I Am Diagnosed as a Medical Titan

When Jiang He walked out of the exam room, Chen Hao was leaning against the railing, reading a book.

"Old Jiang?"

Chen Hao did a double take when he saw Jiang He. He lifted his wrist to check his watch, his face a mask of astonishment. "It’s only been forty minutes! How are you out already?"

Jiang He said, "I finished, so I turned it in early."

"Finished?"

Chen Hao’s mouth twitched.

’Forty minutes? How could he possibly be finished?’

’The only explanation is... Old Jiang cracked under the pressure.’

’It made sense.’

’He was a junior, after all. Faced with those brutally difficult questions, it was better to just leave and get it over with than to sit there and suffer.’

At that thought, his expression immediately softened with sympathy. "It’s alright, man. I get it."

Jiang He looked at him. "What do you get?"

"Just adults putting on a brave face."

Chen Hao said consolingly, "Everyone has moments where they try to act tough and fail. That bastard Li Wei really did a number on everyone’s morale just now. If I were you, I wouldn’t have been able to keep writing either. It’s fine. It’s just some stupid competition, right? We’re just here for the experience. It’s the taking part that counts, the taking part that counts."

Jiang He was exasperated. "I really did finish. The questions were pretty easy."

"Alright, alright, alright. Easy. If you say they were easy, then they were easy."

Chen Hao didn’t bother arguing with him. "You must be hungry. C’mon, let’s go get something to eat. What do you want tonight? Order whatever you like. It’s my treat."

Jiang He didn’t explain any further.

There was no point in explaining. They’d find out naturally once the results were posted.

The two of them walked side-by-side off campus.

Chen Hao asked casually, "By the way, do they post the results for this competition quickly?"

"Should be pretty quick." Jiang He recalled the process from his previous life. "They’ll probably finish grading them tonight and post the list first thing tomorrow morning."

"That fast? Are they graded by a machine?"

"No, it’s manual," Jiang He said. "This preliminary round is to select the seeded contestants for the South China Region tournament. There are only a few days until the regionals, so the old professors are in more of a hurry than we are. Besides, for the major problems, they just need to glance at the keywords to know whether to award points, so the grading goes quickly."

"That’s good, that’s good."

Chen Hao breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed he felt that getting the results sooner, and thus crushing any false hope, would be a form of release in itself.

"In that case, I’ll go check the list for you tomorrow morning to save you the embarrassment," Chen Hao declared. "Come on, let’s go. Enough about that. Let’s head to the back street. Old Wang and Zijian already went to grab us a table."

...

The university’s back street was wreathed in the smoke and steam of food stalls.

The speakers at a malatang stall were blasting Will Pan’s "Have to Love."

Wang Bo had a look of utter sincerity. "It doesn’t matter if you didn’t do well! Seriously! Just having the guts to sign up makes you the hero of Room 402! Come on, a toast to our hero!"

"To everyone. I’ll be counting on you all from now on," Jiang He said, clinking his glass against theirs.

This wasn’t just him being polite.

The project he wanted to work on required sifting through a massive amount of research. It would be too inefficient to do it alone; he needed to rope in all of his roommates.

Of course, it would be a win-win situation. Once the paper was published, securing a recommendation for the graduate program would be a sure thing for them.

Chen Hao added a spoonful of chili to Jiang He’s bowl. "Eat! Eat up! Channel that sorrow into your appetite! From now on, we’ll just focus on our studies and not bother with these pointless competitions."

The three of them took turns consoling Jiang He.

Jiang He couldn’t be bothered to argue, so he just focused on quietly chowing down.

Just then, Li Zijian, who was sitting beside them, suddenly let out a long sigh.

"What’s wrong with you?" Chen Hao asked. "Weren’t you supposed to be on a walk with that girl from the nursing department? Why the long face? Did she dump you?"

Li Zijian gave him a mournful look. "Don’t even talk about it... It might really be over."

Wang Bo prompted, "Details?"

Li Zijian sighed again. "Sigh. Things were going great. We were taking a walk on the athletic field, the mood was perfect. She mentioned she’s studying anatomy and was having a hard time identifying the trapezius muscle."

"And then?"

"And then I thought it was a great chance to show off the professional expertise of us clinical medicine majors!"

Li Zijian looked aggrieved. "So I reached out, gave her shoulder a little squeeze, and said, ’This is the trapezius muscle.’ And then... she got mad."

Chen Hao cursed, "You fucking idiot, that’s just straight-up copping a feel on the poor girl!"

Li Zijian looked even more aggrieved. "I didn’t think she’d be so... innocent..."

He went on, "Anyway, now she’s not answering my texts or my calls. Guys, I really like this girl. I don’t want it to be over just like that."

He threw back a gulp of beer and slammed his cup down on the table.

"I’ve made up my mind. Later, the four of us are going to her dorm to kneel and apologize!"

Chen Hao was stunned and pointed at himself. "I have to go too?"

Wang Bo pointed at himself. "I have to apologize too?"

Jiang He pointed at himself. "I have to kneel too?"

Li Zijian nodded. "Uh-huh. You have to."

The three of them: "..."

After a moment of stunned silence, Jiang He’s thoughts began to drift.

’In his previous life, Li Zijian really had dated a girl from the nursing department around this time. Her name was Han Tiantian, he recalled.’

’She was a wonderful girl. Gentle, and she didn’t seem to mind Li Zijian’s good-for-nothing attitude.’

’It was a shame that, in his past life, Li Zijian didn’t know how to treasure her, and they eventually broke up.’

’After the breakup, Li Zijian had started to let himself go completely, frequenting one nightclub after another. In the end, he got himself into deep trouble and ended up riddled with disease.’

’If... he could help him save this relationship, maybe Li Zijian’s life would turn out differently?’

At that thought, Jiang He put down the empty cup in his hand and said:

"If saying sorry was enough, what would we need the police for? If you really want to win her back, listen to me."

Li Zijian’s eyes lit up. "Old Jiang! You have an idea? Quick, tell me! What do I do in a situation like this?"

Chen Hao and Wang Bo also leaned in, their faces full of curiosity.

’Since when did Old Jiang know how to sweet-talk girls?’

Jiang He recalled the little moments with his wife from his past life and said with conviction, "It’s actually very simple. When a girl’s angry, just buy her a warm roasted sweet potato, or pour her a cup of hot water, and tell her softly, ’Please don’t be mad at me,’ and she’ll be fine."

He finished speaking.

The three of them stared at him in silence.

After a long moment, Li Zijian finally spoke. "That’s it?"

"Yep, that’s it," Jiang He nodded. "It works really well."

Chen Hao was silent.

Li Zijian sighed.

Wang Bo just shook his head. "Old Jiang, you’re as dense as a rock. There’s no way that’ll work."

Jiang He frowned, confused. "Why not? It really is useful. I know a... couple, and every time the girl gets angry, the guy just has to coax her like that, and she stops being mad."

’It had been like that for twenty years in his past life.’

’Every time Shen Yu got angry, that was how he’d coax her. It worked like a charm every single time.’

’Even the time he forgot their wedding anniversary and came home with nothing but a carton of stir-fried rice noodles from a street vendor...’

’A few simple, soft words, and Shen Yu would be happy again. She’d eat and smile, saying, "It smells delicious. Thank you, honey."’

Seeing Jiang He’s perplexed expression, the smile on Chen Hao’s face slowly faded.

He sighed softly and patted Jiang He’s shoulder, his tone growing complicated.

"Old Jiang, have you ever thought..."

"If a lame move like getting her hot water or a roasted sweet potato actually works..."

"...it’s not because your method is so brilliant."

"...it’s because that girl, she really loves you."

"It’s not that she isn’t angry. She just can’t bear to stay angry at you."

After Chen Hao finished speaking.

Jiang He froze.

’In his past life, he’d never had any real dating experience. He met Shen Yu, and that was it for the rest of his life.’

’So he had truly never thought about it from that perspective...’

"Is that how it was?"

Jiang He lowered his head.

"Oh... So that’s how it was."

The three roommates at the table exchanged glances.

’Something’s wrong with him. Is the grief from bombing the exam just hitting him now?’

"O-Old Jiang?" Chen Hao called out cautiously. "Are you alright? I... I was just talking off the top of my head..."

Jiang He took a deep breath, then tilted his head back and drained his cup of beer.

The bitter taste of cheap beer filled his mouth.

’It wasn’t as sweet as the braised pork she used to make.’

’Honey, I miss you.’

’I miss you.’

’I miss you...’

’I miss you.’

’I miss you.’

’I want to see you.’

After a moment.

Jiang He rubbed his eyes. "Chen Hao, for the upcoming National Day holiday... I want to ask for a bigger advance."

Chen Hao asked, "What for?"

Jiang He said, "I want to take her out for a nice meal. Something a little better than a roasted sweet potato."