Chapter 409 - Early-maturing student
Under Su Tao's strong request, Little Xue brought her father over to the Three Flavour Hall.
After getting Xiao Jingjing to pour two cups of water for the father and daughter, Su Tao smiled and asked, "Big Brother Hu, didn't I tell you to come over when you're free? Why didn't you come over?"
The name of Little Xue's father was Hu Guangbin, who awkwardly smiled. "My hand is already crippled, so is there a need for treatment? I'll only cause trouble to you if I come over."
Hu Guangbin was worried about the medical fees, which he might not be able to afford that. Although Su Tao has seen through that, he did not expose him. On the contrary, he felt compassion for the handicapped man.
Thus, Su Tao explained, "Although three of your fingers are broken, I've examined your hand. Aside from your middle finger, which is mostly crushed, the other fingers are only slightly affected. So if you receive treatment in time, there's a 90% chance of you recovering your hand's function. That also means that you won't be different from an ordinary person. If you wear a glove, you will look the same as any person out there."
Hearing his words, Hu Guangbin sank into silence before shaking his head with great difficulty.
Hearing that her father's hand could be treated, Little Xue immediately kneeled on the ground and wept, "Physician Su, please treat my father's hand. Regardless of how much it costs, I'll owe you first and pay you back with interest when I find a job."
Looking at his daughter kneeling on the ground for his sake, Hu Guangbin felt his nose turning sour and he was touched.
Looking at how sensible Little Xue was, Su Tao immediately felt compassionate. He helped her up. "You guys only have to pay me the consultation fees, and it won't cost much. A consultation fee here costs ¥2,000, and since you're Yan Sha's friend, I'll give you a 50% discount. I won't take a single cent from your father if I can't treat him, but if I manage to treat him, I'll only take ¥1,000, how about it?"
The reason why Su Tao chose to accept money was due to the rules in the Three Flavour Hall. Secondly, it was out of respect for the father and daughter to retain their dignity. They might be poor, but they had both dignity and integrity. Hence, he had to be cautious with his approach.
"Then, I'll give it a try." Hu Guangbin did not find the price costly since their street food stall racked in about ¥5,000-6,000 a month in profit. If his hand could be treated, then he'd be able to work.
He was a technician in the past, and if it wasn't for the incident, he definitely wouldn't be living so cowardly and rely on his wife to bring the bread home.
Nodding his head with a smile, Su Tao got Little Xue to wait outside while he retrieved his medical box and conducted treatment for Hu Guangbin.
The human body has the ability to heal by itself. For example, even if the wound wasn't tended to, it would heal by itself and form scabs, which would fall off roughly one to two weeks later. However, everyone's self-healing ability wasn't the same, and it varied from person to person. Furthermore, some people might have scars on their wounds after the healing process, but some people wouldn't have any.
The reason why Su Tao was optimistic about Hu Guangbin's recovery was due to his self-healing ability. So as long as the treatment approach was appropriate, he might be able to treat the latter's hand.
Seeing how nervous Little Xue was, Yan Sha comforted, "My Senior Brother's medical skills are extremely formidable, and since he has initiated treatment to your father's hand, then he must surely have the confidence to back it up."
Biting on her lips, Little Xue bitterly smiled. "I know, but I can't help feeling nervous."
Moving over, Yan Sha whispered, "Oh, right. I have something to ask of you."
"What is it?" Little Xue nervously rubbed her hands.
"If my Senior Brother manages to treat your father's hand, you won't fall for him, right?" Yan Sha asked.
Knitting her brows together, Little Xue anxiously said, "Shasha, what are you talking about? Why would I fall for him?"
Hearing her words, Yan Sha instantly felt relieved as she smiled. "I nearly forgot, you're the top student in the year and focus completely on your studies. But I'm still worried. Just look at how outstanding my Senior Brother is; there will surely be a lot of people falling for him. You see that lady by the counter?" Yan Sha pointed at Xiao Jingjing and unhappily said, "There's something unusual with her gaze when she looks at Senior Brother!"
Little Xue instantly burst into laughter after hearing Yan Sha's words and replied, "Yan Sha, I never expected that this is how you are!"
"How I a,?" Yan Sha looked at Little Xue in perplexion.
Whispering over, Little Xue responded, "You're a jealous woman right now, and you consider everyone to be your love rival."
Love rival?
At this moment, Yan Sha noticed her behaviour and blushed. "I-I'm only afraid of Senior Brother being charmed by other women with malicious intentions!"
Pursing her lips, Little Xue smiled. "I know that in your heart, Physician Su is extremely important. Don't worry about it, I promise that I won't fall for him, alright?"
Yan Sha's expression softened at her friend's promise and she sighed, "Will I really fall for my Senior Brother?"
"You will!" Little Xue answered without any hesitation.
The two of them were only in their third year of Junior High School. Although they're still considered kids in the eyes of many, they were already maturing into adults.
Since they could fall in love with a man, they could naturally feel jealous over a man as well.
The maidenhood of a young lady was filled with sincerity and innocence.
Roughly an hour later, Hu Guangbin came out from the room with his hand bandaged up. Little Xue immediately went over and asked, "Dad, what's wrong with your hand?"
"There's nothing, it just looks a little terrifying. Physician Su performed acupuncture for me and even applied medicine. I just have to change the bandages and apply the medicine for the next two weeks and my hand can't touch water. After that, I will be able to use my hand normally." Hu Guangbin was in a good mood at this moment. After Su Tao's acupuncture, he felt a slight numbing sensation from his crushed fingers, which also meant that the treatment had a positive effect.
Turning around, Little Xue immediately bowed in Su Tao's direction. "Physician Su, thank you so much!"
Waving his hand, Su Tao smiled. "Your parents don't have it easy, so you must study well to repay them in the future!"
After Hu Guangbin and Little Xue left, Su Tao asked when he saw Yan Sha unhappily knitting her brows, "Junior Sister, why are you unhappy?"
After staring at Su Tao's face for a long time, Yan Sha asked, "Have you fallen for Little Xue?"
Hearing her question, Su Tao was instantly left speechless before he wryly smiled. "Why did you say that?"
"Because you treat Little Xue especially well. Not only did you help her deal with Xu Ran, but you even helped her father. But it's alright if you like her, I can help you talk to her and get her to become your girlfriend. How about it?" Yan Sha pouted while speaking against her heart.
"I'm only being good to Little Xue because of you. Isn't she your best friend? I naturally have to help her." Su Tao immediately explained after seeing Yan Sha's eyes brimming with tears.
"Really? Actually, Little Xue is a good girl. She looks delicate and even has good grades." Yan Sha's tone finally returned to normal.
Su Tao never expected that Yan Sha would be jealous, not to mention feeling jealous of her best friend. It seems like he really couldn't treat her like a child.
Hence, he smiled. "Then you also have to study well! You're so pretty yourself, and wouldn't you be the top beauty and student if your grades are good? I'm sure that a lot of boys will go after you at that time."
Yan Sha was briefly stunned at his words. Su Tao's request for her to study was really making things difficult for her. Although she was pretty hardworking when it came to her studies, she was still helpless with it. Gods were fair most of the time when they created humans. By blessing her with such an outstanding appearance, her grades were toned down.
"Are you despising my grades?" Yan Sha pouted her cheeks as she declared, "I will surely make you look at me at a whole new level!"
Seeing that he had successfully goading Yan Sha into achieving good grades, Su Tao felt inwardly proud of himself. There were still a few months before the examination, and he had to give his Junior Sister some motivation. However, he just never showed it in his expression and promised, "If you achieve high results in your examination, I'll give you a big gift!"
Yan Sha's eyes instantly lit up upon hearing that and her lips curled up. "Then you wait!"
Shrugging his shoulders, Su Tao smiled after glancing at the time. "It's getting late now. Why don't I send you back home?"
Biting on her lips, Yan Sha shook her head and asked, "Senior Brother, I want to take a look at your room!"
Su Tao was suddenly baffled by her request and smiled. "What is there to look at in a man's room?"
"I'll cry now if you don't let me see!" Yan Sha rubbed her eyes and pretended to be crying.
With a wry smile, Su Tao submitted, "Alright, I'll let you take a look, then."
When Yan She entered, she immediately started sniffing around and seemed to be looking for something.
"May I ask what you are using your muzzle to find?" Su Tao was teased by his Junior Sister's bizarre actions.
"You're the muzzle! You're the snout!" Yan Sha swiftly reacted and launched her counterattacks before explaining, "I never expected that your room would be pretty clean. Everyone says that a man's room is messy."
After Su Tao was rendered speechless for a long time, he replied, "So you're looking for those. Unfortunately, I have a slight obsession with cleanliness, so I'm sorry to disappoint you."
"Mhm? What's this?" Yan Sha suddenly found a yellow ancient book that was under the pillow.
Su Tao's face instantly turned red. He never expected that Yan Sha would find his before-sleep reading material. Hence, he immediately walked over and wanted to snatch it away.
But Yan Sha was also a practitioner of martial arts, so Su Tao naturally missed.
Seeing how nervous Su Tao was, Yan Sha naturally became curious and she flipped through the book. However, her face instantly blushed and she threw it on the floor while glaring at Su Tao. "Senior Brother, how can you read that stuff?"
It was an illustrated romance novel that Su Tao found from an old bookstore, the Gaudy History. It was an erotic novel with a writing style comparable to classics such as the Dream of Red Mansions. Most importantly, there were also illustrations to make the words more impactful.
Since Yan Sha was still a little girl, she naturally panicked upon touching that kind of thing.
However, Su Tao did not explain himself and immediately picked the book up to examine and see if there was any damage.
Seeing his actions, Yan Sha instantly became frustrated and stuttered, "Senior Brother, y-y-you…!"
Placing the book back under his pillow, Su Tao said with a righteous expression, "You're still young, and you understand nothing about antiques. This book itself is an antique, and there's only one such copy in the world, so it's a great loss if you damage it."
"What antique, it's clearly a pornographic book!" Yan Sha exposed.
Rubbing his nose, Su Tao weakly explained, "Only the pages and cover are turning yellow. The content, on the other hand, is extremely meaningful and profound."
Instantly, Su Tao's impression in Yan Sha's heart collapsed.
Letting out a sigh, Su Tao continued, "Since I've already explained myself, you can think whatever you want."
Seeing how Su Tao acted shamelessly, Yan Sha was briefly stunned before she bit on her finger and chuckled, "Forget it, I won't haggle with you. That means that you're also a normal man, and you also have that kind of need. It's understandable."
"…" Su Tao was instantly speechless as wrinkles covered his forehead and he sighed in his heart. Junior High School students are really maturing so early!