An Shimeng exclaimed in surprise, her heart pounding wildly.
It took her a moment to realize that An Yan was only looking in the direction of the telescope.
In a fluster, she quickly stowed the telescope away, stuffing it into a secret compartment at the bottom of the wardrobe.
Then she hurried back to her bed and pretended she had been asleep the whole time.
She thought An Yan would probably soon come upstairs to check.
When that happened, she would say she had been sleeping all along, and then her father and older brother would think that An Yan was making a fuss over nothing.
But as she waited, nothing happened.
An Yan wasn’t as petty as her. Sensing that she was being watched, she had already figured out it was An Shimeng.
If she already knew, was there a need to seek further confirmation?
In the darkness, An Yan was intermittently flipping the thumb ring in her hand.
She always believed that legend was true.
Because in the version her grandfather told her, the legendary herbs did indeed exist in ancient prescriptions.
It’s just that in modern times, with the introduction of Western medicine, traditional Chinese medicine had gradually lost its importance, and many herbal formulas had been lost.
"A place filled with countless Spirit Plants and Spiritual Medicine, isn’t that the Immortal Realm?" An Yan murmured, gently caressing the patterns on the surface of the thumb ring.
You say you’re a totem, why make it so complicated?
It made me think it was a map, and I embarrassed myself in front of Li Tianyao!
Wait, this thumb ring...
An Yan closed her eyes to deduce. After about ten minutes, she slowly opened her eyes.
"It actually is a key!"
But where exactly is this secret realm?
An Yan felt an even stronger desire to clear the fog from her mind.
Now that she could deduce that it was a key, would she be able to deduce the location of the secret realm once the fog completely lifted?
「In an underground village isolated from the world.」
A man suddenly sat up in bed.
Just now, he had felt a force trying to cut off his connection with the thumb ring.
Could it be that this time, Li Tianyao was planning to kill him before he had a chance to grow?
This time, he had been setting his plans for over a decade. There was no reason he should still lose to him!
The man threw off his covers and called out, "Someone! Arrange a car immediately. I’m going back to Luocheng."
The villager standing guard outside the door was dozing off but woke up instantly upon hearing the call. "Yes, sir!"
While quickly making the arrangements, the villager grumbled internally: Heaven is truly unfair! Some people get to have X-ray vision, effortlessly distinguishing real from fake when it comes to gold, silver, treasures, antique paintings, jade, and curios.
But his own eyes were good for nothing but seeing things.
「At the An Family’s home.」
An Shimeng, looking neat and pretty, sat at the dining table with poise, elegantly spreading ketchup on her toast.
Seeing An Yan approach, An Shimeng’s eyes lit up. "Sister, why don’t you come with me to visit Luocheng University today and get familiar with the environment in advance?"
An Yan met her gaze, her tone indifferent. "No, I won’t!"
"Why not? Don’t you like it?"
An Shimeng suppressed the urge to let her lips curl up into a smile.
When she had come downstairs, she overheard her older brother telling their father that the president of Luocheng University couldn’t be reached.
Even using his status as the president of An Group was of no use, so it seemed unlikely that An Yan would be able to attend Luocheng University.
That’s why she wanted to reinforce An Yan’s determination to attend Luocheng University even more.
It would be most amusing if An Yan insisted on attending, yet their older brother couldn’t even a building to facilitate it.
An Yan sat down and glanced at her coolly. "Why don’t you ascend to heaven, then? Is it because you don’t like it?"
An Shimeng abruptly bit her lip, and her eyes began to redden as tears welled up.
An Yan turned to look behind her.
Indeed, she saw her elder brother descending the stairs!
Upon meeting An Yan’s gaze, An Yaoluo paused, then a smile appeared on his face. "Yanyan, good morning."
An Yan tugged at the corner of her mouth, which counted as a response.
After An Yaoluo arrived in the dining room and sat down, he noticed An Shimeng’s state. "Why are you crying again?"
An Shimeng blinked. "No, I’m not. Maybe something was too spicy."
An Yaoluo clearly didn’t believe it, his gaze sweeping between An Yan’s and An Shimeng’s faces.
He felt that An Yan had probably said something unpleasant again.
In the past few days, he had noticed that An Yan never beat around the bush.
And Mengmeng, who had been pampered since childhood, naturally suffered when faced with An Yan’s straightforward approach.
However, today he had no intention of siding with An Shimeng.
His heart ached only for An Yan.
After seeing the video of how Mrs. Lin had framed An Yan and the Lin Family had broken off the engagement, he empathized with An Yan’s emotions at the time.
She indeed needed to find a man a hundred times better than Lin Shang and slap back hard.
But that approach was for enemies. Towards his own family, An Yaoluo still hoped An Yan could be gentler.
However, there was no rush. He would teach her gradually.
After all, her behavioral patterns had been established, and changing them certainly wouldn’t be easy.
Seeing that An Yaoluo wasn’t going to reprimand An Yan, An Shimeng felt slightly disappointed. After pondering for a while, she spoke again, "Sister, when do you plan to go to school, and have you decided what major you want to study?"
An Yan paused for a few seconds before replying, "I haven’t set a date yet. As for the major, I’m planning to choose medicine."
An Shimeng said in surprise, "Sister, you want to study medicine too?"
"You’re studying medicine?"
An Yan was stunned. If An Shimeng was also studying medicine, then could it mean that their mother’s notebook was in An Shimeng’s possession?
An Shimeng nodded. "Yes, when I was choosing a major, I thought being a doctor was very honorable because you can save lives and help the wounded."
"However, Sister, I don’t recommend you study medicine because it’s too difficult. There are over twenty courses just in the major alone..."
An Shimeng felt An Yan was insisting on attending Luocheng University just to overshadow her.
So, the harder she said it was, the more An Yan would want to go, right?
The more An Yan wanted to go, the more her older brother would dislike her.
An Shimeng felt she had grasped the key point and was extremely excited.
"I thought university would be more relaxed than senior year of high school, but for medical students, university is just like senior year, Sister. You have no idea, even I, someone who has always been a good student, feel like throwing up from memorizing books all the time..."
"Do you have any achievements?" An Yan suddenly interrupted her.
Any item from their mother’s notes should be enough for her to stand out, right?
Caught off guard, An Shimeng replied bashfully, "Sister, I’m just a freshman."
"Can’t freshmen publish papers?"
An Yan truly didn’t understand. Because she hadn’t been to school, she didn’t know if there were academic restrictions on publishing papers.
Who had ever heard of a freshman publishing a professional medical paper?
An Yaoluo’s brow furrowed again.
To him, what An Shimeng said was just a young girl’s advice to a peer.
But not only did An Yan not take it in, she even bluntly disheartened Mengmeng.
Disapproving, An Yaoluo looked at An Yan and said, "Yanyan, it’s normal not to have published a paper in your freshman year when you’re just starting to learn about medicine!"
"Oh, I thought freshmen weren’t allowed to publish papers."
After An Yan finished speaking, she continued to eat her meal without looking up.
But An Shimeng felt as if her entire world had fallen apart.