“Don’t go working in the North District anymore,” Ji Sinan said, noticing that tear and frowning. “You’ve lost a whole lot of weight these past two months.”
Two months earlier, Ji Tan had met Huo Zhaixing at the place where he worked. Afterward, he’d gone with Huo to stay at the Huo family’s villa in Beichen District and hadn’t returned since. His brother probably thought he’d gone north for a demanding but well-paid job.
Ji Tan nodded his agreement and slurped up his noodles.
The eggs in the tomato-and-egg noodles had been stir-fried. When their parents fried eggs, they always added plenty of scallions. Ji Tan disliked the white parts and had to pick the egg out from among them. But his brother used only the green scallion tops. There wasn’t a single piece of white, so Ji Tan could take big, carefree mouthfuls.
“A clinic on the next street has asked me to see patients there. I can earn money now… Slow down!” Seeing Ji Tan eat so quickly, Ji Sinan reached over and tugged one of his ears.
“Huh? C-can you work as a doctor in your current condition?” The tug left Ji Tan momentarily dazed. He nearly blurted out, “Didn’t you study finance?” but hurriedly changed the words before they escaped.
He hadn’t expected Ji Sinan to be a doctor in City A.
How long had this person been in this world since transmigrating, anyway? Five or six years at least, surely? Ji Tan counted on his fingers. After all, an undergraduate medical degree took five years, and with a master’s and doctorate on top of that, you’d be looking at eight years at the very least.
“Mm. My mental state is much better now. It’s only a small clinic, and the owner doesn’t mind if I turn the screws seven times when I’m replacing a patient’s mechanical leg.” Ji Sinan explained with a frown, then reached over and tugged Ji Tan’s other ear. Only then did he smile in satisfaction.
Ji Tan: “…”
After finishing his noodles and drinking every last drop of soup, Ji Tan patted his pleasantly warm belly and volunteered to wash the bowl.
“No!” Ji Sinan snatched it away. Realizing how agitated he’d sounded, he took a couple of breaths to calm himself and explained carefully, “I’m the one who served the noodles in this bowl, so I have to be the one to wash it.”
Ji Tan pressed his lips together and nodded. He could tell that his brother was suffering terribly from these compulsions. And as a doctor, Ji Sinan knew how serious his condition was and was already doing his utmost to restrain himself.
Ji Sinan let out a relieved breath and turned to wash the bowl. But after a couple of steps, he came back. Hesitating for a moment, he said rather sheepishly, “Xiao Tan, could you let one more tear fall into it?”
“Huh?”
Ji Tan didn’t have any tears left to cry. All he could do was force one eye wide open and stare until its rim reddened, finally squeezing out a tiny drop.
Satisfied, Ji Sinan went to wash the bowl. Ji Tan rubbed his sore eyes, rinsed himself off in the rudimentary shower room, and, while his brother wasn’t paying attention, quickly threw his discarded hospital gown out the door.
The shower finally helped his body relax a little. Ji Tan began exploring the room, hoping to find the original owner’s identity documents. Tomorrow, he would take his brother to see a doctor first, then find a proper job.
There was only 760,000 yuan on the card, not enough to pay off all the high-interest loans. He’d have to keep making monthly payments. His brother’s medical appointments and medicine would cost money, too, and they needed to move somewhere else as soon as possible. This neighborhood was filthy, chaotic, and run-down. The loan sharks could come in and smash things without anyone intervening. It wasn’t safe at all.
There was nothing valuable in the house. All the important documents were kept in a drawer of the shabby old desk in the bedroom. Ji Tan pulled it open and saw an eye!
“Hiss!” Ji Tan sucked in a sharp breath, nearly crying out. Looking more closely, he realized it wasn’t a real eye but a hand-drawn picture. The room was dimly lit, so he hadn’t seen it clearly at first.
He took out the paper and held it under the yellowing light. It showed an eye without eyelashes or eyebrows, outlined with a few simple strokes. It looked more like a casually scribbled doodle.
“Ji Sinan, really. Scribbling all over things and leaving them lying around.” Grumbling, Ji Tan set the picture on the desk and continued searching for the documents.
Sure enough, the drawer contained educational certificates, carefully sealed in waterproof bags. The first was his brother’s graduation certificate. Its velvet-textured cover felt rather luxurious:
【Xili University, Department of Medicine. Doctorate. Ji Sinan.】
“Hahaha! Ji Sinan never liked studying, yet here in City A he’s somehow earned a doctorate in medicine!” Ji Tan looked at the photograph of his brother in doctoral robes and couldn’t help laughing.
Back then, Ji Sinan had been far more interested in writing fiction than in studying. He failed university courses year after year and arranged for his academic warning letters to go to Ji Tan’s high school rather than the family home. Ji Tan had been paid generously to keep quiet.
Unexpectedly, in City A he had managed to complete a doctorate in medicine, the most demanding degree of all. What a place for dreams to come true! City A is a grand stage: come if you’ve got the nerve. With domineering CEOs everywhere and rich people worth less than dogs, perhaps everyone had a doctorate.
Ji Tan eagerly dug out his own diploma. He, little Ji Tan, had been an outstanding student in B University’s Turing Class. If Xie Zhi hadn’t practically gotten on his knees and begged him, Ji Tan would never have considered joining the startup owned by that man surnamed Xie.
With City A’s inflation of academic credentials, he figured he must at least be a professor.
He opened his more ornate diploma, spotted the character “Xi,” and wondered if it was from the same school. Looking more closely, he read:
【Xijia Technical Vocational School, Culinary Arts Department. Ji Tan.】
Ji Tan: “…”
No wonder the original owner had turned to selling alcohol at a KTV to make quick money. With these credentials, he couldn’t have found another well-paying job. Even chefs needed experience, and a fresh culinary-school graduate could only work as a kitchen helper.
“Why?!” Ji Tan slammed the diploma onto the desk in outrage.
A-Qiang, that fellow was abusing his position to settle a personal grudge! He had done it on purpose, hadn’t he?
He’d wanted to stay up talking with the brother he’d finally reunited with. But by the time Ji Sinan finished his elaborate dishwashing ritual, it was well past midnight. Exhausted after the long day, Ji Tan fell asleep as soon as his head touched the bed, without even managing to say good night.
Early the next morning, Ji Tan decided to try making breakfast.
With credentials like these, finding work in computer technology would probably be difficult. And the family urgently needed money. If the original owner’s practical skills remained, he could work as a kitchen assistant for a few days.
Ji Tan held a kitchen knife over a potato, feeling deeply uncertain. He had barely cooked in his life and was a genuine disaster in the kitchen. Their parents cooked when home, his brother cooked when they were away, while Ji Tan was a useless little glutton whose only task was eating and being picky about food.
Chef Ji pinned the potato to the cutting board, drew a deep breath, and brought the knife down mercilessly on the innocent potato.
“Clang, clang, clang!” His slender fingers, as thin as scallion stalks, wielded the enormous kitchen knife with surprising ease. Thanks to the body’s muscle memory, Ji Tan produced thin, even shreds of potato without consciously guiding a single movement.
Ji Tan scooped up a handful of the evenly cut shreds, beside himself with delight. Excellent! Perhaps he could find work after all.
Full of confidence, he scooped up the shredded potatoes and tossed them into the pan… And then what?
Ji Tan was stumped. No next step sprang to mind. He closed his eyes, hoping his hands would take the hint from muscle memory and cook the dish for him. When he opened them again, nothing had moved. The potatoes were still potatoes, and the pan was still a pan.
Grit your teeth and just do it!
Half an hour later, Ji Sinan sat on a small stool, looked at the pitch-black shreds on the plate, then at his expectant younger brother. Raising both thumbs, he declared, “What wonderfully stir-fried wood-ear mushrooms!”
Ji Tan: “They’re potatoes.”
Ji Sinan: “…”
Potatoes stir-fried into something resembling wood-ear mushrooms were naturally inedible. Ji Tan took one bite and drank two glasses of water.
While his brother went back to the kitchen to make another breakfast, Ji Tan carried the plate outside and dumped its contents out for the stray dogs in the alley.
The woman from across the alley came out to take away her rubbish. Seeing Ji Tan feeding the dogs, she greeted him with a smile. “Little Brother Ji, it’s been ages! I heard you went to Beichen District for work. With cooking skills like yours, you must have earned plenty there. Oh, stir-fried wood-ear mushrooms for breakfast?”
Ji Tan smiled in return. “That’s right. I made too much.”
A grey dog with a bald patch sniffed the food, looked up at Ji Tan, and sniffed again. It didn’t eat anything, but walked away.
The woman gave an awkward cough. “Well, perhaps it mistook the food for chocolate and didn’t dare eat it.”