Chapter 17 - Boss, There's Something Wrong with Your Scorpion Hotpot!

Chapter 17: Boss, There’s Something Wrong with Your Scorpion Hotpot!“Mom, let’s sit down and settle our accounts properly.”

“In these past few days, you tried to save money, but instead, we spent tens of thousands on medical bills.”

“Do you think it was worth it?”

“Frugality and thriftiness are virtues, but let’s skip unnecessary thriftiness, shall we?”

“Is that alright?”

The entire family spoke almost pleadingly, hoping to change the old woman’s perspective.

Song Juying seemed to have realized her mistake to some extent and finally appeared willing to compromise. “I’ll try to be more mindful in the future. I just can’t stand the thought of wasting.”

Shortly after, the whole family left the hospital. At that moment, a patient sharing the same hospital room as Song Juying looked at the empty trash can and felt puzzled. “Strange, where did the spoiled apples I threw in go?”

“Did the cleaning staff come to clean up?”

Outside the hospital’s entrance, Song Juying, who insisted on taking public transportation instead of a taxi, patted her almost empty pockets.

Friday night, Lu Ming and Tang Xiaorou finally managed to find some time for a date. Tang Xiaorou stood beneath a dim streetlight, wearing a light yellow knee-length dress that swayed gently in the breeze. The scene was nothing short of captivating.

“Long wait, huh?” Lu Ming arrived with a cheerful smile.

“It’s harder to schedule a date with you than the President!” Tang Xiaorou complained.

“It goes both ways. You’ve also stood me up twice,” Lu Ming shrugged.

After canceling on Tang Xiaorou the last time, he had tried to arrange two meetups, but her nursing schedule just couldn’t accommodate it.

Tang Xiaorou chuckled at his response, and Lu Ming joined in.

“Doctor and nurse” sounded like a perfect match, but only they knew the hardships behind it. Their schedules were mostly occupied by patient care, leaving very little energy for romance. Even after marriage, their attention would be divided between work and family. Some who struggled to handle the stress might even take out their frustrations on their loved ones that they couldn’t vent to patients. Nevertheless, they cherished the moments they could spend together.

Lu Ming and Tang Xiaorou were naturally optimistic individuals with strong stress-coping abilities. They never let things like canceled plans lead to conflicts or arguments between them. Instead, they deeply understood each other, a cornerstone of their enduring relationship.

“I’ve selected a few restaurants. See if there’s anything you’d like to eat. If not, we can look for something else,” Lu Ming suggested.

Tang Xiaorou considered the options and decided on a hotpot.

“Alright, let’s go for hotpot. How about the Wang Lao Wu Hotpot place we often go to?” Asked Lu Ming.

Tang Xiaorou’s choice was fine with Lu Ming. So, they took the subway to the hotpot restaurant. Upon arrival, knowing that Tang Xiaorou had difficulty making choices, Lu Ming first picked a few dishes they enjoyed from the menu. Then, he handed the menu to Tang Xiaorou for her to add her preferences. While waiting for the food to arrive, they chatted about amusing incidents they had encountered at work.

Despite the high-pressure nature of emergency medicine, they often found themselves in peculiar situations that left them laughing and shaking their heads. For instance, there was a young girl who would often experience chest tightness and shortness of breath while sleeping at night, suspecting that she was being “sleep-paralyzed” by a ghost. One night, unable to endure it any longer, she came to the hospital and went to the emergency room for help. After a thorough examination, it was found that there was nothing wrong with her physically. Later, Lu Ming discovered that it was due to the family’s Corgi dog sitting on her chest every night, which caused her discomfort and difficulty breathing.

Another incident involved an old woman who woke up every day covered in blue and purple marks on her body. She suspected that her husband was abusing her while she slept, so she came to the hospital for a “forensic examination.” However, the results were surprising – it was just her sleepwear that had faded!

As Lu Ming and Tang Xiaorou shared these humorous anecdotes from their work, they amused each other with hearty laughter.

At this point, the lamb scorpion hotpot and various dishes were brought to their table.

“Hmm?” Lu Ming, who was halfway through his meal, suddenly stopped using his chopsticks.

“What’s wrong?” Tang Xiaorou looked at Lu Ming with curiosity.

“There’s something off about their lamb scorpion hotpot,” Lu Ming pointed at the lamb scorpion.

“What’s wrong with it?” Tang Xiaorou looked at the lamb scorpion but couldn’t see any issues. “Are the ingredients not fresh?”

“Boss!” At this point, Lu Ming called over the restaurant owner.

Wang Lao Wu hurried over when he heard his name.

“Dr. Lu, what’s the matter?” He asked. sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ ɴøvᴇlFɪre.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

It was clear that Wang Lao Wu knew Lu Ming. Last year, when her mother fell ill, she had gone to Lu Ming’s traditional Chinese medicine clinic, and he had successfully treated her.

“Boss, there’s something wrong with your lamb scorpion,” Lu Ming said.

Wang Lao Wu was puzzled. “Huh? Is there something wrong with it? Where’s the issue?”

Lu Ming placed the lamb scorpion bones on the table, which had already been stripped of meat. Then, he picked out a few pieces of lamb scorpion from the hotpot.

“Take a look,” Lu Ming pointed at a section of lamb spine he had assembled. “The lamb scorpion is essentially the sheep’s spine, right? Can you see any problems?”

“Dr. Lu, forgive my ignorance,” Wang Lao Wu admitted. “I can’t see any issues.”

Wang Lao Wu scrutinized the section of lamb spine for a long while but couldn’t see anything amiss.

“You see, there’s an obvious curvature here!” Lu Ming pointed at one of the vertebrae. “This lamb had a condition during its lifetime – a clear physiological spinal deformity!”

“Huh?!” Wang Lao Wu was left utterly dumbfounded. He had been completely caught off guard.

Could this be… a case of occupational disease? But it was a sheep! And a cooked one, at that…