Chapter 4.2

The clinic had been closed for years and required a complete overhaul of renovations. The periphery outside may have been painted before, but the workers got lazy and left behind the mailbox in front of the door unpainted.

The mailbox was set up by his father himself when he opened the clinic. Modern people seldom write letters now but Comrade Xia insisted on installing a mailbox on the wall. He reasoned that maybe some of his old friends might send letters.

Xia Yuzhou had never seen those old friends’ letters and this mailbox had been collecting advertisement flyers ever since that day. Five years later, it was miraculous that this mailbox had not been filled to the brim with advertisements, but it still couldn’t be opened. Xia Yuzhou was too lazy to find the little key and simply sealed the mailbox. He painted over it a new and engaging color to serve as an ornament at least.

He brushed a blue and pink paint that has the same style as the wall, and drew a black cat with an open mouth in the middle. Xia Yuzhou appreciated his masterpiece with satisfaction, washed his hands clean and opened the door of the clinic.

The clinic was in a mess. Large instruments still covered with dust covers and unused supplies, that were thrown haphazardly by him into cardboard boxes, littered the floor. The stools and tables were covered with a thick layer of dust and eight of the ten light bulbs were broken. Thankfully, the refrigerator was still running, and would only need a few scrubs to make it presentable.

“What a hassle.” Xia Yuzhou looked at the littered and cluttered house and, with great perseverance, restrained his impulse to just turn around and leave.

If only he was by himself, he could still leave it hanging. But now that he has a son to raise, the reopening of the clinic became his priority.

Xia Yuzhou found a cardboard box to use as a chair and sat down, taking out an accounting book and began calculating it.

Although old, there are two conjoined set dental treatment tables in total. He couldn’t afford to hire a second dentist right now, and since he’s the only one who will work, he can sell these two sets to replace it with a new single table.

Most of the consumables have expired and need to be repurchased again in bulk.

It also needs at least two employees— a front desk cashier and a nurse.

……

The further he calculated, the more his head hurt. The yellow ledger was scribbled by him into a mess, and the tree-like diagram became a thorn bush.

“Old Xia, you said you left me something and you indeed gave me a mess.” Xia Yuzhou lay down on the big box, “Especially when I’m no good at organizing stuff.”

So troublesome.

When he was in school, since the professors had pointed out the main points, sorting them out into a table was much simpler. But for Xia Yuzhou, the most difficult step was breaking the information down to bullet points as, regardless of it, he would remember everything anyway.

It wasn’t until someone began studying alongside him that he finally had his own “exam notes.”

The inky letters on the yellowed paper touched his face. Xia Yuzhou decided to sleep while waiting for his son to come home. He didn’t know if it was the misfortune brought by the account book, but he began to dream about the past.

“The voting result for the Best School Heartthrob Student Competition is out, hahaha… Guess what place you’ll be?” Zhou Shu, who rushed back from the Internet Cafe, carried the mixed scents of cigarettes and instant noodles. He laughed so hard that you couldn’t see his eyes anymore.

Xia Yuzhou was fiddling with a prop sword. The school’s art troupe had to participate in the cultural festival and they asked him to perform a sword dance. Preparing for the program had recently eaten his time, so he hadn’t paid much attention to the “Best School Heartthrob Competition” posted on the school forum. After listening to his younger brother, he casually inquired, “What’s my rank?”

The school’s BBS Forum posted no more than a dozen pictures of selected male students to be voted by the whole University. Not only did it create a racket online but there was also offline support from the girls campaigning their chosen “heartthrob ”. This activity had been in full swing for a week, and the final result was finally determined today.

“Third.” Zhou Shu opened the laptop on the table and showed him the page.

“Hoh!?” Xia Yuzhou arched his eyebrows as it finally piqued his interest and said, “This school has someone more handsome than this young master?”

“Ptooey—” the roommate who was drinking coke while sitting on the bed choked out, “Xia Yuzhou, you might want to lighten your face, how could there be no one more handsome than you?”

“Hmph, let me see the face who dared to stand in front of this master.” Xia Yuzhou pouted and looked closer. As a purebred Bloodling, don’t mention other aspects but just this fair glowing face of his is incomparable to any human out there. The two cubs in front of him must have bought the tickets dishonestly.

1st Place, a sophomore from the Department of Clinical Medicine, Si Jun.

2nd Place, the Top Graduate from the Department of General Medicine, He Yu.

3rd Place, a sophomore from the Department of Dental Medicine, Xia Yuzhou.

……

The 2nd place photo was really good looking but the first place has no photo aside from his name. Xia Yuzhou touched his chin in thought.

His roommate came over to see the excitement and said, “It’s indeed the two of them.”

“You know them?” Xia Yuzhou opened a package of dried jujube slices and handed it to his roommate.

“Crunch, crunch,” his roommate grabbed a handful and threw them into his mouth. “I’ve seen the general medicine male god when he participated on a TV show once. As for Si Jun… that man is very mysterious but anyone who sees him all says that he’s handsome and stoic. The girls even gave him the nickname, “noble son” or “little prince.” Anyway, he’s quite the mystery man.”

It’s indeed very mysterious to win the championship by just a name alone.

“I know him, the ‘noble son of Medical School’.” Zhou Shu, who was also from the Clinical Department, raised his hand and said, “They all said that he’s like a medieval aristocrat, bearing the attitude of a royalty. But I have never seen him.”

The more he listened, the more curious Xia Yuzhou became. He really wanted to know what this Si Jun looks like.

“Must be nice for you since you can see him up close for the presentation of awards,” His roommate pointed to the announcement prompt below the forum thread.

The Best School Heartthrob Competition’s top three winners will be awarded with medals and prizes tomorrow. The prize content per person included a box of sunscreen sprays.

Xia Yuzhou was suddenly moved.

“Dang! Then I’ll go and take a look at the sunscreen spray…cough, I mean, what the two top winners look like.”