Professor Yang suffered a stroke

Xinzhou City, Maglev Research Center.

The sixty-eight-year-old professor, Yang Weiguo, had not slept for three days. The maglev train project he headed had entered its final technical push. The only obstacles left were noise and potential electromagnetic radiation.

Yet those two problems had completely stumped the team he led.

Unless they solved them, the maglev train would remain nothing more than a laboratory prototype.

"Professor, you haven't slept for three days. Please get some rest first."

His assistant, Lin Mo, had lost count of how many times he had reminded Professor Yang. Seeing his eyes grow increasingly bloodshot, he was afraid the professor would collapse from exhaustion.

"Lin, I want to sleep too, but whenever I lie down, I can't stop thinking about the technical problems. Why don't you make me a cup of strong tea instead?"

"Professor, you can't keep going like this."

"Lin, I know you... ugh..."

Professor Yang suddenly collapsed.

"Professor! Professor!"

Lin Mo rushed forward, but when he helped Professor Yang up, he found that his eyes and mouth had twisted to one side. It was a telltale sign of a stroke, a condition common among the elderly.

The research center's ambulance roared onto the street and headed straight for Central City Hospital.

Liu Weimin, the hospital's top neurology department chief, rushed over immediately.

But he could do nothing.

"Dr. Liu, is there really no way to treat the professor?"

"Lin, to be honest, I wouldn't recommend surgery for him. The success rate is far too low. Even sending him to the best hospital overseas wouldn't improve his chances much."

"So we're just going to leave him like this? Do you have any idea how much he's contributed to scientific research in the Xia Kingdom?"

"Lin, calm down. It's not that we don't want to treat him. We simply can't. Rather than risk his life with surgery, he would be better off focusing on recuperation in the days ahead. Who knows? A miracle might happen."

"You're a quack! What's the point of the government paying people like you?"

"Lin, watch your language."

"To hell with that! If you can't cure Professor Yang today, I'll smash up your hospital!"

Liu Weimin said nothing more. He lowered his head and walked back to his office. He had heard rants like this more times than he could count.

If he lost his temper every time, he would have been forced out of his job long ago.

After his outburst, Lin Mo returned to the ward in dejection. Looking at Professor Yang lying in bed with his mouth still crooked, he felt an indescribable ache.

At that moment, he hated himself.

He hated himself for not making Professor Yang rest sooner.

Otherwise, things would never have come to this.

While Lin Mo suffered in silence, an argument over Professor Yang broke out in Liu Weimin's office. Liu Weimin, who had endured Lin Mo's abuse just moments earlier, now flew into a rage over another doctor's offhand suggestion, even hurling his teacup.

"Liu Weimin, are you fucking looking for a fight?"

"Guo Dachong, you've got some fucking nerve! You know perfectly well that I don't believe in traditional Chinese medicine, yet you bring it up right in front of me. Tell me, who's looking for a fight here?"

"I was only trying to help Professor Yang! Since you can't treat him, why not give someone else a chance?"

"I'm the leading authority on neurology in the Xia Kingdom. If I can't cure a patient, what qualifies anyone else to treat him? Especially those traditional Chinese medicine practitioners who do nothing but swindle people."

"Mr. Xu is no fraud. He's cured plenty of stroke patients."

"Plenty? How many is that? Are there clinical records we can check? We both studied medicine. Are you really going to believe that nonsense passed around by word of mouth?"

"Liu Weimin, you're a disgrace to your ancestors!"

"Fucking bullshit!"

The two department chiefs went from trading insults to exchanging blows. News immediately spread through the hospital, and as soon as the hospital director heard, he disciplined them both.

But he clearly took sides, openly shielding Liu Weimin, who had far more experience and a much stronger reputation.

Furious, Guo Dachong impulsively handed in his resignation.

Before leaving the hospital, he visited Professor Yang's ward and told them that Xu Qinian, an elderly traditional Chinese medicine practitioner, might be able to treat the professor's stroke.

Having already lost hope, Lin Mo naturally refused to let this opportunity slip away. He immediately requested that the professor be discharged.

Liu Weimin strongly opposed it.

"Lin Mo, if Professor Yang leaves the hospital now, you'll have to take full responsibility for anything that happens. I know you may have listened to Guo Dachong's suggestion, but do you really believe some old traditional Chinese medicine practitioner from who knows where can cure a condition that even surgery can't?"

Liu Weimin's warning made Lin Mo hesitate again.

After careful consideration, he ultimately chose to follow Liu Weimin's advice. Still, he did not abandon hope entirely. Instead, he sent a subordinate to Shimen County to invite Xu Qinian over.

288 North Bridge Road, Shimen County.

Zhang Hongxing came back again with his grandson, Zhang Le, riding on his back, swaying as he walked.

Before he even entered the courtyard, Li Xiuying came out to meet him.

"Red Star, where have you been all day? Why couldn't I reach you on the phone?"

Zhang Jun had only bought Zhang Hongxing the phone yesterday, and he had yet to get used to it. After receiving several nuisance calls in a row, he had simply switched it off.

Only when he saw the worry in Li Xiuying's eyes did he finally remember the phone. He hurriedly apologized:

"Sorry, I'm still not used to this phone. Next time, I'll call ahead. Oh, and take these pills and keep them safe. They're called Beauty-Preserving Pills. Taking one will preserve your youth for five years."

"Red Star, these must be very expensive."

"Not at all. I made them myself from medicinal herbs. You can use them however you like."

With trembling hands, Li Xiuying accepted the Beauty-Preserving Pills, then followed Zhang Hongxing into the courtyard.

As Zhang Hongxing revealed more and more extraordinary abilities, the unease in her heart, which had never completely subsided, slowly began to rise again.

Originally, the differences in their appearance and age had made her feel she was not quite good enough for him.

Now, his excellence left her feeling inferior all over again.

When two people were together, if one became increasingly outstanding, even several times or dozens of times more exceptional than the other, it became difficult for them to feel like equals in the relationship.

Even if the more exceptional partner did not look down on you at all.

You would still unconsciously begin to feel inferior.

After returning to her room, Li Xiuying swallowed a Beauty-Preserving Pill. Feeling the changes after taking it and stroking the skin on her face and body, she finally understood that preserving five years of youth was far more than an advertising slogan.

Besides the changes in her skin, she could even feel her hair growing.

Given enough time, her white hair would eventually be replaced by newly grown black hair.

From now on, I'll exercise hard and watch what I eat. I have to get my figure into the best shape possible.

Li Xiuying silently made that vow to her reflection in the mirror.