Chapter One: The Conscience Medical Hall (1)

　　What kind of person is Henry Brooks?

　　Those who know him have extremely polarized opinions.

　 Half say he is good for nothing.

　 The other half say he knows everything, understands everything, is versed in everything—he’s practically a genius.

　 Henry Brooks feels he’s definitely not as useless as the former claim, but also not as extraordinary as the latter suggest.

　 But he does genuinely feel that he knows quite a lot.

　 He can talk about major and minor events, both domestic and international.

He can chat about neighborhood squabbles and family matters, big or small.

Astronomy and geography? He’s studied them.

He’s dabbled in all walks of life.

He knows a bit about history and culture.

He can discuss medicine, divination, and astrology.

Celebrity gossip? He can rattle it off at a moment’s notice.

Ancient and modern heroes—there’s none he doesn’t know.

Mythology and strange tales? He can talk about them until he’s foaming at the mouth.

Modern cultivation stories? He can analyze them as if they were real.

Classical literature makes him linger, reluctant to leave.

Online literature haunts his dreams.

When it comes to traditional Chinese medicine, he can quote the classics and talk up a storm.

Discussing Western medicine and surgery, he can sound so knowledgeable that even the chief surgeon would think he’s an expert.

()

……

This is Henry Brooks: a man with nothing but his own two shoulders and a mouth, barely scraping by but not quite drifting aimlessly.

Orphaned, with no children.

One person eats, the whole family is fed.

He works diligently from nine to five, pinching pennies to make 3,500 a month.

After rent, utilities, and spending on cigarettes and alcohol, he’s not in the red, but savings are hard to come by.

Still, it doesn’t stop him from entertaining himself and finding joy alone (what else can you do if you can’t find a partner?).

Every blind date ends with the girl laughing until her sides hurt, but after parting, the eagerly awaited reply is always about the same: He’s a nice guy, but we’re not suitable.

Many warm-hearted aunties always sigh with regret: What a good young man—if only he didn’t talk so much.

In summary, he’s just the most ordinary person in the vast sea of humanity.

He can eat, drink, and talk; under modern rote education, he really does know a bit of everything… but only at the level of “knowing” and “understanding.”

Anything deeper is none of his business.

As for now…

Now, even this life has nothing to do with him anymore.

………………He has transmigrated.

……

“If my parents’ spirits are watching from above, and they know I’m living well in another world, thriving, and even have a chance to get rich, maybe they’d be happy and comforted…”

“Though the profession isn’t exactly respectable.”

“But I’m sure my parents wouldn’t care—as long as I’m living happily, no matter what my job is, they’d be half at ease.”

“As long as they know I’m not dead, that’s enough. No need for them to know what I do now.”

“Everything from my previous life is already irrelevant to me.”

“Since I’m new here, let me change my name first.”

“A tribute to this other world.”

“From now on, I’m not Henry Brooks anymore. I’ll drop the ‘晓’ character. From now on, I’m Ethan Brooks.”

“Hopefully, those memories will never be unsealed again.”

“If one day I can go back, I’ll pay respects to my parents’ graves. By then, I should be able to proudly say: Your little Yin has made something of himself.”

When he chose this name, he never imagined that those memories would not only remain unsealed, but would instead become… his greatest asset for survival in this other world.

So much so that later, he felt the name Ethan Brooks he’d chosen was a joke—a not very funny one at that…

He could only change his story.

I am a breeze from another world.

Here, I leave my deep imprint.

……

Henry Brooks…

No, that’s not right. It should be Ethan Brooks now.

Ethan Brooks has already spent ten years in this other world.

Through wind and rain, through the cycles of spring and autumn.

Braving frost, snow, and storms, fighting against the current.

Enduring hardships, yet never losing his passion.

Singing songs of sorrow every day.

Yes, the first ten years that Ethan Brooks spent in this world… were ten years that are hard to describe.

Ten years full of bumps, setbacks, and pain!

The only consolation is that the current Ethan Brooks is much, much more handsome than the short, dark, and poor Henry Brooks of his previous life.

At least now he’s 1.8 meters tall, weighs only 70 kilos, truly slim in clothes and muscular without.

Long legs, a strong waist, tall and straight, with a handsome face, thick eyebrows, big eyes, and a rectangular face…

The above is all he’s gained in ten years—the only “transmigration benefit”…

“Handsome as I am, this world isn’t one that values looks… a bit disappointing… Otherwise, just imagine how much of a playboy I’d be… Luckily, this harsh world has made me a cold, taciturn, upright killer…”

Ethan Brooks really feels he was born at the wrong time.

If it were his previous life, with this physique, this face, this build, this look, this demeanor, this aura… Ha! Money? What’s that?

He’d have rich women and beauties throwing themselves at him… cough.

……

It’s been ten years since he transmigrated.