Chapter 3222 — Parting in Life and Death?
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"I don't know either—maybe I've been overworking my mind..." Xu Shilan shook her head. She had found the old director vaguely familiar just now, and had kept turning it over in her mind; perhaps it had stirred some childhood memory and brought on the headache. Still, she was unwilling to let it go. "Old Director, have we... met before?"
The old director's expression stiffened almost imperceptibly. She raised her head and looked at Xu Shilan, but said only, "Met before? Miss Xu, have you been to the orphanage before?"
"No, I haven't. But you do look familiar to me," Xu Shilan said. "As if I've seen you somewhere... and yet I can't place it for the life of me..."
"Is that so..." The old director said nothing more on the subject. Instead she turned to Wei Zhao. "Mr. Wei, there's nothing wrong with me. Why don't you take Miss Xu and Miss Cheng to rehearse? We mustn't hold up tomorrow's business."
"It won't be held up. We've actually already rehearsed at home—today's just to get a feel for the venue, a quick look will do." Xu Shilan waved her hand. "Wei Zhao, why don't you take a look at the old director's illness first?"
"All right." Wei Zhao nodded, and without further ado sat down beside the old director, took her arm, and pressed his fingers to her wrist to examine her.
The old director was a little helpless, but she could only let Wei Zhao examine her. After all, he meant well—what could she say? The more she said, the more suspicious he would become.
"Wei Zhao, how is my master?" Yu Xiaoke could not hold back any longer when she saw that Wei Zhao said nothing.
Wei Zhao frowned. "The injuries are severe. From the looks of things now, the old director has only a year or two left..."
"What? Really? Wei Zhao, don't talk nonsense!" Yu Xiaoke was badly startled.
The old director was rather astonished. She knew Wei Zhao's medical skill was superb, but that a mere examination could tell him all this? That was simply uncanny. The old director knew her own body best—she had calculated it from the pace of her own decline—yet Wei Zhao had stated it outright. How could she not be amazed?
"Xiaoke, Mr. Wei is right. It really is only a year or two for me now." The old director sighed. "I had meant to keep this to myself for a while longer, but today, since Mr. Wei has seen through it, I may as well say it."
"Old Director..." Yu Xiaoke's eyes reddened at once. Wei Zhao was a divine physician, true enough, but even he could not defy heaven and change fate, could he? So when the old director said these things, Yu Xiaoke truly believed that her master was about to leave her! Her heart ached terribly, and for a moment she did not know what to say.
Xu Shilan and Cheng Yiyi could not help falling silent as well. They had not expected to run into such a thing the moment they arrived. Parting in life and death was the common lot of humanity, but when it came before one's eyes, no heart could remain untouched.
Xu Shilan especially—hearing that the old director of the orphanage had only a year or two left, she felt a sudden melancholy come over her. For some reason, toward this old director she had never met, Xu Shilan felt something special. If she was going to die, Xu Shilan ached along with her.
"Old Director, your ailment stems entirely from the meridians injured in your early years. Later, for the sake of cultivation, you forcibly drove your true qi through those meridians. You did gain a measure of strength, but the undamaged portions of your meridians could not withstand such violent true qi, and they too began to fail. By now they simply can no longer hold out, and are declining," Wei Zhao said.
"Quite right, Mr. Wei. You truly are a divine physician." The old director nodded, deeply impressed by his skill. "You have taken great pains. I know my own body—this is no ordinary illness, so please don't trouble yourself over it."