Physician's Odyssey

Translator: Thyaeria

Su Tao got Xiao Jingjing to stay and led her to the medicine room after work. Xiao Jingjing’s gaze fell onto a glass apparatus with cream that emanated a fresh fragrance. She couldn’t help taking a deep breath and praised, “Master, what is in there?”

Su Tao had decided to keep the rabbit in the hat and pointed at the basin. “Wash your face, first!”

Xiao Jingjing blushed. She subconsciously rubbed her face while thinking that there might be something on her face. But when she did not discover anything unusual, she sighed in relief. She walked towards the basin and started to clean her face. Su Tao handed her a clean cloth for her to dry her face and pointed at the chair. “Sit and remove your spectacles!” free𝒘ℯ𝗯𝙣𝗼ν𝑒𝗹.𝒄o𝒎

Xiao Jingjing removed her spectacles and placed them in her pocket. Before she could react, Su Tao’s face moved close and was looking at her face, which made her feel uneasy.

The light in the medicine room wasn’t brightly lit, so under her myopia world, everyone looked blur and hazy. What did her Master want?

Only the two of them were in the room, which caused Xiao Jingjing’s imagination to run wild and her face blushed. There were all sorts of stories in the news, like how a professor molested a student or how the student fell in love with the disciplinary master.

Naturally, Su Tao had no idea what Xiao Jingjing thought. He just nodded his head. “Mhm, your condition is pretty good, so let's use you for the experiment.”

“My condition is pretty good? Experiment?” Xiao Jingjing widened her eyes in shock at his words.

Su Tao lifted the glass apparatus and explained, “I have been researching on an ointment that requires someone to test it. There are many uses for it. For example, nourishing the skin, removing scars or whitening the face.”

Xiao Jingjing felt a little disappointed. So it turned out that Su Tao wasn’t praising her, but felt that her appearance wasn’t too good so that the cream would have more effect on her.

Xiao Jingjing forced a smile. “Are there any side effects? Like sensitive skin, allergic reaction or rashes?”

“Naturally, there are side effects in every medicine. To pursue effects, this ointment of mine uses a large quantity of medicine components. So the side effects might cause itchiness or atrophy in serious cases.” Seeing that Xiao Jingjing’s face was turning green, Su Tao laughed out, “Just kidding with you! Rest assured, I only used gentle medicines that only affects the skin positively!”

Xiao Jingjing rolled her eyes. This Master of hers might usually look stern. But in the end, he was only in his twenties, so he would occasionally play pranks!

She had great trust in Su Tao, and thus, Xiao Jingjing closed her eyes. “I’m prepared. Let me be your guinea pig.”

“Okay, but you’re not white at all, so you can only be a black guinea pig. But unless anything goes unexpected, this ointment will whiten your skin and make it as white as a newborn.” Su Tao gently stirred up the ointment in the apparatus and gently rubbed it on Xiao Jingjing’s face.

Xiao Jingjing felt a numbing sensation crawling up on her face. She felt unprecedented comfort and her pores were opening up. She let out a gentle moan, but she soon felt something was amiss and swiftly covered her mouth.

Su Tao wasn’t bothered by that and said, “Remember how I apply it on your face. In the future, you will be responsible for applying it to our patients.”

Xiao Jingjing bit on her lips and nodded her face. She suddenly felt a cold sensation on her neck and saw Su Tao applying the ointment on her neck. Her heart raced as her eyes widened. She could feel Su Tao’s breath from the close distance and her imagination ran wild again.

Seeing Xiao Jingjing getting nervous, Su Tao figured that she must have misunderstood, he smiled. “This ointment of mine can be used on the entire body. So I’m trying out to see if it works on other places aside from your face!”

Seeing Su Tao’s pure gaze, Xiao Jingjing sighed. She had misunderstood him, and in Su Tao’s eyes, she was probably an ugly duckling!

Xiao Jingjing had a slim figure with her collar bone protruding out. In fact, Su Tao also felt awkward, but he tried his best to keep his composure. Despite her normal appearance, she was a woman, after all. Initially, he did not overthink it, but when he realised Xiao Jingjing’s intention was running wild, he felt the atmosphere get a little awkward.

Roughly ten minutes later, Su Tao had finally finished applying the ointment and smiled. “Keep it there for five minutes to allow your skin to absorb the nutrients before washing. I’ll wait for you outside!”

Seeing Su Tao leaving the medicine room, Xiao Jingjing breathed out in relief. This was probably the first time that she felt these emotions. She had been burying herself in books since she knew that, as a woman, if she didn’t work hard in her studies, then she would be like her mother; secluded from the world.

She had succeeded in walking out to the city and realised how fascinating the outside world was. At the same time, she felt like she didn’t belong here. Thus, she had secluded herself in her own world for the past three years.

An introvert and bookworm, these were the names that her classmate gave her, but they’re not her real character.

Truth be told, which girl wouldn’t yearn for love?

Su Tao took a sip of tea in the consultation room. He suddenly heard a scream, which caused his brows to knit together. He rushed into the medicine room and realised Xiao Jingjing was covering her face as she looked at the mirror with disbelief. “Master, my freckles disappeared!” 𝙛𝘳𝘦e𝓌e𝗯n𝗼ѵ𝙚l.𝒄𝚘𝑚

Xiao Jingjing was still wearing her spectacles, but her skin had undergone a complete transformation. Xiao Jingjing had an excellent facial shape and could be considered as delicate. It’s just that the tip of her nose and cheeks were covered with freckles, which made her look a little imperfect.

Freckles were spots that were harder to get rid of; many girls suffered this problem. Despite the vast quantity of cosmetics that could remove freckles, they could only deal with the surface and not the root cause.

Su Tao walked forth and removed her spectacles. He looked at her face for a long time, before nodding his head in satisfaction. “The effect is just as I have expected. The effect on freckles is still pretty distinct.”

Seeing Su Tao’s serious expression, Xiao Jingjing was astonished. “Are there other problems?”

Su Tao nodded his head and smiled. “I’m just mulling if I could treat your myopia! With such thick lenses, it makes you look stupid. As a qualified physician, your eyesight will affect your diagnosis skills.”

Xiao Jingjing misunderstood, thinking that Su Tao was despising her wearing spectacles. “There’s nothing I could do about it. I studied too hard during high school, which resulted in my myopia.”

Su Tao gently patted her shoulder. “Relax. Myopia isn’t too hard to treat. It getting late, and you still have to return to the university. Starting tomorrow, I’ll treat it for you.”

Su Tao rejoiced when he noticed Xiao Jingjing’s gaze on the ointment. Pursuing beauty was the nature of women. It was considered a success that Xiao Jingjing, a bookworm, to be attracted by it.

Su Tao took out a hundred-millilitre bottle and passed it to Xiao Jingjing. “You can bring a bottle back. Use it for a week, and it will definitely transform you greatly.”

Xiao Jingjing received the bottle with astonishment and whispered, “Master, I'm thinking of introducing it in the university. This way, we can have more people testing it out!”

Su Tao nodded his head and smiled. “You take it back to test it first. I’ll provide you five bottles daily; you can decide if you’ll give them as samples or sell them.”

Xiao Jingjing’s face blushed. “I’ll give you the money for selling them!”

Su Tao waved his hand and smiled. “There’s no need. Consider it your reward for being willing to test out the medicine.”

Xiao Jingjing knew Su Tao’s intention. He knew that her financial circumstances weren’t good, so he was providing her extra income.

Seeing Xiao Jingjing’s complex expression, he smiled. “Jingjing, you’re my first disciple, and in TCM, the relationship between Master and Disciple is important. A Disciple must show loyalty for their Master, and the Master is required to provide unreserved teachings. In short, we should have more trust between us; just treat me like family!”

This was the first time that Xiao Jingjing felt such concern since she came to Hanzhou. Tears welled up in her eyes. “Master, I will definitely work hard!”

Just when she was about to leave, she suddenly thought of a matter and asked, “Master, what is this ointment called?”

Su Tao knitted his brows and bitterly smiled, “I’m not proficient in names, any good suggestion?”

Xiao Jingjing smiled. “How about Three Flavour Hall’s Beautifying Cream?”

Su Tao pondered briefly and smiled. “Although it sounds a little tacky, it also sounds attractive and direct. Hmm, let the slogan be ‘Allowing someone to possess the beauty of captivating even the birds and beasts’. We’ll go with this name, then.”

Xiao Jingjing swiftly left the Three Flavour Hall after this and Su Tao sighed in relief. After today, their Master-Disciple relationship had progressed. Feelings cannot be built up over a day, so their Master-Disciple relationship wouldn’t be deeply rooted after a day; it still required them to build up.

The ointment worked as he had predicted. He only had to find a suitable opportunity to advertise it.

If he wanted to expand the brand of Three Flavour Hall, it’s insufficient with regular TCM services. He still has to promote several star products, and this Beautifying Cream was only the first step. It would surely be popular amongst women, and women were the highest consumer group.

With the thought of letting Cai Yan try out the sample, Su Tao filled another bottle and walked towards the Emerald Antique Brook.