CHAPTER 370: CHAPTER 370: GUARDING THE BLOSSOMS, AWAITING THE BRIGHT MOON

Ningwan thought Zhan Hanjue couldn’t handle this matter, so she didn’t have any expectations.

But unexpectedly, three days later, Zhan Hanjue came to pick her up and had actually dealt with it.

"How did you manage it?" Ningwan asked curiously.

Zhan Hanjue smugly replied, "I found Ming and used both threats and inducements to make him tell the truth."

"He admitted that he deliberately switched the medicine?" Ningwan was surprised.

Since Zhao Changyuan chose Ming, it showed that Ming was trustworthy.

For someone trustworthy to be so easily coerced, it was too easy.

"In any case, he confessed, but he took all the blame upon himself. He said he did it alone because, as a fellow practitioner of Chinese medicine, he didn’t have a significant role in the treatment, and even the little credit he earned was taken by you, so he got upset and secretly changed the formula. Now, it’s been handed over to the police, and you can come out too."

"I didn’t expect you actually managed it, thank you!" Ningwan pursed her lips in gratitude.

Zhan Hanjue looked at her gently, "How do you plan to thank me?"

Ningwan raised an eyebrow, "Isn’t saying thank you enough? How else would you like me to thank you?"

"Now that the lockdown is lifted, many restaurants have started operating, how about you treat me to a meal?" Zhan Hanjue suggested.

During the few days Ningwan was confined, the situation outside had massively changed.

The country’s medical resources were still very strong, quickly developing an effective drug to control the virus.

Tong City was unsealed, and people’s lives returned to normal.

The leaders received commendations from their superiors, and Dean Lin, Doctor Wu, and others were recognized for their work.

Chinese medicine played a crucial role this time, although Ningwan’s issue did impact it to some extent. Fortunately, Ming’s voluntary admission of a mistake somewhat restored its reputation.

However, the reputation of Chinese medicine still suffered some damage because of this.

After Ningwan came out, she received a call from Feng Jiuzun, frowning as she listened to the report.

Zhan Hanjue asked, "What’s wrong?"

"Nothing," Ningwan smiled and put away her phone.

Li Qingqing’s plan succeeded, but to hurt her enemy by a thousand and lose eight hundred herself, destroying the reputation of Chinese medicine, did she really not care at all?

"What do you want to eat?" Zhan Hanjue asked.

Because of the unsealing, normal life resumed.

So, there was no need to wear protective clothing, and many people even took off their masks.

Ningwan said, "Anything is fine. I had a very plain diet inside; I really want to eat some meat now."

"Let’s go have some steak," Zhan Hanjue proposed.

Ningwan nodded.

On the way there, a leader called Zhan Hanjue.

Knowing that Ningwan had come out, they invited them to a meal to express their gratitude.

This virus was peculiar; it came quickly and subsided quickly, and it was brought under control swiftly. Although many people lost their lives due to it, luckily, it didn’t spread too widely.

Of course, the higher-ups credited the wise decision-making of the leadership for the timely containment measures, control of the virus, and therefore praised them greatly, making the leaders very happy.

Thinking of how Ningwan sought them out and was the first to propose locking down the city, they felt they should thank her properly.

But Zhan Hanjue listened and declined directly, "Thank you for the kind offer, but we don’t have time right now."

"Oh, no time? What’s going on?" the leader asked.

Zhan Hanjue glanced at Ningwan, then told the leader, "We’ll arrange a meal together next time."

After saying that, he hung up the phone.

Ningwan asked, "What’s going on? What did the call concern?"

"Nothing, let’s go eat," Zhan Hanjue said.

Right now he just wanted to enjoy a meal with Ningwan, in each other’s company, without any outside interference.

Ningwan saw the small smirk on his face, furrowing her brows in confusion, but she didn’t think much of it and followed him to eat.

After their meal, Tuantuan called them via video chat.

Having not seen Mommy for several days, Tuantuan missed her a lot and asked her various questions.

Finally, Little Tuantuan sighed with relief, then said in a soft and childish voice, "Mommy, you know, I always thought you were already dead. Because of that, I cried secretly several times."

Ningwan: "..."

"Why would you think I was dead?"

Where did he come to that conclusion?

"Because I couldn’t see you, and whenever I called Dad, he’d always say you were busy and couldn’t answer the phone. But I thought, no matter how busy, you must have time to answer calls, or at least reply to messages. Thinking about the epidemic over there, I thought you were dead and Daddy didn’t want to tell me the truth to avoid making me sad," Tuantuan explained murmuringly.

Even knowing Mommy wasn’t dead made him very happy.

But mentioning the word "death," he still couldn’t help feeling melancholy at such a young age.

Ningwan was speechless, sighing, "Son, your imagination is so rich. Mommy is fine. I’ll be back in a couple of days."

"Hmm, seeing your face, I know you’re fine. Whether you come back or not, I’m very happy now."

Ningwan: "..."

After hanging up the video, she folded her arms and questioned Zhan Hanjue, "What did you do to Tuantuan? How come he feels so happy?"

Zhan Hanjue laughed and said, "He said he wanted a lab, so I gave him one, and he’s been playing happily. Plus, I promised him he wouldn’t have to go to kindergarten."

"Not allowed," Ningwan immediately said, "He must go to kindergarten. I’ve been too busy with work lately to take care of him. No matter what, he has to go to kindergarten."

"Why?" Zhan Hanjue was puzzled, "Tuantuan’s IQ is higher than average, you should know that, right? If he stays with kids of average IQ, he’d feel lonely and oppressed."

"But being alone would make him even lonelier. You haven’t seen how kids with high IQs live. I learned abroad that kids like Tuantuan with higher-than-average IQs often have more challenging lives later on. From ancient times there’s been a saying, ’too much intelligence can harm,’ not because being too smart is bad, but because being too smart leads to wanting too much and never being satisfied, thus more prone to depression. I’ve studied this and found that many geniuses have difficult later lives. As his mother, I just want him to live simply and happily like an ordinary child."

"But..."

"That’s enough, this isn’t up for discussion. I’m his mother, his guardian, and this matter is decided by me. When things are settled here, I’ll go back and take him to raise him my way," Ningwan said decisively.

Zhan Hanjue frowned, "You’re planning to take Tuantuan away from me?"

Ningwan chuckled, "What’s new? We don’t have any relationship now, so why can’t I take Tuantuan away from you? We’ve been living well without you these years."