“I can’t guess.” Lin Hai shook his head.
Liu Xinyue gazed at Lin Hai with deep affection. She didn’t speak, but instead began to sing.
“The most romantic thing I can think of, is growing old slowly with you, gathering little moments of joy along the way, saving them to sit in a rocking chair and chat about when we’re old…”
“Lin Hai, I want to grow old slowly with you. That’s also the most romantic thing I can think of.”
“Xinyue.” Lin Hai pulled Liu Xinyue into his arms, feeling incredibly blessed.
He practiced with Liu Xinyue until school let out and walked her back to her dorm before driving home.
Halfway there, his phone suddenly rang.
He picked it up and saw it was Ye Ziyu calling.
“Brother Ye, what’s up?”
“Xiao Hai, where are you? My mom’s having trouble breathing—she’s failing fast!” Ye Ziyu’s voice was frantic.
“What!” Lin Hai was startled. “I’ll be right there.”
He stepped on the gas and sped up.
As he drove, he felt puzzled. After he’d administered acupuncture, the patient should at most experience unending pain. Ye Ziyu’s mother had no other underlying conditions—there was no reason for her to have difficulty breathing.
Unless…
A possibility occurred to Lin Hai.
In about ten minutes, Lin Hai arrived at Ye Ziyu’s house.
“Xiao Hai…” Ye Ziyu rushed over, flustered.
“Let me see the patient first.” Lin Hai didn’t pause. He went straight upstairs and entered Afang’s bedroom.
“Hm?” The moment he stepped in, he saw Afang lying in bed, breathing rapidly. Her face was pale blue, her chest heaving, and her eyes were rolling back. She was clearly on the verge of death.
“Damn it!” Lin Hai cursed under his breath. The golden needles on Afang’s chest had indeed been removed.
He dashed over in one stride, pulled out his needles, and quickly inserted them into all the major acupoints on Afang’s body.
Ye Ziyu could only watch in a daze. Then he looked at his mother again—her body was now covered in golden needles, her complexion was gradually turning rosy, and her breathing was slowly returning to normal.
“A true miracle doctor,” Ye Ziyu marveled.
“Phew…” Lin Hai let out a long breath, his body feeling utterly drained.
Administering so many needles so quickly required an immense amount of mental energy. Even though Lin Hai had reached the late innate stage, it was still taxing.
“That was close. If I’d been even a little later, she wouldn’t have made it,” Lin Hai said with relief.
“Xiao Hai, what exactly—”
Before Ye Ziyu could finish, Lin Hai abruptly turned around. The icy glare in his eyes was so sharp that it choked the rest of Ye Ziyu’s words back into his throat.
“I’m sorry, but the Ye family is just too high and mighty for me. I can’t treat your mother’s angina anymore. You should find someone else.” With a wave of his hand, Lin Hai withdrew all the golden needles from Afang’s body.
“Xiao Hai, what do you mean by that?” Lin Hai’s words left Ye Ziyu completely confused.
“What do I mean?” Lin Hai let out a cold laugh. “I told you very clearly before—don’t remove the needles. But did you listen? Since you treat my words like hot air, why should I go out of my way to heal your mother? Am I that desperate to humiliate myself?”
With that, Lin Hai turned and walked away.
He had given such serious instructions, yet they hadn’t taken him seriously at all. This time, Lin Hai was genuinely angry.
“Xiao Hai! Xiao Hai!”
Watching Lin Hai storm off in a huff, Ye Ziyu stomped his foot in frustration.
“The needles?” Ye Ziyu suddenly snapped to attention, pulled out his phone, and called Ye Ziming.
“Ziming, did you remove the golden needles from Mom?”
“Yeah, I did. I saw—”
“Get your ass back here right now!” Before Ye Ziming could explain, Ye Ziyu hung up in a fury.
“That idiot!” Thinking of how angry Lin Hai had looked, Ye Ziyu wanted to slap Ye Ziming across the face.
“Brother, what’s the big deal?” Ye Ziming walked in with an impatient look.
“Big deal? You almost killed our mother, you know that!” Ye Ziyu roared at him.
“I killed Mom? What are you talking about, bro? I just saw her in so much pain, so I took the needles out for her.”
“Don’t you talk back! Do you have any idea—Mom almost died just now!” Ye Ziyu shouted, then described Afang’s symptoms in detail.
“What!” Ye Ziming was stunned too, then his face twisted with resentment. “Damn it! I told you Chinese medicine is just a bunch of hocus-pocus. That bastard Lin Hai must have messed up her acupuncture and nearly killed her!”
“Shut up!” Ye Ziyu nearly choked with rage. This idiot still couldn’t see his own mistake and was blaming Lin Hai instead.
“You go right now and apologize to Lin Hai. If he doesn’t forgive you, don’t bother coming back!” Ye Ziyu pointed toward the door.
“What? Are you crazy, bro? You want me to apologize to Lin Hai?” Ye Ziming looked utterly incredulous.
“I think you’re the crazy one! If you still want to save Mom, then get your ass over there right now!” Ye Ziyu rushed over, grabbed Ye Ziming by the collar, and snarled ferociously.
“Fine, fine! I’ll go, okay?” Seeing that Ye Ziyu’s eyes were bloodshot, Ye Ziming finally felt scared.
Ye Ziming left the villa, got into his car, and drove off grumbling curses under his breath.
Back in the dorm, Lin Hai lay on his bed, scrolling through his phone out of boredom.
“Hai Zi, how far have you and Liu Xinyue gotten?” Wang Peng asked while playing League of Legends.
“Just the usual progress.” At the mention of Liu Xinyue, a smile crept onto Lin Hai’s face.
Thinking back on recent events, it all felt like a dream. A broke student like him had somehow ended up with one of the most famous campus beauties.
In the past, he wouldn’t have even dared to dream of such a thing.
“Just the usual?”
“Come on, man, give me the details.” Wang Peng put down his game and leaned over Lin Hai’s bed, his beady eyes gleaming with mischief.
“Details about what?”
“Have you kissed yet? Have you—”
“Get lost.” Lin Hai shoved Wang Peng’s lecherous round face away.
“Look at you, you dirty-minded pervert,” Lin Hai teased.
“Tch, being single sucks. I can’t even live vicariously through someone else’s love life,” Wang Peng muttered as he sat back down and resumed his game.
Lin Hai opened WeChat and sent a message to Bald Qiang.
“Qiang, how’s it going? Can you hold on?”
It took a while before Bald Qiang replied.
“Master, it’s hell. Pure agony. But don’t worry—I can take it!”
Lin Hai felt relieved. That Bald Qiang sure had some serious willpower.
“You didn’t touch the needle, did you?”
“No, it’s still in my leg. I’m so scared of bumping it that I have Erdan stand beside me and yell every ten seconds: ‘Brother Qiang, watch the needle!'”
Pfft!
Lin Hai nearly spat out his drink.
Seriously? Bald Qiang was something else. Two days and two nights had passed—who knows if his legendary “Foshan Shadowless Kick” had improved, but Erdan’s voice was definitely ruined beyond repair.
“Good. Hang in there. You’re close to success. Come find me at 6 PM.”
“Mm-hmm, thanks, Master. I’ll message you then.”
“Bam!” Suddenly, the dorm door was shoved open.
“Does Lin Hai live here?” A haughty voice rang out.
