When Gu Shen returned to the Dream Whisperer, there was only Sister Xin in the clinic.

“Mr. Tang called and said you might be a little late today.” Zhou Yexin smiled and teased, “What’s the matter? Did you oversleep too?”

“Aha… yeah.” Gu Shen explained calmly, “Something came up last night.”

Surprisingly, Grand Magistrate Tang Qingquan had helped him deal with the aftermath. It should be Cui Zhongcheng’s arrangement. After his call in River Shoal last night, Mr. Cui must have considered today’s situation.

In that case, he would just go with the flow.

After laughing, Gu Shen changed the topic and asked curiously, “Sister Xin, are there no patients today?”

“There are… How could there be none?” Zhou Yexin leaned closer and said solemnly, “I received a call this morning for an appointment… She said a very rich big shot was coming and reserved the entire clinic in advance.”

Gu Shen was surprised. “Can people… reserve the entire place?”

“Technically, no.” Sister Xin sighed. “But I couldn’t refuse. She offered too much. Although our goal is research, we still have to rely on revenue to sustain ourselves.”

Zhou Yexin rubbed her hands nervously and sighed with emotion. “Mr. Tang has a keen eye. You’re truly magical. After you came to Dream Whisperer, business has been getting better and better.”

Gu Shen scratched his head.

If not for the hypnosis, Sister Xin wouldn’t have just sighed with emotion and used the word ‘magical’ so casually, right?

Overnight, the walls of the small clinic were hung with banners.

“Go for it. Go for it. Go for it.” Zhou Yexin rubbed his face and kept encouraging herself. “If we clinch this deal, we’ll cover the clinic’s rent for the whole year.”

Gu Shen smiled. “But didn’t Mr. Tang… waive the rent?”

“He doesn’t want the rent, but I can’t not give it to him. Mr. Tang has already sponsored me a lot. If I have the means, I must repay him,” Sister Xin said earnestly. “Moreover, the location of Lipu Street is good, so the rent isn’t cheap. Don’t look at how small the place is. It costs thirty to forty thousand a month.”

So won’t the remuneration for this treatment be four to five hundred thousand? Gu Shen was stunned.

Then he quickly reflected. After he joined the Adjudication Bureau, his views of consumption had indeed changed. His first reaction wasn’t that the rent was too expensive but curiosity about who was so generous with their money.

As he thought about it, some sounds came from downstairs.

Sister Xin pulled open the curtains and looked out from the floor-to-ceiling windows. A black phantom slowly made its way under the gazes of a crowd and parked at the side of the street.

That big black car must be very expensive, Gu Shen thought. Although he didn’t know much about cars, he understood people…

After the car’s engine turned off, another three minutes passed. When the crowd dispersed a little, the driver got out of the car, opened the back seat door, and held up an umbrella. The large umbrella blocked the gazes of the crowd.

“Here they are.” Zhou Yexin paced back and forth anxiously. It was her first time encountering such a big client. Her mind was blank, and she was extremely nervous as she clutched her pocket watch.

What should she say when they met?

What if the treatment results weren’t satisfactory?

A bunch of trivial thoughts flooded her mind.

Then these thoughts were interrupted by the sound of footsteps ascending the stairs.

Click, click, click!

It was the sound of high heels ascending the stairs unhurriedly.

Every step seemed to tread on her heart.

Even though Zhou Yexin didn’t have any thoughts in her mind, she was still nervous. She glanced at Gu Shen and found that the young man was unexpectedly calm.

Gu Shen’s mood didn’t change at all from beginning to end, except for a moment of astonishment at the client’s wealth.

Now, he was only curious. Although Dadu was prosperous and full of rich people, there shouldn’t be many who ‘spent money like dirt’.

The big black car had just parked by the street and was surrounded by people. It was a little blurry looking through the glass, so Gu Shen couldn’t make out the face of the big client and could only tell that it was a woman.

Instead, it was the driver, who was most likely a bodyguard or something like that, that attracted Gu Shen’s attention. He felt that he had seen him somewhere before. At least, his figure and body shape were familiar.

The man went upstairs first. The sound of his footsteps was extremely light, almost imperceptible under the clicks of the high heels. This detail might go unnoticed by ordinary people, but Gu Shen keenly caught it.

The way this man walked was like a ghost.

He was a powerful expert.

…

At this moment, Song Yingji, dressed in a suit, exuded a steady demeanor as he climbed the stairs.

Since setting off, he had been curious about who the young man recommended by Cui Zhongcheng was. After thinking about it, he couldn’t recall when such a young hero appeared in Dadu.

Finally, he could meet him.

Surprisingly, he was actually a little nervous.

Thump!

His footsteps on the last step were a little loud.

In the solemn and tense atmosphere of the Dream Whisperer Clinic, two synchronized exclamations burst out the moment their eyes met.

“Fuck?!” Song Ci looked at Gu Shen as though he had seen a ghost.

The expressions on their faces were very interesting and full of disbelief.

Gu Shen’s expression was rather complicated. It took him a full ten seconds to come to terms with the fact that the well-dressed man in front of him was the slovenly Crow who had treated him to a meal and ran away without paying the bill at noon today.

No wonder his back view in the crowd looked so familiar!

On the second floor, there was only one person left feeling bewildered.

Zhou Yexin looked at the two men in the daze, and the three of them exchanged puzzled glances.

Then a gentle yet powerful voice came from the stairwell. “Yingji, do you know each other?”

Song Yingji quickly returned to his senses and restored his usual calm. He stepped aside to make way for the madam and helped her up the stairs. He replied awkwardly, “It’s quite a coincidence. We just met today…”

The madam glanced at Gu Shen and then at Crow. She knew very well what Song Ci liked to do in Old Town. From the young man’s strange expression, he had most likely done something wicked like treating the young man to a meal and then running away without paying the bill.

“That’s indeed a coincidence. You met again so soon. It seems you’re fated.” The madam smiled gently and looked at Gu Shen. “You two can have a good chat after we’re done.”

The madam didn’t receive a response.

The young man was still rooted to the spot in a daze. From the moment the madam went upstairs, he had only glanced at her, but after a glance, he couldn’t take his eyes away from her face.

It had been dozens of seconds already.

It was already starting to be impolite.

Gu Shen was experiencing a storm of emotions.

Compared to seeing Song Ci again, what was even more shocking was… the woman before him.

Song Ci had the Sincere Society tattoo on his body and a close relationship with the Zhao family. Moreover, he mentioned a mysterious big shot at noon.

Now, a certain big shot had spent a lot of money to visit the Dream Whisperer Clinic to treat an illness.

Connecting these two pieces of information, it wasn’t hard to guess that the woman in front of him was the legendary ‘Madam’ who wielded immense power in Dadu.

Yet what shocked Gu Shen even more than her status was her appearance.

She had porcelain skin, red hair, almond-shaped eyes, and rosy cheeks, and her long hair was elegantly coiled into a bun behind her head.

Madam was truly stunning and young…

She bore a striking resemblance to Nan Jin.

Apart from their hairstyles and auras, the similarities between the two were uncanny.

It was like they were… biological sisters.

Or rather, they were biological sisters.

At this moment, Gu Shen’s mind automatically recalled many details that he had previously overlooked.

On the night before he set off for Dadu, when his senior sisters and senior brother had dinner together, every time the name Cui Zhongcheng was mentioned, Nan Jin’s expression would subtly change.

During the car ride to the orphanage, Nan Jin had casually mentioned that she was richer than Gu Shen thought.

Mr. Tree had said that he had brought Nan Jin from Dadu. And after joining the Adjudication Bureau, she had been working tirelessly all year round, constantly carrying out missions.

And most importantly…

Every time Gu Shen asked about Nan Jin’s past, she would remain silent, refusing to respond.

She seemed to have no concept of family and was unwilling to reveal her past to outsiders.

Gu Shen could sense that, to Nan Jin, the word ‘past’ was like a piece of white paper soaked in the depths of the ocean. If possible, she wished she could stuff this piece of paper a hundred thousand kilometers deep into the bottom of the sea and let it rot away… Unfortunately, no matter how deep and rotten this past was, it would be dredged up one day and laid bare in front of certain people.

The moment Gu Shen saw Madam, his mind raced with many random guesses.

It wasn’t until Zhou Yexin pulled his sleeve that he realized his loss of composure.

He quickly looked away.

Zhou Yexin stepped forward and smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry… This young man is my assistant. He just arrived in Dadu. Please forgive him.”

Madam smiled gently and didn’t say anything.

“Are you Dr. Zhou Yexin?” she asked softly. “I’ve heard Tang Qingquan mention you. You’re very impressive.”

Zhou Yexin was startled. In fact, she had seen many so-called big shots with ‘high authority’ over the years, but none of them were like Madam in front of her. Just the sound of her voice made her feel deeply moved.

She still didn’t know who this big shot was.

But hearing her name spoken by such a figure, she felt a great honor.

“I… I…” Zhou Yexin didn’t know what was wrong with her today. She was actually so clumsy.

She tried her best to articulate her words clearly.

Madam smiled again. “Don’t worry. I’m here to see Dr. Gu… your assistant.”

“Ah… Huh? Oh…” Zhou Yexin looked a bit bewildered. For some reason, after knowing that she wasn’t the one being sought, she didn’t feel much disappointment. Instead, she felt relieved.

Song Ci stepped forward, opened the door of one of the private rooms, and looked inside, making a quick check. Then he gave Madam a look to indicate that this place was safe. “Please, go ahead.”

Madam walked over and entered the room.

Gu Shen followed her inside.

When they brushed past each other, Crow reminded softly and gravely, “You’ve hidden yourself well… Do you know who she is? I’ll be right here, keeping watching.”

“You’ve hidden yourself well too.” Gu Shen sighed softly and said emotionally, “This big shot is indeed very big.”