Chapter 983 — Meeting the Parents! "You are too kind, Uncle Feng," Wei Zhao said, and still he did not release Tang Yun's hand, drawing her into the room with him.

What Wei Zhao had just done was, beyond all doubt, a declaration of his feelings to Tang Yun — a sign that she need not worry, need not hesitate. Tang Yun was clearly delighted as well, nestling close at Wei Zhao's side.

Feng Tianlong merely smiled, then led Wei Zhao and Tang Yun into the room. He was staying in a suite with a sitting room of its own. He invited Wei Zhao to the sofa and went to fetch each of them a bottle from the room's refreshment cabinet. "I did not brew any tea — forgive me!"

"Don't mention it; we are not all that fond of tea anyway." Wei Zhao smiled as he accepted the bottle Feng Tianlong handed over. It was a kind of pomelo tea that was all the rage at the moment, but Wei Zhao had little interest in drinks of any kind and passed them both straight to Tang Yun.

Feng Tianlong took a bottle of mineral water for himself as well, then sat down on the sofa facing Wei Zhao and Tang Yun. "Wei Zhao, Tang Yun, thank you so much for doing me the honor of coming to see me. I am truly grateful."

"Uncle Feng, you and I are old acquaintances — let us have done with the polite talk. You asked me here because...?" Wei Zhao waved a hand. He knew Feng Tianlong's pleasantries were meant for Tang Yun's ears, yet he had no intention of keeping anything from her either. The dangerous matters of the past were better left unspoken for now, but there was no need to hide the fact that he and Feng Tianlong had known each other long ago.

Feng Tianlong was taken aback for an instant, then nodded. "Very well, then I shall come straight to the point. The reason I sent for you is to speak about Xiaoxiao..."

"Uncle Feng, since you know I have a girlfriend, there is really nothing between Xiaoxiao and me — that much you are aware of." Wei Zhao restated the matter plainly in front of Tang Yun.

"I know!" Feng Tianlong waved his hand. "It is one-sided affection on the child's part. I can see that clearly! And she has never told me she has any special relationship with you!"

At Feng Tianlong's words, Tang Yun's heart relaxed. The scenario she had dreaded never materialized — he did not fling a great sum of money at her and demand that she leave Wei Zhao — and the color returned to her face considerably.

"Oh? Then Uncle Feng asked me here in order to..." Wei Zhao regarded Feng Tianlong with some puzzlement and let the question hang.

"It is like this. Xiaoxiao's illness — you know of it, do you not?" Feng Tianlong paused a moment in thought, then went directly to the heart of the matter.

"Xiaoxiao's illness? She is ill?" Wei Zhao blinked, more bewildered still. "I only just had a meal with her the other day. There is nothing wrong with her!"

"Oh? You do not know? Xiaoxiao never told you?" Feng Tianlong was startled as well, then smiled ruefully. "Of course — knowing Xiaoxiao's character, even if she does like you she would never resort to such a ploy to win your sympathy..."

Feng Tianlong's words only deepened Wei Zhao's strange unease. "Uncle Feng, do you mean to say that Xiaoxiao has fallen ill?"

"It is not that she has fallen ill. She has carried a hereditary sickness since childhood — did you never notice?" Feng Tianlong too was somewhat surprised. "As far as I know, you are a miracle doctor, are you not? The old master of the Liu family — Liu Zhenhu's *** illness — you cured it yourself, did you not?"

Wei Zhao frowned, but at once let it go. With the intelligence at Feng Tianlong's disposal, learning such things was no great difficulty. He nodded. "That is correct. I was the one who cured him."

Seeing Wei Zhao frown, Feng Tianlong went on. "The news that you cured the old master of the Liu family is no longer any secret — it has already spread through all of high society in Yanjing! It must have been the Liu family who released it themselves! I only just received word of it."

Feng Tianlong was not mistaken. He had set men to the specific task of keeping watch for any news concerning Wei Zhao, so the moment the report broke that Liu Zhenhu had been cured by Wei Zhao, his men brought it to him at the very first opportunity.

Feng Tianlong had originally meant to wait a few days before sending for Wei Zhao, but once he learned this, he could no longer contain the anxiety in his heart! If Wei Zhao could cure even Liu Zhenhu's *** illness, then might he not also be able to cure Xiaoxiao's hereditary sickness?

So when Feng Xiaoxiao telephoned to tell him she had already spoken with Wei Zhao, Feng Tianlong could not wait a moment longer and dialed Wei Zhao's number! Still, the reason he had asked Tang Yun to come as well was that he was keeping a card in reserve.

If Wei Zhao could cure Feng Xiaoxiao's illness, so much the better. But what if he could not?

"They released the news themselves..." Wei Zhao pondered for no more than a moment and grasped the Liu family's intention. In principle this matter ought to have been kept strictly secret by the Liu family — but to release it at precisely this moment, their meaning was self-evident.

They were declaring their立场 to the Yu family and the Xiao family! The Yu and Xiao families had made an enemy of Wei Zhao, while the Liu family owed him a debt of gratitude — they would naturally never lend those two a hand, and at the critical hour they might well stand at Wei Zhao's side!

Having divined the Liu family's purpose, Wei Zhao bore them no grudge; he found them, if anything, rather interesting — at such a moment, daring to stake so bold a gamble! Were they not afraid that once the Yu family and the Xiao family had destroyed him, they would turn next upon the Lius themselves?

Be that as it may, Wei Zhao's impression of the Liu family had improved a trifle — at the very least it diluted the displeasure Wu Huiru had left behind.

"Let us speak first of Xiaoxiao's matter!" said Feng Tianlong. "This story begins on Xiaoxiao's mother's side of the family. That line carries a hereditary sickness — the boys are left untouched by it entirely, yet not one girl upon it has ever lived past the age of twenty!"

"What? A hereditary sickness?" Wei Zhao stared blankly. "Then Xiaoxiao she..."

"Yes. Xiaoxiao has it too, and as the years pass her constitution will grow ever weaker — until death." At this a flicker of sorrow passed through Feng Tianlong's eyes, the sorrow of a man without recourse. His daughter was slipping gradually toward the end of her life, and Feng Tianlong could do nothing whatsoever about it. He had no way to save her, no way to alter any part of it.

When his wife had been taken from his side all those years ago, he had been grief-stricken, and he had held to the hope that as science and medicine grew ever more advanced, some means of curing his daughter would be found! But in the blink of an eye nineteen years had gone by, and with his daughter on the verge of leaving him forever, not a single remedy had appeared.

After all, her illness was far too rare a thing — too many institutions had no way of devoting themselves to studying it.

"What — death? Xiaoxiao is only nineteen now, so she..." Wei Zhao's eyes went wide in horror. He had never imagined that Feng Xiaoxiao should suffer such a bizarre affliction, nor that she was about to die! Of course Wei Zhao did not believe Feng Tianlong was joking — given his standing and his character, there was neither need nor reason for him to play such a joke on Wei Zhao.

And Tang Yun, at Wei Zhao's side, was staring dumbly at Feng Tianlong as well. She had never imagined that Feng Xiaoxiao — the rival she had always taken her for — was about to die.

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