Chapter 2759 — A Call from Old Man Wei
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
Shaking his head, Wei Zhao drew his gaze back to the jade pendant and told Wang Xinyan what he suspected. "Xinyan, this pendant of yours is likely a treasure that supplies energy to your body. Its color has faded because that energy is draining away rapidly. It's rather like that energy stone Sun Jingyan and I found in the Ulonghot Mountains—once the stone releases its energy, its color dims as well. Of course, that's only my guess. As for what's really going on, we'll have to ask the old man in my family."
"Mm!" Wang Xinyan was delighted too, her earlier awkwardness and shyness quite forgotten. "If this problem can be solved, then you'll be able to cultivate without worrying about me."
"True enough, but until I get in touch with the old man, I'd better not." Wei Zhao shook his head, still shaken. If not for that chain of lucky coincidences, Wang Xinyan might truly have been beyond hope—and he would have spent the rest of his life in self-reproach and guilt.
"Arrow Brand Bro, you seem to have a similar jade pendant too?" Shen Yushu had seen Wei Zhao shirtless before and remembered that he wore a jade pendant as well.
"Yes, I have one too, though its function differs somewhat from Xinyan's." Wei Zhao did not go into detail. For now, he did not want to reveal the pendant's secret.
"Oh..." Shen Yushu had only mentioned it in passing and did not think much of it.
As they were talking, Wei Zhao's phone suddenly rang. He glanced at the caller ID—it was actually Old Man Wei calling. Wei Zhao quickly rose and went into his room to answer.
"Old man, you're back from fetching water?" Wei Zhao asked, a little anxiously.
"Yes, I'm back. What is it—something you need?" Old Man Wei asked. "And you called the grocery store at the head of the village, Widow Wang's place. Must be urgent?"
"Yes, urgent!" Wei Zhao said hastily. "Eighteen years ago, did you treat a little girl..." Old Man Wei was rendered somewhat speechless. "I've treated plenty of little girls. I'm the only doctor for miles around—how could I remember them all? What, is there a problem?"
"No, I mean—there's one rather special case. You not only treated her, you gave her a jade pendant!" Wei Zhao hurried to explain.
"Oh?" Old Man Wei was taken aback, then immediately recalled the person Wei Zhao meant. "Right, I remember her. I ran into her that year on my way back from gathering herbs with an old friend in the valley's herb garden. How do you know about this?"
"That's a long story. I have a friend named Wang Xinyan—I met her on the train the first time I came to Songshan City..." Wei Zhao then recounted how he and Wang Xinyan had met and everything that had happened since. "So that's the situation now. If I'd known earlier that you were the one who treated her, I'd have come to you long ago. I wouldn't have had to wait until now."
After hearing all this, Old Man Wei did not respond at once but fell silent. Only after a long while did he speak. "If... I told you I have no way either?"
"You have no way either?" Wei Zhao was stunned, frozen on the spot, and even wondered if he had misheard. "Old man, what did you say? Weren't you the one who cured her back then?"
"The medicine I gave her was in fact just ordinary medicine—its formula was much the same as the one you prepared," Old Man Wei said with a bitter smile, telling the truth. "The medicine was only supplementary. The key lay in that spirit herb and the jade pendant."
"The spirit herb and the jade pendant—didn't you give her those too?" Wei Zhao asked, puzzled and anxious.
"I did give them to her, but the spirit herb and the pendant were not mine—they belonged to someone else." Old Man Wei sighed. "Your earlier guess was right. That pendant was in fact a trial piece, made by the same hand as yours. But this person... is no longer on this planet..."
"What?!" Wei Zhao's eyes went wide. "No longer on this planet? What does that mean? Dead?"