Chapter 978 — What Divine Doctor?

"They had nothing to do with me in the first place. If not for you, I wouldn't have lifted a finger to save her," Wei Zhao said flatly.

"What? Then you'd just sit by and do nothing?" Feng Xiaoxiao was taken aback by his words. "Have you no kindness in your heart at all?"

"It's not that I'd sit by and do nothing—it's that I can't handle everything." Wei Zhao shrugged. "Could Hua Tuo keep an entire era free of illness? I have my own affairs to attend to. If I took charge of everything, I'd have no time for anything else."

There was one thing, though, that Wei Zhao kept to himself and did not say aloud—and that was: what is kindness, anyway? Do killers and mercenaries have kindness in their hearts? In most cases, their employers differ and their perspectives differ with them.

When two powers are at odds, it's hard to say who is right and who is wrong. Take the battlefields of North Africa: Wei Zhao and his adversaries were mostly serving their own employers. How could anyone tell right from wrong there? And how could there be any room for kindness? Mercy to the enemy is cruelty to oneself.

Yet now that he had returned to the bustling city, Wei Zhao did not want to admit it, but admit it he must—he really had changed. His sense of good and evil had grown unmistakably sharper. He was more and more like an ordinary man.

Wei Zhao did not know whether that was good or bad. In any case, today's affair was perhaps only the beginning. Though he said aloud that he would not get involved, in his heart he had already decided to see it through to the end. Sometimes the shifts in one's own heart truly defy explanation.

"Oh..." Hearing Wei Zhao's words, Feng Xiaoxiao felt a little disappointed, and yet secretly delighted. Had Wei Zhao stepped in today for her sake? Did that mean she occupied some small place in his heart? Had her efforts borne fruit? Was this a sign that Wei Zhao was falling for her?

"Today counts as doing you a favor—we're even now. I hope you won't threaten me with those photos anymore." Feng Xiaoxiao had barely had time to be happy before Wei Zhao doused her with cold water, and her private delight scattered to the winds.

"Fine, no threats, no threats. What's the big deal!" Feng Xiaoxiao gave a huff, thoroughly annoyed. "You're just afraid I'll show them to Tang Zhi, aren't you? Well, I won't show her, then!"

Watching Wei Zhao's and Feng Xiaoxiao's car speed away, Chen's mother was somewhat bewildered. She could tell that although Wei Zhao had helped her, his manner was rather distant, and that puzzled her greatly. He was plainly doing a good deed—so why did he show not the slightest trace of one doing a good deed?

Chen Xi shook her head, pushing aside those unrealistic thoughts for the moment, and put on a smiling face for her mother. "Mom, we've met a good man—and a divine doctor at that! The divine doctor said he can cure your illness. You're finally going to get well!"

"Heh, I hope so..." Chen's mother had not set her hopes on recovering. She was older and had seen more of the world than Chen Xi, and she knew well enough what condition her illness was in. Never mind an ordinary doctor—even the private physicians in that man's household would probably be helpless against cancer. And here was a man they had met by pure chance, who could supposedly cure her cancer? Setting aside how lucky mother and daughter must be, just think of how extraordinary this man's skill would have to be. Could you meet someone like that by chance?

Still, Chen's mother knew her own time was short. Seeing her daughter so happy, she decided to treat a dead horse as a live one. If the medicine could not cure her, the worst that could happen was that it killed her—and she was going to die anyway, so what harm was there in trying? At least it would give her daughter some hope and make her a little happier.

Chen Xi took her mother's hand and went happily upstairs, only to run straight into Old Man Zhu from next door, who made his living collecting junk.

"Grandpa Zhu, are you going to the seaside tonight?" Chen Xi greeted him with a smile.

Old Man Zhu was a childless widower who lived next door to Chen Xi and her mother. By day he scraped a living collecting recyclables, and at night he also went to busy spots like the beach baths to pick up drink bottles and waste cardboard.

Ever since Chen Xi's mother fell ill, Old Man Zhu had taken Chen Xi along on his scavenging rounds, and he never kept a single thing they found—it was all to help Chen Xi.

Chen Xi was deeply grateful, and had once offered to split the proceeds from the sales with him, but Old Man Zhu said that living alone as he did, the money he made collecting junk each day was enough for his needs; there was no use for the extra money, and treating Chen's mother was more important.

Old Man Zhu had even brought out the savings he had accumulated over the years and given them to Chen Xi so she could take her mother to see a doctor.

Chen Xi and her mother and Old Man Zhu were old neighbors. More than ten years ago, when Chen's mother had lived here only half a year, Old Man Zhu moved in next door, and there he had stayed for over a decade, looking after Chen Xi and her mother with special care all the while...

"I'm going, Xiaoxi. Come find me when school lets out and we'll go together!" A kindly smile spread across Old Man Zhu's face, creasing it into a mass of wrinkles, and his eyes as he looked at Chen Xi were full of tender affection.

"All right!" Chen Xi nodded. She was happy today—her mother's illness could finally be cured!

Still, even though her mother's illness could be cured, she would have to keep going to the beach to collect drink bottles, because it would be a long time yet before her mother recovered, and the household's living expenses would still fall on her shoulders.

"Hm? Little Chen, you're looking well today!" Old Man Zhu glanced at Chen's mother, paused in surprise, then said with a smile.

"Heh, is that so?" Chen's mother had not expected her complexion to have changed either.

"Grandpa Zhu, Mother's terrible illness will soon be cured!" Chen Xi said happily.

"What? Cured?" Grandpa Zhu's expression shifted slightly, and then, betraying nothing, he said, "Cancer... can that even be cured? Xiaoxi, don't let yourself be fooled by some quack wandering doctor. You can't trust a word from people like that. They claim they can cure you, but all they want is your money!"

"He doesn't want money!" At the thought of Wei Zhao, Chen Xi felt a warm surge in her heart. "Mother and I met a miracle doctor today, a young man, and he's treating her for free!"

"A miracle doctor?" Grandpa Zhu frowned. "What miracle doctor?"

"Heh, well, he's no swindler, anyway. Grandpa Zhu, you needn't worry. Go on with your work; I'll tell you all about it tonight!" Chen Xi said with a smile.

"All right, then I'll go collect scrap first—haven't had a single sale today!" Grandpa Zhu nodded. "Tonight you tell me everything properly. Don't go letting yourself be cheated!"

"Yes, of course!" Chen Xi wanted to share her joy with Grandpa Zhu too.

Grandpa Zhu nodded and went downstairs. But when he reached the landing between the two floors, he turned back and glanced at the receding figures of Chen Xi and Chen's mother. He frowned, a cold gleam flashing through his eyes. A miracle doctor, was it? What miracle doctor? One who could actually cure cancer?