Han Jinghong walked out the door with his two subordinates. All along the way, the villagers automatically cleared a path for them.

But no one dared to greet him, which he found incredibly frustrating.

He also felt a little regretful for not having said goodbye to Su Shuochi before leaving. ’But we probably won’t cross paths again in the future,’ he thought.

The thought made him feel a bit better. As they were nearing the village entrance,

Han Jinghong suddenly stopped and turned to look at the older man trailing behind them. "Mayor Zhang, why are you following us?"

"Heh heh, I was hoping to invite you to my office for a visit," Mayor Zhang said quickly, trying to curry favor.

He couldn’t miss this opportunity to get acquainted with a junior member of the Han family. If his father found out he’d passed it up, he’d be skinned alive.

Han Jinghong’s brow furrowed. ’This man is certainly persistent.’ However, he had no intention of befriending someone like him.

"That won’t be necessary! We have other business to attend to." With that, he got into the car without a backward glance and slammed the door shut.

Watching their car drive away, Mayor Zhang was extremely vexed.

He couldn’t let it go!

He would never forget how his own father had to wait outside the Han family’s estate for an answer before he was even allowed to set foot inside.

It was only then that he realized his wife hadn’t followed him. He barked angrily at his subordinate, "Go back and find the missus. If she hasn’t followed, don’t bother calling for her."

"Yes, sir." The subordinate acknowledged the order and ran back toward the village.

And Hu Meili had indeed not left with him. She wanted to stay behind to get a few more glimpses of the man who occupied her thoughts.

’I refuse to believe my cold, distant Shuoci could ever find a wife,’ she thought, though a part of her wasn’t so sure.

After all, her Shuoci was even more dashing and handsome than before, radiating masculine charm.

Even that old man of hers, who had been in a high position for years, couldn’t hold a candle to Shuoci!

She saw that her husband was long gone, yet her entire family kept their heads bowed even lower.

Even her normally arrogant parents didn’t dare utter a peep. Her sister-in-law’s face was ashen.

Her eyes flashed with endless panic; she knew she had caused a huge disaster today!

She had always looked down on everyone else, all because she had a brother-in-law who was the town mayor.

She was especially cruel to her eldest sister-in-law, always kicking her when she was down and taunting her with sarcastic remarks.

Now, the mayor, her family’s own powerful in-law, didn’t even dare to offend that man. He had abandoned his own wife and run off.

The Hu family’s youngest daughter-in-law finally understood the meaning of fear. If their mayoral in-law wouldn’t help her, her fate would be miserable.

"What are you all standing around for? Get the hell home, now," Mr. Hu ordered. Seeing that his son-in-law was gone, he started acting tyrannically in front of his children and grandchildren again.

"Dad, Mom, we can’t just go home!" the second daughter-in-law said anxiously. "This is a golden opportunity to get on their good side!"

"You shut your mouth!"

Mr. Hu’s voice suddenly jumped an octave, making every member of the Hu Family flinch.

They quickly scurried home. Even Hu Meili couldn’t help but shiver, but despite her fear, she was still unwilling to leave.

’She felt this was a chance from heaven, a chance to pursue Shuoci again.’

Since his third daughter refused to leave, Mr. Hu had no choice but to soften his tone and instruct her, "My dear girl, your eldest brother and sister-in-law are still in the main hall. You and your mother stay here and look after them."

"Okay, Dad, don’t worry," Hu Meili’s voice chirped with a hint of glee.

Gu Jiaojiao had no idea her husband was once again the object of another woman’s affection. She was extremely busy at the moment.

Her university’s president had taken Professor Frank to a suburban hospital near the Imperial City for an inspection, and the higher-ups had specifically requested that Gu Jiaojiao be brought along.

It was only then that the president learned that Gu Jiaojiao was, in fact, the renowned Divine Doctor Su Gu.

They had only heard that Divine Doctor Su Gu was the nation’s foremost all-around medical expert.

Her medical skills were unparalleled. She was proficient in traditional medicine, acupuncture, and pharmacology, yet she was also an exceptional surgeon—a true prodigy in the field of Western medicine.

By combining both disciplines, she had saved countless people from the brink of death. The term "miraculous hands that bring the dead back to life" seemed to have been coined just for her.

Many sudden-onset diseases in the world spread far and wide before their root cause can even be identified.

For example, during the epidemic meningitis outbreak more than a decade ago, one person contracted the disease and, unknowingly, boarded a train.

That single act spread the virus to every corner of the country, and the number of cases exploded.

During that meningitis epidemic, several million people were infected. It was an outbreak the likes of which hadn’t been seen in a century.

Now, news had broken of an unexplained hemorrhagic fever, which the higher-ups were taking very seriously. After hearing about the symptoms, Professor Frank was especially eager to see the patients himself.

It was only after examining a few patients that Gu Jiaojiao recalled it: it seemed that in the early summer of the coming year, a suspected epidemic of hemorrhagic fever had broken out along the Yellow River region.

An expert had led numerous medical teams to the affected area to investigate. After ruling out over a dozen possible viral hemorrhagic fevers, they had speculated that it might be a mild form of the disease caused by the brown rat.

Gu Jiaojiao hadn’t expected to see cases appearing as early as the beginning of spring. Fortunately, she still remembered the prescription.

All she needed to do was refine that formula and have the Xiao Family Pharmaceutical Factory mass-produce it. She was confident the outbreak could be brought under control quickly.

After all, the virus carried by the brown rat spread with incredible speed.

A single person could experience several bouts of cold-like symptoms or fever in a month. Sometimes, a patient who had just recovered would relapse with a fever in less than three days.

"Something’s not right! This isn’t right at all..." an elderly expert on the team muttered to himself, shaking his head.

"Indeed. This patient has had multiple relapsing fevers. We were able to control it initially, but after so many relapses, it’s become difficult," the director of the local hospital immediately responded.

When he learned that a professor from Imperial Capital Medical University was personally leading a group of students to his hospital, he had been ecstatic, leading his entire staff in a grand, welcoming reception.

The old expert truly lived up to his reputation. He frowned in thought. ’This was a bizarre case, the likes of which they had never encountered.’

"Everyone, pay attention. This patient isn’t suffering from a common cold or fever. This case is like... like... like..."

"Like what?" another elderly expert beside him asked.

"Like some kind of viral infection..."

"A viral infection?" a young student asked in disbelief. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

The expert nodded and said, "It’s just a hypothesis, but I can’t confirm it yet."

"This microorganism can infect a person within an hour. It wouldn’t be so frightening if we could develop a special drug that could eliminate it quickly."

"Are you saying you can develop such a drug?" the director asked eagerly.

"Elder Song is one of the senior experts who helped develop the meningitis vaccine," a colleague announced proudly.

"As long as we apply the correct treatment, we can use medication to completely clear out the source of the infection. This pathogen is caused by the brown rat. With a drug slightly better than streptomycin, you can completely eliminate the virus within an hour—"

"Where did this little girl come from, and what nonsense is she spouting?" An angry roar cut Gu Jiaojiao off before she could finish.