The next morning, after their workout, Yan Feifan and Yu Suye joined Yan Ziruo, who had just woken up and washed, in the dining room for breakfast.

The table was laden with freshly steamed red bean buns and flower-shaped rolls, boiled eggs, white porridge, beef sauce and pickled vegetables for a side, a dish of cold-dressed bamboo shoots, and another of stir-fried lettuce with meat.

The table was completely full.

The colors—green, dark green, white, and sauce-red—were distinct and looked quite appetizing.

Yan Feifan sat down at the table and asked, "Sis, how are you feeling? Why not rest for one more day and go to work tomorrow?"

Yan Ziruo shook her head. "It doesn’t hurt much anymore, but it’s starting to get a little itchy."

"It’s pretty boring at home. Going to work, doing things, and laughing with my colleagues will be a good distraction."

She took a small bite of a red bean bun and said with satisfaction, "The dough is fluffy and soft, and the red bean paste is sweet but not cloying."

"Mrs. Du is really skilled at making pastries."

Yan Feifan reminded her, "Sis, don’t forget to learn how to make shumai. I’m still waiting for you to make that ’taste of happiness’."

Yan Ziruo shot him a glare. "What’s your hurry?"

"This ’taste of happiness’ isn’t about looking good on the outside; it’s all about the combination and seasoning of the filling."

"For that, you’ll have to let me experiment a bit."

Yan Feifan said, a hint of dissatisfaction in his voice, "You were lazing around at home all day yesterday, and I didn’t see you doing any experimenting."

"My face was hurting the whole time, how could I be in the mood... Ouch..."

Yan Ziruo had meant to glare angrily at her brother, but when she tried to widen her eyes, it pulled at the incisions on her eyelids, and she immediately cried out in exaggerated pain.

Yan Feifan knew his sister was putting on an act and that it didn’t really hurt that much, so he ignored her and went back to eating his breakfast.

This made Yan Ziruo even angrier.

She raised her hand and gave her brother a few sharp smacks on the back to vent her frustration...

Sitting to the side, Yu Suye ate her breakfast, a faint smile on her face as she watched the siblings bicker and play.

After a moment of roughhousing, Yan Ziruo spoke up again. "I have something to tell you guys. Our downstairs neighbor Xia Yan’s husband has officially entered trial proceedings."

"Xia Yan has also had her lawyer file for divorce and bring an attendant civil suit to reclaim assets."

Yu Suye asked, "Sister Ziruo, did that man’s other wife show up with their kid to plead for mercy or cause a scene?"

Yan Ziruo said with a look of contempt, "She did, and she shamelessly brought a whole gang with her to start a fight."

She added smugly, "But Xia Yan used a trick I taught her and sent them all scurrying away with their tails between their legs."

"What trick?" Yu Suye was very curious.

Yan Ziruo gave a sly chuckle. "It’s simple: public exposure."

"With social media being what it is today, and Xia Yan being a patient with a rare hearing sensitivity disorder—not to mention a famous piano and instrument tuner..."

"Once this story gets out, it’s guaranteed to attract a lot of attention."

"The other woman knew she was in the wrong and understood that if the story went public, she and her child would have to live with people pointing fingers at them. So she quickly left with her group and hasn’t come back to cause trouble since..."

Just as the three of them were finishing breakfast, Mrs. Du brought over a steaming bowl of traditional Chinese medicine.

"Mr. Yan, your medicine."

Staring at the dark, murky bowl of medicine, Yan Feifan instinctively furrowed his brow. Nevertheless, he picked up the bowl, tested the temperature, then gritted his teeth, tilted his head back, and drank it all in one go.

He set the bowl down and quickly took the half-eaten red bean bun Yu Suye handed him, using the sweetness of the bean paste to wash away the indescribably bitter taste in his mouth.

Seeing her brother’s face all scrunched up as he drank the medicine, Yan Ziruo asked with some concern, "Feifan, you’ve had this medicine a few times now."

"Do you feel like it’s having any effect?"

Yan Feifan grunted in affirmation. "It is. I can clearly feel that my stamina and endurance have improved a lot."

"After overworking myself, I don’t get that awful, heart-pounding feeling of being on the verge of collapse, where I feel like I could just fall over and not get up."

Yu Suye added, "Sister Ziruo, the Yu Family’s prescription for replenishing vital energy is quite famous."

"Every late autumn, during the tonic season, the line of customers at our pharmacy waiting to have their pulse taken and get a prescription stretches from the moment we open in the morning until we close at night."

"Feifan’s prescription, in particular, uses aged wild ginseng and other precious medicinal herbs, so its restorative effects are even more remarkable."

Yan Ziruo smiled with satisfaction. "As long as it’s effective, that’s what matters."

"I think so too. Feifan doesn’t look as frail and worryingly thin as he used to."

Just then, Mrs. Du came over again.

"Mr. Yan, for clothes that need washing, you can just take them off and leave them at the foot of your bed or in the hamper in the bathroom."

"There’s no need to leave them soaking in a basin of water."

"Soaking in a basin of water?"

Yan Ziruo repeated the phrase, then turned to her brother with a look of sudden realization, a gratified smile on her face. "My dear brother, it seems your body really has recovered."

Yan Feifan’s face flushed a light shade of crimson. He quickly stood up and said, "It’s getting late. I should get to the hospital..."

Arriving at the neurosurgery department of the Affiliated Hospital, Yan Feifan began to prepare for his 9:30 AM surgery.

The patient, who had been transferred over yesterday, was a thirty-four-year-old man.

While it was quite rare for someone his age to have such a severe intraspinal tumor, Yan Feifan had grown somewhat accustomed to it.

’These days, you could say that tumor patients were getting younger and younger.’

’It used to be that most patients were in their fifties and sixties, but now the main group was gradually shifting to those in their forties and fifties.’

’And it was now common to see various tumor patients in their twenties and thirties as well.’

Around 9:00 AM, as Yan Feifan was about to enter the surgical area to begin his pre-op preparations, he saw Dr. Qiu Ge striding quickly toward him.

"Mr. Yan, the family won’t consent to a biopsy. They’re worried about the risk of accidental complications like a cerebral hemorrhage." 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Dr. Qiu Ge pressed, unwilling to give up, "Do you have any other alternative, less dangerous diagnostic methods?"

Yan Feifan shook his head. "Dr. Qiu, you know how it is..."

"With this kind of craniopharyngioma, the degree of calcification and hardening varies from person to person. Only a biopsy from the patient themselves can allow me to make an accurate judgment."

Dr. Qiu Ge sighed softly. "Mr. Yan, to be honest with you, the patient’s family had already agreed to let us do the test."

"But then, a colleague made a few snide remarks, and they changed their minds."

She said resentfully, "There are always people like that—they don’t have the skills themselves, so they maliciously sabotage others."

"People like that are just despicable."

Yan Feifan chuckled lightly. "Dr. Qiu, it’s not worth getting angry over."

"This kind of craniopharyngioma won’t cause any fatal damage to the child in the short term."

"After they’ve run around in circles and found no other options, they’ll eventually come back to you."

Dr. Qiu Ge let out another breath. "I’m just worried that the longer they delay, the more difficult the surgery will become."

"Dropping the chance of a successful surgery from sixty or seventy percent down to forty or fifty, or even lower."

She waved her hand again, her voice tinged with resignation. "Forget it, forget it."

"What will be, will be. It’s out of my hands. I’ll just let nature take its course."

Then Dr. Qiu Ge smiled. "Mr. Yan, I wish you a successful surgery..."

The surgery began promptly at 9:30.

The puncture and injection were also completed smoothly.

At 10:50, the surgical window on the vertebra was successfully opened.

Lo Jun came to the operating table but, unexpectedly, didn’t take the chief surgeon’s position. Instead, he looked at Yan Feifan.

"Xiaoyan, you’ll be the chief surgeon for this operation. I’ll assist..."