Chapter 88: There Are Rewards in Following Tang Zhong!

Chapter 88: Follow Tang Zhong and You’ll Eat Well!

All this fuss just over a woman—was it really necessary to be so professional about it?

No matter what he said, it would be futile. Zhou Wei could only flee in embarrassment.

Liang Tao threw an arm around Tang Zhong’s neck and burst out laughing, “That was satisfying. Truly satisfying! That kid dared to compete with us psychology students for a girl—now he finally knows he’s completely out of his league.”

Tang Zhong shook his head. “This isn’t about psychology. I read an article like that in a journal I borrowed from the Nanda library.”

“Oh, those thin little booklets you always carry around?” Liang Tao asked in surprise. “I heard no one reads those journals—they just sit there gathering dust.”

“Well, Nanda is a century-old prestigious university after all. The internal publications are quite valuable, even if the content can be a little dry… but that can’t be helped, they’re academic journals.”

“You have the patience for that. I can’t do it. I flip through a couple pages and get dizzy,” Liang Tao admitted.

After a pause, he added, “But I never thought knowledge from those journals would be so useful for picking up girls. I’ll get a few to read myself.”

Tang Zhong nodded with a smile. Knowledge is like a coat—the more you have in reserve, the better. You never know what kind of coat you’ll need in a given situation.

Yet nowadays, many people only stock up on coats, not on knowledge.

The path into the mountains was still manageable, but the sky kept darkening. The cold wind brought heavier and more frequent raindrops, the temperature dropped, and while the men could endure it, the girls started to feel the chill.

Some pulled thick coats from their bags, others huddled together for warmth as they walked.

Qiu Yihan’s clothes were warm enough, yet jackets kept being offered to her—by Liang Tao, Zhou Wei, and another bespectacled boy—all of whom she refused.

If a woman, not feeling cold, is still willing to drape another man’s coat over her shoulders, it means she has feelings for him. Unfortunately, all their efforts were in vain.

“We’re here!” Chen Xuebing pointed at a few houses at the foot of the mountain, their lights glowing in the dark.

“Oh—”

The group Zhou Wei brought cheered. Arriving meant warm beds and the aroma of home-cooked food—a joy strong enough for any student.

“I see a few more houses over there. Maybe we can find a few more rooms,” Hua Ming said, coming up to Tang Zhong.

“Alright, let’s give it a try,” Tang Zhong replied. He checked his phone and smiled, “There’s signal even in the mountains. We’ll go ahead and ask around. If there’s anything here, call me.”

“I’ll go with Hua Ming,” Liang Tao volunteered. Having been scolded by Zhou Wei earlier, he knew that kid was trying to make them look bad, but he also realized their preparations hadn’t been thorough enough. Now, he wanted to make up for it.

“Go ahead,” Tang Zhong said. “Li Yu and I will stay here. We won’t let the wolves carry anyone off.”

His words, with their double meaning, made several girls giggle.

“Qiu Yihan!” Zhou Wei, leading his group down the slope, shouted back, “We’ve reached our house. Do you want to come with us?”

“No, thanks,” Qiu Yihan replied with a smile. “I’m waiting for a surprise.”

Zhou Wei realized she was determined not to go with him. Dejected, he had no choice but to accept it.

“Let’s go ask up ahead. Maybe there’s still a room for us,” Tang Zhong said with a smile.

The girls all agreed eagerly.

So Tang Zhong knocked on doors one by one, asking if there were any vacant rooms. The villagers all shook their heads—either all the rooms were occupied or already reserved.

One house, two, three—

The temperature kept dropping, the wind grew stronger, and the rain became dense—not fine like needles, but pelting down in heavy drops that stung the face—

“What kind of surprise is this?” He Na said, pulling her hood over her face. “This is more like a scare.”

Tang Zhong smiled. “After a scare comes the surprise.”

He knocked again, and an old lady answered the door.

“Grandma, we’re students from Nanda. We’ve come to the mountains and would like to rent a room in your house. Do you have any vacancies?”

“No, no. Go ask someone else,” the old woman replied, her toothless words whistling through her lips.

“Grandma, we’ve already asked more than a dozen houses,” Tang Zhong persisted, smiling. “The rain’s getting heavier, and if we can’t find a place soon, my classmates might catch cold…”

The old woman glanced at the girls behind Tang Zhong and said, “It’s not that I don’t want to rent to you. I’d love to earn a little extra money. But my little grandson hasn’t been able to poop for days, and we’re all worried sick—how can we let a bunch of students in to disturb him?”

Tang Zhong’s eyes lit up. “Grandma, I’m a medical student. May I come in and take a look at your grandson?”

“A medical student?” The old woman eyed him suspiciously. “Didn’t you just say… you’re from Nanda?”

“Yes, we’re from Nanda’s Medical School,” Tang Zhong said earnestly.

Qiu Yihan snorted with laughter behind him, and the other girls smiled too. They thought Tang Zhong was really good at bluffing—there was no medical school at Nanda!

“Well…” The old lady hesitated.

“Grandma, let me take a look. If I can help your grandson, you let us stay and we’ll pay for the rooms as agreed. If I can’t help, we won’t stay and disturb him. How about that?”

“Alright, take a look,” the old lady agreed, thinking of her grandson’s illness.

She led the group inside. As they entered, a slightly plump young woman shouted angrily, “I told you not to rent out the rooms—why did you let them in?”

“They said they’re doctors, here to help Little Tiger,” the old lady explained, grinning nervously.

“Doctors?” The woman eyed them doubtfully. “Don’t let them trick you.”

“They said they’d only stay if they could help. If not, they’ll leave and won’t bother Little Tiger,” the old lady explained.

She nudged Tang Zhong’s arm, signaling him to step forward.

Tang Zhong approached and saw the woman nursing a child, one side of her sallow breast exposed to the air.

The girls felt embarrassed and turned away.

Tang Zhong, unbothered, said, “Don’t nurse him for now. Let me feel his belly.”

The woman pulled the child’s mouth away and lifted his shirt for Tang Zhong to examine.

The boy, less than two years old, looked sturdy but his skin was a little yellow.

Tang Zhong pressed gently on his belly and said, “Serious indigestion.”

“Indigestion? How do we treat it?” the young woman asked anxiously. She was already considering taking the child by train to Mingzhu City—the local clinic hadn’t helped at all.

“It’s best not to give injections or medicine to such a young child,” Tang Zhong said gently. “He’s too little.”

As he spoke, his hands softly massaged the boy’s belly, gentle and careful, as if caressing a lover’s skin.

“Oh my,” the old lady exclaimed. “He’s already had two days of IV drips.”

Tang Zhong knew rural people weren’t aware of the risks—if someone’s sick, the doctor gives an IV. But they didn’t realize what harm antibiotics could do.

“Try to avoid injections and medicine in the future. If you must, choose mild traditional remedies,” Tang Zhong advised. “A child’s immune system is low—many medicines aren’t safe. The best cure is to take him out for sunshine, and the mother should pay attention to her diet—”

“What kind of diet?” the woman asked.

“You grow your own vegetables, right?”

“Yes, we have more than enough from our garden. The chickens and eggs are all ours too,” the old lady chimed in.

“That’s the best,” Tang Zhong said. “But don’t add chili peppers.”

“Oh, Xiao Juan loves chili—she eats it every meal,” the old lady complained.

“It makes adults overheated, and the child gets it from the milk. That’s why he gets indigestion and constipation—”

Before Tang Zhong finished, there was a sudden noise and a terrible smell filled the air.

“He did it!” the old woman shouted, excited. “He pooped!”

The woman was overjoyed. “Amazing! Doctor, you’re amazing!”

Not only the old lady and her daughter-in-law, but even Qiu Yihan and He Na thought Tang Zhong was incredible.

They’d assumed he was just trying to bluff his way inside, making up the medical stuff as he went along. Yet, he’d actually cured the child.

At this age, most girls were still quite innocent—handsome boys made them blush, those who strummed guitars and sang ballads seemed romantic, those who published stories or poems in youth magazines seemed talented, and those who sang old songs with a touch of melancholy found plenty of admirers.

Now, the girls looked at Tang Zhong with admiration.

They were allowed to stay.

Though there were only two vacant rooms, country beds were big enough—four could sleep across them easily. Worst case, they could sleep on the floor.

Anyway, it was far better than trudging through the rain knocking on doors, or going all the way back to the train station to spend a sleepless night.

Hearing that the medical students hadn’t eaten, the old lady and her daughter-in-law bustled to prepare a meal. Though it was late in the night, they cheerfully slaughtered a chicken, washed baskets of vegetables, and made hotpot for them.

Hua Ming and Liang Tao joined after getting Tang Zhong’s call, and everyone gathered around the table.

The hotpot broth bubbled, the aroma of the mountain chicken was irresistible—eyes shone and mouths watered.

“It’s ready!” Tang Zhong lifted the lid with a grin.

Everyone, having waited so long, plunged their chopsticks in to grab meat.

Outside, the rain poured down, the wind battered the wooden shutters, and thunder flashed across the sky.

But inside, they ate with great relish.

“Ahhh—” Qiu Yihan sipped a spoonful of steaming chicken and vegetable soup, closing her eyes in bliss.

“Follow Tang Zhong and you’ll eat well,” she murmured, her lovely, porcelain-doll face glowing with happiness.