"Before I came here, I thought you'd be in your thirties or forties. I didn't expect you to be so young and talented," Tang Zhen said while closely scrutinizing Ning Tao, looking at his features, his figure, even looking behind him at his back, as if she found a male mermaid on a beach.

Ning Tao felt uncomfortable by her observation and politely said, "I'm flattered."

"Do you have a girlfriend?" questioned Tang Zhen suddenly.

Ning Tao was embarra.s.sed, but he couldn't ignore her, so he answered, "No."

"Great, haha," Tang Zhen said with a laugh.

Ning Tao was a little confused.

"Mom!" Jiang Hao's face broke into a look of embarra.s.sment. "Do you have to embarra.s.s Ning Tao when you first meet each other?"

Tang Zhen fumed, "What did I do? For a woman, the most afraid is to marry the wrong person, I am the living proof. How can I not help you with this?"

"Mom, why are you... involving this to my marriage?" Jiang Hao's face went red.

Jiang Yilong was the most awkward person in the room. He was not a fool, so it was impossible for him not to understand what Tang Zhen meant, but he did not dare to have any thought of refuting, let alone to show his unhappiness.

Ning Tao turned to look at Jiang Yilong and made a dry cough.

Jiang Yilong understood. He knelt down in front of Tang Zhen with a flop and slammed his forehead to the ground. "Zhen, I'm sorry. I was wrong. I'm here to beg your forgiveness. I kowtow to you."

Tang Zhen was angry and did not look at Jiang Yilong.

"I'm sorry. Please forgive me," Jiang Yilong begged while kowtowing, hitting his head on the ground.

Jiang Hao couldn't bear to see the scene. "Mom, you just..."

Before Jiang Hao could finish her sentence, Tang Zhen interrupted, "Have you forgotten how we lived? I used to beg him on my knees when he asked me for a divorce. I told him that you were too young to be without a father, but he had no regard for familial love!"

"Zhen, I was wrong. I was really wrong. Please forgive me," Jiang Yilong continued to beg and kowtow. His forehead broke and blood ran down his cheeks. But he pressed his forehead against the ground again and again as if he did not feel it.

Tears welled up in Tang Zhen's eyes. She had been so hurt by Jiang Yilong that all those years she even dreamed of him kneeling down and apologizing to her, and now it came true. Actually, she was not moved by Jiang Yilong, but the knot in her heart was untangling and the pent-up resentment was dissipating.

"Mom, just give a nod and forgive dad." Jiang Hao's eyes also watered.

"It's been so many years," Tang Zhen said with a sigh, "It's not a question about forgiveness. If you insist on my nodding my head, well, for the sake of him being your father, I forgive him." Then she looked at Jiang Yilong and said, "Enough, stop. I don't care. I've forgiven you."

Jiang Yilong breathed a sigh of relief, and said, "Thank you, Zhen."

As these words were spoken, Jiang Yilong gave a sudden s.h.i.+ver, and fell to the ground with his eyes closed.

Tang Zhen got a fright, crying, "Jiang Yilong, what's the matter with you?"

"Dad?" Jiang Hao rushed to help Jiang Yilong up, but Jiang Yilong still had his eyes closed and showed no sign of waking up. She immediately turned to Ning Tao and said, "Doctor Ning, see my dad quickly!"

Ning Tao replied, "Take it easy. It's because he has suffered a concussion from kowtowing, and suddenly relaxed after he has untangled some knots. He'll be all right after a little sleep."

Jiang Hao looked at Jiang Yilong whose face covered in blood and felt uneasy. "Really?"

"I mean it," Ning Tao said, "I'll take him to bed to rest for a while."

Then he picked Jiang Yilong up and went inside.

Jiang Hao wanted to follow, but Tang Zhen stopped her. "You stay here. I have something to talk to you."

Jiang Hao asked helplessly, "What are you trying to say?"

"Did he really rip the check we gave him for a million?" Tang Zhen asked in a hushed voice.

Jiang Hao rolled her eyes at her mother, and replied, "Yes, of course. You don't even believe your daughter now?"

Tang Zhen slapped Jiang Hao's nice b.u.t.ts. "How did you talk to me? I am your own mother."

Being spanked by her mother at such a young age, Jiang Hao felt quite speechless, but she had to be patient to coax her mother. "All right, I was wrong. Tell me what you want to talk with me."

Tang Zhen leaned into Jiang Hao's ear and said, "I think Doctor Ning is a good man. He is young and so promising. Besides, he can resist the temptation of money, acts in good faith and values friends.h.i.+p. Such men are now dying out. Don't you have any feeling for him?"

"Mom..."

"You shut up." Tang Zhen looked distressed. "Most importantly, he's handsome. Even if you don't want him, there must be many other girls wanting him!"

Jiang Hao really shut up, because she knew that no matter what she said, her mom wouldn't listen.

In the room, Ning Tao put Jiang Yilong on the bed. The bed had not been used for many years, leaving only a bed pan, which was hard and dirty, but now he couldn't mind it.

Ning Tao found the prescription pact for sins of evil intention from Jiang Yilong. As he opened the prescription pact, the last item about apologizing to his former wife, Tang Zhen, quickly disappeared. Then the entire prescription pact fell to Jiang Yilong in ashes and disappeared.

Although this was the first time he had seen the destruction of the prescription pact for sins of evil intention, Ning Tao was not surprised at all. He knew what was going to happen. Jiang Yilong would wake up and forget about his doctor Ning Tao and what he had gone through in the Sky Clinic. This was different from the prescription pact for merits of good intention that Ning Tao gave Zhou Yufeng. The latter was destroyed on the spot, while the former was destroyed after the patient completed the terms of atonement. But the results were the same—the patients lost their memories of the Sky Clinic.

Then the deal between Ning Tao and Jiang Yilong was complete.

Ning Tao turned to leave. It didn't matter to him if Jiang Yilong remembered him or not.

Outside the bedroom, Tang Zhen and Jiang Hao whispered. At the sight of Ning Tao, Tang Zhen came to him, beaming and asking, "Ning Tao, are your parents free recently? I want to have tea and make friends with them."

"Mom!" Jiang Hao got worried.

Tang Zhen glared at Jiang Hao, then smiled at Ning Tao and said, "Ning Tao, or I go to your house and chat with your parents."

"Ms. Tang, my parents have pa.s.sed away years ago," Ning Tao replied.

"What? They have pa.s.sed away?" Tang Zhen was surprised and added, "I'm sorry, I don't know."

"Never mind," Ning Tao said. "I have to finish something, so I'll go first."

"Why are you leaving so soon?" Tang Zhen suddenly covered her forehead and yelled, "Ouch, my head hurts. Ning Tao, you're a remarkable doctor. Please see me."

Ning Tao was speechless.

"Mom! If you keep going like this, I'll never talk to you!" Ning Tao might not yet know Tang Zhen's intentions, but Jiang Hao did. If Ning Tao found out about her mother's intentions, she would not know how to get along with him.

Tang Zhen glared at Jiang Hao, reprimanded, "You, I'm talking to Ning Tao, how could you b.u.t.t in? My headache need not treat?"

Jiang Hao didn't know what to say.

Ring, ring...

Ning Tao's cell phone suddenly rang. He took out his phone, looked at it and said, "It's from Lin Qingyu. I think it's about Lin Qinghua. I'll take the call.

"Who is Lin Qingyu?" A hostile look strangely escaped Tang Zhen's eyes.

Ning Tao didn't answer and walked away with his phone.

Jiang Hao said crossly, "His girlfriend."

"Ah? He has a girlfriend?" Tang Zhen went disappointed.

"You said, there are many other girls wanting him, so what's so strange about him having a girlfriend?" Jiang Hao said.

Tang Zhen didn't say anything, looking as if her stock had fallen by its daily limit.

Ning Tao paused under a willow tree by the road, tapped the answer b.u.t.ton, and said, "Hi, Miss Lin, it's an honor to get your call."

"Why are you so polite?" Lin Qingyu's voice came from the phone.

Ning Tao gave a laugh and said, "Well, I'll make it casual. Let's cut to the chase. Your dad has agreed?"

"Yes, my dad has agreed," Lin Qingyu responded, "You can come to my house by any time. But my dad said, you must promise to cure my brother, or he won't let you take him away."

Ning Tao kept silent for a moment before he said, "Okay, I can promise him that. I am now in the countryside in the mountains, I'll come to your house to pick up your brother two hours later."

"What are you doing there?" Lin Qingyu's voice carried a little curiosity.

Ning Tao took a look at Jiang Hao and Tang Zhen not far away, and answered, "Jiang Hao and I came to her hometown to do something and the matter is settled. I'll probably come to your house with her."

"A woman?"

"Yes, she is a friend of mine."

"What are you doing in her hometown?"

"Let's talk when we meet." Then Ning Tao hung up the phone and thought, "Why are women so curious?"

"What did she say?" asked Jiang Hao.

"She said her dad agreed, so let's go to her house," Ning Tao said.

Jiang Hao nodded. "Let's go now."

Tang Zhen looked at Jiang Hao strangely. "What are you doing in that woman's house?"

"It's business. Don't ask. You can either come back to town with me or go back by yourself. What's your choice," Jiang Hao asked.

Tang Zhen took a look at Ning Tao and said, "Forget it, I want to visit some old friends. I'll go back by myself." Then she added, "What's so good about Lin Qingyu? Does she deserve such a good man..."

Jiang Hao didn't want to hear any more, so she left quickly, and urged Ning Tao. "Go, quickly."

When Ning Tao and Jiang Hao left, Jiang Yilong walked to the door of the old central room. He looked at Ning Tao's back with a puzzled look on his face and said, "Who's that guy?"