers, tossed him high into the air.

The poor Xu Ze was thrown up and down repeatedly. Through the blur of movement, he glimpsed more and more people converging from all directions. With a sinking heart, he realized he was probably going to pass out a few more times today.

After what felt like an eternity in the air, his T-shirt was torn to shreds, and his hands were bruised from all the handshakes. Finally, under the protection of a dozen or so medical students who had rushed over upon hearing the commotion, he managed to escape back to his dorm.

There, under the guilty gazes of Luo Zi and the others, Xu Ze discovered the source of his ordeal.

Hesitantly opening the university forum, he found a new section titled “Hero Xu Ze.”

With trepidation, he clicked on it and saw posts from students who had supported him outside the courthouse the day before. Among the top pinned posts were several fiery threads posted by Luo Zi and Hu Xuezhao, complete with photos—likely obtained from some reporter—of the scene inside the courtroom.

The posts detailed the events inside the courtroom, accompanied by images of Xu Ze with bloodshot eyes, tears of blood streaming down his face as he pointed accusingly at the crowd. The whole scene was portrayed as deeply moving.

Seeing the thousands of replies beneath the posts, Xu Ze felt dizzy…

After a dazed moment, recalling tonight’s ordeal, he turned and glared fiercely at the three guilty faces before him. Pointing at his tattered T-shirt and bruised hands, he nodded slowly.

“Tomorrow, you three are going to fix this for me. Otherwise… from now on, you’re all my bodyguards. No exceptions. Got it?”

The trio exchanged glances, imagining the horror of being bodyguards in situations like tonight’s. They quickly nodded in agreement.

Satisfied with their response, Xu Ze snorted a few times before taking a shower and heading straight to bed to practice his energy circulation. After five full cycles totaling seventy rounds, he finally managed to raise the system’s energy reserve to 38%, pulling Xiao Dao out of his shallow dormant state.

In the virtual space, Xiao Dao looked like a miser who had been robbed of all his wealth, his handsome face twisted into a bitter frown as he pointed at the energy storage indicator, only a third full.

“Xu… You’ve got to work hard these next few days. Our energy reserves are critically low… If you want to continue training, you’ll need to put in the effort. Otherwise, we won’t last much longer!”

“Alright, alright… I’ll do my best, okay?” Seeing Xiao Dao’s miserable expression, Xu Ze hurriedly agreed. No matter what, Xiao Dao might be a penny-pincher, but he hadn’t hesitated when it mattered. That alone made replenishing Xiao Dao’s energy a top priority.

The next morning, Xu Ze sneaked out for a few laps around the lake to stretch his stiff limbs. Then, with some trepidation and accompanied by Luo Zi and the others, he avoided the cafeteria altogether and headed straight to class.

Somehow, Luo Zi and his friends had worked their magic. The students they encountered along the way weren’t as fanaticism as the night before. Instead, they simply smiled and greeted Xu Ze, asking if he was feeling better, without any extreme behavior. Xu Ze finally breathed a sigh of relief.

But he couldn’t help eyeing Luo Zi suspiciously. “Luo Zi… What exactly did you guys do to make the whole school calm down overnight? Since when did you have this kind of influence?”

Faced with Xu Ze’s skepticism, the trio—usually thick-skinned—showed no signs of pride at their success. Instead, they awkwardly avoided the question, laughing nervously and trying to change the subject.

Their evasiveness only made Xu Ze more suspicious. Grabbing the relatively honest Fatty by the collar, he demanded in a low voice, “Fatty… Spit it out. What exactly did you guys do? Did you use some underhanded trick?”

Fatty, being the honest one, crumbled under the pressure, ignoring Luo Zi and Gang Zi’s frantic eye signals. “After… after you fell asleep last night, we didn’t know what to do… so we came up with a plan… We posted…”

Here, Fatty nervously swallowed and hesitated.

Xu Ze’s eyes narrowed. “Out with it! What kind of dirty trick did you pull?”

“Uh… We made another post overnight, saying you hadn’t fully recovered from your illness and that after all the commotion, you fainted again when you got back…” Having spilled the beans, Fatty quickly shook off Xu Ze’s grip and bolted, fearing retaliation.

Luo Zi and Gang Zi, ever the slippery ones, took off after him the moment the truth was out.

Left standing alone, Xu Ze finally processed the information before stomping his foot in outrage. “Since when is my body that weak?! You’ve ruined my reputation!”

After class, Xu Ze vented his frustration on Luo Zi and the others before heading to the clinic for his shift.

When he arrived, Old Man Zhang looked at him with a mix of emotions. He had already read about the Tao Xiao case and Xu Ze’s involvement in the day’s newspapers.

Gently patting Xu Ze’s shoulder, he smiled and nodded, offering no words of encouragement. Instead, he said, “Young people should have passion, but you must also be careful. Think twice before you act, or you might create a mess you can’t clean up.”

Touched by Old Man Zhang’s well-meaning advice, Xu Ze smiled and nodded in understanding.

As for Zhao Qilong, the look he gave Xu Ze was a mix of resentment and newfound wariness.

As a member of the Zhao family—another prominent clan in Star City—he knew more about the incident than most. Though there were inexplicable elements to the case, he was shocked that Xu Ze had managed to take center stage in the courtroom drama.

Regardless of who was backing Xu Ze or what other factors were at play, driving one of the Zhang family’s sons and two nephews to madness in open court was no ordinary feat.

Moreover, Zhao Qilong had heard rumors that Old Man Tang, the reclusive patriarch of the Tang family, had publicly claimed Xu Ze as his adopted grandson—a clear gesture of protection. This made Zhao Qilong even more cautious.

Xu Ze, noticing Zhao Qilong’s shifting gaze, simply smiled. He knew exactly what Zhao Qilong was thinking.

As a member of the Zhao family—even if not the main lineage—Zhao Qilong had access to certain information. Now that he knew some of the truth, he was unlikely to cause trouble for Xu Ze in the future.

As long as Xu Ze didn’t provoke him, Zhao Qilong probably wouldn’t go out of his way to pick fights. That’s at least one silver lining from this whole mess, Xu Ze thought with a smile.

Xu Ze quietly resumed his seat in the injection room, studying his books. Even so, many regular patients greeted him warmly, some even giving him thumbs-up. Xu Ze responded with polite smiles.

As days passed, the courtroom incident gradually faded into the background. Though people still greeted Xu Ze warmly on campus, the atmosphere was noticeably calmer.

Life returned to normal—attending classes, working at the clinic, and giving Old Man Tang his daily electro-acupuncture treatments.

Old Man Tang had improved significantly. Since Xu Ze began treating him, he hadn’t experienced a single episode of angina, much to his satisfaction. Xu Ze now affectionately called him “Grandpa Tang,” officially cementing their relationship.

As for the Zhang family, despite Zhang Juntao and Li Benlong’s worsening conditions, they dared not make a move. It seemed the whole affair had quietly blown over.

Xu Ze settled back into his routine, spending the last two weeks of the semester peacefully at the clinic.

One day, the clinic was unusually busy. Xu Ze helped out by seeing a few patients at his small desk. Old Man Zhang trusted his judgment, so he usually signed off on Xu Ze’s prescriptions without review.

Zhao Qilong, however, didn’t enjoy the same privilege. Every prescription he wrote had to be checked by Old Man Zhang before the patient could get their medicine. This left Zhao Qilong fuming, but there was nothing he could do.

With the three of them working together, they managed the patient load efficiently. Aside from oral medications, five or six patients were sent to the injection room for IVs.

Once things quieted down, Old Man Zhang seized the chance to slip off to the restroom with a magazine, while Zhao Qilong leisurely lit a cigarette and enjoyed a smoke.

Unable to stand the haze, Xu Ze stepped outside for some fresh air.

Shortly after, a man approached Zhao Qilong, saying something before Zhao Qilong followed him out. A while later, Zhao Qilong returned and resumed smoking.

Xu Ze lingered outside until Zhao Qilong finished his cigarette and Old Man Zhang returned. Then he went back inside and picked up his pharmacology manual.

But he had only read a couple of pages when the same man returned. Seeing Old Man Zhang, he said anxiously, “Dr. Zhang, my father’s stomach still hurts. The medicine hasn’t helped at all!”

Old Man Zhang recognized the man—his father was the patient with abdominal pain, diarrhea, and vomiting, likely gastroenteritis. He turned to Zhao Qilong. “Dr. Zhao, go take a look.”

The man hesitated. “Dr. Zhang, Dr. Zhao already checked and even gave him an injection, but it didn’t help.”

“Oh?” Old Man Zhang frowned and followed the family member to see the patient.

Zhao Qilong, not wanting to seem negligent, hurried after them.

Xu Ze, assuming it was just a routine case, stayed put. With Old Man Zhang’s experience, a simple stomachache should be easy to handle.

But after a while, Old Man Zhang called out, “Xu Ze, come here for a moment.”

Surprised, Xu Ze wondered, A difficult case?

Without delay, he walked over, nodding at Old Man Zhang’s furrowed brow.

Pointing at the patient, Old Man Zhang said, “Xu Ze, take a look. This case is a bit unusual. See if you have any other ideas.”

Xu Ze nodded, thinking, If even Old Man Zhang is stumped, this must be strange indeed.

He began questioning the patient, a man in his fifties or sixties, who was in too much pain to speak much. His son answered most of the questions.

After some time, Xu Ze pieced together the story: The patient had had diarrhea for two days, with mild abdominal pain—four or five episodes daily, each quite severe. After self-medicating, the diarrhea had improved, and he thought a few more doses would fix it.

But today, shortly after another dose, the abdominal pain suddenly worsened, accompanied by vomiting, prompting the clinic visit.

After the history, Xu Ze conducted a thorough exam. The patient’s heart and lungs were fine. The abdomen showed only mild tenderness in the lower region and slightly hyperactive bowel sounds—consistent with gastroenteritis.

Frowning, Xu Ze looked up at Old Man Zhang. “It does seem like gastroenteritis. What treatment has been given?”

Old Man Zhang nodded. “We’ve given 6542 for spasms, antibiotics, and Dr. Zhao added rotundine for pain, but there’s been no improvement.”

“If it were gastroenteritis, these should’ve helped…” Old Man Zhang mused.

Xu Ze’s frown deepened. By all logic, gastroenteritis should’ve responded to treatment. The lack of improvement was puzzling.

He thought for a moment, then re-examined the abdomen, finding nothing new.

Just as he was about to give up, a realization struck. The patient’s diarrhea had improved with medication, meaning the enteritis was resolving. The sudden severe pain and vomiting today, without worsening diarrhea, suggested another cause.

Severe lower abdominal pain with vomiting, beyond enteritis, pointed to two likely culprits: urinary stones or appendicitis. Given the sudden onset, stones were more probable.

Excited, Xu Ze ordered, “Activate X-ray vision.”

The system responded instantly, his glasses projecting a micro-scan of the abdomen.

But the image revealed a problem: The intestines were full of stool, obscuring any view of potential stones.

Xu Ze groaned. X-rays could detect urinary stones, but without bowel prep, they were useless. Only an ultrasound could help under these conditions—and that required Level 2 access, which he lacked.

Just as he was about to give up, another thought struck him. There was something he’d overlooked…

A slow smile spread across his face as the answer dawned on him.