Chapter Text
That night, the hospital was as busy as ever. With the lack of staff, injuries that deemed importance and the emergency rooms constantly teeming with patients. Maomao had been working incessantly since her shift had started. She had been working assiduously, mind whizzing far too fast for her legs to keep up with.
Truth be told, she shouldn’t even be here right now. However one of her co-workers called in sick and had begged her to cover their shift for them. Maomao was adamant at first, but the mention of medicinal herbs had swayed her.
Dendrobium can really convince people…I better get my hands on it after this or else, Maomao thought.
Rushing by, the corner of Maomao’s eye had caught on something- or rather someone.
Near the reception, was a young lady slouched down on the floor with a woman next to her slowly motioning circles behind her back as support. Though wearing a face mask, her face was seemingly pale as a sheet of paper.
Maomao’s eyes stayed planted on the two and seemed to linger on them yet her feet continued to walk.
Looking around, she presumed that no one was paying any attention to them and simply batted an eye. The hospital stayed constant. She had noticed the distressed woman had long red hair with jade green eyes- perhaps the feigning of ignorance of her co-workers was due to her foreign features.
Is no one going to help them? Maomao had thought. Maybe I should go help.
The thought had stricken her. However there were too many things that had priority and had to be looked after immediately- she had her own patients to worry about and problems to worry about. If she wanted that Dendrobium, then she would have to stick to her own work instead of peeking into other businesses.
I have my own things to worry about, surely another doctor can see them, right? she thought.
Maomao had slowed her walking and despite her logic, her legs had ultimately decided to betray her thoughts. Walking over to the pair, she noticed that the woman on the floor had been coughing non-stop.
“May I help you two?” Maomao asked.
“Yes please! I’ve been trying to seek help for an hour now but we keep being ignored and told to wait- we’ve been here for a while yet others who have arrived later than us have received attention.” responded the lady beside the coughing woman.
Realistically, Maomao shouldn’t have had approached them but as a doctor it was her job to look after people and care for them despite having her own patients impatiently waiting for her.
“Follow me.” Maomao responded and slid her arm underneath the sick lady’s under arm. With the help of the other lady, the two helped the slouched woman to Maomao’s office.
This should be quick, Maomao assured herself .
Maomao made the feeble woman lay on her examination table whilst the other lady sat on a chair beside her cupping her hand. Opposite them, Maomao sat at her desk ready to ask questions.
“What are her symptoms?” Maomao asked, just wanting to hurry this up.
“She’s had a high fever since last week and frequent headaches. She’s also been feeling really drowsy lately and vomiting.”
Maomao asked the lady who was attempting to help the other- she surmised that she was probably in a state where would not be able to form an illegible and coherent sentence. Taking a closer look at the lady, Maomao stared intently at her eyes.
Her eyes seem familiar, have I seen them before? Maomao analysed as she took a closer look at the lady but quickly shook her head at the thought. Whatever, It’s not relevant right now.
“Is she taking any medication?” Maomao queried.
“No but we did give her some paracetamol to manage the fever.”
I feel there's more to this.
Abruptly, Maomao stood from her chair and walked over to turn all the lights in her office on. The lights evoked an immediate reaction from the sick lady- a reaction of somewhat dislike.
I need more confirmation since I’m merely conjecturing.
“Can you move your neck?” This time Maomao asked the sickly woman directly. She had attempted to speak but it only ended in vain ; the woman couldn’t muster up a response but groaned in response.
“I'm taking that as a no then.”
Stiff neck, dislike of bright lights and high fever-these symptoms seem all too familiar. Maomao introspected. It’s evident now.
“It’s not serious is it? infectious? She wont need trea-“
“It’s Meningitis.”
Silence followed accompanied after with the woman’s eyes widened and the other one's jaw to hang open.
“Most likely anyways, we’ll need to conduct some tests to confirm it but I'm sure it’s Meningitis.”
“Does she need to take any medication?”
“She’ll have to stay here for at least a week.”
“A week…” The two looked at each other, faces laced with worry.
“I’ll need your contact information since she's not registered here.” Maomao turned to the computer ready to input her details.
“…her name is You Gyokuyou.”
Maomao's eyes widened. No wonder she had recognised those eyes from somewhere, Wait- Gyokuyou? As in that famous celebrity? What was she doing here, in a random hospital? Surely she should have a private doctor or something!
Maomao stayed quiet but internally she was slightly panicking in the presence of someone so important. So she wasn’t only wearing a mask because she was sick but also so she wouldn’t be recognised. If her fans were to find out she was here then it would have caused some havoc and attention and Maomao wanted to avoid that as much as possible.
“Does she not have a personal doctor?”
“Well yes but he had to go deal with some family issues back at home so he was granted permission to leave for a bit.”
Maomao turned to her drawer and grabbed a small piece of paper and pen then handed it to Gyokuyou's assistant- she assumed she was anyways.
“Here's her contact information- but I’ll probably be answering since…you know.” The lady handed over a piece of paper that Maomao had given in which contained scribbled details.
“After this, go get a blood test- it’s a left then forward from here. After that, come back tomorrow so we can check her in for an MRI scan. She’ll also need to take a CT scan and a lumbar puncture.”
The ‘assistant’ helped Gyokuyou to her feet and just as they were about to leave, turned around.
“Thank you so much for your help Doctor…um-“
“Maomao. Just Maomao will be fine.” she answered.
“Maomao. I’m forever grateful for your help!” And with that, the two left Maomao alone with her thoughts as she sat on her chair idly staring at the door.
What just happened just now. Maomao murmured to herself. She shook her head, attempting to focus on the work on hand.
Right, I still have work to do.
Suddenly, there was a loud knock on the door.
Who could it be now? Maomao groaned in frustration and dragged her legs to the door only to be met with an angry face.
“What have you been doing for the past 20 minutes? You do realise that one of your patients has been waiting for a while and has been complaining!” yelled her superior whose veins were practically bulging out.
Oops- forgot about that. Maomao gulped.
“Right! Sorry about that- tell them they can come in now.” Maomao apologised and with that, she focused on her work pushing aside the event that had just unfolded in front of her.
The next week went smoothly with Gyokuyou and the other lady, who Maomao had learned was indeed her assistant and name as Hongniang, coming in for her tests. However, as Maomao suspected, it was indeed Meningitis. Since Gyokuyou was notable, she had a couple of body guards stationed outside her hospital room. Because of this, her presence had increasingly become wary within the workplace and she had gotten recognised by a tad amount of people. With that, Gyokuyou was put under Maomao’s care since she had obviously assessed her.
Sometimes, Maomao wondered why Gyokuyou had not gone to at least a private hospital considering she could have had better treatment and privacy- Maomao would never know.
Eventually, Gyokuyou had gotten better and was able to talk and walk properly. Maomao had become accustomed to her antics. Before meeting her, she had known from her famous c-dramas to the latest celebrity gossip. Not that she was really interested in that stuff, her friend Xiaolan had told her about it.
Since she was a top notch figure, her whereabouts were to remain confidential and was told she wasn’t allowed to speak of Gyokuyou at the hospital outside of work.
Sucks, I was going to tell Xiaolan- she would’ve been really excited.
Maomao had perceived the woman to be wise and benevolent, and even after meeting Gyokuyou her beliefs stayed the same. She was courteous, witty and too kind for her own good.
Without realising it, a week had gone by quickly and Gyokuyou was getting ready to leave.
“I’m going to miss you Maomao.” Gyokuyou said as she embraced the petite woman, “I’m forever thankful for you looking after me!”
“It’s my job though.”
Gyokuyou laughed in response then she fished something from her purse to what seemed like a small card.
“I was wondering if you wanted to keep in contact so here's my business card.” Maomao took the card hesitantly and examined it.
What’s this for?
“When I was at my most vulnerable, you helped me and even after you found out who I was you didn’t treat me indifferently.” Gyokuyou explained, “So I was wondering if you were possibly interested in becoming a personal doctor?”
Eh?
“Personal doctor, ma’am?”
“Yes! I did mention earlier that my personal doctor is currently away but he is to come back soon,” Gyokuyou explained, “So I was thinking that you could become a personal doctor of someone else.”
“Someone else?”
I don’t like where this is going.
“Mhm, I have a friend of mine who’s been searching for a personal doctor for a while now but has been unable to due to…matters.” Gyokuyou grabbed Maomao’s hand gently, “I’m not expecting you to accept but no doubt your skills and personality is one that can not be overlooked.”
Maomao didn’t want to be roped into any unnecessary drama, especially one of a top-star in the entertainment industry. However, her eyes stayed staring at the card that Gyokuyou had handed her.
“Ill see you later if you do make up your mind!” Gyokuyou smiled and waved leaving Maomao alone with her thoughts.
What to do, what to do? Maomao’s thoughts circulated her mind. She wanted to protect her peace, but knew that her fervent curiosity was bound to take over.
Even after arriving home from the hospital, the earlier conversation continued to linger in the back of her mind. Sure, she enjoyed her job- to a certain extent anyways. But switching to become a personal doctor to a celebrity would soon become a rather hindering occupation, she had thought.
She attempted to distract her mind by experimenting with herbs which she shouldn’t be doing anyways but it's not like maomao cared. Lamentably, her eyes unwillingly wandered back to the business card laying there on her bed side table.
Unfortunately for Maomao, her curiosity had won her over. She reached for her phone and typed in the number from the business card.
I’m just calling to check up on Gyokuyou, that’s all, she kept telling her self.
After a few rings, no one had picked. Just when she was about to give up, the phone answered.
“Hello, this is Hongniang from Li Artists Agency. How may I help?”
“This is Maomao, the doctor that helped nurse Miss Gyokuyou to health.”
“Maomao? I didn’t expect you to call back- does this mean you reconsidered Miss Gyokuyou’s offer?”
Maomao stayed silent.
“…Yes”
“Great! I’ll tell Miss Gyokuyou and I’ll refer you for an interview and send in your details-when are you free?”
“Hm… the day after tomorrow from 9 in the morning to 12pm.”
“Alright, I hope to see you then! I’ll tell Miss Gyokuyou that you agreed for an interview.”
“Thank you, I appreciate it.” Maomao ended the call then flopped on her bed.
What have I gotten myself into? She mentally scolded herself. Maomao shook her head and before she could think about the matter anymore, she went to bed.
To no avail, the day of the interview came faster than Maomao anticipated. Hongniang had sent her the address- it was a bit far so she had called for a taxi.
She hadn’t been sure of what to wear, so she had called for her sisters for help. Unlike Maomao ,they were familiar with the latest fashion trends. Upon calling them, they had insisted on her wearing a dress but Maomao had quickly turned the idea down. At the end, she settled for a simple green cardigan and some casual pants.
Upon arrival, she was dropped of outside off a rather huge building.
Alright here goes nothing.
Maomao managed to find where they were taking interviews- though it was a bit difficult due to the large building. She entered the room, which Hongniang told her about, sat down and waited.
Not long after she sat down, a man emerged from the room next door and called her name in which Maomao followed.
Well that was quick.
She stepped into an office which looked clean, organised and minimalist then sat down in the chair in front of a desk. At the desk sat a man who looked to be around his 30s to 40s and black hair with a single strand in the middle.
The man introduced himself as the manager of the so called celebrity and went by the name of Gaoshun.
“I assume you're the person that Gyokuyou referred to, am I right?”
“Yes sir.”
“And did she explain what the job was that she offered?”
“She mentioned becoming a personal doctor of a friend of hers.”
“Since the job is a personal doctor to a celebrity, you’re going to have to move around often- sometimes even abroad to different countries.” Maomao listened intently, “Are you okay with that?” Maomao nodded in response.
“Gyokuyou mentioned that she had met you in a hospital, I take it that you work as a doctor?”
“Yes, I work as an emergency medicine specialist and I have been doing so for a couple years now.” Maomao explained, “Hence, I have experience working under pressure and with patients that aren’t that pleasant.” earning a hum from the Gaoshun.
“How do you deal with stubborn patients?”
“Usually I try to cast their personality aside and focus on the problem at task but if that gets in the way I typically become firm with them.”
“And how do you handle a situation when people are yelling or panicking?”
“I Ignore them. Yelling and panicking isn’t going to help so the best thing to do is stay calm and assess the patient.” she bluntly answered. She had once assessed a languid patient before that was quite irascible- it hadn’t been a pleasant experience.
“So you’ve treated stress, anxiety and sleep problems before?”
“I create medicinal tonics from time to time and often patients come and visit for insomniac issues.”
“You’ve demonstrated that you can work with high-profile patients such as Gyokuyou- with this in mind I believe that you should be ok with Jinshi.”
“…Jinshi as in that actor who’s been trending recently?”
Maomao had been aware that the job was for a celebrity- but for one this popular? She had known him because she’d overheard colleagues talk about him and she would occasionally see edits of him on Rednote or his posts on Weibo. She had also seen his face plastered all over commercial billboards in China.
“Yes, that Jinshi.” he replied, “What is your impression of Mr Jinshi?”
“I wouldn’t say that I’m a big fan of his- only because I don’t watch many dramas. But I’ll admit that his acting is very good from what I’ve heard.” Though, Maomao’s not going to admit that she thought he was a girl at first.
After a few moments of silence, Gaoshun spoke up.
“From what I’ve heard from you I think you’re perfect for the job.” he continued, “If possible, can you start working tomorrow? We’re in a hurry to fill in the position since Mr Jinshi urgently needs a personal doctor.”
I'm already being hired? Maomao thought, This just means I'm going to have to pack my stuff sooner than I thought and talk to the hospital about it.
“I’ll send you the details of where Mr Jinshi is currently filming at and we’ll pay for your travel and essential expenses to Hengdian.”
Hengdian? Hengdian was known for filming historical dramas meaning that Jinshi was probably in the middle of filming a historical drama.
“Any questions?”
Maomao sat there pondering for a bit then a thought struck her, “How much is the salary?”
“Roughly 200 thousand Yuan a month.”
Imagine all the herbs and medicine I could buy with that! Maomao excitedly thought to herself, lost in revery and almost smiling at the very thought of it.
”I’ll send someone to go pick you up so there’s no need to worry about where to meet.” Gaoshun explained.
Makes it easier for me.
”I’m looking forward to working with you.” Maomao replied with courtesy and stood up to leave the office.
Maomao exited the building with feelings of exasperation. She was ambivalent about the whole thing but the pay quickly swayed her mind.
She had thought that to the very least they could give more time to prepare. Now, she has to go and bid her farewells to her sisters and give the hospital a heads up.
Oh well, what can I do now.
Maomao had given a heads up to the hospital and in which she had received mixed responses. Whilst some of her colleagues had been dejected about her leaving, she had also sensed some animosity and acerbic ambience- not that it affected Maomao anyways. She understood where the resentment had stemmed from but she chose to ignore it.
Her sisters however were another story. To say that they were shocked was an understatement. When Maomao told them she had transferred jobs their initial reaction was shock. And when she had mentioned that she was to work as a personal doctor to the celebrity Jinshi, they had responded with their jaws agape.
“How did you even manage to find work like that?” Pairin asked. She had been one of main caretakers when growing up and was known to have quite voluminous assets as Maomao would call them.
She sat on the floor of her room crisscrossed accompanied by her sisters, “I don’t know it just happened.” Maomao responded tonelessly.
Meimei groaned and shook Maomao gently by the shoulders, “Vague as always, do tell us more!”
“I happened to run into an interesting patient during work.”
“Interesting patient you say?” questioned Joka.
“Yeah, Gyokuyou.”
“Gyokuyou?” all three sisters emphasised. Unlike Maomao, they seemed to be taking a great deal out of this.
“You do realise who she is right?” Pairin questioned, Maomao nodding her head.
“I’ve seen clips of her sometimes on Weibo.” She explained, “Either that or Xiaolan tells me about her and her c-dramas.”
“So what’s she like?” questioned Meimei who was evidently interested.
“She’s exactly how you see her online.”
“Elaborate” Joka interjected. Joka, like Maomao, didn’t watch many dramas and instead invested in reading literature and classic books.
Rather than Maomao answering, Pairin answered in place, “She seems kind and even though she’s not from here, her features sure do attract attention.”
“So how long are you going to be away for?” Joka asked.
“I’m not sure but I know I'll be in Hengdian for a while since they’re filming right now.”
Maomao was rarely home since of her heavy workload and her sisters were incessantly working at the Verdigris underground club so being away only meant less time spent with them. Faces suddenly contempt, Maomao attempted to lighten up the mood.
“Maybe you can help me pack my bags?” she offered, “I’ll buy some souvenirs when I’m gone as well.”
At that moment, Granny walked in ever so brusquely interrupting their fleeting sweet moment. She stood leaning at the door frame of the room smoking her lean pipe.
”Souvenirs you say? Make sure to buy me some. Also don’t forget you still owe me some money so you better give me some of that pay check.” she reminded Maomao. Maomao glowered at her then was immediately met with a fist to her head.
Greedy old hag, always trying to find a way to get money out of me. Maomao thought, rubbing her head where Granny had hit her.
“Anyways, I’m leaving early tomorrow so help me pack.” Maomao said.
Her sisters helped her pack her suitcases, adding more dresses and makeup than necessary and then what Maomao needed. It’s not like she was the one who was doing the acting after all. She didn’t mind though- she wasn’t going to be seeing them for a while so this was her way of spending time with them. It reminded her of when she was younger when her sisters would dress her up like a porcelain doll. Maomao smiled at the memory- to her it wasn’t nostalgia but something akin to it.