âHm?â Mrs. Tangâs eyes lit up as she listened to her daughter. âWhatâs that, Yin? Lin Yiâs girlfriend doesnât mind letting you be the mistress?â
Tang Yin blinked before realizing what her mother was talking about. She furrowed her eyebrows. âMom, youâre not thinking of letting me be a mistress, are you? If so, donât even think about it. Thereâs no way Iâd ever bring myself to do something so embarrassing!â
Mrs. Tang didnât really want to say anything anymore after that display of will. She patted Tang Yinâs shoulder. âAlright, Yin, cheer up. Who knows, Lin Yi might come back to you one day.â
âWho needs him to come back! I wonât even look at him!â Tang YIn stomped her feet, making up her mind. âIâm gonna go study. I was just too dumb and trusted him! Itâll never happen again!â
With that, Tang Yin ran into her room, feeling a lot better after letting that out to her mom. She didnât feel as rejected and pressured.
Mrs. Tang looked at her daughter run off before shaking her head in regret, sighing to herself. Yin, you just donât know how tough life is yet. Youâll know how hard it is without money once youâre my ageâ¦.
She remembered all her classmates who werenât even as pretty as she was when they were young.
But they were in rich families now, all taking care of their skin and face! She, on the other hand, had lost her school beautyâs looks to the passage of time!
Her daughter liked a man who also liked her. Even if she wasnât the main girl, there wasnât any shame in that! There was a classmate of hers she met at a reunion who got a divorce and became the mistress of a huge CEO, always showing off to everyone. No one looked down on her! They were actually quite envious of her, even experiencing what it was like inside her BMW before she left!
People judge you based on your wealth, a truth about the hopelessness of society, a truth people didnât like to hear.
***
Xiaoxiao went through the blood extraction numbly before getting the CT scan. It was a battery of tests and checkups, same as always. The result would always be the same.
Xiaoxiao yawned as she laid on the hospital bed bored to death. Tianlong walked in and looked at his daughter. âWhat do you want to eat tonight, Xiaoxiao? Iâll take you, I took two days off. We can spend some time together!â
âItâs okay, you have work to do.â Xiaoxiao shook her head as she stared blankly at the cars outside the window, her tone indifferent. âAre the results out yet? When can I leave?â
Xiaoxiao only asked if the results were out and if she could leave. It was clear that sheâd long since given up hope on getting cured. All she wanted now was for the whole thing to finish so she could leave.
She wouldâve stayed in the hospital if it were curable.
âNot yet, but Doctor Zheng is an expert on hereditary diseases. He should know what to do!â Tianlong comforted.
âYou donât need to try and make me feel better. Even that first generation miracle doctor Lin Dongfang couldnât do anything about Momâs sickness. How are other doctors supposed to fix me?â Xiaoxiao said with a grimace. Sheâd lost all hope, wishing only to be able to do the things she wanted without restraint in the last stages of her life so sheâd die without regret.
âMiracle Doctor Lin said that he could heal you. Thereâs just some circumstances that havenât been fulfilled,â Tianlong said helplessly. âMiracle Doctor Lin said that given five years, he might be able to find a cure, but your mom couldnât wait five yearsâ¦â
âIsnât he just making excuses for his incompetence?â Xiaoxiao harrumphed. âWho knows if he can actually cure me or not? Heâs probably worried about his reputation.â
âThatâs not it. Miracle Doctor Lin kept researching the special composition of your momâs blood after her death. Itâs just that heâs gone into isolation after our last meeting,â Tianlong said, feeling helpless.
âYeah, he went into hiding because he couldnât cure her!â Xiaoxiao didnât care much for him. âThatâs just what miracle doctors are! That stupid Miracle Doctor Kang too. What did he do, he just made a Golden Creation medicine! What else does he know? Miracle Doctor? What a joke!â
âYouâre still young, you donât know of the type of person Miracle Doctor Lin is. Heâs a man with determination! He put himself at risk by going out and doing solitary research on poison.â Tianlong couldnât bring himself to scold her daughter, but he did put on a lecturing tone. âYou canât disrespect him!â
âFine, fine.â Xiaoxiao waved her hand. âIf he has such determination, how come heâs in hiding?â
âYour momâs sickness isnât childâs play, itâs a really serious disease.â Tianlong smiled bitterly. âI tried to get into contact with him recently, but I couldnât get ahold on him. Captain Yang, the man who brought me on a mission that year, has some involvement with Miracle Doctor Lin, but heâs gone into hiding as wellâ¦. â
âWhy did you bring me here for the checkups if you know how hard it is?â Xiaoxiao frowned.
âThereâs still a couple days for the tests. Iâll walk you around Yanjing for a bit, get some fresh air,â Tianlong said, avoiding the question. Naturally, he, too, understood that there wasnât much hope in the checkups this time around either, but it was better than nothing.
âOkay,â Xiaoxiao said quietly, not saying yes or no, evidently not very interested.
âSomeone gave me some tickets to an auction. Are you interested?â Tianlong said, remembering the Yuâs auction. Heâd received an invitation as well.
Tianlongâs division was the secret investigaion department, a secretive special ops team. They were very close with House Yu, and the Yuâs would always send many invitation tickets to the people of that department, despite the majority of them not having the time to actually participate. It was more of a gesture than anything.
âAuction? Letâs go take a look then!â Xiaoxiao hadnât been to an auction in her life, so it actually interested her. Sheâd like to see one before she died. Itâd suck if she died without knowing what it was like!
âBut I wonât have the money for it if something catches your eye,â Tianlong said regrettably. âI have a high paying salary, but I canât bid on items worth millions and ten millionsâ¦.â
âHaha.â Xiaoxiao finally smiled and laughed. This was what sheâd wanted, the feeling of having fun with her father. Whether or not they could buy anything was the least of her concerns.
Sheâd heard her dad tell her that theyâd take a walk more times than she could count, and itâd always end in her father leaving for an unexpected mission, skipping out on her. He couldnât do that if he got invited to this auction! âYou need to commit this time!â
Tianlong was overjoyed to see the smile on his daughterâs face. âI wonât! Thereâs three auctions, I can at least stay with you for one!â
âOkay.â Xiaoxaio was more than satisfied with that. It was more than enough for her.