Fortunately, no one knew Heather and Leon in this remote and backward place, so the latter felt less embarrassed. Sometimes, it was perhaps Heather’s manlike behavior that struck a chord with him.
The boy went straight into the forest, but Heather smelled that strange fragrance before they entered. She frowned and didn’t feel like going in, but the boy turned around and seemed to have noticed her hesitation. He pointed in a direction and said to her, “Dr. Turner lives in the woods.”
“Why doesn’t he stay with everyone else?” Heather was somewhat perplexed, for this Dr. Turner seemed quite reclusive.
The boy shook his head. “Dr. Turner prefers to live in seclusion. If someone in the village falls ill, they’ll go to him.”
The boy looked inconspicuous in front of Heather, but he didn’t seem like a boy that was easy to deal with since his words were very measured. “Okay,” Heather replied casually as her mind wandered. She wondered what methods she should use to convince Dr. Turner later.
As expected, the boy wasn’t lying. With him leading them, it didn’t take long before Heather and Leon saw a log cabin in the woods. Just as they expected, it was very important to have a guide since they hadn’t seen anything after walking for so long when they entered the forest earlier.
Surprisingly, Heather had great strength in her petite body as she piggybacked Leon the entire time without feeling tired at all. Instead, she looked fresh as a daisy. The closer she got to the log cabin, the more delighted she seemed since she looked forward to meeting Dr. Turner very much.
Heather had mixed feelings toward doctors, for she revered renowned ones while being extremely disgusted by quacks. In her opinion, there were too many quacks and very few skillful doctors. She was very curious about traditional Chinese medicine, and it was rumored that Dr. Turner came from a family skilled in this particular branch of medicine and always had unique insight for it. Not only that, she wondered if she would be pleasantly surprised or disappointed when she actually met him. Too many people were angling for fame and compliments these days, and there were especially too many people who did that by playing up their expertise in Chinese medicine. Therefore, she hoped that making this trip would be worthwhile.
Just as Heather’s mind wandered, the boy knocked on the wooden door, but no one answered the door for a long time. Upon seeing this, the boy changed his ways and slapped the door directly with his tender hand, creating a loud noise. Only then were sounds heard from inside the cabin. Heather felt a stir of apprehension within her, and she wondered what kind of man would come out of that door later.
After a while, she saw a man pulling the door open and poking his head out. He seemed cringy, and it was completely different from what she had imagined—the man before her eyes seemed skinny and malnourished. After looking at the boy, he shifted his gaze toward her face. As he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, she felt inexplicably disappointed; this man was somewhat different from the renowned doctor she had imagined.
“What brings you here, little slick?” Dr. Turner’s voice was very deep and commanding. It didn’t match his looks at all.
“This man is sick, Dr. Turner,” the boy said while pointing at Leon on Heather’s back.
At this moment, Leon only wished Heather to put him down sooner. His body tensed up as he didn’t dare to move, so he could only obediently pose as an unconscious patient.
“Hurry up and bring him into the house,” Dr. Turner urged while pushing his glasses. He seemed to know his stuff, for he looked unhurried. However, the look in his eyes changed when he saw how Heather had piggybacked Leon into the house directly, and it seemed like he had never seen such a physically strong woman.
Heather remained silent the whole time as she inwardly deliberated what exactly to say. Dr. Turner didn’t ask her anything as well, and it was quite embarrassing for her. Luckily, even though he didn’t seem to have the air of a renowned doctor about him, he was a nice person. Heather was very confident about her looks, yet Dr. Turner didn’t look at her. This indicated that he was a man of integrity.
“Young lady, may I ask what is your relationship with the patient?” Dr. Turner asked Heather earnestly.
“We’re friends.” Heather stared at Dr. Turner blatantly with hidden seductive charm in her eyes. She wanted to see whether he was a real man of integrity or pretending to be so.
However, Dr. Turner didn’t care about Heather’s seductive eyes at all. Instead, he looked especially serious with a look of solemnity. “In that case, please step aside with the little slick and wait first.” Naturally, he didn’t want to be disturbed by anyone while examining his patient.
Upon hearing Dr. Turner’s words, Heather and the boy voluntarily stepped aside. She looked at Dr. Turner from time to time, and he appeared very professional while taking Leon’s pulse in all seriousness. Besides, she couldn’t find any fault with him. It seemed that he indeed came from a family of renowned doctors, and this put her mind at rest.
Dr. Turner knitted his brows in careful contemplation. Soon after that, he let go of Leon’s hand, turned to look at Heather, and said to her, “Your friend is fine.”
That was indeed the case. Leon was pretending to be ill, so how could there be any problems with him? However, Heather quickly pretended to be anxious. “He entered the forest with me earlier and said he thought he smelled something strange. Then, he fainted as soon as we came out of it.” She pretended to be panic-stricken while purposely describing the situation in grave terms.
“Relax. There’s nothing wrong with him, so he’ll be fine after some rest.” Dr. Turner believed in his pulse-taking capabilities. The man in front of him had a normal pulse, so there wouldn’t be any major problems with him.
“In that case, what should I do now?” Heather pretended to be at a loss for what to do. At any rate, she had to stay at Dr. Turner’s place.
He then suddenly asked, “Have you two found somewhere to stay?”
Heather shook her head. “Not yet.” Right now, she wished that the sky would darken sooner so that they would have an excuse to stay at the doctor’s place. She looked at the little slick beside her, and she had to find a way to send this boy away right now. Otherwise, she didn’t know how to tell Dr. Turner about all the things she wanted to discuss with him.
Naturally, Dr. Turner had his heart in the right place and asked them to stay. “In that case, you may let your friend rest here for a while. You two may decide what to do next when he wakes up.”
A faint smile played on Heather’s lips. With a grateful expression, she replied to Dr. Turner, “Sorry for troubling you then, Dr. Turner.”
Meanwhile, he looked serious as though he couldn’t smile. After averting his eyes from Heather, he looked at the boy and said to him, “It’s getting late, little slick. Just go back as early as possible!”
Heather was still racking her brains for an excuse to send this little boy away when Dr. Turner directly asked him to go back. Thank goodness! she thought to herself.
The boy looked at Heather before looking back at Dr. Turner. After thinking for a moment, he replied, “I don’t want to go back so early. I want to play at your place for a while.”
Heather looked morose upon hearing his words. Why is he being like that at such a critical moment? she thought to herself. She was somewhat dismayed by this, but she couldn’t chase this boy away directly. After all, this boy had led them to the cabin.
Dr. Turner walked over directly to the boy and looked at him with a loving expression. Then, he whispered softly to him, “Thank you for sending a patient over today. I’ll reward you with a piece of candy for this.” As he spoke, he conjured up a piece of candy in his hand. Surprisingly, he even knew how to perform magic.
The boy brightened up at once when he got the candy. He said to Dr. Turner, “Hehe! In that case, I’ll be going back first!”
The wooden door squeaked as the boy left, creating a spooky atmosphere in the log cabin. Meanwhile, Leon lay on the bamboo bed while letting his imagination run wild. He was here with an eccentric doctor at this moment, and it seemed very much like a horror movie scene. The quiet surroundings gave him the creeps as he couldn’t hear a single sound, and the fact that the log cabin stood alone in the woods was really weird.
Leon was almost frightened by his own thoughts. Since he could no longer maintain his composure, he wondered if he should pretend to regain consciousness at this moment. However, upon recalling Heather’s purpose in coming here, he felt that he should hold on a bit more. After all, no ordinary people could get close to Heather with her fighting skills. Still, he was worried; it would be troublesome if this Dr. Turner really harbored evil designs and used some kind of sleep-inducing incense. These doctors were good at these tricks, so he had to be wary of them. When he thought of this, Leon even felt that he had difficulty breathing. For some reason, he felt somewhat uncomfortable as though he had landed himself in a den of thieves.
Heather didn’t think this way, though. She appeared very comfortable as she sat quietly on a bamboo stool nearby, but in reality, she was contemplating on how to speak to Dr. Turner later. Furthermore, she was still unaware of his real capabilities, and it would be embarrassing if she rashly asked him to go back with her only to be let down.
Just then, Dr. Turner’s eyes roamed over Heather, and their eyes met. He didn’t seem very old, though—in fact, he was much younger than the aged doctors of traditional Chinese medicine that Heather usually met. As she eyed him up and down, she surmised that he was probably in his forties. However, he was too skinny and had quite a lot of fine wrinkles on his face, and these fine wrinkles were very apparent when he made specific expressions and movements. It would be better for an aged person to put on some weight since that would make them look slightly younger than their peers.
As Heather sized Dr. Turner up, he was also measuring her with his eyes. He squinted at her while inwardly guessing her purpose for coming here. Heather’s behavior seemed suspicious, but he didn’t want to be too much of a busybody. After all, no ordinary people would come to such a place. Besides, since Heather wasn’t providing a legitimate explanation, he wouldn’t ask her about it, of course.
Leon could feel the undercurrent surging in the air even with his eyes closed, whereas Heather looked at him with boredom. The person lying down right now was at ease, for he had left all the problems to her. She was considering if she should just go straight to the point instead of continuing to dawdle like this. After all, Leon couldn’t possibly continue playing unconscious since doing so would make him aggrieved to death. “Dr. Turner,” she called him softly, causing Leon to have his heart in his mouth.
Dr. Turner was studying herbs on the other side of the room and was surprised when he suddenly heard Heather’s voice. However, he was relatively composed, so he merely raised his head slightly and looked directly at the woman, signaling her to just say whatever she wanted to say.
“I heard that you have particularly amazing medical skills. It’s said that you can evoke a miraculous cure and bring the dying back to life.” Heather thought she should reveal her identity appropriately at this moment. Otherwise, the atmosphere would be too stuffy with them looking at each other like this in embarrassment.
“Uh-huh,” Dr. Turner responded flatly without saying anything else.
“Do you really plan on staying in this log cabin for the rest of your life, Dr. Turner?” Heather decided to be more straightforward as she couldn’t care less about anything else at this moment.
However, the doctor remained unmoved and continued to handle the medicinal materials in hand. He just knew from the look in Heather’s eyes that she was up to no good when she arrived here, for her purpose was written clearly in her eyes.
