Butler Li repeated to Mu Yunshang what An Bao had pulled him aside to say the day before, then drew a deep breath and said: "Just now, my daughter-in-law called. She said—said that the beach my little grandson was supposed to go to suddenly had a rip current, and all of his classmates… they were all swept away. I'm afraid…"
"If Miss An Bao hadn't told me to call my daughter-in-law yesterday and had my grandson stay behind, I fear — I fear my grandson would not have survived to see today!"
"Third Young Master, Miss An Bao mentioned something that day — something about a 'baleful spirit.' So, are you saying that the First Young Master and Miss An Bao fell unconscious because of that?"
Butler Li was advanced in age, and when it came to matters of this sort, he was more inclined to accept them and more easily persuaded.
But Mu Yunshang truly felt that this reason was simply far too absurd.
He was silent for a moment, then said: "Maybe it's just a coincidence?"
"But…"
Butler Li had always felt this was no coincidence—An Bao, he suspected, was someone with real ability.
But seeing that Mu Yunshang didn't look entirely convinced, he could only hold his tongue.
Having spent years as a staunch materialist, it was clearly no easy thing for Mu Yunshang to accept this now.
Mu Yunshang thought it over and said, "Anyway, Academician Chen is coming tomorrow. Let's just wait and see what he has to say."
"Haah… fine."
Early the next morning, Academician Chen had already arrived at the Mu residence.
Beside him was a young boy, around thirteen or fourteen years of age, his complexion rather pale. He sat in a wheelchair, looking visibly frail.
When Mu Yunshang saw Academician Chen arrive, he hurried forward to greet him, then gave a brief account of what had happened.
Academician Chen gave a nod. "Shen Ming has already filled me in on the situation. Let me examine them first, and we'll go from there."
Pausing briefly, Academician Chen glanced at the young man beside him and explained to Mu Yunshang with a somewhat helpless air: "I apologize — this is another patient of mine. His condition is rather unusual and can flare up at any time, so he can't stray too far from me."
Mu Yunshang glanced at the young man, finding him vaguely familiar. But this was not the moment to concern himself with the boy's identity — as long as it did not interfere with the medical consultation at hand, Mu Yunshang naturally had no objection.
Academician Chen followed Mu Yunshang into Mu Yunyi's room and was just about to say something when he suddenly caught sight of a chubby little toddler at the bedside, standing on tiptoe, her pudgy short legs pumping furiously as she strained to clamber up onto the bed.
The nearby parrot was also circling, now and then tugging at An Bao's collar with its beak.
With the two of them working in tandem—one human, one bird—An Bao finally managed to clamber up onto the bed.
The very first thing the little dumpling did after crawling onto the bed was to stuff the small, dark object clutched in their chubby little fist straight into Mu Yunyi's mouth……
"An Bao!!!"
Mu Yunshang cried out in alarm, with no time at all to wonder when An Bao had woken up — he rushed forward and scooped An Bao up in one swift motion, only to find that An Bao's chubby little hands were already completely empty!
Seeing this, Academician Chen rushed forward in a panic, desperately trying to reach into Mu Yunyi's mouth and pull out whatever was inside — but his mouth was already completely empty. He had clearly swallowed it.
"You—you child, what did you feed the patient?! Don't you know that no diagnosis has been made yet? You can't just let them eat whatever they want, you—"
Though Academician Chen did not know Mu Yunyi, watching someone feed strange substances into a patient's mouth set off his physician's instincts, and he grew anxious and indignant, turning to reproach An Bao.
Cradled in Mu Yunshang's arms, An Bao caught sight of Academician Chen's angry expression and shrank his neck in fright, explaining in a small voice: "Big Uncle has been harmed by the baleful spirit for a long time now. His yang energy is far too weak — if he doesn't take medicine to restore it, he won't be able to wake up. An Bao would never hurt Uncle."
Immediately after, An Bao seemed to remember something and clapped both hands over her little mouth in a panic, mumbling in a muffled voice: "An Bao, An Bao didn't spread feudal superstition. An Bao, An Bao was just giving Big Uncle his medicine-medicine, and taking medicine-medicine is very scientific, okay! Third Uncle said, as long as Big Uncle takes his medicine-medicine, Big Uncle will get better… Don't take An Bao away to have her meaty-meat cut off…"
Mu Yunshang listened to An Bao's words, feeling both amused and a little pained. He couldn't help but let out a sigh. "An Bao, Third Uncle believes you mean no harm to your eldest brother, but you are still young after all. When it comes to treating an illness, you must first identify the ailment before prescribing the remedy — you cannot simply give a patient medicine at random, or you will only make things worse."
Immediately after, Mu Yunshang turned to Academician Chen with a somewhat apologetic look. "I'm sorry, Academician Chen. Our little niece just got so worried she lost her head. I'll still have to trouble you to take a look at my elder brother."
Though Academician Chen was angry, he also knew that saying more at this point would be useless — he still needed to examine Mu Yunyi first.
"Hm?"
Academician Chen placed his hand on Mu Yunyi's wrist. His brow shifted slightly, and he let out a soft, surprised sound — as though he had found something quite unexpected.
"Academician Chen, my eldest brother, he…"
"Your elder brother is in good health, and from the looks of his pulse, he's about to wake up at any moment. The key thing is…"
At this point, Academician Chen paused, his gaze drifting to An Bao, who was curled up in Mu Yunshang's arms. He suddenly spoke up: "Little one, the medicine you just gave Mr. Mu — do you have any more?"
An Bao blinked, glanced at Mu Yunshang, and only after seeing him nod did she reach into her own pocket and produce another one, handing it to the academician. In her babyish voice she said: "It's this one, Grandpa. An Bao didn't hurt Big Uncle — An Bao is a good Daoist."
Academician Chen had already formed some guesses in his heart, so the gaze he now turned on An Bao had softened considerably.
He smiled, then carefully raised the pill to the tip of his nose and gave it a sniff. In an instant, his eyes widened — he looked up at An Bao with undisguised astonishment, and pressing down a flicker of excitement, said, "This — where did this pill come from?"
Staring into Academician Chen's frenzied eyes, An Bao shrank into Mu Yunshang's arms in fear.
Ever since Mu Yunshang had told her about those Frankensteins, she had gone on to watch quite a few films about Frankensteins dissecting human bodies.
The look in Academician Chen's eyes at this very moment was exactly like those mad scientists in the movies!
An Bao felt that Academician Chen would, in the very next second, carve the flesh from her body piece by piece……
"Little one, don't be afraid. Grandpa was a bit harsh just now, but Grandpa was worried too. This medicine of yours is wonderful — it can only do Mr. Mu good, absolutely no harm whatsoever. Grandpa apologizes to you. But this medicine is also very important for other patients, so can you tell Grandpa who gave it to you?"
Mu Yunshang listened as Academician Chen spoke in honeyed tones, coaxing An Bao along, and felt utterly astonished.
You should know that this Academician Chen had always been a man of peculiar temper and distinct character.
Should he choose not to bother with you, even the Mu family would be beneath his notice.
Yet at this very moment, Academician Chen was being so gentle and kind toward his own little milk dumpling…
Mu Yunshang couldn't help but picture the little one blowing up the kitchen in his mind. Could it be that…
After An Bao confirmed that Academician Chen truly harbored no ill intent, she finally peeked a small head out from Mu Yunshang's arms and said, "An Bao refined it."
An Bao paused, then added: "It's very scientific — no superstition whatsoever."
"You refined this???"
Academician Chen looked at An Bao with some surprise, his face a mask of disbelief.