Mrs. Yan, Yan Xu, and the An family director stood frozen in place, their expressions stiff. It took them a full minute to process what was happening.
Crowds began to gather, blocking the streets in all directions.
“The Future of the Medical World”—what kind of honor was this?
Almost instinctively, everyone pulled out their phones to search for the name “Ye Shaohua.”
News articles and international headlines flooded their screens one after another.
[Hope for Heart Patients—The Youngest Cardiac Expert in History.]
[A Medical Lecture in China That Has Captured the Attention of Doctors Worldwide!]
[The Woman Who Received Ten Invitations from the International Medical Alliance!]
Traffic came to a standstill, and the police officers stationed throughout the streets finally sprang into action.
“Mr. An… is this really about Shaohua?” Mrs. Yan finally managed to speak, her voice trembling with disbelief as she turned to the An family representative.
The An family representative looked as if he had seen a ghost. “I… I think so?”
Not just them, but the entire An family was caught off guard.
Mrs. Yan and Yan Xu had come to help stabilize the An family’s situation. An Tingjun was still in the conference room, locked in a tense standoff with An Tongtong and a group of investors.
“Aunt Yan,” An Tingjun asked with concern, noticing Mrs. Yan’s dazed expression, “are you okay?”
Not only her, but even the manager he had sent to escort Mrs. Yan looked as if he had seen something unbelievable.
Even the usually calm Yan Xu seemed lost in thought.
Mrs. Yan snapped out of her daze and shook her head, taking a seat beside An Tingjun. “I’m fine.”
“If you won’t agree to my terms, then Mr. Luo and I will leave, and you can forget about that 400 million investment,” An Tongtong said, her gaze dark as she stood up.
She didn’t notice the secretary whispering something to Mr. Luo, whose face suddenly turned pale.
An Tongtong took a step forward but realized her allies weren’t following.
Frowning, she turned to Mr. Luo. “Mr. Luo, what’s going on?”
To her surprise, Mr. Luo ignored her and instead smiled warmly at An Tingjun. “Nephew, you must be joking. Why would I withdraw my investment? It’s all just rumors. The 400 million is ready. Have your assistant come with me, and we’ll get it settled right away.”
The merchants in the conference room, who had been demanding compensation from the An family, quietly picked up their contracts and left as if nothing had happened.
Not only did they leave without a fuss, but they also assured An Tingjun that the An family could count on them if anything came up.
There was no helping it—Ye Shaohua was simply too outstanding.
Her future was boundless.
No one wanted to offend someone with such limitless potential. These businessmen were, after all, just businessmen.
But Ye Shaohua was different. She didn’t need to do anything, yet her talent made her more important than all of them combined.
Someone featured on national television wasn’t to be taken lightly.
They could already imagine the An family’s business reaching new heights after today.
Those who had criticized the An family for trading an exceptional daughter for an average one were now eating their words.
This wasn’t a bad deal—it was a blessing from the heavens!
The An family directors received numerous calls, some from people they could never have dreamed of contacting. There were congratulations, advice to handle the family’s affairs carefully so as not to disturb Miss Ye, and even offers of investment.
It was only now that the An family directors realized the extent of Ye Shaohua’s influence.
They finally understood just how extraordinary the An family’s true heiress was.
But their joy was short-lived. They soon realized that although the An family had publicly acknowledged Ye Shaohua as their daughter, she showed no intention of returning.
Hadn’t she even refused to change her surname back to An?
Moreover, the shareholders remembered that during the equity distribution, Ye Shaohua had declined her share and returned it to Grandpa An.
Those who had once been relieved that she wasn’t part of the An Corporation now deeply regretted it.
They opened their phones, only to be bombarded with news about Ye Shaohua. They didn’t know how to describe the frustration and regret that gnawed at them.
How old was Ye Shaohua now? Not even twenty?
Everyone had assumed her interest in medicine was just a hobby inherited from her adoptive parents. No one had taken it seriously. But who could have predicted that she would not only achieve greatness but also make such a monumental impact?
Meanwhile, An Tongtong, ignored by Mr. Luo, flushed with humiliation under the mocking gazes around her.
She chased after Mr. Luo to the door. “What’s going on…?”
Mr. Luo, who had once feared the secrets she held, now paid her no attention.
Instead, his secretary closed the car door and pointed to the massive screen on the commercial building. “Miss An, haven’t you seen that?”
Seeing An Tongtong’s stunned expression, the secretary shook his head, got into the driver’s seat, and drove away.
An Tongtong had once flaunted her provincial and city-level awards, proud of being a rare talent in their circle. But compared to Ye Shaohua’s achievements, she fell far short.
No, it wasn’t just far—it was incomparable.
Even looking back a hundred years, no one as young as Ye Shaohua had reached such heights.
If mixology and chess had been flukes, this latest honor was anything but.
An Tongtong’s face turned red, then pale, and finally ashen. All her efforts over the past eighteen years, everything she had done, now seemed like a joke in the face of Ye Shaohua’s success.
Remembering how she had overheard Mrs. Yan considering rekindling the engagement with the An family, An Tongtong felt a pang of jealousy for the first time.
How could Ye Shaohua deserve this? She didn’t!
**
Meanwhile, Weibo was in chaos.
Someone had dug up the dramatic story of Ye Shaohua and the An family, but at this point, no one cared about her background. In the face of international and world-class honors, nothing else mattered.
She had already risen above everyone else.
No one was foolish enough to underestimate what “The Future of the Medical World” meant.
To put it bluntly, even if the entire An family collapsed, Ye Shaohua would remain untouched.
She was a top-tier talent under national protection.
In Ye Shaohua’s high school and university group chats, messages were flooding in at a rate of 99+ per minute.
Especially in her high school group, where everyone had been shocked to learn that she was the top scorer in the college entrance exams.
One of Xu Chenghao’s roommates had once lamented how impressive the “Ice Queen of No. 3 High School” was, regretting that Xu Chenghao had ignored her advances back then.
Now, with the news of her being recognized as the An family’s heiress and her medical lecture making headlines, the entire group was in an uproar.
Even the lurkers couldn’t resist popping up, excited to have been classmates with such a remarkable person.
Xu Chenghao, who had once favored An Tongtong, now clutched his phone, scrolling through news about Ye Shaohua.
The girl he had overlooked had risen to the pinnacle of Beijing’s elite, while the one he had chosen had been exposed as a fraud and expelled from the An family.
Regret gnawed at him, his heart aching with the weight of his mistake.
“What’s wrong?” Xu Chenghao’s new girlfriend, a wealthy socialite, noticed his distress and glanced at his phone. Seeing the group chat messages, she exclaimed, “So you were classmates with that genius girl? I had no idea… Hey, where are you going?!”
But Xu Chenghao didn’t answer. He opened his browser and searched for the national lecture hall where Ye Shaohua had spoken.
Ye Shaohua had just finished her lecture and was stepping out, surrounded by world-renowned doctors whose schedules were booked years in advance.
“You can’t go in!” Before Xu Chenghao could even speak, a group of soldiers blocked his path, their weapons trained on him.
The lecture hall was filled with top talents from around the world, and security was airtight. There was no way someone like Xu Chenghao could get close to Ye Shaohua and her entourage.
Xu Chenghao finally understood the chasm between him and Ye Shaohua. He could only watch from a distance as she was escorted to her car like a star.
At the hospital, Grandpa An sat outside the intensive care unit.
“I’m sorry, Mr. An. We’ve done all we can,” the hospital director had sent the most authoritative doctors to examine An Liguo, but the conclusion was grim. “His heart condition, combined with acute cardiovascular rupture due to high blood pressure, makes him ineligible for general anesthesia surgery.”
Grandpa An sat in his chair, unable to process the news. He had always thought he would be the first to go.
His phone buzzed. It was a message from Ye Shaohua: “How’s your heart feeling lately?”
Ye Shaohua set down the test tube in her hand, her voice calm and steady.
Grandpa An tried to keep his composure as he replied. The An family had given Ye Shaohua nothing, and he didn’t want to burden her with their troubles.
But Ye Shaohua was perceptive. She immediately sensed something was wrong. “Where are you now?”
“At the hospital. We’re preparing to discharge him,” Grandpa An took a deep breath. “The beds here are in short supply, and since the surgery isn’t possible, they recommend transferring him to the N City Military Hospital. I heard there’s an international cardiovascular expert there for a consultation…”
“Wait. I’ll be there in half an hour. Find an empty operating room as soon as possible,” Ye Shaohua said, unbuttoning her lab coat.
Grandpa An was stunned. “But the doctors said Liguo can’t…”
“Grandpa,” Ye Shaohua interrupted him for the first time, her voice firm. “Give the phone to the doctor.”