Chapter Seventy-Four: A Misunderstanding

Li Zhao’s gaze flickered as he watched for a while, but sensibly refrained from asking anything and followed Zhou Jinfan to the medicine cabinet to fetch the herbs.

“Damn it, so many medicines wasted,” Zhou Jinfan sighed as he stood by the cabinet, staring at the herbs scattered across the floor. He discovered that several of the remedies intended for Gu Xiujin had been knocked over and would need to be restocked before they could be dispensed.

Turning his head, he said to Li Zhao, “As you can see, there’s been a bit of an accident at the Benevolence Hall. Why don’t you wait a moment? I’ll go restock the necessary medicines. Otherwise, we won’t even have enough to match the prescription.”

Seizing the opportunity, Li Zhao quickly asked, “What happened here? How did the Benevolence Hall end up like this? Was it a troublesome patient?”

“If only it were a patient causing trouble. With our boss’s medical skill, any patient could be treated without issue. But the worst part is, the troublemaker wasn’t a patient,” Zhou Jinfan remarked meaningfully.

Just then, the door to the backyard opened, and Xie Qingtang stepped out. Upon seeing Li Zhao, she asked directly, “You’re here to pick up the medicine, aren’t you? Go back and tell Gu Xiujin that he’s been taking this prescription for nearly two weeks now. He should come to the Benevolence Hall when he has time—I need to re-examine him and prescribe new medicine.”

“Dr. Xie, are you inviting Mr. Gu to the Benevolence Hall?” Li Zhao’s face froze for a moment, then brightened with delight.

Hearing his words, Xie Qingtang felt a flicker of confusion. She couldn’t understand why Li Zhao was so happy at her request for Gu Xiujin to come for a check-up, but she still nodded.

“Very well, I’ll bring Mr. Gu right away.” Li Zhao smiled, nodded, and left the Benevolence Hall. Xie Qingtang stayed to help Zhou Jinfan clean up the chaos left from the previous night.

Once the mess was finally cleared, Xie Qingtang began inventorying the undamaged herbs in the cabinet. She looked at the row of smashed cabinets and said to Zhou Jinfan, “We’ll need a new row of cabinets—the best kind.”

“No problem. Out with the old, in with the new. The Benevolence Hall’s sales have been good this past month, so installing a brand-new row of cabinets is no issue,” Zhou Jinfan replied cheerfully.

But Xie Qingtang couldn’t find any joy in it. Though she’d managed to drive Shao Siming out of the Benevolence Hall last night by her own strength, she couldn’t shake a lingering discomfort.

Just then, her body trembled, and she turned to Zhou Jinfan, asking anxiously, “I just remembered what I forgot—last night Aunt Lan never came back.”

As soon as she spoke, Zhou Jinfan was stunned, slapping his forehead in sudden realization. “That’s right! Aunt Lan went out to buy groceries yesterday afternoon and never returned. Last night your father came to cause trouble at the Hall, so we both forgot about Aunt Lan.”

“This isn’t right. Something’s definitely wrong. Aunt Lan must have gotten into trouble,” a sense of foreboding rose in Xie Qingtang’s heart. Her greatest worry was that Shao Siming had gotten hold of Aunt Lan; that would be a real problem.

Meanwhile, Aunt Lan, whom they were so worried about, woke up in the hospital, looking around in confusion. The nurse beside her smiled and said, “Ma’am, you’re awake!”

“How did I end up in the hospital?” Zhao Xianglan’s body was still weak, but her voice was full of puzzlement.

The nurse quickly explained, “Ma’am, you fainted at the market yesterday afternoon. Some passersby rushed you to the hospital, but you didn’t have your phone on you, so we couldn’t contact your family. Now that you’re awake, do you want me to help you reach them?”

Upon hearing this, Zhao Xianglan finally realized she had fainted at the market the day before. She had hurried out to buy groceries the previous evening and had left her phone behind at the Benevolence Hall.

“No need to trouble the children. I’m fine and can be discharged, right?” Zhao Xianglan, not wanting Xie Qingtang and the others to worry, was eager to leave the hospital.

But the nurse insisted she stay a few more days to ensure there were no further complications before discharge.

Zhao Xianglan shook her head, took out a card from her pocket, settled the bill, and left the hospital, returning to the Benevolence Hall.

“Are you sure, Tangtang?” Sitting in his wheelchair, Grandpa Xie frowned and addressed Xie Qingtang.

Xie Qingtang shook her head, biting her lip. “I’m not sure. But someone as ruthless as Shao Siming will do anything to seize my weaknesses. Aunt Lan may well have been taken by him.”

“But with our current strength, we can’t stand up to Shao Siming,” Grandpa Xie sighed inwardly. He blamed himself for not standing firm in the past; if Shao Siming hadn’t entered the Xie family, things wouldn’t have come to this.

Zhou Jinfan paced in the backyard, then picked up a stick and swung it a few times with bravado. “Aunt Lan has looked after me so well lately. I won’t let her suffer—I’m going to rescue her right now!”

With that, he opened the backyard door to rush out—just as Zhao Xianglan, returning from the hospital, opened the same door from outside. Unexpectedly, she collided head-on with Zhou Jinfan, stick in hand.

Both recoiled in surprise; Zhou Jinfan stumbled back several steps, and Zhao Xianglan clutched her chest as she stepped back, finally complaining, “Xiao Zhou, why are you so rash? Where are you off to with that stick?”

Hearing Zhao Xianglan’s voice, Xie Qingtang, standing in the courtyard, froze for a moment, then hurried toward the door in astonishment. “Aunt Lan, you’re back!”

“It was nothing serious—I hope you weren’t worried,” Zhao Xianglan nodded and entered the backyard as if nothing had happened, closing the door behind her.

Zhou Jinfan finally recovered, hurriedly tossed aside the stick, and gripped Zhao Xianglan’s hand excitedly. “Aunt Lan, you’re back! Do you know how scared we were when you didn’t show up all night? We thought Shao Siming had taken you!”

Zhao Xianglan was stunned, standing there with a look of utter confusion.