Chu Lingzhi pressed her lips together. This guy wasn't so cold as to be completely heartless. At least he still cared about an old man's illness. Her impression of him wasn't as bad as before.
Mo Chen led them to Old Master Mo's bedroom, a room filled with the scent of books. A year ago, Old Master Mo's left hand and foot began to go numb, showing signs of hemiplegia. A hospital check diagnosed it as a stroke. Various treatments had no effect; instead, it worsened. Since his left leg became difficult to move, Old Master Mo spent most of his time in bed. When Chu Lingzhi entered, he was lying with his eyes open, staring at the ceiling. His once sharp eyes were now pale and vacant.
Nangong Yehen walked to the bedside and greeted Old Master Mo. Seeing who it was, Old Master Mo grinned, but his speech was slurred. Chu Lingzhi stood by the bed, staring intently at him. Stroke symptoms were mostly the same: partial or full paralysis, crooked mouth and eyes, clouded consciousness, slurred speech... But the causes of strokes often differed.
Mo Chen brought out all the reports from previous hospital checks and asked Chu Lingzhi to look them over carefully. Seeing the stack of reports several centimeters high, Chu Lingzhi's head ached. How long would it take to finish reading all this? "Just put them aside for now," she said, not opening the reports.
"You're not going to look?" Mo Chen looked at her in surprise. He didn't really believe Chu Lingzhi had the skill to cure Old Master Mo's illness. Though a stroke wasn't as terrifying as cancer, once an elderly person had one, it was hard to recover, and they were essentially waiting to die. Even Old Master Mo himself had given up on treatment. People like them, with wealth and power, could afford any doctor. But they had brought in top doctors from around the world, and the illness still hadn't improved. Instead, it only got worse over time.
Chu Lingzhi's face was pretty and youthful, making her look even younger than her actual age. Right now, she seemed like a girl in her early twenties. Mo Chen deeply doubted her medical skills. If she hadn't been brought by Nangong Yehen, he wouldn't have bothered to dig out the reports.
"No need," Chu Lingzhi shrugged. "These reports are too complicated."
Mo Chen's mouth twitched. Too complicated? Was a doctor who didn't read reports a good doctor?
Chu Lingzhi then walked to the head of the bed and asked Old Master Mo with a smile, "Old Master Mo, is your vision blurry?"
When Old Master Mo wasn't talking, his mouth didn't look crooked, but when he opened it to speak, his jaw tilted to the left. "No... no... not blurry..." he said, spitting a bit of saliva as he spoke. His vision wasn't blurry, but his speech was slurred, and he couldn't control his mouth or limbs.
Chu Lingzhi pulled a tissue from the bedside table and wiped the saliva from Old Master Mo's lips. Mo Chen was a bit surprised by her lack of disgust, looking at her with a slightly complicated expression. Nangong Yehen stood behind her. Though he couldn't see her smile, her act of wiping Old Master Mo's mouth changed his view of her.
She pulled a nearby chair over and sat down, smiling at Old Master Mo. "Old Master Mo, you're about fifty-five, right?"
To be precise, fifty-five wasn't that old. With successful children, it was the time to enjoy retirement. But to start suffering from a stroke at this age was truly a pity.
"Exactly fifty-five," Mo Chen answered.
Chu Lingzhi kept a faint smile as she took Old Master Mo's hand to feel his pulse. When she took his pulse, her expression was serious and focused. Nangong Yehen and Mo Chen stood nearby, watching without disturbing her.