Chapter 2 — Calling Off the Engagement with the Master Surgeon

My father froze for a moment, his face turning a shade of apoplectic red, before he began to bellow even louder.

"You unfilial wretch! You are truly going to be the death of me! You're going to give me a heart attack!"

I offered a slight, cool nod.

"Very well. I shall grant your wish."

The moment those words left my lips, the color drained from my father’s face. His eyes bulged, wide and terrifying, as his hands clawed frantically at his chest, bunching the fabric of his shirt. His lips, once flushed with anger, turned a ghastly, bruised purple. He gasped, his mouth gaping wide, yet no sound escaped him—only a series of dry, rhythmic choking sounds rattled in his throat. He slumped off the sofa, collapsing onto the floor, his entire body convulsing in violent spasms. My mother stood paralyzed, her mind blank with shock, before she finally shoved him twice.

"Old To? Old To, what is wrong with you! Stop trying to scare me!"

My father’s eyes had rolled back, showing only the whites; he had completely lost consciousness. I calmly retrieved my phone and dialed the emergency services.

"Hello, this is the To estate. We have a sudden case of acute myocardial infarction. Please bring a defibrillator and arrive immediately."

Fifteen minutes later, the ambulance shrieked into the driveway. Paramedics rushed inside, immediately beginning cardiopulmonary resuscitation on my father.

"His heart has stopped! Prepare the defibrillator!"

"Thump!"

My father’s body jolted off the floor. It took three consecutive shocks before a faint, erratic pulse finally returned. Drenched in sweat, the doctors loaded him onto the stretcher.

"Family members, follow us at once! Every second counts!"

My mother scrambled after them, sobbing, but before she vanished through the door, she cast a glance back at me—a look filled with primal terror. She had suddenly recalled my terrifying reputation for having a cursed tongue, a trait that had haunted me since childhood. The To manor fell into an absolute, suffocating silence. The household staff huddled in the corners, trembling, not daring to draw a full breath. I sat back down on the sofa and poured myself a cup of tea. Faking illness? In my presence, no one gets away with such theatrics unscathed.

Three

My father spent a grueling day and night in the intensive care unit before he finally pulled back from the brink of death. The doctors were baffled, noting that his cardiac vessels had suffered a sudden, massive blockage, a phenomenon they found medically inexplicable. My mother kept vigil outside the ward, but when she looked at me, she saw a monster, not a daughter. She no longer dared to force me to apologize, nor did she ever dare to raise her voice in my presence again.

On a different floor of the hospital, in the room of Lam Van Van, Gu Canh Tham was nearing a breakdown. After a failed surgery, he could only watch in agony as Van Van writhed in torment on her hospital bed. Standard painkillers were completely ineffective; she was forced to rely on heavy sedation just to remain in a semi-conscious, dreamless state. But the moment the sedatives wore off, she would wake up screaming in unimaginable pain. Gu Canh Tham had combed through every medical journal at his disposal and made countless international calls to consult with the world's leading specialists, yet none could explain why Van Van’s condition had deteriorated with such impossible speed.

It was then that Gu Canh Tham heard about my father’s sudden heart attack. He recalled the words I had spoken during the engagement party.

"Your cancer cells have spread throughout your body; your sensitivity to pain has been magnified tenfold."

It was as if a spark had ignited in his mind. With his eyes bloodshot and frantic, he stormed out of the hospital. He marched straight to the To estate, flanked by two police officers.

"Officers, it is her! She poisoned Van Van!"

Gu Canh Tham pointed a shaking finger at me, his teeth gritted in hatred.

"Van Van was perfectly fine! It was only after she spoke those words at the party that Van Van suddenly fell ill! She must have slipped some new, untraceable toxin into the champagne!"

The police turned their gaze toward me, requesting that I cooperate with their investigation. I merely spread my hands with a calm, indifferent smile.

"By all means. Be my guest."

The police reviewed the security footage of the party and seized the glass I had used. They even went to the hospital to extract blood samples from Van Van for toxicology screenings. After an exhausting day of searching, they turned up absolutely nothing. The lead officer gave Gu Canh Tham a stern warning.

"Dr. Gu, the footage clearly shows that Miss To never once came into contact with Lam Van Van. Furthermore, the blood tests show no traces of toxins; this is clearly a standard progression of end-stage cancer. We advise you to stop filing false reports and wasting police resources."

Once the police departed, Gu Canh Tham glared at me, his face twisted.

"To Thien Thien, what kind of dark sorcery did you use!"

I looked at his crumbling facade and could not help but laugh.

"Gu Canh Tham, you are a medical professional, yet you believe in sorcery? She has a terminal illness, and because you are incompetent and cannot save her, you come to blame me? So much for being the great surgical genius everyone says you are."

Stung by the truth, Gu Canh Tham went pale. He clenched his fists so tightly his knuckles turned white, looking as if he might strike me, but he managed to restrain himself.

"Just you wait. I will find proof!"

He turned on his heel and slammed the door behind him. Returning to the ward, he found Van Van awake, the sedatives having worn off. Seeing his defeated expression, she immediately realized he had gained nothing. Deep down, Van Van knew the truth: she did not actually have stomach cancer. She had no idea what was happening to her body, but she knew that if she became a hopeless invalid, Gu Canh Tham would eventually discard her. She had to cling to this man, no matter the cost.