This Doctor Is Too Wealthy

Chapter 150: 150 bad breath hiccups

At the gathering in the evening, only Du Heng, Dong Yuezhang, and Wei Kaida were present. Jin Zan couldn’t make it as he was on duty.

Du Heng looked at Wei Kaida, who was wearing glasses, and felt it was a bit odd. ”What’s gotten into you, wearing glasses all of a sudden? You look strange.”

Wei Kaida casually adjusted his frameless glasses and spoke in a calm yet pretentious tone, ”I’ve been reading so much lately, my eyes are a bit tired.”

”Get out of here! Since when do you read?” Du Heng’s remark instantly made Wei Kaida drop his act. The scholarly demeanor he’d just put on vanished, and he reverted to his usual nonchalant, somewhat roguish air. ”Man, I don’t know how you and Baldy manage to study. The moment I open a book, I get sleepy. It’s been half a month, and I’ve only flipped three pages of the one I have.”

”Who’s Baldy?” Du Heng asked, puzzled.

”Jin. With his current hair volume, what else could he be if not bald?”

Wei Kaida put down the menu, waved over the waitress, and quickly ordered a few dishes. ”You can start preparing. Serve the food once everyone’s here.”

After the waitress left, Du Heng reminded Wei Kaida, ”You better not call Jin ’Baldy’ to his face, or he’ll fight you for it.”

”Pfft, so what if he’s bald? Can’t people talk about it? But it is strange. He’s lost a lot of hair awfully quickly for someone so young—he’s only twenty-nine, just two years older than me.”

”Maybe it’s the pressure in his department.”

Wei Kaida shook his head and pursed his lips. ”I heard he and his wife are having some issues. Maybe that’s why.”

Du Heng refilled their cups with water. ”Where did you hear they were having issues?”

”From some of the women in our class. They work at the same place as Jin’s wife, so they gossip.”

”Oh. Did you ask why? Is there anything we can do to help?”

Wei Kaida glared at Du Heng. ”They’re arguing because they can’t conceive a child. How are you supposed to help with that? Jin would break your legs.”

Du Heng kicked Wei Kaida under the table. ”You’re such a brute! Everything sounds sordid coming from you. What’s the real reason?”

”Sigh, what else could it be? Jin’s mother is nagging them for a grandchild, but his wife isn’t getting pregnant. The conflict between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law has spilled over onto Jin.”

Wei Kaida glanced at the time. ”What’s Dong doing? Why isn’t he here yet?”

”Never mind Dong. Tell me more about Jin and his wife. Are they choosing not to have children, or is there a problem with his wife?”

Wei Kaida glanced towards the door and lowered his voice slightly. ”They both want a child, but it seems Jin is the one with the problem.”

Du Heng frowned and whispered, ”Sterility?”

”That’s what I heard. His wife asked him to get a check-up, but Jin has been unwilling to go, so the conflict between them is getting worse.”

”Has his wife had a check-up? Could it be her problem?”

”According to those women, his wife had a check-up and was found to have no problems.”

Du Heng didn’t ask further. He’d find time to talk to Jin Zan.

Just as he was thinking about this, the door to the private room was pushed open.

Dong Yuezhang entered, wearing a formal, short-sleeved white shirt and suit pants, which made him look rather old-fashioned. Behind him followed a young man about their age.

Seeing a stranger, Du Heng and Wei Kaida both stood up. ”You certainly took your time! We’re almost waterlogged from all the tea.”

Dong Yuezhang sat down with the young man, apologizing, ”Sorry, I got held up by something.”

After everyone was seated, Dong Yuezhang made the introductions. ”This is my childhood friend, Feng Wei. He’s a big boss.”

Then, gesturing to Du Heng and Wei Kaida, he said, ”This is Du Heng. He’s a Divine Doctor and the current Dean of the Zhonghu Town Health Clinic. He’s quite a prominent figure in Zhonghu Town.”

Du Heng shook Feng Wei’s hand. ”Hello. Don’t listen to Dong’s exaggerations; I’m just a grassroots doctor.”

Feng Wei returned the handshake politely. ”Hello.”

Dong Yuezhang laughed and continued, ”And this is Wei Kaida, a ’playa’ and the young master of the Perilla Clinic, a century-old pharmacy.”

”What century-old pharmacy? We’re still eighty years short of that. Hello.”

”Hello.”

Of the four present, Du Heng was the exception; the other three were masters at livening things up. Soon, the private room was filled with boisterous talk and laughter, the food on the table largely ignored.

Du Heng didn’t drink. He smiled and poured drinks for the others, essentially having this feast all to himself.

Seeing how relaxed Dong Yuezhang was, Du Heng understood. Feng Wei truly was his childhood friend, and a very close one at that. Otherwise, knowing Dong’s personality, he wouldn’t be this unguarded, even with someone he knew well, if the bond wasn’t exceptionally strong.

Among the three drinkers, Wei Kaida tended to lose control once he started, but the other two had excellent self-restraint. Noticing that everyone was getting a bit tipsy, Dong Yuezhang and Feng Wei suggested they take a break, eat some food, and chat for a while.

This continued until the party broke up. Throughout this, Du Heng sensed Feng Wei wanted to say something. But seeing Dong Yuezhang give no sign, Feng Wei hesitated multiple times and ultimately kept silent.

「The next day, as soon as Du Heng got to work, he called Jin Zan.」

”Are you busy?”

”Not too bad. No surgeries today, so I’m not very busy.”

”That’s good. Take a leave of absence and come to my place. I need to talk to you about something.”

”If you have something to say, just say it. Why do I need to take leave?”

”It’s not convenient to talk about over the phone. It’s important. Come quickly.”

Du Heng quickly hung up because a patient had just walked in.

Du Heng recognized the visitor. It was Mrs. Huo, a young and pretty teacher from the nearby Zhonghu Town Central Primary School.

Du Heng greeted her with a smile. ”Mrs. Huo, what brings you here? Is something the matter?”

Mrs. Huo sat before Du Heng, her brow furrowed and a troubled expression on her face. ”Doctor Du, could you take a look at me? I don’t know what’s wrong, but I’ve had a bitter taste in my mouth recently, and I keep getting hiccups. It’s so embarrassing when it happens suddenly while I’m teaching my students.”

”Extend your hand, let me check your pulse.”

As Mrs. Huo placed her hand on the pulse pillow, she added, ”Oh, and my students told me I have bad breath.” Having said that, she cupped her hand over her mouth, exhaled a short breath into it, sniffed hard, and said with puzzlement, ”I don’t smell anything.”

She might not think so, but Du Heng was nearly overcome by the odor.

It was a good thing he was wearing a mask. If not, with her exhaling like that just across the table, Du Heng might have dry-heaved on the spot.

Seriously though, are elementary school students these days so bold? Daring to tell their teacher to her face that she has bad breath? The sheer audacity!

Back in his school days, even if bits of chive from the teacher’s teeth landed in a student’s hair, the student wouldn’t have dared make a peep. They’d just discreetly remove it and pretend nothing had happened.