Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“Say, do you think I’m sick in the mind?”
‘No sh*t, Sherlock.’
His voice still trembling, Doctor Qiu made a sincere proposition. “M-master Jiang, if y-you have time to spare, why n-not come over to my consultation center f-for a test?”
The voice on the other end of the line went silent.
Doctor Qiu followed up with a dumb question, perhaps because he had been overwhelmed by fear. “So you’re saying it wasn’t your friend, Xue Baoyi, who touched her?”
Had they not come to a consensus that this was Xue Baoyi’s personal issue?
The phone call was cut off immediately after Doctor Qiu ended his sentence.
“Doo, doo, doo, doo, doo…”
“…”
Based on the force that went into throwing the phone across the room, it was quite evident how fretful the “sick man” was.
Jiang Zhi then tried making up for the lack of sleep last night by taking an afternoon nap. Yet, the moment his eyes shut, pictures of Zhou Xufang’s hands, her face, and even her back would uncontrollably float into the forefront of his conscious mind.
According to the schedule, they were supposed to start shooting a scene at 1 pm sharp, but the timely director was nowhere to be seen. It wasn’t until 2:30 pm, a full one and a half hours later, that Assistant Director Zhao received a phone call from his personal assistant, Lin Wanwan.
“Brother Wan.”
As girly as Ah Wan’s actual name may sound, the man was born with the face of a seasoned criminal. In the outside world, people around him would always refer to him as “Brother Wan”, like how mafia underlings would refer to their seniors.
This man actually had a powerful presence which should come as no surprise, considering that he was a 6-foot-something meathead.
“You don’t need to insert Zhou Xufang’s part into the actual scene.”
Hearing this, Assistant Director Zhao scratched his head. “Is the director dissatisfied with her performance? Should I fetch the girl over for a retake?” He had lots of questions floating in his head as he could recall Jiang Zhi being relatively satisfied with the scene from before. If that was not the case, then why did he keep staring at that girl’s hands?
Ah Wan tried his best not to reveal too much information. “No, you just need to cut the scene out of the film and send it over to my boss. That’s all there is to it.”
More questions sprung up in Assistant Director Zhao’s mind, but he lacked the guts to ask any more questions. “What about the shoot scheduled this afternoon?”
“We’ll push it back by 2 hours.”
“Is Director Jiang feeling under the weather again?” The weather today was relatively warm for winter though.
With a straight face, Ah Wan responded with some bullcrap he had made up off the top of his head. “Yeah, he’s just had a heart attack.”
“…”
The young master of the Jiang family sure had a lot of strange illnesses.
An hour later, the Jiang family’s doctor had finally arrived. The madame, upon hearing that there was something wrong with Jiang Zhi, had immediately dispatched their doctor to check up on her beloved grandson’s condition.
“Boss, Doctor Qin is here.”
Jiang Zhi mumbled a response.
Ah Wan then led the doctor into the room. He made sure to shut the door behind him and stood nearby, observing Jiang Zhi’s health check-up.
The Jiangs’ family physician, Qin Shiyu, was a man who was still in his thirties but already well-known to many as a distinguished practitioner. The way he spoke was respectful but at the same time, he was neither overly humble nor too arrogant. From time to time, Madame Jiang would order for him to check up on Jiang Zhi’s condition, making sure that everything was well under control.
Today, Qin Shiyu was not wearing his usual white, sterile-looking lab coat. Sporting a fully bespoke suit, he was strongly emanating the gentle aura of a well-refined intellectual. His actions were well-calculated—even a mere greeting was executed as if it was a ritual. The way he planned his steps beforehand made the doctor even more of a composed man.
Allowing him to take a seat, Jiang Zhi greeted his physician with a question. “I heard Doctor Qin has finally become the director last week.
Qin Shiyu’s great-grandfather had served as the physician of the madame’s family in the olden days, though back then, he was still considered a servant of the family and nothing more. After the madame had married into the Jiang family, his descendants had followed her, and throughout the years, had been working in the Jiang family-owned hospital.
In the eyes of the Jiang family, Qin Shiyu was the cream of the crop, achieving greater heights than any of his predecessors. Of course, that was in consideration of his temperament as well as how well he was able to charm the family.
The doctor replied modestly, “I could not have been promoted without your help. For that, I, Shiyu, am deeply indebted to you, sir.”
The Jiang family was a century-old family with a rich heritage. When having a conversation with them, one would find that each member was increasingly finicky about their choice of words that the conversation would become impossible to follow. The 5th hospital was currently under the management of the Jiang family’s eldest grandson, Jiang Xiaolin. Qin Shiyu, having worked under the man for so many years, had managed to accrue quite a formidable arsenal of words to be used when conversing with the Jiangs.
Jiang Zhi despised this the most. Each one of them pretending to be like gentlemen.
He called out in full. “Qin Shiyu.”
Opening his briefcase, Qin Shiyu produced a small cushion on which his patients’ arm would rest upon when checking their pulse.
“Do continue, Master Jiang.”
Lazily stretching out his arm, Jiang Zhi decided to play along for the sake of it. “Should the day come when both Jiang Xiaolin and Jiang Fuli get into a car crash with you being the one deciding their fate, who would you choose to save? Jiang Xiaolin? Or would you save Jiang Fuli?”
The main heir Jiang Xiaolin, or the second-in-line, Jiang Fuli. The former was the eldest grandson, while the latter, the eldest granddaughter. Both held considerable power in their hands, so it was a hard decision to make.
Qin Shiyu smiled upon hearing the question. There was a conflicted look in his gaze, but in the end, he was calm as he gave his reply. “This hypothetical situation happening in real life is close to null.”
Jiang Zhi stared at him calmly. “Oh? How are you so sure about that?”
“The driver would have to be blind to hit both well-respected masters of the Jiang family.”
‘Masters?’
When had Qin Shiyu decided that he was a servant of his family? No matter how he looked at it, Jiang Zhi couldn’t come up with an answer to that question.
Smiling, Jiang Zhi replied, “You can’t be too sure about what might happen in the future, can you?”
“If this indeed were to happen, then Shiyu would naturally await the old madame’s decision.”
Qin Shiyu had truly evolved into a fine gentleman. His tail was nowhere to be seen, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have one. No, this sort of person was either simply too good at disguising his nature, or that it was hiding in plain sight.
Lying on the sofa, Jiang Zhi’s eyes went out of focus.
Letting go of Jiang Zhi’s hand, Qin Shiyu asked, “Has the coughing worsened recently, Master Jiang?”
Jiang Zhi pulled out a wet wipe and disinfected his wrist as he replied, “Well, it’s already wintertime.”
His coughing would always intensify whenever winter came around. This had been happening for over a decade and there seemed to be no signs of it letting up.
“I’ve prescribed to Master Jiang a few pills to help ease the coughing. We’ll have to wait for the results from your comprehensive medical check before discussing with Doctor Shao and Doctor Chen regarding which treatment plan has the highest chance of success.”
Mumbling a reply indifferently, Jiang Zhi posed a question. “Do you think that my body will make it past the winter of next year?”
Qin Shiyu was not taken aback by that question at all. With calm, steady eyes, he looked straight at Jiang Zhi as if he had prepared for this. “The laboratory has been constantly researching to create a medication that would treat your disease. We are already on the brink of success. Do not be so pessimistic, Master Jiang.”
Jiang Zhi snorted softly. “I won’t live past 25. That was what your old man said.”
From the beginning, Qin Shiyu’s father, Qin Yin, had served as Jiang Zhi’s personal doctor. Unfortunately, the man had passed away a few years ago, which was why it was now Qin Shiyu’s turn to step in and pick up where his father had left off.
Madame Jiang was skeptical of outsiders, thus, Qin Shiyu was the optimal choice for this role.
“The state of medical research back during my father’s time was severely undeveloped. What was said back then largely does not apply to our world today.”
“Medical research? Developed?” Jiang Zhi laughed. The corners of his mouth curled up into an arrogant sneer. “Yes, medical research has come a long way, hasn’t it? For over 20 years, you all have been treating my illness, but it seems that the cause is still nowhere in sight.”
It wasn’t that simple. In fact, Jiang Zhi’s illness was getting worse by the year. The more treatment he underwent, the harder it got for them to determine how this disease started.
Qin Shiyu was still keeping up the act as if this matter had nothing to do with himself. Staying silent, he started scribbling down his prescription. He said that he would request for the medication to be sent to the Jiang family home. The old madame, being an extremely prudent woman, would always make sure to brew the medicine well before sending it to Jiang Zhi.
After the man had left.
“Ah Wan.” Jiang Zhi was still reclined on his sofa. With a listless expression, he asked, “Who do you think Qin Shiyu is siding with?”
The Jiang family, owing to its size, was extremely complicated to comprehend. Ah Wan’s brain was too simple to handle all the thinking, so he shook his head straightaway. “He hasn’t had much contact with Jiang Xiaolin or Jiang Fuli personally so I can’t really say.”
Having no disputes, being devoid of desires, staying on the fence, and being in good graces with everyone—this was what Qin Shuyi wanted the Jiang family to think of him as.
At the very least, he had the trust of Madame Jiang.
Jiang Zhi glanced at Ah Wan. “With your bird brain, do you think you’ll be able to uncover the truth even if it’s standing right in front of you?”
“…”
Ah Wan decided to utilize his silence in order to express his dissatisfaction.