Chapter 675 - 583: Acupuncture Anesthesia
Chapter 675: Chapter 583: Acupuncture Anesthesia
Chapter 583
Worried the elders might summon them again, they didn’t go anywhere else and had the driver take them straight back to the Gu Mansion. Gu Shaojun, also afraid Gu Shaoying might come and cause a scene, quietly led Xiao Man back to his room. He closed and bolted the door, and the two lost themselves in their own private world.
But good times always fly by too fast. In the blink of an eye, several hours had passed. The banquet at the National Guest Hotel was over, and the quiet Gu Mansion once again grew lively as the family returned. Gu Shaojun and Xiao Man remained behind closed doors. As the saying goes, love is all you need, so they didn’t feel hungry. Besides, Xiao Man had her Treasure Pearl Space, so she lacked for neither food nor drink. Mrs. Gu, however, worried her son and future daughter-in-law might be starving. She came and knocked twice, asking if they wanted anything to eat. Her pacing back and forth was discovered by the little pixie, Gu Shaoying. The girl ran to the door, pounding on it while yelling, "Brother Shaojun, open up! You stole my Sister Xiao Man again! Ahhh... You bad guy! Brother Shaojun is a bad guy!"
Xiao Man couldn’t help but cover her mouth to stifle a laugh. ’Her magnificent, handsome, and upright Brother Shaojun, branded a "bad guy" by little Gu Shaoying. How could he possibly live that down!’
Gu Shaojun was truly at his wit’s end with his little cousin. ’He’d specifically set aside time to play with the little girl this morning and had painstakingly explained that Brother Shaojun and Sister Xiao Man got engaged today. He told her they would be getting married soon, that Sister Xiao Man was going to be Brother Shaojun’s bride, and therefore, Sister Xiao Man belonged to Brother Shaojun! The little girl had even agreed, nodding her head as if she completely understood. So how had she reverted back to her old self already?’
With Gu Shaoying making such a scene, the couple couldn’t stay put any longer. They had no choice but to open the door and come out. They had only been sitting in the living room with everyone for a few minutes when Tang Qingshan and Hao Wenli arrived with their children. The twins were fair and chubby. One smiled at everyone he saw and would even wave hello, looking as endearingly plump as a lucky cat. The other was expressionless, its big, grape-like eyes shining brightly as it looked from one person to the next, seriously scanning everyone in the room. The combination of a tender little face and a solemn expression was incredibly amusing, and it was hard not to laugh. As soon as the two adorable little ones arrived, everyone rushed to hold them. The elders doted on them lovingly, while the younger ones found the little tykes simply fun and cute.
Everyone had been busy all day and was tired. Tang Qingshan and Hao Wenli stayed and chatted for about forty minutes before gathering the children to head home—taking Xiao Man with them, of course. The couple claimed they had come to pick up Grandpa Tang, but the Gu family knew their real motive.
After all, an engagement wasn’t a marriage. Of course, they were going to take her home.
Gu Shaojun walked them to the door, where three cars from the Tang family were waiting in a row. He no longer had an excuse to drive Xiao Man home himself, so all he could do was help her into the car, reluctantly let go of her hand, and close the door for her.
As he watched the cars drive off into the distance, Gu Qiming stepped forward and patted his son’s shoulder in a gesture of sympathetic consolation. "Three years will pass in the blink of an eye. When the time comes, we’ll make sure to welcome Manman into the family without a moment’s delay! Just be good and stay home tonight. You don’t want to get caught and provoke your future father-in-law. Let’s head back inside. Your grandfather wants to talk to you in more detail about the Gongsun Family and those other two Cultivators who’ve shown their faces."
Gu Shaojun nodded and followed his parents, uncle, and brothers through the main gate. But then he thought, ’I was so busy being lovey-dovey with Xiao Man that I forgot to share some of the cultivation experience I’ve gained. And I didn’t clearly say whether I’d be visiting tonight. What if she waits up for me? She won’t get a good night’s rest. Hmm, I should still go over in the middle of the night. I’ll use the Hidden Breath Technique. Worst case, I’ll just come back a bit early. As long as I’m back in my room before Grandpa and Father get up for their morning exercises, I can just walk out in front of them as if I’ve been here all along.’
At a little past eleven the next morning, Gu Shaojun bid farewell to Xiao Man and his family.
After seeing Gu Shaojun off, the others also dispersed to attend to their own affairs. It had been very thoughtful of Gu Shaofeng to rush back for his older brother’s engagement party, but naturally, he was in a hurry to return. Wu Xiangyun was on break from work, and Granny Gu had wanted her to stay for a few more days. However, Gu Shaofeng took Wu Xiangyun with him, using the excuse that he would be all alone otherwise. Granny Gu knew in her heart that her grandson was doing this because of the previous incident. He didn’t think the family could protect his wife and didn’t feel she was safe there. She couldn’t help but sigh to herself.
Gu Shaozhen’s Jade Mine was now stable enough that he could confidently leave its operation to his subordinates. He once again began busying himself with trade in the southern coastal regions. Zheng Shaolian asked Xiao Man if she wanted to go with him to Tianjin for a few days, but she shook her head. She had her own things to take care of.
Xiao Man had originally planned on visiting Southern G Province, but De Ren Hospital urgently summoned her to assist with two major surgeries, forcing her to cancel her trip.
Ever since De Ren Hospital had successfully performed heart surgery on a patient with a unique constitution using acupuncture anesthesia instead of conventional drugs, it had admitted several other patients who couldn’t undergo surgery with anesthetics for various reasons. Xiao Man, naturally, was the one who had first performed the procedure. The Sun’s Medical Books recorded that her predecessors had used just a few silver needles on acupoints to provide anesthesia and pain relief for everything from cesarean births to scraping away diseased flesh down to the bone. When she first used this acupuncture method, Xiao Man was also quite nervous. After all, animal anatomy was different from human anatomy, and it was impossible to experiment on living people. She dared to forge ahead by learning as she went, relying on her mastery of the Sun’s Acupuncture Method and the spirit plant medicine from her Treasure Pearl Space, which served as a safety net to protect the patient’s life no matter what. After several successful surgeries, she had finally summarized her experiences. Dean Sun and the other senior traditional Chinese medicine doctors observed from the sidelines, but they still weren’t confident they could perform it as flawlessly as Xiao Man, who could keep a patient conscious yet completely pain-free until the surgery was successfully completed.
Therefore, Xiao Man had to continue overseeing this area. She would only be able to relax a little once someone else had completely mastered the technique.
No one from Gongdao Village had attended Xiao Man and Gu Shaojun’s engagement party. They had figured there was no need to travel all the way to Beijing, since Xiao Man had said she would be coming home for her break. In fact, Grandpa and Grandma had been planning for Gu Shaojun to visit the village as well so they could throw a huge, lively feast with slaughtered pigs and sheep. They were quite disappointed when Xiao Man called to say she couldn’t return after all. However, looking at their newly constructed house—which still needed to be renovated and couldn’t be decorated as a proper bridal suite—they felt a bit more at ease with the delay.
Over the phone, Grandpa and Grandma urged Xiao Man to come back for the Spring Festival instead. The new building was four stories tall, they said, with more than enough room for everyone. They told her that anyone who had the time should try to come back, and they could all celebrate the housewarming and have a lively, festive, and prosperous New Year together!