When Ji Yaoguang saw the purple-and-gold business card in Lin Fei's hand, surprise immediately crossed her face.
She instantly understood why Han Enci was so afraid of Lin Fei.
But she was even more puzzled. Why had her father given him that card?
While she was still wavering between surprise and doubt, Lin Fei took out the black card and pushed it onto the table. "Hua Ming's refund for your consultation fee."
Ji Yaoguang was a little dazed. "What?"
Lin Fei smiled faintly. "Hua Ming couldn't cure Thousand Spiders and Ten Thousand Poisons at all. Naturally, he had to spit out the money he'd taken against his conscience."
Astonishment filled Ji Yaoguang's face, and a strange suspicion surfaced in her mind. Could this Lin Fei have used some shameless, underhanded method to make Hua Ming hand over the money?
"I can't accept this money. Give it back to Divine Physician Hua," Ji Yaoguang said coolly, her attitude firm.
But Lin Fei did not touch the black card at all. He said calmly, "I'm afraid he wouldn't dare accept it even if you beat him to death."
His words were neither forceful nor mild, yet they carried an unquestionable calm, the bearing of someone who held everything in his grasp.
Ji Yaoguang frowned, unable to understand why he was so certain.
She gave a somewhat self-mocking smile, inwardly telling herself that she must be overthinking things.
Whatever he did, I can just return it to Divine Physician Hua myself. With that thought, Ji Yaoguang accepted the black card without further qualms.
As for what exactly had happened in between, a question to Divine Physician Hua would make everything clear.
Seeing Ji Yaoguang accept the black card, Lin Fei immediately smiled. "It's almost time to get off work. Shall I treat you to dinner?"
Ji Yaoguang had intended to decline politely, but thinking of his purple-and-gold business card and the forceful way he had helped her out, she sighed instead. For some inexplicable reason, she smiled. "Sure."
That smile was like locust blossoms opening in the sunlight of early summer, so brilliant that everything else paled beside it.
The corners of Lin Fei's mouth lifted slightly, and a trace of longing and tenderness flashed deep within his eyes.
Soon, the three of them took the private elevator downstairs.
Wu Moling acted as their driver, taking Ji Yaoguang's red Ferrari toward the Jade Orchid Five-Star Hotel.
Ji Yaoguang was actually rather hesitant. Seeing Lin Fei's casual clothing, she was somewhat concerned for his wallet. "Why don't we just get something simple?"
Watching the scenery outside the window, Lin Fei smiled unconcernedly. "It's only a few thousand yuan."
Remembering that he had the purple-and-gold business card her father had given him, and that he had shown no concern over eighty million yuan either, Ji Yaoguang said nothing more.
Maybe he's some rich young wastrel, Ji Yaoguang thought, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
He's clearly rich, yet he dresses like this to play poor and claims he's an unemployed drifter?
The Jade Orchid's decor was refined and elegant. Lin Fei found a corner by a second-floor window and sat down.
All the tableware was custom-made Jingdezhen porcelain. Each dish was paired with an exquisite piece of porcelain, with none repeated.
During the meal, Ji Yaoguang curiously asked Lin Fei who he really was, but he still smiled and called himself an unemployed drifter.
Ji Yaoguang was momentarily speechless before pressing further. "You know my dad?"
Lin Fei nodded. "I've met him once."
The corner of Ji Yaoguang's mouth twitched. He gave you his business card after meeting you once? Who do you think you are, Ma Kaixuan?
As though seeing through her thoughts, Lin Fei smiled faintly. "I cured your grandfather's liver cancer."
Ji Yaoguang was somewhat displeased, but she merely frowned. Her good upbringing kept her from saying anything.
Ji Zhongjin's late-stage liver cancer was an incurable terminal illness. Ji Yaoguang did not believe anyone in the world could cure it. For Lin Fei to joke about her family member's illness left her, his granddaughter, feeling deeply uncomfortable.
When it was time to settle the bill, Lin Fei took out a black card and asked the server to swipe it.
To Ji Yaoguang's surprise, there was a signature on this black card: Yao Zhicheng.
Who was Yao Zhicheng?
The richest man in Western Shu Province-even in the entire southwest!
Unable to hold back, Ji Yaoguang asked, "What's your relationship with Yao Zhicheng?"
Just how close did they have to be for him to let Lin Fei use even his black-and-gold credit card?
"We're not particularly close," Lin Fei said casually. "I merely helped their ancestor ascend the imperial throne four thousand years ago and protected them from the calamity of the Investiture of the Gods three thousand years ago."
"Oh, and thirty years ago, Yao Zhicheng begged me to come out of seclusion, so I helped their family avert a disaster that would have wiped them out."
"That's all."
According to rumor, the Yao family's ancestor was Emperor Shun, one of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors.
Wu Moling was filled with reverence. As expected of Master. He truly is extraordinary.
Ji Yaoguang, however, knitted her brows tightly, unable to listen to another word.
She realized that Lin Fei really did love joking, and his jokes were far beyond merely outrageous. When he started boasting, there were simply no bounds.
"If you don't want to tell me, fine. You didn't have to make things up with such a straight face." Ji Yaoguang shook her head helplessly and climbed into the Ferrari.
In response to her doubts, Lin Fei merely gave an easy, unrestrained smile, not taking them to heart at all.
When they returned to the Ji family villa, Ji Yaoguang was surprised to find that the living room lights were on.
She lived separately from her family. There should not have been anyone else in her home at this hour.
"What's going on? Has someone broken into my house?" Ji Yaoguang's heart sank as she asked Wu Moling gravely.
To her surprise, Wu Moling actually looked toward Lin Fei.
As though he were Wu Moling's pillar of support.
Lin Fei smiled faintly. "Your family wants to give you a surprise."
Ji Yaoguang frowned. "Really?"
"Really." Lin Fei sounded a little helpless. "Have you ever seen an assassin sneak into your house and leave the lights on?"
That would be openly telling everyone-I am lying in wait in your house to assassinate you. Whatever you do, don't come home.
Ji Yaoguang could not help laughing, feeling that she had been a little too tense lately.
With his hands clasped behind his back, Lin Fei strolled ahead as leisurely as if he were walking through his own courtyard, as though he were returning to his own home.
Ji Yaoguang could not explain why, but watching his composure gradually settled her heart as well.
There seemed to be something otherworldly about him. He took nothing to heart, yet he always managed to put others at ease.
And... he was a little like that hazy, indistinct figure in her dreams.
At that thought, Ji Yaoguang blushed slightly and felt a little vexed. What am I even thinking?
Ji Yaoguang followed closely behind Lin Fei. Once inside, she looked pleasantly surprised. "Dad! Mom! Grandpa, why are you all here?"
Today did not seem to be any special occasion. Why had they all come?
What surprised her even more, however, was the reaction of her three elders.
Rather than greeting her first, they actually looked excitedly toward Lin Fei.
"Divine Physician Lin!"
"Young brother, what brings you here?"
Their faces beaming with delight, Ji Chongwei and Ji Zhongjin actually bowed respectfully to Lin Fei with their hands clasped, offering a somewhat awkward formal salute from ancient times.
Lin Fei was momentarily speechless. He truly had not expected them to greet him this way.
Having learned that Lin Fei was an immortal from ancient times, the Ji family had paid attention even to details such as how to greet him.
Seeing this, Ji Yaoguang's mother also understood something and promptly stepped forward to pay her respects.
"There's no need for such ceremony." Lin Fei waved helplessly and reached out to help them straighten up.
After a brief moment of astonishment, Ji Yaoguang asked with a strange expression, "Dad, what are you... doing?"
Ji Chongwei laughed heartily. "Daughter, your dad was hoping to give you a surprise. It looks like you already know."
The surprise he referred to was, naturally, Lin Fei curing Ji Zhongjin's late-stage liver cancer.
Seeing his daughter together with Lin Fei, Ji Chongwei took it for granted that she already knew.
"Know what?" Ji Yaoguang was utterly confused, feeling that more and more things had been leaving her at a loss lately.
Surprise crossed Ji Chongwei's face. He instinctively glanced at Lin Fei before asking in puzzlement, "Divine Physician Lin cured your grandfather's liver cancer. You didn't know?"
Ji Yaoguang's clear, autumn-water eyes widened, and her delicate lips formed an "O" as she stared at Lin Fei in shock.
His face was utterly calm, without so much as a ripple.
He had even sat down on the sofa and was busying himself with the tea set, brewing tea.
He wasn't joking? He was telling the truth?! Ji Yaoguang felt that her entire worldview had suffered a tremendous blow.
She hurried to Ji Zhongjin's side and asked anxiously, "Grandpa, is what Dad said true?"
Ji Zhongjin smiled kindly. "Silly child, of course it's true. Take a look if you don't believe me."
As he spoke, Ji Zhongjin picked up the medical report beside him.
Ji Yaoguang hurriedly took the report. A single glance sent her into raptures.
Her grandfather really had recovered from liver cancer, and the ones who had reached that conclusion were two leading specialists from the Provincial People's Hospital and the Provincial Military District Hospital.
Even those specialists had been stunned at the time. Unable to fathom it despite racking their brains, they had declared it a miracle in medical history. They had frantically pressed Ji Zhongjin to tell them who had cured him.
But when someone of Ji Zhongjin's standing kept his lips sealed, those specialists could only leave with regrets.
Not only that, Ji Zhongjin also laid out the entire matter involving Hua Ming, leaving Ji Yaoguang in a daze.
She turned to look at Lin Fei. He was sipping tea with breezy composure and gave her a calm smile.
So... everything he said was true?
Wu Moling wasn't joking either? Ji Yaoguang was momentarily dazed, her heart filled with shock.
The Ji family treated Lin Fei with considerable respect and courtesy, happily bringing fruit platters, offering cigarettes, and striking up conversations with him.
Ji Zhongjin and Lin Fei seemed to get along exceptionally well, and Ji Zhongjin broke into wistful smiles from time to time.
It turned out that Ji Zhongjin had noticed how meticulous Lin Fei was when brewing tea. Having studied the art of tea himself for decades, he had simply begun discussing it with Lin Fei.
After only a brief exchange, he realized that Lin Fei's understanding of the art of tea was extraordinarily profound. Ji Zhongjin's own deep understanding was not worth mentioning before him.
Glimpsing a single spot and discerning the whole leopard, Ji Zhongjin ultimately reached just one conclusion: unfathomable!
Yet to Lin Fei, all this was only natural. After all, he had lived for two hundred million years. Spending even a millionth of that time studying the art of tea should long since have made him a tea sage...
Ji Chongwei looked thoughtfully at Lin Fei, then gently patted his daughter's shoulder and said quietly, "Come with me."
Ji Yaoguang looked puzzled, but she still followed her father onto the spacious garden balcony.
After closing the floor-to-ceiling glass doors, Ji Chongwei smiled and asked Ji Yaoguang, "Yaoguang, what exactly is your relationship with Divine Physician Lin?"
Ji Yaoguang was a little bewildered. "We don't have any particular relationship."
Ji Chongwei said in surprise, "Then why would he stand up for you and cure your grandfather?"
And... if there's nothing between you, why did you bring him home?
Ji Yaoguang blushed slightly and said in vexation, "Dad, stop letting your imagination run wild. He's Moling's friend."
A look of regret crossed Ji Chongwei's face. He murmured, "So he's Wu Moling's friend..."
He felt quite frustrated.
In what way is my daughter any less than Wu Moling?