Plague (1): Love at first sight

Stellar Year 1024, July 1st, Saturday.

The weather was clear today, and Tan Xiao, who was on a graduation trip, went to visit the Capital Museum early in the morning as planned. However, just as he finished touring the museum and was waiting for his bubble tea on the bustling street outside, the sky suddenly transformed from clear blue to overcast.

The tourists walking beside him instinctively looked up at the sky. Someone in the crowd let out a startled cry: “It’s raining black rain!” As the raindrops grew larger, sparking against the atmosphere, the tourists finally realized that what was falling from the sky was not black rain, but a meteor shower!

“Run!” The moment the meteor shower began, Tan Xiao turned and dashed into the entrance of the large shopping mall next door. He remembered that the mall had an underground shelter.

The physically fit prospective college student quickly ran into the mall. Just as he was about to enter the underground shelter to avoid the meteor shower, he suddenly heard someone behind him scream loudly, “It’s so hot, it’s so hot!”

A special red stone fell from the sky, hitting him right on the back of his head. Tan Xiao immediately saw darkness and fell heavily to the ground, the crowd kept trampling over him without any regard.

Before losing consciousness, Tan Xiao’s last thought was: He can’t die here, right? He hasn’t even been in a relationship in his eighteen years of life. If he had known he would die in an accident, he should have dated someone earlier!

…

Perhaps because even God thought he was too unfortunate, Tan Xiao didn’t die and opened his eyes in the hospital.

When Tan Xiao woke up, the back of his head still ached faintly. The smell of disinfectant lingered around his nostrils. He was in a narrow, adjustable single hospital bed, with a metal frame that didn’t hold an IV drip, wearing a familiar blue-striped gown, the hospitalization notice posted on the wall, and the bed door with a window that offered no privacy.

Tan Xiao touched his head, which was completely smooth. There was no bump as he had imagined, nor any bandages wrapping his head. His arms and legs were intact, so it seemed his problems weren’t serious.

It appeared he was in a single room in the hospital. After a bit of struggle, Tan Xiao pushed aside the not-so-soft blanket and got out of bed. Good, his hands and feet could move normally. While going to the bathroom, Tan Xiao glanced at his face in the mirror.

Due to being hospitalized, the young man in the mirror looked a bit pale, but this did not affect his handsomeness at all.

The young prospective college student had slightly longer hair than when he was in high school. He had a typical strong facial structure, with thick and fluffy hair, and inherited his father’s sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes. At eighteen, his face was full of collagen, with plump apple cheeks. Despite the heavy coursework in high school, he had inherited his mother’s flawless skin. When he smiled, his whole face looked particularly sunny, like a beautiful youth straight out of a comic.

Tan Xiao sighed in relief as he looked in the mirror: “Phew, phew, no scars.”

Although he didn’t place much importance on beauty, in this superficial era, without an appearance, who would be willing to patiently discover the beauty of your soul? Everyone wants to be well, and no one wants to be disfigured.

“Knock knock, room inspection!”

Hearing the commotion of the room inspection in the hallway, Tan Xiao quickly washed his face, and the nurse conducting the inspection pushed open the door to his ward.

“Room 18? Where did the patient in room 18 go?”

He heard the nurse’s puzzled voice and quickly walked out of the bathroom.

“I’m here, just washed my face.”

The nurse quickly noted in her book, “Patient 18 has awakened.”

She asked Tan Xiao, “Do you feel any discomfort?”

Tan Xiao replied, “My head still hurts a bit, does that count?”

The nurse nodded. Because Tan Xiao was young and handsome, her attitude was very friendly. After finishing the record, she continued, “The doctor in charge of you will come to check on you later, so please don’t wander around for now.”

She pressed the bell and said to the other end, “The patient in bed 18 is awake.”

The nurse left, and Tan Xiao searched for his belongings in the ward. There wasn’t much in the ward, but he found his phone on the bedside.

Tan Xiao felt a dull pain in his head and had forgotten many things. Fortunately, the phone could be unlocked with a fingerprint. When he turned on the screen, a news notification from the browser popped up.

[Flu season is in full swing, experts recommend wearing masks when going out]

[Emergency rooms are packed, flu is rampant, here are eight tips from the news]

……

Tan Xiao looked at the medical record written on the bedside table.

A Country Huaxi Hospital Inpatient Department

“Patient: Tan Xiao”

Age: 18 years old

Gender: Male

Reason for admission: Knocked out by a basketball, suspected mild concussion

Wait a minute, looking at the reason for hospitalization, Tan Xiao felt a bit dazed: “Was it a basketball that hit me?”

How come he remembered being hit by a meteorite?

Tan Xiao searched the news, meteorite, falling meteorite… but he couldn’t find any news about a meteorite. Even if there was a meteorite, it was from a few years ago, and it was a falling meteorite that entered the museum, completely different from his memory.

The joking gaze lingered on the words “concussion,” and some fragmented images vaguely appeared in his mind: it seemed that he indeed got hit by a basketball. He remembered passing by a sports park, and he didn’t know which clumsy player missed the hoop and ended up hitting this innocent passerby.

The scene where he was hit by a meteorite was indeed quite chaotic, and it didn’t feel real at all. It must have been an illusion caused by his head being hit, and he had a bizarre dream.

He quickly convinced himself, scrolled through his phone for a few minutes, and soon regained his relevant memories: he was a newly graduated prospective college student, just graduated from high school, looking for a summer part-time job in this city. Unfortunately, he hadn’t found a job yet and ended up in the hospital. Fortunately, that bastard who hit him still had a bit of conscience and sent him to the hospital.

Looking at the three-digit balance in his account, Tan Xiao couldn’t help but feel worried; he needed to find a job soon.

“The doctor is here for rounds!”

The door was knocked on again. Last time it was the nurse, this time it was the doctor.

Tan Xiao didn’t even lift his head: “Come in, I’m here.”

The door creaked open, and Tan Xiao looked up, only to see the face of the person in the lead, wearing a white coat. In fact, there were five or six doctors who came, but at that moment, Tan Xiao could only see the face of the one surrounded by the others.

What kind of face was it? It wasn’t exactly a stunning beauty, but it had a very special aura—gentle and scholarly. Tall and slender, despite wearing a mask, the skin was particularly fair. The person wore a pair of gold-rimmed glasses on his nose, giving off a somewhat scholarly yet roguish vibe at first glance.

Tan Xiao touched his chest, feeling his heart beating particularly fast, as if a young man’s heart had sprinted a thousand meters, beating violently and incessantly.

This doctor wasn’t exactly a stunning beauty, but in Tan Xiao’s eyes, it was as if the other person had multiple layers of soft-focus filters applied to him. His heart rate shot up, and his chest felt like it was holding a wild deer.

He looked down at the nameplate on the doctor’s chest: “Chief Physician: Wen Yi.” Becoming a chief physician at such a young age, no wonder he was Tan Xiao’s crush!

Tan Xiao kept repeating Wen Yi’s name in his mind, and no matter how he pronounced it, it sounded delightful.

Wen Yi asked, “Is there any part of your body that feels uncomfortable?”

Even the voice was so pleasant to hear! Before, he didn’t know what love at first sight was, nor did he know what a heart-stirring voice was, but at this moment, he felt that Wen Yi was his destined lover!

He looked at Wen Yi with burning eyes and said softly, “Doctor, I think my head hurts.”

“Then let’s do a brain CT scan.”

“I also think my chest hurts.”

“Then let’s do an electrocardiogram.”

Tan Xiao sighed, looking quite pitiful: “Doctor, but I don’t have any money. The check-up must cost a lot, right?”

Wen Yi gently replied, “It’s okay. The person who brought you here will cover the medical expenses. There will be enough for these tests.”

He took a stethoscope and did a simple check-up: “I didn’t hear any abnormal sounds, so there shouldn’t be any major issues. I’ll give you a form, and you can go to the second floor for the tests later.”

Tan Xiao obediently nodded, appearing to be a good patient cooperating with the doctor.

Wen Yi quickly left with his team. After finishing the rounds, he soon went downstairs for a check-up and then found Wen Yi’s office.

As the chief physician, Wen Yi had an independent office in the neurosurgery department.

At the door of the department, there was a photo of Wen Yi with a brief introduction: Wen Yi, 27 years old, male, graduated from Capital Medical University, studied under the renowned doctor XX, holds a PhD, and is an expert in neurosurgery and virology…

In short, his resume was impressive, and he looked very formidable.

At that time, Wen Yi was wearing a mask that covered most of his face, revealing only a pair of beautiful eyes and a fair forehead, along with thick and refreshing hair.

The photo captured his full face, and seeing his full face, Tan Xiao thought Wen Yi looked exactly as he had imagined, particularly handsome. In person, he was even more three-dimensional and more captivating than in the photo.

After playing on his phone for more than half an hour, Tan Xiao waited for Wen Yi, who had just finished his routine meeting.

He held his test results and said, “Doctor Wen, here are my test results. Please take a look and see if there are any issues.”

Wen Yi flipped through the papers and gave Tan Xiao some good news: “There’s nothing major, you can be discharged tomorrow.”

Tomorrow? That was too soon. For some reason, a phrase popped into Tan Xiao’s mind: “Don’t hesitate, hesitation leads to defeat, hesitation leads to never having experienced love.”

He swallowed hard: “Dr. Wen, I have one more question.”

Wen Yi asked, “What else do you want to know?”

Tan Xiao said, “Dr. Wen, may I ask if you’re single right now?”

The young doctor paused abruptly while writing on the medical record. The pair of phoenix eyes under the golden-rimmed glasses appeared somewhat sharp. He replied, “Yes, I am single.”

Tan Xiao stood up, resting his hands on the table, leaning his upper body closer to Wen Yi, staring into the other person’s beautiful eyes. “One last question, Dr. Wen, I want to be your boyfriend. What do you think?”