Chapter 2: No Longer Fond

Ling Yao lay in bed for a day and a night, feeling her body had recovered enough to get out of bed. She walked out of the room.

Looking at the familiar sights and sounds outside, her eyes welled up uncontrollably. Since waking up, she still felt a sense of unreality, unable to believe she had been reborn back to thirty years ago. It was like a dream, and she was afraid that everything in front of her would suddenly disappear.

“Doctor Ling! Doctor Ling! Are you there? Please save my Xiaobao, he has a fever!” A frantic voice came from outside, accompanied by a child’s cry.

Hearing this voice, a scene flashed through Ling Yao’s mind. She turned her head and glanced at the calendar on the wall, seeing the date, her face immediately changed, and she quickly ran towards the front clinic.

She remembered that on this day in her previous life, Aunt Li’s grandson had come to see her mother because of a high fever. At that time, her mother was out on a house call and wasn’t home, so she couldn’t help Xiaobao lower his fever in time. Xiaobao developed meningitis due to the delay.

The Li family blamed everything on her mother, gathered a group of people and beat her mother, resulting in her mother’s right leg being disabled. In this life, she absolutely could not let the tragedy happen again.

“Bao, be good, the doctor will be here soon, you’ll be fine after getting a shot.” Aunt Li coaxed her crying grandson.

Ling Yao walked into the clinic and went to Aunt Li, “What’s wrong with Xiaobao?”

“He has a fever, 39.8 degrees. Where’s Doctor Ling? You hurry up and have her check on my Xiaobao,” Aunt Li was anxious. Xiaobao was her heart and soul, seeing him like this, her heart ached.

“My mom went out to see a patient, you hold Xiaobao and sit over there, I’ll take his temperature,” Ling Yao walked towards the medicine cabinet, took a disinfected thermometer, and walked over to put it under Xiaobao’s armpit.

In her previous life, she had learned medicine from her mother since she was a child, and later she self-studied and entered medical school, becoming a doctor.

The dean valued her very much and gave her a chance to study abroad. She was overjoyed and shared this good news with Zhou Yu. However, the next day when she was operating on a patient, she made a mistake that resulted in the patient’s death. She lost her job and was sued by the patient’s family, spending three years in prison.

When she was released from prison and returned home, she saw Zhou Yu leaning in the arms of Gu Qingan, whispering sweet nothings. One was her best friend, the other was the man she loved, but they both betrayed her.

She was heartbroken and left for a distant land. Later, she founded her own pharmaceutical company, which quickly rose to prominence in the industry and became a leading enterprise. She thought she had finally achieved happiness, but she encountered Zhou Yu again.

Zhou Yu secretly bribed her factory workers and tampered with the new drug, causing many people to experience side effects after taking the drug from her factory. She was imprisoned again and sentenced to death. However, before her execution, she suddenly fell ill and was sent to the hospital for treatment. In the end, Zhou Yu strangled her to death in the hospital bed.

Thinking of Zhou Yu, a murderous intent surged in Ling Yao’s eyes. Soon she would meet Zhou Yu. In this life, not only would she not save her, but she would also strike her when she was down. She wanted that woman to die a horrible death.

“Are you sure you can handle this? Maybe we should wait for Doctor Ling to come back.” Aunt Li was not very confident in Ling Yao. Although Ling Yao would help Ling Xuemei with her work, she wasn’t a doctor after all.

“My mom went to deliver the baby for Yang’s Sister-in-law, she won’t be back for a while. Xiaobao’s temperature is very high now, we need to get it down as soon as possible, otherwise he might have convulsions or other symptoms.”

Hearing Ling Yao’s confident explanation, Aunt Li could only try it out, hoping for the best. There was only this one health clinic in the village, and even if they rode a bicycle to town, it would take at least an hour.

Ling Yao waited for a while, then asked Aunt Li to take out the thermometer. She looked at the temperature on the thermometer, “It’s already over forty degrees. I’ll do a skin test first, and if it’s okay, I’ll give him a shot of antipyretic.”

“Okay, okay.” Aunt Li nodded repeatedly. All she wanted was for her grandson’s fever to go down.

Ling Yao did a skin test on Xiaobao, and after confirming there were no problems, she gave him a shot of antipyretic and also prescribed some antipyretic medicine for him. “Observe Xiaobao’s condition at night, if he has a fever again, give him half a pill of antipyretic medicine.”

Aunt Li nodded in agreement, paid the medical fees, and carried Xiaobao out of the clinic.

Watching Aunt Li and the others leave, a faint smile appeared on Ling Yao’s lips. This time, Xiaobao had received an antipyretic injection and would no longer develop meningitis like in her previous life. Her mother would not be beaten by the Li family and become disabled.

As dusk approached, Ling Xuemei returned carrying her medical bag. She looked exhausted, with a few drops of blood from delivering a baby stained on her clothes. “Yaoyao, why are you outside? Come inside and rest.”

Ling Yao stepped forward to take the medical bag from Ling Xuemei’s back. “Mom, I’m fine now. You go inside and wash your hands and eat. I’ve already made dinner.”

“You child, you’re injured and you don’t know how to rest for a while.” Ling Xuemei gave Ling Yao a helpless look.

“I’m almost fully recovered, look, I can run and jump.” Ling Yao ran around Ling Xuemei.

“Okay, okay, stop running, I believe you, you child is really not easy to handle.”

Ling Yao playfully made a face at Ling Xuemei.

“You!” Ling Xuemei shook her head helplessly.

Ling Xuemei went to the room to change into clean clothes, washed her hands, and came to the kitchen. She lifted the lid of the pot, only to see a bowl of steamed bread and a bowl of white porridge inside.

Taking out the steamed bread and porridge, Ling Xuemei took a bite of the steamed bread, then thought of something and shouted to the door, “Yaoyao, come here, Mom has something to tell you.”

“Coming.”

Ling Yao quickly came to the kitchen.

“Yaoyao, I met your Aunt Gu today, she told me that Qingan will be back in a few days.” Yaoyao is a grown-up girl now, she’s also reached the age of marriage. She and Gu Qingan have been engaged since childhood, and now Gu Qingan is doing well in the army, it’s time to arrange their marriage.

Ling Yao felt disgusted at the mention of Gu Qingan’s name. “Mom, I don’t want to marry Gu Qingan.” She had suffered enough at the hands of Gu Qingan in her previous life, and she didn’t want to have anything to do with him in this life.

“Why? Didn’t you always like Qingan?” Ling Xuemei was puzzled. Two days ago, Yaoyao was still telling her how good Gu Qingan was, why suddenly she didn’t want to marry him?

“I don’t like him anymore. When he comes back, I’ll break off the engagement with him.” Gu Qingan didn’t like her, and she didn’t like Gu Qingan either. It would be better for both of them to break off the engagement sooner rather than later.