Nora, who had stored the medicinal herbs in a black plastic bag, answered casually, “It’s just some medicinal herbs. I intend to treat Grandma’s eyes.”
Melissa was a little surprised. “You’re also skilled in traditional medicine?”
Nora was about to answer when Sheena said, “As if she would know traditional medicine? It’s probably an over-the-counter ointment that she bought without much thought, right? Your grandmother has been blind for over 20 years. We’ve approached many doctors, but none of them could cure her. You’d better not indiscriminately try such medicine of unknown origin on her! Your grandmother is already very advanced in her years. Are you going to take responsibility if anything goes wrong?”
Her sarcasm made Nora frown.
Simon said, “That’s enough, Sheena! Nora is just a child. Why are you venting your anger on her?”
Sheena immediately started to quarrel persistently with Simon.
Nora decided not to say anything and went straight to her grandmother’s room upstairs.
Her grandmother was resting on the sofa. Seemingly having heard the dispute downstairs, she was quietly weeping. When she heard the door open, she turned her ear to the door and asked, “Who is it?”
The elderly lady was very old. Her eyes looked very blank and her silver hair was tied neatly behind her. The lights in the room were switched off—after all, she didn’t need it anyway. In the dim environment, she formed an exceptionally heartbreaking sight.
Nora cast her eyes downward, her curly eyelashes hiding her emotions. She adopted a tone as lighthearted as possible and replied, “It’s me, Grandma.”
“Oh, it’s Nora!” Her grandmother wiped her tears and sat up. She reached her arm out toward her and said, “Here, come to Grandma!”
When Nora walked over with Cherry and sat down on the sofa, her grandmother sighed and said, “Nora, your Aunt Sheena may have a foul mouth, but she’s a softie at heart. You can just take whatever she says as nonsense and ignore her.”
The analogy made Nora smile. “Okay.”
She opened the bag she was holding and took out the pills and ointment inside. Then, she meticulously explained to her grandmother how to use the medicine. After she committed it to memory, she chatted with her for a while more before leaving.
Sheena also went up to visit Mrs. Anderson and saw that she was in good health. Before she left, she noticed the dark-colored medicine on the table and frowned. “Mom, you can use the ointment if you want, but don’t take the oral pills. Medicinal herbs have extensive and profound uses, and once a wrong herb is used in a formula, the effects will differ greatly. The pills don’t look like they were prescribed by a proper hospital. It’s best that you don’t eat it in case something goes wrong!”
Mrs. Anderson frowned and replied, “… Okay, I heard you.”
After Sheena left, Melissa also came to check on her and see if she had gone to bed yet. When she saw the pills on the table, she was taken aback for a moment. Then, she picked them up and asked, “What pills are these, Mom? They smell pretty nice…”
Mrs. Anderson sighed and answered, “Nora gave them to me. They’re for my eyes.”
A look of worry came over Melissa’s features. “Judging from how Nora operated on Simon, it seems like she’s a surgeon. She probably doesn’t know much about traditional medicine, right?”
Taken aback, Mrs. Anderson suggested, “Why don’t you ask her about the formula?”
Melissa shook her head. “Nora has only just returned. Moreover, Sheena even made such remarks about her just now. If I ask her about the formula now, it’ll seem as if we don’t trust her and end up hurting her pride. How about this? Sheril studies traditional medicine. I’ll get her to come home tomorrow and have a look at these pills?”
The old lady nodded.
Melissa then placed the pills on the coffee table for her and helped her to the bed. After she went to rest for the night, Melissa left.
After Melissa left the room, Mrs. Anderson suddenly got up. She tapped about in front of her with the white cane and came to the coffee table in a practiced manner.
She fumbled about and picked up a pill. When she held it under her nose and sniffed at it, a refreshing scent assailed her sense and she felt a comfortable feeling that she had never experienced before come over her.
She couldn’t help picking up a glass of water and popping a pill. Then, she also picked up the ointment and applied it on her eyes.
She had already been blind for more than 20 years anyway, so why not give it a try?
It was Sunday the next day.
The Hunts had scheduled a family meeting on this day to discuss what they should do about Pete.
“Mommy, aren’t you going over to have a look? Pete isn’t good at talking. What if someone bullies him?”
Cherry, who was wearing cute yellow pajamas, rested her chin on her hands and asked curiously.
When Nora, who was getting dressed, heard her, she raised an eyebrow and said, “If your brother is kicked out of the Hunts, then won’t that mean that he can come with me instead?”
Cherry was at a loss for words.
Nora was actually just joking.
Even if she wanted to take her son and have him leave the Hunts, she wouldn’t do it in a way that humiliated him like that.
She mustn’t let the accusation of having a mental illness relapse and pushing his great-grandmother down the stairs become a lifelong burden weighing Pete down, either.
After instructing Cherry to stay home, she drove to the hospital.
Hospital Finest belonged to the Hunts. In order to ensure that no one disturbed the elderly Mrs. Hunt’s rest, she was warded in the VIP ward on the top floor. There were no other patients on the same floor for now.
When Nora arrived, the hallway on that floor was filled with members of the Hunts.
There were many new faces apart from Justin’s uncle’s family whom she had seen the other time. Obviously, things seemed to have become rather blown out of proportion.
When she went upstairs, Justin’s second uncle, Raymond, was already making a scene there.
“How can he say that it wasn’t Peter who did it? Things have already come to this point, yet he’s actually still flat-out denying it! He’s not going to admit to it until Mom wakes up to testify! How ridiculous is that? If he murders someone, is he also going to wait for the victim to come back to life and testify against him? Howard, what do you say we do about this?”
Howard, whose arm muscles were obvious even through the black t-shirt he was wearing, touched his nose after hearing what he said. “Uncle Raymond, what Grandpa means is that Pete is still a five-year-old child after all…”
The corners of Roger’s eyes were upturned, and he looked a little as if he was smiling even when he wasn’t. He heaved a sigh and said, “Howard, I know you’re on good terms with Justin, and he’s even the head of the family. Having you handle this does indeed put you in a difficult position… Sigh. Maybe we should just drop the matter?”
An angry Raymond yelled, “Howard, your grandpa has always made a clear distinction between official and personal matters! If you’re not capable of that, why should you be allowed to take over the responsibility of watching over the family home?”
With the two of them playing good cop and bad cop, Howard simply couldn’t put in a good word for Pete at all. He looked at Justin anxiously, only to see him calm and steady.
Howard forced himself to calm down. He said, “When Grandaunt wakes u—”
“If Mom never wakes up, are we going to just put this off forever?!” Raymond said aggressively, “Oh, I get it now. No wonder Justin stubbornly went ahead with the operation despite Dr. York and several other specialists saying that they didn’t recommend Mom undergoing surgery! Justin, tell me, are you hoping that your grandma never wakes up so that you can use that as an excuse to drag this on?”
Everyone looked at Justin.
Raymond narrowed his eyes. “No wonder you got a doctor whom we’ve never seen before to do it, and no wonder Mom still hasn’t woken up yet!”
As soon as he said that, an elated Tina York walked out of the ward!
