Ning Anyu tapped her on the arm and pointed toward the consulting room on the right. “Mom, Dr. Chu’s office is over there.”
“Okay, okay, let’s go.” Wang Min pulled him by the arm.
Chu Sichen was the most famous doctor in this department, seeing only one scheduled patient per morning. Ning Anyu walked up to the door and knocked.
“Come in!”
The voice came through the intercom on the door. It sounded somewhat cold, but with an extremely pleasant timbre, clearly the voice of a young man.
Ning Anyu walked in. The doctor, wearing a white lab coat, was looking down, flipping through the medical records on his desk. Hearing footsteps approach, he finally raised his head.
An exceptionally refined and handsome face came into Ning Anyu’s view.
Ning Anyu froze instantly, not out of shock at how remarkably handsome the face was, but because it felt intensely familiar.
It wasn’t just familiarity; an indescribable emotion swelled up violently in his chest, making his heart race with excitement. He even had the urge to rush forward and pull the man into his arms, though reason managed to stop him just in time. Startled by this sudden impulse, he stood there in a daze.
Meanwhile, after seeing him, Chu Sichen’s previously calm gaze suddenly turned sharp. He stood up, staring at him suspiciously as his refined face gradually clouded over with gloom. He said coldly,
“Take off your hat and mask!”
Ning Anyu hated it the most when people spoke to him in such a commanding tone, but this time he didn’t have a single ounce of temper. Obediently, he followed the order, took off his hat and mask, and held them in his hand.
“It’s you!” Chu Sichen’s phoenix eyes widened abruptly, and the resentment in his heart surged forth.
With a single stride, he rushed forward, grabbed Ning Anyu by the collar, and threw a fierce punch at his face, immediately following it up with a second one.
Fortunately, by this time Ning Anyu had recovered his reflexes. With even faster speed, he grabbed the other man’s wrist, spun around, twisted Chu Sichen’s arm behind his back to pin him, and raised his other hand, aiming a punch straight at the man’s head.
This was a conditioned reflex built from years of combat training; countless people had passed out under this exact punch.
However, this time, just as his fist was about to land on the man’s head, he forcefully stopped himself.
Releasing the man, he asked, looking somewhat bewildered and aggrieved, “Why are you trying to hit me?”
Wang Min, who was standing nearby, snapped back to reality. Fueled by blinding fury, she rushed over, shoved Chu Sichen hard, and yelled angrily, “How can you hit someone? Are you out of your mind, hitting people?”
Ning Anyu had taken a punch, and his cheek burned with a sharp pain. Reaching up, he touched the torn corner of his mouth where a bit of liquid was oozing out. His fingertip came away stained with a streak of bright red. This was the first time in his life he had ever been beaten until he bled, and he looked at Chu Sichen in deep bewilderment.
At that moment, the hatred in Chu Sichen’s eyes had not yet faded, and his chest was still heaving with anger. Fortunately, his remaining reason held him back, preventing him from lunging forward to beat the man again.
This person, he was the exact man from his dream! The hateful bastard from his dream!
Yet reason told him that it was only a dream. In reality, he didn’t know this person, and there was no bad blood or grievance between them. He had no right to actually rush forward and beat him up.
“Son, how are you?” Wang Min hurriedly checked her son’s red, swollen cheek, feeling so heartbroken she was almost on the verge of tears. She turned around and shoved Chu Sichen again. “What kind of doctor are you? You are the one who belongs in a psychiatric ward! Do you even have the qualifications to treat people?”
Faced with the woman’s questioning, Chu Sichen was left speechless. Feeling a prick of guilt, he finally shifted his gaze away from Ning Anyu, suppressed the turbulent emotions in his heart, and said in a slightly ruffled tone, “I am sorry! Just now, I must have mistaken him for someone else.”
“An apology is supposed to fix this? Can’t you see you’ve hurt my son?”
“Forget it, it’s not serious. Dr. Chu, please examine me first.” Ning Anyu pulled on Wang Min’s arm.
“Why let him examine you?”
“I’m sorry, I can’t treat your illness!”
Wang Min and Chu Sichen spoke at the exact same time.
Although Chu Sichen looked somewhat calm on the surface now, his inner thoughts were churning like rolling waves. He had no idea why this person happened to look identical to the man in his dream. Right now, he felt a mixture of bizarreness and resentment, rendering him completely incapable of practicing medicine.
Wang Min yanked her son over, looked down her nose at Chu Sichen, and sneered, “With a messed-up brain like his, what kind of medical practice is he even running? He should go take his own medicine and get himself cured first!”
“Mom!” Ning Anyu used a look to stop her.
“I apologize, I can cover the medical expenses.” Chu Sichen uttered the apology while internal anger still simmered within him. He had always been a calm and rational person, but even though this whole affair was absurd, his emotions had been entirely hijacked and were proving difficult to control.
“Who wants your money? Let me tell you, just wait for a formal complaint! Son, let’s go! Hurry up and walk!” Wang Min dragged Ning Anyu away, completely ignoring her son’s hesitation, and stormed out.
Chu Sichen sat down in his chair, his slender fingers pressing tightly against his throbbing temples. The porcelain-white skin of his face had taken on a pale, sickly hue out of anger and unease.
After a long while, he took a deep breath to suppress the chaotic emotions churning inside him. Reaching into the pocket of his white lab coat, he pulled out a pack of cigarettes, intending to light one, but hesitated and put them back.
Smoking wasn’t allowed in the consulting room; if he wanted to smoke, he had to go to the designated smoking area. But right now, he didn’t want to go anywhere.
Why on earth did this have to happen? It was completely inexplicable. It was one thing to keep having that bizarre dream, but how could he actually run into someone in real life who looked identical to the man in the dream?
At the time, he really had felt the strong urge to beat the living daylights out of him.
Knock, knock, knock!
Just as he was lost in thought, a moderate knock sounded at the door.
“Dr. Chu, may I come in?”
A soft, delicate voice asked from outside with tentative hesitation.
Chu Sichen raised his eyes and saw the face of a young nurse pressed against the glass pane embedded in the center of the door.
“Come in!” He gathered his thoughts and sat up straight.
“Dr. Chu, um, Director Zhao is looking for you. He said your phone was turned off, so he asked you to go to his office.”
The nurse opened the door just enough to poke her head in, offering a somewhat shy smile.
In the eyes of his colleagues, Chu Sichen was an exceptionally competent and handsome doctor, but the problem was that he was just a bit too aloof. Although he was always polite to people, he gave off an inexplicable sense of distance, making him difficult to approach.
Therefore, even though many young female staff members in the hospital admired him, they would grow nervous upon seeing him, and very few dared to get close.
“All right, I understand,” Chu Sichen replied with a neutral expression.
Reaching into his pocket, Chu Sichen pulled out his phone and discovered that the battery had died. After plugging it into a charger, he took long strides toward the elevator at a leisurely pace.
Those two people must have finished filing their complaint by now. This time, he had definitely been caught red-handed by that guy surnamed Zhao, Chu Sichen thought, feeling a slight headache coming on.
What would that guy Zhao want to do? Dock his pay? Surely it wouldn’t be writing a self-criticism report?
To his genuine surprise, it wasn’t about a complaint at all, as the patient from earlier hadn’t lodged one after all. Director Zhao had called him in because the municipal prison bureau needed to borrow a doctor from the hospital to provide psychological counseling for inmates, and Director Zhao had recommended him.
When he heard that, he was utterly thunderstruck. A psychological counselor? And for the prison bureau? He had been working in psychiatry for over three years, yet the man was now ordering him to transfer to psychology!
Even though he held a dual doctorate in psychiatry and psychology, he had spent nearly three years establishing himself smoothly in psychiatry where everything was familiar and going well. He would have to be out of his mind to want to transfer to the psychology department.
However, there was no way out of it. He had to go. Because J Medical University was a state-sponsored institution that trained Tier-1 medical talent on bonded contracts, everyone entering the school was required to obey superior assignments upon graduation, and his current immediate superior happened to be this man surnamed Zhao.
“Dr. Chu, you know that the conditions over at the prison bureau certainly aren’t as good as ours here, but right now you have the best professional skills in our hospital. Since Bureau Chief Li specifically asked to borrow someone, naturally I have to give him our best.”
Director Zhao sat in his leather swivel chair with his legs crossed, fingers interlocked in front of his chest. Looking up at him from across the desk, a very obvious expression of triumphant smugness played across his face.
Chu Sichen knew this was Director Zhao’s deliberate attempt to fix him.
Just at the recent New Year gathering, he had offended Director Zhao.
It happened because Director Zhao had thrown an arm around his shoulder like they were best buddies and shoved a wine glass right up to his mouth. Feeling deeply annoyed at the time, Chu Sichen had grabbed Director Zhao’s wrist. Who would have thought that the burly Director Zhao was actually so fragile? The wine glass slipped right out of his hand and smashed into pieces on the floor.
Ever since then, the two of them could be considered to have a grudge. Whenever they crossed paths, the atmosphere was always peculiar, and everyone in the hospital knew they didn’t get along.
“Of course, Dr. Chu, if you really don’t want to go, I suppose I could still figure out a way to help you.”
Director Zhao’s gaze locked onto Chu Sichen’s face, a meaningful smile playing on his lips.
Chu Sichen secretly tightened his fists, suppressing the resentment in his heart while maintaining a completely calm and detached exterior. He said coldly, “No need!”
Ever since this man was transferred to the hospital on day one, Chu Sichen had felt a strong aversion toward him. He looked the part of a young, accomplished elite, but the gaze leaking through his squinted eyes always made people feel uncomfortable.
Was Zhao saying that now to make him show weakness and offer a bribe? After all, he had heard rumors that Director Zhao expected patients to hand out red envelopes just to get surgeries done. Or perhaps he just wanted to watch him panic and break down so he could feel even more triumphant. It was utterly disgusting! There was no way he would let that bastard get his wish.
Director Zhao probably hadn’t expected such a dismissive reaction. Seeing him turn to leave, he suddenly stood up, his face full of anger as he snapped, “Chu Sichen! Have you thought this through?”
Chu Sichen turned back, his gaze chillingly sharp. “Disappointed, aren’t you? Transferring out isn’t a bad thing for me, at least I won’t have to endure a leader like you anymore!”
“You…!” Director Zhao gritted his teeth, nodded, and forced out a vicious, malicious smile. “Fine! So you are all high and mighty. Finish receiving your scheduled patients today, and come hand in your resignation tomorrow!”
Chu Sichen’s response was a cold snort through his nose and the decisive back of a man slamming the door behind him as he left.
Inside the car, Wang Min still wore an angry expression as she asked her son in confusion, “Why didn’t you let Mom go complain to their leadership about him? Are we just going to let him beat and bully you for nothing?”
“Didn’t you also not want other people to know about my condition? Making a big scene isn’t good for anyone. Besides, didn’t I listen to you and get the ointment applied at the emergency room? The doctor there also said it’s nothing, and it’ll heal in a couple of days.” Ning Anyu acted completely unconcerned, offering his mother a reassuring smile.