‘No, it is a big deal~!’

    Yu Xiao felt a hollow ache in her chest, as though someone had scooped out her heart and left behind a gaping hole. She flopped onto the bed and buried her face in the pillow, wishing she could cry but finding no tears. She knew what awaited her tomorrow morning. While she had no knowledge of how other hospitals functioned, she was certain that at the Fourth Hospital, she would once again become the talk of the town/hospital again.

    Her phone would ring with calls from Lu Xun and Luo Jin, both of whom would sound either incredulous or nonchalant as they asked her how she managed to achieve it. The forum would be abuzz with another round of gossip about her, and perhaps someone would even compile a list of her accomplishments, pondering how they could emulate her success…

    ‘Wuwuwu~… The hospital was so cruel, why did they have to announce her titles on the news?’

    “Smiley looks like she’s about to break down, even the ‘Shit-Hole Destroyer’ title didn’t affect her this much.” Zhou Xiao Zhen was dying to know more about Yu Xiao’s titles, but seeing her in such a state, she refrained from adding insult to injury.

    “She’ll be fine.” Zhao Lan said: “Have some faith in her, she’s tougher than she looks, she’ll bounce back from this.”

    ‘Yeah, right! You’re just enjoying my misery!’

    Yu Xiao remained silent and shifted her focus to the function cards she had just received. In the backstage forum, two function cards floated in mid-air.

    Examining them closely, she noticed one was a physical card while the other was a prop card.

    A glimmer of hope flickered in her battered heart upon seeing the prop card. It seemed to compensate for all the pain she had endured. Without wasting a moment, she swiftly opened the prop card, causing it to flip over and unleash a dazzling display of fireworks on the screen.

    【Congratulations, you have obtained a one-time bad luck card!】

    Yu Xiao: “…”

    “I got another Spirit card, I think one Spirit card is plenty, using more would drive me insane.” Zhou Xiao Zhen glanced at Zhao Lan, “Misty, what card did you get?”

    Zhao Lan let out a long sigh as she stared at the card in her hand. “It is a physical card, again.” She always seemed to get those, no matter how hard she wished for something else. “Why do the fates hate me so?”

    Zhou Xiao Zhen perked up. “Hey, is that a physical card? You don’t look too happy about it. You know, you’ve not tried a Spirit card before. How about we trade?”

    Zhao Lan shrugged. “Sure, why not. Maybe your luck will rub off on me.” They swapped their function cards, hoping for a better outcome next time.

    Despite her hectic schedule, Zhao Lan managed to squeeze in a quick chat with Yu Xiao. “Hey, Smiley, what did you draw this round?”

    Yu Xiao: “…”

    **

    Yu Xiao had a sleepless night, tossing and turning in her bed, consumed by bitterness and resentment.

    While she could accept the previous disastrous titles she had earned, as she knew she had brought them upon herself, this time was different. She had been nothing but honest, and she had done nothing wrong. Why, then, must she endure such injustice?

    She drifted into a troubled sleep and dreamt that she had left the Sixth Hospital and returned to the real world. One morning, she woke up and went to have breakfast. As she checked the news, she was horrified to see Misty announcing her title on the screen. Afterwards, her classmates and friends gave her weird looks upon hearing the news.

    “~ Yu Xiao, oh Yu Xiao, you with your big eyes and thick eyebrows, you’re a green tea, aren’t you? Who are you fooling around with~?”

    Yu Xiao panicked and tried to explain, “I have no idea who Gu Shu is! I don’t know George either! And Lolita is a girl… What?! He’s a cross-dressing trap?!”

    She woke up with a jolt, drenched in sweat. Glancing at her phone, she saw that it was only just past six. Precious and Misty were snoring peacefully. She had completely lost her sleepiness, but it was too early for breakfast. So she quietly got out of bed, brewed a cup of strong tea, and sat in the chair, gazing at the ceiling with a forty-five degree angle and feeling melancholy.

    In this short hour, she thought about many things, from never visiting the forum again to changing her way of doing things in the future, and then to how many steps she would need to take to change her name after returning to the real world…

    She just thought silently, until Zhao Lan was woken up by her biological clock, stretched lazily on the bed, and spotted a human figure sitting on the chair across the bed in the dim room.

    Zhao Lan jolted upright in bed and simultaneously moved backward, almost colliding with the iron headboard. She fumbled in her pocket for the talisman.

    “Smiley, what the hell?” she snapped, holding the paper talisman in front of her like a shield. “You scared the crap out of me! What are you doing so early?”

    Yu Xiao sat silently, her face pale. She opened her mouth, yet no words came out.

    Zhao Lan blinked, catching sight of Yu Xiao’s unusual expression. She tossed the talisman aside and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. She ran her fingers through her growing buzz cut hair length hair, which had grown longer over the past few weeks, and smiled. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Is something wrong? Are you still hung up on your title?”

    Yu Xiao felt a sharp pain in her chest. She clenched her fists, trying to hide her emotions.

    “Really?!” Zhao Lan exclaimed, seeing Yu Xiao’s reaction. “You’re not the type to dwell on things like that. Come on, you can tell me. What’s your title? I’m dying to know.”

    Yu Xiao shook her head, unable to speak.

    Zhao Lan sighed, sensing Yu Xiao’s reluctance. “Fine, fine. Keep your secrets. I’ll find out soon enough anyway. It’s only twenty minutes until the announcement.”

    Yu Xiao felt a surge of despair. She wished she could stop time. She wished she could disappear.

    Zhou Xiao Zhen was still in bed when the clock showed four minutes to eight. She stretched lazily, not bothering to get up. She decided to listen to the news first, then start her day.

    She rubbed her eyes and grinned. “I wonder what Smiley’s title is. She looked so miserable this morning. Maybe it’s something embarrassing.”

    Yu Xiao walked quietly to the window and turned her back to the room. She glared at the window, which was covered by a curtain. She hated them all. They were all meanies.

    “Ding dong!”

    The eight o’clock reminder chimed on cue. The soft music lifted the curtain, revealing the view outside. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the flowers were blooming. It was a beautiful day like every fucking day.

    The radio crackled to life, filling the air with a cheerful voice.

    “… Good morning, everyone! It’s a beautiful day to start your day with some news…”

    “… The 21st hospital inspection activity has come to a successful end, and the director of the health bureau has given an important speech…”

    The voice droned on, spewing out a stream of dull and tedious information that made the listeners yawn and doze off.

    “… For the medical staff who have been lazy and negligent, they will face severe consequences. On the other hand, for the medical staff who have shown outstanding performance in the past few years, they will receive generous rewards. Let us work together to create a better future…”

    “… Yesterday, the attending doctor of the morgue, Gu, deliberately vandalised the hospital infrastructure. The hospital leaders decided to be lenient with him and only fined him five months’ salary and suspended him for one month. We hope that all medical workers will take this as a warning. The hospital is a place to heal and save people, not your playground…”

    “… The sixth hospital’s inpatient department is looking for a new staff member, and is now earnestly recruiting a ghost to check the rooms. Gender, age, and qualifications are irrelevant…”

    “Gu from the morgue?” Zhou Xiao Zhen exclaimed, her eyes wide with disbelief. “They mean Gu Shu, right? What on earth possessed him to do such a thing?”

    Yu Xiao ignored her, her expression gloomy and indifferent.

    Zhao Lan ventured a guess. “Maybe he was trying to get revenge on Smiley and things got out of hand?”

    “… Yesterday, the second hospital’s points leaderboard was updated again. The patient with the nickname ‘Flying to Someone Else’s Bed’ claimed the top spot. Let us give him a round of applause…”

    “… The fourth hospital’s patient with the nickname ‘Zhuge Liang burning the Spider Web Cave’ maintained his lead. Let us cheer for him. This patient has done remarkably well during the treatment and earned the glorious title of ‘Domineering Patient’. Let us congratulate him once more.”

    Tears of envy streamed down Yu Xiao’s face as she listened to the radio. Luo Jin had such a nice title, which was so fitting for his rank one status. How different were their destinies…

    “…”

    The radio droned on…

    “…Yesterday, the patient known as ‘Deaf Descendant’ at the Sixth Hospital claimed the top spot again, so let us give them a warm round of applause. The patient showed remarkable performance during the treatment, and earned the ‘Soul Singer’ title…”

    “That’s normal, right?” Zhou Xiao Zhen tilted her head in confusion, “Why is Smiley so upset?”

    Yu Xiao closed her eyes in pain.

    “… They also received the ‘Two-faced Green Tea’ and the ‘Red Apricot Climber’. Together these three glorious titles, let us cheer for them!”

    “…”

    “Ah, this…” Zhou Xiao Zhen still didn’t understand. “Smiley has always been with me, we sleep together too, why would she get this kind of title?”

    Zhao Lan shrugged, equally clueless. They both gazed at Yu Xiao with curiosity.

    Yu Xiao finally parted her lips and whispered, “I didn’t sleep well last night. I want to sleep some more.”

    She crawled back onto the bed and buried her face in the pillow. However, before she could settle in, her phone rang and she glanced at the screen.

    As expected, it displayed Luo Jin’s number. Without any hesitation, she hung up the call. Just three seconds later, her phone rang again. This time it was Lu Xun calling. Once again, she swiftly hung up the call.

    The world was a better place when it was quiet. There were certain times when some people’s voices were not welcome.

    She lay flat on the bed, her hands crossed over her lower abdomen, and closed her eyes peacefully, resembling a happy corpse. Sёar?h the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Zhou Xiao Zhen thought for a moment and asked Zhao Lan, “Is she not going to have breakfast?”

    “Let her be, she probably has no appetite now.” Zhao Lan said with a hint of curiosity, “Who do you think is her ‘Red Apricot Climber’ partner?”

    “It’s that number three doctor, right?” Zhou Xiao Zhen said. “I saw Smiley flirting with him.”

    “Does that count as adultery?” Zhao Lan was doubtful.

    Zhou Xiao Zhen chuckled and asked, “Who do you think it is? Don’t tell me it’s Gu Shu. That would be hilarious. Hahaha…”

    Yu Xiao yanked the quilt over her head, muffling her groan. She wished she could disappear from the world.

    **

    Yu Xiao believed that her fame was limited to the online forum, but she was mistaken. Unbeknownst to her, she had also become a celebrity at St. Elizabeth Hospital, albeit for all the wrong reasons.

    The nurses gathered once again, engrossed in gossip with fervour. They never seemed to tire of the same old topics – the scandalous love life of their Dean!

    – Who was the lucky new love interest who had captured her attention?

    – How pitiful was Dr. George, the cuckolded attending doctor?

    – Was there something wrong with the Dean having a harem of attractive men, like in the novels?

    George had been elated when he heard the news, thinking that Yu Xiao’s new title had made Gu Shu suffer. However, his joy turned to ashes when he stepped out of his office and saw the sympathetic glances of the hospital staff. They pitied him, the cuckolded fool.

    He cursed inwardly, baffled by the fact that Yu Xiao’s influence could still be so powerful even when she was not physically present. She made his life hell – that hateful person!

    **

    Yu Xiao lay awake, tossing and turning. No sane person could sleep under these circumstances.

    She got out of bed, drawn by the enticing aroma of food. She had no other option but to confront the harsh truth. In order to make her dream of living for five hundred years come true, she had to take responsibility for herself.

    “Here you go, Smiley.” Zhou Xiao Zhen handed her a steaming meat bun. “Eat up. Nothing matters more than food. Titles are just empty words. Only food can fill you up.”

    With a mouthful of hot dough, Yu Xiao declared her ambition. “I swear, once I’m done with the next instance, I’ll only earn titles that make people jealous! Otherwise, I’ll…”

    She trailed off, glancing at Zhao Lan and Zhou Xiao Zhen, who were watching her with eager anticipation.

    Yu Xiao racked her brain, but nothing came to mind. “…What do you reckon I should do?”

    Zhao Lan blushed and mumbled, “How should I know?”

    Zhou Xiao Zhen grinned. “You could always put on a wig and pretend to be Kevin Yan (严宽) in his twenties and sleep with me.”

    (Actor)

    “Alright!” Yu Xiao agreed without a second thought. “Not just shag you, even if it’s shagging the attending doctor, I’m up for it! Come now, eat!” She gulped down the rest of her steamed bun, and reached for her phone as she sipped her porridge.

    She hesitated for a moment, but curiosity got the better of her. She tapped on the Fourth Hospital Forum.

    The screen flashed with a shocking headline!

    【Sixth Hospital’s Sister Dragon is actually a green tea!】

    OP didn’t offer any explanation, just voiced their bewilderment.

    【As a green tea slag who listened the morning news, I want to know what Sister Dragon did.】

    【Me too, but I’m more curious about how green tea can be a title?】

    【Are you looking down on green tea slags upstairs? Don’t forget, green tea are cunning and deceitful behind your back.】

    【Considering the previous title, I have a feeling that Sister Dragon’s instance trip this time was rather… unspeakable.】