“If that’s really the case, then I’ll report him!” Tang Youyou said with an innocent-looking expression. “That way, the Tang family won’t be liquidated, we won’t have to beg the Qin family for help, and Grandma won’t have to be sent to the countryside to suffer.”
She sighed. “Forget it. Maybe I’m just overthinking things. You said that woman isn’t Qin Yuchen’s wife, after all, Yue’er.”
At this point, Tang Yue could no longer give her any reaction.
There was only one thought left in her mind.
*Report him. Report the Qin family.*
According to what happened in her previous life, there were only thirteen days left before the Tang family would be liquidated.
Fortunately, her father had made preparations long in advance. He had transferred the family’s assets and cultivated connections beforehand.
But the Qin family never made a move.
In the end, the Tang family was still sent down to the countryside.
By then, Tang Yue had already married into the Qin family. She had caused a scene in the courtyard, tried to escape, and made such a commotion that, logically speaking, she shouldn’t have known what was happening to the Tang family at that time.
But Qin Yuchen’s mother—that damned woman—had deliberately told her everything that had happened to the Tang family that day just to force her to behave.
She had even threatened Tang Yue that if she refused to obey, she would make Qin Yuchen divorce her and send her to the countryside with her family to live in a cowshed and endure everyone’s contempt.
Tang Yue had no choice but to settle down and behave.
After being given a second life, Tang Yue had certainly thought about taking revenge on the Qin family.
But the Tang family was about to be liquidated. She was already struggling just to protect herself. How could she possibly have the time to think of another solution?
And now…
Tang Youyou had voluntarily placed a solution right in front of her.
Tang Yue covered her pounding heart.
Her heartbeat was strong and powerful now, filled with the vigorous signs of life.
But in her previous life, she had clearly felt the terror of that heartbeat gradually stopping.
Her adopted son had been only ten years old. He wasn’t very strong, and the tip of the knife had not struck her heart precisely.
When she collapsed onto the floor, she could hear the blood gushing from her chest.
She could feel the sticky, foul smell of blood soaking through her clothes.
And she could also hear Qin Yuchen’s malicious voice.
“Why don’t you just die? Why are you still alive?”
“If it weren’t for you, my Cui’er wouldn’t have died.”
“Cui’er died from massive blood loss. I want you to experience what it feels like to bleed dry, too.”
“Ah!”
Tang Yue suddenly cried out.
Only after coming back to her senses did she realize that she was still standing in the hospital lobby.
Facing Tang Youyou’s concerned gaze, she forced a pale smile.
“I’m fine, Cousin. I just remembered that I have something else to do. I’ll leave first.”
Watching her flee in panic, Tang Youyou’s lips curled upward.
*Oh my!*
*Tang Yue really is easy to fool.*
*Don’t blame me, okay? Who told you to start plotting against me the moment you were reborn?*
*Now, where should I go?*
She took the recommendation letter from her handbag and went straight to the director’s office on the second floor.
Knock, knock, knock!
Gu Yuan was wearing reading glasses as he studied a foreign article about medicine.
Hearing the knock, he didn’t even raise his head.
“Come in.”
Tang Youyou pushed the door open.
She froze.
Then she backed out two steps.
After seeing the sign on the door that read **Director’s Office — Gu Yuan**, she finally confirmed that she had come to the right place.
Wasn’t Gu Yuan supposed to be Gu Jinzhi’s junior apprentice brother?
And wasn’t he five or six years younger?
Then why did he look five or six years older than the disheveled Gu Jinzhi?
His hair was already mostly white, and the wrinkles on his face were quite obvious.
Only his cloudy eyes seemed to brighten slightly when he saw something interesting.
Gu Yuan waited for a while but heard nothing.
He finally looked up from the newspaper.
When he saw the stunning young woman standing in the distance, he couldn’t help staring.
“May I ask who you are?”
“Oh!”
Tang Youyou came back to her senses.
After hesitating for a moment, she left the door open and hurried over to the desk.
She handed him the recommendation letter with both hands and spoke sincerely.
“Hello, Director Gu. I’m Tang Youyou. I’m here to take up a position at First People’s Hospital. This is my recommendation letter.”
“Take up a position?”
Gu Yuan accepted the letter in confusion.
He didn’t remember the hospital recently hiring any doctors.
Tang Youyou calmly endured his scrutiny, keeping her back straight and her expression neither servile nor arrogant.
Gu Yuan immediately felt more favorably toward her.
He opened the recommendation letter.
> **Junior Brother Gu Yuan, long time no see…**
Gu Yuan suddenly stood up.
Among all the senior and junior apprentices, he was one of the younger ones. But because he had been adopted by Old Master Gu first, there was only one person in the entire Gu family who could call him *Junior Brother*.
Only one…
His senior apprentice brother, Gu Jinzhi.
He didn’t have time to read the rest of the recommendation letter.
He immediately looked at the signature at the end.
Sure enough, he saw three familiar words:
**Gu Jinzhi.**
Gu Yuan’s head began to buzz.
His eyes grew slightly hot.
He staggered over to the bottom drawer and pulled out several medical books.
He flipped to the first page.
There, unmistakably, were familiar handwritten annotations.
Holding the recommendation letter, he compared the handwriting character by character.
The more he looked, the more his hands trembled.
The more he looked, the more emotional he became.
By the time he finally came back to his senses, tears were already streaming down his face.
Unable to suppress the emotions surging through him, he asked hoarsely,
“Your… master… who is he?”
Watching his every reaction, Tang Youyou thought to herself:
*Although Gu Jinzhi is completely unreliable, his junior apprentice brother is clearly a grateful and sentimental person.*
*Looks like my days at the hospital are going to go pretty smoothly.*
“My master is Gu Jinzhi.”
“His name really is Gu Jinzhi? Where is he?”
Tang Youyou shook her head.
“I’m sorry. Master said I can’t tell you where he is. He’s been living in seclusion all these years. He took me as his apprentice, but you know what his current status is…”
“He said that if he appeared, you would be implicated because of him.”
Gu Yuan’s expression grew deeply emotional.
For a long time, he stared at the handwriting on the recommendation letter, as though he could see Gu Jinzhi’s shadow through those familiar strokes.
*How is Senior Brother doing now?*
*Is he healthy?*
*Is he in Beijing?*
*Why won’t he come back? Even if he could only secretly meet me once…*
Countless questions flooded his mind.
In the end, his gaze settled on one particular passage.
> **Youyou is my apprentice. She is extremely talented. At such a young age, she has already mastered everything I taught her. Unfortunately, she lacks practical experience. I’m writing this letter to ask you to arrange a position for her. If you don’t feel comfortable, keep her by your side for a while and observe her yourself.**
Gu Yuan silently read the passage several times.
Then he took a deep breath.
“Your master says your medical skills are excellent and asked you to come work at the hospital. However, for the sake of my patients, I have to test you first.”
Tang Youyou nodded.
“I understand. How are you going to test me?”
Gu Yuan was surprised.
“You aren’t going to prepare first?”
Tang Youyou shook her head.
“No. Real patients won’t give a doctor time to prepare.”
“Good!”
Gu Yuan was extremely satisfied with her confidence and attitude.
As expected of a disciple taught by his senior brother.
“How about this? Check my pulse first. After that, I’ll take you downstairs to examine some patients.”
As he spoke, he extended his hand and placed it on the desk.
Tang Youyou didn’t hesitate.
She pulled over the chair beside her and sat down to take his pulse.
His pulse stopped at regular intervals.
Three beats, then a pause.
His heart qi was insufficient, and his organ functions were weakening.
A pulse like this wasn’t impossible in a sixty-year-old man, especially during the 1960s.
But his pulse was thin and weak, and there wasn’t enough force beneath her fingers when she pressed down.
Furthermore, there was no cyanosis around his eyes, and there was no obvious fatigue on his face.
Clearly, he had been sleeping reasonably well these past few days.
That meant he was very likely suffering from coronary heart disease.
Of course, this was only a preliminary diagnosis.
To confirm it, he would still need an electrocardiogram.
Tang Youyou remembered that China’s first ECG machine had been developed in 1954. However, because its performance was unstable, it hadn’t been put into use.
After 1958, China was able to manufacture ECG machines independently.
So there was no problem performing an ECG examination at this time.
Tang Youyou told Gu Yuan her diagnosis.
He was so shocked that he couldn’t recover for a long time.