Chapter 37: Medical Malpractice

Qiao Sang felt a sense of crisis; the joy of having just secured first place in the special recruitment exam had dissipated considerably.

At that moment, Zheng Yining said, "Big Boss Qiao, do you want to go celebrate later? I know a delicious new snack shop on Rongchang Street. Their signature dish, Cloud-Branded Ham, is made with Magmagu!"

Qiao Sang was shocked. "They actually use Magmagu to make Cloud-Branded Ham? Is that even allowed?!"

Societies where supernatural creatures are used as ingredients certainly existed, but those were always done in the shadows and underhanded ways; there was no way they would be advertised so brazenly as a signature dish.

Besides, isn't a Magmagu made entirely of magnets? Is it even edible?

Zheng Yining froze for a moment. "Magmagu is the chef at this snack shop. Did you... misunderstand something?"

Qiao Sang looked up at the sky and gave two awkward laughs. "Haha, the weather seems quite nice today. Let's just head home early."

Zheng Yining: "..."

She shouldn't have misunderstood what this big boss was thinking just now, right...

After declining Zheng Yining's request to join Li Yang and the others for a group outing, Qiao Sang immediately pulled out her phone the moment she parted ways with them.

To ensure she could focus on her exams, Qiao Sang had chosen to turn her phone off when she entered Shengshui High School.

As soon as she turned it on, the screen displayed two missed calls from her mother.

Qiao Sang didn't call back immediately. She took a deep breath, her hands trembling slightly as she opened the Interstellar Betting Network.

"I won!!"

The next second, the Fire-Fang Dog heard its Beast Tamer's excited voice.

"Ya!"

The Fire-Fang Dog wagged its tail, feeling happy along with her.

Qiao Sang did the math.

She had lost 5,000 Alliance Coins betting against Bodley last time, and this time, after deducting the principal, she had won 1,200 Alliance Coins. In total, she was still down 3,8...

Never mind.

Qiao Sang numbed herself to the thought and stopped thinking about it. She called her mother back. Her mother didn't ask about the exam; she only asked when she would be coming home.

Since her mother didn't ask, Qiao Sang didn't mention it. After all, the high school entrance exam results weren't confirmed yet; she didn't want to speak too early only to end up with a false sense of joy.

...

That evening, at the desk in her room.

Qiao Sang was checking answers against several recently completed papers; these were last year's entrance exam papers from Hanwen City.

Hanwen City and Hanggang City both belonged to Zhehai Province, so aside from a few different focuses, the papers were mostly similar.

Once she finished checking, Qiao Sang let out a sigh.

Although she had made significant progress, she still got quite a few wrong. With only one week left before the actual entrance exam, it seemed she would have to return to school tomorrow; after all, it was faster to ask others for the correct logic regarding her mistakes.

"Ya ya."

"Jiu, jiu jiu."

The sounds of the Fire-Fang Dog and the Fat-Home Pigeon bickering drifted in from the living room.

Listening to the sounds from the living room, a smile appeared in Qiao Sang's eyes; those two little fellows were playing quite well together.

Half an hour later, after correcting all the problems, Qiao Sang opened a shopping website.

She remembered the vice principal saying: three stalks of Vitality Grass, two catties of Shure Powder, seven taels of Fire-化 (Fire-Transforming) Nitrate, and six taels of Red Honey.

[Vitality Grass]

Qiao Sang typed in those three words.

Soon, the purchase page for Vitality Grass popped up.

Qiao Sang was stunned.

3,888.

She didn't give up hope and scrolled down a few more pages; they were all that price.

There wasn't even a price difference for this stuff?!

Qiao Sang found the option to sort by price from low to high.

At the very top of the page, the figure "38 Alliance Coins" was prominently displayed.

With such a massive price gap, would she even dare to buy it?!

Struggling with her conscience, Qiao Sang clicked in anyway, clinging to a sliver of hope.

Upon looking at the reviews, they were a sea of negative feedback.

[Has the merchant's conscience been eaten by a dog? Is this even Vitality Grass!]

[I fed it to my Cotton-Shy Rabbit, and it had diarrhea for a week until it became skin and bones (Image)]

[This isn't Vitality Grass, it's just some random weed from somewhere!]

[Fake! Fake! Fake! Fake! Fake!!! One star! One star! One star! One star! One star!!!]

[I bought a real stalk of Vitality Grass for comparison. I have to say, the imitation looks quite similar (Image) (Image)]

As expected, it was a knockoff...

Qiao Sang searched for Shure Powder, Fire-Transforming Nitrate, and Red Honey.

Shure Powder was 2,600, Fire-Transforming Nitrate was 6,889, and Red Honey was cheapest at 1,999 per jin.

This meant that a single bath for the Fire-Fang Dog would cost over ten thousand Alliance Coins!

Qiao Sang silently closed her computer.

Actually, the entrance exam was more important right now; she would put the Fire-Fang Dog's matter aside for a moment. Besides, the Fire-Fang Dog hated water and didn't like taking baths anyway...

10:32 PM.

The Fire-Fang Dog had already fallen asleep from exhaustion.

Out of habit, Qiao Sang entered the Beast Codex before bed.

[Name: Fire-Fang Dog] [Attribute: Fire] [Level: Junior (136/1000)+] [Skills: Bite (Beginner 74/100)+, Ram (Proficient 204/500)+, Fire Fang (Proficient 188/500)+, Spark (Proficient 256/500)+, Shadow Clone (Beginner 5/100)] [Points: 109]

Last time, the Fire-Fang Dog gained 55 points from three battles at the 37th Beast Taming High School, but this time, four battles only yielded 54 points.

The points gained per battle with a pet were different; as expected, the point bonus was based on the strength of the pet.

Having made her guess, Qiao Sang fell into a deep sleep.

Today was too exhausting...

...

...

The next day.

Wencheng Junior High School.

When Qiao Sang appeared in Class 3-7 with her backpack, the classroom erupted.

"Holy crap, Qiao Sang, so you actually came back!"

"Where have you been playing all this time that you haven't come to class?"

"Go away, go away! How can you talk like that? Can't she just have things going on at home?"

"How can you say that? What do you mean 'things at home'? Couldn't it be that her relatives have things going on?"

"Everyone missed you so much. Without you, the teacher only ever scolds me and Fang Sisi during class." The speaker was Guo Linze, the class's perennial second-to-last student.

The teacher had basically given up on the student in last place.

Once the classmates finished venting their feelings and dispersed, Fang Sisi said earnestly, "Qiao Sang, you've changed."

Qiao Sang was startled. "How have I changed?"

"Before, whenever you found a good reason to take leave, you would tell me. Now you've learned to take leave secretly by yourself without including me," Fang Sisi said plaintively.

Qiao Sang: "..."

"I'll include you next time."

Fang Sisi shook her head. "There won't be a next time. There are only a few days left in school. If I take leave, my mom will probably break my legs."

"By the way." Fang Sisi leaned in and lowered her voice. "Let me tell you something, but don't tell anyone."

Seeing her serious expression, Qiao Sang nodded. "Tell me."

"Last week, I don't know what triggered our homeroom teacher, but he went to get a hair transplant. And the result... haha." Fang Sisi couldn't help but laugh a few times. "The anesthetic was swapped with hair loss treatment."

Qiao Sang froze for a moment before saying, "How could they make a mistake like that? The colors of the two liquids are different, aren't they?"

"The one who applied the anesthetic to the teacher was Ji Ji Yan, the newly contracted pet of the dermatologist. He's not very familiar with these things yet," Fang Sisi explained.

Qiao Sang asked, "How do you know?"

"Did you forget? My mom is a nurse there. She attended a parent-teacher meeting and saw the teacher," Fang Sisi replied.

Qiao Sang's expression became strange. Could it be that the teacher went for the transplant because of what she said about his wig last time...?

No wonder he didn't pick up the phone and even turned it off later...

This medical malpractice was a bit serious.

One must realize that for middle-aged men, hair is life, especially for those who need to wear wigs.

"Tell me honestly, how many people have you told about this?" Qiao Sang looked at Fang Sisi suspiciously.

Fang Sisi paused for a moment, then began counting on her fingers. "Lü Siya, Chen Jinjin, Wu Huanjun, Guo Linze, Xie Jiayi, Chen Yu..."

Qiao Sang: "..."

(End of Chapter)