Chapter Twelve: A Prolonged Illness Turns One into a Doctor

  "Wipe your sweat." Tang Ao looked at Su Tong's ankle and saw that the black color had disappeared, so he let out a sigh of relief. He stood up, stretched his limbs which were stiff from tension, took out a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to Su Tong, indicating for her to wipe off the cold sweat on her face.

  Su Tong absent-mindedly took the handkerchief, and his heart felt very surprised. In this era where paper towels are popular, there is still someone using a handkerchief, and it's not an old man with white hair, but a young man, which makes people feel even more curious. However, one has to admit that the soft cotton handkerchief used to wipe away sweat feels much more comfortable than paper towels, especially since Tang Hao's handkerchief had a faint scent, not like men's perfume, but like soap, very light and pleasant.

  "Move around and see if your ankle hurts." Tang Ao carefully observed Su Tong's ankle again, and saw that her spirit was also much better than before, seemingly relieved a bit, but still hoped she could confirm it once more.

  Su Tong carefully moved her ankle, and her eyes widened in surprise. Her ankle didn't hurt at all, not even a little bit, just as if she had never sprained it before.

  "How did you do it? What was that about my ankle just now?" Su Tong couldn't help but ask curiously.

  Tang Ao pulled the footstool he had just used to prop up Su Tong's feet to one side and sat down on it himself. In order not to make Su Tong feel embarrassed, he didn't go squeeze together with her on that two-seater sofa, but instead asked Su Tong: "How did you hurt your foot?"

  Su Tong briefly mentioned that he went to Changqing Mountain during the day, accidentally tripped and sprained his foot. Tang Hao listened and his face seemed a bit off, with his eyebrows slightly furrowed.

  "What's wrong? Is there something wrong?" Su Tong looked at his expression and couldn't help but tense up.

  Tang Ao's serious expression vanished the moment she opened her mouth to ask, and with a shake of her head, she smiled and said: "No, that should be from being bitten by insects on the mountain, the toxin accumulated, and it became like that."

  "Worms?" Su Tong felt that this answer sounded somewhat unbelievable, "But I didn't see any wounds anywhere, and aren't you an interior designer? Why would you know about these things?"

  "Long illness makes a good doctor," Tang Ao replied with a smile. "When I was young, I was mischievous and often ran out to play. I've seen all sorts of snakes, insects, rats, and ants. This kind of insect is relatively rare, and after it bites, the wound is very small, so it's hard to see with the naked eye. Its venom can cause poor blood circulation, so the local area will turn black and purple. If you don't detoxify in time, the affected area may spread, affecting blood supply to other parts of the body. For example, if you're bitten on the ankle, if you don't treat it, your foot may become poorly circulated, and that would be a disaster. I've encountered this before, so I recognize it - what a coincidence!"

  Su Tong was skeptical of Tang Ao's words, although what he said could be self-consistent. However, Su Tong felt that Tang Ao had not told her the truth. She asked again: "What was it that you applied to my ankle just now? I originally saw that it was a yellowish thing like paper, but when you unwrapped the bandage later, it turned out to be black."

  "Oh, that one." Tang Ao blinked his eyes, "It's a medicinal paper for treating the bite of that poisonous insect. I had someone buy it from a very remote village as a folk remedy. It was herbal, but later turned black. Actually, it's because the toxin of that insect and the medicinal paper encountered each other and underwent a chemical reaction-like situation, so it turned black."

  Su Tong thought that this remark still sounded somewhat suspicious, but since the other person had helped her cure her ankle, if she continued to be suspicious and kept asking questions, it would be too ungrateful. Thinking of this, she didn't ask any more questions, nodded, and thanked Tang Ao again.

  Tang Ao waved his hand, indicating no need to be polite. The two of them fell silent for a while before he spoke up again: "By the way, I've run into you three times today, but all I know is that you're my neighbor living across from me - I don't even know your name."

  "My name is Su Tong, I'm 25 years old, and I work at X News Agency as a social news reporter." Su Tong replied, her face turning red involuntarily after finishing speaking. Well, the other person was just asking for her name, but she went ahead and volunteered her age too. Luckily, she didn't add "single and unmarried" to that, or else she would have had to dig a hole on the spot and hide in it to avoid dying of embarrassment.

  Tang Wei looked at Su Tong with an amused expression, then introduced himself to ease the awkwardness: "My name is Tang Wei, you must have seen my business card, so you should know that I'm 28 years old this year. I'm self-sufficient and started a studio with partners, working as a home decoration consultant. My current life situation is that one person eats well, and the whole family doesn't go hungry."

  "You also have this skill to treat stubborn injuries, the effect is too magical. If being a home decoration consultant doesn't make money, changing careers to heal people's injuries shouldn't be a problem either." Su Tong said casually, she felt that her ankle which was still painful and didn't dare move earlier had recovered so quickly after Tang Xiao's treatment, it was an incredibly magical experience that she had never encountered since childhood.

  Tang Ao saw that she had regained her spirits and he too relaxed, smiling as he said: "Thanks for your suggestion. If one day I really can't make a living doing my own thing, I will definitely consider this suggestion seriously."

  Su Tong realized that his words were indeed problematic. The other person was a home decor consultant, and it wasn't for him to judge their level of expertise or whether they made a lot of money. He had only just met the person less than a day ago, yet he spoke as if he thought Tang Xiao's current profession couldn't sustain him and that he needed to start anew. The other person had just helped him treat the strange injury on his ankle, and Su Tong felt like he was speaking out of turn. Fortunately, the other person seemed to have good breeding and manners, but Su Tong still felt a sense of shame.

  "I didn't mean it that way, I..." She wanted to explain herself a few more sentences, not wanting Tang Ao to misunderstand her. Although she wasn't usually eloquent, due to her profession, her expression skills were still good. But for some reason, in front of Tang Ao, she inexplicably felt tongue-tied and didn't know how to express herself properly.

  Tang Ao nodded and smiled at her, saying: "I understand what you mean, and what you said is also right. Having many skills doesn't hurt, I'm just being doubly insured. However, even though your ankle is fine now, it's still best if you don't go near Changqing Mountain again. They say that in the spring, all things come back to life, but not only good things, some bad ones too...I mean snakes, insects, rats and ants also start moving around. You've just recovered, so you should take good care of yourself and it's best if you don't go over there."

  "I'll be careful." Su Tong nodded.

  "It's getting late, you should get some rest. You've been through a lot and must be exhausted." Tang Ao checked Su Tong's ankle again to make sure she was fine, then picked up the small cloth package he had brought with him and stood up from the stool, preparing to leave.

  Su Tong hastily stood up as well, although her ankle no longer hurt, but earlier when Tang Hao helped her treat it, she had indeed suffered a bit and consumed a lot of physical strength. Now, suddenly rushing to get up, she felt her feet go soft, and her whole body was about to fall down. Fortunately, Tang Hao was relatively close by, and with quick eyes and hands, he stretched out his hand to grab her arm and pulled her up. Su Tong's face turned red with embarrassment as she thanked Tang Hao in a flurry.

  "I'm already home, you don't need to see me off. You're exhausted and should rest well now. If you were to fall or get hurt, I'd be helpless, at most I could only help send you to the hospital." Tang Ao instructed Su Tong a few sentences with some concern, before putting her back on the sofa and heading towards the door himself.

  He walked to the door, stopped and turned around to take another look at Su Tong's house, seemingly hesitant, his brow furrowed slightly, but ultimately didn't say anything. He just waved goodbye to Su Tong, opened the door and walked out alone, then helped close the door tightly from the outside.

  Her ankle felt better, and Su Tong suddenly felt her mood lighten up a lot. She had taken Tang Ao's advice to heart, and even though her ankle didn't hurt anymore, she still didn't dare move carelessly. She carefully got up from the couch and walked back and forth in the living room for several steps, and indeed, she couldn't feel any pain at all, just like that pair of black handprints and the burning pain from the needle had never appeared before.

  As he paced back and forth in the living room, Su Tong was also thinking about what had just happened when Tang Hao helped him treat his injury. This included their two encounters earlier today. Although it was only the first time they met this morning, it wasn't until they ran into each other again this afternoon that he was convinced that this man was indeed his neighbor. He didn't know if it was because of Tang Hao's gentle and polite demeanor, or because he had lent a helping hand when Su Tong was suffering from pain, solving his urgent problem, but somehow it made him feel a strange sense of dependence deep down. In short, thinking about this man, Su Tong didn't feel any strangeness at all, instead, it felt like they had known each other for a long time. But when he really thought back carefully, there was no trace of this person in his memory.

  Forget it, I don't want to think about these things anymore. Su Teng shook his head and pushed aside the tangled thoughts in his mind that he couldn't sort out. He looked at the time and indeed it was already late. His phone was quietly sleeping on the sofa, and Wang Li seemed not to have received the message he sent over.

  Luckily, Tang Ao wasn't a bad person, otherwise, relying on Wang Li, this unreliable friend to help out in an emergency would be like waiting for the flowers to bloom - it would never happen. Su Tong thought about this and couldn't help but chuckle, using his hand to support himself against the wall as he slowly made his way to the bathroom, turning on the water heater to prepare a nice hot bath.

  She didn't know if it was because she had just sweated a lot, or if it was because Tang Wei was here earlier and there were two people in the house, so the temperature would be higher. Now that she was alone at home, she felt like the temperature seemed to have dropped slightly compared to usual. Taking a warm bath would feel more comfortable.

  When the water temperature was suitable, Su Tong poured a pool of hot water. In order to relax her nerves well, she also deliberately dripped a few drops of lavender essential oil. After her ankle stopped hurting, her whole body felt light and relaxed. She took off her clothes and soaked in the fragrant hot water, letting out a long sigh of relief.

  People are like this, when they're tense, they don't feel particularly tired, but once they relax, they'll soon be overwhelmed by fatigue. Before he knew it, Su Tong's consciousness began to blur, his eyelids grew heavier and heavier, and in no time at all, he leaned against the bathtub, his head tilted against the wall beside him, and fell asleep.

  When Su Tong was in a daze, she felt like she didn't know which neighbor's child it was, and started crying again. The sound was faint at first, but became more and more real later on, just like last time. The crying slowly turned into laughter, laughing non-stop, hehehe... But to Su Tong, who was still half asleep, there wasn't a bit of cuteness in that laugh, only a feeling of unease in her heart. She wanted to try hard to open her eyes, but no matter what, she couldn't wake up. The laughter lingered by her ears for a long time, and suddenly turned into a sharp scream, which was like an explosion in Su Tong's ear, scaring her awake. Then she heard her phone ringing loudly in the living room, and didn't know if the sharp cry she just heard was actually the ringtone of her phone that she misheard while dreaming.

  Su Tong suddenly woke up and hurriedly got out of the bathtub. She found that the water in the bathtub had become icy cold, just like it had just been poured from the faucet, without any warmth. The air was also devoid of the fragrance of lavender essential oil that had been present earlier. It seemed as if there was a faint, almost imperceptible smell of blood in the air, which made Su Tong feel a chill run down her spine. As she carefully stepped out of the bathtub, one foot had just touched the ground when something sharp and painful pierced the sole of her foot. Fortunately, her hand was still holding onto the edge of the bathtub, or else she might have fallen to the ground with a thud.

  She stepped out of the bathtub and hastily wrapped herself in a large bath towel from the nearby towel rack to warm her wet body, before she could look down to see what had hurt her foot. On the floor was a small sculpture, made of an unknown material, with a milky yellow color, carved into the shape of a chubby little boy, vivid and lifelike.