Anastasia returned home joyfully and noticed that Maria was there again. She grew impatient seeing the miracle doctor with her aunt waiting for her.‘Didn’t I tell her I don’t want to see him? Why can’t she leave me alone? If she continues like this, I wouldn’t want her to enter the house anymore.’Although upset, Anastasia still greeted her aunt, “Hi, Aunt Maria.”“Tasia, you’re finally home. You’re always coming home so late day after day, and yet your father has never gotten worried. What is he thinking?” Maria knew their relationship had been strained for the last two days and conveyed her concerns instead of getting to her point.“I’m a grownup, and I wasn’t going to shady places, so why worry? You seem quite free to come here so often,” Anastasia spoke bluntly and lifted her eyelids as she looked over to Austin, who remained quiet on the sidelines.“Also, you’re always accompanied by a man of dubious background. Aren’t you afraid my uncle would get jealous?” She said half-jo
“Mr. Fike…” Maria worried Austin would get upset and hurriedly try to explain her niece’s behavior. However, Austin ignored her and focused his attention on Anastasia.Anastasia turned to look at him straight into his eyes. “Why do you care?”Austin smiled indifferently and said, “Did she also tell you that as long as you have a reasonable diet and adjust your nutrition structure well, you would be able to eat until you’re full while losing weight?”Anastasia looked at him warily without saying anything, but Maria babbled loudly, “What kind of deviant theory is that?! How can we not go hungry when we try to lose weight? How can we be full and yet slim down? That’s total b*llshit! Tasia, you mustn't believe that!”“No, to a certain degree, she’s right,” Austin said, to Maria’s surprise.Maria was puzzled.“You think that she’s right too?” Without realizing it, Anastasia became less hostile toward Austin.“I’m saying to a certain degree, “Austin said blandly.Many weight loss exp
Austin rested his fingers on Anastasia’s wrist and dropped his smile, looking much more solemn.She was nervous.In the past, they had engaged many doctors. Some gave her X-rays, and some took her pulse, but they had not discovered anything and simply said her endocrine system was unstable and needed treatment.She later took herbal medicine for a while, and it was so bitter that she wanted to cry. Ultimately, the result was not good, and she gradually gave it up.She also went to the gym. Being obese, she was not suitable for strenuous exercises and could only walk about and perform simple activities. But back at home, she would fall into a deep sleep and wake up feeling hungrier. This disrupted her circadian rhythm and made her want to eat more.After a while, she slowly lost hope and gave up.For the past two days, she has been happy at Lily’s house. She neither thought about losing weight nor whether she would feel guilty eating a particular food. It was as if she gave her bo
“You’re no ordinary fat person.” Shaking his head, Austin narrowed his eyes at her. “I can tell your obesity is not caused by something common from your pulse. I think you're... poisoned.”“Poisoned?”Maria and Anastasia spoke aloud almost at the same time. This was shocking to them.Anastasia had met many doctors and coaches and tried all sorts of methods. Some told her that her DNA caused her obesity, some said it was the result of her letting herself go, and some claimed that it was a psychological problem and asked her to see a psychiatrist. However, no one had ever told her that she was poisoned.“No way. It can’t be, right?” Horrified, Maria spluttered. “How can she be poisoned?”“That’s right!” Catching herself, Anastasia also thought it was ridiculous. “Even though you’re a miracle doctor, you can’t spout nonsense. I’ve seen many mainstream and alternative medicine doctors, but none has ever said I was poisoned. Are you trying to say that they are all bad doctors and could
“How do you know Lily is not treating you as an experimentation tool herself?”Austin smiled meaningfully and took out a pen and a piece of paper. Then he lowered his head to write as he spoke casually, “I don’t mind you knowing that she and I are conducting research at the same lab.“She might know a little bit about alternative medicine and medicinal herbs. Of course, she is mainly a perfumer and might have obtained some knowledge of alternative medicine through self-learning.”He paused and looked up at Anastasia. “Still, you guys should understand that those who self-learn lack practical experience. Whenever there’s a chance, they’d jump at it.”Enlightened by him, Maria looked at Anastasia and said, “Tasia, she’s using you as a guinea pig!”Anastasia could hardly speak for a moment. What Austin said had somehow unsettled her.She wanted to tell herself that what he said was false and that Lily would never treat her as a guinea pig.‘If that is the case, how come Lily always
Lily wondered why there were so many plants and herbs around when she visited Anastasia’s house for the first time, even though the young woman did not particularly like them.It would be normal if Anastasia was into herbs and loved to study them, but she knew nothing about plants.‘Anastasia gave me such valuable agarwood, and several expensive medicinal herbs are all around her home. Some herbs with potent smells are in the yard, while those with mild or refreshing aromas are in the house.‘Such a variety of plants put randomly in one place could very well be the cause of the poisoning.’Of course, those were just Lily’s speculations, and she was unsure. It was why she visited Dominic, who was well-traveled and knowledgeable. Having been to many places, he might have studied these things.Since Dominic admitted that her theory was plausible, she could be right.Lily’s first step was to devise a proper diet plan so Anastasia could eliminate her food anxiety. If the young girl co
“No,” Alexander said. “We checked all surveillance footage and didn’t find anyone poisoning it. We also sent the food residue for testing and found no traces of poison.”“So, what about the water supply if it’s not the food?” Lily asked after some thought.“I thought about that too and had it checked as well.”‘If it’s not the food and water supply, and the mass poisoning is not an accident, then it’s rather bizarre.’“Can it be an accident? Where were the workers, or whom had they come in contact with?” Lily knitted her brow. She wanted to help her husband solve the problem as soon as possible.Since people had died, they had to find out what happened and give an explanation to those people’s families.“Based on our investigation, these workers stayed and had their meals at the factory. They haven’t been in contact with outsiders over the past few days.” After a pause, he said, “We’re still investigating, and I believe we’ll get to the bottom of what happened. Don’t worry too mu
“If that’s the case, it would be marvelous!” Maria got happy after seeing how confident her husband was. She saw the maid bringing a cup of tea over and waved her off. “To hell with tea. I’ll have wine.”Maria picked up a bottle of wine and poured herself a glass. “Times have changed. It’s our turn to get filthy rich now. Things keep happening in our favor, don’t they?”“Why do you say that?” Fabian looked toward her.She took a swig of wine, felt her throat burning, and coughed a few times before saying, “I told you Tasia refused treatment, right? Today she saw the miracle doctor!”“She did?” The person who asked this question was not Fabian but Rhea. After taking a shower, she partially blow-dried her hair and let it loose as she descended the stairs.“Rhea?” Maria was surprised. “When did you get back? Why didn’t you tell me? Fabian, you should’ve told me she’s back! Tell the maids to prepare some nice dishes. It’s a good day for our family, and we must booze it up today!”Hav