Opening Up

Not every long illness makes a person wise.

For many people who have been sick since childhood, illness becomes part of life. Being unwell for so long can even wear down the will to live.

Whether they treat it or not, the result is the same: they won’t die, but they won’t live well either.

Those with milder conditions often drift through life and forget about treatment. They don’t take their medicine on time, and they aren’t strict about following medical advice. Little by little, the disease finds a crack and tears it open.

Those with more severe conditions are reminded by their bodies every moment: you are a patient; you have to be careful. But that reminder can also drain away hope.

How could someone who took medicine year after year not damage their liver and kidneys? It might not show when they’re young, but over one year, two years, five years, ten years—stretch it across a lifetime, twenty years, thirty years—can the body really withstand a lifetime of medication?

A lot of people get lost along the way.

Zhao Qi was a prime example.

Her glandular development was too fast. It wasn’t obvious when she was little, but by sixteen, the signs had begun to show. Unfortunately, the habits she’d developed since childhood made ordinary patient life unbearable for her.

There was nothing wrong with a sixteen-year-old girl liking sweets. The problem was that she had already lost the freedom to choose what she ate and satisfy her appetite, but she still hadn’t accepted that reality.

And there was another example: the omega who had killed herself. She had chosen her friends poorly, been marked repeatedly and then cleaned repeatedly, then had the bad luck to develop complications after her gland was removed. Severe physiological depression followed, and tragedy was the result.

Hua Yu had studied exactly this field. After years in clinical practice, she’d seen countless cases like these; how could she not understand Wei Yin’s condition?

At the simplest level, Wei Yin just wanted to be an ordinary person who didn’t trouble anyone. That came entirely from her kind, gentle nature. She didn’t want to owe Hua Yu money, so she came to serve her and work off the debt, dutifully keeping to the role of a maid. She remembered every kindness shown to her. That was why she didn’t want to spend too much effort taking care of herself; doing so would make her seem precious and delicate, and those were exactly the two things she could least afford if she wanted to survive in society.

At a deeper level, Wei Yin had lost her mother when she was seventeen. There are all kinds of mothers in the world: good and bad, loving and hateful. But to Wei Yin, her mother had been a kind mother, her support and harbor, the love of her life for seventeen years. Before, her mother had cared for her illness, reminded her to eat and dress properly, and taken her for regular checkups. After her mother passed, she could only slowly, belatedly, and on her own take over all of those things.

Taking care of herself was such a difficult thing.

Not because the word care itself was hard, but because every time she thought of the future, there would be no mother anymore, and everything would have to be done by her alone. In the past, one sentence of "Mom, I have a headache" was enough to send her into her mother’s arms, where she could act spoiled; the rest would never need to be worried about. Someone would feed her medicine, make the food she liked, ask after her health. But from then on, none of that would exist. It would never exist again. The comparison made the grief of losing her mother seep into every detail of her life, and it was truly hard to feel uplifted.

Hua Yu understood all of this; she understood it even better than Wei Yin did, so she felt distressed and sad for her.

But all of that put together still wasn’t a reason for Wei Yin to let herself get sick.

Since she was so listless and didn’t care about her own body, Hua Yu had to give her a hard dose of reality.

Seeking advantage and avoiding harm was human instinct. Once Wei Yin was frightened, she would start paying attention.

Wei Yin was badly startled. After Hua Yu brought her back to the office, she was still dazed.

Hua Yu didn’t want to scare her like that, but clearly only this way would make Wei Yin understand how serious the matter was.

"Hua Yu, Hua Yu..." Wei Yin clutched at Hua Yu’s clothes the whole way, her chin nearly tucked into her collarbone as she clung tightly behind her.

She was like a little cat panicking and thrashing wildly after being frightened, but too terrified even to cry out; she only wanted to curl up in a safe corner.

Hua Yu reached back to stroke her arm, then pulled her forward and patted her back, smoothing her down as she said softly, "Take a deep breath. Follow me. In, out."

Wei Yin’s whole body was trembling faintly. It took several tries before her emotions finally settled.

"Don’t be scared. You’re safe right now." Hua Yu’s voice was steady and clear, brushing against Wei Yin’s ear again and again in quiet reassurance.

Wei Yin sniffled, lifted red-rimmed eyes, and said in a small voice, "I’m better now."

Hua Yu held Wei Yin’s wrist to check her pulse and confirmed that she really had calmed down.

"I’m going to the ward for a bit," Hua Yu said, pushing her into the office and seating her on the sofa. She stuffed a cup of hot water into Wei Yin’s hands, then bent down and said softly, "Stay here. Take a sip every so often. Don’t think about anything. Drink it all."

Wei Yin was like a puppet moving whenever she was told. Hua Yu said what to do, and she did it; she drank the water in small sips as instructed. Gradually, the fear lost its initial force.

When the cup was empty, Wei Yin held it and stared blankly ahead, feeling both aggrieved and lost inside.

How could Dr. Hua be like this? So cold, and so ruthless; completely unlike anyone she had met before... But it wasn’t as though she hadn’t expected it at all. When she had wanted to go home with her back then, Hua Yu had looked at her exactly the same way.

Deep, indifferent, and utterly still.

Was that just Dr. Hua’s nature?

And yet, from Hua Yu’s hard dose of reality, Wei Yin could still taste threads of safety.

All of it was for her.

She had already lost her mom; a child without a mother had no one to discipline them. So was Dr. Hua... disciplining her?

A lot of people said Wei Yin was gentle, obedient, well-behaved, and sensible. But she didn’t think so. She always felt she wasn’t lively enough, not easy enough to please, dull and clumsy.

Was Hua Yu seeing her the same way?

Her mind was a mess of tangled thoughts, like a ball of yarn with no beginning thread to pull and no way to sort out the order or logic. In the end, Wei Yin simply let out a breath and stopped overthinking.

At any rate, Dr. Hua would never hurt her.

A little later, Hua Yu brought over a stack of payment slips and waved her out from the doorway. "Come on. Let’s do your tests."

Wei Yin followed without a word.

Hua Yu took her for a full set of gland examinations. While waiting, Wei Yin returned to the room, curled up on the sofa, and wrapped herself in her coat.

"Dr. Hua," Wei Yin said in a tiny voice, sounding a little unhappy, "do you educate all your patients like this?"

Hua Yu was refreshing the test page. Without looking up, she said, "You have a problem with that?"

Wei Yin said softly, "No."

Hua Yu let out a low laugh. Wei Yin had already recovered on her own, and she hadn’t been scared during the tests either; Hua Yu therefore returned to her usual way of speaking.

"For other patients, I’d suggest they transfer hospitals," Hua Yu said lightly. Her tone was professional and rational, almost cold. "As long as they’re not my patients, I don’t care how much they throw themselves around."

Wei Yin gave a silly little "oh." Thank goodness she had been picked up by Dr. Hua.

Still dazed, she asked, "How is Zhao Qi’s condition?"

Hua Yu said, "I’m not her attending physician, so I can’t say for sure."

"Then based on your professional judgment," Wei Yin climbed up, placing both hands on the back of the sofa and poking her head out to look at Hua Yu, "is Zhao Qi okay now? Is there hope of curing her? Why did she suddenly get so much worse?"

"So many questions," Hua Yu said with a smile. "Which one do you want me to answer?"

Wei Yin was a little anxious. "Any one. Pick one."

"Not very good, hard to say, and I don’t know," Hua Yu answered with three refusals in a row. Her gaze moved from the computer screen to Wei Yin’s face; her voice remained as calm as ever. "She’s a case of premature aging. You couldn’t tell from her appearance before, but her internal organs have already aged and need far more careful maintenance. She has a child’s mindset and loves to play and eat; if she can’t control herself, it will worsen."

Wei Yin felt sorry for her. "But she’s only sixteen."

"Your mother took very good care of you," Hua Yu said offhandedly. "Otherwise, your condition at sixteen might not have been any better than hers."

Wei Yin said nothing.

The room fell quiet.

Hua Yu’s fingers paused on the mouse. After a while, she said softly, "I’m sorry."

"It’s nothing," Wei Yin murmured, shrinking back into the sofa. "My mom had a glandular illness too. She knew how to take care of me properly. I just... miss her a little."

Hua Yu knew something about Wei Yin’s mother. From the fragments of Wei Yin’s stories, she could infer that her mother probably had a pheromone deficiency, much like Wei Yin’s condition, only far worse.

After all, because she hadn’t been treated from childhood, she had only managed to bring Wei Yin up to seventeen before dying before forty.

Hua Yu came to herself; the matter she had temporarily set aside surfaced in her mind again.

The side of the seesaw that had already been resolved came down, and the other side crashed in.

"I was wrong too, for losing my temper at the cemetery," Hua Yu said, her tone sincere and serious. "I didn’t consider how you were feeling, and I didn’t take your emotions into account. I’m sorry."

Wei Yin, curled up inside her coat, suddenly poked her head out. "!?"

"I may be a little unfeeling," Hua Yu said slowly, clearly finding it hard to say. "When I speak and act, sometimes I don’t manage to consider other people’s emotions. So for any situations that may have happened before, or may happen in the future, I want to apologize to you first."

Wei Yin hurriedly sat up. That wasn’t what she meant.

Hua Yu didn’t wait for her to speak before continuing, "You don’t need to deny it. People have told me this since I was little. Childhood playmates, mentors when I grew up, and the hospital directors and leaders have all said it to my face."

"Really, Dr. Hua, I don’t think you have a bad temper," Wei Yin said sincerely. She really had never thought in that direction. "You’re especially good to me."

Hua Yu seemed comforted by that; the corners of her lips lifted almost imperceptibly. "Still, I’m not going to change."

Wei Yin blinked. "Ah... not changing is fine too."

Dr. Hua really never played by the rules... but looking at Hua Yu’s face, pretty and elegant, with the smile that slanted from her eyes and brows making her look bright and radiant, like the most intelligent and dazzling swan, she really did not seem like someone who should be criticized, nor like someone who would change her course just because of other people. She was very charming like this.

"Your test results are out," Hua Yu interrupted her thoughts, raising a hand. "Come take a look."

Wei Yin walked over. Hua Yu pointed to each indicator and explained it to her, along with the CT and ultrasound scans.

"Most of the indicators are near the normal range. A few are a little low or a little high, but they’re all still considered normal," Hua Yu said. "This one is a specific indicator; it has to be brought down into the normal range. This one you don’t need to worry about; even if it’s twice the normal value, it’s fine."

Wei Yin listened with complete attention, nodding from time to time and echoing "mm-hmm" nervously, afraid Hua Yu would say again that her attitude was the problem.

"What’s the conclusion?" Wei Yin studied every report carefully. "Is it getting better or worse?"

Hua Yu leaned back with an easy smile, hands folded behind her head.

Under Wei Yin’s nervous gaze, Hua Yu slowly said two words: "Very good."

When she palpated Wei Yin that morning, she had already felt it; the gland was warm and enlarged, a good sign that it was recovering.

Wei Yin couldn’t help it. Looking at Hua Yu’s relaxed expression, she smiled too. "Dr. Hua took good care of me."

Hua Yu raised a hand and rested it lightly at the back of Wei Yin’s neck, speaking gently. "No. It’s your mother who laid a very good foundation for you."

Wei Yin’s condition was better than many people’s. If she hadn’t been eating poorly for the past two years and had dropped below a healthy weight, the gland would not have deteriorated.

When Wei Yin was in university, Hua Yu had accompanied her to the hospital for multiple checkups, so she knew her constitution inside and out. After Wei Yin was hospitalized, Hua Yu personally took care of her; she added a lot of specialty medication into the nutritional supplements Wei Yin drank, and the meals were prepared to be light and nourishing. Improvement was expected.

"Thank you, thank you," Wei Yin said awkwardly, not knowing how to express her gratitude. Her emotions were split in two now: half of her felt sad for Zhao Qi and the omega who had killed herself, while the other half was happy that her own illness had improved. "I’ll definitely take good care of my body."

This time, Wei Yin meant it sincerely.

It wasn’t just Hua Yu’s attitude that had influenced her; the bloody examples were right there in front of her. This time she truly had taken it to heart. Even if Dr. Hua stopped caring about her, she would still look after herself properly... no, stop that hypothetical.

Seeing how well-behaved she was, Hua Yu’s tone softened even more unconsciously. After thinking for a moment, she said, "Zhao Qi sneaked out on the day you were discharged. She’s young, with poor endurance and self-control. When she saw you discharged, she begged her mother to take her out too. Her mother felt sorry for her daughter and thought she just wanted to get some fresh air; she didn’t expect that as soon as she got out, she’d run straight to a hotpot restaurant and gorge herself. That same night, they had to call emergency services."

"Eating is only natural. How could one meal make her worsen that badly?" Wei Yin didn’t understand these things and only felt how cruel it was. "She’s really so pitiful."

"That’s the special thing about glandular illness," Hua Yu said, and even she felt dispirited bringing it up. "The way the gland interacts with the body is different for everyone. We use experience to judge that Zhao Qi’s blood sugar would affect the gland, but we still can’t be one hundred percent certain. Just like the omega who killed himself; no one knew that after his gland was removed, it would affect the brain’s hormone secretion and lead to severe physiological depression."

Wei Yin sighed along with her. "Yeah."

Hua Yu looked up and studied her for a few seconds, then suddenly flicked the report in her hand. "But yours, I know."

Wei Yin: "??"

Hua Yu smiled without answering. Once she thoroughly studied Wei Yin’s genetic report, maybe she would find a way to cure her.

When Wei Yin still didn’t get an answer and saw Hua Yu smiling, she smiled along with her.

Just then, there was a knock at the door. Yang Cha pushed it open and came in. "Dr. Hua, someone from Sun Xiao’s side wants to see you."

Sun Xiao was the omega who had killed himself. Because Hua Yu had performed the gland removal surgery, the hospital was worried his family would make trouble. Although they had clearly explained the risks before surgery, a life had still been lost. Everyone working at the hospital knew that when something like this blew up, the doctor would inevitably be the one to suffer.

Fortunately, Sun Xiao’s parents were rather calm; calm to the point of seeming almost cold, like the release and numbness of finally having an unruly child die. They only asked to keep the body at the hospital for a few days so they could prepare for the funeral.

No child who’s been sick for a long time is treated with patience forever; sick children are resented too.

"I’ve met Sun Xiao’s family," Hua Yu said as she walked out. "Who came this time?"

Yang Cha shook her head. "A female alpha; pretty young. Not his family."

They hadn’t even reached the door when the person appeared.

It was a young alpha in a coat and sunglasses, arms folded across her chest, long hair loose around her shoulders. Her voice was hoarse when she spoke. "Hello."

She’d come without being invited, and Yang Cha was a little nervous. "Dr. Hua, I didn’t know she followed you over."

Hua Yu said nothing and motioned for Yang Cha to leave first.

"Who are you?" Hua Yu asked.

The alpha removed her sunglasses, revealing the dark circles under her eyes. She seemed to have gone without food or water all day, with a lingering air of desolation about her.

"I’m Xiao Xiao’s first alpha." The woman’s voice was very low, but when she spoke, her expression turned very gentle.

Hua Yu didn’t speak. She didn’t know the woman’s purpose, but she knew Sun Xiao’s glandular condition. He had clearly been marked many times and cleaned many times, which severely damaged his gland and forced it to be removed; in the end, he died.

Strictly speaking, those alphas who marked him had killed him.

But intuition kept her silent; the alpha in front of her was different from those people.

Her tone was full of attachment. "He was afraid of pain, spoiled, liked novelty, and chased excitement. When he was in heat, he deliberately tricked me into going to his place... After I marked him, I proposed to him, but he turned me down."

"...Later, he dated a lot of people. I always thought it was because I wasn’t good enough, that I hadn’t satisfied him." Pain flickered in the woman’s eyes. She looked at Hua Yu, her gaze searching for something. "You’re a doctor. You examined his body. Tell me, had he already been suffering from depression and avoidant attachment for a long time? Was he always struggling and torturing himself?"

Hua Yu pressed her lips together and said nothing.

The woman had almost spoken those words with sorrow and tenderness, but her guesses and imaginings had no evidence to support them.

"I only handled the surgery," Hua Yu said, her voice quieter. "We’re in the differentiation department. Even if we notice the patient’s mental state, we still can’t make a professional judgment... especially not about his past."

After a long silence, the woman suddenly looked at Wei Yin.

"This is your omega, right," the woman said. "She looks very well-behaved."

Wei Yin, only showing her head from behind the sofa: QAQ.

Hua Yu frowned and stepped sideways to block the woman’s view.

The woman’s voice lowered and lowered. "I regret it so much. If only I’d chased after him harder back then."

"If I hadn’t let go, hadn’t given him freedom, hadn’t let him say he was leaving and then leave, that would have been better."

"At the very least, with me looking after him, he wouldn’t have ended up like this."

"I was so stupid. Why did I believe him back then?"

Hua Yu’s eyes trembled; she lowered her gaze.

She knew that feeling all too well.

At that moment, Wei Yin said timidly, "Hello. I don’t think it was like that."

The woman stared at Wei Yin.

Wei Yin swallowed. She could feel the heavy atmosphere and tried hard to recall. "He had tried to kill himself before. The thing he kept shouting was, ‘Without his gland, ta wouldn’t pay even less attention to me.’ According to his recollection, his previous partner was a man. We all thought it was a male alpha, so maybe he knew the exact situation."

A look of puzzled hatred flashed in the woman’s eyes. "Impossible. He didn’t like men."

Wei Yin scratched her head. "Then I don’t know. His mental state wasn’t good, and it was probably related to his ex. I feel like he was being manipulated."

"I have the contact information for his ex here. I can give it to you," Hua Yu said. "Maybe there was a misunderstanding between you. Maybe he went through something bad. If you want to look into it or understand it, that’s up to you."

As she said this, Hua Yu looked at her and also felt a little pity.

The person she had loved in the past had hanged himself in the hospital, after suffering so much anguish and struggle before death. She was regretful and confused, wanting an explanation for all of it, wanting to understand, wanting justice.

Sun Xiao was already dead. Hua Yu had no need to keep his ex’s information for him.

The woman took the paper Hua Yu handed over and thanked her in a low voice.

As she turned to leave, she looked back again and smiled at Wei Yin.

"Take good care of your omega. Don’t let her get lost."

Silently in her heart, Hua Yu replied: I will.

The woman’s arrival had made the mood heavy.

"People who love each other can still lose one another," Wei Yin said thoughtfully, leaning over the back of the sofa.

Hua Yu walked over and tapped her forehead with one bent finger. "Don’t overthink it."

Hua Yu still had work to do. She pulled a few sheets of A4 paper from the printer and placed them, along with a pencil, on the little tea table in front of Wei Yin. "Draw for a while if you want. When I’m done, we’ll go eat together."

Wei Yin held her forehead and sat up properly. "Oh."

Dr. Hua really was busy. While Wei Yin was drawing, four or five patients pushed open her door, and Yang Cha and the others came by every so often.

"Dr. Hua, the two surgeries scheduled for this afternoon..."

Wei Yin lowered her pen. The soft scratching of graphite against paper filled the room. Listening to Hua Yu’s calm, composed answers—unhurried, orderly, and never flustered—Wei Yin’s own strokes became even more precise.

Before long, a lifelike peacock and a little swan had taken shape on the page.

Wei Yin looked at them for a while, then added a crown to the peacock and a single feather sticking up on the swan.

Then she stared at her drawing and grinned foolishly.

"I came in directly," said a woman’s voice from the doorway. It was Xu Ya Qing. The moment she spotted Wei Yin, her eyes lit up. "Pretty girl, is that you?!"

Wei Yin recognized her as Hua Yu’s cousin and greeted her. "Hello."

Xu Ya Qing said, "Hello, hello, hello."

Hua Yu glanced at her. "What are you doing here?"

"Here to ask you out to dinner! I told you yesterday!" Xu Ya Qing looked shocked. "This was the favor you asked me for last time."

Hua Yu remembered that she really had asked Xu Ya Qing for something, and it was quite important, so she said no more.

Xu Ya Qing noticed the drawing in Wei Yin’s hand. "You drew this?"

Wei Yin nodded.

Xu Ya Qing was a little surprised and took it. "Can I have a look?"

"Go ahead," Wei Yin said.

The more Xu Ya Qing looked, the more amazed she became. She was an art student and could tell at a glance that the technique was mature; most importantly, it had spirit, movement, and form.

"You studied painting?" Xu Ya Qing asked.

Wei Yin grinned. "No. I studied nursing in college."

"Then you’ve drawn since you were little?"

Wei Yin thought about it. "Sort of. There was an auntie living upstairs who taught me ceramics, and I picked up a little drawing on the side."

Xu Ya Qing nodded, then said thoughtfully, "No wonder."

She put the paper down. "We’re going to eat. Want to come too?"

"You two go ahead and talk," Wei Yin declined. "I’m going home."

Xu Ya Qing clearly had something to say to Hua Yu; Wei Yin could tell that much.

"It’s fine, it’s nothing important," Xu Ya Qing waved a hand. "If you don’t go, I won’t ask Hua Yu either. I only invited her because you were there."

Wei Yin tilted her head. "Why? Are we that familiar?"

Xu Ya Qing choked. "We’ll be familiar in the future!"

"What a mess," Hua Yu snorted softly. She stood up, stretched, and said to Wei Yin, "Come on; we’ll go together. She doesn’t treat often. Might as well solve lunch."

Wei Yin naturally would not refuse Hua Yu.

The place Xu Ya Qing chose served Cantonese food. Both of them were pretty satisfied, and after taking the menu they ordered the dishes they liked.

Once the food was served, Hua Yu tasted a bit of everything, then said quietly to Wei Yin, "Not as good as what you make."

Wei Yin made a proud little cat face, rubbing her cheek smugly. "Mm-hm."

Xu Ya Qing was sitting very close and heard everything clearly. She slammed down her chopsticks in protest. "You really are using the pretty girl as a maid, aren’t you? What a waste."

Xu Ya Qing had shown obvious interest in Wei Yin from the moment she entered. Hua Yu had thought she must know who Wei Yin was, but judging from her reaction, that seemed a bit too much.

Hua Yu didn’t understand. "What are you so upset about?"

"I, I just can’t stand it." Xu Ya Qing didn’t know who Wei Yin was and privately thought Hua Yu was blind to treasure.

At first glance, Wei Yin didn’t seem like much. She looked small and thin, but on closer inspection her appeal became apparent.

First, she had an oval face, delicate features, and just the right amount of blankness in her face; she was the kind of person who only looked better the longer you looked at her. Second, though she was thin, her curves were still lovely where they needed to be. For Xu Ya Qing, who only liked sweet, soft girls regardless of whether they were alpha or omega, it was only natural to feel fond of Wei Yin.

Hua Yu didn’t really understand Xu Ya Qing and just treated her as having one of her usual random episodes. After eating for a while, Hua Yu got a call from the hospital and stepped aside to answer it.

The moment Hua Yu left, Xu Ya Qing quickly slid out of her seat, plopped down beside Wei Yin, and began showering her with attention.

"This dish is good," Xu Ya Qing said, using serving chopsticks to put food onto Wei Yin’s plate. "And this dessert too; it’s their signature."

Wei Yin shifted back half a seat, uncomfortable. "Thank you. I can do it myself."

"Ah," Xu Ya Qing deliberately ignored the hint to leave and looked down at Wei Yin’s hand. "How did you hurt this?"

Wei Yin curled her fingers inward. Probably from when she went to pay her respects. She couldn’t remember it clearly and didn’t answer for a moment.

Xu Ya Qing took Wei Yin’s hand in both of hers and clicked her tongue sympathetically. "My cousin doesn’t treat you well. Come with me instead."

Anyway, Hua Yu didn’t lack a maid. She ate at the cafeteria every day, and there was fixed cleaning service at home. Wei Yin was, at most, a lucky charm.

She said it too quietly, and Wei Yin didn’t catch it. "What?"

Xu Ya Qing, afraid of Hua Yu’s authority, didn’t dare repeat herself loudly. She could only stroke the back of Wei Yin’s hand and then had a sudden idea. "I know how to read palms."

Wei Yin was about to pull her hand back, but when she heard that, she stopped and asked in surprise, "Really?"

Xu Ya Qing nodded. "Really."

Wei Yin’s eyes changed instantly. She eagerly held out both hands. "Then take a look for me."

"One hand is enough. Look, your palm lines are clear, with fewer markings. To us experts, that means..."

"What do you experts mean?"

Hua Yu was standing behind them.

From her angle, Wei Yin and Xu Ya Qing had their heads together. Wei Yin’s right hand was being held by Xu Ya Qing, while the other hand was tracing around her palm. The two of them were staring intently at the lines in her hand, eyes bright and focused.

A very intimate distance; a very intimate posture.

Hua Yu narrowed her eyes.

The two of them turned back in sync. Wei Yin said excitedly, "Dr. Hua, my cousin can read palms! You should let her read yours too!"

Hua Yu looked at Xu Ya Qing with a smile that wasn’t quite a smile. "Palm reading?"

Xu Ya Qing shot Hua Yu a look full of you really have no sense, then nodded toward Wei Yin and mouthed, "I’m flirting, shut up!"

Hua Yu’s smile turned even more false, hanging at the corner of her mouth. "Flirting?"

Wei Yin froze and quickly snatched her hand back.

Xu Ya Qing panicked and jumped up to press close to Hua Yu’s face. "What are you talking about? You’re ruining my reputation!"

Then she turned back and pointed at Wei Yin. "And you, pretty girl, why do you listen to everything Hua Yu says? She’s got you wrapped around her finger like that; be careful you get exploited!"

Wei Yin shrank her shoulders and smiled without getting angry.

"You, hey..." Xu Ya Qing couldn’t stay mad at a pretty girl, so she could only stomp around in front of Hua Yu. "Aren’t you my sister? That’s not fair!"

Hua Yu laughed in exasperation and, with one hand, picked her up and tossed her back into her own seat. As she sat down, she said, "Not fair?"

If Hua Yu remembered correctly, on the way home after getting drunk, she had already let slip her first love’s name. Xu Ya Qing had been shocked out of her mind then; there was no reason for her to forget it now.

Xu Ya Qing was hitting on her cousin’s crush right under her nose; so who exactly was being unfair here?

"Wei Yin," Hua Yu deliberately stressed the first two syllables, "pass me the juice."

Wei Yin eagerly poured Hua Yu a glass of juice.

Xu Ya Qing lowered her head and ate the rice sausage rolls. They were delicious, and she ate without looking up, as if she were deaf.

Hua Yu thought for a moment, then looked at Wei Yin.

Wei Yin blinked back, not understanding.

"You’ve met before?" Hua Yu asked.

Last time, when she was drunk, she had no memory of it. But even with her feet, she could guess Xu Ya Qing had been the one to take her home; they had definitely met at least once.

She just didn’t know what Wei Yin had said, or how Xu Ya Qing’s brain had turned around that day.

Wei Yin lowered her voice. "I met her once when I took you home last time."

"Did she ask you any strange questions?" Hua Yu asked.

Wei Yin thought about it and answered honestly, "She asked if I was your ex-girlfriend."

Hua Yu’s brow lifted slightly.

Wei Yin went on, "I said no; I’ve never dated anyone."

After speaking, she quickly glanced at Xu Ya Qing and then said to Hua Yu in an even smaller voice, "Is she one of those, how do you say it, love pros? The kind who’s always flirting and picking up girls... Once you said it, I felt something was off too. Who asks a stranger right away if they’re your ex? That’s too rude."

Hua Yu’s expression remained steady. "Stay away from her in the future."

Wei Yin quietly took note.

Xu Ya Qing, busy eating, had no idea she was already being handled in every possible way.

"What you told me last time, I think it’s unreliable," Xu Ya Qing said after swallowing the last shrimp dumpling in her bowl and looking up. "That Yu Tiantian isn’t stupid. She won’t believe whatever you tell her."

"Of course she won’t believe it. That’s exactly what I want." Hua Yu lightly rubbed the rim of her cup, her tone cold.

Xu Ya Qing’s mind spun through a dozen turns, but she still couldn’t figure out what Hua Yu was planning. "Sister, can you give me a little more? What are you trying to do? My brain’s not that good; I can’t keep up with you."

Hua Yu said flatly, "You don’t need to know too much."

"I’m worried about you," Xu Ya Qing said anxiously. "If it were before, I wouldn’t care. But now that I know there’s an old love-hate thing between you two, I’m afraid you’ll mess this up. Yu Tiantian’s family isn’t easy to deal with."

"If she doesn’t eat plain food, does that mean I have to become a monk?" Hua Yu didn’t seem interested in discussing it. "Just tell me if you’ll do it or not."

If this had been a few days ago, she wouldn’t have cared this much about Yu Tiantian.

But after that gathering, Yu Tiantian was still using Wei Yin as a topic to this day; old and new grudges together, how could Hua Yu pretend not to see it?

Xu Ya Qing sighed. "I’m not from the same university as you two, but I know you were still at odds even after you got to college. The hard part is that Yu Tiantian knows I’m close to you; would she even believe me?"

Wei Yin caught one key word immediately. "University?"

Hua Yu made no sound. Xu Ya Qing blurted out the answer, "Yeah, you know?"

Wei Yin answered honestly, "I know. Dr. Hua is my senior. We went to the same university."

Xu Ya Qing didn’t understand. "What?"

Wei Yin repeated herself.

Xu Ya Qing lowered her head, thinking. Two seconds later, she looked up in shock.

Stunned, she slowly turned to Hua Yu. "Se-nior?"

Wei Yin thought Xu Ya Qing didn’t approve of the term and explained, "Although it might not be quite appropriate for an undergraduate and a doctoral student to call each other senior and junior, we used to be pretty close, so we didn’t fuss over those titles."

Xu Ya Qing’s voice cracked. "Pretty close...?"

Wei Yin secretly tugged at Hua Yu’s sleeve, giving it a pull to signal her to look at her phone.

【in】：Why does your cousin keep repeating what I say?

Wei Yin thought, She looks kind of silly. A little scary.

【Late-returning Dr. Hua】：Her brain isn’t great. Ignore her

【in】：...Are you really sure that’s okay

Hua Yu put her phone away, lifted a hand, and snapped her fingers in front of Xu Ya Qing.

"Wake up," Hua Yu said darkly. "You’ve scared her."

Xu Ya Qing trembled. "At this point, whether I’ve scared her or not... Wouldn’t it be better if I scared her...?"

Oh heavens, what had she just done?

This Wei Yin was that Wei Yin.

Hua Yu, the alpha who had been strict, self-restrained, cold, and aloof since childhood, harder and more unyielding than an iron tree, had, for the first time in her life, fallen for someone. That someone was the heavyweight white moonlight in her memory, someone no one could compare to.

And what could be more socially fatal than flirting with Hua Yu’s white moonlight right in front of her, even grabbing her hand, calling her pretty girl over and over, and trying to poach the sister-in-law...?

No, no; being socially dead was one thing. At least it wasn’t literal death.

But offending Hua Yu... Xu Ya Qing lifted her head in despair and met Hua Yu’s unreadable gaze.

Right. The countdown to death had begun.

She could almost predict her fate. Growing up, offending anyone else in the hospital had never been a big deal, because their level of bickering ranged from copper-tier mutual insults, to silver-tier crying and running to tell each other’s parents, to platinum-tier framing and leading others in shunning someone. None of it could compare to Hua Yu’s one move of "The teacher says the little sisters’ grades still need to improve a bit; why don’t you all come to my house for tutoring after dinner?"

Later, everyone gradually grew up and their character and temper began to show. Hua Yu no longer wanted to spend energy on that group of little sprouts. But... that did not include Xu Ya Qing!

Hua Yu’s authority had permeated every part of Xu Ya Qing’s upbringing.

Especially since the adults had supported it unconditionally.

"Can I choose my own method of death?" Xu Ya Qing asked sincerely.

Hua Yu took a sip of juice and said nothing.

Wei Yin asked softly, "Choose what?"

Hua Yu patted Wei Yin’s head. "Nothing. Eat yours."

Then Hua Yu raised a hand and ordered Wei Yin a few more dishes.

Xu Ya Qing, who was treating everyone, hurriedly said, "If it’s not enough, order more. Empty the menu."

Wei Yin suspected Xu Ya Qing was being sarcastic. Who orders until the menu is empty?

"I’m full enough," Wei Yin said. "No need to order more."

Hua Yu said, "It’s fine. The menu isn’t a death roster; checking one item doesn’t mean killing one person."

Xu Ya Qing shuddered violently.

"Is that so," Wei Yin said with a laugh. "Then kill them all."

Xu Ya Qing’s eyes rapidly filled with tears.

"Sis, sister-in-law, no, sis-wife, sis-husband..." Xu Ya Qing tried one more desperate time. "I’ll go talk to Yu Tiantian. I’ll use every trick I have; I’ll definitely help you with this."

Hua Yu: "You just said it was difficult."

Xu Ya Qing beamed. "How could that be? You’re my sister. There’s no difficult thing in the world, only people who don’t want to find a solution. Trust me; leave Yu Tiantian to me!"

Wei Yin had her mouth full and muttered to herself, "Yu Tiantian?"

The way she said it carried memory and uncertainty, like she’d suddenly heard a name that was a little familiar but impossible to place; a name she’d been thinking about, and might just remember any second now.

Two gazes shot toward her at once.

Wei Yin jumped. The food in her mouth almost went down the wrong way.

She hurriedly gulped a sip of water and said stiffly, "What is it?"

Xu Ya Qing watched Hua Yu’s expression and probed carefully, "You remember Yu Tiantian?"

"I don’t remember," Wei Yin said, secretly glancing at Hua Yu too. "Isn’t it you two who keep talking about her? All that love-hate stuff, the nemesis thing."

After saying that, Wei Yin’s cheeks flushed a little, and her voice dropped even lower. "Dr. Hua dated before?"

Hua Yu’s face went blank as she denied it quickly. "No."

Xu Ya Qing didn’t have time to explain and could only follow with, "Right."

Wei Yin bit the tip of her chopsticks. "Then... what’s Yu Tiantian’s relationship to you?"

It was all because these two people never avoided her when they spoke.

She wasn’t trying to pry.

Xu Ya Qing had asked her about an ex-girlfriend and also mentioned Yu Tiantian. It sounded like this person already knew them.

Could someone as untouchable as Dr. Hua also have had a rival in love? It was hard to imagine Hua Yu in conflict with anyone; maybe this was love and hatred intertwined?

Two alphas. Double the sparks.

Aiya, prying into other people’s private matters was really bad... Wei Yin silently condemned herself, all while sneaking glances at the two of them.

Hearing the three words "Yu Tiantian" from Wei Yin’s mouth, Hua Yu’s emotions instantly overpowered her reason. She was practically writing "unhappy" across her face.

"What relationship could I have with Yu Tiantian?" Hua Yu frowned, barely holding back the negative emotion in her voice. "Can you not mention her in the future?"

This was the first time Hua Yu had spoken to her like this.

And that look; wary and bothered, as though Wei Yin had asked something she had no right to ask. It was sharp as an icicle, stabbing straight into Wei Yin’s eyes.

Wei Yin’s expression instantly went from curious and excited to flooded with cold water, frightened and embarrassed all at once.

She lowered her head in panic. Had they once had contact, or even feelings for each other? When it was brought up now, did it really provoke such a strong reaction?

"I understand," Wei Yin said with difficulty.

For some reason, when she buried her head in her food again, the delicious pastries in her mouth suddenly lost all flavor and even tasted a little bitter.

She really should stop talking so much in the future, Wei Yin thought sadly.

After Xu Ya Qing swore her loyalty again and again, Hua Yu temporarily let the previous matter drop.

"Cousin," Xu Ya Qing pressed her luck, "since it’s already like this, when are you coming home with me? Auntie said if I don’t bring you back, my allowance next month is gone."

"What about your salary?" Hua Yu asked in confusion.

Xu Ya Qing glanced at Wei Yin, quickly looked away, and scratched her head. "There are a few little girls..."

Hua Yu was speechless. "You’re not young anymore either. Settle down and have an honest relationship; the two of you can plan your future together."

Xu Ya Qing said quietly, "I’m only twenty-six."

Hua Yu tilted her head toward Wei Yin. "She’s the same age as you and has already been working for four or five years. She’s experienced, and she can take care of herself. When are you going to let the elders worry a little less?"

The conversation had devolved into a one-sided lecture. Xu Ya Qing was miserable; she definitely had not checked the almanac before leaving the house, because she should never have walked through that door today.

Before, the whole family’s main target had been Hua Yu. She didn’t date, didn’t get involved in relationships, and looked as though she was determined to dedicate her whole life to modern medicine and walk down the road of being alone without ever looking back. Every holiday, she became the center of everyone’s attacks.

But now Hua Yu’s secretly beloved white moonlight was sitting right beside her, and Hua Yu was guarding her so tightly. Her own personal matters looked ready to resolve in a grand reunion, and the first one to go down was her; Xu Ya Qing, who had been slacking off behind the scenes, had become the target.

She could almost imagine what the next family gathering would look like.

"Pretty lady," Xu Ya Qing desperately shot Wei Yin a look, "say something nice for me."

Wei Yin said in a low mood, "My words don’t count."

"They do," Xu Ya Qing said. "Your words really do count."

Of course, their conversation also reached Hua Yu’s ears.

Wei Yin looked up. Hua Yu looked down.

Their gazes met again.

For some reason, every time Wei Yin looked into Hua Yu’s eyes, she was drawn to those cobalt-blue irises, like a clear, deep lake at the foot of a snowy mountain, making one want to sink into it quietly. There was an unspeakable gentleness there.

It almost made Hua Yu’s earlier anger seem like an illusion.

Hua Yu was just that kind of person; she always gave Wei Yin the illusion of gentleness.

Like a piece of cold jade; cool to the touch, impossible to see through, impossible to understand.

She had just learned her lesson about talking too much. Wei Yin opened her mouth but didn’t say anything.

Hua Yu had been right about one thing: after stumbling through the world for so many years, if she hadn’t grown in any other way, she had at least mastered the ability to learn from pain and never repeat the same mistake twice.

"You want to speak up for her?" Hua Yu asked before Wei Yin could say anything.

Wei Yin used her chopsticks to pick a tiny piece of ginger out of the dish. With her head lowered, she left only a little whorl visible to Hua Yu. "No. I don’t understand your business, and I don’t have an opinion."

Hua Yu’s brow furrowed very slightly.

That tone was wrong.