The Young Urban Doctor

It was the first day of campus and the campus ground was crowded. There were many freshmen everywhere dragging their luggage behind them. Some had their parents accompanying them to register for their respective courses.

Luo Zilin, who never walked into a campus, felt that everything about the new environment was alien to him. The place was merry and crowded with people that had excitement plastered on their youthful faces. He stood there for quite some time, not knowing what to do then.

“Hey there, are you here to register as well?” a hoarse voice rang from behind him.

Luo Ziling turned around and saw a tall young man with a face covered with pimples.

The man held many suitcases. By the looks of it, he seemed to be a fellow freshman.

“Yes, I am. Are you a freshman as well?” Luo Ziling asked in surprise, as if he was hoping that the man shared the same predicament as he did.

“I am a first-year Clinical Medicine student. My name is Cao Jianhui,” the pimply-faced young man introduced himself before putting down all the suitcases he was holding. He extended his hand out, offering a handshake.

“You looked like someone knowledgeable, cool and personable, standing there, looking for friends? Would you be my friend?”

What he said almost made Luo Ziling laugh. He extended his hand as a response before introducing himself to the pimply-faced young man who called himself Cao Jianhui.

“Oh! So, you are also a first-year Clinical Medicine student! We might be classmates! Wakaka!” Cao Jianhui laughed with a pleasantly-surprised face. He then gestured with his large hands and said, “Come now, let’s go register ourselves.”

Luo Ziling happily complied as he had no idea how the registration process went. He followed Cao Jianhui to the place where freshmen register.

Cao Jianhui was very lively. From the man-of-few-words-Luo Ziling’s point of view, Cao Jianhui presented himself as someone that could talk.

It was fortunate that he was there. Thanks to him, Luo Ziling got himself registered and managed to acquire his dorm room key.

Coincidentally, the two shared the same class, and they both shared the same dormitory room.

“Haha! We’re really fated. No wonder our eyes met when on campus.”

After getting the keys to their room, Cao Jianhui slapped Luo Ziling’s back, laughing louder, more frivolously.

“With me covering for you, no one would dare to pick on you! You can think of me as your big boss!”

Luo Ziling cringed immediately. He hoped the man did not have odd habits or behavior… If he did, Luo Ziling would stay as far away as he could.

He carried his belongings with him to the dormitory. Everything was clean as there was still no one around. The two were the first ones to arrive.

The dormitory could fit four people. It had individual toilets with water heaters, and air-conditioning. All in all, it was a perfectly acceptable accommodation.

“As expected of a good institution. They provide better than the rest. Wahahaha!” Cao Jianhui said, laughing madly again.

Luo Ziling had goosebumps when he saw just how the pimples on his face wobbled when Cao Jianhui laughed.

He tossed his heavy luggage next to the bottom of the bunk beds and rushed to the washroom for a quick “biohazard” offload. When he was done, he came to Luo Ziling, who was still examining the room.

“I want the bottom bunk. What about you?”

“I don’t like sleeping on top,” Luo Ziling declared and picked the other bed.

While the two started to make their beds, Luo Ziling turned to Cao Jianhui and asked, “Why do you have so many pimples? Do you suffer from endocrine dyscrasia?”

“They are pimples. You get them when you hit puberty,” Cao Jianhui replied and noticed just how healthy Luo Ziling’s skin was. He sighed out loud and asked, “How do you keep your skin without pimples?”

“How about I prescribe you two kinds of medicine. I assure you that they will get rid of the pimples,” Luo Ziling said.

He was starting to take a liking to Cao Jianhui. Even though his experience with people was somewhat lacking as he had been living away from the mass for twenty years, he could still read the man’s honesty from his candid smile and bold manners. He was a nice person and Luo Ziling felt that he should take the first step to do something nice and help him treat his pimples.

“Really?”

Cao Jianhui got excited. Just as he was about to stand up straight, the back of his head hammered the upper bunk’s metal frame. It was so painful that he howled. Nevertheless, he endured it. As he pressed the part of his head that was throbbing in pain, he came to Luo Ziling happily and asked, “Do you really have something that could get rid of my pimples?”

“What good would it do to me to lie?”

“That’s great then! Hand it over!”

Cao Jianhui got so excited that he forgot how to behave. He rubbed his hands as his face glowed red saying, “If you can help me with my pimples, I’ll cover all your daily expenses for this entire semester!”

“Really?” Luo Ziling got excited as well. He hadn’t expected Cao Jianhui to be one of the rich folks, especially the kind that could never spend too much.

“Of course!” he declared as he pounded his chest hard, twice.

“I am a man of my word and have never gone back on it!”

Luo Ziling had nothing else to say. He took out a piece of paper and a pen, and quickly wrote down the medication for him to take.

“Take these for two weeks. You’ll start seeing pimples disappear. At most, in half a year, all the scars on your face will disappear as well.”

Cao Jianhui took the piece of paper and read it twice thoroughly. Treating it like treasure that needed to be kept safely, he tucked them away in the front pocket of his shirt.

Curious, he asked, “Student Luo, have you studied medicine before?”

“My grandfather was once a famous Chinese medicine practitioner. I learned from him since I was young,” Luo Ziling confessed.

“So, why would you come here to learn Western medicine?” Cao Jianhui asked as he failed to understand. “You have learned Chinese medicine for so long. Assuming that you are good at it, you could have earned a fortune. Could it be that the reason you came to this university was because you never liked Chinese medicine?”

“I want to get used to both Chinese traditional and Western medicine. I want to learn from both to further improve my skills as a physician,” replied Luo Ziling with a smile. “If I can perfect what I know about Chinese medicine, and learn as much as I can about Western medicine, wouldn’t I be a world-famous physician?”

“That’s true.”

Cao Jianhui nodded in agreement even though he felt there was something odd about his statement. He could not quite put a pin on it just yet.

“Since you already know about medicine, you can flaunt your knowledge in classes now.”

“I don’t know how to flaunt.”

“You are already doing that,” said Cao Jianhui before he threw a glare and returned to making his bed.

Just as the two were tidying their beds, two other new roommates carrying suitcases entered the dormitory.

Since Luo Ziling and Cao Jianhui got the first pick and took both the bottom bunks, the two new roommates had no other option than to go with the top bunks.

Everyone came together and introduced themselves. The new ones were Li Fuming and Wu Longjiang.

Li Fuming was thin and lean, and he looked like a monkey. He came from the south, the Min Province. As for Wu Longjiang, he appeared neat and tidy. He was from Jiangnan Shuixiang of Jiangzhe Province.

Cao Jianhui himself was from Ji Province that was near Yenching. Luo Ziling was from the northwestern parts of China. One could say that all four of them came from all corners of China.

There was nothing to be hidden when youth socialized amongst themselves. Cao Jianhui was the friendly kind and after everyone briefly introduced themselves, and after he laughed like a mad king, everyone got closer to each other. After the self-introduction, they all revealed their own age. Luo Ziling was the oldest there and was quickly crowned as the big boss by the others. The second in line there was Cao Jianhui, followed by Wu Longjiang, and finally Li Fuming as the youngest.

Each of their beds and desk needed to be tidy. Hence, after they set aside their luggage bags, all four of them started to get busy.