Chapter 88: A Normal Relationship Between a Man and a Woman

He was dressed in a long black overcoat, with a short, delicate vest over it, every button fastened, and a tie neatly knotted at his waist.

Han Fei turned in place to show Gu Xiangnan this odd outfit, a puzzled look on his face.

“How strange these clothes are. They are utterly unlike what we wore in days past.”

Tao Yao clutched her stomach and burst out laughing.

“Hahaha—My lord, he looks so funny!”

Gu Xiangnan shook his head, smiling.

“General Han, you need to dress the modern way. Let me help you choose something.”

He took the clothes off Han Fei and went to rummage through the wardrobe.

Since they were going out together, discretion was best, and ordinary clothes would be most suitable.

Gu Xiangnan picked out a light gray T-shirt, a pair of pale blue casual trousers, and then a pair of sneakers.

Han Fei had a balanced build, the sort that looked lean in clothes and well-muscled without them.

Once dressed in modern attire, he looked young and full of energy.

Tao Yao came over to help comb his hair.

“General Han, why not just cut this long hair short?”

But Han Fei shook his head firmly.

“No. My body and hair are gifts from my parents. How could I cut them without care?”

Helpless, Tao Yao could only smooth his long hair and tie it into a ponytail.

Fortunately, long-haired men were not uncommon in modern society. People might well mistake him for an artist or a rock musician.

Once they were all ready, the three of them hailed a taxi and headed straight for the university of traditional Chinese medicine.

Gu Xiangnan asked Han Fei and Tao Yao to wait in the office while he went to class.

“Professor Gu!”

After class, as Gu Xiangnan was walking back to the office, Huang Ying hurried up from behind.

“Miss Huang, is something the matter?”

Gu Xiangnan stopped and looked back at her.

Huang Ying smiled gently.

“There was something in class I didn’t quite understand. Would you mind explaining it to me privately?”

“Of course. What is it about?”

“Could we go to your office first? It’s hard to explain here.”

Her true aim was to create a chance to be alone with Gu Xiangnan.

That way, she could draw closer to him, or even seduce him.

Gu Xiangnan did not overthink it and readily agreed.

“All right, let’s talk in the office.”

The two of them walked and talked on the way there.

Gu Xiangnan took a seat behind his desk, while Huang Ying placed her laptop on the table and casually opened a file.

“Professor Gu, I didn’t understand this part. Could you explain it again?”

She pointed to a place on the screen.

Gu Xiangnan leaned toward the laptop, trying to see what she was indicating.

“Where?”

At that very moment, Huang Ying suddenly leaned in close to his face and kissed him forcefully.

Gu Xiangnan covered his cheek with his hand and stared at Huang Ying in shock.

“You...”

“Professor Gu, I...”

Huang Ying was just about to confess when—

Applause suddenly rang out.

Panic flashed through Huang Ying. Could there be someone else here?

She hurriedly looked around.

From the sofa in the corner of the office, Tao Yao and Han Fei slowly stood up.

They had been hiding there all along. Because the sofa faced the window, Huang Ying had not been able to see them from her angle at all.

Tao Yao looked at Gu Xiangnan with a faint, teasing smile.

“Master... Gu Xiangnan, you’re very popular with the girls.”

Gu Xiangnan caught the sour note in her words at once.

“Tao Yao, don’t talk nonsense. We have a pure relationship.”

“Mm-hm, the two of us have a very pure ‘man-and-woman’ relationship too!”

Huang Ying heard that tone and immediately realized that this little girl was most likely Professor Gu’s girlfriend.

How embarrassing—she had been caught red-handed!

“It’s not like that. You’ve misunderstood. I just accidentally bumped into him,” she quickly explained.

“Oh yes, I meant to invite Professor Gu to go with me to the hospital to see Classmate Zhi’s mother.”

She hurriedly changed the subject.

“How has Auntie been lately?” Gu Xiangnan asked with genuine concern.

Huang Ying sighed softly.

“Auntie is older, so her recovery has been rather slow. Professor Gu, do you have any way to help her recover faster?”

“There are methods, but it depends on the specific situation.”

Gu Xiangnan stood up.

“Let’s go. We’ll visit Auntie at the hospital.”

People’s Hospital.

When Zhi Xiaoyin saw Gu Xiangnan and the others come in, surprise lit up her face.

“Professor Gu has come! Senior Sister Huang too. Welcome, welcome!”

Zhang Hongmei was lying in bed. Though several parts of her body were in plaster, her spirits were fairly good.

She struggled to sit up, but Gu Xiangnan held her down.

“Auntie, don’t move. I’ll take a look at you.”

After exchanging a few pleasantries, he placed a hand on her pulse.

“Auntie’s condition is quite good. If you want the fractures to heal faster, I can massage her a little and prescribe some medicine.”

Zhi Xiaoyin had already seen Gu Xiangnan’s massage technique before.

She had complete faith in his ability.

Gu Xiangnan began to massage her gently.

This massage was different from most others.

White mist seeped from his palms, gradually sinking into Zhang Hongmei’s skin.

Zhang Hongmei felt the area under the massage growing warm.

Beneath the flesh there was even a faint itching sensation, as though new bone, muscle, and sinew were beginning to grow.

Half an hour later, all the areas had been massaged.

Gu Xiangnan then wrote out a prescription for Zhi Xiaoyin.

Since they all studied medicine, there was naturally no need for Gu Xiangnan to teach them how to prepare and boil the herbs.

Zhang Hongmei was deeply grateful. She held Gu Xiangnan’s hand tightly and said,

“Professor Gu, Xiaoyin has told me everything. You’ve taken such good care of her. I... I really don’t know how to thank you!”

Then Zhang Hongmei made another request.

“Professor Gu, could you accompany Xiaoyin to the orphanage? Xiaoyin still has a brother, and we’ve been wanting to find out where he went.”

This was no difficult matter, so Gu Xiangnan agreed.

Originally, this had nothing to do with Huang Ying, but she said,

“I’ll go along too. Maybe I can help.”

Zhang Hongmei praised her.

“Little Huang, you’re such a kind child. You come to keep me company every day, always so patient. I’ve come to think of you as my own goddaughter.”

Since that was the case, Gu Xiangnan had nothing more to say.

He looked it up online and found that the orphanage was in a remote suburb.

With so many of them, traveling was inconvenient.

So Gu Xiangnan called Wang Ke and asked him to bring a van to pick everyone up.

The orphanage stood in the southern outskirts of Jiangning City. Unlike the bustling city center, this place still had old brick-and-earth walls that made it obvious it had stood there for many years.

When they arrived, it happened to be the children’s recreation time. Bursts of laughter drifted over the walls, and many children were playing freely in the courtyard.

“Hello, we’re here to see the director,” Zhi Xiaoyin said politely.

The old man’s attitude was kind.

“Looking for Director Wang? He happens to be here. I’ll take you to him.”

Gu Xiangnan and the others followed the old man through the courtyard to the director’s office.

“Director Wang, someone is here to see you,” the old man said as he pushed open a door.

Inside, a white-haired man was organizing documents.

At the sound of his voice, he looked up at the visitors.

Zhi Xiaoyin stepped forward and introduced herself.

“Hello, Director Wang. I’m one of the children who was once adopted from this orphanage.”

Director Wang stood up, his face breaking into a relieved smile.

“Oh? Which year were you adopted? What was your name?”

Zhi Xiaoyin replied,

“I was adopted fifteen years ago. My current name is Zhi Xiaoyin.”

“I came back this time because I want to find out which family adopted my brother back then.”

The director said regretfully,

“What a pity. A fire broke out here last month, and many of the records were destroyed.”