Food Supplements - Chapter 15

Qin Cheng had never intended to let her family know that she was unemployed. She had enough savings to support herself, so she had managed to conceal it quite well over the past few years.

It was only when her mother suddenly arrived without warning that the matter was finally exposed.

Even then, it did not seem too serious, because another explanation presented itself just in time.

An eating disorder was the perfect excuse.

First, to an ordinary person, the condition sounded as though it simply meant someone did not like eating, so it would not cause excessive alarm. Second, the sight of her daughter reduced to skin and bones was already enough to break a mother’s heart.

Young people should certainly work hard and endure hardship, but when someone had become this thin, quitting work temporarily to recuperate was entirely understandable.

After all, health was the foundation of everything.

Qin Cheng understood her mother’s way of thinking very well. Since their reunion, the two had never discussed anything related to work.

But nearly a month had passed in the blink of an eye. Because of the chain of events set off by several crops, one of them no longer intended to return home anytime soon, while the other’s health appeared to improve by the day.

The subject therefore became unavoidable.

“Mom, starting a business or opening a shop is too risky. Even in our small hometown, plenty of shops open and close every year, don’t they? Competition is even harsher in a first-tier city. There’s no need to take that risk.”

Qin Cheng tried to reason with her, hoping at least to dissuade her from spending money on a business.

“That money was an unexpected windfall. It was never part of my living expenses. I just want to leave it with you and earn a little interest safely. As for work, don’t worry. Once I recover a bit more, I’ll find something easy.”

Finding a job could not be done overnight anyway. Delaying for two or three months would be perfectly normal.

By then, she could see whether anything had changed.

That was Qin Cheng’s plan.

Unfortunately, her mother had clearly not raised the idea on a whim. She had her own reasoning.

“What job is truly easy?” Mother Qin held her daughter’s hand and refused to let go. “If it means working yourself as hard as you did before, even if you’re willing, I won’t agree.”

“Besides, I’m not suggesting this without a basis. Take the fruit you order online. The quality really is excellent, and more importantly, it has remained consistently good. Everyone fought to buy some after the last meal, so there must be demand for it. Since you have such a good supply source… perhaps we could—”

“Mom, that’s different. A few acquaintances buying things on impulse is one matter. Opening a shop and doing business with the general public is another.”

Qin Cheng scratched her hair in irritation as she explained.

“Besides, a proper shop couldn’t sell only a few varieties of fruit. My friend’s online business mainly handles bulk orders. They don’t carry that many kinds.”

So the previous gathering really had inspired this.

Had she known it would cause so much trouble, she would never have brought out the fruit for the guests.

Fortunately, Mother Qin had spent her entire life working in an institution and did not understand the finer details of business.

She looked slightly confused, then tentatively suggested, “Then… why don’t we open an online shop instead? I’ve heard that even if you have only a few products, you can still sell them online.”

“Mom…”

This time, Qin Cheng was no longer irritated. She could not help laughing.

“I already buy them from my friend’s online shop. Now you want me to turn around and compete with them? That wouldn’t be right.”

All these reasons sounded convincing, but naturally, they were only excuses.

Her true concerns, which she could not speak aloud, were much deeper and more complicated.

First, it was one thing to eat the produce among themselves or give small amounts away as favors.

Once it became a large-scale commercial transaction, however, Qin Cheng would not dare sell it simply because others wished to buy.

Most people did not know how to distinguish the precise varieties of agricultural produce. When buying fruit and vegetables, they cared at most about freshness, tenderness, sweetness, or acidity.

But among the countless people in the world, there would always be scholars and experts in the field.

To such people, every variety of fruit and vegetable possessed distinct identifying characteristics, almost like human DNA.

The crops planted beside the lake had originally been ordinary, but no one could guarantee that they were still identical to their real-world counterparts.

In the eyes of an expert, even a tiny difference might cause enormous astonishment and bring endless trouble afterward.

An innocent man could still be ruined for possessing treasure.

Qin Cheng was not a three-year-old child parading through the market with gold in her hands.

Ever since gaining this life-preserving secret, she had become increasingly cautious and would never allow herself to grow careless from excitement.

Moreover, that was not her only concern.

She absolutely did not want to touch the several hundred thousand yuan in savings either.

Mother and daughter held different opinions, and both had their own principles, but the conversation did not turn into a rigid confrontation.

After becoming seriously ill, Qin Cheng had learned not to argue needlessly. It wasted too much energy, and if it triggered an attack, she would be the one to suffer.

Mother Qin was not especially stubborn either.

“Daughter, I’m not rushing you back to work. I only want you to find an easier and better path for your future.”

Near the end of the discussion, she spoke earnestly.

“I’m not saying you must do any of these things immediately. But you have to promise me that you’ll think about it seriously and stop thinking only about saving money. All right?”

Faced with such a mother, Qin Cheng, who had previously answered every argument with ease, suddenly felt her throat tighten.

Every rebuttal vanished, and she could no longer say anything.

After a brief silence, she finally hesitated and gave a small nod.

Over the next few days, mother and daughter continued living together peacefully.

Neither in private nor in front of others did they mention the subject again.

Even so, Qin Cheng eventually found an opportunity to go out alone and secretly took care of something.

“Ms. Qin, none of your indicators are particularly good. Your CA-125 and CA 19-9 levels are especially high. Although your liver function and jaundice markers are relatively stable, the mass in your abdomen is obvious, and the TNM clinical staging is not optimistic…”

The young doctor paused, choosing his words carefully.

“To put it plainly, the survival rate for this disease is already low, and your condition is in the advanced stage. We can arrange hospitalization, but…”

He hesitated because he was considering the patient’s emotional state.

A person desperately struggling to survive might react in any extreme way when given what amounted to a death sentence.

Yet the woman before him accepted the diagnostic report without the slightest change in expression.

She decisively refused hospitalization, offered a simple word of thanks, then rose and left in a hurry.

Far from reacting violently, she barely even lifted her eyelids.

To be this calm after being newly diagnosed with a terminal illness was certainly remarkable.

And she was quite attractive too.

What a pity.

The male doctor rubbed his chin, but the arrival of his next patient quickly occupied him, and he completely forgot the small incident.

Meanwhile, the female patient who had supposedly just been diagnosed with a terminal illness left the hospital and calmly found a café.

She sat down, picked up the diagnostic report, and carefully examined each page of her newly produced medical data.

Doctors generally did not explain every cryptic figure in a diagnostic report to a patient.

Ordinary people would not understand them anyway.

Those who had become half-doctors through years of illness were the exception.

Qin Cheng was a typical example.

As for why she had been mistaken for a newly diagnosed patient, it was because she had deliberately traveled far away to visit another hospital and had said nothing about her previous treatment.

She had taken such a roundabout route because she wanted to confirm her current physical condition without arousing anyone’s suspicion.

Previously, Qin Cheng had had no interest in knowing these things.

She believed the information would be useless. She only needed to treasure each remaining day and live for however long she could.

In other words, she had never made any long-term plans.

Her supposed determination to live in the present could also be understood as simply drifting along.

One could call it pessimistic.

But as someone who considered every extra day a gain, Qin Cheng did not believe there was anything wrong with thinking that way.

Even now that she possessed a miracle that might extend her life, who knew how long this sudden miracle would last?

Unknown good fortune that fell from the sky was never truly reassuring.

Sometimes, Qin Cheng felt like someone walking toward a cliff with no way back.

She had expected her next step to send her plunging into an abyss, only to discover that her foot had landed on a floating glass bridge.

That allowed her to continue forward.

But she would never know where the bridge led or whether one day it might suddenly shatter and disappear.

That had indeed been Qin Cheng’s original state of mind.

But after making a promise to her mother, her firm principle had been shaken somewhat.

She had begun to hold the faintest expectation regarding her current condition.

Unfortunately, reality was always crueler than anticipated.

Now, it seemed that even this tiny expectation could not be fulfilled.

Compared with her condition at its worst, several values did look slightly better.

But the changes were almost negligible.

The most critical pathological indicators had not changed at all.

After reading everything carefully, Qin Cheng sighed with melancholy.

She then went to the café restroom and stored the documents inside her private safe, preventing anyone from discovering them.

After paying and leaving, however, she did not immediately return home.

She called a taxi and went once again to the familiar building.

Whenever her emotions became unstable, she especially wanted to come here.

At first, she had only wanted to see that person from a distance.

Over time, even looking at the building itself had become reassuring.

Today was the same.

Qin Cheng did not expect to see Chu Qinyi. She merely wanted to sit there, use that sense of reassurance to settle her emotions, and reorganize her thoughts.

Over the past several days, she had gained a little weight, her skin tone had improved, and her attacks had become less frequent.

Even when they occurred, they were no longer severe enough to leave her drenched in cold sweat and unbearable agony.

She had therefore assumed that her body must be improving to some degree.

But the facts proved that, at least according to the pathological data of Western medicine, there had been little change.

She remained terminally ill, with very little time left.

If she could not even be certain she would survive, Qin Cheng had even less desire to consider starting a business—especially one requiring capital.

The several hundred thousand yuan had always been intended for her parents’ retirement.

She did not want to use it herself.

Not a single cent.

This was not only because she wanted to provide for her parents.

At a fundamental level, she despised that money.

She had accepted it only because she had no other choice and did not want her elderly parents to spend their final years in hardship.

But if she used it now for her own benefit, she would feel utterly shameless.

So…

Although she had promised to think seriously, perhaps she should stop considering entrepreneurship.

Was there some other way to reassure her mother?

Curled into a corner of the flower bed, the woman worried over the problem while occasionally glancing toward the building nearby, especially its main entrance and vehicle exit.

It had become an unconscious habit.

And because it was unconscious, she held no real expectation.

Yet her casually sweeping gaze was soon drawn to the back of someone leaving the building.

The woman hesitated briefly.

Then she made up her mind, rose, and quickly—but discreetly—followed.

The person Qin Cheng was secretly tailing was not the woman she treasured in her heart, but she was not unfamiliar either.

She had seen her in the birthday video and again in the hospital elevator not long ago.

The short-haired woman who was constantly beside Chu Qinyi was her special assistant.

She did not know Qin Cheng, but Qin Cheng knew her.

She even knew that her name was Jiang Rong, that she was twenty-six, and that she was a highly educated professional personally recruited by Chu Qinyi.

The two also had a good private relationship.

Chu Qinyi entrusted many everyday matters to her, making her a trusted and capable subordinate.

At times, Qin Cheng felt bitter and heartbroken because of this.

But more often, she felt grateful and reassured.

Jiang Rong genuinely performed her duties well.

Whether in business or in private life, having someone like her beside Chu Qinyi was a good thing.

That was also why Qin Cheng chose to follow when she saw Jiang Rong leave in such a hurry.

The reason was that something felt strange.

This was not intuition.

It was logic.

As a trusted subordinate, the special assistant was almost like Chu Qinyi’s shadow. Nearly everything she handled was related to her.

Honestly, she was extremely busy, and the job was not easy.

However, the compensation was also generous.

Under ordinary circumstances, she almost always had transportation when entering or leaving the company. She rarely left on foot, especially alone during working hours.

The direction she took was also strange.

Dressed in formal business attire, she made several turns and entered a nearby commercial food street.

Had she come out to eat?

Her hurried steps and expression did not suggest that.

Besides, the company provided good meals for its employees.

Qin Cheng wondered inwardly but did not slow down.

She followed closely and watched Jiang Rong enter a restaurant known for its clay-pot congee.

Since Qin Cheng often wandered around the area, she naturally knew the shop.

It had good business, generous ingredients, and an excellent reputation. She had eaten there several times in the past.

This time, she followed inside with ease.

The first thing she saw was a queue waiting to pay at the counter.

Jiang Rong stood among them, checking her watch repeatedly and appearing anxious.

Fortunately, it was not mealtime, so the line was relatively short.

Her turn soon arrived.

But instead of placing an order like the other customers, Jiang Rong spoke directly to the employee.

The worker then took out an elegant takeout container from behind the counter.

Jiang Rong lifted the lid, examined the contents, nodded, and quickly paid before leaving with the package.

Two places behind her in the queue, a certain woman hesitated briefly.

Then she calmly continued waiting.

When her turn arrived, she questioned the same employee.

“Excuse me, what did that woman just take away? It looked good, like it would be delicious. I’d like to order the same thing.”

She smiled with apparent curiosity.

“I’m sorry, but that probably won’t be possible,” the employee replied politely. “That was our medicinal congee. It has to be specially ordered in advance and is mainly prepared for patients who need to nourish the stomach and calm the nerves.”

“To be honest, it doesn’t taste as good as our other congee. We don’t recommend it to ordinary customers.”

The woman appeared deeply disappointed.

She casually ordered a pastry and left the queue.

No one noticed that after stepping away, she did not enter the dining area.

She walked straight out of the shop.

Qin Cheng hurried away from the congee restaurant, even running a short distance.

At last, she caught up with her target again and watched Jiang Rong return to the building.

Because she had run, her breathing was uneven and sweat had gathered on her forehead.

Yet she seemed not to notice.

Her brows were tightly furrowed, and her gaze remained fixed on the magnificent entrance for a long time.

Who was the congee for?

The answer was almost obvious.

Qin Cheng stared at the ornate doors as though she wished she could see through them and discover exactly what was happening inside.