Mister Li, the Heart Bandit

“Yeah, I know him!” Tian Miaomiao replied. “But… should I mail over the medicine or…”

Ji Weixi glanced at the man wrapping himself around her. “We should be going back today.”

“Alright, I’ll go look for Doctor Jiang right away!”

After hanging up, Tian Miaomiao promptly leapt off her bed and looked into the mirror.

Loose striped pyjamas, messy hair, coarse skin over her no-makeup face.

Tian Miaomiao was stunned at the sight of her own reflection as if doubting it was herself.

She then blushed furiously when she remembered Jiang Yigu’s cool, almost feminine face.

Immediately, she opened her closet and dumped every piece of her clothing on bed and fumbled around randomly.

Still, she found nothing up to standard despite combing through them for a long time: everything was too teenage girl.

“Aaaaaargh! What should I do!” Tian Miaomiao shrieked, stamping her feet and suddenly holding her own fashion tastes in disdain.

She quickly Baidu-ed 1 it: Do men like women dressed like young girls?

The first result was: yes.

Breathing a sigh of relief, she quickly washed her face and her hair, brushed her teeth, and then used a facial mask before putting on make-up.

Then, she put on a pink strapped dress that reaches the knees.

Her hair was long—it had been some time since she went to the hairdresser, allowing her to curl it inside and match it with her sparse fringe for a cute look.

But after prettying up, Tian Miaomiao felt slight disdain at her unfamiliar reflection in the mirror.

Why did she do that? Was the cheeky Jiang Yigu worth her doing that?

Whatever. President Li’s meds were the most important.

***

In the hospital.

Tian Miaomiao had such a terrible sense of direction that she couldn’t recognize any place she had been or north, east, south or west. It took her more than a few glances of the hospital map before she took the elevator upstairs.

When she reached the neurology wing, she tugged at her own sleeves as she blankly, aimlessly searched.

She already couldn’t remember where Jiang Yigu’s office was. At all.

So, she quickly ran to a nurse and asked, “Excuse me, where’s Jiang Yigu’s office?”

“Doctor Jiang? His office is the one furthest inside,” the nurse replied. “He was performing a surgery, but he should be coming back around this time. Please wait for a while.”

“Alright, thank you.” Tian Miaomiao replied courteously.

However, as she turned, her cheeks were puffed and she complained inwardly.

‘Surgery again. So busy.’

Nonetheless, Jiang Yigu didn’t return even after Tian Miaomiao had walked around to past the time. Curious, she went to the surgery room.

She wondered then: Why hadn’t she been inside a surgery room even though she was already an adult?

***

This hospital’s surgery room was at the top floor and rather quiet so that the doctors wouldn’t be disturbed in the midst of surgery.

As the elevator doors opened, Tian Miaomiao could hear a deafening mix of arguing and crying.

Bright white lights hung high above the surgical floor, with a woman crying her heart out in front of a bed—A girl who was around twenty with deathly ash-white face was lying over it.

On the girl’s head was a mix of blood and dried yellow disinfectant dabbed around a wound over her head, making it look as if it a gruesome giant centipede was spread over her head.

Beneath the neck, she was covered the crisp white sheets, although the bones on one arm was bent and drooping, with a gaping laceration only stitched repetitively.

Something terrible must have happened when she was alive.

“You promised you would save my daughter!” Outside, a middle-aged man was yelling madly and pulling the collar of a doctor wearing scrubs.

“You promised! Why would you let my only daughter die, huh?! Tell me!”

Tian Miaomiao took one step back in fright. This was the first time she saw something like this—but as she moved closer, she realized that the doctor having his collar pulled was Jiang Yigu.

The green scrubs accentuate his figure perfectly, even as his blue face mask hung over his chest.

He had taken off his surgical cap. His short black hair was a little jumbled, while the eyes beneath his golden-rimmed glasses were impassive as was his expression.

It was as if he was used to it.

Agitated by his lack of a reaction, the middle-age man punched him.

Jiang Yigu did not evade and took the blow in its entirely, the corner of his mouth bruising immediately.

“My daughter was still conscious before she came in, but she’s dead now! You never wanted to save her, did you?!” The man was growing in agitation with his own words, and slammed his palm on Jiang Yigu’s face.

Slap—

Jiang Yigu’s glasses were sent flying from his nose and shattered on the floor.

Seeing that, Tian Miaomiao’s gaze turned fierce and she clenched her fist.

“I’ve seen many doctors like you, only saving people with the right price! My daughter was only nineteen, how could you?! How could you let her die?! I’m suing you! You don’t deserve to be a doctor!”

The man continued screaming in his fury. The hate in his eyes were enough to tear Jiang Yigu into pieces.

On the other hand, Jiang Yigu slowly looked up, squinting a little due to his short-sightedness.

His lips slowly parted then as he flatly said, “I’m sorry. I’ve done my best.”

In her corner, Tian Miaomiao was unbelievably upset.

Jiang Yigu usually looked like he’s not one to be crossed, so why was he letting another person punch away at him when it really mattered?

And was that middle-aged man stupid? Which doctor would sit and watch as someone dies? He’s too much!

Ever gallant in the face of injustice, Tian Miaomiao rushed forward without a word. However, that was also when the man, provoked by Jiang Yigu’s flat answer, sent another slap at the doctor that landed with utmost accuracy on Tian Miaomiao’s face.

With a clear echo, her ears were left ringing and her face fiery hot.

Everyone was left dumbfounded, while Tian Miaomiao was left stunned by the blow.

Jiang Yigu’s vision was still blurry, and he could barely see her face.

Be that as it may, he was clearly taken aback when he narrowed his eyes and found Tian Miaomiao.

Why was she here? Even taking a slap in his stead?

Meanwhile, the man was showing a little remorse, but that was soon consumed by his rage and he snorted coldly. “You came at the wrong time!”

He was at once stubbornly unapologetic.

At the moment, Tian Miaomiao’s cheeks were red and a little swelling, but she kept one hand on it while firmly stopping any tears from flowing.

As Jiang Yigu watched her biting her lip and holding it in, he suddenly saw her in a completely different light—when she was showing manlike strength, that is.

Still, his unaffected gaze was promptly dyed in rage.

“Apologize.” He demanded coldly.

The man pointed at himself in disbelief. “Me, apologize? Why should I?! You killed my daughter!”

“First and foremost, your daughters’ vitals were already very weak when she was brought in, but we have done whatever we can to save her—and doctors always try to save everyone. Secondly… she is innocent. Shouldn’t you apologize for hitting her?”

The man, however, looked not guilty at all. “She threw herself in my way. I won’t apologize!”

Pow—!

The instant the man said those words, Jiang Yigu’s fist swung at him viciously.

Caught off guard, the man took the brunt of that punch.

He never expected Jiang Yigu to actually attack, and was stunned in the disbelief.