Chapter 148: The Unfathomable Woman

“Little Ocean, how is it going?” Looking at Lin Yang, whose body was drenched in sweat and who was panting with the exhaustion of a sick dog, Zhang Qiqi asked with worried concern as she kept her dutiful vigil by his side. As she spoke, she began to give him a soothing massage with the air of a virtuous and caring wife.

A woman’s small hands have always been exceptionally soft, easily leading a young man in his prime to harbor stray thoughts. Coupled with the mesmerizing massage from a beauty like Zhang Qiqi that tended to spark wild imaginations, it inevitably caused some awkwardness. Just moments ago, he had been as exhausted as a dead dog, but now his spirits had perked up considerably.

Although the late autumn night was rather chilly with occasional gusting winds, the villa’s indoor climate control was quite comprehensive, which was why Zhang Qiqi was dressed rather revealingly.

The loose nightgown draped over her body did little to conceal her alluring figure. If Lin Yang had not poured every ounce of his focus into Zhang Zifeng during the surgery, a disaster might have happened; after all, external seductive distractions are the ultimate taboo during operations.

Since Lin Yang was sitting on the edge of the bed, he was a few heads shorter than Zhang Qiqi, who had stood up. When she leaned over to ask her question, her posture naturally slouched forward, and her loose nightgown completely failed to serve its purpose of concealment. Her deep, alluring cleavage was now fully laid bare in all its breathtaking charm.

Zhang Qiqi’s figure was not as impeccably sculpted as Tang Yixue’s, but she was still considerably fuller and perkier than the average woman. With this forward lean, a vast expanse of snowy white skin was captured entirely within Lin Yang’s field of vision.

Upon catching sight of this mesmerizing scenery for the first time, Lin Yang’s eyes widened instantly, stretching so wide they looked as though they could fit an egg with room to spare.

Noticing Lin Yang’s shameless and doting expression, Zhang Qiqi immediately understood what had happened. Although she felt quite displeased at being peeped at, she did not fly into a rage on the spot. Instead, she lightly pinched her index finger and thumb together and twisted them toward Lin Yang’s right ear.

The force was light, but it was absolutely enough to snap Lin Yang out of his entranced state of peeping.

“Ouch, ouch, ouch! Gentler, my ear is going to fall off!” Awakened by the sharp sting, Lin Yang wore a pitiful expression and let out a low, wicked chuckle. He kept his voice down, mainly out of fear of waking Xu Qin, who was fast asleep on the sofa nearby.

“Little Ocean, what on earth is my father’s condition? Tell me quickly! It’s driving me crazy with anxiety.” Failing to get the answer she wanted from her initial questions, Zhang Qiqi grew rather impatient. Her wronged, adorable little face looked utterly pitiful, and under the impulse of her anxiety, she lost control over the volume of her voice.

In her momentary excitement, her voice rose sharply, instantly startling Xu Qin awake from her deep slumber. Xu Qin bolted upright in a panic, and before her eyes were even fully open, she anxiously pursued the question: “What is it? Did your father have another relapse?”

When her eyes finally opened, she saw the surgical instruments left untidily by the bed, along with the uncleaned blood on the floor that still carried a metallic scent. Xu Qin’s mind plunged into a state of chaos. What had happened? This single question echoed endlessly in her mind, refusing to fade away.

“Brother Feng, Brother Feng, what’s wrong? What did you people do?” Her opening words were still somewhat calm, but upon seeing the missing lower half of her husband’s right leg on the bed, Xu Qin’s voice grew piercing, powerful, and laden with questioning doubt. With a ferocious lunge, she rushed toward her husband by the bedside, staring in disbelief at the bandaged area where almost the entire right thigh was now missing. She whipped her head around to fix her gaze directly on Lin Yang, reached out to grab his arm, and shook it with all her might. Her low, hoarse voice clearly conveyed the immense psychological shock she was suffering at that moment. “What did you… what did you… do to Brother Feng?” Her voice was low and trembling, and large teardrops fell silently, sliding down her cheeks that had grown haggard over many days, before splashing onto Lin Yang’s hand.

Terrified that her mother would misunderstand and blame Lin Yang, Zhang Qiqi reached out to pull back her emotionally agitated and unstable mother. Looking at her mother’s haggard face and sorrowful eyes, Zhang Qiqi choked out after a long pause, “Mom, this isn’t Little Ocean’s fault. I agreed to it; otherwise, Father’s life would have been in danger.”

Though she tried to maintain a firm look while facing her mother’s grief-stricken eyes, Zhang Qiqi’s heart was also quaking with fear. Her father’s misfortune was so severe that his breathing was now so faint he looked practically dead. Just moments ago, she had been questioning Lin Yang about her father’s condition, and now she had to convince her mother that everything was fine. This indeed left her at a loss as to how to proceed, and she was consumed by her own inner anxieties.

How could she possibly make her mother believe something she herself was not even sure of?

“What on earth is going on? Agreed? What did you agree to? What is this all about? Can someone explain clearly?” Xu Qin tried her utmost to suppress the turmoil in her heart and asked in a deep voice. She did not need to guess to know that unusual events had transpired during her brief sleep, as evidenced by her husband’s severed leg.

Since Zhang Qiqi was neither a Yixue nor a nurse, she naturally could not explain it clearly. Thus, Lin Yang had no choice but to step into the role of the narrator, recounting the entire sequence of events from beginning to end. Along the way, he did not forget to urge Xu Qin to maintain a calm state of mind, knowing that someone exhausted from overwork could least afford mental stimulation.

After listening to Lin Yang’s account, Xu Qin was not as fragile as one might have imagined. Instead, she raised an unexpected question regarding Lin Yang’s actions. If Lin Yang had not known this cold-hearted lady to be Zhang Zifeng’s wife, hearing her questioning tone might have made him want to stand up for the dying Zhang Zifeng lying on the bed.

Xu Qin’s inquiry completely shattered everyone’s expectations. Which normal woman would ever want a doctor to prematurely amputate her husband’s intact leg? Probably none. Yet Xu Qin’s question was why Lin Yang hadn’t suggested this solution much earlier.

In medicine, there is an unwritten rule: as long as there is a sliver of hope, extreme measures will not be taken. For Zhang Zifeng’s condition, amputation was undoubtedly an extreme measure, but Xu Qin did not see it that way.

“Aunt Qin, this junior doesn’t quite understand what you mean.” Thinking he was either hallucinating or experiencing a temporary short circuit in his brain, Lin Yang asked in bewilderment.

“Between enduring agony and being worse off than dead, which one do you think feels more comfortable?” Xu Qin did not answer directly, instead posing a simple question of little profound value.

Between agony and being worse off than dead—unless one’s brain was severely fried or squeezed in a door, naturally, pure physical agony was more comfortable. Without a moment’s hesitation, Lin Yang blurted out two words: “Agony.” However, he still failed to grasp the underlying meaning of Xu Qin’s words.

Meeting the questioning gazes of both Lin Yang and her daughter, a faint look of relief washed over Xu Qin’s face. She lowered her gaze to look at her husband lying on the hospital bed, her eyes brimming with gentleness and concern, and muttered to herself, “If I had known that amputation might have spared Brother Feng from suffering this kind of torment, I would have rather had the doctors perform the amputation right from the start.”

Hearing Xu Qin’s explanation, Lin Yang’s expression turned to one of understanding. Indeed! If anyone had known from the beginning that amputation could completely eradicate the root of the disease, who would have chosen conservative treatment? At the very least, the patient wouldn’t have had to suffer so much.

“Little Ocean, what is his condition right now?” Xu Qin was no fool; she knew the state of her husband’s body and was well aware that the toxins had long since permeated every single cell in his body. It would be a miracle if amputation alone could solve the root of the problem.

“It depends on fate.” Lin Yang’s ambiguous and vague reply left everyone baffled. Young Zhang Qiqi, lacking her mother’s composure, grew rather anxious.

“Little Ocean, what do you mean? What does depending on fate mean? Is there really no effect at all?” Zhang Qiqi anxiously pursued the answer. Once she finished asking, she glanced sideways at her unconscious father lying on the bed, his breathing faint, her eyes filled with worry.

Lin Yang let out a heavy sigh. He truly didn’t know how to answer the mother and daughter. He simply couldn’t bring himself to deceive them against his conscience; after all, paper cannot wrap up a fire, and if Zhang Zifeng were to suffer an accident, how could he ever face the two of them?

“Little Ocean, tell me! Tell me!” Overwhelmed by anxiety and emotional agitation, Zhang Qiqi jumped up, rushed over to Lin Yang, grabbed his arm, and shook it vigorously as she demanded an answer. In her agitation, she lost control of the strength in her grip, tightening her hold on his arm a little more with every wave of emotion.

Showing a measure of reason, Xu Qin walked over to Zhang Qiqi, gently pulled her aside, and began to comfort her.

Seeing the sorrow and pain in the eyes of the mother and daughter, Lin Yang could not help but picture his grandfather’s stern face once again in his mind. *Old man, I hope you can hold on,* he muttered to himself. Lowering his head, he began a thorough examination of Zhang Zifeng. Because the surgery had just concluded and Zhang Qiqi, consumed by anxiety over her father’s well-being, had kept pestering him with questions, he hadn’t been able to conduct a proper follow-up check. Afterward, she had woken Xu Qin up, plunging the room into utter chaos. Now that he finally managed to carve out a little time, he certainly wasn’t going to waste it.

Amputation naturally had a certain therapeutic effect, or else Lin Yang would never have made such a difficult choice. By cutting off the continuous spread of the virus source, combined with the earlier force of his internal Qi in suppressing the toxins, Zhang Zifeng’s condition had indeed improved quite a bit. This finally allowed Lin Yang to release the tense stone hanging in his heart. After all, Zhang Zifeng was his grandfather’s sworn brother, and his status as Lin Yang’s godfather was also beyond question.

When Lin Yang finally withdrew his right hand from Zhang Zifeng’s pulse, the mother and daughter had recovered significantly from their extreme grief. Stepping forward, the two of them expressed their heartfelt gratitude to Lin Yang.

“Little Ocean, you’ve really worked hard during this time.” Looking at the prominent dark circles under Lin Yang’s eyes, Xu Qin said apologetically.

When she thought about it, Lin Yang truly hadn’t suffered lightly while trying to stabilize Zhang Zifeng’s condition.

Since her mother had apologized, Zhang Qiqi, as a dutiful daughter, naturally had to offer her own set of polite remarks. If Lin Yang hadn’t repeatedly declined with modesty, Zhang Qiqi might have really intended to offer her own hand in marriage as a token of gratitude for saving her father.

“Aunt Qin, don’t worry. Uncle Feng’s condition has improved significantly. At the very least, before we manage to research an antidote, Uncle Feng should be safe,” Lin Yang said with a serious gaze, trying to reassure them.

“Really?” Xu Qin asked, her excitement palpable. Who in their right mind would ever wish to face the agony of parting by death?

“Really? Little Ocean, really?” Zhang Qiqi was visibly ecstatic. Otherwise, how could a proper, unmarried young maiden like her have thrown herself directly into Lin Yang’s arms, chattering away with excitement and shattering her ladylike image completely?

*Women, truly incomprehensible,* Lin Yang muttered inwardly to himself.

Things were relatively settled on Lin Yang’s end, with Zhang Zifeng’s condition finally reaching a sound conclusion. However, the assassination plot involving Fang Muren was still locked in the midst of a fierce and fiery battle. If there were anyone truly deserving of pity, it would have to be the two guards standing watch outside the door: Monkey and Madman.