In the music café of City X, the sound of the piano flowed like water.
Yun Sheng stared at the check in front of her.
Sitting opposite her was a man and a woman, the man handsome and suave, the woman young and fashionable. In comparison, Yan Yunsheng, exuding a scent of herbal medicine, seemed quite out of place.
"Yun Sheng, let's break up. Here is a check for a hundred thousand, to repay the school fees you've paid for me over the past few years," the man, dressed impeccably, carried the elegant demeanor of a scholar. He was Liu Minglang, a highly paid medical doctor from M Country, employed at the First People's Hospital of City X.
Looking at Liu Minglang's style, nobody could tell that just a few years ago, he was just a poor student who had just graduated from Medical University, not yet successful in his career, relying on his girlfriend Yan Yunsheng's support to study abroad.
Several years apart, and what was thought to be a lifelong university romance, resulted in nothing but a check for a hundred thousand?
A mocking smile appeared on the delicate face of Yan Yunsheng.
Perhaps stung by Yun Sheng's smile, Liu Minglang didn't wait for her to refuse and preemptively said, "It's not that I betrayed you from start to finish; it's that you're too unambitious. Look at yourself now. You graduated from a prestigious Medical University, and yet you lack ambition, inheriting some small traditional Chinese medicine clinic. All our university classmates are doing better than you, you don't wear makeup, and you're always unkempt."
With a smack.
Yun Sheng grabbed the check and threw it in Liu Minglang's face, "If you want to break up, straight to the point is fine. No need to go around in circles or denigrate traditional Chinese medicine. I may be hopeless, not able to match Qian Weiwei, the health bureau chief's daughter sitting next to you, who can help you buy houses and cars, and secure a high-paying job. Liu Minglang, you're just a high-profile gigolo."
Liu Minglang finding a new love was something she had long since heard from others.
Yun Sheng spoke forcefully, her words clear, and everyone in the music café heard her distinctly.
This kind of melodramatic scene, commonly seen in television dramas, was unusual, and the café's customers curiously looked over, whispering about Liu Minglang and the young woman by his side.
Liu Minglang's face turned unsightly, hurriedly pulling his about-to-explode new girlfriend and left.
They had just taken a few steps when Liu Minglang suddenly collapsed to the ground, clutching his abdomen in pain, crying out, "It's... acute appendicitis, Weiwei... call 120."
Qian Weiwei's face turned deathly pale, never having seen such a spectacle, she couldn't even operate her phone properly.
The café manager, quick-witted, stepped forward to check and helped to make the emergency call.
It was rush hour, and the ambulance would need at least twenty minutes to reach the music café, but Liu Minglang was already writhing in pain on the ground.
Yun Sheng watched coldly from the side.
"Is there a doctor here who can help handle the situation urgently?" After waiting five minutes, Liu Minglang was almost fainting from the pain, and the manager, left with no other choice, began asking around in the café.
"She... she is a doctor, she and Ming Lang were classmates, and it's said that her clinical surgical skills are the best in the university," the official's daughter Qian Weiwei finally snapped out of it, pointing at Yun Sheng.
Liu Minglang also remembered this fact and, sweating profusely and struggling, crawled to Yan Yunsheng's feet, "Yun Sheng, you… have a way to alleviate my pain, remember our past… "
"It's remembering the money. I can keep you going until the ambulance arrives. But, my medical fees are not cheap, five hundred thousand flat rate, treat or not, it's up to you," Yun Sheng looked at the man sprawled on the ground like a dog, this man she once loved desperately.
"You're insane, five hundred thousand, why don't you go rob someone," Qian Weiwei cursed loudly.
"Weiwei, give it to her… if this continues… I might have a bowel perforation," Liu Minglang could no longer hold on. He was a Western medicine doctor and clearly understood that in such a situation, improper handling could have very serious consequences.
Yun Sheng was someone who invariably kept her word, if she said she could do something, she definitely could.
Qian Weiwei hesitated for a moment, then wrote a check and handed it to Yan Yunsheng.
Only then did Yun Sheng squat down, taking from her top pocket a needle bag. The needle was slender, millimeter-thick, and golden, a type only usable by master acupuncturists.
She placed her palm on Liu Minglang's Three Yin Acupoints and Foot Acupoint on his foot, her movements flowing smoothly like clouds and water, with a master's grace.
Liu Minglang was in severe pain and had already begun to lose consciousness; he could only see the pristine side face of his ex-girlfriend.
With Yun Sheng's palm on his body, he felt a rush of cool and moist energy penetrate his body, instantly making him feel much more comfortable.
After Yun Sheng withdrew her hand, she suddenly pulled down Liu Minglang's pants.
"What are you doing?" Qian Weiwei was displeased.
"Acupuncture," Yun Sheng said lightly, inserting a needle at the transverse process of Liu Minglang's first and second lumbar vertebrae, just one needle.
"Doesn't it hurt anymore?" Liu Minglang sat up, his body already drenched with sweat, looking around in surprise.
"Surgery is still necessary; this is just temporary pain relief," Yun Sheng put away the check and the Golden Needle, looking composed.
Just one needle could alleviate acute appendicitis so completely?
Medical fees of five hundred thousand!
Among the onlookers, someone suddenly shouted: "You are the famous Divine Needle Jade Hand from City X, Yan Yizhen."
In recent years, the most famous person in the medical field of Hua Country has been Yan Yizhen, rumored to be of indeterminate gender, elusive, treating patients with just one needle, controlling life and death.
She does not act lightly; every time she does, the medical fee is five hundred thousand.
Yun Sheng didn't respond and left the music café, leaving behind a stunned Liu Minglang and Qian Weiwei.
Liu Minglang, that half a million-dollar needle, is my parting gift to you.
At Yun Sheng's level of acupuncture skill, relieving the pain of acute appendicitis only requires using the inner energy through Dark Needle technique without using the Bright Needle.
Her last needle, however, was one that damages the kidneys; even if Liu Minglang were to pay ten times half a million, it wouldn't change the fact that he could no longer be a man.
After leaving the café, Yun Sheng anonymously mailed that check to the discipline inspection office, believing that tomorrow's newspaper headline would be sensational.
Those who offend Yun Sheng, regardless of their gender, will definitely not end well.
Just then, a taxi pulled over, and a man wearing a duckbill cap and a black jacket hurried out, bumping into Yun Sheng.
The man ran off without apologizing.
Yun Sheng got into the taxi, tears uncontrollably welling up in her eyes; she didn't notice that the man left a black plastic bag as he exited the vehicle.
After nearly a decade of feelings and waiting, this was the outcome she received.
Unconsciously rubbing the Jade Bracelet on her arm, she muttered to herself, "Grandpa, is it really as you said, that we Yan Family, by going against Heavenly Destiny and saving too many people, are destined to either die young or live out our lives in loneliness?"
Lost in her memories, Yun Sheng didn't pay attention to the news playing on the taxi's radio.
"Urgent notice, multiple malicious explosions have recently occurred in City X. Suspected terrorists have been placing explosive devices on public transportation and in crowded places; if a citizen spots any suspicious individuals or unidentifiable black plastic bags, please report to the police immediately."
About five minutes later, a taxi was driving on the highway when it suddenly exploded with a loud bang, sending black smoke billowing. Both the female passenger and the taxi driver inside were confirmed dead at the scene after unsuccessful emergency efforts.