Jiang Wei covered her swollen, slapped face and took out all her jewelry from the room, placing it in Xu Mo’s hands.
Including the gift she had received for her eighteenth birthday coming-of-age ceremony—a blue diamond necklace.
Back then, Father Jiang and her adoptive mother had smiled warmly: “Our Weiwei only needs to be happy from now on. No need to work hard, no need to study hard. Your parents will always catch you if you fall.”
Including the ruby jewelry set that Father Jiang and Jiang Che had given her at her graduation ceremony. At the time, her father had also given her a deep blue diamond-studded gown custom-made abroad a year in advance.
When Jiang Che gave it to her, he had smiled and stroked her head: “Our Weiwei has grown up. You need to dress yourself up beautifully and nobly. Your parents will always be behind you. I won’t allow anyone to bully you.”
As all the jewelry was happily taken away by Xu Mo and placed in Jiang Wan’s hands, Jiang Wei’s life was completely emptied out.
Her past life seemed fake, an illusion.
Only the present was real—real enough to cut.
She gazed at the swing in the front yard that she used to sit on. After Jiang Wan broke it, it had remained crooked and slanted there, the wood slowly rotting.
Back then, Jiang Wei understood that she had to accept her prosperity and decline just like that swing.
When she moved out and packed her things, she didn’t take a single expensive gown. She had long since returned the car keys to Xu Mo. She only brought some simple changes of clothes, as if she were reborn—what didn’t belong to her, she couldn’t take with her.
As soon as Jiang Wei stepped into the entrance of the pet clinic, a large golden retriever lunged at her with its tongue hanging out. Jiang Wei was pushed back a step before she steadied herself.
Jiang Wei dodged, but still got a face full of drool.
She laughed and dodged: “Chief Wang, stop it.”
Chief Wang let out a low whimper and backed off from Jiang Wei.
Jiang Wei poured dog food for Chief Wang, who limped along, wagging his tail as he went to eat.
Chief Wang had been abandoned. He had fallen from the third floor, vomiting blood at the time, his life hanging by a thread.
The owner was a middle-aged woman, her expression anxious, crying her eyes out: “Doctor, please save him.”
Jiang Wei immediately prepared for surgery. She comforted the middle-aged woman: “He can be saved.”
The middle-aged woman looked at the bill, which listed the surgery fee at fifteen thousand, and hemmed and hawed: “Will there be more costs later?”
Jiang Wei: “This is just the surgery fee. Later there will be rehabilitation costs and medical fees. Altogether it’ll be forty to fifty thousand. I can give you a discount—I’ll only charge the cost of medicine, eighteen thousand total. I won’t charge any more than that.”
“His condition is critical. We can’t delay.”
The middle-aged woman: “Will he be guaranteed to be healthy, like before?”
Jiang Wei: “He has cerebral hemorrhage, a broken leg, and a punctured lung. I can’t guarantee he’ll be the same as before.”
The middle-aged woman, tears streaming down her face, hugged the golden retriever and cried: “Doctor, I won’t treat him. Let him go free.”
“Doctor, I really don’t have the money.”
Jiang Wei paused: “No charge. I’ll treat him for free.”
She was very sincere: “He can be cured.”
The middle-aged woman shook her head through her tears: “Forget it. My family really can’t take care of a disabled dog.”
The golden retriever seemed to know he was about to be abandoned. Bleeding, tears flowed from his eyes as he let out low whimpers. He raised his paw, reaching for the middle-aged woman.
The middle-aged woman’s tears fell onto the golden retriever’s fur, mixing with his blood. She held him: “An’an, you have to be good. Mommy loves you.”
Jiang Wei’s voice was slightly cold: “You should go now. Stop crying—you’re delaying his treatment.”
“Luo Xue, prepare for surgery.”
Luo Xue: “Yes.”
The middle-aged woman was escorted out, cried at the hospital entrance for two hours, and left.
The golden retriever lay limp on the operating table, barely alive, as Jiang Wei pushed the anesthetic.
After they brought him back, Luo Xue complained: “Did you see that woman’s bag? A Chanel worth tens of thousands. She doesn’t have money?”
Luo Xue was the vice director of Weiguang Pet Hospital, which she co-owned with Jiang Wei. She was Jiang Wei’s classmate and now mainly handled the business side.
Jiang Wei stroked the fur of the golden retriever they had just rescued: “Adult love is always measured by value.”
Because the big golden retriever loved meddling in everything, they named him Chief Wang. He was disabled with a fragile digestive system, and no one wanted to adopt him, so he just stayed at the pet hospital.
He was affectionate with Jiang Wei and especially well-behaved.
Jiang Wei put on her white coat and started her shift.
After Chief Wang finished eating, he went into his cage by himself, closed the door with his little paw, and lay there staring at Jiang Wei with pleading eyes that could melt anyone’s heart.
In Luo Xue’s words, they had saved themselves a son.
Weiguang Pet Hospital had five doctors, each with their own duties. Right now, one was neutering a cat, one was neutering a dog, and one was treating a crocodile.
Jiang Wei was treating a high-rose pineapple green-cheeked conure named Guoguo who had inhaled toxic fumes from a burnt non-stick pan releasing Teflon gas.
The owner had no idea that a burnt non-stick pan could nearly kill Guoguo. Fortunately, they got him to the hospital in time.
Birds poisoned this way would suffer hypothermia and collapse, requiring immediate warming, oxygen, nebulization, anti-inflammatories to prevent pulmonary edema, fluid therapy, and liver support.
Guoguo was in the incubator, lying down, playing with his tail feathers as he dozed, his little eyes blinking. He looked much better.
She was about to take Guoguo out for a check—he should be ready for discharge.
A girl in a school uniform, voice choked with sobs, breathless, said, “Sister, please help it.”
In the girl’s arms was a bloodstained plastic bag, blood dripping down.
Her voice trembled: “I found it next to the trash can. It’s still alive, still alive…”
Jiang Wei put on medical nitrile gloves, her voice calm: “Let me see.”
“Give it to me. You go wash your hands and disinfect. Remember not to touch it with your bare hands from now on.”
The girl’s voice quivered: “Okay. I, I panicked.”
“I’ve never seen this much blood in my life, but there was a kitten crying inside.”
Jiang Wei opened the plastic bag. A tortoiseshell cat was curled up inside, fur matted, filthy, reeking of the stench of rotting blood.
It let out a piercing “meow.”
Its left front leg was bent at an impossible angle, its right ear was half missing, and its mouth had a split at the corner—scabbed over and then torn open again.
Jiang Wei’s voice was calm: “Take lateral X-rays, full body. Draw blood for biochemistry and CBC. Prepare an IV catheter—I need to start fluids for shock.”
Her fingers brushed under the cat’s jaw. The cat was highly reactive, fierce, but had no strength.
Jiang Wei put on bite-proof gloves, restrained the tortoiseshell, and examined its mouth. Two teeth were broken, and there were burn marks on its tongue.
Burns.
Cigarette burns.
Luo Xue heard the commotion and ran out, gasping: “Animal abuse.”
Her hand holding the stethoscope was trembling—not from fear, but from rage.
Jiang Wei looked down at the tortoiseshell, gently soothing it with her hand, her voice soft: “Baby, don’t be afraid.”
Animals that have been abused have extreme stress responses and will attack people aggressively, because of fear—deep, profound fear.
Miraculously, the tortoiseshell’s trembling stopped. Its stress response eased, and it lay still in the pool of blood.
Luo Xue murmured softly, “Is this the Guide Gene? Stressed animals become so docile in your hands. A heaven-chosen veterinarian, subduing all kinds of wild beasts.”
Jiang Wei crouched in front of it and asked softly and gently, “Do you want to live, or do you want to be euthanized? Baby?”
Cat abusers generally don’t let the cat die; instead, they let it live on in slow agony, making miserable screams—this sound excites them.
After the little girl finished washing her hands and disinfecting, she heard these words and ran over, tears pattering down: “It wants to live, it wants to live. I just told it I came to save it, and it let me touch it. At first it hissed at me, but as soon as I said I’d save it, it—let it live, please.”
The girl sobbed beside them, tears like broken beads soaking her school uniform, looking at Jiang Wei through blurry eyes: “But I don’t have money. I’m still a student…”