Chapter 49: Bringing Old Madam Dou Back to Consciousness

Ziji directly transmitted his voice to Yun Zhi: "How strange. Why does this old lady look like she should have a relatively close blood relation to you?"

Yun Zhi: ……???

Although she learned from Xiao Jiu that Old Madam Dou's daughter had been abducted by traffickers at the age of five, and upon their first meeting, Yun Zhi had thought Old Madam Dou looked somewhat familiar, she never expected that this person might actually be an elder of her own family!

Moreover, what Ziji said was that they shared a relatively close blood relation.

Yun Zhi hurriedly asked in a low voice, "Could your perception be wrong?"

Ziji replied, "Impossible! I definitely did not misread it! In my past life, I practiced techniques related to bloodline perception. With a single sweep of my divine soul power, I can distinguish who is related by blood to whom, and I can roughly tell the degree of closeness."

To prove his capability, Ziji even gave examples.

"Two days ago, Old Man Lu brought me to a high-society banquet in Haicheng. A blind fool came to pick a fight with me, thinking that since I wasn't going to work at the Lu Corporation, I must have fallen out of favor, and came to watch me make a fool of myself.

I exposed him on the spot, revealing that he was not the biological son of the eldest branch who actually held real power in the Zhang family, but rather the son of the third branch. Little poor thing Zhang Si from the third branch, who was unloved by his parents and frequently beaten and scolded, was actually the true biological son of the eldest branch of the Zhang family! At first, they didn't believe what I said, but later they went and got a DNA test overnight and found out that everything I said was completely correct! As it turns out, the two of them were intentionally switched by the third branch's wife at birth!

Now, the Zhang family is quite lively! Third Master Zhang has become the biggest joke himself! Let's see if he still has the leisure to watch me make a fool of myself!"

Ziji continued, "And there's more! Mrs. Li and Mr. Luo have always been a model couple in Haicheng's elite circle, deeply affectionate. Because of health reasons, Mrs. Li could not have children, so Mr. Luo adopted a pair of son and daughter from an orphanage. Everyone praised him for his deep affection and righteousness. Guess what? That son and daughter were both born biologically to Mr. Luo! And they didn't even have the same mother!

I heard that this fellow surnamed Luo only became rich thanks to the support of Mrs. Li's maiden family. Eating soft rice and still daring to cuckold his wife? Unforgivable! I had someone send Mrs. Li the paternity test report of her adopted children and her husband!

Before I boarded the plane, I heard that Mrs. Li's father, uncles, and brothers all banded together, broke the scumbag Luo's legs, and forced him to leave with nothing!"

Yun Zhi: ……

So this is what you meant when you said you were very bored staying at the Lu family? It's clearly quite lively and exciting, and you're eating melons every single day.

This guy is just like Lu Ziji, both of them love eating melons. As expected of the same soul.

However, this also corroborated the accuracy of Ziji's soul art in identifying blood relations.

Yun Zhi recalled carefully, pondering the life story of her mother, Ran Yao...

Come to think of it, it was indeed very possible that Ran Yao was not the biological daughter of the Ran family.

Ran Yao had fallen seriously ill at the age of five and had forgotten everything before that age.

The Ran family certainly did not treat Ran Yao well.

They were extremely biased in favor of boys over girls. All the household chores fell to Ran Yao, while her younger brother, who was six years younger than her, was treated like a precious treasure, whereas she was treated like a blade of grass, subjected to beatings and scoldings at every turn.

Ran Yao was beautiful and excelled in her studies, consistently ranking in the top three of her school year.

The appearances of Ran Yao's parents and younger brother were only average, and her brother Ran Bin's grades were at the very bottom; he stopped studying after finishing junior high school.

When Ran Yao graduated from junior high school, they wanted to marry her off to a domestic abuser in the next village who had already lost two wives, simply because that man's family was wealthy and offered a high bride price.

Ran Yao did not want to be forced into marriage at the age of fifteen, let alone to such piece-of-trash garbage, so she ran away with some young female peers from the same village to work in G Province.

After working and earning money for half a year, Ran Yao went back to continue high school.

Having tasted life out in society for half a year, Ran Yao had gained a lot of worldly experience and understood that only through education could she avoid having to do bottom-tier manual labor forever.

Moreover, after realizing she could support herself through her own labor, the natural fear she held toward the Ran family parents dissipated a great deal.

Ran Yao threatened the Ran family: if they dared to force her to marry, unless they had the ability to lock her up for the rest of her life, the moment she got any opportunity, she would definitely take a kitchen knife and kill every single member of the Ran family, and then commit suicide.

If she didn't get the chance to use a kitchen knife, she would wait until they fell asleep to set a fire or poison their food with rat poison while cooking. In short, methods were always more numerous than difficulties!

Her core stance was: if you dare to sell me for money to live a good life, then the whole family will go to hell together, and none of us will survive!

Because Ran Yao was so fierce in nature and difficult to manipulate, the Ran family had no choice but to give up their plan to trade her for a high bride price. From then on, their attitude toward Ran Yao improved a lot.

They finally saw clearly that Ran Yao had a sharp mind, studied well, and would definitely have a promising future in the future. Offending her completely would yield no benefits.

They even took the initiative to provide Ran Yao with tuition and living expenses, trying hard to mend the relationship with this daughter.

Although they still favored boys over girls, at most they would just hurl a few curses; they no longer dared to casually resort to violence, and they reduced the household chores they made Ran Yao do significantly.

They were terrified that if Ran Yao got unhappy, she would truly drag their whole family down with her.

Ran Yao only regarded the Ran family as plastic relatives; as for how good the relationship was, absolutely not.

Later, Ran Yao went to college, fell in love with Yun Xinbo—who was from the same university but a different major—during their freshman year, and they got married right after graduation.

Relying on the demolition compensation from the old house left by Yun Xinbo's adoptive parents, the two started from scratch and became real estate developers in Z City.

After achieving wealth, Ran Yao remembered that no matter how bad the Ran family had been, they had still given birth to and raised her. She bought the Ran family two apartments in an ordinary residential compound, two cars worth over one hundred thousand yuan each, and two small storefronts, which was enough for their family to live worry-free even without working.

However, there was nothing more than that. Her uncle wanted to "borrow money" from them to start a business, but Ran Yao bit her tongue and refused to give it.

As for the things given to the Ran family, she would buy better holiday and festival gifts for the elders, and give more generous red envelopes to the two children of her uncle's family, totaling around one hundred to two hundred thousand yuan a year.

For an ordinary family, that was already very generous, but compared to the Yun family's net worth of several hundreds of millions during their peak, it was completely negligible.

Therefore, while the Ran family fawned on Ran Yao on the surface, who knew how many times they cursed her behind her back.

Yun Zhi's monthly allowance during high school alone was one hundred thousand yuan.

Fearing that Yun Zhi would be hoodwinked by the fake kindness put on by her maternal grandparents, uncle, aunt, and cousins, Ran Yao had never kept these messy matters a secret from her.

Later, when the Yun family went bankrupt, the Ran family refused to even lend money for Ran Yao and Yun Xinbo's medical expenses, and even blocked Yun Zhi.

Yun Zhi was filled with vexation. If she had known earlier, they shouldn't have given that family gifts worth one hundred to two hundred thousand a year; those people had never regarded Ran Yao as family at all!

As for the situation on Yun Xinbo's side of the family, it was also a nest of heart-wrenching trouble.

Yun Xinbo was adopted at the age of seven by a paternal uncle of the same clan who had no children—namely, his adoptive parents.

Yun Xinbo's biological parents had given birth to four sons and three daughters, and Yun Xinbo was the youngest son.

The couple of the same clan uncle who ran a breakfast shop in a big city and had bought a house had no children, and they did not want to adopt a child who was too young and had no blood relation at all. Thus, they returned to their hometown to ask if anyone was willing to put a child up for adoption.

They also stated that they were willing to give a "foster fee" of three thousand yuan.

That was in the year 1987, when a worker's salary was only tens of yuan a month. Three thousand yuan was simply a huge fortune!

For the sake of three thousand yuan, Yun Xinbo's biological parents sold him, and even exhorted Yun Xinbo not to forget his roots, telling him to smuggle more food and supplies from his adoptive parents' home to theirs in the future, and money would be even better.

Yun Xinbo was seven years old at that time and already had memories, but compared to his biological parents who sold him for money, he felt much more grateful to his adoptive parents.

During the period he was adopted, he never went back to visit his biological parents even once. He did not want to become an ungrateful thief who stole from his own home, and his biological parents would not have been happy to see him return empty-handed either.

They constantly cursed him as heartless and an ungrateful wolf.

Later, when Yun Xinbo was a high school freshman, his adoptive father contracted a terminal illness, and not long after, his adoptive mother also fell ill.

The elderly couple lingered on their sickbeds for over a year before eventually passing away.

When treating the two elders, all the money in the house had been spent, and the storefront had also been sold.

When Yun Xinbo returned to his hometown village and finished handling his adoptive parents' funeral arrangements, he had zero money in his hands and was even tens of thousands in debt.

His biological parents showed no intention of acknowledging him back, telling him to get lost as far away as possible, and several of his older brothers and sisters would detour around him whenever they saw him from afar, terrified that the underage Yun Xinbo would latch onto them.

Returning to the city, Yun Xinbo simply couldn't bear to sell the old house left by his adoptive parents. He had no choice but to sell everything of value in the house, and even went to sell his blood twice.

The person who lent money to treat the two elders was Old Grandpa Li, a lonely old neighbor. Knowing Yun Xinbo's situation, he wasn't in a hurry for the money and never urged him to pay it back. Upon finding out that he had gone to sell blood, he gave Yun Xinbo a severe scolding, forbade him from doing it again, and even recognized Yun Xinbo as his god-grandson, telling Yun Xinbo to come to his house for meals from then on.

Later, when Yun Xinbo was a sophomore in college, his family's house was demolished for redevelopment.

Old Grandpa Li refused to accept the money Yun Xinbo tried to return and instead gave Yun Xinbo his own share of the demolition compensation, telling him to use it to start a business.

These two sums of demolition compensation formed Yun Xinbo's first pot of gold in achieving wealth.

Once Yun Xinbo became wealthy, the very first thing he did was to bring his godfather home and provide for him until the end of his days.

Later, when Yun Xinbo was in middle school, Grandpa Li lived to be 90 years old and passed away peacefully in his sleep.

Yun Xinbo's biological parents and six older brothers and sisters all came knocking on his door, demanding money on the grounds of the grace of birth and upbringing, and talking about the bonds of brotherhood and sisterhood.

Why was it that Yun Xinbo could feed and care for an old man with whom he shared no blood relation, yet he completely ignored them, his biological family who shared blood ties?

Not wanting them to come and make a scene every day, Yun Xinbo bought his biological parents an apartment in the county town and sent a monthly living allowance of ten thousand yuan, but nothing else whatsoever.

Those uncles, aunts, and cousins frequently brought their children to visit the Yun household. Although Yun Xinbo disliked his older siblings—during his hardest days in high school when he was too poor to even eat and had to sell blood, not a single one of them had ever extended a helping hand—he was soft-hearted toward the children and often gave them thick red envelopes and expensive gifts.

Every single family managed to fleece the Yun family of tens of thousands of yuan a year.

Likewise, when the Yun family fell on hard times, not a single one of these so-called relatives of the Yun family extended a helping hand. When Yun Zhi called them to borrow money for medical expenses, they even mocked and ridiculed Yun Zhi, resenting the Yun family for giving them too little in the past.

After going through these drastic ups and downs, Yun Zhi simply regarded the relatives and elders on both sides of her parents as completely non-existent! There would be no more dealings with them in the future!

No matter how great the grace of birth and upbringing was, the returns Ran Yao and Yun Xinbo had given them over the years were more than enough to repay it.

Yun Zhi never expected that a close blood relative would suddenly pop up out of nowhere.

Once the answer was revealed and she re-examined Old Madam Dou's features, she could tell that she and Ran Yao indeed bore a two-to-three-tenths resemblance... It was just that the similarity wasn't high, and with the lamp-in-the-dark blind spot, Yun Zhi hadn't been able to recall it immediately.

As it turned out, Ran Yao was not biologically related to the Ran family at all. No wonder they treated Ran Yao so poorly!

However, blood relations could not represent everything. Didn't Yun Xinbo's biological parents treat him worse than his adoptive parents and godfather?

However, Old Madam Dou's situation was different. Her daughter had been lost for thirty-eight years, yet she had never given up searching for her and had even done many good deeds.

She was definitely a respectable and good elder!

Even if she wasn't her biological maternal grandmother, Yun Zhi had already made up her mind to save Old Madam Dou and ensure her personal safety to the best of her ability.

Since she was her biological maternal grandmother, she had to pay even more attention and ensure her personal safety one hundred percent.

Yun Zhi said, "Old Madam Dou is most likely my biological maternal grandmother. She still misses her daughter deeply, so she will surely like me, her granddaughter, and shouldn't mind me making decisions on her behalf."

Ziji knew that Yun Zhi had originally wanted to directly channel wood-type vital energy into Old Madam Dou at the hospital to wake her up, and after explaining the general situation to her, ask Old Madam Dou what she wanted to do.

If Old Madam Dou was willing to leave with her, she would also paste an invisibility talisman on Old Madam Dou and carry her away on her back.

After all, she was an outsider and it wouldn't be appropriate for her to make decisions for Old Madam Dou.

But the situation was different now. This was her biological maternal grandmother!

Ziji asked, "Do you want to take her away?"

Yun Zhi nodded and said, "Staying here for even one more minute, I feel like bad guys might rush in at any moment to harm my grandmother. I want to take her back to Haicheng first before giving her treatment."

The surveillance at the entrance of this hospital room had been temporarily jammed by Ziji's lightning-type superpower.

However, just to be safe, Yun Zhi felt that pasting an invisibility talisman on Old Madam Dou was still not secure enough; it would be best to take her into her spatial safe house.

Furthermore, she couldn't take her directly back to her own home.

What if some tracking device had been implanted in the old lady's body?

Or what if the enemy could locate Old Madam Dou's position using non-natural means, utilizing things like hair or blood?

What Yun Zhi worried about, Ziji had thought of as well. He pondered for a moment and said, "How about this? Let's take her to the annex of the Lu Family Manor first. I'll set up a magical array around that building to guarantee that no one can trace Old Madam Dou's location through metaphysical means. Then we'll throw in a few signal jammers so scientific methods can't track her either! Even if she is truly found, they wouldn't dare barge into the Lu Family Manor casually; the Lu family has dozens of specially trained bodyguards, so safety is absolutely guaranteed."

Yun Zhi asked, "Will this bring trouble to your grandfather?"

Ziji replied, "For the next few days, I will personally hold down the fort at the Lu Family Manor. Surely you can rest assured then?"

"Relieved, absolutely relieved!"

Yun Zhi directly spent one hundred contribution points to take the unconscious Old Madam Dou into her spatial safe house, letting her rest on the sofa.

The invisibility talisman on both of them hadn't worn off yet, so they left the hospital room silently, and even left the hospital entirely.

Following that, they boarded a Lu family private jet overnight and returned to Haicheng.

After Ziji arranged and set up the most secluded villa in the Lu Family Manor, Yun Zhi released Old Madam Dou.

Dou Wanqin lay on the comfortably arranged large bed, still in a state of deep sleep.

Yun Zhi directly took out three wood-type energy stones, absorbing the vital energy within them with her left hand and channeling it into the old lady's body with her right.

Three hours later, the energy stones were depleted, and the malevolent Qi in Dou Wanqin's brain had also completely vanished.

A few more minutes later, Dou Wanqin slowly regained consciousness.

Upon seeing Yun Zhi, she was stunned for a moment, then quickly and calmly asked, "Who are you?"

Her voice was hoarse and weak, but not flustered in the slightest.

The current situation was relatively complex, and Yun Zhi feared that if the old woman suddenly learned of so many heavyweight pieces of news, the drastic emotional ups and downs might be too much for her to bear.

She smiled and said, "My name is Yun Zhi. I know you must have many doubts right now. Come, have some food first to regain some strength, and I'll explain everything to you slowly."

With that, Yun Zhi picked up a bowl of white porridge with a small amount of hundred-flower dew added and fed it to Old Madam Dou.

Hundred-flower dew contained gentle spiritual energy, and ordinary mortals with weak constitutions could also consume it in small amounts. It was very helpful for easing pain and recovering physical health, provided through Ziji's friendly sponsorship.

Old Madam Dou had always been a person with very high vigilance, but this time, she couldn't generate a shred of suspicion. She subconsciously felt that this little girl would definitely not harm her.

If she wanted to harm her, while she was unconscious, the other party would have had plenty of opportunities to make a move.

She cooperated obediently and drank the porridge.

The portion of a small bowl of porridge was not large, and Old Madam Dou finished it quickly. Feeling that it wasn't quite enough, she felt she could easily eat three more bowls!

Seeing Old Madam Dou staring longingly at the empty bowl, Yun Zhi amusedly said, "You've been in a coma for over a month, usually maintaining your body with nutrient drips and a small amount of liquid food. Now that you've just woken up, you can't eat too much at once. You need to eat small, frequent meals."

Old Madam Dou looked disappointed: ……Oh well.

Clearly, it was just a bland bowl of white porridge, yet it tasted better than any food she had ever eaten.

After finishing the porridge, her weak body quickly regained a bit of strength.

This was because the hundred-flower dew in the porridge had taken effect.

Old Madam Dou sat up and said, "I feel much better now. Little girl, can you tell me where this is and what the current situation is?"

Yun Zhi first stated the address.

Old Madam Dou was completely baffled: "The Haicheng Lu family? I have no dealings with the Lu family at all!"

Yun Zhi explained, "This is my friend's house."

Old Madam Dou looked Yun Zhi up and down: "Then who are you?"

Just as Yun Zhi was about to speak, Old Madam Dou guessed first: "Could you be the granddaughter given to me by my daughter who was separated from me for many years?"

Yun Zhi: ……

How is it that every single guess of yours hits the mark?!

Yun Zhi looked admiring: "Yes, exactly like that! You guessed it right away!"

Old Madam Dou was shocked: "I was just blurting it out casually, and it actually is?!"

Yun Zhi: ……

Yun Zhi speechlessly said, "I thought you noticed that my mother and I share a few similar features?"

Old Madam Dou retorted, "My daughter got lost when she was five years old. How would I know what she looks like grown up?"

It didn't look like an emotional reunion between long-separated grandmother and granddaughter at all.

Yun Zhi blushed with shame: "Don't you want to doubt whether what I said is a lie?"

Old Madam Dou said, "You were able to let an old woman in critical condition stay in the Haicheng richest man's old mansion; you're definitely not someone short on money. Who knows, in certain aspects, you might even possess great capabilities."

"Little girl, the porridge you gave me just now is extraordinary. You added good stuff that money can't buy, right?"

"If I weren't your biological maternal grandmother, would you be so generous?"

One had to admit that Old Madam Dou was able to sit in the position of the richest businesswoman in X City because her brain was indeed sharp and her experience was extensive.

Old Madam Dou continued, "Besides, a fortune-teller whose predictions were very accurate once read my fortune, saying that I would face a fatal tribulation this year. If I survived it, I would find my long-lost family member and everything would go smoothly afterwards, living a long life of a hundred years.

If I couldn't survive it, I wouldn't live past September."

Today was August 26th...

Yun Zhi couldn't help breaking out in a cold sweat. Fortunately, she had accepted Bai Miao's mission commission; otherwise, wouldn't her biological maternal grandmother have only a few days left to live?

Thinking about how she wouldn't even have time to recognize each other before the only elder who treated them well was gone just made her feel deeply heartbroken.

What a massive stroke of luck!

Yun Zhi hurriedly said, "Your fatal tribulation has passed, it has definitely passed! Everything will go smoothly and you will be healthy and well from now on!"

Old Madam Dou beckoned to Yun Zhi, "Come here, let grandma take a good look at you. Waking up to see such a pretty granddaughter! I adore you to death!"

Yun Zhi nervously got up from the chair by the bed and sat on the edge of the bed instead.

Her affinity with elders was shallow. Aside from the adoptive grandfather who lived with their family when she was young, she hadn't been close to her maternal or paternal grandparents. This was her first time being so close to an elder.

Old Madam Dou pinched Yun Zhi's fair and tender hand, then patted her face: "So pretty, as expected of my seed! Even prettier than I was when I was young!"

Yun Zhi couldn't laugh or cry. Who said Old Madam Dou was difficult to get along with?

She was clearly a narcissistic and cute old lady!

Old Madam Dou looked Yun Zhi over very carefully and then asked about her mother, Ran Yao.

Yun Zhi took out photos and short videos of Ran Yao from her mobile phone to show Old Madam Dou, and told her about Ran Yao's experiences over the years.

When she mentioned how Ran Yao had to shoulder all the household chores in the Ran family when she was little, was frequently beaten and scolded, and was even almost sold by the Ran family for a high bride price, tears flickered in the old lady's eyes, and she was extremely furious, wishing she could beat the Ran family up!

However, no matter how she looked at it, the greatest responsibility still lay with her as the birth mother, who was busy with work and neglected her daughter.

The nanny took the child out to play, and in the blink of an eye, the child was abducted by traffickers... Otherwise, how could her precious daughter have suffered so much bitterness?

Upon learning that Ran Yao was living very happily now and was currently preparing to open a private restaurant, which would officially open next week, Old Madam Dou was extremely pleased: "Good, good! Although I couldn't accompany Yaoyao by her side, as long as she is healthy and happy now, that's enough!"

Ran Yao used to be named Yao Yao.

After understanding the current situation of Ran Yao and the Yun family, Old Madam Dou's mood improved a lot.

She slowly spoke up, "Yun Zhi, child, I don't know how you found me and managed to bypass those people watching me, successfully bringing me to Haicheng. But since you have the ability to wake me up, it shows that you probably aren't an ordinary person. You've probably guessed that my coma for over a month was related to Su Wan, the adopted daughter of the Su family... She is very weird. I tried many times to stay far away from her, but I simply couldn't avoid it!"