“I need to speak to Aunt Min,” Mei said, her expression clearly troubled.
“Is there any problem, Mei Mei?” Grandma Li asked weakly as she looked at Mei.
Her complexion was pale, her breathing uneven, and she looked as though she could pass out at any moment.
“It’s nothing, Grandma. I just want to speak to Aunt Min, that’s all.” Mei suppressed the discomfort in her heart and forced a reassuring smile.
Before leaving, she gently adjusted the blanket over Grandma Li and reinserted the silver needles she had removed earlier.
The acupuncture treatment was meant to regulate the flow of qi and blood, relieve the tightness in her chest, ease her breathing, calm her irregular heartbeat, and reduce the discomfort spreading through her body.
She had also gently massaged several pressure points to improve circulation before allowing her grandmother to rest.
“Take good care of Grandma. Don’t give her any medication until I return,” Mei instructed the servants.
She paused at the door before giving her final order.
“And please, when Aunt Min comes back, inform me immediately.”
The servants nodded respectfully as Mei hurried out of the villa.
She stopped a taxi and headed straight for a pharmacy to buy the herbs needed for her grandmother’s treatment.
As the vehicle drove through the busy streets, countless thoughts flooded her mind.
Grandma Li had difficulty breathing, a persistent fever, arrhythmia, dizziness, and a severe cough.
The illness had already progressed beyond ordinary treatment.
The herbs she planned to buy could only suppress the symptoms temporarily, buying her enough time to prevent the condition from worsening while she searched for a permanent cure.
Suddenly, a memory flashed through her mind.
Years ago, her master had treated a patient suffering from an almost identical illness.
At the time, he had relied on an extremely rare prescription, combining acupuncture, medicinal cupping, and several precious herbs to remove the disease from its root.
The patient had completely recovered in just two weeks.
The prescription required Snow Lotus, a legendary flower that bloomed only on the icy peaks of western China, Wild Millennium Ginseng, believed to have matured for over a thousand years, Snow Ganoderma Lucidum, a rare spiritual lingzhi that grew beneath ancient glaciers, Ice Jade Cordyceps, harvested from the frozen plateaus, and Heaven Frost Root, an almost mythical herb that could only be found deep within the snow-covered mountains bordering Guangxi.
Each herb was worth a fortune.
Collecting all of them would cost no less than twenty million yuan, assuming they could even be found.
Most of them were auctioned privately among wealthy collectors and powerful medical families.
Mei sighed softly.
She didn’t have that kind of money.
If she wanted to save Grandma Li, she had to find twenty million yuan as quickly as possible.After thinking carefully, only one person came to mind.
An Zhao.
After all, Grandma Li was his mother.
The taxi soon stopped in front of a magnificent building.
Jade Spring Pharmacy.
It was the largest and most reputable pharmacy in China, supplying both traditional Chinese medicinal herbs and modern Western medicine.
Countless rare herbs could only be found there.
Although Mei didn’t have enough money for the rare ingredients, she still had enough to buy several common herbs that would temporarily stabilise her grandmother’s condition.
“This Jade Spring Pharmacy is a scam!”
Everyone turned towards the source of the commotion.
Several people tried comforting the middle-aged woman, urging her to lower her voice, but she only became louder.
“Your pharmacy killed my dear husband! How am I supposed to raise my children now?” she cried as she grabbed the receptionist by his shirt.
Mei lowered her gaze and noticed a middle-aged man lying motionless on the floor.
“I’ll call the police! I’ll expose all of you!” the woman screamed between sobs.
“What happened?” Mei quietly asked one of the bystanders.
The man beside her sighed.
“She came here earlier today looking for medicine because her husband had severe stomach pain and diarrhoea. The receptionist prescribed Huoxiang Zhengqi Powder, a traditional Chinese herbal formula commonly used to treat food poisoning, stomach flu, vomiting, diarrhoea, and digestive disorders. She came back a short while later claiming her husband died after taking it.”
Mei observed the scene silently.
Something immediately caught her attention.
The man’s toes twitched ever so slightly beneath his trousers, and the muscles in his calves contracted from time to time.
He was still alive…
Or at least, that was her first hypothesis.
However, she couldn’t jump to conclusions.
After death, the body can occasionally display involuntary muscle movements due to residual electrical activity within the muscle fibres.
As cells begin to break down, calcium is released uncontrollably, causing brief contractions or twitching even though the heart has already stopped.
It was uncommon, but certainly possible.
“I need compensation, or I’ll call the police!” the woman’s voice interrupted Mei’s thoughts.
“Please, ma’am, let’s go inside and discuss this properly,” the receptionist pleaded while trying to loosen her grip on his shirt.
“I want ten million yuan for my husband’s death!”
The receptionist’s eyes widened instantly.
Ten million yuan?
The largest amount of money he had ever handled was three million yuan, and it hadn’t even belonged to him.
How could he possibly produce ten million in a single day?
His shoulders slumped as despair filled his face.
It felt as though every bit of strength had been drained from his body.
At that moment, Mei finally spoke.
“Your husband isn’t dead.”
The entire pharmacy fell silent.
Every head turned towards her.
The woman looked at Mei with obvious hatred, as though she had seen through everything.
She immediately released the receptionist and marched towards her.
“What do you mean?”
She raised her hand, attempting to slap Mei.
Mei calmly sidestepped, the woman’s body lurched forward, nearly causing her to fall.
“My husband is dead, and this is all you have to say? This pharmacy truly has no sympathy!”
Tears streamed down her face, instantly earning the sympathy of many onlookers.
“What a pitiful woman.”
“Her husband just died. Why are they treating her like this?”
Whispers spread throughout the pharmacy.
Mei simply smiled.
“Do you want me to prove it?”
“Get out!” the woman shouted.
“My husband is already dead. What exactly are you trying to prove?”
Mei’s lips curled into a faint, playful smile.
“You seem very eager for your husband to die. He’s perfectly alive, yet you’re already mourning him. How pitiful.”
The woman’s expression changed immediately.
“Someone throw this woman out! How dare she speak about my husband like that!”
“If we waste any more time,” Mei said calmly, “your husband may actually die.”
The woman’s pupils contracted, A flicker of panic flashed across her face.
It was as though she had suddenly realised her lie had been exposed.
She had only wanted compensation, she never imagined it could actually cost her husband’s life.
Before anyone could react, Mei walked towards the unconscious man.
With a swift movement, she withdrew a silver needle from the pouch at her waist.
The woman rushed forward.
“Leave my husband!”
But she was too late.
Mei accurately inserted the silver needle into the Renzhong acupoint, a point traditionally used to revive unconscious patients and stimulate the central nervous system.
The moment the needle pierced the acupoint, the man’s body jerked violently.
He cried out in pain.
His eyes flew open as he clutched his chest, gasping for breath.
The entire pharmacy fell into stunned silence as the woman’s face instantly turned deathly pale.
She stared at Mei with hatred and disbelief.
Around them, the crowd looked at the couple with complete contempt.
“To think grown adults would stage something so disgusting.”
“So he wasn’t dead after all.”
“What kind of people would fake a death just to extort money?”
The whispers grew louder and louder.
Mei slowly withdrew the silver needle before dusting off her sleeves.
“Hidden breath pill,” she said quietly.