Several contestants sitting near Xu Zifan heard his stomach growling. They looked up and saw him drinking vegetable soup, which looked rather pitiful. Li Keyang, the contestant next to him, asked, "Xu Zifan, are you really not going to eat anything else? You won't have the energy to practice dancing this afternoon, will you?"
Xu Zifan stared at the table and sighed, "Sigh, there's nothing I can do. I'm so fat, I feel like I'll get sick if I eat any more. I dare not eat."
Li Keyang asked curiously, "You really gained 80 pounds in three months? How could that be? Is there a genetic predisposition to this in your family?"
Xu Zifan shook his head and said casually, "I don't know. My mom has always been quite thin. My dad abandoned his wife and children when I was three years old. I've never met him, not even my grandparents. I don't know if his family has a genetic predisposition for being overweight."
Pan Yu was eating at the next table with trainees from the same company when he heard this, and he clenched his teeth tightly. What's wrong with Xu Zifan? Doesn't he hate talking about his father? Pan Yu looked surprised and said in astonishment, "Zifan, your father... really? How come I've never heard you mention him? You seem quite happy every day, I thought your family was very happy."
Xu Zifan laughed nonchalantly, "I am very happy. Those scumbags who make a little money and then have an affair with their secretary and abandon their wives and children are actually happier leaving my family because my mother is a good mother. I haven't mentioned him before since you didn't ask me, so there's nothing to talk about. Don't worry about him. I just don't know if he's a big fat guy. It would be terrible if he passed on that bad gene to me. I've never been supported by him, but I've inherited his flaws instead."
Pan Yu wanted to say that there was no fat gene in his family, and his father wasn't a scumbag; he treated him very well. But Xu Zifan didn't know him at all, and he couldn't possibly reveal that he was that secretary's son—of course, he couldn't say that. Hearing Xu Zifan's comments about his parents made him incredibly angry; he couldn't taste anything in his food, only feeling disgusted.
Xu Zifan still found him repulsive. A product of infidelity, he couldn't even acknowledge his brother as his own, and now he's blaming him. He ruined his brother's life, and he thinks he's having a good time? Only after enough buildup will the mystery be revealed, allowing him to experience a torrent of affection. For now, he needs to be terrified first.
After finishing his vegetable soup, Xu Zifan leaned on the table, pressing his rumbling stomach. He stared longingly at the other people's food and said, "Don't you guys ever feel this way? Just wanting to eat, really wanting to eat, like an addiction. Just being able to eat makes you happy."
Everyone at the table was amused by his pitiful tone. Li Keyang picked up a few pieces of vegetables for him and said with a smile, "Eat some vegetables. Vegetables won't make you fat."
"I seem to gain weight even from drinking cold water. It's so strange. I wasn't like this before. Did I get poisoned by food three months ago?" Xu Zifan shook his head jokingly, but ate the vegetables incredibly fast, as if he hadn't eaten for days.
"Honestly, I've never seen anything like this before. And it came on suddenly, isn't it? It's so strange!"
Xu Zifan finished his vegetables in a few bites, then covered his mouth with a napkin, saying he was afraid of drooling. "I have this problem that no one else has, which seems a bit abnormal. I thought it was just middle-age weight gain. Aren't there people who get fat as they get older?"
"You're only 24. Even if you're considered old among us, you're not old enough to gain weight. Why don't you go and get checked out?"
Pan Yu's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly said, "Gaining weight can be a disease? That can't be right, can it? Besides, how are we going to the hospital during our closed training?"
Xu Zifan stroked his chin thoughtfully and said, "There's always a way, let's give it a try. Even if I'm not sick, I can ask a doctor to help me figure out how to lose weight faster. Doctors should have some ideas, right? Okay, I'll go now. You guys eat slowly, or I'll start taking your bowls if I keep watching you."
Everyone laughed, "You're exaggerating! Go ahead and have a good trip!"
Pan Yu wanted to call Xu Zifan again, but Xu Zifan had already jogged away, not giving him a chance to speak. He couldn't very well put down his chopsticks and chase after him to stop him; that would be like protesting too much. He was very cautious; he shouldn't have left any evidence, so they couldn't find him, right? He was feeling extremely uneasy, but he had to pretend to be nonchalant and chime in with a few words when others were talking about Xu Zifan. It was incredibly difficult.
Xu Zifan had already found a staff member and said, "Hello, may I ask if I can take half a day off? I want to go to the hospital to check if there's a problem with me gaining weight so quickly."
The staff member asked in bewilderment, "Why didn't you check before you came? We're in closed training now; what will people think if you just go out like that?"
Xu Zifan clasped his hands together and pleaded, "Please help me out. You can find someone to come with me. I promise I won't touch my phone or do anything. I never thought of getting checked before. What's the point of getting checked if I'm fat? It's just that they all said they've never seen me get this fat before, and that I should get checked. I think they're right. At least I can ask them how to lose weight. I'm a new fat person and have no experience with weight loss."
His comment about "new fat guy" made the staff laugh. The staff member said, "How about this, I'll go ask for you, and if it's okay, I'll go with you."
"Thank you so much! Thank you so much!"
He was going to the hospital, not somewhere else, so the director naturally agreed. He even thought it might become a highlight, so he had the cameraman follow him. If Xu Zifan performed well in the second episode, they would edit this in as evidence of his serious weight loss efforts. This was even better than Xu Zifan had anticipated; he wasn't afraid of the camera, but someone else was.
When it was Xu Zifan's turn to see a doctor at the hospital, he said to the camera, "I'm going in now! I'm a little nervous. I hope nothing's wrong, and I also hope it's not hereditary, otherwise it will be really hard to lose weight."
The staff member gave him a thumbs-up, and Xu Zifan nodded, took a deep breath, and went inside. Upon seeing the doctor, he truthfully explained his condition. Having just finished studying 55 years of medicine, he knew more than the doctor and deliberately steered the conversation in the direction the doctor wanted. The doctor indeed suspected his symptoms were caused by hormones and gave him a prescription for further testing.
The staff and cameraman were surprised that a check-up was actually required. They filmed Xu Zifan walking around paying, getting checked, and collecting forms. When Xu Zifan finally came out of the doctor's office, his expression was particularly unpleasant. The staff, no longer able to continue filming, couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong? Is there really a problem?"
Xu Zifan sat down in the hospital corridor, handing over the prescription in a panic, and muttered, "How could this be? How could it be a hormone overdose? I've never taken any hormone medication, and I usually eat regular food. How could this happen?"
The cameraman took a close-up photo of the medical report, which not only stated that Xu Zifan had ingested an excessive amount of a certain hormone, causing his obesity, but also that the hormone levels were too high, recommending hospitalization. This is troublesome! This program won't be filming for very long, and with the closed training, even getting a leave of absence is difficult. If Xu Zifan needs to be hospitalized, wouldn't that be equivalent to withdrawing from the competition? Judging from the first episode, it's such a pity!
The medical report seems quite serious; hospitalization isn't an option. And what if something happens to him on the show? Who will take responsibility? A staff member advised, "Don't worry, it's a good thing the hospital found out. Timely treatment will help. Why don't you notify your family? You can participate in the next season of our show once you're fully recovered."
Xu Zifan seemed to snap out of his daze, quickly perked up, put the order slip in his pocket, and said, "Could you come with me to see a traditional Chinese medicine doctor? I was thinking that since Western medicine treatments are basically just taking medicine and getting injections, and Western medicine can cure it, then traditional Chinese medicine can definitely do it too. I can just buy some pre-cooked Chinese medicine and take it back with me. If I run out, I don't need to come out again; I can just pay a little extra to have them deliver it. It won't affect the competition."
The staff member hesitated and asked, "Will this work?"
"Let's go ask. People can always find a solution. Let's go."
Xu Zifan seemed particularly decisive, and the staff and cameraman instinctively followed him. Xu Zifan chose a private clinic, and naturally, he went in and saw the doctor himself. He handed the doctor three prescriptions he had written, saying, "Please prepare half a month's worth of medicine according to the first prescription, then half a month's worth according to the second prescription and send it to this address. And after another half month, prepare the medicine on the third prescription and send it to me, is that alright?"
The doctor took his pulse, then spent a long time examining him through observation, listening, questioning, and palpation. He also looked at his diagnosis from the hospital and, comparing it with the three prescriptions, nodded in approval, saying, "Good! These prescriptions are excellent! May I ask where you got these prescriptions?"
Xu Zifan smiled and said, "I'm sorry, it's not convenient to disclose this. Just assume it's your place. I hope it can really cure my illness. It doesn't matter if the medical expenses are a little high."
The doctor, who had left the hospital to earn more money, naturally had no objection to Xu Zifan's request and quickly arranged for the medicine to be prepared. Now, Chinese medicine preparation doesn't require supervision; simply gather the herbs, put them in a container, set the timer, and it will automatically cook. Then seal it in a thick plastic bag with the expiration date and instructions for use clearly written on it. Take it home, store it in the refrigerator, and reheat it when needed.
While waiting for his medicine, Xu Zifan sat in a chair, head down, brows furrowed in thought. A staff member comforted him, saying, "Now that the problem has been identified and a treatment is available, and it won't interfere with the competition, that's great. Don't look so gloomy. You still need to practice the theme song diligently when you get back, and do your best in the second episode."
Xu Zifan paused for a moment, then looked up at her and said, "Sister Chen, I'm going to call the police. I keep thinking about it and it still doesn't feel right. How could I possibly have ingested an excessive amount of hormones? I think we have to find out the truth."
Chen Jing asked in surprise, "Huh? You suspect someone is trying to harm you?"
Xu Zifan shook his head. "That's not what I meant. I'm so poor, I just graduated and haven't found a suitable job, and I don't have a girlfriend. Why would anyone want to harm me? I just suspect there might be something wrong with my place, like the drinking water or something. I moved there three months ago. I've found out now, and it's not a big deal. But what if someone else doesn't know and gets harmed? Gaining weight suddenly is really uncomfortable. It's not that I look bad, it's just that... I'm not used to the sudden weight gain. Last month, I couldn't even breathe when I lay flat on my back because I had too much fat on my neck. I'm only getting used to it now. I think it's necessary to get it checked out."