Cheng Xiao’s family was fairly well-off, but his parents had already passed away in an accident when he was young. His grandfather had left him a fund before dying, and it was because of this fund that he could afford his enormous surgical expenses. His hospital room was a single occupancy room. Cheng Xiao lay there alone, looking out the window. His entire body was swollen from edema, making him appear bloated rather than having his usual bamboo pole appearance. He even looked like a normal person’s physique, yet made people feel inexplicable pity and sighs upon seeing him.

When he saw the doctors enter, Cheng Xiao withdrew his gaze from the peach blossoms outside the window. His handsome face wore a serene expression. If you only looked at his face, only his purple lips and deathly pale complexion would let people detect that he suffered from a terminal illness. Walking on the streets outside, he would definitely receive an extremely high rate of head-turning due to his handsomeness. He even had the mood to joke with the familiar chief, completely unconcerned about his precarious physical condition.

After the chief cleared his throat lightly, he began explaining the upcoming medical arrangements. Cheng Xiao’s body was no longer suitable for conservative drug treatment and could only undergo surgery, but what kind of surgery would depend on the results of further examinations. Under the expectant gazes filling the room, the chief selected the doctor and Chun Ge to be responsible.

When the doctor heard he was the first assistant, he knew the chief must have taken notice of his surgical performance last time. He should have straightforwardly explained the situation clearly, but he didn’t want to miss this rare opportunity. After hesitating slightly, he nodded in agreement.

Next came arranging for Cheng Xiao to undergo various examinations again. The doctor and Chun Ge accompanied him throughout. Cheng Xiao was completely indifferent to such ordeals, his calm expression only changing when his gaze swept across the nameplate on the doctor’s chest.

“Oh? So it’s you. I heard my last surgery was performed by you—very perfect indeed.” Cheng Xiao curved his purple lips. His cyanosis was very severe, with deep purple even appearing at his fingertips. This was respiratory failure caused by cardiopulmonary disease.

The doctor simply couldn’t imagine how someone who had great difficulty with every breath could show such a relaxed and gentle smile. Moreover, the other’s praise made him feel even more unworthy. He could only push up his glasses and say in a business-like manner: “We’ll go to the MRI room in a bit. Do you have any metal jewelry or watches on you? They all need to be removed.”

“Oh, I go for examinations frequently, so I know. Fortunately, I haven’t had a pacemaker installed yet, otherwise I couldn’t even do MRI scans. Speaking of which, I remember you weren’t wearing glasses last time. Why did you change your look?” As Cheng Xiao spoke, he slowly pulled things out of his hospital gown pocket. The item slipped from between his fingers, tracing a silver arc through the air before falling to the floor with a crisp sound.

The doctor had instinctively wanted to pick it up, but upon hearing Cheng Xiao’s question, he unconsciously froze in place.

He would go without glasses? Although he had undergone myopia correction surgery two years ago, because he had been accustomed to having something on his nose bridge for so many years, he wore even plain glasses at all times. The doctor laughed dryly a couple of times: “Maybe I wasn’t wearing glasses when I was performing surgery.”

Cheng Xiao shrugged: “Do you think I would see you during surgery?”

Indeed, anesthesiologists always entered the operating room first, and surgical doctors like them only took their positions after the patient was completely anesthetized. The doctor felt his temples beginning to ache faintly again. What exactly had he forgotten?

Chun Ge, being somewhat oblivious, didn’t notice the doctor’s discomfort. He bent down to pick up what Cheng Xiao had dropped: “Oh my, it’s still this little silver fish. You’re still carrying it around and haven’t lost it!”

The doctor couldn’t help but look toward Chun Ge’s palm. It was a small silver fish about the length of a thumb. To be precise, this was just the right side of a fish’s body. Half of the little silver fish’s body was raised while the other half was flat. The raised half was carved so lifelike, though the fish scales were dull and lusterless—clearly an object with considerable age. The fish’s mouth had a circular hollow opening, presumably for threading a cord.

“This is Cheng Xiao’s precious little silver fish. It’s said to be an antique left to him by his grandfather, and he always carries it with him. But this guy is quite careless—wherever he goes, he forgets this little silver fish. Fortunately, the nurses who regularly care for him all recognize it, so when it’s lost, they return it to him.” Seeing the doctor’s interest, Chun Ge gossiped a bit, though he didn’t let the doctor examine the little silver fish closely. To him, what was there to see in this little silver fish? What mattered was Cheng Xiao’s physical examination results. So he casually put the little silver fish in his white coat pocket and pushed Cheng Xiao toward the MRI room with a smile: “I’ll keep the little silver fish safe for you first. Come on, we need to hurry.”

Cheng Xiao looked at Chun Ge with somewhat unnaturally stiff expression. When no one was paying attention, a gloomy cold light flashed through his downcast eyes.

“Ah? You’re not coming home for dinner again tonight?” Tang Yuan held the phone receiver, his tone expressing deep reluctance. “I was hoping Uncle would take me to Pizza Hut tonight! Okay, okay, then next time. Uncle, please take care of your health too, and don’t forget to eat dinner. Okay, okay, I’ll lock the door properly tonight.”

Tang Yuan hung up the phone with a click, looked at the slightly darkening sky outside, and pouted: “Little Lu Lu, it looks like I’ll have to call for takeout again tonight. What should we eat this time?” As he spoke, he turned around and was horrified to see the little white snake he had just mentioned pushing open the window and elegantly attempting to escape outside. “Oh my little ancestor!” Tang Yuan hurriedly pounced over, grabbing the little white snake’s tail with his small hand and smiling ingratiatingly: “Please don’t run around! If someone catches you, with your tiny body, you wouldn’t even be enough to fill the gaps between their teeth! Wherever you want to go, I’ll take you there…”

The little white snake looked at Tang Yuan with disdain, then reluctantly climbed up his arm to his neck, pretended to tighten around it once, then pointed toward the door with its tail—looking determined not to give up unless they went out.

Tang Yuan, intimidated by this show of force, had no choice but to pick up his keys, comforting himself that this was going out to forage for food, not randomly wandering around.

Right, mainly to forage for the little white snake…

Tang Yuan turned up his collar. The little white snake coiled around his neck twice, and without close inspection, you couldn’t tell he had a live snake hanging around his neck. Tang Yuan actually didn’t know where he should go to find food for the little white snake. He wandered around aimlessly and instead bought a jianbing from a roadside stall, filling his own stomach.

With some food in his belly warming his stomach, Tang Yuan’s mood improved slightly. While eating his jianbing, he looked at the bustling traffic on the commercial street and murmured: “Little Lu Lu, you need to eat spiritual energy, but what kind of person would have spiritual energy? Only people as powerful as Master have spiritual energy, but even if we could find someone similar to Master, would they stand still and let you feed?” The possibility of being slapped flying to the horizon was probably much higher… Tang Yuan silently swallowed the last sentence along with his jianbing.

The little white snake didn’t respond but used its tail to pat Tang Yuan’s neck, directing him to walk in that direction.

Tang Yuan resignedly exhaled, quickly finished his jianbing, and walked along the commercial street with his head down until he saw a small seal script signboard reading “Mute House.” “No way! Are you looking for my senior brother? But my senior brother isn’t here. Otherwise, I’d go directly to him instead of staying with that doctor…” Tang Yuan was rather disappointed but still followed the little white snake’s wishes, swaggering as he pushed open the carved door and entered the shop.

Upon entering, he was immediately captivated by the pure agarwood fragrance. Tang Yuan took several deep breaths, silently sighing that his senior brother was indeed wealthy—no wonder Master had thought of coming to seek refuge with him. Tang Yuan felt the little white snake around his neck writhing as if wanting to climb down, which scared him into immediately pressing it down through his clothes. He vaguely sensed that the originally peaceful shop seemed to stir with commotion due to his action—countless voices flashed noisily past his ears, but when he tried to listen carefully, everything suddenly returned to silence.

Tang Yuan’s gaze swept over the shop’s furnishings, his eyes growing increasingly fervent. Having grown up with his master since childhood, every item his master used was a treasure, which had also trained Tang Yuan’s excellent eye for quality. These items that others would consider no different from replicas—even without handling them, he could confirm they were priceless authentic pieces, most even more precious than items displayed in museums.

Senior brother was indeed very wealthy! Please let me cling to your coattails!

Tang Yuan’s heart was streaming with tears. Why wasn’t senior brother here? If he were, Tang Yuan could smoothly dump the little white snake on his senior brother to raise. Why did things have to be so miserable now? The more Tang Yuan thought about it, the more unbalanced he felt. His right hand reverently touched the Hainan huanghuali official hat chair beside him. A wood knot on the front of the chair presented a ghost face that was a lifelike fox face with exquisite features. Originally a smiling face, it became terrified the moment Tang Yuan touched it.

Tang Yuan was instead startled, but the little white snake that his left hand had been restraining seized this moment of his distraction, slithering down along his right sleeve and about to rush out from the cuff.

“Little brother, what do you want to buy?” A deep male voice suddenly sounded behind Tang Yuan, making him instantly withdraw his hand and causing the little white snake to freeze at the moment it was about to rush out, quickly coiling around Tang Yuan’s wrist.

“Uh…” Tang Yuan looked with lingering fear at the fox face on the chair, which had returned to its smiling expression, feeling he must have been seeing things just now! He looked up at the handsome man standing behind him wearing a zhongshan suit—not his senior brother, but the guy he had seen outside the shop last time when he came with his master, the one responsible for watching the store.

Lu Zigang was quite surprised to have a child enter Mute House, because this kind of decor and layout was rather pretentious—only older people liked to come purely for appreciation. Young men and women rarely entered the shop, let alone children around ten years old. Moreover, he seemed to have scared the other party.

Thinking this, Lu Zigang couldn’t help but soften his voice, patting Tang Yuan’s head and asking warmly with a smile: “Want to sit up there? Should uncle lift you up?”

Tang Yuan shook his big head like a rattle drum, indicating he absolutely didn’t want to sit on a chair that could change expressions. He tried his best to act like a normal ten-year-old child, lifting his small face with an innocent smile: “Uncle, I need to go home. I’ll come play again next time when I have a chance!”

Everyone liked polite children. Lu Zigang thought of his own noisy little nephew—compared to the boy in front of him, that one was simply a bratty child! Watching the boy bounce away happily, Lu Zigang focused his gaze on the Hainan huanghuali official hat chair, his expression couldn’t help but tense.

After a moment of silence, he still sighed helplessly, pulling out a soft cloth from his pocket and bending down to begin wiping.

There was a greasy, shiny fingerprint on the official hat chair.

A bratty child or whatever—how could that be seen through at a glance?

He was indeed still too naive.

Tang Yuan had no idea he was being silently complained about behind his back. He was lifting his right hand, asking the little white snake in his sleeve in a small voice: “Little Lu Lu, you can absorb not just people’s spiritual energy, right? You can also absorb spiritual energy from objects?”

The little white snake writhed restlessly in his sleeve. Tang Yuan quickly pressed his cuff tightly, and cold sweat immediately broke out.

Because he suddenly remembered that when the little white snake was really too hungry to bear it, it would appear as a beautiful snake woman. If it did that to him on the street, that would be quite a spectacle!

Shocking Medusa on Commercial Street!

Cosplay? Beautiful snake woman so realistic it rivals American blockbusters!

New biochemical monster attack! Or is China’s Dragon Group making an appearance?!

Tang Yuan expressed that he absolutely didn’t want to be the male protagonist of a trending Weibo topic! He paced anxiously in circles, instinctively wanting to find the doctor. After all, he had been cared for by the other party these days, and Tang Yuan couldn’t think of any other solution. If worse came to worst, maybe the doctor could get some ether to make the little white snake unconscious?

The hospital where the doctor worked was nearby. Tang Yuan had even been rescued there once before, so he was somewhat familiar with it. Now that it was dark, as a small child, he could easily slip into the hospital. Tang Yuan climbed the stairs while covering his nose, claiming to be allergic to the disinfectant smell, chattering: “Today isn’t an auspicious day—travel is forbidden! Little Lu Lu, should we come back another day? Okay, okay, stop making a fuss… Huh? You want to stop on this first floor?” Tang Yuan looked at the sign in the stairwell—Cardiothoracic Surgery Inpatient Department? Wasn’t this exactly Doctor Uncle’s department? He said he was on duty tonight, so they might just run into him.

Secretly pleased, Tang Yuan didn’t care that he might get caught and scolded by the doctor for foolishly running to the hospital. He had even thought up an excuse and bought two hot roasted sweet potatoes outside the hospital.