Choose Me This Time - Chapter 4

I pointed to Meng Xi inside the house. “It’s your turn.”

Bai Chuan pursed his lips. In the end, he said nothing and walked inside.

I followed and watched Meng Xi examine him.

She truly lived up to the merfolk’s reputation. Without a single instrument, she could identify a patient’s illness with the touch of one hand.

“That’s incredible,” I said sincerely.

Meng Xi glanced at me and smiled. “Hardly. Countless people in my clan are more capable than I am. The greatest among them is…”

Something flickered in her eyes. Sadness crossed her face, and she did not finish.

“Something inside him is incomplete. That’s why he appears so much frailer than other beastkin. It will also shorten his life.”

Bai Chuan’s hand clenched abruptly at his side. His voice tightened. “Please help me.”

Then he turned to me with an imploring look.

I understood. “Money isn’t a problem.”

But Meng Xi shook her head with a bitter smile. “He was born this way. My abilities are limited. I can’t repair it.”

The disappointment on Bai Chuan’s face was plain to see, and his voice fell.

“Thank you.”

He turned to leave, but Meng Xi looked at me.

“Miss Cheng, if you happen to know Lu Jingran, there may still be a chance.”

I was surprised—not only because Meng Xi had recognized me, but because of the name she had spoken.

Lu Jingran was the most gifted legitimate grandson of the Lu family, and by far the most uncontrollable. People called him the Lu family’s little crown prince.

We had once attended the same school and knew each other reasonably well. His health was poor, however, and he later withdrew.

We had not spoken in years.

Could it be…?

“Does Lu Jingran have someone capable at his side?”

Meng Xi nodded. “All merfolk have the power to heal. The only difference is the strength of our gifts. Even the least talented can use that gift to mend their own bodies, but the most gifted can channel it through song. They can practically raise the dead and regrow flesh on bare bone.”

I stared at her in astonishment. “That’s possible? I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

“That isn’t surprising. No member of the merfolk with such extraordinary talent had been born to our clan in several hundred years.”

Then she changed tack. “But in the last two decades, one of our people was born with that gift.”

In a flash of insight, I thought I knew where this was going.

Bai Chuan asked urgently, “What is her name?”

“Meng Tan.”

Just as I had thought.

“I understand. Thank you for telling us, Miss Meng.”

I took out a bank card and placed it on the table.

Once we were outside, Bai Chuan could not wait to ask, “Are we going to find Meng Tan?”

Joy gleamed in his eyes, his earlier composure entirely gone.

I pressed my lips together. “If I can arrange it, I’ll take you to her.”

I had heard Meng Tan’s name in my previous life.

The merfolk had presented her to the Lu family in exchange for protection. Thanks to her miraculous healing, Lu Jingran was never again troubled by his illness.

She seemed to love him, but his heart belonged to someone else, so he treated her terribly.

I did not know what happened after that.

I was already dead by then.

With Lu Jingran’s unruly temperament, he would never agree to let Meng Tan treat Bai Chuan if I simply went to ask.

Bai Chuan saw my concern and calmed down a little. “You don’t need to worry, Master. I’m all right.”

His “Master” made every passerby turn to look.

Heat rushed to my face. I coughed awkwardly. “You don’t have to call me that in public. Just use my name.”

Bai Chuan accepted the change without complaint. “All right, Cheng Yi.”