Chapter 83 – The Medical Condition
“Will there be serious side effects?” Lin Ganzhi asked anxiously.
They say when people are anxious, they tend to forget reason. It had been over half a month already; wasn’t it a bit late for side effects to appear?
“The medicine has no side effects,” Grandpa Qin shook his head. “The previous prescription was just for supplements. Since I hadn’t seen the patient in person, I couldn’t prescribe strong medicine. What I mean by ‘wrong’ is that the symptoms you described to me before, Ganzhi, didn’t get to the root of the problem. Little Yan’s condition isn’t just because of his stomach issues. It’s more that his constitution is inherently poor, making him more susceptible to illness than others. His health was very poor as a child, and it was never properly nursed back, resulting in his resistance and immunity being much weaker than an average person’s.”
Hearing this, Lin Ganzhi immediately thought of the Zhong Family. It would be a miracle if anyone could be healthy in that kind of environment!
“So, can it be completely cured now?” This was all Lin Ganzhi cared about at the moment. As he spoke, Yan Shengping gently squeezed his hand, as if to both comfort and remind him.
“Don’t be anxious. Let’s hear Mr. Qin finish,” Yan Shengping’s tone was almost coaxing. Lin Ganzhi instantly calmed down from being a little ruffled yellow duck.
Grandpa Qin had a look on his face like he was totally shipping it. He said with a grin, “I heard from Yiyi that you two are very close. I was wondering just how close.”
Being scrutinized like this by the old man, Lin Ganzhi felt a mix of shyness and guilt. He subconsciously tried to pull his hand back, but it was held so firmly he couldn’t budge. Feeling trapped, Lin Ganzhi could feel his palms starting to sweat.
“Grandpa!” Wenren Yi shot her grandfather a look from the side. How could he betray her like this?!
Grandpa Qin quickly cleared his throat and resumed a serious expression. “Don’t worry, little Ganzhi. It can definitely be cured. Coincidentally, the book Little Yan gave me has some related wellness remedies. I’ll read it tonight and combine it with my current prescriptions. Three courses of treatment should be enough.”
Hearing Grandpa Qin’s confident words, Lin Ganzhi’s anxious heart finally settled. With Yan Shengping’s illness cured, he could finally feel at ease about his salary. Did this also mean that after three courses of treatment, he could retire with a job well done and divorce Yan Shengping? After all, that was the agreement he had made with him.
Overjoyed, Lin Ganzhi was humming a tune as he showered that evening. Outside, Yan Shengping looked at the single large bed in the room and once again felt that coming to the United States for treatment was an absolutely correct decision.
Lin Ganzhi showered quickly; he could be done in ten minutes. He was nothing like a delicate boy. He walked out wearing a white bathrobe, his damp pink hair as messy as a hedgehog that had rolled in the mud. He happened to walk out just as Yan Shengping was undoing his tie. Yan Shengping had the kind of body that looked slim in clothes but was muscular underneath. Lin Ganzhi had once seen a post online asking what a boyfriend does that makes you find him the sexiest. One of the top-voted answers was that watching a boyfriend pull off his tie was incredibly hot, giving off a “refined scoundrel” vibe.
Lin Ganzhi had been skeptical before, but now he suddenly understood the poster’s feelings. When he saw Yan Shengping’s long fingers hook the dark tie and pull it away, his slightly raised chin and the Adam’s apple exposed in the light bobbed gently, creating a sensual line under the glow.
Noticing Lin Ganzhi’s gaze, Yan Shengping took off his tie and looked over. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m done. You should go. You were out in the cold wind today, so a hot shower will warm you up,” Lin Ganzhi said, trying hard to hide his lecherous thoughts.
Yan Shengping nodded, suppressing a smile. As he passed Lin Ganzhi, he whispered, “Wait for me.”
Lin Ganzhi clutched the hem of his white bathrobe. After Yan Shengping went in, he tried to numb his easily-seduced heart with a game.
Just as he opened the game, a message from Wenren Yi popped up: “[Ganzhi, can you come over and chat with me?]”
Before Lin Ganzhi could even reply, she sent another one: “[Your partner won’t mind, will he?]”
Huh? Why the passive-aggressive tone?
“[If I want to, I can come find you anytime!]” Lin Ganzhi replied domineeringly, earning a string of starry-eyed, cute emojis from Wenren Yi.
With male temptation right in front of him, Lin Ganzhi was eager for someone to call him out for a breather to avoid losing his self-control.
So, Lin Ganzhi stood at the bathroom door, looking at the hazy black silhouette inside, and sniffled. “Yan Shengping, Wenren seems to have something she wants to talk to me about. I’m heading over. You go to sleep first!” With that, he bolted out faster than a rabbit.
Yan Shengping: …Am I going to eat you?
Well, he wasn’t far off.
But even though Lin Ganzhi ran off, he wasn’t angry. The fact that he wanted to run proved he wasn’t completely unaffected. It was the first time Shengping had used his good looks as a tactic. Though he was inexperienced, it seemed to be quite effective.
A long moment later, a low chuckle echoed from the bathroom.
Lin Ganzhi wandered around outside for a bit before finding Wenren Yi’s room. Her room wasn’t as quirky as she was; instead, it had a medieval European style, with an old-fashioned piano by the window.
“Ganzhi, you’re here. Sit. Want a drink? It’s not strong,” Wenren Yi, now in a set of gray silk pajamas that made her look even more masculine than Lin Ganzhi, lazily beckoned him over to the sofa. On the table, there was not only wine but also Lin Ganzhi’s favorite—fried chicken.
Lin Ganzhi’s eyes lit up, and he quickly sat down across from Wenren Yi.
“Eat up. I ordered it especially for you,” Wenren Yi said, surprisingly not fighting him for the food this time. Lin Ganzhi found this puzzling.
“I have a performance in a few days. I can’t gain weight,” Wenren Yi explained, seeing through his thoughts.
“Oh, you’re a singer, right?” Lin Ganzhi had chatted with Wenren Yi about all sorts of things, but they rarely discussed their work. He had always assumed Wenren Yi was like him, not too concerned with her career in the entertainment industry, just coasting as a singer.
“Who told you my main profession is a singer? I’m just like you in the entertainment industry, just playing around. My main profession is playing the piano,” Wenren Yi said, even mentioning a very famous concert hall in the country. “Next week, I’m performing there. I only joined the entertainment industry because I was throwing a tantrum at my master. But it wasn’t a bad thing. I got to know you, Que Jin, and that clueless Lu Xi. But I’ll probably fade out later. I really don’t like this circle.”
Wenren Yi’s words hit Lin Ganzhi like a bombshell, leaving him stunned. This was even more shocking than hearing that her family owned an entire mountain. He actually had such an incredible big shot among his friends!
Wenren Yi thought Lin Ganzhi was silent because he was offended that she had only just told him, and she was about to explain.
But then Lin Ganzhi looked at her seriously and said, “Does that mean a lot of people want your autograph?”
Wenren Yi thought about her sold-out concerts and nodded. “I guess so.”
“Sign ten for me later!” Lin Ganzhi’s money-grubbing nature was exposed. But Wenren Yi liked this about him. He was a lot like her—not driven by strong ambitions. For friends, wealth or poverty didn’t matter; what was most important was clicking with them.
“Sure. If someone actually buys them, tell me the market price. I’m quite curious to know.”
Lin Ganzhi gave Wenren Yi an “OK” sign.
“Actually, I asked you here to talk about my grandma,” Wenren Yi said, taking a sip of wine.
“Grandma seems so nice. She’ll definitely get better. Didn’t Grandpa Qin say he’d do his best to cure her?” Lin Ganzhi comforted her.
“Grandpa’s medical skills are amazing, but Grandma’s illness is a sickness of the heart. If her emotional knot isn’t untied, she’ll never be able to move on,” Wenren Yi nodded, a touch of sorrow in her eyes.
Lin Ganzhi pursed his lips and then said, “Today, I heard Grandma say that Yan Shengping is the same age as her youngest son. Your uncle should be twenty-nine now, right?”
“Yeah. Grandma was talking about my youngest uncle. If he were still alive, he would have turned twenty-nine this October,” Wenren Yi said, downing the wine in her glass in one go.
“If you want to talk, then talk properly. Don’t drink so fiercely. You’re a pianist; drinking less is better for your health,” Lin Ganzhi snatched the wine glass from her. He was usually a soft person, but he became a bit fierce when it came to matters of principle. The way he frowned was quite intimidating.
Wenren Yi nodded with a bitter smile. “Okay, I’ll talk properly. This happened when I was about four and my youngest uncle was seven. My youngest uncle was born to my grandmother late in life, and it took a great deal to have him, so the whole family doted on him. When I was born, they doted on both of us. My mom said that when I was four, I kept insisting on going to school with my uncle. The family had no choice but to send us to a private elite school. I attended kindergarten there, and my uncle was in the first grade. Every day, he would come to the kindergarten to wait with me for the butler to pick us up. At that time, our family was at a critical turning point in our development and had made quite a few enemies. I don’t remember much about the kidnapping, only that my uncle and I were taken to a small, dark room.”
“The adults there made us answer the phone every day, made us cry. Then one day, I suddenly came down with a high fever. When I woke up, I was already in the hospital, but my uncle wasn’t with me. When I got older, my mom told me what happened. The police had already located the kidnappers, and they were about to kill the hostages. My uncle made a deal with them: let me go, and he would help them escape. Later, it took the police over three months to locate the kidnappers again. Those people were just a bunch of desperados.”
“They wanted the money, but they weren’t willing to release him. They tricked our family and the police time and time again. When the police finally found them, they detonated a bomb and committed suicide. My uncle’s body was never found, and we lost all news of him. Later, when our family became powerful, we found the enemies from back then, but there were still no clues. It was as if my uncle had vanished from the face of the earth. Because of this, my grandmother’s heart was filled with grief. She never saw a therapist, just blamed herself night after night for being too hasty in building the business, which led to this tragedy. As she got older, she couldn’t bear it anymore, and her spirit was worn down until it became fragile. A few years ago, Grandpa could still treat her, but in the last two years, it’s been a cycle of relapses. Sometimes, she doesn’t recognize me for two months straight.”
After finishing, Wenren Yi rubbed her eyes hard, her voice trembling slightly, but she still refused to cry in front of Lin Ganzhi. “Why couldn’t it have been me who suffered that instead of my uncle?”