Medical Record 001: The Delicate Prince

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Medical Record 001: The Delicate Prince

The old building had a particularly quiet atmosphere in the afternoon. Its thick brick walls blocked out the sunlight, leaving the interior dim and making it very easy to slip into a lazy, drowsy mood.

The young veterinarian in a white coat sat behind the reception desk, which he also used to deal with customers. As someone who had only just started his own practice, Luo Sai naturally didn’t dare hire a nurse. Labor wasn’t cheap around here. For all he knew, after working his butt off all day, everything he earned would end up going toward the nurse’s salary.

The old building didn’t have many rooms, but the main hall was fairly spacious. To keep the sick animals separated and prevent later customers from upsetting them, he had used curtains to section off a small examination room. Of the two rooms at the back, aside from the kitchen and bathroom, one was used to store medicine and miscellaneous supplies, while the other, which was more spacious, held several glass tanks and cages.

To save on rent, he had already given up his previous place and moved into the attic here. At least getting on and off work was convenient.

The sign outside the glass door had been flipped to “OPEN,” but Luo Sai had already been sitting here all morning without a single customer walking through the door. It had been like this for at least a month.

Propping his chin in his hand and fighting off the afternoon drowsiness, he half-closed his eyes.

Was this what people in Guangdong called “swatting flies”?

Except now, not even a single fly was willing to come in…

I’m doomed. How am I going to pay this month’s rent…?

Just as Veterinarian Luo had become so dejected that he’d lost all dignity and dropped his head onto the desk beneath the counter, sighing so much that the entire room seemed to be filling with resentment, the little brass bell embedded in the door suddenly rang out with a crisp ding-a-ling .

To Luo Sai’s ears, it was practically the sweet sound of a cash register.

“Hello! Welcome!”

He hurriedly straightened up behind the counter.

Because the person standing at the door was backlit, Luo Sai couldn’t make out their appearance at first. All he could see was an exceptionally broad figure that nearly filled the entire doorway, blocking out the light completely. The man’s head was even hidden in the shadow above the doorframe.

Europeans were generally tall and large, so Luo Sai was already used to it. Especially as an Asian, he had long since grown accustomed to heights that seemed practically insurmountable.

Since this was his first customer, however, he was somewhat flustered. The medical forms and registration book were sitting right beside him, yet he still had to pull open a drawer and rummage around before finding everything he needed.

Fortunately, the customer seemed extremely patient and didn’t turn around and leave just because of his awkwardness and nervousness.

Once he had finally gathered everything, Luo Sai smiled somewhat sheepishly, placed the registration book in front of the customer, and handed him a pen topped with an adorable little cow-shaped design.

“Please fill this out first.”

“Okay.” The man’s voice was deep and heavy, a rich masculine voice. “Your pen is cute.”

“Thank you.”

The customer was simply too tall. Luo Sai’s line of sight only reached the man’s chest, and he felt too embarrassed to immediately look up. He picked up his medical form instead, lowered his head, and asked while writing, “May I ask what’s wrong with your pet?”

“Accidentally choked on an apple while eating.”

An apple?

Luo Sai found that a little strange, but carefully wrote it down on the medical form anyway.

Then he suddenly remembered that he hadn’t even asked what kind of animal the man’s pet was.

Feeling extremely embarrassed by his own carelessness, Luo Sai couldn’t help it. Back when he had worked at a veterinary hospital, the nurse at the front desk had always filled out all the information and taken care of everything before sending the patient in. All he had needed to do was examine the animal.

It was nothing like running his own clinic, where he had to handle absolutely everything himself.

“I’m sorry, but may I ask what kind of animal your pet is?”

“It’s…” The man hesitated.

For some reason, Luo Sai even thought he heard a shy tremor in his voice.

“It’s… a bull.”

“A bull?!”

Luo Sai knew he shouldn’t make such a fuss, but he really couldn’t imagine how his tiny clinic was supposed to accommodate an entire bull!!

But just as he raised his head to ask for clarification, a gigantic mouth suddenly appeared before his eyes.

Yes.

A gigantic mouth.

Its jaws were stretched completely open, exposing a huge, wide, deep-red oral cavity. It was so large and deep that he could see all the way down the throat!

There were no upper incisors. The upper jaw had three pairs of premolars and three pairs of molars, while the lower jaw had six pairs of premolars and molars, with a pair of incisors in the center, followed by the inner middle incisors, outer middle incisors, and corner incisors, symmetrically arranged on both sides, for a total of four pairs of lower incisors.

Yes.

It was definitely a bull!

There was nothing frightening about a bull.

The problem was when a bull’s head was attached to a human body!

A perfectly normal bull’s head had taken the place of a human head, attached to the neck of a huge, muscular man. After seeing something terrifying enough to make even the thickest-skinned person faint on the spot, Luo Sai honestly hated the fact that he could still calmly identify it as a bull.

What is going on?! What is going on?!

Luo Sai screamed internally.

He felt that even if he fainted right now, it would be completely understandable, right?!

But if he fainted, there was a good chance the monster would dismember him and eat him, wouldn’t there?

Yes, very likely!

In that case, fainting wasn’t worth it.

At least if he stayed conscious, he could still make a run for the door!

Right?

Exactly. That was it.

On the outside, however, he continued to act as though nothing had happened, maintaining an utterly serious, expressionless face.

“Could you…”

Stay calm. Stay calm.

Luo Sai swallowed nervously with a tiny, audible gulp , forcing himself to remain composed.

“Could you please close your mouth first?”

“Ah, I’m terribly sorry!”

The bull’s mouth really did close, just as he had asked.

The white bull had exceptionally beautiful, soft fur and a pair of perfectly formed, powerful horns. As horrifying as it was to see all of this attached to a human neck, Luo Sai still couldn’t deny that this was the most beautiful bull he had ever seen.

No.

The most beautiful bull’s head.

“I’m really sorry. I thought you had to open your mouth first when seeing a doctor…”

That was technically true.

But surely that only applied to humans?!

The corner of Luo Sai’s mouth twitched several times. He suppressed the urge to scream and run for his life. This bull-man was simply too strong. He was blocking the entire doorway. Even if Luo Sai flattened himself into an Italian pancake, he might not be able to squeeze past him!

“Ahem. It’s fine.”

He adjusted the glasses on the bridge of his nose. A slight reflection on the lenses made it harder for the other party to see his eyes, which was convenient for hiding the panic in them and maintaining the image of a calm, dignified doctor.

“Then let me ask you this. How has your pet—er, I mean, your appetite been lately?”

“Pretty average.”

“Do you have any leftover feed?”

“I do have quite a lot left…”

“How many times do you ruminate each day, and how long does each session last?”

The bull-headed man shifted his enormous body, looking somewhat embarrassed.

“Five times a day. About twenty minutes each time…”

“What about the consistency of your feces? The color of your urine? Are your bowel movements normal?”

The string of questions finally made the bull-headed man become as bashful as a little girl.

“Doctor, you’re so mean! Why are you asking me such embarrassing questions…?”

“…”

Embarrassing? My ass!!

Seeing a guy built like a mountain acting all coy and bashful, Doctor Luo was practically having an internal meltdown.

But he couldn’t let a hint of it show on the outside. He adjusted the rim of his glasses with one hand and patiently explained, “Appetite, rumination, fecal consistency, and frequency of defecation are all very reliable physiological indicators in cattle. They’re a good way to assess a cattle’s health. Generally speaking, healthy cattle produce feces of an appropriate consistency, and they usually defecate somewhat more frequently as well.”

“Oh, I see! Doctor, you’re amazing! I have been having a little trouble going lately…”

“I noticed that your belching has a somewhat sour smell…”

“Oh, how mean! You’re saying I have bad breath! Doctor, you’re so mean!”

Could you please stop using a bull’s gruff voice to speak like a little girl?!

While internally flipping tables left and right, Doctor Luo very seriously recorded the symptoms on the medical record, as he habitually did, and continued explaining, “Decreased appetite, suppressed rumination, constipation, and sour-smelling belches. Have there been any changes to your diet recently?”

“Theseus gave me an entire container of soybean meal. It’s really delicious, so I couldn’t help eating it all the time…”

“…”

Ignoring the oddly familiar name, Luo Sai continued writing on the medical record: Chemical impaction caused by excessive consumption of protein-rich legume feed.

The bull-headed man’s face turned pale with fright.

“Doctor, what’s wrong with me?!”

“The preliminary diagnosis is rumen impaction.”

The hulking monster was terrified. He actually began trembling and whimpered like a frightened little girl.

“Doctor, please save me… Moooo… I don’t want to die yet… Moooo… I don’t want you to cut out my stomach… Moooo…”

A bull. Yes, an actual bull. What exactly was it supposed to look like when a bull cried?!

Luo Sai felt as though an entire herd of cattle had charged straight into his head and started bouncing around inside it. His ears were roaring so loudly he thought he was going deaf!

He raised his voice and shouted at the agitated bull-headed man, “Please don’t panic! It’s just a minor problem!”

“A minor problem? So you can cure me?”

His tears disappeared faster than a summer rainstorm. The bull-headed man blinked his watery little eyes at Luo Sai, looking as though he would start crying again if the doctor didn’t tell him he could be cured.

Doctor Luo had already run out of energy for complaining. Under normal human circumstances, this was basically just a case of overeating. And even if it really became serious enough to require a rumenotomy, there were still four stomach compartments to work with…

However, Luo Sai wisely refrained from explaining the whole truth. When dealing with monsters, he absolutely had to be more tactful than he would be with an ordinary human.

“You only need to take an oil-based laxative. If your condition doesn’t improve, you can come back for gastric lavage.”

He got up, went to the small pharmacy, and brought back a large, generously portioned packet of laxatives, which he handed to the bull-headed man.

“Doctor, you’re such a wonderful person!”

The bull-headed man took the medicine with the look of someone who had just escaped death. Then he pulled out a ball of yarn and placed it on the reception desk.

“This is a token of love between Theseus and me! I’m giving it to you as a thank-you gift now! Your medical skills are truly amazing. I’ll definitely come back again!”

“…”

Please, don’t come back again! Out the door, turn left, and keep going. You’re not welcome back!

Watching the bull-headed man cheerfully leave the clinic with his giant bag of laxatives after casually tossing down the ball of yarn, Luo Sai finally realized that his calves were trembling. With a plop , he dropped heavily into his chair.

The enormous figure had completely disappeared into the sunlight, and everything seemed to have returned to normal.

An empty animal clinic.

Clean instruments.

A tidy examination table…

Just as Doctor Luo was beginning to wonder if the whole thing had been a hallucination brought on by dozing off, that enormous mooing voice rang out from outside as if to remind him that it had really happened.

“Goodbye, Doctor! I’ll tell everyone about you when I get home and have them all come to your clinic for treatment!”

Advertise my clinic? My ass!!

Luo Sai felt as though he had been struck by lightning from every possible direction.

He sat there limp and exhausted for a long time before finally remembering something. He fumbled for the registration book and picked it up. One entire page had been occupied by a single name, written in huge, unmistakably clear letters.

“Minotaur.”

Luo Sai felt as though a nerve in his brain had snapped. The terrifying image he had carried since childhood of the savage Minotaur prince hidden deep within a labyrinth, who feasted on young men and women and was eventually slain by the hero Theseus… had completely collapsed.

In a forgotten little corner, the drab, inconspicuous ball of yarn began gently rolling on its own, without anyone pushing it…

Minotaur

A monster born to King Minos of Crete as punishment for offending the sea god Poseidon. Savage by nature and especially fond of the tender flesh of children, it was imprisoned in an extremely complicated and confusing labyrinth. With the help of Ariadne, princess of Crete, the young hero Theseus used a ball of yarn to find his way through the labyrinth and slew the Minotaur with a sword she had given him.

The Magical Ball of Yarn

Ariadne’s thread, which could roll on its own to find the exit of a labyrinth. In Greek mythology, the hero Theseus, with the help of Ariadne, princess of Crete, used a ball of yarn to navigate the labyrinth and kill the monster Minotaur. This ball of yarn, known as Ariadne’s thread, became Theseus’s lifeline within the labyrinth.

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