Three days passed quickly, and before long, it was the morning of the appointment Zhou Yu had arranged with Ji Jing.
She got up early, prepared breakfast, and packed a lunch for Lu Cheng to put in his schoolbag and take to school.
After arriving at the school, Zhou Yu specifically asked Lu Cheng’s teacher to keep an eye on him at noon and, if possible, help heat up his lunch.
The teacher readily agreed.
She understood Lu Cheng’s family situation and knew it wasn’t easy for Zhou Yu to raise a child alone. Besides, heating up a meal was a small matter. Other parents had previously sent their children to school with packed lunches as well.
After making arrangements for Lu Cheng’s lunch, Zhou Yu headed home. By the time she reached the area near her courtyard, it was already close to nine o’clock.
From a distance, she spotted a man standing outside her gate. If her guess was correct, it could only be Ji Jing.
“You’ve been waiting for a while, haven’t you?” Zhou Yu greeted politely after approaching and confirming that the man was indeed Ji Jing.
“It’s all right. I only arrived a short while ago myself,” Ji Jing replied with a courteous smile.
“Okay, wait here for a moment. I need to go inside and grab a few things.”
In reality, there wasn’t anything particularly important she needed to bring.
Even if she diagnosed Madam Chu with something that required medication, any medicine would be taken directly from the system.
Still, after some thought, Zhou Yu grabbed a cloth bag for appearances’ sake, along with some paper and a pen. They would at least be useful for recording the patient’s symptoms and condition.
Once she had everything ready, Zhou Yu left the courtyard with Ji Jing and headed toward the hotel where his parents were staying.
Along the way, the two chatted intermittently.
Most of the time, Zhou Yu focused on asking about Madam Chu’s illness.
At the same time, she casually steered the conversation toward another topic, asking why they had come to such a remote town at this particular time.
According to the original novel, Ji Jing wasn’t supposed to arrive here for the first time until six years later.
Ji Jing hesitated briefly before answering.
“It’s like this. I have a twin younger brother who was lost shortly after birth. My parents and I have spent years searching for him. We only recently found a few leads…”
His answer immediately caused Zhou Yu’s brows to knit together.
Logically speaking, they shouldn’t have discovered any information about Lu Bin this early.
Something had clearly changed.
The only question was what exactly had caused the deviation.
It looked like Ji Jing and his family would soon discover the news of Lu Bin’s death.
As for Lu Cheng, the child Lu Bin had left behind, if Ji Jing intended to take him away when the truth came out, that would probably be a good thing for him.
After all, Ji Jing’s family was well-off, and both Ji Jing and his parents would likely treat Lu Cheng very well. Living with them would surely be better than staying with a stepmother like her.
Ji Jing was somewhat puzzled by Zhou Yu’s sudden distraction, but he didn’t think much of it.
In his previous life, Ji Jing had only met Zhou Yu a handful of times. As for the current Zhou Yu, who was only twenty years old, he had no impression of her whatsoever.
The only memory he had of Zhou Yu from his previous life was seeing her once while cleaning up the aftermath of Lu Cheng’s ruthless revenge against her. At that time, Zhou Yu had already been in her forties or fifties and was on the verge of death.
No matter how he looked at it, he could never connect the young woman who had saved his father’s life with that frail, dying middle-aged woman from his previous life.
After walking for about twenty minutes, the two arrived in front of an upscale hotel.
The moment they stepped into the lobby, a distinguished-looking middle-aged couple approached them with warm smiles. It was obvious that they had been waiting for quite some time.
Zhou Yu immediately recognized the middle-aged man as the patient she had treated near the fabric store. The woman beside him was undoubtedly Ji Jing’s mother, Madam Chu.
“These are my father and mother,” Ji Jing said as his parents approached.
He was about to introduce Zhou Yu to them when he suddenly realized that he had never asked for her name.
Turning to her politely, he asked, “I forgot to ask. How should we address you?”
“Just call me Zhou Yu.”
Zhou Yu made no attempt to hide her name.
Since Ji Jing and his family had already come here, they would probably discover her identity soon enough. Even if she managed to conceal it temporarily, the truth would be exposed before long.
It was better to be straightforward from the start.
The moment Ji Jing heard her name, he froze briefly.
He had the strange feeling that he had heard it somewhere in his previous life, yet he couldn’t remember where.
Seeing their son standing there in a daze after hearing Zhou Yu’s name, Ji Haoyuan and his wife found the situation somewhat embarrassing.
Not wanting Zhou Yu to feel awkward, Ji Haoyuan immediately stepped forward and said warmly, “Doctor Zhou, it’s a pleasure to meet you. Thank you again for saving my life the other day.”
“No need to be so polite. You already paid the appropriate consultation fee,” Zhou Yu replied calmly.
She had opened the envelope Ji Jing had given her earlier.
Inside had been ten one-hundred-yuan notes.
A full one thousand yuan.
It was enough for Zhou Yu to live comfortably on her own for several years.
Since Zhou Yu had accepted the consultation fee, it meant she didn’t need them to owe her a favor.
For influential and wealthy people like Ji Jing’s family, that was actually a good thing.
Besides, Zhou Yu had no interest in getting involved with them beyond what was necessary. The sooner she completed the mission, the sooner she could return home and continue studying the system’s medical materials.
“We should find somewhere quiet. I’ll examine Madam Chu’s pulse first,” Zhou Yu said.
Neither Ji Jing nor Ji Haoyuan and his wife felt slighted by her attitude. On the contrary, they remained warm and courteous.
After all, Zhou Yu had saved Ji Haoyuan’s life.
When he had gone to the hospital for a follow-up examination after being treated by Zhou Yu, the doctors there had all remarked that he was fortunate to have received her emergency treatment beforehand. Cases of acute myocardial infarction like his were extremely dangerous, and countless patients with the same condition never even made it to the hospital.
So despite Zhou Yu’s detached demeanor, the Ji family remained deeply grateful for her life-saving kindness.
They led Zhou Yu to the suite where they were staying.
Without further pleasantries, Zhou Yu invited Madam Chu to sit beside her and placed her fingers on the woman’s wrist, beginning the process of taking her pulse.
In truth, Zhou Yu’s pulse diagnosis skills were still only at a beginner’s level.
The gesture was mainly a convenient excuse for the system to perform a detailed scan of Madam Chu’s body.
About three or four minutes later, Zhou Yu withdrew her hand.
After organizing the system’s diagnostic results in her mind, she spoke.
“Madam Chu has been suffering from long-term emotional suppression and distress. As a result, she frequently experiences insomnia, dizziness, tinnitus, palpitations, anxiety, arrhythmia, and various issues caused by stagnation of qi and poor blood circulation.”
“When the symptoms become severe, they are accompanied by stomach pain, gastric spasms, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, and an inability to eat properly…”
She paused before continuing.
“In short, because Madam Chu has carried this emotional burden for so many years, it has gradually led to numerous physical illnesses. I can prescribe medication to help regulate and improve her condition, but a heart ailment requires treatment of the heart itself. Madam Chu must learn to let go and ease her mind. Otherwise, within a few years, her vitality will likely become completely depleted…”
Zhou Yu left the remainder of her sentence unsaid.
She remembered that in the original novel, Ji Jing’s parents were indeed destined to pass away within the next few years.
Although Zhou Yu hadn’t finished her sentence, Ji Jing and the others all understood what she meant.
After giving Madam Chu a few more instructions, Zhou Yu prepared to take her leave.
“Doctor Zhou, I’d like to trouble you to prescribe a few herbal formulas to help my mother recover. As for the emotional side of things, I’ll do my best to help her work through it.”
Thinking of his parents’ fate in his previous life, Ji Jing felt a surge of sorrow. But seeing that Zhou Yu was about to leave, he quickly pulled himself together and continued,
“Also, when you performed emergency treatment on my father last time, you gave him that medicine called Quick-Acting Heart Relief Pills. I was wondering if you have any more. We’d like to purchase some in case of emergencies.”
Zhou Yu nodded.
Following the system’s guidance, she wrote down several traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions to help regulate and restore Madam Chu’s health.
In addition, she left behind a small bottle of Quick-Acting Heart Relief Pills, demonstrated the proper emergency procedures several times, and carefully instructed Ji Haoyuan on precautions he should take in daily life, including the importance of regular hospital checkups.
Ji Jing and his family were extremely grateful for Zhou Yu’s thoroughness and care.
Ji Jing then took out another envelope and handed it to her.
Zhou Yu accepted it without ceremony. After putting away the envelope, she stood up and prepared to leave.
Originally, Ji Haoyuan and the others had wanted to treat her to a meal, but Zhou Yu declined, saying she had matters to attend to that afternoon.
In reality, she simply didn’t want any further involvement with them.
Hearing this, Ji Jing and his family couldn’t very well insist.
They merely suggested that Ji Jing escort her home.
Naturally, Zhou Yu replied that she knew the way and had no need for an escort.
Unfortunately, Ji Jing remained adamant.
In the end, he insisted on accompanying her all the way back to her courtyard before finally leaving.
Zhou Yu found the whole thing rather helpless.
Standing at the gate of the courtyard, she watched Ji Jing’s departing figure and curled her lips.
They would probably be meeting again very soon.
The only question was whether their next meeting would be as peaceful as this one.