Chapter 8 You Have Smelly Breath
“You… what… what are you talking about?”
Gao Yan took two involuntary steps back.
“I said it’s smelly. You know what I mean!”
Neither Lin Zhiyuan nor Lin Momo understood what Qin Haodong meant. They mistakenly thought Qin Haodong was mad at Gao Yan for being rude and insulting traditional Chinese medicine.
However, the little girl hopped and cried, “I know! I know! Aunt Gao’s breath really sticks. Once she did not wear a mask, her breath smelled like fart and made me lose my appetite!”
Lin Zhiyuan and Lin Momo then realized that Qin Haodong meant that Gao Yan had halitosis, not her offensive words.
They had thought Gao Yan had been wearing a big mask because of her doctor’s obsession with cleanliness, but now they knew that she was covering up her bad breath.
Although there was no offense at Tang Tang’s words, Gao Yan was so ashamed that she wished she had disappeared.
She didn’t have bad breath as a child but somehow developed it in high school. In order to cure this unspeakable disease, she chose a medical school in her college entrance examination and later took the doctor of medicine of M Country.
Over the years, she had seen numerous well-known doctors, but halitosis was still not cured and even got more and more serious. For this reason, this pretty woman, in her early 30s, had yet to have a boyfriend. No man could stand her smelly breath.
“Don’t you believe in western medicine? Why can’t you cure yourself?” Qin Haodong addressed this question again.
Gao Yan gave him a bitter look and replied, “So what? Western medicine is scientific, but there are also difficult and complicated diseases that it cannot cure at present. You can’t deny the role of western medicine just because of this.”
“Difficult and complicated disease?” Qin Haodong snorted with laughter. “Your halitosis is obviously caused by heavy stomach fire and gastrointestinal heat. In traditional Chinese medicine, this is a problem that can’t be smaller and can be easily cured. Not only do you not believe in traditional Chinese medicine, but also you denigrate it. You have brought this on yourself.”
“That’s impossible. You’re lying! I’ve had a standard examination of my stomach and intestines. There’s nothing wrong. How could this be due to my stomach and intestine?” argued Gao Yan.
“That’s why I said you didn’t know anything about traditional Chinese medicine. In traditional Chinese medicine, the stomach and intestines is a system of passages, not organs as in western medicine. It is precisely because of the limitations of western medicine, it cannot find the root of your disease and ridiculously labels it a difficult problem.
“It will only take me a few minutes to get over an ailment like yours.”
“What… What? You can cure my disease?” Gao Yan asked in disbelief.
“Yes! Of course! Doctor Magic is amazing. He can cure any disease!”
The little girl yelled, clapping her hands. She was now the biggest fan of Qin Haodong. In her eyes, her Doctor Magic was omnipotent.
Gao Yan hesitated for a moment, then made a low bow to Qin Haodong, and pleaded earnestly, “Please, Doctor Qin, give me a hand. As long as you can cure my disease, I’ll give you whatever you ask for!”
Qin Haodong knew she had halitosis and the cause with only one glance. Gao Yan had some faith in his medical skills now. What was more, she was almost driven mad by the disease and would try at the slightest hope.
“Doctor Magic, Aunt Gao is so pitiful. Please give her some needles! If she hurts, I can sing a song for her!”
Qin Haodong lovingly stroked the little girl’s head, turned to Gao Yan and said, “For Tang Tang’s sake, I’ll give you a little therapy.”
Then he directed Gao Yan to lie down on the couch before he did acupuncture for her. For Emperor Green Wood, to heal the gastrointestinal blockage was a piece of cake. Five minutes later, he put away his needles.
“It’s over. Try and see if you still have bad breath.”
“So soon?” Gao Yan hesitantly took off her mask. Then she put her hands together, breathed into them, and sniffed.
She used to frown at her bad breath when she did this, but this time she did not smell anything.
“Is it true that the disease that has bothered me for more than ten years was cured in the last few minutes?” she wondered in shock.
With an unbelieving expression, Gao Yan breathed again into her palms. Still, there was not any of the original bad breath.
The little girl ran to Gao Yan and offered with a silly look, “Aunt Gao, let me smell it!”
With that, she lifted her face close to Gao Yan’s mouth, her lovely little nose sniffing, and then clapped her little hands and shouted, “No bad smell, no bad smell! Aunt Gao’s mouth no longer fart!”
Gao Yan wept with emotion. Having suffered from halitosis for so many years, only she knew the bitterness and humiliation.
“Thank you, Doctor Qin. Thank you very much indeed!” Gao Yan fell to her knees in front of Qin Haodong with a flop. “I was wrong. I was shortsighted. I apologize to you, to Chinese medicine. I’m sorry.”
“Get up,” Qin Haodong said. “I have cured you of your disease, but as you just have blind faith in foreign things and disparaged traditional Chinese medicine, I will punish you for three days for not being able to speak.”
He was infuriated at the woman for her unprovoked denigration of traditional Chinese medicine, so he adopted a small means to punish her during the therapy just now.
Gao Yan got up from the ground, opened her mouth, attempting to say something, but to her horror, she lost her voice all of a sudden.
Only then did she realize that the magic of traditional Chinese medicine was far beyond the imagination of people like her who studied western medicine.
Still, she, unable to speak for the next three days though, looked at Qin Haodong with gratitude and admiration. As long as her bad breath was gone, she was willing to keep her mouth shut for three months or even three years, let alone three days.
When the little girl saw that Gao Yan was suddenly unable to speak, she quickly covered her mouth with her two small hands and said to Qin Haodong, “Doctor Magic, I’m a good girl. Please don’t make me unable to speak!”
The remark, full of childlike innocence, created a burst of laughter, which made the awkward atmosphere cheerful.
Lin Momo looked at Qin Haodong, her eyes alight with admiration. “It seems very wise to agree with Qin Haodong to be Tang Tang’s sworn father,” she thought with relief. “Otherwise Tang Tang may not be able to be treated even in the hospital today.”
Lin Zhiyuan was old enough to know better the importance of a skilled doctor to a family. With Qin Haodong, the Lin family had an extra lifeline. Thus, his enthusiasm for Qin Haodong was tinged with respect.
“Doctor Qin, thank you for helping Tang Tang recover. You medical skill is such an eye-opener to me!”
Now, none of the Lins dared to question Qin Haodong’s medical skills. They had just made such a noise that their cook and nanny came into the living room to see what was going on.
As this matter had been over, the cook Zhang Dafu came to them and asked, “Mr. Lin, breakfast is ready, when do you eat?”
Lin Zhiyuan was not in the mood to eat a few minutes ago because of Tang Tang’s illness. Now Tang Tang’s recovery made his mood lightened, so he decided to have breakfast immediately.
“Thank you very much, Doctor Qin. Please come and have breakfast with us.”
He then politely invited Qin Haodong into the dining room and offered him his seat of honor.
“I want to sit next to Doctor Magic.”
The little girl cried as she climbed into a chair next to Qin Haodong’s seat and holding his hand lovingly.
“Mama, sit here,” she said to Lin Momo, patting the chair beside her with her little hands.
To take care of her daughter conveniently, Lin Momo took the seat. As she took a glance at Qin Haodong unwittingly, a strange feeling came over her. It was like a family of three sitting together for breakfast.
The Lin family had a big breakfast, both Chinese and western food. “Tang Tang, what do you want?” Lin Momo asked her daughter gently. “Mama will help you to get the food.”
Having a look at the food on the table, Tang Tang wrinkled her nose and replied, “I don’t want to eat, Mama!”
“No, it’s not good for your health. If you are not in good health, you will be vulnerable to illness,” said Lin Momo, filling a bowl of porridge with preserved eggs and minced meat. “Tang Tang, have some porridge. Porridge for breakfast is good for your stomach!”
Looking at the porridge in the bowl, the little girl waved her hand to refuse, “No! No! Mama, I don’t want to eat anything.”
“No, you can’t skip breakfast. You must have some, or Mama will be angry.”
Lin Momo threatened her, putting on an angry face.
“Miss Lin, Tang Tang just had a fever, and it’s normal for her to have no appetite,” Qin Haodong explained. “Well, let me cook Tang Tang some porridge. She will love it.”
Lin Zhiyuan quickly said, “Doctor Qin, how can we let you do such a thing? You are an honored guest!”
“Never mind, Tang Tang just recovered from illness. It’s okay for me to make something delicious for her.”
Qin Haodong looked at the little girl kindly.
Hearing the conversation, Zhang Dafu, who had been serving at the table, came forward and said, “Doctor Qin, how about you explain the cooking to me and I’ll do it?”
“No, I’ll do it. You can’t do that!” said Qin Haodong, getting up from his seat.
“Great, great, I want to eat the delicious food Doctor Magic cooks!”
The little girl clapped her hands happily again.
Zhang Dafu was a little upset. In his opinion, it was belittling his cooking.
“Doctor Qin, your medical skill is really masterly, but speaking of cooking, your cooking is not as good as mine.”
He was in a position to be proud. His grandfather was the imperial chef of the former dynasty, and his father had made a state banquet for the senior officials of China. He himself was a top chef well-known in Jiangnan City, and the Lin family spent a lot of money to invite him to be their cook.
Not caring what he said, Qin Haodong laughed and said, “Maybe Tang Tang likes my cooking!”
“Yeah! Yeah! I want to eat the delicious food Doctor Magic cooks!”
The little girl immediately came out in support of Qin Haodong.
“All right, thank you, Doctor Qin,” Lin Zhiyuan agreed before he turned to Zhang Dafu and said, “Take Doctor Qin to the kitchen!”
In his opinion, now that Qin Haodong was in the mood to cook, just let him do as he pleased. Maybe he would waste some ingredients, but the Lin family was wealthy enough that they didn’t mind that.
“Well, this way please, Doctor Qin.”
Now that the host had agreed, Zhang Dafu could only listen. Still, he thought Qin Haodong was teaching fish to swim.
“Doctor Magic, let me help you!”
The little girl exclaimed as she climbed down from the chair and grasped one of Qin Haodong’s fingers. Then they entered the kitchen together.