"Holy crap!"
Yang Huaijun slapped his thigh and looked at Lin Yi in astonishment. "That's impressive! As expected of my Hound captain. After I was injured back then, the military brought in the most famous expert in traditional Chinese medicine in the country, Elder Guan Xuemin. After he examined me, he said the exact same thing!"
"Guan Xuemin?"
Lin Yi felt like he had heard that name before, but he couldn't remember where.
"Yeah, he was also the one who said I wouldn't live past six months!"
Yang Huaijun smiled bitterly. "He told me that if I wanted to die more slowly, I shouldn't bother with treatment and just use painkillers to hold on; maybe I could squeeze out a few more days that way!"
"What kind of bullshit method is that!"
Lin Yi frowned. "I'll think about your condition when I get back and come up with a plan for you as soon as possible. However, I can write you a prescription first. It'll be more effective than Western painkillers, and the side effects won't be as severe."
With that, Lin Yi walked over to Yang Huaijun's desk, took a pen and paper, and quickly scribbled down a prescription.
He then handed it to Yang Huaijun. "You'd better go pick up the herbs yourself. Don't let anyone else know. Also, regarding my business, I don't want anyone knowing. As for the past, don't mention it again!"
"Will it really work? Eagle, you've given me too many surprises!"
Yang Huaijun took the prescription from Lin Yi. Looking at the dense list of Chinese medicinal names, he momentarily dazed.
This couldn't possibly be something written blindly; an ordinary person might not even be able to write down these names.
"I told you, don't call me Eagle. My name is Lin Yi," Lin Yi corrected him.
"Alright, Lin Yi!"
Yang Huaijun nodded and carefully tucked the prescription into his pocket.
Since it was a prescription written by his former captain and comrade-in-arms, Yang Huaijun trusted him unconditionally.
If the medicine was bad, at worst, he'd just die from it; there was no telling how much longer he was meant to live anyway!
"You're a god, kid. No wonder Xiao Ning is so... petite!"
Yang Huaijun gave him a thumbs up.
Hearing that name, the smile on Lin Yi's face froze instantly. After a long pause, he finally looked up. "She... still remembers me?"
"When I saw her last time, she even asked about you," Yang Huaijun nodded with certainty.
"Maybe she was just asking casually..."
Lin Yi gave a bitter smile.
He and she belonged to two different worlds. There was no possibility of their lives intertwining, and even if they did, they were destined to part.
There has never been equality between people; Lin Yi understood this deeply.
At least for now, Lin Yi did not have the ability to provide her with a future...
"Are you trying to avoid taking responsibility?"
Yang Huaijun's expression suddenly became agitated as he glared fiercely at Lin Yi.
Yang Huaijun's strange reaction left Lin Yi slightly stunned, but in an instant, he seemed to understand. "You... like her?"
"..."
Faced with Lin Yi's question, Yang Huaijun fell silent. After a long while, he said, "Back then, in the daredevil squad, there wasn't a single person who didn't develop feelings for Xiao Ning..."
However, this was a tacit admission of his own feelings.
"She and you actually make a good match."
Lin Yi knew about Yang Huaijun's background; he and she were considered a well-matched pair in terms of social standing.
"What exactly do you mean by that?"
As if his sore spot had been stepped on, Yang Huaijun jumped up immediately, pointing at Lin Yi with a dark, purple face. "What kind of person do you take me for? A friend's wife is off-limits! No matter how much of a bastard the Hound is, I wouldn't do something like that!"
"She isn't my wife," Lin Yi shook his head and said indifferently. "Alright, I'm leaving. I'm leaving the matter with Song Lingshan to you. I trust that won't be a problem."
With that, Lin Yi stood up and walked toward the door.
"I really want to kill you!"
Yang Huaijun threw a punch toward Lin Yi's back.
Without even turning his head, Lin Yi casually caught his arm. "If you can."
Yang Huaijun knew that the gap between him and Lin Yi was not just a small margin; he dejectedly released the strength in his arm.
Lin Yi simultaneously released Yang Huaijun's arm and walked out of the office.
Although Lin Yi's expression remained unchanged, his thoughts involuntarily drifted back to those years of war and chaos...
To that girl he had met and lost in the tides of fate.
Over the past two years, Lin Yi would frequently wake up startled from his nighttime cultivation, drenched in sweat every time. This was something that had never happened to him since he began practicing the *Xuanyuan Dragon-Governing Art*.
But those melancholic eyes were like a mental demon, constantly recurring and filling his nights.
Every time he saw that resentful and sorrowful gaze from their parting, Lin Yi would involuntarily wake from his cultivation.
It was a repetitive and endless nightmare...
Had he truly forgotten her?
Clearly, he had not.
She was a girl that any man, after seeing her once, would never be able to forget for a lifetime...
However, Lin Yi understood clearly that her dazzling brilliance did not belong to him.
If the seventeen-year-old Lin Yi still possessed a trace of defiance, the current Lin Yi understood the cruelty of reality even more.
Seeking her out would only bring trouble to her and those around her. A commoner pursuing a goddess—that was for novels, it was nonsense!
***
From the moment Lin Yi was taken away by the police, Director Chen's phone at the station had not stopped ringing. First was Ding Binggong, the principal of No. 1 High School; Director Chen treated Ding's call with great seriousness and promised to investigate thoroughly.
However, the people calling afterward were increasingly influential. First was Uncle Fu, who was close to Chu Pengzhan, and then Chu Pengzhan himself called to inquire!
Left with no choice, Director Chen had to call Song Lingshan, hoping to urge her to handle the case quickly and ensure it was fair and just so no one could find fault with them.
But the news he received from Song Lingshan was that the person had already been taken away by the newly returned Yang Huaijun. Director Chen had no choice but to call Yang Huaijun.
"What? He's already been released?"
Director Chen was somewhat stunned. Wasn't Yang Huaijun handling things a bit too fast?
"Yes. It was originally just a criminal gang causing trouble at the school; it had nothing to do with Lin Yi. After I looked into the situation, I told him to go home," Yang Huaijun reported, returning to his usual efficient tone.
"As long as everything is fine," Director Chen breathed a sigh of relief. Now he could give an account to both Ding Binggong and Chu Pengzhan.
When Song Lingshan learned that Yang Huaijun had released Lin Yi, she was also stunned for a while.
However, she knew in her heart that Lin Yi was not at fault, because she had just interrogated two of Black Panther's subordinates and learned the truth of what happened.
It was entirely Black Panther who had sought trouble first, and Lin Yi had only acted in self-defense.