The Great Doctor Girl

In the early morning, Mount Paektu seems to be covered by a veil, with mist lingering among the peaks and forests. A hint of chill seeps into every inch of the mountain air, as if to seal this quiet place in a cool painting.

I stood on the edge of the cliff, my messy hair brushing against my cheeks, looking at the outlines of the mountains that appeared in the haze, just like the chess game of fate, half-hidden and half-hidden, unable to see clearly, but my heart was like surging waves, surging in my chest.

The past memories shuttled through my mind frame by frame. The back of Huang Junze when he left was like a scar, deeply engraved in the corridor of memory. His tall and straight figure carried too much tenderness and care for me. The smile he gave me when he tucked in the quilt, the strong hug when I was frustrated, all of these things caused ripples in my heart, but they could not fill the deep crack in my heart.

The cruel tricks of fate, the pain of having one's destiny taken away and being separated from loved ones, always hang like a shadow.

The tears I swallowed alone in the dark night and the calmness I pretended to maintain in front of others have all become unspeakable wounds in my heart. Even though Huang Junze came into my life with full enthusiasm and tried to mend the wounds with his love and care, the old scars were too deep and the new ones were difficult to make.

The end of the year is approaching quickly, and Huang Junze has been piled up with official business due to the recent events. I can no longer delay him for my own affairs.

I sat at the table, staring at the blank paper for a long time, and finally wrote a few lines. Each stroke seemed to carry a thousand pounds of weight, carrying my determination and helplessness.

"Jun Ze, forgive me for leaving without saying goodbye.

I need to calm down.

Don't worry, I'll be back, but before that, please don't look for me.

Luoshu."

I gently placed the note in a conspicuous place, dragged my suitcase, looked back at the house full of memories, and quietly closed the door and left.

The carved door of the villa slowly closed, and the heavy door hinges turned, making a muffled "creaking" sound that echoed slowly in the empty and silent corridor, as if it was amplified several times and was particularly harsh.

After my mother left, I returned to the tea room. I had no interest in drinking tea, but was just holding my phone tightly, looking through photos.

The only few photos left in it were taken secretly by her when we met. The photos of me as a child had been burned in the fire. She stroked the screen, trying to find traces of my growth from these few images, full of nostalgia.

The night was as dark as ink, staining the entire city.

Aunt Chen was waiting at home. When she heard the sound of a car engine in the yard, she hurried forward, her expression showing a bit of panic and uneasiness.

Huang Junze had just stepped into the house, his face was tired, his tie was askew, his steps were unsteady, and his mind was still confused.

Aunt Chen clutched the note tightly in her hand and hesitated for a moment before handing it to Huang Junze. She stammered, explaining her negligence, "Mr. Huang, this...this note was left by Miss Luo. I wanted to tell you then, but I was afraid it would delay your business. I was careless today and didn't choose the right time."

The moment his eyes touched the note, they instantly focused, as if a sharp light flashed, and he became clear-headed in an instant.

When he saw the familiar handwriting on it, it was like a sharp arrow that pierced his heart, and his anger was instantly ignited.

"Aunt Chen, how could you not tell me in time!" He raised his voice, veins popped on his forehead, and he clenched the note with both hands, his knuckles turned white, and his body trembled slightly with anger.

"You know very well that she is under tremendous psychological pressure now. If something happens to her, can you bear the responsibility?" The roar echoed throughout the house, filled with anxiety and fear. Every word was filled with deep concern for my safety and resentment towards Aunt Chen's dereliction of duty.

He never gets angry with people easily.

"Mom, she ran to Mount Paektu. It's so dangerous. You want me to not worry?" He dialed his mother's cell phone with a bit of anxiety and eagerness, and his words echoed on the walls of the living room.

He slammed his hands on the table, pressing the note firmly to the surface. One hand grabbed his hair, his knuckles turning white from the force, the roots of his hair being pulled painfully, his face full of pain and worry. His eyes were full of self-blame.

Zhiyue's mother stood up and walked to the tea table, put down the teacup in her hand, and tried to calm his anxiety in a gentle tone: "Junze, calm down first. I guessed it a long time ago, so I informed Mr. Heping that she has indeed gone to the master and is safe."

Huang Junze's body stiffened and he slowly raised his head, "But, Mom, I'm afraid... I'm afraid that she will have to bear it all alone again. Didn't I say that no matter what happens, I will be with her?" His words were full of tension.

"Luo Shu has endured too much over the years and needs an outlet for her emotions. If you go to her rashly, it will only make her feel pressured." Mom sighed.

There was a hint of heartache and helplessness in her tone. "For some things, you have to give her time. It's just right to wait until you finish the important things at the company before going to pick her up."

Huang Junze held the phone tightly, expressionless, and pressed the end call button weakly.

For Huang Junze, every minute and every second of these three days was torture.

The office became his battlefield, with documents piling up like mountains and meetings one after another. The light from the computer screen reflected on his haggard face. His red eyes stared at the data and his fingers tapped rapidly on the keyboard, but his mind was full of all the things I might encounter on Mount Paektu. His heart seemed to be hanging on the edge of a cliff, precarious.

After finally dealing with the urgent matters, night fell on the earth again. He didn't have time to rest and drove straight to the airport to catch the last flight to Mount Paektu. The night outside the car window was as dark as ink, and the headlights tore a pale path of light. He gripped the steering wheel tightly with both hands, his knuckles turned white, and the speed of the car soared.

At the same time, on the other side of the city, Su Junsheng seemed to have been slapped hard in the face by fate.

He stood at the end of the hospital corridor, the light above his head was pale and dazzling. The paternity test report in his hand was wrinkled and the veins on the back of his hand were bulging. The five words "parent-child relationship ruled out" exploded in his ears like a thunder, making him dizzy. The people coming and going around him, their hurried footsteps, and their whispered conversations were all nothing to him, and there was only darkness in front of him.

He thought back to the past. In order to live a comfortable life and to avenge the lover who had left him, he used all means in the business world, being ruthless when suppressing his opponents and humble when flattering the powerful. Every single thing he did now became a joke.

In the rain of memory, the scene of the dying child in the magic circle was engraved in my heart. Her little face was as pale as paper, her lips were cracked, and she was dying.

Who could have expected that Su Jingyan, whom he had tried his best and exchanged for his own daughter, had no blood relationship or emotional connection with him.

Fate, the cunning chess player, used impermanence as the chessboard, tricked him into joining the game, won away his beloved, and took away the lives of his blood relatives, leaving him in this desolate endgame, with only regret and anger.

What he once thought was a choice of redemption turned out to be the fuse of his own self-destruction, burning out his love, sacrificing his daughter, and leaving him with only a meaningless life.

"Life kissed me with pain, but I mistook arsenic for honey and gave it everything I had." The words squeezed out from between his teeth were full of bone-eating hatred. He dragged his legs filled with regret towards the ward, as if he wanted to ask for an explanation from fate.

Inside the ward, the pungent smell of disinfectant filled the air. Su Jingyan, lying on the hospital bed, heard the noise and raised her head with difficulty. Seeing that it was Su Junsheng, a glimmer of hope flashed in her eyes, and she called out in a mosquito-like voice, "Dad..."

Su Junsheng sneered, his smile seemed to be filled with ice, and his eyes were so cold that they seemed to freeze people to death: "Shut up. I'm not your father."

Su Jingyan's pupils suddenly shrank, and the light in her eyes dimmed quickly like a candle flame extinguished by a strong wind. Her lips trembled slightly: "Dad, you...how is it possible?"

"You are not my daughter." Su Junsheng took a step forward, approaching the bed, and said with sharp words, "Everything I have done for you over the years, this is the result. You don't deserve it at all."

Su Jingyan's breathing was rapid, her chest heaving violently, tears burst out, flowing down her cheeks and soaking the pillow.

Her hands trembled, as if she was trying to grasp the last bit of family affection, her voice broken: "I... I don't know, I don't know anything... Dad, I beg you not to do this, I... I regret the wrong things I did to Luo Shu, I regret it..."

"Do you regret it? You shouldn't exist!" Su Junsheng was like crazy.

"You...you..." Upon hearing this, Su Jingyan, whose life was already hanging by a thread, trembled with excitement.

But Su Junsheng was filled with anger, so how could he listen? "Don't call me dad!"

He turned around abruptly and slammed the door. The door hit the door frame with a loud noise, as if he was venting his anger. Su Jingyan was left lying alone on the bed, her pleading voice stuck in her throat, leaving only endless sobs...

For the next three days, Su Jingyan lay on the hospital bed, her breathing becoming weaker and weaker. The sins of the past were like heavy shackles, weighing her down and making it difficult for her to breathe, and her life slipped away bit by bit.

The beeping sound of the instrument gradually faded, and her fingers trembled slightly, as if she wanted to grab something, but finally she let them fall down powerlessly until she took her last breath.

The nurse covered the body with a white cloth expressionlessly, her movements mechanical. No one paid any attention to her, and she became another number written by the statistician in the hospital morgue, like a speck of dust, disappearing in a corner of the world.

In the wooden house, I was wearing plain clothes, sitting cross-legged on the doorstep, holding in my hands the medicinal tea brewed by my master. The hot steam blurred my vision, and I looked at the distant mountains with empty eyes, as if looking through time.

I handed the medicine to Master and said, "Master, drink it quickly! Your leg will heal faster after drinking this."

The master sat in a rattan chair beside him, his expression calm, his eyes as deep as the abyss, his gaze seemed to pass through the mountains, searching for the answer to the mystery of fate.

At this time, the mist on Mount Paektu seemed to have a special spirituality, and wisps of it were looming in the quiet air, exuding a mysterious atmosphere.

The master sat quietly on the old rattan chair. The tea fragrance around him seemed to be frozen. Only the spout of the purple clay teapot emitted light white steam, which was like the sigh of time.

I coughed lightly, trying to break the stifling silence. My words were filled with unconcealed curiosity, as if I were still the child I had been. I asked crisply, "Master, when I was a kid, I studied the I Ching. Was I quite gifted?"

The master didn't reply in a hurry. His fingertips tapped the chair handle, once, twice, and each tap struck my tense heartstrings.

"Talent?" A faint sneer played at the corner of his mouth. "At first, you were flustered and bewildered when faced with the Eight Trigrams. The hexagrams were like encrypted gibberish to you, and the hexagram texts were like alien language. You couldn't understand them anyway, and banging your head against them only resulted in a bump. There was no sign of talent at all."