Chapter 20 — The Seal Placed Before She Could Speak

At 6:12 in the morning, Lu Chen returned to the borrowed apartment carrying steamed buns, soy milk, and one piece of chocolate.

He opened the door quietly.

Qin Ruoxi was asleep on the sofa.

Her laptop remained open on the coffee table.

Madam Zhou occupied an armchair with a blanket pulled over her head.

And on the rug—

Lu Xiaoxiao was lying sideways beneath a small blanket, one leg outside, stuffed rabbit trapped underneath her stomach.

Lu Chen stopped.

There were two bedrooms.

Three adults had apparently decided the living room was preferable.

He placed the breakfast on the table.

Xiaoxiao opened one eye.

“Daddy?”

“Yes.”

“What time?”

“Early.”

She closed her eye.

Then opened it again.

“You said breakfast.”

“I brought breakfast.”

That woke her.

She sat up immediately.

Her hair appeared to have fought a battle while she slept.

“Strawberry milk?”

Lu Chen froze.

No strawberry milk.

Xiaoxiao stared.

He stared back.

She slowly narrowed her eyes.

“I saved someone.”

“That is not strawberry milk.”

Qin Ruoxi spoke without opening her eyes.

“She’s right.”

Lu Chen looked toward the sofa.

“You’re awake.”

“I became awake when you attempted to use medical heroism as an excuse for poor shopping.”

Xiaoxiao nodded solemnly.

“Pretty Auntie understands.”

Lu Chen placed the buns on the table.

“I brought chocolate.”

That redirected attention.

Xiaoxiao stood.

“For me?”

He took the small wrapped piece from his pocket.

She accepted it.

Then looked at the wrapper.

Then at him.

“Who gave it?”

Lu Chen paused.

Why were children dangerous?

“A patient.”

“Girl?”

“Yes.”

Qin Ruoxi opened both eyes.

Lu Chen immediately regretted answering.

Xiaoxiao’s expression brightened.

“Pretty?”

“Eat your chocolate.”

“Pretty?”

“That is medically irrelevant.”

Ruoxi sat upright.

“I’m curious now.”

“No one asked you.”

Xiaoxiao pointed at her.

“She asked.”

Lu Chen looked toward Madam Zhou.

The blanket over the older woman’s head trembled suspiciously.

Everyone was awake.

Wonderful.

Xiaoxiao opened the chocolate.

“Does she know you have a daughter?”

“Yes.”

“What did she say?”

“Nothing important.”

“She gave me chocolate.”

“Her assistant gave it to me.”

“Because of her?”

“Yes.”

Xiaoxiao smiled.

“I like her.”

“You have never met her.”

“She has good manners.”

Qin Ruoxi laughed.

Lu Chen sat at the table.

“This conversation is over.”

“Name?” Xiaoxiao asked.

“No.”

“Daddy.”

“No.”

“Pretty Auntie?”

“No.”

Ruoxi pointed toward herself.

“That title is currently occupied.”

Lu Chen slowly looked at her.

Ruoxi realized what she had said.

Silence.

Xiaoxiao smiled very widely.

Ruoxi cleared her throat.

“I meant from her perspective.”

“Of course,” Lu Chen said.

“Shut up.”

Xiaoxiao looked delighted.

The morning was getting worse.

After breakfast, Lu Chen finally examined what Su Qingyue’s assistant had sent.

Six encrypted medical archives.

Three scanned notebooks.

One collection of pediatric records.

And an inventory from a private Su family vault.

Ruoxi leaned over his shoulder.

“That was fast.”

“Money.”

“Yes.”

“You sound proud.”

“I appreciate efficient infrastructure.”

“You own efficient infrastructure.”

“That too.”

Lu Chen opened the earliest pediatric record.

Patient: Su Qingyue.

Age at first documented severe episode:

2 years, 1 month.

Body temperature had fallen without an environmental cause.

Extremities cyanotic.

Heart rate severely reduced.

No infection.

No endocrine explanation.

Recovery occurred over four hours.

A second attack six months later.

Then another.

By age five, the family had consulted physicians in four cities.

By age seven, overseas specialists.

By eleven, traditional medicine masters.

At thirteen, a hidden martial physician had first used the term:

Cold Meridian Constitution.

At twenty-two:

Nine Yin Meridian Syndrome.

Different names.

Same failure.

Nobody saw the silver nails.

Ruoxi watched him scroll.

“You were right.”

“That happens.”

“Don’t become unbearable.”

“Too late.”

She pointed toward one line.

“What’s that?”

Lu Chen stopped.

A handwritten annotation had been scanned alongside the age-two record.

Not from the attending doctor.

Different ink.

Different handwriting.

Do not draw blood during an episode.

Below it:

If unavoidable, destroy the sample afterward.

Ruoxi frowned.

“That is strange.”

“Yes.”

“Whose instruction?”

No signature.

Lu Chen opened the next record.

Age three.

Same note.

Age four.

Again.

Age six.

Again.

Then it vanished from later records.

“Someone was protecting her blood,” Ruoxi said.

“Or hiding it.”

“Difference?”

“Intent.”

He kept scrolling.

An old laboratory report appeared.

Blood counts normal.

Metabolic panel mostly unremarkable.

But one section had been physically blacked out before scanning.

Ruoxi leaned closer.

“Can that be recovered?”

“Probably not from this copy.”

“I can ask for the original.”

“Do.”

She sent the message.

Lu Chen opened Su’s grandfather’s notebooks.

Most were mundane.

Doctors’ names.

Symptoms.

Medicines attempted.

Temperatures.

Attack duration.

Then one entry from twenty-nine years ago.

Lu Chen stopped.

The handwriting was more frantic.

Qingyue, eleven months.

Eleven.

Not two.

The first documented attack at two had been wrong.

This was earlier.

Much earlier.

He read.

At 1:17 a.m. her skin became cold. No fever beforehand. No crying. She stared toward the north window and frost appeared on the inside of the glass.

Ruoxi became quiet.

The next line:

Her mother said it had begun earlier than expected.

Lu Chen’s eyes narrowed.

Her mother knew.

He continued.

I demanded an explanation. She refused.

Then:

At 2:03 a.m. she asked me to find the physician called Lu Tianhe.

There it was.

Master had not found Su by chance.

Someone summoned him.

Her mother.

Ruoxi read over his shoulder.

“She knew your master.”

“Apparently.”

“Who was Su Qingyue’s mother?”

Lu Chen looked at her.

“That would be useful to know.”

She opened her laptop.

A few minutes later:

“Su Meiyin.”

“Background?”

Ruoxi’s fingers moved.

Then stopped.

“That’s strange.”

“What?”

“There’s almost nothing.”

“No education?”

“None verified.”

“Family?”

“Listed as orphaned.”

“Place of birth?”

“Yunzhou.”

“Documents?”

“Minimal.”

“Photographs?”

Ruoxi searched again.

“One wedding image.”

She opened it.

Young Su Qingyue’s father stood beside a woman in a traditional white dress.

Beautiful.

Quiet expression.

Long black hair.

Nothing supernatural.

No visible mark.

No obvious clue.

Lu Chen stared.

Something about her bothered him.

Not recognition.

Absence.

The photograph seemed too ordinary.

Ruoxi looked at him.

“What?”

“I don’t know.”

“Useful.”

“She married into the Su family?”

“Yes.”

“When?”

“Thirty-one years ago.”

“Qingyue born?”

“About thirty years ago.”

“And the mother?”

Ruoxi’s expression changed.

“Disappeared when Qingyue was two.”

Lu Chen looked up.

“Disappeared?”

“Official record says presumed dead after a vehicle accident.”

“Body?”

Ruoxi searched.

“No.”

Of course.

“Who declared her dead?”

“Su family petition several years afterward.”

“No body.”

“No.”

“Convenient.”

Ruoxi looked at him.

“You’re becoming suspicious of every dead person.”

“For good reason.”

Fair.

Lu Chen returned to the grandfather’s notebook.

Entry continued.

Lu Tianhe arrived before dawn.

Then:

He examined Qingyue for less than one minute and became furious.

Lu Chen almost smiled.

Master had been furious frequently.

Useful emotional range.

The next line erased the humor.

He asked Meiyin, “Who put the first three nails inside her?”

Ruoxi stopped breathing.

“First three?”

Lu Chen nodded slowly.

The Nine Cold Nails may not have been placed all at once.

He read further.

Meiyin said, “I did.”

Silence.

Ruoxi looked at him.

“Her mother?”

“Yes.”

The next sentence:

Lu Tianhe slapped her.

Lu Chen blinked.

That sounded like Master too.

Then:

He said, “Three can hide her. Nine can bury her. What did you think would happen when the blood wakes?”

There.

Blood wakes.

Exactly what the Third Bell patient had feared.

Ruoxi whispered:

“So her mother started it.”

“According to this.”

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“Why?”

“No answer yet.”

He continued.

Meiyin replied: “Three were no longer enough.”

Lu Chen’s fingers stopped.

Then:

She begged him to complete the Nine Cold Nails.

Silence settled over the apartment.

The dark-room figure from earlier had said Su Qingyue’s mother begged them to seal the nails.

But Lu Chen did not know that scene.

What he knew now was enough.

Su’s own mother had apparently inserted the first three seals.

Then asked Lu Tianhe to complete all nine.

Not murder.

Not simple sabotage.

Protection?

Desperation?

Fear?

Ruoxi sat back.

“This changes things.”

“Yes.”

“If her mother asked your master to finish the seal…”

“It doesn’t mean the seal is harmless.”

“No.”

“But it makes intentional murder less likely.”

“Unless the mother was coerced.”

“Or manipulated.”

“Or wrong.”

Lu Chen nodded.

Exactly.

Do not transform one new fact into certainty.

The notebook continued.

Lu Tianhe refused.

Interesting.

Then, two lines later:

At 4:51 a.m. Qingyue stopped breathing.

Ruoxi’s expression changed.

Lu Chen read faster.

The temperature in the room fell below freezing. Meiyin cut her palm. Qingyue’s skin changed immediately.

What?

He continued.

Lu Tianhe shouted that she had exposed the child’s blood.

Then:

Something struck the outer window.

No explanation.

Meiyin screamed for him to seal her.

Next line:

At 5:03 a.m. Lu Tianhe placed the remaining six nails.

Six.

Total nine.

There it was.

Su’s mother placed the first three.

Lu Tianhe completed the remaining six.

But under emergency conditions.

Not because he wanted to.

Because something happened when Su Qingyue’s blood was exposed.

Lu Chen’s expression became grim.

“What struck the window?”

Ruoxi asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Person?”

“Maybe.”

“Cultivator?”

“Possible.”

“Something else?”

“Possible.”

She looked irritated.

“You say possible too much.”

“Reality does not improve because you dislike uncertainty.”

“That sounds like something your master would say.”

Unfortunately, yes.

The grandfather’s next entry was written the following day.

Short.

Qingyue is stable.

Then:

Lu Tianhe says the Nine Cold Nails must remain until a physician capable of seeing the Life Meridian can examine the blood directly.

Lu Chen stopped.

Not “seeing life.”

Explicitly:

Life Meridian.

His ability.

Or the same art.

His master knew exactly what kind of physician would eventually treat her.

Possibly himself.

Possibly Lu Chen.

The next line:

He left one silver needle as proof.

The needle in Su family’s vault.

Then:

He warned that if anyone removes the nails before understanding the blood, the seals may have been the only thing preventing a second awakening.

Ruoxi frowned.

“Second awakening.”

“Yes.”

“What was the first?”

Lu Chen looked toward the earlier entry.

Su stopped breathing.

Her mother cut her palm.

Something changed.

Maybe Su’s blood reacted to maternal blood.

Maybe the silver seals responded.

Maybe something else entirely awakened.

No conclusion.

The final line was underlined three times:

Never allow anyone from the Northern House to examine her blood.

Silence.

Ruoxi leaned closer.

“Northern House.”

“Yes.”

“Organization?”

“Family?”

“Could be either.”

“Upper Court?”

“No idea.”

She searched.

Nothing immediate.

No public institution.

No known company.

No common martial family in Jiangzhou.

“Another secret group,” she said.

“Probably.”

“You have too many.”

“I did not create them.”

“That remains unproven.”

Lu Chen looked at her.

She smiled faintly.

At 8:42 a.m., the apartment doorbell rang.

Everyone looked toward it.

Qin security confirmed the visitor through the camera.

Lin Yue.

And Su Qingyue.

Lu Chen frowned.

He opened the door.

Su stood in the hallway wearing a dark coat.

No visible weakness.

Pale, but composed.

Lin Yue carried two cases.

One medical.

One old lacquer box.

Lu Chen stared.

“You were supposed to rest.”

Su looked past him.

“This is not your clinic.”

“No.”

“Then you have no authority here.”

“I am your doctor.”

“That began four hours ago. Don’t become ambitious.”

Ruoxi appeared behind him.

Su’s gaze moved toward her.

Recognition.

“Qin Ruoxi.”

“Su Qingyue.”

Both women looked at each other.

Polite.

Professional.

Cool.

Lu Chen already disliked the temperature.

Then Xiaoxiao ran from the hallway.

“Daddy, who—”

She stopped.

Looked at Su.

Su looked down.

Xiaoxiao’s eyes widened.

Another beautiful woman.

Disaster.

She slowly looked toward Lu Chen.

Then Ruoxi.

Then Su.

Lu Chen immediately said:

“No.”

Xiaoxiao smiled.

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You were going to.”

“No.”

“You absolutely were.”

Su looked between them.

“Your daughter?”

“Yes.”

Xiaoxiao stepped forward.

“I’m Lu Xiaoxiao.”

Su hesitated.

Then crouched slightly.

“Su Qingyue.”

Xiaoxiao studied her face.

“You’re cold.”

Everyone became still.

Su’s expression changed.

“What?”

Xiaoxiao pointed.

“Your hands.”

Su looked down.

Her fingers were slightly pale.

Nothing dramatic.

Xiaoxiao held out both hands.

“Mine are warm.”

Su stared.

Then, surprisingly, gave her one hand.

Xiaoxiao wrapped both tiny hands around it.

“See?”

Su Qingyue’s expression softened by a degree almost too small to notice.

“Yes.”

Xiaoxiao nodded.

“You need gloves.”

Simple diagnosis.

Twenty-eight years of medicine defeated by four-year-old logic.

Lin Yue smiled.

Ruoxi looked amused.

Lu Chen rubbed his forehead.

Xiaoxiao looked at Su again.

“Are you the chocolate patient?”

Su glanced toward Lu Chen.

“He told you?”

“He said patient.”

“The assistant gave the chocolate,” Lu Chen added.

Su ignored him.

“Yes.”

Xiaoxiao smiled brightly.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Then:

“Are you Pretty Auntie Number Two?”

The room died.

Lin Yue made a choking noise.

Ruoxi turned away.

Lu Chen closed his eyes.

Su Qingyue looked toward him.

Slowly.

“Number two?”

“No.”

Xiaoxiao pointed toward Ruoxi.

“She’s Pretty Auntie.”

Ruoxi stared at the ceiling.

Xiaoxiao pointed at Su.

“You can be Cold Pretty Auntie.”

Lu Chen opened his eyes.

“Absolutely not.”

Su Qingyue’s lips twitched.

Not quite a smile.

“I’ve been called worse.”

That was somehow more concerning.

Ten minutes later, Madam Zhou took Xiaoxiao downstairs to buy fruit.

Deliberately.

Lu Chen suspected Ruoxi had bribed her.

The adults sat around the dining table.

Su placed the lacquer case in front of Lu Chen.

“My grandfather’s vault.”

Inside—

one silver needle.

Old.

Darkened slightly with age.

But the metal remained intact.

Lu Chen did not touch it immediately.

“Who opened the vault?”

“I did.”

“Anyone else?”

“Lin Yue.”

“Security footage?”

“Yes.”

“Any family member informed?”

“No.”

Good.

Su looked at him.

“You told me to keep the diagnosis quiet.”

“You listened.”

“You sound surprised.”

“I am.”

She ignored that.

Lu Chen lifted the silver needle with wooden forceps.

The half-jade pendant became warm.

Not cold.

Warm.

Recognition.

His master had touched it.

Definitely.

He activated the Life Seed.

A faint golden residue appeared inside the needle.

Twenty-nine years old.

Yet still present.

Lu Chen’s expression changed.

This was no ordinary acupuncture needle.

The hollow interior contained something.

He rotated it under light.

A microscopic seam.

Su leaned closer.

“What?”

“Your grandfather kept this unopened.”

“Yes.”

“Good.”

He placed it over a porcelain tray.

Applied one tiny thread of Life Essence.

Click.

The needle separated into two halves.

Inside lay a strip of metal thinner than hair.

Ruoxi stared.

“There was a note inside a needle?”

“Apparently.”

Lin Yue looked impressed.

Su simply said:

“Read it.”

“Patient.”

Her eyes narrowed.

Lu Chen smiled faintly.

Then examined the engraving.

Tiny characters.

Valley shorthand.

His master’s handwriting reduced into microscopic script.

Qingyue — age eleven months.

Su’s face changed at seeing her name.

Lu Chen continued.

Nine Cold Nails complete.

Then:

Three placed by mother. Six placed by me.

Confirmation.

Su did not move.

But her shoulders became rigid.

“My mother did this?”

“Yes.”

Silence.

For several seconds, even Su Qingyue’s carefully controlled expression could not hide the impact.

“My mother sealed me.”

“The first three.”

“And your master completed it.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“We’re still reading.”

Her gaze turned cold.

Not at Lu Chen.

At the past.

He continued.

Do not remove.

Then:

Purpose is not suppression of cultivation.

Exactly what the Third Bell patient said.

Purpose: delay Blood Awakening.

Lin Yue whispered:

“Blood awakening?”

Su stared at the needle.

Lu Chen continued.

Cause unknown.

Good.

His master had not pretended certainty.

Then:

Maternal blood accelerates response.

That matched the notebook.

Su’s mother cut her palm.

Su reacted.

Paternal blood shows no response.

Interesting.

So whatever condition existed came through Su Meiyin’s line.

Maternal inheritance.

Not necessarily genetic in the ordinary sense.

But clearly connected.

Next:

Nine Nails reduce expression. They do not remove source.

So even complete removal would not cure anything.

It would release whatever had been restrained.

Then:

At age twenty-eight, seals will begin weakening.

Everyone froze.

Su was thirty now.

Symptoms accelerated roughly around twenty-eight to twenty-nine.

Master had predicted it.

Su spoke quietly:

“He knew.”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“No idea.”

The engraving continued.

Expected window: age 28–30.

There.

Now.

Exactly.

Then:

If I cannot return, find the physician who carries the Life Meridian.

Lu Chen stared.

That was him.

Probably.

Then the final instruction:

Do not break the Nine Cold Nails. Teach the blood to sleep without them.

Silence.

Su looked at him.

“What does that mean?”

“I don’t know yet.”

Her expression hardened.

“Of course.”

“That is good news.”

“How?”

“Master believed the nails could eventually be replaced by treatment.”

Not removed recklessly.

Replaced.

Teach the blood to sleep.

A medical process.

Not a permanent prison.

Su looked toward the needle.

“For twenty-eight years my body has been controlled by something placed inside me.”

“Yes.”

“And your master’s solution is to teach my blood to stay asleep.”

“For now.”

“I don’t want it asleep.”

Lu Chen expected that.

“Why?”

Her eyes sharpened.

“Because it is mine.”

There it was.

Twenty-eight years of being told her body was defective.

Now she learned something inside her had been deliberately suppressed.

Of course she wanted it back.

Lu Chen understood.

That did not make it safe.

“Your blood nearly killed you before you could walk.”

“According to notes written by dead people.”

“Correct.”

“You expect me to accept that?”

“No.”

That stopped her.

“I expect you to investigate it.”

He placed the needle down.

“Then decide with evidence.”

Su’s expression shifted slightly.

“You’re not going to tell me what to do?”

“Medically?”

“Yes.”

“I’m going to tell you not to remove the seals.”

“That is telling me what to do.”

“For survival.”

“And after?”

“After we understand what they’re suppressing?”

He shrugged.

“Your blood belongs to you.”

Silence.

Ruoxi looked toward him.

Su did too.

That answer landed differently.

Lu Chen continued:

“If the nails are unnecessary, I remove them.”

“And if they are necessary?”

“Then I find something better.”

“What if nothing better exists?”

“Then we discuss what risk you are willing to accept.”

Su watched him carefully.

Not obedience.

Not surrender.

Choice.

She seemed to respect that more.

“Fine.”

Good.

Ruoxi opened Su Meiyin’s wedding photograph again.

“Your mother disappeared when you were two.”

Su’s expression immediately cooled.

“Yes.”

“What do you remember?”

“Nothing.”

“Your family?”

“My grandfather rarely spoke about her.”

“Father?”

“Died when I was fifteen.”

“Did he?”

Everyone looked toward Lu Chen.

Su’s eyes narrowed.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing.”

“You sounded suspicious.”

“I am currently surrounded by people declared dead without bodies.”

Ruoxi reluctantly nodded.

“That is fair.”

Su leaned back.

“My father’s body was recovered.”

“Then good.”

She stared.

“That was a strange thing to say.”

“Yes.”

Ruoxi asked:

“Do you have photographs of your mother after Qingyue’s birth?”

Su thought.

“Very few.”

“How few?”

“Three.”

“Can we see them?”

Su looked toward Lin Yue.

The assistant opened a tablet.

First photograph.

Su Meiyin holding an infant.

Second.

Family garden.

Third—

Lu Chen leaned forward.

“What?”

Ruoxi saw it too.

Su’s mother stood outside an old house holding baby Qingyue.

Behind her, partly obscured by a tree—

someone else.

A man.

Gray robe.

Face turned away.

Lu Chen’s pulse changed.

Not because he recognized the face.

The posture.

Medical bag.

And in one hand—

a walking stick with nine leaf carvings.

Lu Tianhe.

His master.

Su looked toward him.

“That’s him?”

“Yes.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes.”

He had seen that stick nearly every day of his youth.

Master claimed it helped his knee.

Lu Chen later discovered it contained three hidden needles and a sword blade.

Old people were dishonest.

“Date?”

Su checked.

“Twenty-nine years ago.”

“Before or after the Nine Nails?”

“No timestamp beyond month.”

Lin Yue zoomed.

Ruoxi pointed toward another detail.

“Her wrist.”

Su’s mother wore a bracelet.

White.

Almost hidden beneath her sleeve.

Nine small beads.

One black.

Eight pale.

Lu Chen’s expression changed.

Not Valley.

He had never seen it.

But the pattern mattered.

Nine.

Always nine.

Su looked toward him.

“You recognize it.”

“No.”

“You made the face.”

Ruoxi smiled faintly.

“I told you.”

Lu Chen ignored her.

“Do you have the bracelet?”

“No.”

“Any family inventory?”

“Possibly.”

Lin Yue began searching.

Then paused.

“There is an item.”

“What?”

“Removed from the Su family vault twenty-eight years ago.”

“By whom?”

“No record.”

“Description?”

Lin Yue read:

“White jade bracelet. Nine beads. Maternal heirloom.”

There.

Maternal line again.

Su’s expression hardened.

“Who removed it?”

“Unknown.”

“What happened around the same date?” Lu Chen asked.

Lin Yue searched.

Her face changed.

“Your mother disappeared eleven days later.”

Silence.

Su looked at the photograph.

Eleven days.

Bracelet removed.

Mother gone.

No body.

Lu Chen looked toward the tiny infant in her arms.

“Your mother knew something was coming.”

Su’s jaw tightened.

“Or she caused it.”

“Possible.”

“She put three seals inside me.”

“Yes.”

“And then disappeared.”

“Yes.”

“You keep saying that word.”

“Because we do not know enough.”

“I know enough to know she lied to my family.”

“Probably.”

“She lied about what I was.”

“Probably.”

“She asked someone to seal me.”

“Yes.”

“And you still refuse to say she harmed me.”

Lu Chen looked directly at her.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because intent changes treatment.”

She frowned.

“If she wanted to hurt you, I investigate an attacker.”

He pointed toward the photograph.

“If she wanted to protect you and chose a dangerous method, I investigate what frightened her enough to do it.”

Su went quiet.

Different questions.

Different path.

Lu Chen continued:

“Same wounds. Different disease.”

That, she understood.

His phone rang.

Jian Wei.

Lu Chen answered.

“Status.”

“Patient awake.”

“Which?”

“Third Bell.”

“Stable?”

“Yes.”

“Why are you calling?”

“He heard me say Nine Cold Nails.”

Lu Chen looked toward Su.

“And?”

“He wants to speak to you.”

“Put him on.”

Static.

Movement.

Then the weak voice of the unidentified Third Bell patient.

“Chen’er.”

“You sound better.”

“I sound terrible.”

“Accurate.”

A faint laugh.

Then coughing.

Jian’s voice in the background:

“I told you not to make him laugh.”

Lu Chen ignored him.

“You know the Nine Cold Nails.”

“Yes.”

“From where?”

Silence.

“Wrong question?”

“No.”

That was progress.

The patient breathed slowly.

“I saw them…”

Pause.

“…before I came through the Gate.”

Everyone at the table became still.

Lu Chen placed the call on speaker.

“Where?”

“Other side.”

Ruoxi’s expression changed.

Su looked confused.

Lin Yue looked even more confused.

Lu Chen did not explain.

“What were they used for?”

The man’s breathing changed.

“Children.”

Su’s face became cold.

“What kind of children?”

The patient heard the unfamiliar voice.

“Who?”

Lu Chen answered:

“Patient.”

Su gave him a look.

He continued:

“She has the Nails.”

Silence on the phone.

Long.

Then:

“How many?”

“Nine.”

“All active?”

“Yes.”

“How old?”

“Thirty.”

The man inhaled.

“Then…”

A pause.

“…they’re failing.”

“Yes.”

“What happens when they fail?”

The patient did not answer immediately.

Then:

“Depends on the blood.”

“What blood?”

“Lineage.”

Su’s hand tightened around the edge of the table.

Lu Chen asked:

“Which lineage?”

“I don’t know hers.”

“Then tell me what you do know.”

The man gathered strength.

“Nine Cold Nails were used when a child inherited something…”

Breath.

“…the local world could not safely contain.”

Silence.

That was larger than Lu Chen wanted.

Too large.

“Cultivation?”

“Sometimes.”

“Bloodline ability?”

“Sometimes.”

“Disease?”

The man paused.

“Yes.”

Interesting.

Not every sealed child was powerful.

Some were sick.

“Then the nails aren’t proof of special blood.”

“No.”

Good.

Important.

Su did not automatically possess some legendary bloodline simply because she had the seals.

Evidence.

Always.

“What determines which?”

“Test the blood.”

“How?”

The patient’s voice weakened.

“Life Meridian…”

“Yes.”

“…and fire.”

Lu Chen frowned.

“Fire?”

“The wrong blood burns.”

“What does that mean?”

“The right blood…”

His breathing became difficult.

Jian interrupted.

“Enough.”

Lu Chen almost objected.

Then heard the monitor.

No.

Jian was right.

“Rest.”

The patient forced one final sentence:

“Do not let her blood touch spiritual fire until you understand it.”

Then the line shifted back to Jian.

“He’s done.”

“Good.”

Lu Chen frowned.

“Senior Brother.”

“Yes?”

“‘Right blood’ does what?”

“He didn’t explain.”

“You were standing there.”

“He nearly lost consciousness.”

“Poor excuse.”

“I am hanging up.”

“Coward.”

The call ended.

Su stared at the phone.

Then at Lu Chen.

“Other side of what Gate?”

“Long story.”

“I am your patient.”

“That does not make you entitled to every secret I have.”

Her expression chilled.

“Convenient.”

“It also does not make me entitled to every corporate secret you have.”

Pause.

Fair.

She leaned back.

“We’ll revisit that.”

“I suspected.”

At ten seventeen, Lin Yue received a message.

“The original laboratory file arrived.”

She opened it.

The blacked-out section from Su’s childhood blood test had been recovered from paper records.

Not a conventional laboratory result.

A handwritten observation.

Sample coagulated normally. Upon contact with alcohol flame, residual blood produced white frost along glass edge.

Everyone stared.

Su frowned.

“My blood froze glass?”

“At age three,” Lu Chen said.

Then another line:

Second sample destroyed on instruction of S. Meiyin.

Her mother.

Again.

Ruoxi looked toward Lu Chen.

“Fire.”

“Yes.”

The Third Bell patient had just said:

Life Meridian and fire.

And warned not to let Su’s blood touch spiritual fire.

Ordinary alcohol flame had produced frost.

Interesting.

Not enough.

Then Lu Chen smelled something.

Burning.

He turned.

A candle.

Madam Zhou had lit one near a small household shrine in the apartment corner earlier.

Ordinary flame.

Nothing spiritual.

Still—

Su had a tiny puncture on her fingertip.

When?

The old silver needle.

She had touched its case.

No.

There.

A paper cut from the old notebook.

One tiny bead of blood.

Lu Chen stood immediately.

“Don’t move.”

Su looked at him.

“What?”

A drop formed.

Small.

He grabbed a clean gauze.

Pressed it.

“Why?”

“Because we are not experimenting accidentally.”

She looked toward the candle.

Understood.

“Ordinary fire.”

“Still no.”

“You said evidence.”

“Controlled evidence.”

The blood stained the gauze.

For half a second—

nothing.

Then the gauze became cold.

Frost appeared around the red stain.

Everyone stopped breathing.

Tiny.

Barely visible.

But real.

Su stared at her own blood.

No expression.

That worried Lu Chen more than fear.

Lin Yue whispered:

“President Su…”

Su touched the frost carefully with her other hand.

Cold.

Real.

Twenty-eight years of unexplained winter.

And finally—

proof that the cold was not merely imposed from outside.

Something in her blood responded.

The Nine Cold Nails had not created the cold.

They had been restraining it.

Lu Chen looked at the gauze.

Then at Su.

“That answers one question.”

Her voice remained calm.

“Which?”

“The nails did not cause your condition.”

Silence.

“They suppress it.”

Su’s eyes hardened.

“Then what am I?”

Lu Chen immediately answered:

“A patient.”

Her expression changed.

“That was not what I asked.”

“It is the only answer we have evidence for.”

“No legendary bloodline.

No monster.

No chosen one.

No curse.

Not yet.

Just a patient whose blood behaved in a way medicine did not understand.

Su looked at him for a long moment.

Then slowly nodded.

Good.

That was enough.

For today.

They returned to the Lu Family Medical Clinic just before noon.

Not because Su needed treatment.

Because Lu Chen needed his own medical books.

And because Xiaoxiao insisted on going home.

The plywood still covered part of the damaged front window.

Her rabbit-eared Black Crescent remained on the wall.

Su stopped upon entering.

“What is that?”

Xiaoxiao answered proudly:

“I fixed bad people’s drawing.”

Su looked at the crescent.

Rabbit ears.

Blue mustache.

Then at Lu Chen.

“Your security system?”

“Apparently.”

Xiaoxiao pointed toward Su.

“Cold Pretty Auntie came!”

Madam Zhou appeared from across the street.

Her eyes moved from Su—

to Ruoxi—

to Lu Chen.

Lu Chen knew that expression.

“No.”

Madam Zhou smiled.

“I said nothing.”

“You were about to.”

“Doctor Lu.”

Su’s voice rescued him.

Unfortunately.

She stood near the consultation board.

CONSULTATION — 50 YUAN

Below it, Xiaoxiao’s handwritten addition remained:

CHILDREN FREE IF THEY BRING CANDY

Su looked toward Lu Chen.

“You charged me one hundred.”

“House call.”

“You said that.”

“Then why ask?”

She stared.

He sat at the consultation table.

“Follow-up is fifty.”

“You are charging me again?”

“Yes.”

“I gave your daughter chocolate.”

Xiaoxiao gasped.

Then looked at her father.

“Children free if they bring candy.”

“She is not a child.”

Xiaoxiao considered.

Then took a crayon.

Added another line:

PRETTY AUNTIES DISCOUNT

Lu Chen stood immediately.

“No.”

Ruoxi laughed so hard she had to turn away.

Su Qingyue looked at the sign.

Then—

actually smiled.

Small.

Brief.

But real.

Lu Chen stopped.

Not because of the smile.

Because when Su’s emotional state changed—

her Life Meridian changed too.

The Nine Cold Nails loosened.

Only slightly.

A fraction.

But all nine responded at once.

Emotion.

Interesting.

He activated perception fully.

There.

The linking thread along her spine.

Her seals were not only reacting to cultivation energy.

They responded to emotional and perhaps autonomic changes.

Stress.

Fear.

Anger.

Warmth?

His expression sharpened.

Su noticed immediately.

“What?”

“Do that again.”

The smile vanished.

“Do what?”

“Smile.”

Silence.

Ruoxi looked at him.

Madam Zhou looked delighted.

Xiaoxiao looked proud.

Su Qingyue’s face became glacial.

“No.”

“Medical reason.”

“No.”

“I need to observe the seals.”

“You can observe them while I remain serious.”

“They changed.”

“How?”

“Loosened.”

Su became still.

“When I smiled?”

“Yes.”

Silence.

Then Xiaoxiao walked over.

She held up the rabbit-eared Black Crescent drawing.

“Look.”

Su tried not to react.

Nothing.

Xiaoxiao added pink eyebrows.

Ruoxi laughed.

Su’s lips twitched.

Lu Chen watched the nails.

Loosen.

Again.

There.

He almost smiled himself.

Not emotion specifically.

Something associated with reduced defensive tension.

Parasympathetic response?

Maybe.

Or heart-state.

The Life Meridian included emotion.

His ability had always shown emotional trauma as disturbances around the heart.

Perhaps Su’s blood activation was influenced by emotional states too.

Twenty-eight years of living under stress—

publicly cold.

Highly controlled.

Maybe not personality alone.

Maybe adaptation.

Her body learned control because emotional fluctuations disturbed the seals.

That was important.

He looked at Su differently.

She noticed.

“What?”

“Your personality may be medical.”

Ruoxi turned away and coughed.

Su stared.

“I am leaving.”

“Sit.”

“No.”

“Patient.”

Her eyes narrowed.

But she sat.

Lu Chen almost smiled.

Progress.

He examined her again.

Baseline temperature normalizing.

Heart stable.

Nine seals quiet.

But now that he knew what to look for, he noticed something.

The first three nails—

the ones placed by Su Meiyin—

were different.

Cruder.

Handmade.

Maternal energy embedded within them.

The remaining six—

Lu Tianhe’s.

More precise.

Not merely strengthening the first three.

Correcting them.

Master had altered the formation.

Why?

Perhaps Su Meiyin’s first attempt would have killed her eventually.

Lu Tianhe turned a desperate seal into a survivable one.

Lu Chen followed the energy.

First three connected directly to blood.

Other six formed buffers around organs.

Heart.

Kidneys.

Liver.

Brain.

Lungs.

Lower dantian region.

The six were not suppressing her.

They were protecting her body from the suppression.

His eyes widened.

That changed everything.

“Master…”

Su heard.

“What?”

Lu Chen withdrew his hand.

“The nine nails are not one technique.”

Her expression sharpened.

“Explain.”

“Your mother placed three.”

“We know.”

“My master placed six.”

“Yes.”

“But I assumed he completed her formation.”

“And?”

“He didn’t.”

Lu Chen looked at her.

“He modified it.”

Silence.

“The first three suppress your blood directly.”

“And the six?”

“Protect your organs from the first three.”

Su became completely still.

So when Lu Tianhe “completed” the Nine Cold Nails—

he might actually have built six stabilizers around an already dangerous maternal seal.

He had not buried her deeper.

He had kept the first seals from killing her.

The name Nine Cold Nails was misleading.

Perhaps there were truly only three original nails.

The other six were medical countermeasures.

“Can you remove the first three?” Su asked.

“No.”

Her expression chilled.

“Why?”

“Because the six have spent twenty-nine years compensating for them.”

He pointed toward her heart.

“Remove one piece and the entire balance changes.”

“How long to understand?”

“I don’t know.”

“Days?”

“Unlikely.”

“Weeks?”

“Maybe.”

“Months?”

“Possible.”

She clearly hated all three answers.

Good.

Impatience would not dictate medicine.

“What do you need?”

“Your mother.”

Su laughed once.

Without humor.

“She has been dead for twenty-eight years.”

“No body.”

Her expression turned cold.

“My grandfather searched.”

“I’m sure.”

“You think she’s alive.”

“I think ‘no body’ means I do not know.”

Su stared.

Then:

“If she is alive…”

Her voice changed.

Not anger alone.

Something older.

“…she left me.”

Lu Chen did not answer.

Not his place.

She looked away.

For perhaps the first time, the cold CEO disappeared.

What remained was a child whose mother had vanished when she was two.

Lu Chen understood missing people.

Too well.

He did not offer false comfort.

Instead:

“We find evidence first.”

Su looked back.

“Then?”

“Then you decide how you feel about it.”

Not him.

Her.

She nodded slowly.

At 2:05 p.m., Su prepared to leave.

She had arranged for copies of every surviving family record to be delivered.

Lin Yue would investigate the Northern House discreetly.

Ruoxi had already begun tracing Su Meiyin’s identity before marriage.

An alliance of wealthy women with research departments was apparently terrifying.

Lu Chen approved.

From a safe distance.

Su stood near the clinic door.

Xiaoxiao ran over holding something.

A pair of pink children’s gloves.

Su stared.

“For me?”

“You’re cold.”

“They won’t fit.”

Xiaoxiao looked at the gloves.

Then Su’s hands.

She frowned.

That was true.

“Wait.”

She ran upstairs.

Returned with a scarf.

Yellow.

Small cartoon strawberries.

Lu Chen recognized it.

“Xiaoxiao.”

“What?”

“That is yours.”

“I have another.”

“You do not.”

“Then buy me another.”

There it was.

Economic motive.

Su looked at the scarf.

Then at Xiaoxiao.

“I don’t need it.”

Xiaoxiao held it higher.

“You get cold.”

Su hesitated.

Then accepted it.

“Thank you.”

Xiaoxiao smiled.

“You look less scary when you smile.”

Su Qingyue froze.

Ruoxi turned toward the wall.

Lin Yue bit her lip.

Lu Chen looked deeply interested in his medical ledger.

Su slowly wrapped the absurd yellow strawberry scarf around her neck.

It did not match anything she wore.

At all.

“Better?” she asked.

Xiaoxiao nodded.

“Pretty.”

Su’s expression softened.

Again—

the Nine Cold Nails loosened.

Lu Chen saw it.

This time Su saw him seeing it.

Her eyes narrowed.

“Do not say it.”

He raised both hands.

“I said nothing.”

“Good.”

She walked toward the door.

Then stopped.

“Doctor Lu.”

“Yes?”

“Tomorrow.”

“What?”

“The needle records. The original family files.”

“Bring them.”

“And I want an explanation of the Life Meridian.”

“No.”

She turned.

“Why?”

“Fifty yuan per consultation.”

Su stared.

Xiaoxiao shouted:

“Pretty Auntie discount!”

The clinic erupted in laughter.

Except Lu Chen.

Mostly.

Su left wearing the strawberry scarf.

That evening, after the clinic closed, Lu Chen placed Su Qingyue’s old photograph beside his master’s microscopic note.

Su Meiyin.

White jade bracelet.

Nine beads.

One black.

Eight pale.

He studied it.

Then his half-jade pendant warmed.

One golden leaf.

Eight dark.

Nine leaves.

He immediately stopped himself.

Pattern similarity was not proof.

Nine appeared everywhere in the current mystery because the Nine Medicines inheritance itself used nine.

The bracelet could be unrelated.

Still worth investigating.

His phone buzzed.

A message from Ruoxi.

Found something on Northern House. Call me.

Lu Chen called.

“What?”

“That greeting remains terrible.”

“What did you find?”

“Not an organization.”

“Then?”

“A place.”

He sat straighter.

“Where?”

“Old property records from Yunzhou Province.”

Su Meiyin’s birthplace.

Ruoxi continued:

“A mountain estate once called Northern House belonged to a family named Ye.”

Lu Chen stopped.

Ye.

His heart changed.

Ye Wan’er.

No.

Common surname.

Do not leap.

Evidence.

“What happened to the family?”

“Property abandoned twenty-seven years ago.”

“Why?”

“Fire.”

“Deaths?”

“Officially eleven.”

“Bodies?”

“Some.”

“Survivors?”

“Unknown.”

“Anything connecting Su Meiyin?”

Ruoxi paused.

“Yes.”

Lu Chen’s grip tightened.

“What?”

“Her orphanage admission record.”

“She was orphaned.”

“Yes.”

“The person who delivered her to the orphanage signed one surname.”

“Which?”

A pause.

“Ye.”

Silence.

Lu Chen stared at the clinic wall.

Su Meiyin.

Northern House.

Ye.

Ye Wan’er.

Again—

not proof.

But enough to make his pulse quicken.

Ruoxi continued:

“There’s one more thing.”

“What?”

“The Northern House fire happened twenty-seven years ago.”

“After Su’s nails.”

“Yes.”

“After Su Meiyin disappeared?”

“Approximately one year later.”

Interesting.

“What survived?”

“Almost nothing publicly.”

“Publicly?”

Ruoxi’s voice sharpened.

“A Qinghe subsidiary purchased the ruins eight months ago.”

Lu Chen stopped.

“Qinghe?”

“Yes.”

“Su Qingyue knows?”

“I don’t know.”

“Why would her company buy an abandoned mountain estate?”

“That is the useful question.”

Lu Chen thought of the attack timeline.

Su’s episodes accelerated eleven months ago.

Qinghe acquired Hanmei Biologics eleven months ago.

Northern House purchased eight months ago.

Someone might be steering Su’s company toward pieces of her own past.

Without her knowing.

“Who authorized purchase?”

“I’m checking.”

“Do it quietly.”

“Already am.”

Good.

Then Ruoxi’s voice became cautious.

“Lu Chen.”

“Yes?”

“The surname Ye—”

“Means nothing yet.”

She paused.

“You thought of it too.”

“Yes.”

“Ye Wan’er.”

“Yes.”

“Xiaoxiao’s mother.”

Lu Chen looked upstairs.

His daughter was singing badly while brushing her teeth.

“Do not connect them yet.”

“I wasn’t going to.”

“Good.”

“Common surname.”

“Yes.”

“Different province records.”

“Yes.”

“Twenty-seven-year gap.”

“Yes.”

Then Ruoxi said:

“But we investigate.”

Lu Chen looked at the photograph of Su Meiyin.

“Absolutely.”

Far from Jiangzhou, the block of black ice containing nine silver needles had changed.

The ninth nail still carried Lu Chen’s golden line.

Now—

the first three had begun vibrating.

A woman stood before them.

Older than the woman in Su Qingyue’s childhood photograph.

But not as old as she should have been.

Long dark hair streaked with silver.

White jade bracelet around one wrist.

Nine beads.

One black.

Eight pale.

A man behind her spoke quietly.

“The Ghost Physician discovered the first three are yours.”

She closed her eyes.

“He was always going to.”

“You know Lu Chen?”

“No.”

“Then how—”

“I knew his master.”

The woman opened her eyes.

They were cold.

And full of regret.

“Lu Tianhe warned me that one day his disciple would see what I had done.”

The man looked toward the trembling nails.

“Should we move Qingyue?”

“No.”

“She is close to awakening.”

“I know.”

“If the Nails fail—”

“I know.”

The man hesitated.

“Then why wait?”

The woman touched the black bead on her bracelet.

“Because twenty-nine years ago, I chose for my daughter.”

Her hand trembled.

“I will not make that choice for her twice.”

Silence.

The man lowered his head.

“And if she chooses to remove them?”

Su Meiyin looked toward the distant south.

Toward Jiangzhou.

“Then Lu Chen must learn how to keep her alive afterward.”

The first nail cracked.

Just slightly.

And somewhere inside Su Qingyue’s blood—

something ancient opened its eyes.