Outside the inpatient department of Shimen City Fourth Hospital.
Wu Jun pulled into a parking space in front of the building, shut off the engine, put the car in park, and engaged the handbrake.
Wu Jun turned, ready to tell Jiang Yi in the back seat that they had arrived, but he saw her leaning against the seatback, head tilted slightly. Her eyes were closed, and she looked so content. ’She’s... asleep?’
Seeing how soundly she was sleeping, Wu Jun didn’t have the heart to disturb her. He simply turned back to the front and waited quietly for her to wake.
「Half an hour later.」
When Jiang Yi opened her eyes, she found the car was already parked. The building outside was the hospital, and Wu Jun was sitting in the front seat, playing on his phone. ’Are we here already?’
Her mind was still back when she first got in the car. It felt like she had just blinked, and they had teleported from her apartment complex to Shimen City Fourth Hospital several kilometers away. Jiang Yi was a bit disoriented.
"Oh, I’m so sorry, Mr. Wu. I must have dozed off." Jiang Yi straightened her clothes, greeting Wu Jun with an awkward expression.
Right then, she wished she could find a hole to crawl into. ’This is so embarrassing.’
"You must be exhausted from work lately," Wu Jun said with a smile. He pushed his door open, got out, and walked around to open Jiang Yi’s door. "We just got here. I saw you were tired, so I didn’t want to disturb you."
"Thank you." Jiang Yi took Wu Jun’s arm for support as she got out of the car, thanking him again.
She had just glanced at the time; nearly an hour had passed since they left. She knew Wu Jun was lying—they definitely hadn’t *just* arrived. He was most likely saying that to spare her from embarrassment.
This small, thoughtful gesture made Jiang Yi feel even more favorably toward him.
"Wait here for a second." After helping Jiang Yi stand steadily, Wu Jun opened the trunk and lifted out a rice cooker.
"Mr. Wu, what’s...?" Jiang Yi asked, looking completely baffled as Wu Jun cradled a rice cooker he’d just pulled from his car.
This was the first time Jiang Yi had ever seen someone bring a rice cooker when visiting a patient.
Wu Jun patted the rice cooker and said playfully, "My secret weapon is in here."
Jiang Yi wasn’t the type to press for answers, and seeing that Wu Jun was intentionally being mysterious, she didn’t pursue the matter. She simply turned to lead the way.
Noticing her difficulty walking, Wu Jun moved to support her. Jiang Yi thanked him and took his arm without hesitation.
The two made their way to the elevator bank and rode up to the 12th floor. Following Jiang Yi’s directions, they arrived at the door to room 1212.
Inside the hospital room.
Wu Jun saw Jiang Han, who bore a strong resemblance to Jiang Yi but looked much more mature, and the patient, Jiang Churan.
The sight of Jiang Churan, leaning against the bed and receiving a nutritional IV, struck Wu Jun deeply. Her chest was completely flat, and her shoulder blades jutted out sharply. She was nothing but skin and bones; it looked like there weren’t even a couple of pounds of flesh on her entire body.
It was his first time seeing someone with anorexia. This extreme, skeletal thinness was honestly a bit chilling to look at.
"Sis, what happened to your foot? And who is this?" Jiang Han asked, her expression puzzled as she looked at Wu Jun, having seen her sister being helped in by a strange man.
"I’m fine, Sis, I just twisted my ankle." Seeing her niece on the bed, Jiang Yi’s eyes reddened and filled with tears. She quickly wiped them away before introducing Wu Jun. "This is my friend, Wu Jun. He heard about Churan’s situation and wanted to come see her."
"Auntie," Jiang Churan mumbled, hearing the voices. She shifted in the bed, her greeting to Jiang Yi incredibly weak.
Jiang Churan cherished her words like gold. After that single word to her aunt, she said no more. She gave Wu Jun a curious glance before turning away to go back to sleep.
"Hello, Ms. Jiang. I hope you don’t mind me dropping by unannounced. It was a bit presumptuous," Wu Jun said, greeting Jiang Han with a light handshake.
"Hello, Wu Jun," Jiang Han said with a sad smile. "Thank you for taking the trouble to come all this way. It’s very kind of you."
This was the first time her sister had ever brought a man to see her. Jiang Han couldn’t help but give Wu Jun a second look.
He had an upright posture, handsome features, a sharp haircut, and a tasteful sense of dress. ’Standing next to my sister, they actually look like a good match,’ she thought.
"Please, have a seat, Mr. Wu. Sis, is your foot any better?" Jiang Han gestured for them to sit down as she asked about her sister’s injury.
Jiang Yi smiled. "I just sprained it by accident last night. It’s much better today. I’ll just rest for the day, and I should be able to go to work tomorrow."
"You’re a grown woman and you still make me worry. Let me see how it’s healing." Jiang Han shook her head with a wry smile and reached for her sister’s pant leg.
"There’s no need, I’m fine, really, Sis..." Jiang Yi gently pushed her sister’s hand away and shot a discreet look at Wu Jun.
"Ms. Jiang, I came today for two reasons. First, to visit your daughter, and second, to talk to you about an inspection certificate. I’m the General Manager of Junheng Trading Co., Ltd." Taking the hint from Jiang Yi, Wu Jun went straight to the point.
Jiang Han froze for a moment at his words. The company name rang a bell, and she felt a pang of guilt about what she’d done to them.
On one hand, she had an old classmate who had helped her immensely with her daughter’s treatment, begging her repeatedly. On the other, she had a client with whom she had no quarrel. Caught in the middle, she had chosen to go against her conscience and side with her classmate.
Jiang Han said, "Mr. Wu, what we at De Nuo did was wrong, and we will compensate your company for breach of contract as stipulated in our agreement. As for the certificate, I can introduce you to another agency—they can probably issue it in about ten days. Or you could go to the national testing agency."
According to the information from Dong Lizhu, the registration deadline for the Rice Expo was the day after tomorrow. That left Wu Jun with only today and tomorrow.
At the moment, De Nuo was the only agency that could issue the certificate quickly enough. If that weren’t the case, Wu Jun wouldn’t be pinning all his hopes on them.
He had told Chen Lin to send a sample to the national agency, but she reported it would take at least ten days to get certified there. By the time the certificate came back, it would be far too late.
If he couldn’t participate in the Rice Expo because of the certificate issue and the rumors, it would be playing right into the hands of He Qingfeng, the general agent for Meng Zalang.
It was a matter of principle. Wu Jun was determined to fight He Qingfeng for the high-quality rice orders at the Expo, which meant his only option was to find a breakthrough with De Nuo.
"What if... I could cure your daughter’s anorexia?" Wu Jun asked, glancing over at the nearby bed where Jiang Churan lay with her back to them. Her protruding shoulder blades were a jarring sight.
"Mr. Wu, are you an expert in this field?" Hearing a potential solution for her daughter, Jiang Han lost her composure. She grabbed Wu Jun’s arm, her voice filled with emotion. "If you can cure my daughter, forget the certificates—I’d give you my whole company!"
Watching her daughter grow weaker by the day, Jiang Han was more frantic than anyone.
In its final stages, severe anorexia could be fatal.
If something were to happen to her daughter, she felt like she wouldn’t want to live anymore either.
A parent’s love is a powerful thing. Seeing how deeply Jiang Han cared for her daughter, most of the resentment Wu Jun felt about his certificate being blocked simply melted away.
Wu Jun admitted frankly, "I’m not a doctor or an expert of any kind. It would be more accurate to call me a gourmet."
"A gourmet?" At his words, the hopeful excitement vanished from Jiang Han’s face.
’If good food could cure my daughter, we never would have reached this point.’
Over the years, Jiang Han had taken her daughter all over the world, seeking out doctors and treatments. At the same time, they had eaten their way across the globe, visiting countless five-star Michelin restaurants, but nothing had worked.
For her daughter, eating anything was more nauseating than eating a fly. She would just throw it all up afterward. Food-based therapy had been completely ineffective.
Sitting beside them, Jiang Yi looked up at Wu Jun and shook her head helplessly.
’I thought he had some ace up his sleeve to convince my sister,’ she thought. ’If I’m not mistaken, his plan must involve the rice he’s selling.’
When Jiang Yi first tasted Hongyun Rice, she had been just as excited, thinking she had found the perfect cure for anorexia. After Wu Jun had helped load her car, the very first thing she did was take a bag to her sister’s house.
The result, however, was obvious...
If Hongyun Rice had actually worked, Jiang Churan would be in school right now, not lying in a hospital bed hooked up to a nutritional IV.