Grandma Jing blinked in surprise when she saw so many people gathered around her bed in the small ground floor unit. Only later, as the fog cleared from her mind, did she realize she had fainted. She felt embarrassed by the sudden attention and the worry she had caused. "I was just chatting with the young man. We talked and talked until I felt a sudden tightness in my chest, like I could not breathe properly. After that, I don't remember what happened at all."
"Do you feel any discomfort now, anywhere at all?" the old Chinese doctor asked, his fingers still resting lightly on her wrist as he monitored her pulse.
Grandma Jing shook her head slowly. "I feel fine, actually refreshed, like a weight has been lifted. It is just that for the past while, I often felt dizzy and groggy during the day. But now that feeling is completely gone."
"That is good to hear. I measured your blood pressure, and it is back to a perfectly normal range now. Do not take any more random medicine without checking first," the old Chinese doctor said, his tone firm but kind.
Grandma Jing still looked puzzled, her brow furrowed in confusion, but when she caught her granddaughter winking hard at her from across the room, she finally just nodded along with the doctor's orders. Truth was, she had suspected something herself over the last few weeks. When she occasionally forgot to take her medicine in the morning, she felt fine, even energetic.
But when she took it daily as she had for years, she often felt worse, as if her head were stuffed with cotton. The worse she felt, the more frequently she took the pills, thinking her blood pressure was rising. Without any instruments at home to measure the actual numbers, the older generation judged whether to take medicine simply based on whether they felt unwell at the moment.
The family collectively exhaled and sincerely thanked both doctors for their quick response. Jing An, looking deeply ashamed of his earlier behavior and for wrongly accusing Lin Yi of having ill intentions, stepped forward. "Sorry, young man, we misunderstood you just now. What you said was right from the start. It is just that we don't understand medicine ourselves and could not gamble with an elder's life when we saw her collapse like that."
Lin Yi gave a calm, thin smile as he stood by the wall. His hoarse, aged voice carried a strange steadiness that seemed to settle the remaining tension in the room. "Fortunately, it was not serious. We made it in time to prevent any real harm. Since things are fine now and she is awake, I will be leaving."
Grandma Jing waved her hand from the bed, her strength returning. "Xiao Lin, next time you come by, I will treat you properly to a good meal. This time I really troubled you."
"You are too polite, Grandma," he replied softly.
Jing Shu frowned as she watched him move toward the door. Something about Lin Yi always gave her a sense of deathly stillness, like the aura of an old man in his sixties or seventies crammed inside the body of a young man in his twenties. It felt mismatched and unsettling, as if he had been cast in the wrong role for a play he did not want to be in.
"Grandma, how did you even meet this man, and how do you find so much to talk about with him?" Jing Shu asked once the door had closed.
Every three years was considered a generation gap. A difference of decades, like the one between her grandmother and Lin Yi, was like a vast canyon. What could they possibly have in common to talk about for hours?
"Don't be fooled by how young Xiao Lin looks. He knows a lot about the old ways, especially about our Northwest cave dwellings and the history of this land. I have nothing to do all day while you are all busy, so chatting with him makes me feel young again. Back in the famine years, we lived in those caves. It was nothing like the life we have today."
She sighed, her eyes looking far off for a moment. "This child is pitiful too. The first time I saw him, he was pinned under the heavy unit door of the building. I actually stepped on him before realizing I had stepped on a person because he was so still.
The second time, he somehow got stuck in a narrow drainage ditch while walking. I asked if he needed help getting out, but he refused, looking quite embarrassed.
The third time, someone threw a heavy bag of garbage from upstairs, and it hit him right on the head, leaving him bleeding on the sidewalk. That was when I bandaged him up, and we got acquainted through the shared trouble."
Jing Shu raised her eyebrows at the list of misfortunes. Were there really people in this world as consistently unlucky as Lin Yi seemed to be? She had met people like Su Mali, who were blessed with ridiculous, almost supernatural luck, but someone like Lin Yi seemed to have the exact opposite. Yet if he was so unlucky, how could he hold double certifications in medicine? He did sound capable and knowledgeable when he spoke.
At least it was a false alarm with Grandma Jing, and the immediate crisis had passed. The Western doctor left first, personally escorted by Jing An out of the building to ensure he got back safely.
Still, despite the peaceful resolution, Jing Shu resolved to investigate Lin Yi further. She suspected he might have approached Grandma Jing on purpose for some hidden reason. If he was "Zero," then the likelihood of a calculated move was even higher.
But maybe she was just overthinking the situation. If she were to be linked to anyone in that shadow world, it should have been agent "Zero-Eight," since she had destroyed the entire Zhetian organization in her previous dealings.
As for anyone ranked above Zero-Eight, she had asked Wang Dazhao to dig for any information for ages, but no news ever surfaced about higher-level agents. So she probably had nothing to do with them.
As for Zero himself, Jing Shu remembered that in her previous life's apocalypse, he only died several years later. His name only spread through the survivor camps after that, when it was revealed he had stirred up half of China's turmoil. Who would have thought such widespread chaos had been orchestrated by one single man? Without that revelation, she would never have known the half year of inhuman cruelty everyone suffered had been deliberately guided by his hand.
She exhaled slowly, trying to calm her racing heart. She was too small a figure in the grand scheme of things. Someone as infamous and powerful as Zero shouldn't even know she existed.
"At worst, wasn't Zero supposed to have gone to America?" she thought to herself.
Her thoughts were a mess as she tried to reconcile her memories with the present. Just then, the old Chinese doctor was about to leave when he paused at the doorway, looking back at her.
"Jing Shu, I would like to ask a favor of you," he said.
Jing Shu nodded, focusing on the present. "What is it? Please say what you need."
"Mr. Qian wants you to make a special dish. It must be made from milk, preserve the full nutrition of milk, but taste nothing like milk, and not be milk itself when it is finished." The old Chinese doctor looked slightly embarrassed to be making such a specific and difficult request.
Jing Shu arched a brow at the strange requirements. "Was the landlord's foolish son still not better after all this time?"
"How is Qian Shengqian's condition now?" She hadn't heard from Qian Duoduo or the rest of the family in a while.
"After eating the ice cream you made, he improved for a bit, showing more energy than before. But afterward, whenever he ate anything containing milk, he would vomit immediately. So lately, Mr. Qian has not dared let him touch any ice cream or dairy products."
"So his condition worsened?" Jing Shu frowned, worried. Had her ice cream been too strong for his delicate system?
"No, no, it is not like that," the doctor replied quickly.
Since the old doctor refused to elaborate on the details of the boy's health, Jing Shu dropped the question for now. "Then please wait here for a little while. I will go and make something now."
…
Half an hour later, the smell of frying food beginning to drift through the villa, Jing Shu returned with a sturdy, insulated food box. "Whether it works or not for him, please return the box afterward. I do not have many sets left in my inventory, and we will need them when we begin migrating."
The old Chinese doctor stroked his eight-part beard, opened the lid of the box, and saw small, golden cubes steaming with a wonderful fragrance. They looked almost like pieces of fried chicken and smelled sweet and inviting.
"What exactly is this?" he asked, peering into the box.
"Fried fresh milk," Jing Shu explained.
The old Chinese doctor looked puzzled: "???"
Jing Shu explained the concept briefly. He took a small utensil and tasted one, and his eyes lit up with delight. It was crispy and golden on the outside, but snowy white and soft on the inside. The outer crust was perfectly crisp while the center was tender and creamy, the rich milk wrapped and transformed by the heat. Truly the saying came to life:
Dip in egg wash, coat with breadcrumbs, fry till golden. The kids next door will cry with envy.
Most importantly, there was no trace of the original milk flavor that seemed to trigger the boy's reaction. Instead, it carried a subtle, tropical sweetness, like a hint of banana and pineapple, making it smooth and delicious.
Satisfied with the result, the old Chinese doctor left with the dish carefully held in his hands. Watching him board a private jet that had been waiting nearby, Jing Shu realized this visit must have been authorized by Qian Duoduo himself to ensure the boy's recovery.
Her dish had effectively settled the debt between them for the doctor's help.
Later, when the other relatives heard the news that Grandma Jing had fainted, Jing Pan and Jing Zhao both called the house to check in. Once they were reassured that she was fine and resting, First Aunt announced over the phone that she would host a formal wedding for her son and daughter-in-law and invited the whole family to attend the celebration.