48: Go to bed!

To... to the bed?

She asked with a bit of a stutter, "Is... isn't the sofa okay?"

Lin Chao shook his head, his tone leaving no room for argument.

"The sofa is too soft. The acupoints can easily shift during needling, which affects the results."

He added another sentence.

"Don't worry, I'm a doctor."

Yan Qiaoqiao bit her lower lip and had no choice but to brace herself, stand up, and walk into her bedroom.

Lin Chao followed her in, pulled the curtains slightly, and turned on the bedroom light.

"Lie down."

Yan Qiaoqiao's heart was thumping like a drum. She lay down on the bed as told, her hands nervously clutching the hem of her clothes.

Lin Chao took out the box of acupuncture needles and alcohol cotton from the bag he had brought with him.

He looked at her, his voice calm.

"Lift your shirt up and expose your belly."

Boom—

Yan Qiaoqiao felt as if her brain had exploded.

She closed her eyes and, like a thief, used her trembling hands to roll up the hem of her T-shirt bit by bit.

A patch of snow-white, delicate skin was thus exposed to the air.

Lin Chao's breath hitched for a split second.

Under the light, the girl's lower abdomen was flat and firm. Her skin was as white as fine mutton-fat jade, so delicate that not a single pore could be seen.

Her belly button was small and cute, slightly recessed.

This... Lin Chao took a deep breath, forcing himself to banish the stray thoughts from his mind.

He was a doctor.

He was treating an illness.

He took out the alcohol cotton, leaned over, and gently wiped her lower abdomen.

The cold sensation made Yan Qiaoqiao's body tremble slightly.

She could clearly feel his fingers occasionally touching her skin, bringing waves of tingling shivers.

"Relax, don't be nervous."

Lin Chao's voice was deep and steady, carrying a soothing power.

He pinched a silver needle, aimed at the Zhongwan point, and pierced it in quickly, accurately, and steadily.

"Ugh..."

Yan Qiaoqiao let out a muffled groan.

There wasn't the sharp pain she had imagined, but rather a strange, aching, and bloating sensation.

Next, Lin Chao applied needles to several other acupoints in sequence.

Soon, Yan Qiaoqiao felt a warm current originating from her lower abdomen and slowly spreading outward. Everywhere it went, her originally cold and stiff stomach became warm and cozy, feeling extremely comfortable.

Twenty minutes later, Lin Chao removed all the silver needles.

"All done."

Only then did Yan Qiaoqiao dare to open her eyes. She hurriedly pulled down her clothes and sat up with a flushed face.

She touched her belly and felt it was warm. The long-lingering dragging pain had actually disappeared.

"It's amazing... it doesn't hurt at all anymore!"

Lin Chao smiled and started packing his things.

"This is only the first step. I'll write a prescription for you in a moment. Go get the medicine according to the formula, brew one dose every day, and drink it for seven days."

He paused and added, "In a week, I'll come back to give you another acupuncture session."

Yan Qiaoqiao touched her belly and nodded vigorously, her face still flushed.

"Okay!"

It was getting late. After Lin Chao packed his things, he prepared to take his leave.

Yan Qiaoqiao saw him to the door.

"Lin Chao, thank you so much for today!" She looked up, her eyes sparkling. "When I get my salary, I'll treat you to a big meal!"

Seeing her sincere look, Lin Chao couldn't help but smile.

He said casually, "Eating out isn't as good as you cooking for me!"

After saying it, he himself was stunned for a moment.

Those words seemed a bit too intimate.

Yan Qiaoqiao's cheeks grew even redder. She lowered her head, her voice as thin as a mosquito's buzz.

"Okay."

These two words were light, yet like a feather, they precisely tickled the tip of Lin Chao's heart.

He almost fled in a panic.

The car drove away from that old residential area filled with the atmosphere of life, leaving those warm lights far behind in the rearview mirror.

The faint scent of shampoo on Yan Qiaoqiao seemed to still linger at the tip of his nose.

The taste of the cola chicken wings she made also seemed to remain on his tongue.

Lin Chao's hand on the steering wheel tightened unconsciously.

The air inside the car was excessively quiet.

Half an hour later, the SUV smoothly entered the underground garage of Qinglan Garden.

"Beep—"

The electronic door lock made a crisp sound, welcoming him back to this magnificent "palace."

The huge crystal chandelier cast a cold light.

The polished marble floor reflected his lonely figure.

The air was filled with the scent of high-end aromatherapy—pleasant, but lacking the warmth of human presence.

Everything here was good.

The location, the decoration, the view—all were top-notch.

But it was just too big.

So big it was empty, so big it was desolate.

Even the slight sound of him changing shoes could stir up ripples of echoes in this empty house.

Lin Chao walked to the floor-to-ceiling window in the living room and looked at the brilliant river view outside.

Among the thousands of lights in the city, not one was lit for him.

He thought of Xie Mengya again.

That woman who was resolute and vigorous, always wearing ten-centimeter high heels like a queen.

She had lent him such a nice house and didn't even ask for rent.

This favor was too heavy.

Lin Chao sighed and walked into the south-facing second bedroom.

He took a shower, thoroughly washing away the trace of domestic warmth from Yan Qiaoqiao's home.

Then, he threw himself onto that ridiculously large bed.

The mattress was soft, and the quilt was made of top-grade silk, feeling smooth and cool to the touch.

But he tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep.

In his mind, one moment it was Yan Qiaoqiao wearing a cartoon apron with her cheeks flushed.

The next moment, it was Xie Mengya in a sharp professional suit with a piercing gaze.

One was as warm as water.

One was as hot as fire.

Lin Chao ruffled his hair irritably and sat up in bed.

He glanced at his phone.

Two in the morning.

All was silent.

He lay back down and forced himself to close his eyes.

After an unknown amount of time, a chaotic sleepiness finally submerged him like a tide.

His consciousness, however, fell into a world of ice and snow.

He dreamed of the winter break of his senior year in high school.

Celebrating the New Year at his grandfather's house.

The winter in the north was bone-chillingly cold, but inside, the heated brick bed was warm, and festive paper-cuts were pasted on the windows.

The air was filled with the aroma of the dumplings and fried hairtail fish his grandmother made.

Lin Chao's paternal grandfather and maternal grandfather were lifelong friends.

In the words of the elders, they were fellow disciples trained by the same master, a life-and-death friendship.

So the two families lived very close to each other, and his parents were naturally childhood sweethearts who married as soon as they reached the right age.

During the New Year of his senior year, the whole big family gathered boisterously at his grandfather's house.

Before lunch, the two old men, his grandfathers, felt the room was stuffy. They put on their Military overcoats, tucked their hands into their sleeves, and strolled along the small snow-covered path outside the courtyard.

Lin Chao remembered that the snow at that time was particularly heavy and clean.

It was at this moment.

Someone walked over from not far away.

It was the son of a patient.

That patient had already significantly improved under the grandfather's care, but then during his own birthday celebration, he gorged himself and drank a jin of white liquor, causing an immediate relapse. He couldn't be saved and passed away just like that.

But this family pushed all the responsibility onto the grandfather's head.