Chapter 1916 — Motion Sickness, Part Two

"I feel a little sick—car sick, I think I'm going to throw up..." But no sooner had the words left her mouth than she retched and a stream of white fluid burst from her lips, all of it landing on Wei Zhao's trousers.

Wei Zhao did not flinch away, nor did he show any disgust toward Wang Xinyan. He reached out at once to press certain acupoints on her body, but his hand had gone only halfway when he hesitated; then, seeing that she was still about to be sick, he cast hesitation aside, slipped his hand up under the hem of her top, pressed the acupoint on her stomach, and channeled a thread of pure true qi into her, instantly quelling the urge to vomit...

Her car sickness was plainly a matter of her stomach and intestines being jolted about, which brought on the urge to retch; Wei Zhao had only to smooth the flow of her liver and stomach and the trouble would pass.

It was just that at this moment Bai Weituo had decided the carriage was too dull, and thought he would go to the front and lead the class in a song to relieve the monotony of the journey. But as he passed Wei Zhao's seat he saw Wang Xinyan's head buried in Wei Zhao's lap, and Wei Zhao's hand inside her clothes—and Bai Weituo froze with a strangled "Gah!"

Wang Xinyan's retching had not been loud, and no one in the carriage had noticed; but Bai Weituo, standing in the middle of the aisle, had let out that "Gah!" and drawn the attention of the other students in the class, who all turned to look. Those close enough saw plainly what was going on between Wei Zhao and Wang Xinyan—and every one of them was struck dumb.

"No way? Good heavens above... so the fair flower's already spoken for, just like that!" one of the boys lamented, casting his eyes up at the sky in grief.

At his moan, the looks the others gave them grew all the more knowing...

Wei Zhao smiled bitterly. Bai Weituo—of all the times to come over, he had to come while Wei Zhao was treating Wang Xinyan's vomiting. Now there'd be no explaining it away.

But Wei Zhao was not one to explain himself to others. In the dormitory he sometimes offered Bai Weituo and the rest a word or two of explanation, because they were his roommates and he counted them as friends, and so he explained a little. Beyond that, expecting Wei Zhao to explain himself to anyone else was simply unrealistic.

Seeing the look of helpless exasperation on Wei Zhao's face, Bai Weituo knew he had made trouble, and hurried to the front of the carriage. "The journey's only half over," he said to his classmates. "Let's sing a song—consider it our first group activity, how about it?"

This time everyone's attention was diverted to Bai Weituo. Of course, though they were curious about Wei Zhao's boldness, such things were common enough at school; these past two days they had grown familiar with the campus, and had come to know about the couples stealing moments in the groves and by the pool. Among lovers it was nothing at all—what harm in a bit of touching? People did the real thing in the swimming pool, didn't they!

Bai Weituo led them in a song by Xu Shilan. Young people were more or less familiar with Xu Shilan's songs, and they all liked her. Bai Weituo started them off and the rest joined in. Everyone, that is, except You Panhu and a few others.

You Panhu felt rather glum at the sound of Xu Shilan's song. It was not that he had never set his sights on her; in fact, he had invited her out, and had even thought of going through her agent to get her to spend some time with him—but he had been flatly refused.

You Panhu had been brooding over the matter and meant to simply abduct Xu Shilan by force, but to his surprise the bodyguard she kept was a formidable hand, and he had come away empty-handed. He had not given up, yet he had no chance to get near her either, and so for the time being he had let it drop.

Wei Zhao, naturally, did not sing either, because he simply did not know how. Xu Shilan had come to the house for karaoke several times, but Wei Zhao had never joined in.

Under the smoothing of Wei Zhao's true qi, Wang Xinyan's complexion had much improved. She let out a breath and lifted her head from his lap—but then, remembering that his hand was still at her midriff, her face flushed red again...

"Sorry. That gave people the wrong idea..." Wei Zhao smiled bitterly. He did not explain himself to others, but he had to say something to Wang Xinyan; she was, after all, a good friend, and if a misunderstanding arose, it would reflect poorly on a young woman's dignity.

"Thank you..." Though she was rather embarrassed, Wang Xinyan was not in the least annoyed with Wei Zhao. She had long known that he was a formidable doctor—she had learned it back on the commercial street, when he stepped in to treat Liu Zhenhu.

So Wang Xinyan knew that Wei Zhao had meant nothing by it; he had only wanted to help her. True, he had touched her lower belly, which was dreadfully awkward, but his intentions had been good—how could she blame him?

Wei Zhao let go, then pressed and kneaded a few more acupoints on her forehead, and at once Wang Xinyan felt wonderfully refreshed. The nausea was gone, and the dizziness from before had vanished too; it was as if in an instant she had been thoroughly revived. Truly miraculous!

This man really was remarkable. Wang Xinyan looked at Wei Zhao, and a flicker of something complex passed through her eyes.

Wei Zhao was not only highly skilled in martial arts; on the train he had managed to turn the swindler's money around and take it back, and he had managed to switch the drinks of Zhang Duopan and Fan Ganhe. An ordinary person could not have done such things—his methods were already a match for those master thieves and magicians.

But that was still not Wei Zhao's crowning skill. What amazed Wang Xinyan was his mastery of medicine: to bring her from car sickness to clearheadedness in so short a time—that was no ordinary prowess.

And never mind that it was only a small ailment; small as it was, curing it completely was extremely difficult. Complete cure aside, every time Wang Xinyan got car sick she would retch for ages, and afterward she had to drink several bottles of huoxiang zhengqi water before she recovered.

Yet Wei Zhao had done it by merely rubbing her lower belly and her forehead—what superb medical skill!

And if that were not enough, what was perhaps even more formidable was his martial arts. Pi Bo, Pi Yangyang and the others had come out of the hidden clans! Before Wei Zhao and his lackeys they were fit only to die... Just what sort of man was he?

And he was here at university, living the ordinary life of a student. Had she not known these things, she would never have noticed anything different about Wei Zhao from the other students.

As she sat there lost in her thoughts, she felt Wei Zhao's hand lift from her forehead, and suddenly Wang Xinyan felt a pang of reluctance—whether she was loath to lose that cool, comfortable feeling, or loath to lose Wei Zhao's hand, even she did not know. (To be continued)