Chapter 977 — I Won't Go Back on My Word

And so, having thought it all through, Mother Chen felt a good deal steadier; Wei Zhao and Feng Xiaoxiao, she decided, could not possibly be bad people.

They had helped her twice, true, but it could hardly have been premeditated—and even if that man who had picked the quarrel earlier had been hired by them to make trouble for mother and daughter, how could they possibly have known afterward that she would faint?

Once in the car, a single sentence from Wei Zhao was enough to dispel Mother Chen's wretched suspicions.

"There's a pharmacy up ahead, Xiaoxiao. Pull over a moment—I want to pick up some medicine," Wei Zhao said to Feng Xiaoxiao.

"All right." Feng Xiaoxiao was eager enough to see Chen Xi's mother cured, so when Wei Zhao said this she agreed without a second thought, drove the car up to the pharmacy door, and stopped.

"I'll come buy the medicine with you..." Seeing Wei Zhao get out, Chen Xi hurried to say. How could she let Wei Zhao spend his own money on medicine? She was already deeply grateful to him for treating her mother, so the cost of the medicine she meant to pay herself.

"No need. You don't have enough money anyway," Wei Zhao said flatly. "If you want to repay it, repay it later."

Having decided to help, Wei Zhao would naturally see it through to the end. Chen Xi's money was not enough for the medicine now, but if she later had money and insisted on repaying him, he would not refuse.

Yet that one sentence of Wei Zhao's was enough to make Chen Xi misunderstand! Hearing his words, she took them to mean he wanted her to repay him later in some other fashion, and her face flushed red on the instant. She stopped insisting on getting out of the car and said firmly, "All right. I'll repay you, little by little."

"Heh..." How could Wei Zhao possibly guess that Chen Xi's thoughts had wandered so far? He thought nothing of it and got out of the car.

His reasons for not letting Chen Xi come with him were, first, that her money was not enough and she would be of no use down there, and second, that Wei Zhao did not want his prescription to leak out. Toward a stranger like Chen Xi, he could not guarantee sufficient trust.

The formula would change according to each patient's constitution, but if Wei Zhao's prescription fell into the hands of some medical expert, it would likely prove a priceless treasure. Wei Zhao was not in the habit of giving away benefits for free.

Once inside the pharmacy, Wei Zhao did not bother writing out a prescription; he simply dictated the purchase of a number of medicinal herbs, then borrowed the shop's equipment to grind them all into powder and divide it into several small packets.

The reason he had chosen this sort of small private pharmacy was that here the owner and the clerk were one and the same, and nothing sold was entered in the books—the herbs were simply weighed out for Wei Zhao. Such private pharmacies generally took stock by hand at intervals and then restocked; they had no inventory software at all.

"One packet each for morning, noon, and night, taken with boiled water. For the first few days there will be severe diarrhea, after which the symptoms will gradually ease. The stool will at first be black and rank; later its color will grow lighter and lighter until it approaches normal. Once it is completely normal, you may stop the medicine—and then contact me at once for the next course of treatment. These packets are more than enough."

Wei Zhao quickly explained to Chen Xi and her mother how the medicine was to be taken and what symptoms might arise.

"All right!" Chen Xi carefully committed every single word Wei Zhao spoke to memory, afraid of missing something. Once she understood, she nodded hastily and said, "I've got it all down!"

"Where do you live? I'll drive you back—I have things to do," Wei Zhao said, and asked nothing further.

"Just ahead, that little compound over there..." Chen Xi pointed to a residential compound not far off that looked very old.

Feng Xiaoxiao flicked on her turn signal and drove the car into the compound. This was probably the family housing of some enterprise or work unit; the buildings inside differed in height, age, and design, plainly built at different times—nothing at all like those compounds laid out in one uniform plan.

"Which building?" Feng Xiaoxiao asked.

"This one right here in front!" Chen Xi pointed to the shabbiest of the red-brick buildings not far away. "That's the one—Building 3, Unit 3, Room 402."

"We won't go up. After the symptoms I described have disappeared, or if your mother faints again, give me a call." Wei Zhao showed no desire whatsoever to go up and be a guest; he casually recited a phone number for Chen Xi.

"All right. Thank you, miracle doctor brother!" Chen Xi hastily noted down Wei Zhao's number, an indefinable feeling stirring in her heart. Wei Zhao had made no improper demands of her, which let her breathe a small sigh of relief. It looked as though he meant to wait until her mother was completely cured before claiming her? But if that were so, might he not fear that she would go back on her word afterward and therefore treat her mother half-heartedly? At the thought, after her mother had gotten out of the car, Chen Xi bent down again and said quietly to Wei Zhao, who was just about to get back in: "The terms from before—I won't go back on them!"

"Hm?" Wei Zhao was startled, and only then understood what she meant. He was just about to explain when Chen Xi straightened up and stood beside her mother; there was nothing more he could say, and he only shook his head.

"Sir, thank you!" Mother Chen gazed at Wei Zhao with profound gratitude. A thousand words filled her heart, yet for a moment her throat closed up and she could not utter them. Since falling ill, she had been to any number of hospitals, and in most of them the doctors, after examining her, had told her straight out that given her financial circumstances she had best give up treatment. If she wanted to be treated, it would cost a very great deal of money.

But Wei Zhao was treating her for free—had even said she could be cured. This filled Mother Chen with astonished joy, and with a deep sense of shame besides. Earlier she had been on her guard against him, afraid he harbored ulterior motives; yet the man had come all this way and would not even go upstairs to sit for a spell—what could he possibly be scheming after?

Wei Zhao glanced at Mother Chen but said nothing; he merely told Feng Xiaoxiao, "Drive."

"Oh... all right." Feng Xiaoxiao had not expected Wei Zhao to remain as aloof as ever even after helping Chen Xi and her mother, and she could not help feeling a little put out.

Wei Zhao was not a man fond of meddling in other people's affairs, and this time, too, he had saved Chen Xi and her mother only for Feng Xiaoxiao's sake. Though something in his heart had shifted somewhat, he could hardly go helping every stranger he happened to lay eyes on—otherwise he would have nothing else to do all day but set up a little stool at some hospital gate and hold free clinics.