A man to be dealt with by Heaven. Should he treat him or not?

“I need a pastor…” Professor Jade broke the silent atmosphere of the room with his feeble voice.

Ning Tao's contemplation did not lead to any conclusion. He sat by the bed, watching the emaciated Professor Jade. He kept silent for a while before saying, “You may chat with me anything you like. There are only two of us here.”

“I need a pastor… I want to confess to him…” Professor Jade said.

Ning Tao thought for a while before opening his medicine chest and taking out an ordinary prescription. He drew a crucifix with his pen. He placed the prescription with the crucifix beside Professor Jade's hand, lifting his hand and putting it upon the crucifix drawing.

A faint smile hovered on Professor Jade's lips. “Thank you… young man…”

Ning Tao said gently, “I am a good listener. Tell me anything you like. You can even confess to me.”

“I fell in love with a girl…” Professor Jade slowly said. “At that time, both of us were only 16. We were studying in the same school…”

He seemed to have lapsed into memories, a smile hovering on his lips. The expression in his eyes was very gentle.

“What's her name?” Ning Tao asked softly.

“Her name was Lucy. She had golden hair as dazzling as the sun and many freckles on her face. But I thought of them as petals gifted her by G.o.d… The two of us fell in love. We were in the granary, on the beach, in her house, doing many crazy things… Later, she became pregnant. I was terrified… My father happened to be changing his job and we must move… I did not dare tell her… or bid her goodbye… I even deleted her telephone number…” Tears rolled out from Professor Jade's eyes.

He had made a girl pregnant and left just like that. He even broke off their relations.h.i.+p. This was really something only a sc.u.m would do.

But Ning Tao still consoled him. “If she were here, she would surely forgive you.”

“No… when I graduated from the university, I went back to visit her… Then I discovered that shortly after my departure… she had slit her wrist and committed suicide…” Professor Jade was sobbing relentlessly.

Ning Tao continued protecting Professor Jade's heart with his spiritual power. But he thought in his heart, would such a sin receive forgiveness from G.o.d through confession? Looking at how Professor Jade was right now, evidently not.

“I never married my entire life… I tried desperately to study and work. I thought I could forget her, but no… I sensed her return over the past few days. Sometimes, I would see her standing by the window… with her golden hair… and freckles as pretty as petals… She was just watching me like that… as if trying to tell me something…”

“She must be telling you that she has forgiven you,” Ning Tao said.

“I must look for her… But I'm worried that she is in Heaven and I myself would be in h.e.l.l…” Professor Jade seemed very sorrowful.

In the meantime, Ning Tao had completed his diagnosis with his states of looking and smelling.

Professor Jade was suffering from late-stage esophageal cancer. His esophagus was completely clogged by cancer cells and he could no longer swallow food. He could only maintain his life through intravenous therapy. Even more terribly, his cancer cells had spread to every part of his body, like his lymphatic system, liver, stomach, and lungs. His immune system had been completely ruined by chemotherapy and organ failure, and was no longer working.

Such a terminal illness could not be cured by Ning Tao, even though he possessed miraculous medical skills.

Only now did he understand the term “dealt with by Heaven”.

If Heaven wanted to deal with someone, no one could resist the fate. Who could save the man?

There was an old saying in Hua Country, “If the King of Hades wants someone dead at midnight, he cannot survive until four.” Even if a person dealt with by Heaven suffered no pain or illness, he might die in his sleep. Even if he regained consciousness, he might be knocked dead by a car, or have his head busted by a flower pot falling from a building.

Professor Jade continued to harp on his deeds that he thought were wicked.

Ning Tao listened quietly. Now and then, he would console the man or enlighten him. This old man had indeed done something very contemptible. He had caused the deaths of a girl and his own child. But he had remained a bachelor throughout his life and was atoning for his sin every day. His endurance deserved Ning Tao's consolation and guidance.

“I heard from them that a miracle doctor from Hua Country is coming to treat me… Are you that doctor?”

Ning Tao nodded. He was not embarra.s.sed to admit this appellation.

Professor Jade asked again, “Can you cure me?”

Ning Tao was silent for a moment before shaking his head. “I can't. But I can prolong your life.”

“No, I have lived long enough. An extra minute in this world would mean another minute of suffering to me… Don't treat me… okay?”

Ning Tao became silent again. Even until this moment, he had not made his decision.

Although he knew that Heaven's fate could not be defied and he could not cure Professor Jade, he had the means to prolong his life by a few months. Even a doctor from a hospital could not forcibly discharge a patient if the patient was dying. He must prescribe the patient some painkillers and put him on drips to prolong his life, or let him perish painlessly. And Ning Tao could do better than that. He could prolong Professor Jade's life by a few months. But he had not expected Professor Jade to ask him not to treat him before he had made up his mind.

After a brief silence, Ning Tao opened his mouth and spoke. “Professor Jade, I can understand your feelings and will respect your decision. But that's not what the people outside want. They requested me to treat you, but I had not expected you to reject treatment. Shall I call them in to talk to you?”

“No… they do not want me… but only the results of my research… I have nothing to talk to them about…”

Ning Tao was all along very curious about Professor Jade's research. But every Ruitian citizen he had come into contact with had kept mum about it. He tried to probe. “Professor Jade, I am the last person whom you can chat in this life. Are you willing to tell me what you had been researching?”

“Semiotics… Since young, I have been fascinated by those mysterious symbols found in ancient ruins. All my life, I have been studying every sort of sign and symbol…”

Curiosity surfaced in Ning Tao's heart. Semiotics was the rarest of rare subjects. He had never heard of anyone who specialized in it, and there seemed to be no such major in universities. But even though Professor Jade had attained exceptional achievements in the semiotics field and had been trying to break some code or symbols, should the royalty of Ruitian feel so anxious over his condition?

Then, he recalled the pictures he had taken of runes found on stone eggs in the Feminine-moon people's ruins.

A pract.i.tioner's rune was a sort of symbol too.

“The ancestors of the Cagu Clan had found a book written in symbols in ancient Rome. I spent my entire life and sacrificed everything to decode part of it… Part of the secret involves plant cultivation…”

Ning Tao asked curiously, “Plant cultivation?”

“Yes. If one follows the ways prescribed in the book to grow agricultural crops or plants, they would be different from ordinary plants. They would be more luxuriant and exceptional, nearing perfection… Cough, cough…” A series of coughs interrupted Professor Jade's words.

Ning Tao pulled off the oxygen mask covering the patient's mouth and nose, and fed him a Fine Elixir.

“I won't take any medicine…” Professor Jade felt a great repulsion about the elixir. He wanted to spit it out.

But a Fine Elixir would melt in the mouth after a few seconds. Soon, his vitality soared manifold and his ashen skin flushed with a slight ruddiness.

Professor Jade glared angrily at Ning Tao, feeling as if he had been deceived.

Ning Tao said, “Don't get me wrong, I only want you to feel better. I can let you go without suffering any pain.”

“I will no longer believe in you. Get out!” Professor Jade was really angry.

Ning Tao said, “If you prefer to take your secrets to h.e.l.l, I can leave right now. But I want to tell you this: this might be a chance for you to atone for your sins. You might get to meet Lucy in heaven.”

“Are you… telling the truth?” Professor Jade's eyes were full of doubt.

Ning Tao stretched out his right hand. A spiritual fire emerged from the center of his palm.

“This is…” Professor Jade was instantly stunned.

Ning Tao retracted the spiritual fire and finally spoke. “I don't know how to explain to you. But I walk in the ways of Heaven, and am its representative. Perhaps we have met because of providence. I can only tell you this much. If you still want me to leave, I will. Then I will have nothing more to do with you.”

“Promise me one thing.”

“What thing?”

Professor Jade raised his left hand. There was a very ordinary ring on his little finger, which looked many decades old.

“This ring was given to me by Lucy. She had one herself. She was buried in the village where we both grew up in, on a hillside behind her house. Could you bury this ring beneath her tombstone?” Professor Jade's voice was full of pleading.

Ning Tao nodded. “I give you my word.”

Professor Jade wanted to raise his other hand to take off the ring, but could not.

Ning Tao reached out his hand and took out the ring, putting it into his small medicine chest. “Don't worry. Since I have promised you, I will do it. I will also tell her that you have been atoning for your sin all your life.”

“Thank you.” Professor Jade seemed to have untangled an intricate knot in his heart. His entire person now appeared relaxed.

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Ning Tao said, “So can you tell me your secret now?”

Jade said, “I have decoded part of the book and also performed some experiments. I was rearing plants on a greenish soil…”

Greenish soil.

Ning Tao felt a shudder in his heart. Was he talking about spiritual soil?

“But my experiments did not have the same results as described in the book. Even so, the plants I reared were exceptional. Their harvested seeds were a great quant.i.tative and qualitative improvement over Ruitian's agricultural crops…”

So this was why the Ruitian royalty was worried about Professor Jade's condition! Although Ruitian was a developed country, it was still fundamentally reliant on agriculture. The country was blessed with natural resources and the seeds developed by Professor Jade could improve Ruitian's agricultural products both quant.i.tatively and qualitatively. This was priceless to Ruitian, since humans would need food no matter how advanced their technology. Countries with a large agricultural output would never become obsolete. If they managed to lead the world in the agricultural field, it would be a historic chance for Ruitian to regain dominance in Northern Europe, just like during the 16th century!