"Alive! Alive! She's really alive!"
"All the patient's vital signs are steadily rising and gradually returning to normal levels! At this rate, she could be considered a normal person!"
"Don't be complacent yet. Let's run some basic tests before drawing any conclusions!"
A burst of exclamations echoed from inside the operating room.
The legendary medical miracle was unfolding vividly at this very moment.
Just as Mu An and Jiang Qiudie were about to approach, a nurse suddenly stepped out.
"Don't worry too much. The patient, Jiang Mei, is now stable and can be transferred to a regular ward."
Jiang Qiudie, who had been heartbroken moments ago, was stunned.
She wondered if her grief had caused her to mishear.
She had just been told to come say her final goodbye, yet now they were saying she could be moved to a regular ward?
Shouldn't a corpse be transferred to the morgue instead?
The girl pondered these words again, and once she grasped their true meaning, her beautiful eyes widened.
"Wait, you're saying my mom... is alive???"
"That's right! Although it sounds unbelievable, your mother truly came back to life after swallowing a mysterious pill."
The nurse said a few more words before hurrying off to handle the next tasks.
A mysterious pill?
Jiang Qiudie instinctively thought of Mu An's earlier actions.
"Could it be, Young Master Mu...?"
"That's right. It's a very precious ancestral pill! But saving your mother's life with it isn't really a waste!"
Mu An gently stroked the girl's head.
In truth, he still had several of the [Revivifying Soul-Returning Pill] in his possession; it wasn't as 'precious' as he claimed.
He said that just to fan the flames of the emotions about to erupt, making the emotional reward even stronger.
Sure enough, upon hearing this, Jiang Qiudie's already tear-swollen eyes filled with tears again, and she couldn't help but throw herself into the man's arms, sobbing uncontrollably.
[Emotional surge from the girl +80. Congratulations, you've earned the reward [Fortune +80]!]
[Because you used a special item, the reward is doubled. Congratulations, you've earned the reward [Fortune +160]!]
…..
Not long after, Jiang Qiudie's mother was indeed transferred to a regular ward.
But under Mu An's insistence, she was moved again—from the regular ward into a private premium room.
Though Jiang's mother had just come off the operating table, thanks to the miraculous effects of the Revivifying Soul-Returning Pill, she was now fully conscious.
Her forehead was smooth and full, her complexion rosy.
There was no sign she had once been a late-stage cancer patient.
"The patient is in good condition for now; there's no need to worry for the time being."
"Moreover, after examination, the lung cancer that had spread throughout her body has miraculously disappeared."
"Of course, it's not completely gone; it's more accurate to say it has reversed from late stage to early stage."
"If we treat and control it properly going forward, we should be able to prevent it from turning into late-stage again."
As the attending physician, Yin Qiuyue was briefing Mu An on Jiang Qiudie's mother's condition.
Her eyelashes fluttered lightly, and her beautiful eyes never left the man's figure.
"Then that's pretty great, isn't it?"
Mu An smiled faintly as he looked at the mother and daughter embracing and crying inside the slightly ajar door.
To him, exchanging a single pill for such a huge emotional reward was definitely a profitable deal.
"So..."
Yin Qiuyue hesitated.
Her cool, delicate face seemed filled with curiosity and a thirst for knowledge.
"So what?"
At that moment, Mu An's gaze finally settled on her.
...
"So… how many pills like that do you have left?"
Yin Qiuyue had originally wanted to ask, 'Using something that precious so casually—don't you feel the least bit pained?'
But after thinking about it, she realized that as a doctor, saying that felt inappropriate, so she changed the question.
"Our Yin family is a medical clan with a hundred-year legacy. Our ancestors left behind some special life-saving pills as well."
"But I'm certain none of them are as powerful as yours…"
Because.
This was the first time she'd ever seen a pill that could bring the dead back to life.
If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, she might not have believed it.
"None left. Only the one."
Mu An smiled.
"You're lying."
Yin Qiuyue realized she might be getting worked up. She paused, then said softly, "The woman who was slashed seventeen times in the market—every cut fatal—was a colleague of mine. I checked her condition back then."
"For a normal person, they would've bled out before the ambulance even arrived."
"But my colleague wasn't normal. If we'd arrived a little later… her wounds might've already healed…"
Absurd?
Reality was exactly that absurd.
If the medical staff hadn't seen the victim's clothes completely soaked with blood, plus witness testimony from the crowd, no one would've believed she'd been hacked to the brink of death.
Mu An spread his hands.
"Who are you to me? Do you think it's appropriate to ask that?"
"I'm your fiancée—with a white-and-black written engagement contract."
After thinking for a moment, Yin Qiuyue tested the waters.
"A fiancée is still not a wife. Meat you haven't eaten yet is always uncertain."
"Besides, considering that status, I already helped you once last time, didn't I?"
Mu An flashed a toothy grin.
And it wasn't wrong—Yin Qiuyue's pure-yin constitution had been tormenting her for a long time.
When that hospital dispute happened, it had flared prematurely, but Mu An had stepped in and temporarily suppressed it.
"..."
"Sorry. Maybe I'm not very good with words."
"I was just thinking—if you had a lot of pills like that, you could save many patients' lives."
Yin Qiuyue knew that as a doctor, she shouldn't empathize too deeply with patients.
The longer you worked in a hospital, the more life-and-death farewells you witnessed.
Sometimes, she wished her medical skill could be higher—so maybe she could save more lives.
She could keep enduring that oppressive darkness… as long as she had never seen that one beam of light.
"And… thank you for what happened last time."
"These days, I really haven't suffered from that 'illness.' I've never lived this lightly…"
After that, silence hung between them for a moment.
Human nature was complicated—bias was inevitable.
Especially when it involved life and death.
If Yin Qiuyue's family also possessed life-saving pills like that, and the quantity was scarce, would they easily give them to ordinary people?
Of course not.
And even if they truly could bear to use them on strangers—what if someday an elder in their own family, or someone important, was dying and they had none left?
What then—just watch them die?
So, Mu An had always believed that being a 'saint' was either self-inflicted suffering, or suffering you created for yourself when you had none.
Human ability was limited.
No matter how brilliant one's medical skill, maybe you could save one person, a hundred, a thousand… but you could never save the whole world.
"Sorry."
Yin Qiuyue apologized again.
She wasn't some unrealistic saint.
She was only a doctor—a doctor doing her best to heal within her duties.
[Putting herself in his shoes, using her own measure on others, Yin Qiuyue also felt that what she said just now was too much, guilty emotional fluctuation +25. Congratulations, you have obtained [Revivifying Soul-Returning Pill *10]!]
[Because you used a special item, rewards doubled. Congratulations, you have obtained [Revivifying Soul-Returning Pill *20]!]
"There aren't many. I've got three left."
At that moment, Mu An spread his hand and offered three [Revivifying Soul-Returning Pills] to the girl, explaining,
"As long as they're not dead—or have been dead for less than a day—you can bring them back."
"You're…?"
Yin Qiuyue's eyes flashed with confusion. She didn't quite understand what he was doing now.
She'd always hoped he could give her pills with the same effect for saving lives.
But when something this precious actually appeared right in front of her, she became a little lost.
"You can think of it as… a bride price."
"Even though I haven't eaten this 'meat' yet, I'm still willing to invest a little."
Mu An chuckled.
Don't misunderstand—he wasn't doing this because he was some charitable saint.
He simply wanted to see what choice she would make with only three pills.
Would she keep them unused, or would she use them the moment she met a dying patient?
It was a very interesting question about human nature.
And it would naturally trigger intense emotional fluctuations.
And wherever there were emotional fluctuations, Mu An would obtain emotional rewards.
Like he always said: this was an investment that could never lose.
Of course, just in case—say she used them to save a protagonist or some villain—Mu An had already injected a faint thread of his own spiritual power into each pill.
This wouldn't be easily detected by anyone below his current realm.
But if it were detonated inside a patient's body, almost no one could withstand the destruction of his Heaven-Being realm cultivation!
On the other side.
"Bride… bride price?"
Hearing that, the cool and expressionless Yin Qiuyue couldn't help but blush faintly.
She pressed her lips together.
"Isn't this… a bit too precious?"
Because what sat before her wasn't merely three pills—it represented three lives!
"Not precious. As long as it doesn't violate a matter of principle, I always support my woman's choices!"
Mu An's smooth-talking lines came out effortlessly.
Of course, it wasn't entirely sweet talk—on some level, it was true.
'His… woman…'
Yin Qiuyue's heart rippled again.
She thought of many people.
For example, the campus belle Su Zhirou who'd followed him earlier, obedient in every way.
And then Jiang Qiudie inside that hospital room right now…
"Of course, if you're willing to give me a small reward right now…"
"Then it's not like our Mu family can't share a special new drug that can treat all kinds of cancer."
Mu An dropped another bomb.
Yin Qiuyue: !!!
Cancer was the Mount Everest of modern medicine.
Treating cancer was already something people barely dared to speak of—let alone treating 'all kinds' of cancer!
This was practically equivalent to—having no one solve even a special case, yet someone had already produced the general solution.
At this moment, Yin Qiuyue's inner world underwent a magnitude-10 earthquake, her head buzzing.
"A drug that treats… all cancers?"
...
Not long after,
Mu An gently pushed open the hospital room door and walked in under the gaze of Jiang Qiudie and her mother.
As for what happened earlier…?
After confirming multiple times that Mu An wasn't joking, Yin Qiuyue only hesitated and struggled for a brief moment.
Then she stepped up to him, tiptoed, and offered him her tenderness of her own accord.
Even if it turned out that 'the special drug that treats all cancers' was fake, she was still willing to do this—without resentment or regret—if only for the face of those three pills he'd given her unconditionally.
And Mu An was likely the only man who could ever see this cold, elegant girl blush.
"If that drug is real, then I'm willing to become your woman."
"Even if I haven't fallen for you yet… I'll try to like you…"
Those were the words Yin Qiuyue left behind before she walked away.
Mu An smiled.
Trading a [Special Drug Formula that Treats All Cancers] for a gold mine that could be developed long-term?
That deal clearly wasn't a loss.
Not only wasn't it a loss—he'd made an absolute killing!
"Mom, he's the boyfriend I told you about—Mu An."
"It was Brother An who used some precious medicine to bring you back!"
Jiang Qiudie held her mother's hand, then secretly shot Mu An a pleading look.
Mu An naturally understood and gave her face.
He immediately put on a friendly smile and greeted, "Hello, Auntie. I'm Qiudie's boyfriend."
"Looks like you've recovered really well."
Jiang's mother didn't seem to notice anything off.
In fact, the more she looked, the more she felt her daughter and Mu An matched perfectly—talented man, beautiful woman, a match made in heaven.
It even gave her that satisfied 'mother-in-law looking at her son-in-law' feeling.
"No, no—this is all thanks to you. Otherwise, I wouldn't have come off the operating table."
Just thinking about it made Jiang's mother feel lingering fear.
She felt she'd already died back then—weightless, her soul seeming to leave her body.
Yet somehow, a pill someone delivered afterward brought her back.
Later, she heard from her daughter that it was Mu An's family heirloom life-saving medicine—very precious…
Life-saving grace was greater than the heavens. Not feeling grateful was impossible.
"And also, Mu An, I'll be relying on you to take care of my girl from now on…"
Jiang's mother smiled.
At that moment, Jiang Qiudie took the initiative to loop her arm through Mu An's.
The two of them looked intimately close—without even a hint of awkwardness.
As her mother, Jiang Mei knew her daughter's attitude toward romance better than anyone.
If it were someone Jiang Qiudie didn't like, forget being this affectionate—even letting him come a little closer would be a thousand times unwilling, because doing that would feel harder than killing her.