After wrapping up his conversation with Bo Nianyao, Bo Xichen returned to his bedroom upstairs.
Gu Anxi was on the couch, teaming up for an online ga. He watched her quietly for a mont before pulling her into his arms.
"What’s wrong, Uncle?" Gu Anxi asked, still focused on her ga. Distracted, she was quickly killed. Chu Yan, on the opposing team, typed in chat:
[Gu Anxi, you noob~~]
[Professor Bo must be there with her!]
[Putting romance before your teammates!]
Gu Anxi resignedly quit the ga. "Uncle?"
Bo Xichen smiled. "It’s nothing."
She sat up straight. "Did your important cousin leave?"
He nodded and, after a mont’s thought, said, "In the future, if my cousin cos looking for you when I’m not around, don’t et him alone."
Gu Yuanshan might be ddling, but he worried about unforeseen changes... Just as his father had said, they couldn’t make a move against Bo Jingshen for now, nor could they afford to antagonize him. Although Bo Jingshen was wavering between the Bo family and the allied Gu and Jiang families, he wouldn’t dare to offend the Bo family publicly. After all, the Bo family had put him in power, and many of his foundational support systems and lifelines were tied to them.
Gu Anxi obediently nodded. "Uncle, I understand."
Bo Xichen lightly flicked her forehead. "Go to sleep early."
He paused. "If you’re not feeling well, don’t keep playing gas."
Gu Anxi hugged his waist. "But it’s so boring otherwise."
Bo Xichen lowered his head—
A mont passed in silence.
"How about this?" he murmured, his voice close. "Still bored?"
Another soft sound escaped her.
Gu Anxi looked up at him, her eyes pleading. "Uncle, are you also planning to go to Qingcheng?"
His eyes softened as he murmured, "Yes, to perform surgery."
Gu Anxi didn’t suspect a thing. "Is it for an important person?"
He smiled warmly. "Yes! A very important person—my future wife’s father. Do you think that’s important?"
Gu Anxi’s eyes widened, and for a long mont, she doubted if she’d heard him correctly.
Bo Xichen rely smiled. "The ti is ripe."
"I want to go with you." Gu Anxi clung to his arm, her gaze unyielding.
He gently patted her head. "Will you perform the surgery, or shall I?"
Gu Anxi looked at him steadily for a minute, then said softly, "Uncle, you should be the one to operate on Father."
She trusted only him.
Bo Xichen smiled faintly, murmured his assent, and then urged Gu Anxi to sleep.
They would depart for Qingcheng early the next morning. The trip was arranged on short notice, and all details were kept strictly confidential.
While they were imrsed in their tender mont, Jiang Chaoge, in contrast, was feeling uneasy. She rushed to Qingcheng overnight.
The river water previously imported from Clearwater Cloud Heights was specifically for extracting Jing. That was why her uncle had bought the land and equipnt at a high price. Now, it was highly likely that sothing had gone wrong...
Jiang Chaoge arrived in Qingcheng at 5:00 a.m. and went straight to a factory where the equipnt had already been delivered and installed.
The person in charge there was a direct descendant of the Jiang family. Upon seeing Jiang Chaoge, he said happily, "Our factory backs onto that river. We’re laying the pipes now. Once they’re connected, we’ll have a continuous water supply."
Jiang Chaoge nodded calmly. "Are there any issues upstream? Has the water source been cut off?"
"No, no," the manager chuckled. "They probably haven’t thought that far. How about we run another test?"
Despite her exhaustion, Jiang Chaoge agreed.
The manager then brought over a large bucket of stored river water for her to experint with. As it turned out, Jing could indeed be extracted from this previously sourced river water.
After a long day, Jiang Chaoge finally breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing these results and checked into a hotel.
At 10:00 a.m., Bo Xichen’s private jet also landed in Qingcheng. Wang Keru only received the call after they had already arrived at the hospital. By the ti she reached them, Bo Xichen, with Gu Anxi, was already examining Gu Yuntian.
When they erged, Wang Keru hurried over to et them.
Bo Xichen took off his mask. "Everything is normal."
He glanced at Gu Anxi. "Let’s get ready for surgery! You can assist."
Gu Anxi nodded.
Wang Keru felt sowhat disoriented. Why the sudden surgery? She felt a little muddled and uneasy. She asked Gu Anxi softly, "Is Xichen confident about this?"
Gu Anxi held her. "Absolutely."
The surgery lasted for sixteen hours, from 1:00 p.m. until early the next morning.
Nurses rotated through two shifts, but only Bo Xichen and Gu Anxi remained from beginning to end, successfully completing the bilateral nerve replacent.
At six o’clock in the morning, Bo Xichen personally stitched up the incision and looked up. "Any thoughts?"
Gu Anxi was quite tired and paused, trying to formulate the perfect complint, when Fengxi’s cheerful voice suddenly rang out:
[Professor Bo is in great shape.]
[Uncle can easily pull an all-nighter.]
[Bo Xichen could even pull another one...]
The nurses in the room were petrified; they had never witnessed such a scene.
Gu Anxi wanted to strangle that AI, Fengxi!
Bo Xichen, however, just chuckled. "Alright, take Mr. Gu to the ICU."
He couldn’t rest yet; he needed to monitor Gu Yuntian for at least another twenty-four hours. Gu Anxi felt a pang of concern. "Uncle."
He patted her. "I’ll keep watch. You go take a shower first, then you can relieve so I can get cleaned up."
Gu Anxi nodded and went to shower. When she returned, she had changed into fresh clothes and put on a white lab coat.
Grandma Chen and Wang Keru stood anxiously outside the patient room. Seeing Gu Anxi approach, Wang Keru asked, "Anxi, how is he?"
Gu Anxi gave a faint smile. "We’ll only know the degree of nerve integration once he wakes up."
This type of operation was a world first and also Bo Xichen’s experintal project. Gu Anxi, however, didn’t share Bo Xichen’s level of certainty about the outco.
Wang Keru was extrely nervous. "Anxi, you should ask Xichen about it later."
Grandma Chen rebuked her, "Look at you, so spineless. Xichen is your future son-in-law. Why didn’t you ask him when you saw him earlier?"
Wang Keru looked aggrieved. "I was afraid of disturbing him."
Grandma Chen chided again, "Honestly, you’re hopeless."
This bickering lightened the atmosphere considerably. After chatting with them a bit longer, Gu Anxi went to relieve Bo Xichen so he could take a shower. She knew her uncle must be exhausted by now...
They kept vigil for another twenty-four hours.
Although Gu Yuntian hadn’t woken up yet, his vital signs were noticeably more active than before.
After examining him, Bo Xichen said calmly, "He should wake up soti today. His degree of recovery will now depend on his own willpower."
Wang Keru and Grandma Chen were also allowed in to visit. Wang Keru was particularly emotional, her hand tightly gripping Gu Yuntian’s.
Bo Xichen glanced at Gu Anxi. She understood his unspoken cue, and they left the room together.
Once outside, walking side-by-side down the hospital corridor, Bo Xichen reached out, took her hand, and said softly, "Anxi, do you rember that ti you were sitting on the long bench?"
She humd in response. "I forgot."
He chuckled warmly. "Back then, you were like a little stray kitten; seeing you made want to take you ho."
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