Chapter 86: Mutual Collateral

As she stood there in silence, Xie Qingtang kept her composure, while Gu Xiujin, unhurried, sat steadily in his wheelchair, his lips curled into an inscrutable expression as he watched her.

After a long pause, Xie Qingtang brushed the corner of her lips to hide her embarrassment, turned away, and pretended to busy herself with the drying herbal medicine. “President Gu, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said, feigning ignorance.

“Is it that you truly don’t understand, or are you only pretending not to?” Gu Xiujin’s gaze was fixed and unwavering as he looked at her.

Xie Qingtang, who had intended to ignore him, found herself with no choice but to turn and respond, “Mr. Gu, isn’t this a case of the guilty party trying to lodge a complaint first? After all, it was your hospital’s doctors who came to cause trouble for us at Sunshantang.”

“As the primary authority at Gu’s Hospital, you failed to keep your doctors in check, allowing them to come after me. My assistant simply caught them in their own words. So if blame is to be assigned, it certainly doesn’t lie with us at Sunshantang,” she concluded loftily, convinced that the repercussions Gu’s Hospital suffered from the live-stream incident were their own doing, not Sunshantang’s.

Zhou Jinfan, who had been planning to quietly slip away, couldn’t help but give his boss a silent thumbs up for her bold words.

Meanwhile, Gu Xiujin, seated in his wheelchair, watched Xie Qingtang with the focused intensity of a beast poised to strike, their auras clashing in the charged air. In that moment, as their eyes locked, the entire atmosphere in the courtyard seemed to freeze. Those present exchanged uneasy glances, not daring to speak.

Finally, after a long silence, Gu Xiujin spoke again, his voice calm as ever as he looked at Xie Qingtang. “So, Doctor Xie, you refuse to admit that your assistant’s live-stream brought any harm or loss to Gu’s Hospital?”

“That’s right. I don’t admit it,” Xie Qingtang replied without hesitation. She could not afford to acknowledge any guilt, for that would mean compensating Gu’s Hospital for their losses—money she did not have, as every cent was needed for her grandfather’s treatment.

It was shameless, perhaps, but Xie Qingtang had no other choice. Gu Xiujin narrowed his eyes, as if studying this side of her he hadn’t seen before.

This young woman before him, so earnest and pure when tending to others, could also be mischievous and cunningly evasive, as befitted her age, when faced with a trivial argument.

Just as Xie Qingtang thought the meticulous Gu Xiujin might retaliate, his next words stunned her.

“Doctor Xie, isn’t it time you checked my pulse and changed my dressing?” Gu Xiujin said blandly, then Li Zhao wheeled him directly toward the front hall.

Xie Qingtang could hardly believe it—was Gu Xiujin letting her off so easily? She raised her eyebrows in surprise. Zhou Jinfan crept up beside her and whispered, “Boss, do you think President Gu is just adding this to his ledger, to settle the score later?”

“I haven’t even started on you yet!” Xie Qingtang shot him an exasperated look, tapping his forehead. “A perfectly good live-stream, and you had to broadcast the video of those two doctors coming to Sunshantang? Look at the trouble you’ve caused.”

Zhou Jinfan had only wanted to boost the number of viewers and provide some gossip, never expecting the video would have such a huge impact on Gu’s Hospital. He now hung his head, regretting his actions, but it was too late.

Arriving in the front hall, Xie Qingtang resumed her composed, professional manner, adopting the air of a seasoned physician. She narrowed her eyes in concentration as she placed her hand on Gu Xiujin’s pulse.

After finishing, she nodded. “Your energy and blood are flowing more smoothly now. Continued treatment will gradually restore your health, but you must rest. No need to change the prescription.”

“That’s good. When you performed acupuncture on me before, you mentioned you found the Four-Leaf Ghost Needle Grass,” Gu Xiujin said as he withdrew his hand.

Xie Qingtang did not conceal the truth. She nodded, retrieved a crystal box containing the herb from a locked drawer, and placed it before him. “You should keep the Four-Leaf Ghost Needle Grass. It’s not safe here with me.”

“I’ll accept it, then,” Gu Xiujin replied, a trace of surprise in his manner as he handed the herb to Li Zhao.

For some reason, Xie Qingtang found Li Zhao’s expression odd, as if he were winking and making faces at her. Unable to decipher his meaning, she simply wrote out the prescription and sent Zhou Jinfan to fetch the medicine.

When it was time to leave, Gu Xiujin returned to the car first. Li Zhao, hesitating, took the medicine bundle and turned to Xie Qingtang. “Miss Xie, President Gu has issued a reward online for anyone who can find the seven main medicinal ingredients. The Four-Leaf Ghost Needle Grass you gave him—there’s a forty million reward for it.”

Xie Qingtang froze, then a gleam of wild joy flashed across her face. “So if I give this herb to Gu Xiujin, he owes me forty million?”

That sum would be enough for her to buy precious medicines for her grandfather’s recovery. She couldn’t hide her delight and cheerfully gave her bank account number to Li Zhao.

To her surprise, Li Zhao shook his head. “Miss Xie, I’m afraid you won’t be seeing that money.”

“Why? Surely Gu Xiujin isn’t someone who goes back on his word?” Xie Qingtang’s smile faded a little as she raised her brow.

Li Zhao shook his head again. “President Gu would never break his word. But because Zhou Jinfan’s live-stream caused serious losses and trouble for Gu’s Hospital, I suspect, knowing how President Gu conducts business, the reward for the Four-Leaf Ghost Needle Grass will be offset against the hospital’s losses.”

At these words, the joy on Xie Qingtang’s face instantly froze, as if her smile were a mask cracking and falling to pieces.

No wonder, she thought, that Gu Xiujin stopped pressing her earlier, and instead brought up the Four-Leaf Ghost Needle Grass. So this was his plan all along!

“Despicable scoundrel, shameless to the extreme,” Xie Qingtang muttered angrily, cursing Gu Xiujin’s cunning.