81: This disease is curable.

Shen Zhixia's breath suddenly hitched.

All the questions she wanted to ask were instantly blocked in her throat.

She fell silent.

After a long while, she slowly spoke.

"I've seen doctors."

Her voice was very light and airy, carrying a hint of self-deprecating desolation.

"Domestic and foreign, I've seen all the best cardiology specialists."

She moved her gaze from his face to the ornate but cold crystal chandelier on the ceiling.

Her eyes were hollow and vacant.

"The doctors said my condition is congenital."

"A defect from the womb, incurable."

"Over the years, I've tried various treatments; I've tried both Chinese and Western medicine, and used every available drug."

A bitter curve formed at the corner of her mouth: "They originally predicted I wouldn't live past twenty."

"My parents didn't believe in fate. They spent countless amounts of money, seeking medical help all over the world, just to let me stumble through these few extra years."

"But actually... what difference does it make?"

She spoke softly, as if telling a story that had nothing to do with her.

"Every episode is like a walk past the Gates of Hell. Each time is more dangerous than the last."

"I don't know if I'll have the same luck to crawl back next time."

"Or maybe, at some point, I'll really... just die out there."

Her illness was never just a simple heart condition.

It was an extremely rare terminal illness, so complex that modern medicine couldn't explain it.

Even a heart transplant wouldn't solve the problem.

Her hollow gaze slowly moved from the cold crystal chandelier back to Lin Chao's face.

"And..."

"My blood type is very special."

"Even if there were a suitable donor, it wouldn't be a match."

This sentence was like a final heavy hammer, completely shattering all the hope modern medicine had built for her.

She gave a soft laugh, light as a wisp of smoke, yet carrying a heartbreaking desolation.

"So, having lived these extra years, I've already come out ahead."

After she finished speaking, she closed her eyes, looking resigned to fate and asking for nothing more.

However, the expected silence did not come.

Instead, a soft snort with a strange tone reached her ears.

Shen Zhixia opened her eyes in confusion.

She met Lin Chao's eyes, which looked at her as if she were some rare species.

He frowned and looked her up and down.

Then, in a tone bordering on disdain, he spoke slowly.

"Talking as if you're about to die."

"It's not like your illness can't be cured."

The world seemed to have been put on mute at that moment.

Shen Zhixia's breathing stopped, her heartbeat stopped.

Even her brain's thoughts went blank for several seconds.

What... did he just say?

Not incurable?

These words were like a thunderbolt from the heavens, exploding in her heart that was already scorched earth!

The world's top experts had all sentenced her to death; who was this unlicensed itinerant doctor of unknown origin to say such a thing?

Yet, that long-silent heart unhelpfully began to throb wildly again because of those words!

A flicker of flame suddenly lit up in the depths of her dead-gray eyes.

"You... what did you say?"

Her voice trembled violently due to extreme excitement, even cracking.

"Say it again!"

Lin Chao was startled by her excited appearance, as if she were about to spring from the bed, and instinctively shrank back.

"I said, it can be cured." He nodded with certainty.

"If my Maternal Grandfather were to step in, I can't say it would be completely cured, but living to seventy or eighty like a normal person shouldn't be a problem."

"But..." his tone shifted.

That "but" was like a bucket of ice water poured over her head.

A trace of regret also flashed through Lin Chao's heart.

Putting aside the poisonous oath his Maternal Grandfather and Paternal Grandfather made years ago never to save people again...

Just his Maternal Grandfather's arm, which had been crippled and then reattached—its sensitivity and strength were not what they used to be, and he could no longer perform those exquisite needle techniques.

Basically, it was completely hopeless.

The flicker of flame that had just ignited in Shen Zhixia's eyes went "poof" and died out again.

The light vanished, leaving behind a darkness even deeper than before.

She slowly lay back down.

Her whole body seemed to have been drained of all strength.

"Heh..." she laughed self-deprecatingly, "Actually... it's okay if it's not possible."

"I'm used to it."

Her voice was very light, as if comforting him, and also as if convincing herself.

Looking at her like this, Lin Chao felt inexplicably annoyed.

"Hey," he said, "my Maternal Grandfather is injured and can't treat it."

"But I'm still here."

Shen Zhixia's body stiffened imperceptibly.

She slowly turned her head, looking at him with an incredulous expression.

Lin Chao met her gaze, his expression more serious than ever before.

"Although I'm not as skilled as my Maternal Grandfather and can't achieve a complete cure..."

"But..."

He paused and said clearly, word by word.

"Keeping you alive and making you not half-dead like you are now is still no problem."

Shen Zhixia's pupils constricted sharply.

Her brain crashed once again.

This man... does he even know what he's saying?

"You..." her throat was dry, "You really... can do it?"

Hearing this, Lin Chao immediately felt as if he had been greatly insulted.

He raised an eyebrow, crossed his arms, and tilted his chin up slightly: "Otherwise?"

"How do you think I dragged you back from the Gates of Hell just now?"

He looked down at her, the corner of his mouth curling into an annoying arc: "Do you even understand the weight of the word 'genius'?"

"..."

That familiar urge to strangle him surged up once more.

Shen Zhixia was silent for a full half-minute.

Only then did she squeeze a sentence through her teeth: "I only know that a genius..."

"...ran to our Health and Wellness company to be a massager salesman."

This arrow hit the bullseye precisely.

The smug smile on Lin Chao's face froze instantly.

He was choked up and couldn't speak for a long time.

Finally, in a bit of exasperated rage, he shouted out as if giving up: "It's because I don't have a Medical License!"

As soon as these words were out...

The room instantly fell into a dead silence again.

Lin Chao cleared his throat, and his expression quickly returned to normal: "What's your phone number?"

"I'll call you; save my number."

"If there's any emergency in the future, call me directly."

Shen Zhixia was stunned for a moment, then recited a string of digits.

Lin Chao lowered his head, his slender fingers tapping quickly on the phone screen.

"Well."

He looked up and casually stuffed the phone back into his pocket.