Song Yihe

There was a major hospital near the residential complex where An Zhiwu rented an apartment.

She downloaded the hospital's app, intending to book an appointment with the gastroenterology department.

Most of the weekend appointments were already taken. After looking through them, An Zhiwu reluctantly spent a hundred yuan to book an appointment with a specialist on Saturday morning.

She checked the doctor's name: Song Yihe.

Hmm... nice... it sounded very cultured.

After booking the appointment, she opened the Y Cat Live forum.

She entered the "mukbang" section.

Sure enough.

Good news never left the house, but bad news traveled a thousand miles.

Several posts about her stream that day had already appeared on the forum, and every one of them mocked her.

One post titled [Mukbang streamer "Three-Hundred-Jin An'an" induced vomiting during a stream. How many mukbangs are actually real?] had quickly risen to the top.

An Zhiwu clicked on it and glanced at the contents: [Although I know that, given the way things are nowadays, so-called mukbang streamers actually eat less than celebrities, I still held out hope that the mukbang world was genuine. I've always followed a mukbang streamer called "Three-Hundred-Jin An'an." At first, I thought she was pretty sincere. She didn't binge eat, and she even gave us tutorials for a lot of the food. But last night, she actually went to the bathroom and threw up halfway through eating. Although she later explained that her stomach was upset, I'm skeptical. I'm not watching mukbangs anymore. Unfollowed.]

The comments below were even more varied.

2nd floor: I'm dying. What a disgrace to the mukbang world.

7th floor: I watched last night too. I can vouch for it. I unfollowed her too.

13th floor: You've got me curious. Unlike you guys, I just went to Y Cat Live and followed her.

32nd floor: She's pretty good-looking. If she can't make it in mukbang anymore, she could consider streaming for her looks.

35th floor: I'm seriously sick of this. There are still lots of kids in our mountain region who don't get enough to eat, and these mukbang streamers eat and then throw it all up. Don't they know heaven will punish them for wasting food?

56th floor: Then again, it's not like she used your money to buy the food...

76th floor: Come check out my shop! We sell tubes for inducing vomiting. Safe and harmless, no pain 1.

77th floor: The advertiser upstairs can just die, okay?

95th floor: Am I the only one who naively thought mukbang streamers really ate their food? I was wondering how they never gained weight no matter how much they ate. I was too innocent~~

Seeing herself nailed to the mukbang world's "pillar of shame" like this, An Zhiwu shed a tear of sympathy for herself.

Then, thinking about how her accidental mishap had actually caused everyone to condemn the entire mukbang world, she silently said "sorry" to the other mukbang streamers.

She really hadn't meant to~~

Early Saturday morning.

An Zhiwu got herself ready and took the subway to the hospital.

She lived about two subway stops from the hospital.

After getting off the subway, An Zhiwu took a parasol from her bag and opened it as she walked toward the hospital.

Although she'd put on sunscreen, the July sun still made her face flush red, and she couldn't help quickening her pace.

The hospital was packed no matter the time.

Even though it was only a little past eight when she arrived, the line in the registration hall was already very long.

An Zhiwu went to a self-service registration machine, paid and collected her ticket. She was number seven.

Then she took the elevator to the gastroenterology waiting room on the second floor and sat down.

There were already dozens of people sitting in the waiting room.

She was assigned to consultation room two. She glanced at the large screen and saw that number five had already been called.

About half an hour later, An Zhiwu was called.

She picked up her bag, rose from her seat and walked toward consultation room two.

When she reached the door, An Zhiwu stopped in her tracks.

A young man in a white coat sat at the desk. He had a fresh, short, parted haircut, with the hair at his temples trimmed shorter, giving him a neat and tidy appearance.

He was bent over, writing something. From where she stood, she couldn't see his face, but she could see his thick eyebrows and straight nose.

But... hadn't she booked an appointment with a specialist?

Weren't specialists supposed to be middle-aged men wearing glasses? Why was this "specialist" so young?

She still remembered hearing a medical student complain that after five years of study, they had to spend another three years in standardized training at a hospital, then two years as a resident, before they could become an attending physician or something.

She wasn't too clear on the exact timeline, but she knew that doctors who could see patients alone in a consultation room were generally at least in their thirties...

At that thought, she couldn't help picking up her registration slip and checking it again.

Consultation room two. That was right...

The doctor inside had probably waited a while and noticed that the patient still hadn't come in. He looked up at her. "An Zhiwu?"

"Yes, that's me."

An Zhiwu went in and sat on the stool across from the desk. She glanced at the nameplate on the man's white coat: Song Yihe.

She couldn't help quickly sizing up the doctor across from her.

He's so handsome!

She thought to herself.

Song Yihe opened her blank medical record booklet and glanced at her. "What's bothering you?"

"Doctor, lately I've been getting acid reflux all the time, like sour liquid coming up. Whenever I eat, I can't help feeling like throwing up, but if I don't eat, my stomach feels uncomfortable. I also get a little stomach pain once in a while."

"When was your last period? Have you had sex since then?"

???

She'd come because her stomach was bothering her. Why was he asking about her sex life?

He was handsome, but could he be a wolf in sheep's clothing?

An old pervert in a white coat?

An Zhiwu instinctively tugged her collar up.

When she didn't answer, Song Yihe looked up at her, his expression calm. "Didn't you hear me? When was your last period? Have you had sex since it ended?"

Uh...

In the end, An Zhiwu gave in and answered honestly, "I don't remember exactly when my last period was, but as for sex, I haven't had any in over twenty years."

After a moment's thought, she added, "Doctor, I'm here because my stomach is bothering me, not to see a gynecologist."

Song Yihe glanced at her, his expression a little odd. "First, we need to rule out the possibility that you're pregnant. If you're sure you're not, then you'll need a gastroscopy."

A gastroscopy... An Zhiwu swallowed. She'd heard it was especially uncomfortable.

"Um, doctor, is a gastroscopy really painful?"

"If you're afraid of pain, you can choose a capsule gastroscopy, but it costs more, and if there are polyps, they might not show up clearly. A traditional gastroscopy is better in terms of accuracy, and it costs less. The only drawback is that it's rather uncomfortable. Think it over."

Without even thinking, An Zhiwu decided on the capsule gastroscopy.

"Doctor, I'll have the capsule gastroscopy!"

"All right. Briefly tell me what you ate last night. If there's no problem, I'll write you an order."

"I barely ate anything last night. I'd only eaten a little when I threw up, and it kept going until this morning..."

Before she could finish, a young nurse rushed into the office, her face anxious. "Doctor Song, there was an explosion at the chemical plant in South City. Three ambulances have already arrived, and one person needs CPR. The emergency department is already overwhelmed and needs help."

Song Yihe immediately rose from his seat. "Okay, I'll come right away."