The Young Urban Doctor

Luo Ziling took the public bus home and by the time he arrived back at the campus, it was already evening.

Unfamiliar with the public bus system in Yenching, he had mistakenly taken the wrong route a few times, as he did not know when and where to transit. Fortunately, he had still managed to get down somewhere close to the university. As soon as he set foot on campus, he felt relaxed.

Back in his dormitory, the other three roommates were not around. One would guess that they were out for dinner. Just as he was about to worry about his dinner, his phone rang.

It was Cao Jianhui asking about Luo Ziling’s whereabouts. The trio were having their dinner in the campus cafeteria and wondering whether or not they should pack a meal for him. Luo Ziling contemplated joining them at the cafeteria but was ultimately too lazy to do so. Hence, he asked Cao Jianhui to pack something for him.

While waiting for the three to return, Luo Ziling retreated to the common room and started to fiddle with his phone. He had owned the phone for some time now, but had yet to learn its functionality.

His grandfather had taught him a little, but since mobile phones had modern technology and higher functionalities, there was a limit to what his grandfather could teach.

Now that he had got his hands on a modern communications device, he thought that he should start learning how to use it well.

He unlocked the phone and when he pulled down the notification bar, he was surprised to see that Li Jing had added him as a friend on one of his social media platforms. He navigated into the appropriate site and accepted the friendship request.

As soon as he pressed the ‘Accept Friend Request’ button, he promptly received a message from Li Jing. She said that she was busy right now and would try to chat with him whenever she had the chance.

Luo Ziling replied with a simple “okay” and returned to fiddling with his phone. A brief moment later, he received a WeChat notification. An unknown person named ‘Fang Feijin’ had just sent him a friend request.

Luo Ziling accepted the request without hesitation and quickly composed a message to her, saying, “Who are you? Do we know each other?”

“I’m just a passerby,” replied the person, along with a ‘rolling eyes’ emoji.

“Oh, I thought you knew who I was,” said Luo Ziling, adding a ‘smiling’ emoji.

The other person replied, “So, can we count this as getting to know each other?”

Luo Ziling thought about it and replied, “Nope. This doesn’t count.”

The other person stopped replying and Luo Ziling soon returned to exploring his phone. A while later, he received another friend request and accepted it without even looking at the name.

This person’s account identification was just a single word: ‘Ye’. Like Luo Ziling’s own page, that person’s social page was empty, without any personalization.

“Who are you? Do I know you?” Luo Ziling sent the message and returned to his main task without waiting for a reply.

“You don’t know me, but I know you!” replied the other person, ending the message with a ‘smiling’ emoji.

Before Luo Ziling could send a reply, the other person sent another message, asking, “Can I see how you look?” It was soon followed by another message, saying, “I am a beautiful lady! You cannot deny a beautiful lady’s request!”

“You should send yours first before asking for my picture,” replied Luo Ziling.

He was kind of happy. Since when have ladies become so friendly?

The messages stopped coming back and forth for a bit. After a while, the ‘lady’ replied with a simple “yes”.

Luo Ziling contemplated for a bit before taking a photo of himself. Once he was satisfied with his own picture, a picture that could capture his proper look, especially his handsome face, he sent it to her. After sending it to ‘Ye’, he got jumpy and also posted it on another social media platform.

“A man in Yenching who came from the Northwest, hoping for his life to only get more exciting.” That was the close caption he attached in the photo.

‘Ye’ replied quickly and requested for Luo Ziling to send her the original photo. Luo Ziling was not a tech genius and he did not know what ‘original photo’ meant. But after discussing it for a while, he caved and followed ‘Ye”s instructions to the letter, sending over the unedited picture.

Just then, he navigated to the other social media platform and found that the picture with the closed caption was starting to gain some traction. After tapping into the post, he discovered that it was Li Jing who had left a comment.

“A little shy boy he is. Ladies will surely be ‘addicted’ to him!” said her comment, with a few ‘blushing’ emojis.

Li Jing had also sent a personal message to Luo Ziling, saying that she would now send the pictures she took of him the other day. He replied happily with a thanks.

Right then, a notification popped out, stating that someone had just left a new comment on the picture he uploaded. That person was ‘Fang Feijin’, who did not say anything, but had only left several ‘vomiting’ emojis. Somehow, that annoyed Luo Ziling.

He took a good look at the picture and no matter how he looked at it, he still thought that it looked great. He looked handsome from all angles. So, why would she do something like that?

Was he just too handsome that it was sickening to behold? That’s not quite right. At that moment, a message from ‘Ye’ pinged in.

“The picture looks great. You’ve got spirit, I give you that. I hope you can get more handsome!”

There was a picture attached along with the message, depicting a woman’s face. Unfortunately, the overall lighting was so bad that Luo Ziling could not properly see her face. That being said, he faintly sensed that the woman in the poorly taken picture was beautiful.

Her hair was tied and held up high. Her neckline was slender and graceful, complimenting her entire look. One could tell from that picture alone that the woman was tall. He took his time and replied, “You are beautiful.”

Giving it some thought, he sent another message, “If that is you, that is…”

Unbeknownst to Luo Ziling , the person he was chatting with was indeed a woman. When she read his latest message, she laughed so hard that she ended up in tears, and then handed the phone to another beautiful lady sitting beside her.

“Miss, how should I reply to him?” asked the woman who had been chatting with Luo Ziling, whispering to the lady next to her.

The indescribable beauty sat at the side of the table, staring at the phone. She went quiet as she started to think.

“Wu Ye, how about asking him about his life on campus? How is he holding up?”

The woman named Wu Ye hesitated to type. She turned back to the other lady and asked again, “Miss, if you ask it that way, he will start suspecting us.”

The beautiful lady frowned as she thought of another way.

“Tell him that if he wants to see more pictures of beautiful ladies, he should send pictures of himself in exchange. Tell him to take more pictures!”

Wu Ye nodded quickly and composed a message that conveyed what the beautiful lady said.

Not long after, Luo Ziling replied, “Are you thinking about flirting with me? Is it just because I look handsome?”

Reading the message together, Wu Ye and the beautiful lady turned to each other and chuckled. The beautiful lady thought of something and asked Wu Ye for the phone. She personally composed a message which said, “You should feel honored. Can’t a beautiful lady hit on you?”

“How do I know that you’re a lady? You might even be a fat, old uncle” replied Luo Ziling.

“Didn’t you receive the picture I sent you? There is a timestamp down there! I’ve just taken the picture!” said the beautiful lady in a reply message. Her eyes glittered with hope and compassion.

The messaging stopped there. It had been a while since Luo Ziling replied, and this made the glint in her eyes change to one of disappointment.

She sent another message, asking, “Are you ignoring me?”

Luo Ziling instantly replied, saying, “This young man is eating dinner now. I’ll talk to you again when I have the time.” Another message came. “I’ve just enrolled in Yenching University. Military training will start tomorrow. I’ll go out for a bit after dinner. Bye bye!”

After reading the two final messages, the beautiful lady finally smiled. The disappointment in her face was gone, replaced with a satisfied smile.

She returned the phone to Wu Ye and said, “Wu Ye, find an opportunity to investigate what connection he has with the Ouyang family. If you can, find out what he did when he went to the Ouyang mansion.”

“I understand, Miss,” said Wu Ye, acknowledging the order.

“The Mid Autumn Festival is in just a few days. Do me a favour and see him in my stead. Buy him some gifts. Above all, do not let anyone know about this.”

“Yes, Miss.”