The moment they saw Mother Jiang, everyone was completely dumbfounded.
"I... am I seeing things?"
The attending physician could not help rubbing his eyes. He was certain that Mother Jiang had already died; he had even run special tests to confirm it before making that pronouncement.
Yet now, she was alive again?
"Mom!"
Jiang Li and Ning Qingxue were overjoyed and rushed over to her immediately.
Ning Chen stepped aside, leaving the space to them.
"How on earth did you bring her back to life?" the attending physician could not resist asking.
"Even if I told you, you wouldn't understand. But miracles do happen in this world—you should just focus on honing your medical skills."
Ning Chen spoke calmly. It was not that he looked down on the attending physician, but rather that the methods he used were simply beyond the comprehension of ordinary people. Naturally, he had no intention of launching into a lengthy explanation.
Besides, the attending physician had helped save Mother Jiang, so Ning Chen's attitude toward him remained relatively mild.
After that, Ning Chen walked over to the vice president and said coolly, "A miracle is called a miracle simply because the probability of it happening is infinitely close to zero, not because it is entirely impossible."
"Just because you can't do it doesn't mean others can't."
With that, Ning Chen turned his gaze to the short-haired female nurse. "You should consider yourself lucky that we arrived early and you didn't get the chance to say anything worse. Otherwise, the one being sent to the morgue today would be you."
Ning Chen's tone was calm, but his gaze was soul-piercing, sending a shudder through the short-haired nurse, making her scalp crawl and her whole body tremble uncontrollably.
Ning Chen shook his head and led his sister and the others straight away.
"Uncle, are we just going to let them walk away like that?"
As soon as Ning Chen and his group had gone, the short-haired nurse asked with lingering fear, venom in her eyes, and a hint of unwillingness.
"If we don't let them go, what else do you want?" The vice president snorted coldly.
At that moment, he felt like giving his niece two hard slaps. What a hair-long, short-witted, brainless idiot she was!
Ning Chen had actually brought back to life someone whom the medical world had officially pronounced dead, and even cured her illness—could someone like that possibly be ordinary?
The look in that person's eyes alone had terrified him. Could he be ordinary?
Even if Ning Chen truly were an ordinary person, with medical skills like that, he would still be an honored guest of every major influential family. After all, the wealthier and more powerful people were, the more they feared death; who could guarantee they would never fall ill?
What's more, given that Ning Chen was so young and already possessed such medical prowess, the vice president simply refused to believe that he was just some ordinary kid.
Chances were that behind Ning Chen stood some immensely powerful titan of the medical world, or some earth-shattering background. Otherwise, how could such a young divine doctor have been cultivated?
And the reason he had climbed to his current position was not his medical skill, but his astuteness.
When he looked at Ning Chen, it was as if he were looking at a massive treasure trove—as if he saw his own future prospects.
"Sir, please hold on a moment."
The vice president hurriedly gave chase, a flattering and ingratiating smile plastered across his face.
Ning Chen stopped and glanced at him.
The vice president rushed to speak. "Sir, you were right just now. Miracles do happen; it's just that I lack the ability. But you certainly have it—your medical skills are peerless, a true divine doctor of our age! Might I trouble you to save someone? The person is a very important figure, and you can name any condition you like, as long as..."
"Not interested," Ning Chen said coldly, and turned to walk away.
The vice president hurried after him again. "No matter what the conditions..."
Before he could finish, Ye Hongli blocked his path. She merely glanced at him, and the vice president's heart skipped a beat as a sharp sense of crisis gripped him.
He hastily took a step back, putting distance between himself and Ye Hongli, and did not dare to chase after them any further.
After Ning Chen and the others left, he pondered for a moment and then bolted upstairs toward the VIP wards.
***
Meanwhile, as Ning Chen and his party were heading toward the hospital exit, Ning Qingxue suddenly said, "Little brother, Luoxuan went to pay the hospital bills and hasn't come back yet. We need to wait for her here."
Ning Chen nodded.
"I owe her far too much. When my mental state collapsed and I was undergoing treatment, she paid a huge portion of the medical bills. Later on, I borrowed more money from her here and there, and I still haven't been able to pay her back. And this time, she's the one who helped settle the bills again."
Ning Qingxue sighed softly. She felt extremely fortunate to have a best friend like Lin Luoxuan, but at the same time, she felt guilty for dragging Lin Luoxuan down and failing her.
Ning Chen smiled. "Sister, don't worry. I will make it up to Sister Luoxuan."
Ning Chen was well aware of all the sacrifices Lin Luoxuan had made, which was why he had been so warm toward her upon his return.
"Go bring the car around to the entrance," Ning Chen instructed Ye Hongli, while he himself went to look for Lin Luoxuan.
"Why are you here?" Lin Luoxuan asked with a slight start the moment she saw Ning Chen.
"My brother-in-law's mother was in critical condition—how could I just sit by and do nothing?" Ning Chen replied.
"But you're walking around so openly, and you were just with your sister. Aren't you afraid that people will put two and two together and discover that Ning Chen is still alive?" Lin Luoxuan deliberately lowered her voice.
Ning Chen smiled faintly. "So what if they find out? I came back precisely to settle all accounts."
"You..." Lin Luoxuan stared at him, momentarily at a loss for words.
She simply felt that what Ning Chen was doing was no different from seeking death.
"Go comfort your sister first. She must be devastated," Lin Luoxuan finally said with a sigh.
"Actually, there's no need for that." Ning Chen informed Lin Luoxuan that he had already brought his brother-in-law's mother back to life.
Lin Luoxuan's eyes widened instantly, sheer disbelief written all over her face. "You... you mean you not only saved the auntie, but completely cured her illness too? And now she's as good as new?"
Ning Chen nodded.
"How is that even possible?" Lin Luoxuan was shaken to her core by this news.
Yet when she and Ning Chen walked back and saw from afar that the woman was indeed standing alive and well beside Ning Qingxue and Jiang Li, she had no choice but to believe it.
However, right at that moment, Ning Chen and Lin Luoxuan noticed that their sister and the others seemed to have run into a conflict; a few burly men in suits had grabbed hold of them.
"You're courting death."
Ning Chen's expression shifted instantly.
As it turned out, just two minutes earlier—
Right after Ning Chen had left, Ning Qingxue heard an exclamation from behind her: "Is that... Ning Qingxue?"
Hearing this, Ning Qingxue turned around to see a tall, fashionably dressed woman walking past them. The woman had just pulled down her sunglasses and was staring at her with a look of astonishment.
"Chen Yanran?"
Seeing the woman, Ning Qingxue froze momentarily, her eyes darting away, not daring to meet the other's gaze.
Back in college, Chen Yanran had shared the title of campus belle of Chuzhou University with her. However, Chen Yanran had always been overshadowed by her, believing herself to be of better birth and prettier, and had never been reconciled to it.
Consequently, Chen Yanran had given her trouble on numerous occasions.
The two of them had never gotten along.
But ever since the destruction of the Ning Family, they had never crossed paths again.
Ning Qingxue had never expected to bump into Chen Yanran at a hospital, let alone that Chen Yanran would recognize her.
Seeing Ning Qingxue avoid her gaze and stay silent, Chen Yanran sneered. "From the back, I thought I was seeing things. Looks like it really is you."
"What? Was your face disfigured, turning you into a monster? Is that why you not only wear a face mask when you go out, but even wrap yourself in gauze? Are you afraid of scaring passersby?"
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. If people found out that the campus belle of Chuzhou University back then has now turned into this state—with a face sickening enough to make someone vomit—I wonder what they'd think."
"If I were you, I wouldn't have the face to step outside at all. I'd just hide at home every day and stay out of sight instead of coming out to terrify people."
The more she spoke, the more smug Chen Yanran became.
Back in university, Ning Qingxue had always overshadowed her, enjoying the highest popularity while excelling in both character and academics, which had filled her with jealousy.
Now that the Ning Family had been destroyed, leaving only Ning Qingxue to scrounge for survival and become a disfigured monster who had fallen from heaven to hell, Chen Yanran felt a surging wave of malicious glee.
She had always known that Ning Qingxue was still barely surviving in Chuzhou, though she had never run into her before.
Since they had happened to cross paths today by such a coincidence, she naturally wanted to step all over the woman who had once kept her in the shade.