Chapter 141 — Old Buffon's Origins

"Depends on the patient herself—what does that mean?" Yang Mo could not quite understand the doctor's words.

"It means that if the patient wants to wake up, then she will be able to wake up," the doctor explained. "From my analysis, the patient must have some knot in her heart, or some regret. When she was conscious, it may have seemed trivial, but now she has very likely locked herself inside that door of the heart and refuses to come out."

"You mean she has something weighing on her mind—and if we can untie that knot, or make up for her regret, she will wake up?" Chen Shutang asked after a moment's hesitation.

"You could put it that way, though not absolutely. I can only say there is such a chance, because in medicine there have been many similar precedents," the doctor continued. "So I suggest that people familiar to the patient come more often to keep her company and talk to her. Perhaps someone will happen to know what her knot is."

"So that's how it is. Then thank you!" A flicker of delight passed through Chen Shutang's eyes, and she hurriedly thanked the doctor.

"Ha ha, you're welcome. It's my duty." The doctor smiled. "Whether the patient wakes up still depends on you. You're her good friend, and he's her boyfriend—the more you chat with the patient, the better it should be."

After seeing the doctor off, Yang Ce turned to head back to the ward, but Chen Shutang stopped him.

"Mengyan, what are you doing?" Yang Ce found Chen Shutang's behavior today truly strange. "By the way, why did you say just now that I was Zhou Yanning's boyfriend?"

"Patient records are generally confidential—how could a doctor just tell an outsider anything?" Chen Shutang said. "If I hadn't said you were Jiajia's boyfriend, how could he have told us?"

Yang Yuting nodded. So that was it. What Chen Shutang said was also the truth—even if patient records did not need to be kept confidential, one could not simply tell whoever asked.

"Let's go. Let's go in and talk with Jiajia. The doctor is right—who knows, maybe some word will strike a chord in Zhou Yanning's heart, and she might wake up," Yang Yanzhou said.

"Wait!" Chen Shutang tugged at Yang Juehuan all at once.

"What is it?" Yang Ce was puzzled and turned to look at Chen Shutang. "Is there something else?"

"I'm thirsty. Go buy me something to drink," Chen Shutang said after a moment's hesitation.

"Isn't there bottled water in the ward? I'll pour you a cup," Yang Ce said, baffled, pointing at the water dispenser.

"I want—mm—honey green tea. Go buy that for me," Chen Shutang said.

"Honey green tea?" Yang Xu shook his head helplessly. "All right, then stay here a while. I'll go downstairs and buy it for you."

"Mm, hurry up. Oh, right—the green tea has a prize promotion now. After you buy it, open it at the shop first and see if there's a prize. You might win another bottle," Chen Shutang said, seizing on an excuse to delay him further.

"All right." Yang Ce went out, though he could not quite make sense of it. Chen Shutang's behavior today was truly bizarre; her tone just now had clearly sounded as if she were trying to send him away.

Only after Chen Shutang saw Yang Ce leave the ward did she tiptoe back into Zhou Yanning's room.

Sitting beside Zhou Yanning, she took Zhou Yanning's hand, a little nervous. Yet when she saw Zhou Yanning's tightly closed eyes and bloodless face, Chen Shutang gritted her teeth and wore an expression of utter determination.

"Zhou Yanning, this is Chen Shutang. Can you hear me?" Chen Shutang said softly, gazing at Zhou Yanning.

"Jiajia, if you can hear me, then listen to what I have to say." Chen Shutang hesitated a moment. "I know you love Yang Ce. The sacrifice you were willing to make for him makes that plain enough.

Jiajia, to be honest, my first impression of you wasn't very good. But now, I'm truly moved. If you don't mind, I think the two of us could become very good friends."

Seeing that Zhou Yanning still showed no response, Chen Shutang grew anxious. "Jiajia, can you hear me? What I mean is, the kind of really close friends—close sisters, you know? Do you understand what I mean?"

When Chen Shutang said this, she felt as though her heart might leap out of her chest. After speaking, she watched Zhou Yanning nervously, but unfortunately Zhou Yanning's face remained calm. "Ah." Chen Shutang sighed, at a loss for what to do. Originally, after hearing what the doctor said, a bold idea had formed in her mind, because she suspected that Zhou Yanning's knot was very likely Yang Ce—or rather, herself.

As long as she and Yandu accepted her, wouldn't she be able to wake up? That was why Chen Shutang had gritted her teeth and said what she had just said.

If Yang Juehuan had been present, she could never have brought herself to say it. She had had no choice but to send Yang Ce away, and then have a heart-to-heart with Zhou Yanning.

Still, Chen Shutang hadn't expected to succeed on the first try. Since she had already resolved to accept Zhou Yanning, she let her mind open up. If there was time in the future, she would come keep her company more often, talk with her, chat with her, bring up more topics related to Yandu—that ought to have some effect.

Zhou Yanning showed no reaction, but one person was deeply shaken—and that person was Yang Ce.

Yang Ce had suspected earlier that Chen Shutang was hiding something from him, so after leaving the room he had found a random place to hide and peered through to observe the situation in the ward.

When he "saw" what Chen Shutang said, he was instantly overcome with excitement and astonishment. What excited him was that Chen Shutang had actually taken the initiative to accept another girl; what astonished him was that Zhou Yanning possessed such personal magnetism that even Chen Shutang, a girl with a jealous streak, had been won over by her.

Still, things seemed to be developing in a good direction. That Chen Shutang could actively accept Zhou Yanning showed that her own character was quietly changing as well.

Though she still had her complaints about Lin Yanhe and Lan Ling, if they truly spent enough time together in the future, Lin Yanhe's uncontentious nature and Lan Ling's lovableness ought to win Chen Shutang's approval.

At this thought, Yang Ce couldn't help feeling somewhat happy. But the happiness was only temporary; when he saw that Zhou Yanning had shown no reaction to what Chen Shutang said, his heart sank again.

Indeed, if Zhou Yanning had any knot at all, it should have been her feelings for him and whether Chen Shutang could accept her. But now it seemed that wasn't it after all.

Yang Ce shook his head, went downstairs, and bought green tea for Chen Shutang. And wouldn't you know it—this green tea really was a winner. He peeled off the label, and on the back it read "One More Bottle."

Yang Ce redeemed the prize right away, then returned to the ward, heavy with thought.

Chen Shutang had recovered her composure by then. Yang Ce handed her a bottle of green tea and said, "You called it—I won another bottle."

"Ah!" Chen Shutang hadn't expected such a coincidence. She had only said it offhand, and Yang Ce had actually won. But she quickly covered for herself: "See? You won. The winning rate for this stuff is pretty high."

"Yeah, one bottle's price bought two bottles. Not bad at all," Yang Yanzhou said.

"By the way, why don't you check whether the winning bottle has a prize too?" Chen Shutang asked, noticing that Yang Ce hadn't peeled the label off the green tea in his hand.

Yang Ce was taken aback, then smiled wryly. "I forgot." He had been so preoccupied just now—how could he have thought of such a thing?

To be continued.

684. Finding a Way Out

Just now he had been thinking the whole time about what Chen Shutang had said—how could Yang Ce have had the presence of mind to care about green tea prizes? It was good enough that he'd remembered one bottle.