A Golden Needle
by gravityyaoi
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WARNING:
This writing may contain slurs, cheating, orientation play, forced sexual situations, body growth and many other uncomfortable situations and themes that do not necessarily align with the author's actual societal, political, or moral values.
Please do no read if any of these may offend you and refrain from inappropriate comments if the writing doesn't align with your personal beliefs. There are many other more agreeable stories that you can be enjoy and you're not obligated to continue reading if you find the story to your displeasure.
For all intents and purposes, the characters within are legal age of majority where applicable despite any other claims made purely for fictional entertainment value.
Constructive criticism is welcome when addressed in a polite and respectful manner. Thank you for reading and I hope you all enjoy.
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"I'm telling you, Mason, I'm fine. It's just a little sprain, it doesn't even really ache that much."
I was on the phone with Mason, my boyfriend of 2 years, while sitting in the office of a local acupuncturist waiting for my appointment. I'd come to Chengdu a few months back to finally explore some of my stepmother's culture after high school. She'd always talked about how beautiful China was and I'd been obsessed with coming here since I was young.
To support myself while soaking in the beautiful city, I had been tutoring some young students in English part time. Today had been a usual job, but when I was leaving I tripped and hurt my ankle. The family obviously wasn't at fault, but they insisted they pay for me to see an acupuncturist to help with the swelling. I'd never had acupuncture before, though I'd seen my stepmother have it and had always been interested, so I took them up on the offer.
"Tyler? I'm ready for see you now," said a young Chinese woman, peeking her head out of a doorway.
"Mason, seriously I'm fine. I'll call you when I get out. Love you, bye." He'd always been protective of me, but it came from a good place so I put up with it. I put my phone on mute before shoving it into my pants and following her.
I entered the exam room and took a seat across from a desk. The room wasn't very large, but quite cozy and reflected the old building the office was in. A large, comfortable-looking table was in the center with a smaller table beside it containing boxes of sterile needles. The bamboo shades were drawn giving the whole set-up a pleasant ambiance.
"I'm Dr. Lee, but you can call me Mei. So it says here you're coming to us for a sprain that happened this morning?" said the young woman. She had long, black hair worn up in a bun atop a round face with flawless skin and ruby lips. She was maybe 24 years old to my 20 and she spoke English almost fluently which was a relief. I could speak some Chinese, but not to a degree where I was comfortable.
"Yeah, I honestly think it's pretty minor, but the family insisted," I said, brushing it off.
"Yes, the Zhao family has been coming to our clinic for many years. They're such a nice family. If you don't mind, I'm going to look at your tongue and check your pulse as well, see if we can give your body a tune-up while you're here on top of working with the sprain.
I nodded and stuck out my tongue. I'd seen my mother do this routine many times in the past, so I'd been expecting it. She looked it over for a couple minutes then reached out to take my pulse, first my left hand and then my right. The whole process took about five minutes or so and when she was done she jotted a few notes on a clipboard.
Mei looked up and started, "For someone so young, you have a lot of Yin in your body. A young man like you should be overflowing with Yang energy. Yin is a more feminine energy while Yang is a more masculine one, do you find this to be the case throughout your life?"
'Feminine? You don't know the half of it,' I thought to myself and chuckled inwardly. If being gay counted as feminine, then I could certainly see it. My stepmother had always called me her 'Yin-baby' after I came out of the closet. She never looked down on me for it and supported my boyfriend and I, but she had a very old-school Chinese upbringing and I could tell she was disappointed she wouldn't have grandchildren, even if I wasn't blood-related.
"Yeah, I think I can see that," I mentioned, half grinning.
"Wonderful, let's see if I can't balance that energy out a little. We'll do the session in two parts, first for your ankle, and then finish with a more in-depth treatment if that's alright with you. I think you'll feel better than ever after you leave today."