Chapter 978 — What Kind of Miracle Doctor?

"They had nothing to do with me to begin with. If not for you, I would never have lifted a finger to save them," Wei Zhao said indifferently.

"What? So you would just stand by and do nothing?" Feng Xiaoxiao was taken aback by his words. "Have you no compassion at all?"

"It isn't that I would stand by and do nothing. It's that I cannot set everything right." Wei Zhao shrugged. "Could Hua Tuo keep an entire age free of sickness? I have my own affairs to attend to. If I took on every matter that crossed my path, I would have nothing left with which to do anything else."

There was, however, one thing Wei Zhao kept in his heart and did not say aloud: What is compassion, really? Do killers and mercenaries have compassion? In most cases their employers differ, and so do the angles from which they view any question.

When two powers are at odds, it is hard to say who is right and who is wrong. On the battlefields of North Africa, for instance, Wei Zhao and his adversaries alike fought mostly in their employers' service; how could one possibly sort out right from wrong there? And in such a place, how could there be any room for compassion? Kindness to an enemy is cruelty to oneself.

Yet after he returned to the bustling city, Wei Zhao did not want to admit it, but he had to: he had truly changed. His sense of good and evil had grown unmistakably sharper. He was becoming more and more like an ordinary man.

Wei Zhao did not know whether that was good or bad. In any case, what had happened today was perhaps only the beginning. Though he said aloud that he would not involve himself, in his heart he had already resolved to see it through to the end. The shifts of a man's mindset are sometimes truly beyond explaining.

"Oh..." Hearing Wei Zhao's words, Feng Xiaoxiao felt a little disappointed, and yet a secret delight stirred in her as well. Had Wei Zhao acted today for her sake? Then did she occupy some small place in his heart? Had her efforts finally borne fruit? Was this a sign that Wei Zhao was falling in love with her?

"Consider today's help as being for your sake. We are even now. I hope you will not threaten me with those photos again." Feng Xiaoxiao had not been pleased for long before Wei Zhao doused her with cold water, and her secret delight vanished in an instant.

"Fine, no threats then. What is so great about it!" Feng Xiaoxiao gave a sniff and said, thoroughly displeased. "You are just afraid I will show them to Tang Yun, aren't you? I won't show her, then!"

Watching Wei Zhao's and Feng Xiaoxiao's car speed away, Mother Chen was somewhat bewildered. She could tell that although Wei Zhao had helped her, there was a certain indifference in his manner, and it puzzled her. He was plainly doing a good deed, so why did he show not the slightest attitude of one doing a good deed?

Chen Xi shook her head, banishing those unrealistic thoughts for the moment, then put on a smile and said to her mother, "Mom, we have met a good man, and a miracle doctor, no less. The miracle doctor brother said he can cure your illness. You can finally recover!"

"Heh, I hope so..." Mother Chen had no real hope of being cured. She was older, and her experience of the world ran deeper than Chen Xi's; she knew perfectly well what her condition was. Never mind an ordinary doctor, even the private physicians in that man's household would likely be powerless against cancer. And now some stranger she and her daughter had happened to meet could cure her cancer? Setting aside how lucky the two of them would have to be, just consider the man's medical skill. It would have to be extraordinary beyond all measure. Could one meet such a person by chance?

Still, Mother Chen knew her days were numbered. Seeing her daughter so happy, she decided to treat a dead horse as though it were alive. If the medicine could not cure her, the worst it could do was kill her, and she was going to die anyway. What harm was there in trying? At least it could give her daughter hope and make her a little happier.

Chen Xi took her mother's hand and the two of them went happily upstairs, only to run into Grandpa Zhu from next door, who made his living collecting junk.

"Grandpa Zhu, are you going to the seaside tonight?" Chen Xi greeted him with a smile.

Grandpa Zhu was a solitary old man who lived right next door to Chen Xi and her mother. By day he made his living collecting recyclables, and at night he went to the seaside bathing beaches and other busy spots to pick up drink bottles and waste cardboard.

Ever since Chen Xi's mother fell ill, Grandpa Zhu had been taking Chen Xi along to scavenge, and of what they found he kept not a single thing, as though it were all simply his way of helping her.

Chen Xi was deeply grateful and had once offered to split the money from the sales half and half with Grandpa Zhu, but he said that he lived alone, that what he earned collecting scraps each day was enough for his needs, and that the extra money would be of no use to him. Mother Chen's treatment was what mattered.

He had even brought out the savings he had accumulated over the years and given them to Chen Xi, telling her to take her mother to see a doctor.

Chen Xi and her mother and Grandpa Zhu were old neighbors. More than ten years ago, when Mother Chen had been living here only half a year, Grandpa Zhu had moved in next door. He had stayed for over a decade, and all the while he had looked after Chen Xi and her mother with great care.

"I am. Once you are out of school, Xiaoxi, come find me and we will go together!" A kindly smile spread across Grandpa Zhu's face, the wrinkles bunching together, and his gaze upon Chen Xi was full of affection.

"All right!" Chen Xi nodded. She was happy today; her mother's illness could finally be cured.

Still, though her mother's illness might be cured, she would have to keep going to the seaside to collect drink bottles, because the cure would take a long time yet, and the family's living expenses would still fall on her shoulders.

"Hm? You look well today, Little Chen." Grandpa Zhu glanced at Mother Chen, paused a moment, then said with a smile.

"Heh, do I?" Mother Chen had not expected her complexion to change either.

"Grandpa Zhu, my mother's illness is going to be cured very soon!" Chen Xi said happily.

"What? Cured?" Grandpa Zhu's expression shifted slightly, and then, betraying nothing, he said, "Cancer... can be cured? Xiaoxi, don't let yourself be fooled by some wandering quack. Those people have no reliability in them at all. They say they can cure you, when all they want is your money."

"He doesn't want money!" At the thought of Wei Zhao, Chen Xi felt a warmth rise in her heart. "Mom and I met a miracle doctor brother today, and he is treating her for free!"

"Miracle doctor?" Grandpa Zhu frowned. "What miracle doctor?"

"Heh, he is not a swindler, anyway. Grandpa Zhu, don't worry. You go ahead with your work; I will tell you all about it tonight!" Chen Xi said with a smile.

"All right, then I will go collect scraps first. Haven't made a single sale today!" Grandpa Zhu nodded. "Tonight you tell me properly. Don't let anyone cheat you!"

"Mm, I will!" Chen Xi wanted to share her happiness with Grandpa Zhu as well.

Grandpa Zhu nodded and went downstairs. But when he reached the landing between two floors, he turned back and looked at the receding figures of Chen Xi and Mother Chen. He frowned, and a cold gleam flashed through his eyes. A miracle doctor, was it? What miracle doctor? One who could actually cure cancer?