123: Undying

"Yes, Da Gong, you'll find out when the time comes."

"Good!!"

...After chatting with Zhang Bingchun for a few more minutes, Chen Su hung up the phone and rolled out of bed. After finishing his morning routine, he stepped out of his room and walked to the dining table.

He saw a note left by Li Chuxia.

"I had to head out for something. You must finish all of your breakfast."

On the table were two poached eggs, two meat buns, a shaomai, and a cup of milk that was still slightly warm.

Chen Su sighed with emotion.

Ever since Li Chuxia started coming over for meals, the whole house seemed to have become much cozier.

He didn't know if Li Chuxia was the one getting the better end of the deal or if he was... After finishing breakfast, Chen Su took out his phone and transferred back the 4 million he had borrowed from Li Chuxia.

He had forgotten to transfer it last night.

After the transfer, he checked his balance; he had over 4.77 million left.

He checked the time; it was already ten o'clock. Meanwhile, at Fengcheng City Hospital...

The intercom outside the Dermatology Clinic happened to call out Gao Zilong's name.

"Number 58, Gao Zilong, please proceed to Dermatology Clinic Room 2!"

..."Number 58, Gao Zilong, please proceed to Dermatology Clinic Room 2!"

The calling machine at the door repeated the announcement three times.

Gao Zilong, who had been waiting in the hall for a long time, stood up quickly and walked in. Inside the clinic, the doctor was a middle-aged man in his fifties. He looked at Gao Zilong sitting across from him and asked.

"Young man, which part of your body is having skin issues?"

Gao Zilong looked around to make sure no one else was there before speaking up sheepishly.

"Doctor, it's like this... when I was showering these past two days, I noticed some rashes down there. It's a bit itchy. Could you prescribe some medicine for me?"

"Where is 'down there'?"

"Uh... my private parts." Gao Zilong became even more embarrassed.

"Come inside so I can take a look."

The doctor walked to the back of the clinic and pulled the curtain shut.

Gao Zilong followed him in.

"Take them off."

"Ah? I have to take them off?"

The doctor replied, "Nonsense. How am I supposed to know what kind of skin disease you have if I don't look?"

"Alright then."

..."Be quick about it. What's there to be shy about? I see eight or ten cases like yours every day. It's not like I'm going to eat you."

Seeing Gao Zilong dawdling just to take off his pants, the doctor couldn't help but speak up loudly.

Gao Zilong finally gritted his teeth, quickly unbuckled his belt, and dropped his pants all the way down.

The doctor put on gloves and pushed Little Zilong aside.

He gave it a squeeze here and a press there. "Does it hurt here?"

"No."

"Is it itchy here?"

"A little."

...Five minutes later, the doctor took off his gloves and washed his hands several times with disinfectant soap.

He returned to his seat.

"How long has this been going on?"

"The day before yesterday—no, the day before that—it started itching."

"Tell me the truth, did you visit a brothel?"

"No, absolutely not," Gao Zilong said confidently.

"You'd better be honest with me, or it might delay your treatment."

...The doctor had seen too many cases like this. For someone to contract this kind of disease, there was no other possibility besides that.

"Uh... I did go once a few days ago, but I took precautions."

Gao Zilong didn't even consider the possibility that he might have been infected by Su Xuewei.

How could such a young, beautiful, intellectual, and elegant girl have a disease?

It must have been his own carelessness at some club.

His self-righteous assumptions were exactly what was most fatal.

If Chen Su knew what he was thinking, he would probably burst out laughing. Inside the clinic, the doctor nodded.

"I'll prescribe some ointment for you first. Apply it regularly when you get back."

"Doctor, will just applying ointment fix it?"

The doctor said, "Young man, keep a level head, and there's no obstacle you can't overcome."

Gao Zilong asked, "Doctor, can you speak more plainly? You're making me really nervous. Am I going to die?"

The doctor rolled his eyes and said, "Don't worry, you're not going to die. Go register at the Infectious Diseases and Urology Departments for further check-ups. My visual inspection alone isn't necessarily accurate."

"Oh, and register at Nephrology for a check-up too."

"Nephrology?"

"Yes. Based on my years of experience, you seem to have a bit of a kidney deficiency."

Gao Zilong: ... "Hurry up and go to the other departments for your exams."

The doctor didn't bother answering any more of Gao Zilong's questions and directly showed him the door. Following the doctor's suggestion, Gao Zilong registered at several other departments.

Blood tests, urine tests.

After going through the whole process, it was already 12:30 by the time he finished the exams.

To get the results sooner, he spent an extra five hundred yuan for an expedited report.

He only left with peace of mind after hearing the staff promise that the results would be out this afternoon. Meanwhile, at the airport in the Japan...

A-Qiang, the owner of A Zheng Licorice Shop, and his wife A-Zhen didn't board their flight back home until 12:40.

On the plane.

A-Zhen complained, "How unlucky. We finally go abroad for a trip, and we run into a major typhoon."

A-Qiang smiled and said, "We didn't lose out. Didn't the travel agency promise to refund the remaining days we didn't get to tour? We can just sign up for another tour group later and go to Yun Province, Nan Province, or Gui Province."

"Besides, I think the scenery in the Japan and the South Korea isn't even as good as back home, and everything is deathly expensive. And what on earth are those Sticks eating? They even eat watermelon rinds. Have they run out of food? Back in our hometown, we use those to feed the pigs."

A-Zhen nodded. "I guess so. But that Scarface kid booked these tickets for us; the refund won't go directly to him, will it?"

A-Qiang realized, "I didn't even think of that until you mentioned it. Once we land, I have to talk to the travel agency and make sure they don't refund the wrong person."

Their ten-day tour of the South Korea and the Japan cost a full thirty thousand.

After deducting the two days they spent, they should get at least twenty thousand back.

Over twenty thousand... how much licorice and herbal tea would they have to sell to earn that much? At 4:30 PM, Gao Zilong's test results came out.

He first checked the results on his phone, then drove at high speed to the hospital.

"How could someone as suave and elegant as me contract syphilis? Hospitals misdiagnose things all the time these days. The hospital must have made a mistake; this is just a simple skin condition."

Without hearing the doctor's verdict in person, he refused to believe he had contracted an STD. Dermatology and Venereology Clinic Room 2.

Gao Zilong looked anxious. "Doctor, didn't you say this morning it was nothing and that just applying some ointment would be fine? Why do the test results show this?"

"I only said you weren't going to die. When did I ever say you were fine?" The doctor looked speechless.

"Then what should I do? Is it curable?"

Gao Zilong was starting to panic.

"Don't worry, it's only in the early stages. Generally speaking, it can be cured."

"Generally? What if it's not the general case?" Gao Zilong asked back.

"If it's not the general case, then go home and wait to die."

Gao Zilong: ... "Remember, don't mess around like that in the future. You should be glad it's just syphilis this time and not HIV. Otherwise, not even the gods could save you."

...