Chapter 36: Still Going to Claim You’re Not a Plant?

Gui Cui stretched and remarked with a double entendre, "I'm fine, but you two doctors must be exhausted."

Huang Biao gave a sheepish smile. "Xiao Cui, let me take a look at Xiao Zhang's prescriptions from today."

Gui Cui hesitated. She wanted to refuse, but the boss had publicly announced that Huang Biao, as the Associate Chief Physician of Traditional Chinese Medicine, held supervisory authority over the clinic's medical quality. After a moment, she reluctantly handed over Li Ziqi’s prescription.

Huang Biao took it, examined it closely, and then remarked with a look of disdain, "What is this nonsense? It’s supposed to be Angelica Sinensis and Four-Reversal Decoction, but there are extra herbs. If it’s meant to be a combination with Peach Pit Decoction for Purging, it’s missing ingredients. He can't even remember the basic composition of a formula—Xiao Zhang is just playing around!"

Hearing her idol disparaged like this, Gui Cui stood her ground. With a stern face, she said, "Director Huang, it’s not right to badmouth people behind their backs. If you really have questions, you should go discuss them with Dr. Zhang in person."

"What? You want me, a veteran TCM doctor with nearly forty years of experience, to 'discuss' things with a greenhorn who just graduated two years ago? Xiao Cui, I think you have a fundamental misunderstanding of what a discussion entails."

Gui Cui didn't want to waste her breath, so she shut her mouth, hoping Huang Biao would realize he was being unwelcome and leave. But he remained oblivious, reaching out his hand again. "What about the other patients' prescriptions? Bring those too so I can take a look."

"There aren't any. That’s the only one," Gui Cui replied sharply.

"That's impossible! When the shift started, I saw a long line of patients waiting to see him." Huang Biao clearly didn't believe her, assuming she was making excuses.

"I’m telling you, there aren't any. If you don't believe me, come in and look for yourself," Gui Cui retorted without even looking up.

"How can that be? Don't they need medicine after their consultations? Even for patent medicines, there should be a prescription."

Knowing she couldn't evade him any longer, Gui Cui admitted, "The truth is, only one young lady was actually here for a consultation; the others were her relatives. The girl has a crush on Dr. Zhang, so they came as a group to set up a blind date. Do you get it now?"

Huang Biao’s mouth curled into a mocking grin. With the expression of a victor, he laughed, "Hahaha... And you still say they aren't shills? Still saying I'm targeting him? Now, Xiao Cui, you have to believe me!"

"How is this a case of shills? It was purely the young lady's own wishful thinking; she just brought a group of people along to bolster her courage. As for who really hires shills, I think we both know the answer to that," Gui Cui replied with a cold, cutting smile.

Hearing that last remark, Huang Biao’s face turned a shade of sickly green and purple, his expression one of extreme embarrassment. After all, the performance put on by "Little Gui" earlier had been so outrageous that even a blind person could have sensed something was wrong. With that thought in mind, he quickly slunk away.

Back in his own office, Huang Biao mulled it over. In the end, the shills he had hired only *looked* like patients, but they had all gone through the full process of registering, seeing the doctor, and picking up medicine; there was no concrete evidence to prove they were fake. Zhang Jing, on the other hand, had hired a whole crowd of female shills early in the morning to put on a show, only for them to scatter like birds when they couldn't agree on the price.

Yes, that was exactly what Huang Biao believed. He didn't buy a word of Gui Cui’s excuses for Zhang Jing. A group of relatives tagging along for a blind date? If that were true, why didn't they actually see a doctor? They didn't even pick up any medicine—what kind of medical visit was that?

The more he thought about it, the more excited he became. He planned to call Boss Ma before the end of the shift today to demand an explanation. He would not let this kid Zhang Jing keep acting out tomorrow!

Seeing Huang Biao retreat in disgrace, Gui Cui assumed he was just sulking in his office, never imagining that a storm was brewing.

At twelve noon, the shift ended. Gui Cui deliberately stayed in the pharmacy, waiting for Zhang Jing so they could go eat together. Hearing footsteps coming down the stairs, she hurried out.

"Oh, Dr. Zhang, what a coincidence! Let's go grab a bite."

Zhang Jing gave a slight smile of tacit agreement.

"What do you want to eat? You looked really busy this morning, so let's have something nice. I know a small restaurant with great food. Shall I take you to try it?" Gui Cui suggested happily.

"No need. You go ahead; I’m still in the mood for fast food," Zhang Jing replied directly.

"Actually, I've lost my appetite for anything fancy. I'll join you at 'Shi Jia Shang' again," Gui Cui said with a slightly embarrassed smile.

Zhang Jing didn't reply and just kept walking. Gui Cui followed closely behind. Soon, they arrived at the Shi Jia Shang fast-food restaurant near Mingde Hall. Zhang Jing ordered tomato-scrambled eggs, a bowl of rice, and a free bowl of seaweed egg drop soup.

Gui Cui ordered a chicken leg, some greens, and a bowl of rice. She skipped the free soup, complaining that there were so few egg strands in it that the bowl contained nothing but seaweed.

They found an empty corner table and sat down, one after the other.

"Dr. Zhang, why do you always eat so little? You don't even eat as much as I do, no wonder you're so thin," Gui Cui said, her eyes full of concern.

"It's nothing. I'm just not that interested in food. I've been like this since I was a kid; I'm used to it," Zhang Jing said calmly.

"But you have to pay attention to your nutrition. You're a doctor, yet you don't even know how to take care of yourself."

"I don't think so. Look, I have meat, vegetables, and soup. That's enough nutrition."

Gui Cui was momentarily speechless. After a moment of thought, she had an idea. "Dr. Zhang, my appetite isn't great today, and this order came with two chicken legs. I really can't finish it. Could you do me a favor and split it with me?"

Zhang Jing wanted to refuse, but it was hard to turn down such a warm offer, and he really didn't want to waste a perfectly good chicken leg, so he nodded reluctantly.

"Go ahead and take it!" Gui Cui said excitedly. She hadn't offered to serve him herself, fearing he might worry about her chopsticks being unhygienic; after all, doctors usually had a bit of a germ phobia.

"By the way, Dr. Zhang, what was going on with that young lady who came in this morning?" Gui Cui asked, feigning indifference.

"Oh, she has some menstrual irregularities." Zhang Jing clearly misunderstood, thinking Gui Cui wanted to know what Li Ziqi’s medical condition was.

"That's not what I meant. I’m asking why she brought her whole family to see you, and then they all left without even seeing the doctor?"

Zhang Jing felt a slight pang of irritation. Why did this girl insist on bringing up such an awkward subject? But since it had already happened, there was no point in dodging it. He gave a very brief summary of the process.

Gui Cui didn't seem satisfied and wanted to dig into more details.

Zhang Jing’s face darkened slightly. "Xiao Cui, could you please not be so gossipy? This is a clinic; we should respect the patients' privacy."

"Oh..." Gui Cui muttered, looking aggrieved. She thought to herself: *I'm just trying to look out for you, why are you treating my good intentions like malice?*

For a while, neither of them spoke, and the atmosphere became awkward.

Gui Cui stewed for a long time before finally bursting out, "Dr. Zhang, do you have a problem with me? We’ve been colleagues for nearly half a year and share the same dormitory—is there anything you can't just tell me directly?"

"No, why would you think that?" Zhang Jing looked genuinely perplexed.

"If you don't, then why does it feel like you never want to talk to me? But whenever you chat with patients, you’re always so lively and can talk for ages."

Before she finished, worried that Zhang Jing might misunderstand, she quickly added, "I don't mean that young lady from this morning, either. It was the same with the two mothers who came in a couple of days ago, right?"