Chapter 694 — I'm So Mad!

Yu Xiaoke nearly jumped out of her skin, a shudder running through her, her scalp prickling. How had this man appeared behind her without a sound?

"You—how did you get behind me?" Yu Xiaoke came to her senses and eyed Wei Zhao warily. Was this man a ghost?

"Weren't you looking for someone?" Wei Zhao countered.

"I... you..." Yu Xiaoke glared at Wei Zhao, at a loss for words.

"With that little skill of yours, you want to learn tailing? Go home and rest. This world is actually quite dangerous—it's a wonder someone like you has survived this long." Wei Zhao regarded Yu Xiaoke with a touch of sympathy. It was only because he happened to be an upright sort; had it been someone with crooked intentions, Yu Xiaoke wouldn't even find a place to cry.

"You're the wonder!" Yu Xiaoke glared at him, puffing with indignation. "Hey, are you in the same line of work?"

Yu Xiaoke figured Wei Zhao might be a fellow thief—otherwise, how could he be so skilled in the art of stealing, and so elusive besides?

"Heh... practice a few more years, and maybe you could be." Wei Zhao smiled.

"Since you're so impressive, then accept my challenge!" Yu Xiaoke resorted to goading him. "Hey, are you afraid of losing, so you don't dare accept?"

"If you say so." Wei Zhao shrugged. "Stop following me. You can't keep up."

"I..." Yu Xiaoke was truly at her wit's end. Faced with someone like Wei Zhao, who was impervious to both persuasion and provocation, what could she do? Gritting her teeth, unwilling to let it go, she said, "Then can you give me back my wallet?"

"Oh, take it. It's no use to me." Wei Zhao was straightforward and agreed at once.

Yu Xiaoke was overjoyed and was about to thank him when she saw her big wallet come flying over. She caught it in a hurry! But one look and she was dumbstruck—the wallet was completely empty. Her ten-thousand-odd yuan, not a cent of it remained.

"Hey, where's my money?" Yu Xiaoke felt she'd been played.

"You only asked for the wallet—you didn't ask for the money." Wei Zhao smiled and walked off quickly. "Remember what I said—go home and practice for a few years before you come out again, or you'll come to a bad end sooner or later. Also, I really can't figure out whether you genuinely have a kind heart, or whether you used the chance to accuse me as cover for stealing my wallet. I don't much care for that modus operandi of yours."

"I'm so mad! I'm so mad!" Watching Wei Zhao's retreating figure, Yu Xiaoke stamped her feet furiously, as if she meant to crush him to pieces. "I'll stomp you to death, stomp you to death! Take that, acting so cocky with me, looking down on me, you—ahhhhh, my foot..."

Yu Xiaoke had stomped on a rock and nearly fractured her own foot.

Wei Zhao turned a corner and returned to the hospital. The beggar was still there begging; at the sight of Wei Zhao, his eyes shifted evasively. But Wei Zhao had no intention of doing anything about the beggar—whether the man was a fraud had little to do with him.

Upstairs in the nurses' duty room, Wei Zhao found Tang Zhi, Xiaofen, and Guan Xin just back from a follow-up visit. Seeing Wei Zhao come in, Guan Xin's face flushed slightly; she seemed about to say something, but then noticed Tang Zhi and held back.

It was Wei Zhao who greeted Guan Xin first. "Xinxin, is Xiaofen's illness all right now?"

In fact, Wei Zhao could see for himself that Xiaofen's spirits were much improved. Her illness had stemmed from her heart; now that the knot was untied, the problem was largely gone—though the aftereffects left from before still needed to be kept in check with medication.

"It's nothing now. The doctor said that as long as she doesn't have another episode, she won't need to come back to the hospital." Guan Xin shook her head.

"Thank you for your trouble." Wei Zhao nodded. "I saw Grandpa Guan today, but it was rather rushed. I'll call on you another day."

"Mm!" Guan Xin nodded. She wanted to offer to cook for Wei Zhao, but Tang Zhi was there too, and she didn't want to say it outright for fear of being misunderstood. After a moment's hesitation, she said, "Tang Zhi, why don't you come too? Shall I cook for you both?"

"I'd better not... I've been rather busy lately. Our house is gone, and I still don't know what to do about it." Tang Zhi felt a little embarrassed to go—it would seem as though she didn't trust Wei Zhao, which would make her look rather petty. To Guan Xin's invitation she said, "If anything, it's Xiaofen and my father's affairs that have put you to so much trouble. I should be the one treating you. Once our house situation is settled, I'll do a barbecue and treat you?"

"All right!" Guan Xin answered with a smile.

As they were talking, someone called for Guan Xin from the doorway, so she went off to attend to her work first. Wei Zhao, meanwhile, went with Tang Zhi to Tang Jucheng's ward, while Kang Xiaofeng, Xiaofen, and Liu Xinlan had already left ahead of them — they knew the Tang family wanted to discuss the matter of the house with Wei Zhao, and it wasn't their place to intrude.

"Uncle Tang, how are you feeling?" Wei Zhao was surprised to see that Tang Jucheng could already walk on the floor with the help of a crutch; he was recovering quite quickly.

"Not bad! Much better than after my last surgery, even. Your Chinese medicine really works — it amazed even the hospital doctors!" Tang Jucheng said with a smile. "But they asked me for the prescription, and I didn't give it to them. I told them I'd bought it as a finished medicine, without any formula."

Wei Zhao nodded. It seemed Tang Jucheng was no stubborn old fool — he had some shrewdness about him, enough to know the prescription was valuable and not to be handed out carelessly. A formula like this, one that promoted bone growth and recovery, could also be mass-produced, and the economic returns would be considerable.

"Don't give them the prescription. If anyone asks again, just say Professor Guan Xuewen prepared the medicine for you, and they won't ask anymore." Wei Zhao had found Tang Jucheng a shield; within the medical establishment, Guan Xuewen's prestige was irreplaceable. "By the way, Uncle Tang, Aunt Wang, Tang Zhi tells me you were looking for me?"

"That's right, Little Yi. I was thinking of talking it over with you — see whether we ought to buy a place? Living in the hospital like this all the time isn't really workable. The ward fees cost more per day than a hotel — it's not worth it!" Though it wasn't her money being spent, Mother Tang still felt the pinch. If only Wei Zhao had given that money to her instead.

"That's true enough. A hospital is never as good as your own home." Wei Zhao nodded. He had overlooked this point before, because he himself had no fixed abode and had grown used to a life of drifting from place to place. The Tang family was different, though — they were ordinary folk, and without the feeling of home, things were indeed quite uncomfortable.

"Exactly. Now that I can get out of bed, I keep wanting to find something to do. Lying in bed all that time before — I was honestly sick of it!" Tang Jucheng said. "But to do anything, you need a place to set up first. I can't very well look for work while I'm still in the hospital, can I?"