Reaching the fourth floor, one found only special care wards here. Each room was single-occupancy with luxurious facilities; without being told it was a hospital, one would likely mistake it for a five-star hotel.
Walking up to the door of Room 403, a middle-aged female doctor and several nurses were closing the door and walking out slowly.
"You're here, Miss Zhou."
"How is my grandfather doing?" Zhou Manyin stepped forward anxiously to ask.
Doctor Zhao reassured her, "He's fine for the moment. It was just a sudden aggravation, but he's much better now. However..."
She paused and let out a sigh. "The old man's body is almost reaching its limit. I think you should prepare yourself early..."
Zhou Manyin took off her sunglasses, grabbed the other woman's hand tightly, and pleaded, "Doctor Zhao, no matter what method it takes, I want my grandfather to keep living! He's the only family member I have left! Money is completely not an issue!"
"This isn't a problem of money. The old man's illness is already... Continuing like this will only make him experience a pain worse than death..." Doctor Zhao started to say more, but stopped herself, and finally sighed again. "Sigh, you should consider all of this."
With that, she turned and left, leaving Zhou Manyin standing alone in a daze, as helpless and pitiful as an abandoned child.
As an outsider, Lu Chen naturally found it difficult to interject. Through the glass on the room's door, he looked inside and could faintly see an elderly man with gray hair lying on a white bed, wearing an oxygen mask and connected to numerous tubes linked to complex equipment, looking thoroughly miserable.
"It seems even wealthy people cannot buy longevity..."
He felt a twinge of emotion.
In contrast, the lifespan of the Blood Clan was much longer.
Just at that moment, however, a brilliant idea suddenly struck him, and his eyes lit up.
"What could be more eye-catching and defy conventional reason more than a dying person suddenly taking a turn for the better?"
Not only could he complete this performance, but as a reward he could also cure their illness—wasn't that killing two birds with one stone?
Still, this matter needed careful consideration; he couldn't rush into it.
On the other side, Zhou Manyin was currently in low spirits. Even her smile toward him was somewhat forced, and her voice lacked energy. "Sorry for making you laugh at me."
"It's nothing. If you're feeling upset, you can talk to me about it. Maybe you'll feel a bit better after getting it out."
"Mm."
Zhou Manyin nodded softly, cast one last lingering look at the old man inside the ward, and then sat with Lu Chen on a chair in the corridor.
She gently brushed back her hair and began to recount her story in a soft voice.
She was born into a relatively poor family. Her parents had passed away in an accident when she was very young, and her grandfather had raised her all by himself.
Having suffered plenty of scorn and bullying since childhood, she didn't turn to depravity; instead, relying on her stubborn character, she studied hard from early morning until late at night, got accepted into a prestigious university, and even won a scholarship. Not only did she not need to take money from home, but she was able to send money back to help out.
Throughout university, she never considered romantic matters, pouring her heart and soul entirely into her studies and various projects, effortlessly securing every national scholarship and recommendation slot for graduate school.
After entering the workforce, everything went smoothly as well. Teaming up with Tan Mengying, a junior she had hit it off with instantly back in university—with her providing the effort and Tan Mengying providing the capital—they stepped by step built the company up to its current massive scale!
Yet her good fortune seemed to end right there.
Her grandfather had suddenly collapsed and been sent to the hospital. Rushing to the hospital in a panic, she was shocked to learn grim news from the doctor: her grandfather had been diagnosed with a malignant tumor long ago, but had kept it hidden just so she wouldn't worry, only coming to light when he could no longer hold on.
Now, his condition was deteriorating further...
No matter how high-end the medical equipment was, at most it was just keeping him alive now; curing the illness was virtually impossible.
"Thank you for being willing to stay with me. Getting it out really does make me feel much better."
Zhou Manyin put her sunglasses back on, concealing her reddened eye sockets.
Her voice was gentle, lacking much of the forceful tone she had carried earlier.
At last, a smile appeared at the corners of her lips—though whether it was out of helplessness or sorrow was hard to tell.
"Actually... the reason I was in such a hurry to find a boyfriend was also to set my grandfather's mind at ease. I know he's still worrying about me even now, worrying whether I can take care of myself."
"So, I was looking for someone suitable, a man who wouldn't make me feel repulsed. And you happened to appear before me at that moment."
"Would you... be my boyfriend?"
She turned her head to look at him.
Through her sunglasses, one could faintly perceive a tremor in her eyes, fearful of his refusal yet pleading for his consent.
Lu Chen met her uneasy gaze.
He thought of how his parents back home had also been constantly pressuring him into blind dates over the past two years, giving him a massive headache.
As for Zhou Manyin before him, while he couldn't say he had fallen in love with her yet, she was practically flawless in terms of financial resources, figure, and appearance.
Then, thinking of the endless stream of phone calls and messages from home urging him to go on blind dates, maybe finding someone just to keep his family off his back wouldn't be a bad idea.
He nodded.
"Alright."
"…Thank you."
Zhou Manyin burst into tears of relief and smiled, turning her head away with a hint of bashfulness.
After a few seconds of silence, she said in a hurried tone:
"Right, I just texted Mengying. She should have driven over by now; she'll drive you back. I still need to stay here a little longer."
Lu Chen told her not to worry too much, then walked toward the hospital entrance.
Sure enough, a car was already parked there.
This time it was a white Mercedes SUV. When Lu Chen approached, the window rolled down, and Tan Mengying smiled and waved at him from the driver's seat.
"Handsome, I never imagined Sister Manyin would be so proactive, bringing you to meet the family this soon."
"Please don't make jokes."
Lu Chen was still somewhat unaccustomed to such direct advances.
"Get in the car, I'll take you for a spin."
Tan Mengying smiled brightly and patted the passenger seat.
Though she called it a spin, she actually drove him straight back home shortly afterward.
Before leaving, she didn't forget to shove a small slip of paper into his hand and gave him a playful wink.
"Sister Manyin surely forgot this, but you remember to be proactive, okay? She's a super gorgeous and wealthy rich woman, you won't have to struggle for the rest of your life once you marry her. Young man, I'm rooting for you!"
Lu Chen took the slip of paper; written on it were Zhou Manyin's phone number and WeChat ID.
Before he could speak, the Mercedes had already driven off, leaving him with only a trail of exhaust fumes.
...
The place Lu Chen currently rented was an apartment shared with two other people.
In such a prime location where every inch of land was worth a fortune, flat-sharing was the only way to effectively ease the burden.
Even so, the monthly rent of 2,000 made his head ache somewhat.
His roommates were a man and a woman. The guy was a programmer who left early and returned late, often coming home even later than Lu Chen himself, wearing a plaid shirt every day and being quite plain in his daily life.
The girl was a young woman who had ventured out to make her way in the big city. She was quite pretty and seemed to be a moderately well-known internet live-streamer named Yu Yiyi.
Lu Chen had occasionally watched one of her broadcasts; she seemed to specialize in outdoor exploration and similar content, and was also frequently away from home.
Therefore, despite sharing the apartment, for quite a long time he actually had the place entirely to himself to enjoy some quiet solitude.
This time, however, came as a surprise: when he got home, the live-streaming girl happened to be in, lying on the living room sofa with a silver-white laptop resting on her thighs, looking as though she was editing a video.