"That’s what I have been telling you," He Juan huffed in exasperation. "You’re a doctor. How can you not believe your patient’s words?"

"What? What is it?" A-Mu’s yells sounded from the speaker. "What is going on? XIU, are you undressing right now? Why aren’t you facing me?!" He was ignored, of course.

Jia Molei stepped closer to scrutinize the bruise. "Ugh, this is fucking nasty. You will need another x-ray to see if it has aggravated your broken ribs. But so far, any dizziness or shortness of breath? Heart palpitations?"

He Juan shook his head. "Fortunately, no." He buttoned his shirt up again and turned to give the young man a business smile. "That’s all, A-Mu. I expect to see your good news in my inbox tonight. About the payment... I will wire the money to Doctor Jia’s account and he will pass it to you. Is it good?"

"Wait!! How... How can you—"

"Thank you so much for your cooperation." He Juan gave one last beam and ended the video call, cutting off A-Mu’s agitated cries midway. Dropping his smile, he sighed and turned to find Jia Molei giving him a complicated look. He raised a brow, "What?"

"You’re one hell of a ruthless man," Jia Molei pointed out.

"For what?" He Juan laughed. "For giving him the cold shoulder? Or not sleeping with him once?"

Jia Molei paused for a beat of silence before adding quietly, "A-Mu sincerely likes you, you know. He’s a good person. Nothing is wrong with dating him first and see if you’ll be compatible with each other. What if you grow to like him one day?"

"Wow..." He Juan exclaimed in surprise, genuinely impressed. "This is the longest sentence you have said to me without cursing once. So you can speak properly if you put your mind to it."

Jia Molei’s face abruptly darkened. He gave a furious smile and gritted out, "If only you can behave like a decent human for once, of course I will fucking speak properly to you."

He Juan laughed even harder at that, though he had to tamp it down a bit so that he did not aggravate his ribs. Shaking his head, he walked past Jia Molei straight toward the door. "Come on, let’s go back. Xiao Ze must have been waiting for us. Ah, right..." he turned around and gave Jia Molei a smile that did not quite reach his eyes. "I’m sorry, Doc, but I don’t agree with you on this one. I can’t try to date him only to leave in the end when I have clearly known that nothing will come out of our relationship. I’m not such a casual person. If that’s the case, isn’t it better to let him give up hope from the start?"

Jia Molei was stunned, seemingly not expecting that He Juan would give him such a solemn answer.

Chuckling, He Juan pushed open the door and met Mu Yuze’s black-blue eyes across the room. He felt tension loosen from his shoulders and his expression became a tad warmer. "Xiao Ze..." he reached the boy in a few large strides and ruffled his fluffy hair. "Sorry to make you wait. Have you filled in the form?"

Mu Yuze nodded jerkily and handed him the paper. "I tried to answer a few."

"Good boy." He Juan took the paper and gave it a once-over, only to pause when he saw what Mu Yuze had written. He raised his head in slight surprise. "You..."

"What," Mu Yuze’s eyelids did not even twitch, yet somehow He Juan got the impression that he was radiating a nervous energy.

He Juan blinked a few times and looked at the paper again. It was a standard form that was filled with basic questions such as name, age, height, weight, list of allergies, prior illness and so on, but Mu Yuze had only written down his name, date of birth and age. And also, how to say it? Mu Yuze’s handwriting was...

Don’t laugh. Don’t you dare laugh at him, He Juan! There was nothing wrong with ugly handwriting! Everyone’s handwriting was horrible at some point of their lives! At least, Mu Yuze’s was round and squiggly like a bunch of little worms. It was so... cute!

"Is there something wrong?" Mu Yuze started to fiddle on his fingers the longer He Juan went without any reaction. "Have I written in the wrong brackets?"

He Juan belatedly realized that his cheek muscles had gone rigid from his attempt to hold back his laughter. In Mu Yuze’s eyes, his expression must have looked very stern. No wonder the boy was getting nervous. He Juan hastily tried to salvage his mistake, "Oh no, there’s nothing at all. You did an excellent job!" Mu Yuze visibly relaxed when he heard the praise, and He Juan had to bite his lips to resist a smile. How could this boy be so adorable?

"You don’t know your height and weight?" he returned to the topic at hand.

Mu Yuze shook his head. "Never bothered to measure them before."

"Hmm..." He Juan looked around the office to find the item he was looking for.

Just in time, Jia Molei came out of the private laboratory and asked, "What are you looking for?"

"Doctor Jia, I’m going to help Xiao Ze measure his height and weight. Do you happen to have a scale around or something else?"

Jia Molei grunted as he gestured at his table, "There’s a scale below the table. As for his height..." he suddenly thought of something and returned to the private laboratory again, only to come out with a stadiometer[1] that He Juan had failed to notice before. By then, He Juan was already done jotting down Mu Yuze’s weight – he was not even close to 30 kg! Goodness gracious!

"Here!" Jia Molei placed the stadiometer down against the wall and beckoned for Mu Yuze, "Get on, kiddo!"

He Juan desperately willed himself not to laugh when he saw Mu Yuze’s expression going sour within a blink of an eye. The boy turned his head away with a harrumph, ignoring Jia Molei on purpose and it was not until He Juan patted his shoulder, urging him, "Come on, Gege will help you" that he begrudgingly complied.

Jia Molei turned to him with a disbelieving look. "Did this brat just throw his tantrums at me?"

Mu Yuze sneered, apparently having had enough of all the ’kiddo’, ’child’ and ’brat’ Jia Molei threw at his face. He walked to the height scale and stepped on it while retorting,"Don’t worry, no one’s throwing tantrums at you, old man."

Jia Molei sputtered. "O–Old man?! Who the fuck are you—"

To prevent a fight from taking place, He Juan hastily inserted himself between them and crouched down in front of Mu Yuze, grinning. When he saw Jia Molei stomping toward the table, he whispered gleefully at the boy, "That’s so badass, Xiao Ze."

Mu Yuze let out a scoff and it honestly made He Juan wonder how he could look smug without even changing his expression. "Who told him to treat me like a kid?" The boy snarled fiercely.

"I know, right? Xiao Ze is not a kid!" He Juan nodded righteously in order to earn some brownie points, but judging from the dark glare Mu Yuze shot him with, it seemed like his acting lacked some credibility to it. He cleared his throat and pulled the headpiece to the top of Mu Yuze’s head. "Okay, stay still and let Gege take a look at your height..." he leaned closer in order to see the number better.

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[1] Stadiometer or a height scale consists of a ruler and a sliding horizontal headpiece which can be fixed above the head to measure height.