Though the semester had just begun, many returning students still chose the cool, quiet air of the library's reading room for their studies.
The moment the pretty boy collapsed, a collective gasp swept through the room, and every student instantly shot to their feet, craning their necks to stare curiously at the scene.
Li Yundong glanced over and saw the pretty boy convulsing on the floor, white foam bubbling from his mouth. A chill ran down Li Yundong's spine, and he walked over.
“Make way, everyone step aside!” Just as Li Yundong took his first step, a voice rang out. He turned and realized the speaker was another acquaintance—Yan Hua, who had followed Ruan Hongling to the university as the top-ranked scholar.
Yan Hua began pushing back the gathering crowd, saying, “Don’t all crowd around; you’ll make it hard for him to breathe!”
As he spoke, he turned to look at the collapsed pretty boy, only to see Li Yundong approaching. Yan Hua froze, frowning internally: What is he doing here?
Li Yundong wanted to examine the pretty boy’s condition, but carrying the Seven Treasures Spirit-Guiding Fan made it inconvenient; he couldn't even bend down properly. He had to unhook the fan, set it aside, and then squat down to check the man’s situation.
A girl nearby saw Li Yundong reach toward the fallen man and immediately exclaimed anxiously, “What are you trying to do?”
Li Yundong spared her a brief glance, his eyes utterly calm. Though he said nothing, the girl felt an imposing aura wash over her, leaving her stammering and too intimidated to block him further.
Li Yundong felt the pretty boy’s pulse and subtly knitted his brows. Yan Hua, watching from the side, sneered, “You know medicine?”
Yan Hua had been nursing a frustration, eager for a chance to compete with Li Yundong. Seeing that Li Yundong’s movements didn't seem like a pretense, he couldn't resist asking, “How do you diagnose this man’s ailment, and what is your reasoning?”
Li Yundong let out an "Oh?" and looked up in surprise at Yan Hua. “You understand Traditional Chinese Medicine?”
TCM, unlike Western medicine which is a precise micro-science, is a discipline focused on macro-level regulation and adjustment. Diagnosing a person’s condition requires observation, listening, questioning, and pulse-taking—the four methods—and often, different practitioners arrive at different conclusions, necessitating dialectical reasoning.
Li Yundong had read many medical books recently and naturally understood this principle. Hearing Yan Hua’s question, he knew this arrogant youth was clearly knowledgeable in TCM.
Yan Hua haughtily lifted his chin. “I wouldn’t claim to understand it, just have a slight grasp. Do you dare debate me right here?”
Li Yundong gave a noncommittal "Oh," flipped open the pretty boy’s eyelid, and casually remarked, “Why aren’t you at military training?”
Yan Hua scoffed. “I’m an advanced placement student; I don't have to go! Did you really think I was some frail bookworm?”
Li Yundong glanced at him and offered a slight smile, not taking the bait.
Seeing Li Yundong’s casual demeanor infuriated Yan Hua. He felt Li Yundong looked down on him, yet as someone who held himself in high regard, he silently seethed: What’s so great about you that you can look down on me? I look down on you too!
Yan Hua couldn’t contain his anger. “Hey, do you dare debate me right here?”
Li Yundong smiled, helped the pretty boy sit up, and told the girl nearby, who was dabbing tears, “You support him.”
The girl, flustered and helpless, instinctively obeyed Li Yundong and held the pretty boy steady.
Seeing Li Yundong ignore his challenge, Yan Hua assumed he was intimidated and gave a cold laugh. “I thought you wouldn't dare! This man’s condition is clearly a severe deficiency of the Kidney essence. If I prick him with a needle, he’ll wake up immediately!”
A curious student nearby couldn't help but ask, “You know acupuncture too?”
Yan Hua proudly declared, “Of course…” He patted his clothes, and a flicker of embarrassment crossed his face. “However, I didn't bring any needles today. Does anyone have a hairpin or something I could borrow?”
A girl immediately took a hairpin from her hair and handed it over. Yan Hua accepted it gratefully. “Thank you, thank you.” Turning around, just as he was about to demonstrate his skill, he saw Li Yundong place his palm on the pretty boy’s crown, seemingly giving him a massage.
Yan Hua exploded in anger. “What are you doing? Move aside quickly, don’t waste time! If you don’t even understand diagnosis, how can you treat anyone?”
As soon as the words left his mouth, Li Yundong suddenly gripped the pretty boy’s head with five fingers, as if lifting something away. In the blink of an eye, the pretty boy let out a groan and regained consciousness.
The surrounding students erupted in an uproar. “He’s awake, he’s awake!”
The girl next to him also couldn't help but cry, throwing herself into the pretty boy’s arms, sobbing, “I’m sorry, it was my fault! You scared me to death!”
The pretty boy woke up, saw the girl weeping pitifully in his embrace, and his heart softened. He said, “No, it was my fault; I shouldn’t have broken up with you.”
Seeing the couple reconciled, Li Yundong smiled and said, “It’s all settled now, clear skies after the storm. But next time you’re anticipating thunder and rain, please find somewhere else; this isn't the best stage for melodrama.”
His words caused the surrounding students to laugh.
Yan Hua stared at Li Yundong, dumbfounded. He could not comprehend how a simple touch to the man’s head had cured him!
Could it be that he just happened to wake up at that moment? Yan Hua thought to himself.
Seeing the students laughing, his heart tightened. He muttered, What are these people laughing at? Are they laughing at me for challenging Li Yundong to a debate, for being a bookworm?
He had been aggressively seeking a verbal contest, yet Li Yundong hadn't even engaged, curing the man with a casual gesture. In contrast, Yan Hua himself looked like nothing more than a verbose, showy academic!
The more Yan Hua stewed over it, the more convinced he became that they were laughing at him. He looked at Li Yundong with jealousy, hatred, annoyance, and anger. He felt that all the looks of awe and admiration from the crowd should have been directed at him, but Li Yundong had completely stolen his spotlight!
Since childhood, Yan Hua had always been the celebrated top student, idolized everywhere he went. He believed that his status as the top scholar should command deep reverence at this third-rate university, but the reality was the opposite!
This damned Li Yundong seemed like someone sent by fate specifically to make him look shallow and childish, like a complete bookworm!
Yan Hua coldly eyed the pretty boy and couldn't resist sneering, “I advise you to moderate your exertion in the future. With your physique, if you continue to strain yourself like that, you might not live to see old age!”
This remark made the surrounding