Chapter 216: I’m Your Antidote
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Huo Shaoheng’s voice was magnetic and Gu Nianzhi was spellbound without even actually seeing his face. Giving a small smile, her delicate face blushed as she followed him to a room on the second floor. The suite was very large, with a living room and she guessed there must be a bedroom and study as well. Gu Nianzhi glanced at the furnis.h.i.+ngs and blushed harder when she saw that standing in the center was a large bed bed with soft and striped beige sheets. Weren’t these the same ones she had bought for Huo Shaoheng at the 6th Military Region base in C City? Gu Nianzhi realized. Is this his room? Gu Nianzhi felt too awkward to ask.
“Sit.” Huo Shaoheng seated her on the L-shaped corner sofa across from the bed. He took a carton of milk from the fridge and heated it in the microwave before giving it to her.
Gu Nianzhi held the milk and took small sips, raising her brows at Huo Shaoheng as she asked softly, “What is it? Huo Shao, why are you so serious?” Huo Shaoheng closed the bedroom door and sat on the coffee table in front of the sofa, so he was facing Gu Nianzhi. She grew even more nervous and didn’t want to drink anymore. She asked fearfully, “Huo Shao, what’s going on? Don’t scare me, you know how I get whenever you’re like this.” Her previously flushed cheeks now paler, and her tiny hands holding the milk trembled slightly.
Huo Shaoheng looked down and took the cup from her and placed it on the coffee table. He held her hands to warm them up and finally said in a low voice, “Nianzhi, I want to ask for your help. Will you do this for me?”
“Of course! I will do it! I’ll do whatever it is!” Gu Nianzhi exhaled in relief as soon as she heard that it was just for a favour.
Huo Shaoheng looked at her, his dark, roaming over her face. With such an intense gaze focused on her, Gu Nianzhi would so anything for Huo Shaoheng. “You haven’t heard me say what it is yet, and yet you’re already agreeing?” Huo Shaoheng reached up to wipe milk from the corner of Gu Nianzhi’s mouth. “Are you this enthusiastic with everyone else?”
“Of course not. If it’s anyone else, I’d ask what the favour is and also see if it’s within my abilities. But Huo Shao is making the request, so how can I refuse?” Gu Nianzhi playfully winked at Huo Shaoheng. “I also still have to seduce you. How am I supposed seduce you without showing my sincerity?”
Huo Shaoheng have her a scornful look.
“Fine, tell me what it is? I can do it for sure.” Gu Nianzhi gripped Huo Shaoheng’s warm hand with confidence.
Huo Shaoheng raised his neat and elegant brows and looked inquisitively at Gu Nianzhi. “How do you know you can do it for sure?”
“Well, Huo Shao is the one asking! You wouldn’t ask me if you knew I couldn’t do it.” Gu Nianzhi had more confidence in Huo Shaoheng than she did in herself.
Huo Shaoheng was speechless for a moment, then gripped her hand hard and lowered his voice. “Fine. Well, my mother’s illness is caused by the physical and brain defects caused by the accident during the experiment all those years ago.”
Gu Nianzhi was stunned. What was Huo Shao talking about? She didn’t seem to understand.
“So, my mother’s illness is not merely mental disturbance, but also a biological gene reversion. A part of her brain was stimulated by the external magnetic field and began a reversion loop. This limits her memories and overall cognitive abilities. That’s why she remembers what happened before she turned 18, but every day after that is a new one for her. It’s because that top secret experiment caused a change in the magnetic field and caused her to have organic pathological changes. So normal psychological treatment will never work for her—instead, she needs specialized drug therapy.” Huo Shaoheng explained everything in one breath, then stared at Gu Nianzhi, trying to gauge her reaction.
Gu Nianzhi still looked at him blankly, but nodded her head. “Is that so? No wonder Bai Jinyi’s treatment for the past 16 years had no effect.”
“Yes. Eight years ago, I brought Chen Lie home in secret, in order to diagnose my mother. He confirmed the etiology of the disease and suggested that we find a drug to repair the damaged cells in her brain and suppress the reverse growth. He looked for a long time, but even with his abilities, but still never found a drug to treat this type of genetic defect.” Huo Shaoheng sighed and cast his eyes down at Gu Nianzhi’s soft and pliable hands, gently tracing them with his fingers.
Gu Nianzhi thought about it and asked, “This disease sounds very rare and complex.” She paused before continuing, “But you brought Mrs. Song here today and also had Chen Lie and Ye Zitan prepare for surgery, so does that mean you’ve found the drug to treat her with?”
Huo Shaoheng looked up painfully into Gu Nianzhi’s eyes. He had words that tossed and turned in his heart for a long time, but couldn’t say aloud.
…
Chen Lie had been unable to find a suitable drug to treat Song Jinning. That is, until six years ago, when the special magnetic field had appeared in a certain part of C City; Huo Shaoheng had been a.s.signed to protect Bai Jinyi as she went inside an isolated section of the field to retrieve data. It was then that the car Gu Nianzhi had been in suddenly broke into the magnetic field and was attacked by Bai Jinyi’s personnel, erupting into flames. Gu Nianzhi had had no chance of surviving when she’d trespa.s.sed into the restricted military grounds. She had cried and struggled in the fire, her terrified face visible to Huo Shaoheng’s eyes through the raging flames. He’s been unable to bear it anymore—he had refused to retreat and had risked his life to rush into the fire and rescue her from the burning car. The car had immediately exploded without leaving a trace, as though it had evaporated. Of course, they discovered that the young girl had unknown origins, but had a powerful background after rescuing her. The blueprints in her little backpack attested to the fact. Coupled with how Gu Nianzhi had only recognized Huo Shaoheng, the military decided to have Huo Shaoheng become her guardian and raise her in hopes to uncover her background and achieve direct contact with the owner of the blueprints. Afterwards, during Chen Lie’s treatment of Gu Nianzhi, he secretly told Huo Shaoheng that the magnetic field she’d trespa.s.sed into was the same as the one from ten years ago. The renowned physicist and Huo Shaoheng’s grandfather, Song Haichuan, had led a top secret military experiment that had failed and created a destructive magnetic field. Additionally, Gu Nianzhi’s symptoms were very similar to Song Jinning’s. In other words, the environment and mechanism that had caused Gu Nianzhi’s disease was almost a mirror to that of Song Jinning’s. The only difference was that Gu Nianzhi had a special body const.i.tution and so her cells were capable of perfect self-healing functions. She had been able to self-repair the genes damaged by the powerful magnetic field. Although all people had a certain extent of DNA repair function, Gu Nianzhi’s ability was several times the average person’s. So, Chen Lie had made the proposition to inject Gu Nianzhi’s hematopoietic stem cells from her bone marrow into Song Jinning.
Perhaps Gu Nianzhi’s special healing abilities could help Song Jinning induce genetic repair, is what Chen Lie had suggested. Of course, this was only a hypothesis and required more data as evidence. Although Gu Nianzhi had extraordinary self-healing abilities, she had forgotten all her memories before the age of 12 after she had completely healed. Perhaps it was a side effect caused by the magnetic field, but either way Chen Lie still needed to make more observations to determine this. Although Gu Nianzhi had no memories of before she was 12 years old, she could live like a normal person. To Huo Shaoheng, it was good enough if Song Jinning could obtain an average life. Even if she had lost her past memories, it would be ok. In a sense, Gu Nianzhi was Huo Shaoheng’s last hope. Her successful recovery proved that her blood cells had a superior ability, but she had still been young at the time and her physical condition had been unstable. She’d also had mood disorders and had lost a large part of her memories—this was yet to determined as a good or bad thing. Hence, why they were hesitant to take the hematopoietic stem cells from her bone marrow to treat Song Jinning.
After six years of observation, Chen Lie thought it was time to give it try now that she was an adult. Huo Shaoheng had originally wanted to hit two birds with one stone by bringing her home—he could allow his family to accept her and also let her get familiar with his mother. After the New Year, he would have had to convince Gu Nianzhi to help with her mother’s treatment. However, the events that occured after they had arrived at his home had sped up his plans by quite a few days.
…
Huo Shaoheng took Gu Nianzhi’s hand, unsure of how to feel. Gu Nianzhi knew something was wrong, but she didn’t want rush him and so waited patiently.
Huo Shaoheng was quiet for a long time before looking up at Gu Nianzhi steadily and finally saying, “Yes, we found the drug to treat my mother. It’s you.”
Gu Nianzhi was shocked for a moment, then quickly broke into a genuine smile, “Really? I can help treat Mrs. Song’s illness? Tell me now! How can I help her?!”
Huo Shaoheng froze, then asked, “Are you really willing to do it? Will you really help treat my mother?”
“Of course!” Gu Nianzhi removed her hand from Huo Shaoheng’s, leaning forward to pat his shoulder. “No problem, I’ll do it. What do you need? My leg or my arm?” She joked.
“Of course not.” Huo Shaoheng laughed. “Chen Lie said it should be enough to use the hematopoietic stem cells from your bone marrow. When he gets here in a bit, we’ll perform the surgery right away.”
Gu Nianzhi sighed in relief and smiled. “Then what’s all the fuss for? I thought it was for the surgery for your mother?”
“Both will be done at the same time.” Huo Shaoheng glanced at his watch, “Chen Lie said it’s the most effective to do both at the same time.”
“Then…will I be anaesthetized?” Gu Nianzhi thought about it and asked quietly, “Will it hurt a lot?”
“Of course you’ll be anaesthetized.” Huo Shaoheng patted her head. “You’ll just sleep and you’ll be fine when you wake up.”
Gu Nianzhi was very confident in Chen Lie’s medical skills and completely trusted Huo Shaoheng’s integrity. She also really like Song Jinning and sincerely hoped that she could make a full recovery with this, otherwise she would forget about her own son, forever.
Thinking about Song Jinning, Gu Nianzhi sighed again.
“What is it?” Huo Shaoheng rose, “You’re sighing? If you don’t want to do it…”
“It’s not that I’m not willing. I just thought about your mother.” Gu Nianzhi propped her chin with her chain and mused, “If she gets better and remembers all that’s happened all these years, I don’t know if she can accept it or not.”
“My mother is a strong person, she’ll be able to accept it.” Huo Shaoheng helped Gu Nianzhi stand up. “Chen Lie is almost here, let’s go wait for him outside.”