People’s eyes can see all the varied states of the world, but without a mirror, they can never clearly see their own posture.
The human nose can smell a myriad of floral fragrances, but unless one pays deliberate attention, it will never catch its own body scent.
Ye Zhibai had always felt that the girls around her smelled wonderful—this one nice, that one even better, another absolutely divine.
But she never realized that she herself was actually the most exquisite “delicacy” in the world.
Yun’er knew that best of all.
It wasn’t obvious through clothes.
Only when completely bare could one truly feel the truth!
That was why Yun’er understood.
The faint violet-like floral scent that naturally wafted from her older sister’s body didn’t match her icy demeanor at all.
Every time Yun’er pressed her face close to her sister’s skin and closed her eyes to savor it, she felt not only like she was in some wondrous hanging garden, but also an ultimate sense of peace and security. She wanted nothing more than to act spoiled toward her sister a little longer.
It was a truly wondrous feeling, one that words could scarcely capture.
And right now, as that faint floral scent seeped into Su Yuqiu’s heart,
her physical discomfort gradually faded away with the strange wave of comfort, and her rapid breathing slowly evened out.
Ah… Yezi’s scent smells so good.
Just like aromatherapy, even though Little Qiu had never actually smelled any.
Her consciousness slowly sharpened. Feeling the slight chill of the evening breeze brush across her face once more, Little Qiu also became aware of the sounds around her again.
“Yuqiu? Yuqiu! Are you okay? Is it acting up again? Here, take your medicine quick! Oh no… there don’t seem to be any vendors nearby, and this cup of mine is empty too… Just toss it back dry, sweetie. Mom’s begging you—be strong!”
“Ah… Mom?”
Su Yuqiu blankly looked at Yezi, who was squatting right in front of her, then lifted her gaze to her mother, who had twisted open the medicine bottle and hurried over with panic written all over her face.
She patted her small chest firmly and shook her head vigorously, sending her pink locks swaying back and forth like willow leaves!
“Ah, no no no, Mom, don’t worry! I’m fine! It wasn’t a flare-up. I was just… uh, how do I put it? A bit out of it for a second? At worst, I nearly met some relatives up in heaven… Cough, anyway, I’m totally okay now… Whoa! Yezi, what are you doing!”
“Don’t fuss. Let me see.”
Ye Zhibai wasn’t trying to peek at anything weird.
She had simply taken advantage of Little Qiu shaking her head without defenses up and snatched the thick stack of scattered medical reports from her hands.
The moment Little Qiu saw the thing she’d been desperately guarding exposed to Yezi’s eyes, she flailed her arms in a panic but didn’t dare snatch them back.
She could only watch helplessly as Ye Zhibai poked the papers straight on the ground, then flipped through them one by one.
Wuwu…! How was she supposed to get them back? Just yank them away? Wouldn’t Yezi think she had mental problems on top of her physical ones?
For the sake of her mental health, Little Qiu could only fidget anxiously, unconsciously rubbing the casing of her earphones while mumbling incoherently, unsure what to say.
“Um… don’t… don’t look, Yezi. They’re just some checkup reports.”
“I know. I just want to understand your condition a bit. After all, you’re not speaking very clearly right now.”
“Even so…
you can’t…! Ah! Not that one!”
This one?
~~~“Hope today’s checkup is all normal—no flare-ups, no pain! Swearing it on paper. Yezi bless, heaven bless, Kitty bless!!”~~~
It was handwritten, with neat and lively script.
Cute and spirited, topped with a cartoon cat head flashing a V-sign in the upper right corner.
Was this… something Little Qiu had written herself before coming for the checkup today?
Like a handmade protective amulet?
At first, Ye Zhibai wasn’t quite sure, but when she glanced up slightly and saw Little Qiu’s wide cherry eyes and her face flushed bright red, she knew she didn’t need to ask anymore.
Yezi bless… heaven bless?
Your order here—why’d you put me ahead of heaven?!
No, forget that—why am I even on your list of things that can bless you?!
She reached out and patted Little Qiu’s little head.
No need to be shy. Being sick means getting treatment—nothing shameful about that, right?
But this sent Su Yuqiu straight from a squat into a duck-like sit—her legs were just too weak to hold her up.
Her head drooped so low her eyes were nearly hidden.
“Wu… Yezi… don’t… don’t pat my head like that. We’re about the same age—you’re treating me like a little kid…!”
“Sorry.”
She calmly withdrew her hand.
Truly sorry. Sometimes, hanging around with Yun’er made her think girls’ heads were fair game to pat.
Not illegal, sure, but hardly proper!
Even if sorry… she still needed to take a good look at these checkup reports.
Though Ye Zhibai had only been a first-year med student in her previous life, picking up just the basics of theory, reports like these weren’t beyond her.
A quick scan of the results left her more and more puzzled.
Weren’t all the metrics… pretty normal?
~~~“My little Yuqiu has some hereditary condition—no real root cause, so we just treat symptoms as they come.”~~~
Ah, so that was it.
Aunt Tang’s worry must be these overly normal checkup reports.
It was like the green onions at home going missing. If you knew it was Guang Yu who pulled them up, you’d be relieved.
But if Guang Yu had an alibi and it wasn’t her, yet the onions were still gone? That’d drive you up the wall.
In this world, it’s not the problems themselves that scare you… it’s not knowing where they come from.
In short, the most terrifying thing was the unknown.
Ye Zhibai hoped to find some clues in the reports.
But Ye Zhiyun was even more efficient.
Once she saw Su Yuqiu was fine, she seized the right moment to gesture for the still-worried Tang Yuzhu to step aside and talk.
Tang Yuzhu had been watching her daughter’s condition the whole time. Though still shaken, there was also an unexpected joy. “Yuqiu got better so fast…? And without any medicine… Miss Ye, did you see? She was uncomfortable for just a moment and now she’s chatting and laughing! This is incredibly rare! No… I’ve never seen it before. She usually suffers for ages every time.”
“Aunt Tang, I don’t think your daughter’s state right now is exactly ‘chatting and laughing’… Eh, that’s not the point. The key is, could you tell me the specifics of her illness?
The more detailed, the better.”
“This…?”
Ye Zhiyun’s earnest words instead left Tang Yuzhu momentarily stunned.
Yun’er knew exactly what she was thinking.
She elegantly flicked her black hair. Her expression showed little concern, but her peripheral gaze had been fixed on Ye Zhibai, who was squatting not far away examining the reports.
Yun’er let out a soft sigh and spoke lightly.
“Sigh… I understand your concerns. I’m just a student—I probably can’t help much. But resources are resources. They could boost your daughter’s chances of recovery.”
“Miss Ye, you mean…?”
Ye Zhiyun said nothing.
Instead, she pulled out her phone, opened an electronic business card, and held it out to Tang Yuzhu.
The content was crystal clear.
~~~“Ye Group Chairman, Ye Qinghe.”~~~
Tang Yuzhu blinked at the card.
At first, she had no idea what the black-haired girl in front of her was getting at.
She knew this man—this entrepreneur with outsized influence in Qihai City and beyond, Ye Qinghe, renowned far and wide.
But what did that have to do with the situation?
Tang Yuzhu was sharp, though.
When she looked again at the black-haired girl’s extraordinary blue eyes and connected it to her surname…
Tang Yuzhu’s eyes slowly widened, as if it all clicked.
“There. You get it now.” Ye Zhiyun pocketed her phone and shrugged. “I won’t claim we can fix everything, but take down my number. If you need anything, our family is happy to provide whatever medical resources we can.”
“Miss… Miss Ye? Might I ask your age?”
“Eighteen—just turned adult. Barely past the peach and plum years, just a kid.”
“My little Yuqiu is only a year younger than you, but your poise and demeanor… I’d believe it if you said you were ten years her senior…”
“You’re too kind. Different fields, different upbringings, that’s all.”
Tang Yuzhu nodded appreciatively over and over.
She completely got it now—how absurd it was to claim all rich second-gen kids were spoiled brats.
If this young lady was a Ye family daughter, then the one she’d called “older sister”—Yuqiu’s friend—must be too…?
No wonder they stood out from the crowd!
Tang Yuzhu pulled her gaze back from Ye Zhibai behind her.
Tang Yuzhu was a head shorter than Ye Zhiyun, but the woman who’d come to the hospital with her daughter today wasn’t diminutive in the slightest.
She still held onto her youthful allure, tempered by experience into a touch of world-weariness. A grateful smile slowly bloomed on her face.
“I understand… Thank you, Miss Ye. I appreciate your kindness. Yuqiu’s such a sweet girl… What goes around comes around. For her to meet friends like you is truly her good fortune. As for medical resources, if it’s possible, we definitely won’t hesitate to impose.”
“No trouble at all. After all, she’s my older sister’s friend.”
“Mm… But any impositions will probably… be limited to when Yuqiu’s not feeling well.”
“Does that mean you don’t plan to run any further tests on her?”
At those words, Tang Yuzhu’s entire body shuddered.
Her lips trembled for a few moments, her gaze shifting helplessly to the side, where a bitter smile lingered, brimming with unspoken sorrow.
“It’s not that we’re refusing more tests… Sigh, truth be told, Miss Ye, Yuqiu’s condition… We’ve had her examined at hospitals in the Capital countless times. Her Auntie Miao was actually one of the doctors transferred back from there. And you know, my family once had an older daughter… Back then, we dragged her to the hospital every single day, monitoring all sorts of data nonstop. She went through hell during that time—so much pain and suffering, all at the prime of her youth. Who’d want to spend every day cooped up in a hospital? She was such a bright, smiling girl, but in the end… she was gone.”
“I’m sorry… My condolences.”
“It’s fine. That’s just how fate works.” Tang Yuzhu’s sighs seemed endless. “Yuqiu’s already endured plenty of those hospital checkups, and every one of them cuts my husband and me to the core. We know this illness better than anyone—we’ve never found a thing from all the tests. So as long as we can avoid it, we keep her away from the hospital these days. What we really want, more than anything, is for Yuqiu to live happily and carefree, carrying on for her sister too—without all that suffering. If she can do that, wouldn’t it be perfect?”
“……”
Is that so?
The Ye Family Maid Corps might be top-notch, but even they wouldn’t claim to outshine the Capital’s physicians by a wide margin.
After all, those doctors were already among the best.
Any more tests meant more suffering—and no chance at a normal life.
Ye Zhiyun caught Tang Yuzhu’s sidelong glance toward that well of quiet worry.
At last, she let out a soft sigh.
Ah.
So this Su Yuqiu… she lost a sister too?
Her eyes drifted toward the hospital building.
Yun’er remembered those years, every desolate moment spent staring at that cold, unyielding structure.
If my own sister were taken from me… I’d probably lose my mind.
No, worse than that—I might just drop dead on the spot.
Just moments ago, Yun’er had felt a pang of jealousy when her sister went to comfort Su Yuqiu, leaving her—the little sister—feeling sidelined.
But now, after hearing about the Su family’s tragedy…
As she glanced again at her sister, crouched there poring over the medical report…
Well.
A little time couldn’t hurt. Letting her sister help untangle this girl’s emotional knots wasn’t entirely out of the question.
Just a short while.
She hoped this little one wouldn’t spurn the kindness—wouldn’t squander her sister’s good intentions—and would pull herself together soon.
