Chapter 36: Thirty-Five Dollars

Xu Zhou quickly pulled his pant leg down over the silver chain, hiding the pale pink that was too bright in the sunlight, and dipped his hand into his school uniform pocket.

A jangling clatter of metal cut through the quiet treatment room, strangely loud.

Adrian had just peeled off his transparent medical gloves. When he turned, he found a stack of loose change sitting in the cold silver tray that had held the ointment.

There was a rumpled ten-dollar bill, a five-dollar bill, and mostly coins. A few pennies with a green tarnish spun pitifully on the sterling tray, ringing out a cheap but crisp note.

All together, it came to exactly thirty-five dollars.

That was the hard-earned pay Xu Zhou had scraped together the afternoon before, working as a library assistant, after Lloyd had found some fault and docked his score.

“The consultation fee is fifteen dollars, the antibacterial ointment retails for eighteen at the pharmacy, and the remaining two dollars cover the cotton swabs and your personal house call, senior.”

Xu Zhou patted away the thin layer of cool ointment on his fingertips and met Adrian’s gaze without flinching.

“I keep clear accounts. I don’t like owing favors. Thirty-five dollars. We’re settled, senior.”

Adrian’s fingers around his gloves tightened slightly.

The senior nurse standing beside him felt her worldview collapse completely.

She had never seen anyone take thirty-five dollars in loose change and dismiss the sole heir of the world’s largest medical-tech conglomerate like an ordinary barefoot doctor at a street practice.

The two-dollar service charge was pure mockery, a naked provocation against old money.

But Adrian didn’t get angry. After a brief flicker of surprise, a strange intensity blazed in his eyes.

This was how Xu Zhou always was.

Other people schemed, hiding their intentions in favors and connections, all in an attempt to bind him close. But Xu Zhou seemed to want nothing more than to knock Adrian away with a few coins, refusing to carry even a shred of emotional debt.

The more Xu Zhou refused to step into his game, the more Adrian couldn’t help wanting to build him a gilded cage all over again.

“Two dollars for a house call. That’s the first consultation fee I’ve ever received, junior.”

Adrian slid his gold-rimmed glasses back on. The gentle smile at the corner of his mouth was so warm it could make your skin crawl.

With his long fingers, he picked up the coins one by one from the tray. Then he laid them together with the old bill into a neat stack and pressed it carefully into the innermost pocket of his white coat.

Xu Zhou clapped his hands, his expression perfectly calm. “We’re settled now, senior. Give me the stamp.”

Adrian let out a low laugh. He picked up his seal and pressed the red Sinclair Medical stamp firmly onto Xu Zhou’s privilege card.

“Done.”

He slid the card back and spoke softly. “Monday through Friday next week, you can sleep soundly in P-18.”

“Thanks, senior.”

Xu Zhou tucked the ivory card, now bearing three red seals, back into his pocket. His fingertips brushed the card surface, and only then did he breathe a quiet sigh of relief.

He hitched the strap of his shoulder bag and walked out of the treatment room without giving Adrian another glance.

Golden sunlight flooded through the huge arching windows and cast a hazy gold rim around the boy’s profile.

Since the medicine had just been applied, he walked a little slowly.

The ankle wrapped in black lambskin flashed a thin band of dizzying white, together with a rose-red ring where Adrian’s thumb had pressed the ointment into the skin.

Even seen from behind, with that cold, evasive attitude, he was as beautiful as a priceless nineteenth-century European oil painting.

The brass double door clicked shut behind him.

Only then was that gaze, which had been following him all along, completely blocked off, sealed behind the door.

Inside the treatment room, the air still held a faint trace of chamomile mixed with the mint that had come from the boy.

Adrian remained standing, his eyes fixed on the closed mahogany door for a long time.

“Young master…” The senior nurse finally looked up from her bowed head. Her voice was tinged with absurdity and caution. “This pile of change… do you want me to disinfect it?”

“No need.”

Adrian took off his gold-rimmed glasses and rubbed between his brows with his fingertips.

Then he reached into the innermost pocket of his coat and let his fingertips slide over the hard coins and the crumpled ten-dollar bill.

This money was worth less than a single blade of grass on the golf course he frequented.

But now that it truly lay in his pocket, it felt as heavy as a burning iron.

“Interesting.”

Adrian laughed softly, as if talking to himself. He slowly put his glasses back on and walked over to the desk. His long fingers swept across the finely calibrated system on the tablet.

At St. Leister, the Sinclair family controlled the most extensive technological and medical resources.

Xu Zhou had indeed used that privilege card, combining Gu Yanli’s disciplinary approval and Ethan’s administrative special authorization to create a perfect inspection-free loop.

But Xu Zhou had overlooked one point.

In that loop, Adrian had been willing to stamp his seal because he knew Xu Zhou’s health data was still within his monitoring range.

“Even though you won’t need to come to the teaching area next week…”

Adrian looked at Xu Zhou’s electronic health record, and a gentle dimple lifted the corner of his mouth.

“But as your attending doctor, it’s only natural that I go to Arden Residence every day to change your dressing and reapply the medicine. Isn’t it?”

He had never planned to let this beautiful little cat out of his palm.

…

Half an hour later, Xu Zhou sat in the back row of the school’s late-night bus, leaning wearily against the window glass.

The autumn sun stained the red-brick historic buildings of St. Leister a deep crimson.

He touched the warm ivory card in his pocket, felt the three seals under his fingertips, and let out a long breath.

He could at least lie peacefully in his dorm throughout next week’s practice period.

Let those rich young masters wear each other out in the sports fields and meeting rooms. As long as they didn’t come to disturb this poor student who only wanted to graduate quietly, everything was perfect.

But at that very moment, a post tagged “North District Live Photos” had blown up St. Leister’s anonymous forum.

[BREAKING! Don’t sleep! Sinclair is squatting in the clinic putting medicine on a special admit’s ankle! Real photos!]

[1F (OP)]: Guys!! I’m volunteering in the North District. I saw it with my own eyes: President Gu’s silver chain rubbed Xu Zhou’s ankle red, and then Senior Adrian crouched down and applied medicine with his own gloved hands! That scene was so gentle I nearly stopped breathing!

[33F]: Shit! His ankle turned red?! President Gu is that vicious? Senior Adrian is openly poaching here!

[77F]: Wait, look at the second screenshot. Before the special admit left, he dropped a pile of loose change into Senior Sinclair’s tray?! And Senior Sinclair accepted it and put it in his pocket!

[120F]: ??? Thirty-five dollars? A special admit just paid thirty-five dollars to use the private medical services of the heir to the world’s largest medical empire?!

[188F]: I call this a battle of the gods. If President Gu finds out Adrian touched that chain, next Monday at the academy is going to become a river of blood…

Meanwhile, in the East District of St. Leister.

In the private salon of the Black Rose Society, Theodore Vale sat on a carved rosewood chair, holding a delicate silver fork.

“Young master, just now at the North District treatment wing…”

The old butler stepped forward and presented a tablet on a silver tray.

Theodore glanced at the photos on the forum, then looked at the “practice week exemption roster” that had just been updated in the system.

When he saw Xu Zhou’s name listed beneath Gu Yanli’s disciplinary verification, Ethan’s special approval, and now even a Sinclair Medical seal from Adrian, his hand paused.

And more important than that, the activation credential on that exemption roster clearly read: [Black Rose Exemption Privilege Card · No. 079].

Theodore’s pale pupils darkened in an instant.

He put down the silver fork. The flawlessly polished, elegant smile that had been fixed on his face like a portrait of old aristocracy disappeared completely in that moment.

“Card No. 079.”

Theodore repeated the number in a murmur.

That was the discarded card he had dropped at the entrance of the grand auditorium two days ago.

So the beautiful little cat who had thought him annoying had not simply picked up his card. He had used it under Theodore’s name to build an exemption loop together with three other people, leaving Theodore entirely on the outside.

“You take my card, but you don’t come and sit on my roster.”

Theodore’s knuckles went pale, and his light gold hair reflected a cold gleam in the dim room.

“Xu Zhou, do you think you can hide in Arden Residence for a week by pulling a trick like this?”

He stood up slowly and walked to the desk. From a drawer, he took out the wax stamp that symbolized the highest authority of the Black Rose Society.

“Notify the student council and the disciplinary office that my No. 079 exemption card is suspected of unauthorized loss. On Monday, I will personally go to P-18 at Arden Residence to carry out a card-holder consistency verification.”

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