And the mood in the living room fell silent all at once — everyone's emotions swept up in Feng Xiaoxiao's...

"Don't cry, my dearest,

tonight I bloom like an epiphyllum,

only to wither in the loveliest instant,

a fading that no tears of yours can call back.

Don't cry, my dearest,

know that I will not wake again,

blinking in the most beautiful night sky,

my eyes the brightest starlight of all.

Do you remember me saying proudly

that I once came to this world?

Don't tell me what eternity is —

I was destroyed in my most brilliant moment..."

The song was called 'Don't Cry, My Dearest' — and how closely its lyrics matched Feng Xiaoxiao's present situation!

It was also Feng Xiaoxiao's favorite song, though she rarely sang it in front of others. Now, though — everyone in this room was a dear friend, and every one of them knew the state of her health. In truth, this song was being sung for all of them.

"Do you remember me saying proudly

that I once came to this world?

Don't tell me what maturity is —

I ended in the very instant I began..."

The mood swept through them all, and everyone began to hum along.

Feng Xiaoxiao's face was full of smiles, yet the tears slid down of their own accord. She knew that this time she was surely going to die. Wei Zhao kept assuring her that he would think of a way — but how easy was a way to find? If one really existed, her mother would never have died...

These past days, though Feng Xiaoxiao had shown nothing, she could feel plainly that her body was a shadow of what it had been. Every night, around midnight, she would be frozen awake by a blast of cold — when it was plainly the middle of summer.

Feng Xiaoxiao knew it was the yin-cold inside her, no longer held in check while she slept but released instead. She understood, therefore, that her days were numbered — probably within the next few.

Today, borrowing this song, she had spoken what amounted to a last will, to everyone she loved... Everyone in this room was someone she cared for, Xu Shilan among them. They had met only recently, yet they had hit it off at once, as if they had known each other all along...

The Eldest Miss, Tang Yun and Little Shu all had glistening eyelids, and Xu Shilan's eyes were ringed with red. Sung by anyone else, at any other time, the song might have meant nothing at all; but sung by Feng Xiaoxiao, everyone could hear what lay inside it.

Wei Zhao did not weep, but his heart was heavy all the same.

He still had no idea whether the old man had any news. Who on earth was that Medical Sage? Could his medical notes really be found?

When the song was done, Feng Xiaoxiao wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and said to everyone with a smile: "What's wrong with you all? You look so glum. Was I that bad a singer? Give me a score — how many points do I deserve?"

"Hehe, you sang beautifully!" Tang Yun hastily mustered a smile and said.

Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu smiled and broke into applause as well, while Xu Shlan rose to her feet: "Wasn't I simply too spellbound to clap? I think it was better than anything I could sing myself..."

"Haha, really? It looks like I could be a pop star!" Feng Xiaoxiao said happily.

Xu Shilan played on until very late. It was not until the second half of the night, pressed by Sister Wang's phone calls, that she finally tore herself away. The next concert city would be announced tomorrow — it was time to start preparing for the next show.

With the painkiller Wei Zhao had provided, Xu Shilan no longer feared anything going wrong halfway through a performance. Better still, it came in liquid form: she could decant it beforehand into a drink bottle and set it on stage, and when a headache struck she could take a swig as though she were drinking water — no one would ever notice...

..................

The Kang family was thrown into chaos. News had struck like a bolt from the blue, leaving Kang Guifeng and Kang Zhaolong gaping at each other, gazing at a warehouseful of Dr. Guan's Trauma Ointment with tears they could not shed.

Dr. Guan's Trauma Ointment had changed its packaging! The whole market had switched to the new version, printed with Xu Shilan's endorsement photo; the old version had all but vanished from the shelves — yet in the Kang family's warehouse it still lay heaped like a mountain.

"That old fossil Guan Xuemin — changing the packaging for no reason at all! Isn't this just screwing us over?" Kang Guifeng stared at the packed warehouse, not knowing what to do.

Kang Zhaolong thought: he's not wrong about that — they are screwing with your dad. With my grandpa!

"The urgent thing is to dump the goods at a low price. Even if it means going ten points below the market's wholesale rate, we push them out as fast as we can. While the market is switching from old packaging to new, we can still sell; wait much longer and they really will be stuck in our hands!" Kang Zhaolong said after a moment's thought.

"That's the only way, then. Do we tell your grandfather about this?" Kang Guifeng asked.

"Tell him — we can't hide it... Only, this blunder has put that Zhaoming kid further ahead. One wrong step and every step is wrong! The wrong step we took back then has cost us this much now!" Kang Zhaolong said with a bitter smile.

Divine Doctor Kang was at home listening to a storytelling program when Kang Guifeng's report came in — and the old man was so furious he very nearly passed out.

What? They had already been taking a five-point loss to dump the goods, and now he was supposed to take ten? How much money would go down the drain? And that was not even the whole of it — once their own shipments could not keep up, they might well end up stuck holding all this medicine at a loss.

"You two good-for-nothing bastards!" Divine Doctor Kang was shaking all over with rage, jabbing a finger at Kang Guifeng and Kang Zhaolong. "Look what you've done! Had you listened to Zhaoming from the start, we would never have come to this. You've ruined the Kang family!"

"That..." Kang Guifeng wanted to say: true, the idea was ours — but wasn't it you yourself who gave the final word? You approved of our view back then, too. Had you simply sided with Zhaoming's view, none of this would ever have happened!

But he could not say it; saying it would only make Divine Doctor Kang angrier. For now Kang Guifeng could do nothing but keep his head down and endure the tongue-lashing.

"Go and fetch Zhaoming, you hopeless cases!" Divine Doctor Kang was a coarse man, and when he was angry his mouth turned filthy: "Son of a bitch — you little wretches!"

"..." Kang Guifeng and Kang Zhaoming were at once covered in black lines. Kang Guifeng thought: my grandma? Isn't that your mother? If we're little bastards, then doesn't that make you an old one?

"Yes, sir! I'll call Zhaoming right now!" Kang Zhaolong nodded and said. All he could do now was bide his time: Zhaoming was in the ascendant for the time being, and even if he wanted to turn the tide there was nothing to be done about it. He had to wait for the right opportunity, and then reverse his disadvantage in a single stroke.

For the fastest updates, please read with no pop-up windows.