"Let's go," Qin Beiting extended his hand.
Yu He glanced at his long, broad palm. "Go where?"
"To see your gift," Qin Beiting said.
Yu He raised an eyebrow. What gift required her to see it in person?
"Go on, be back soon," Cheng Lizhu brought Yu He's coat and helped her put it on.
Yu He placed her hand in Qin Beiting's palm. Their fingers intertwined, and they left under the watchful eyes of their family.
In the courtyard, a helicopter was already waiting.
As the two boarded, "Boom, boom, boom"—a sky full of fireworks exploded into the night sky once more.
The helicopter weaved through the fireworks. Yu He leaned against the window, watching the fireworks burst before her eyes, her pupils shining brilliantly.
"Do you like it?" Qin Beiting asked by her ear.
Yu He turned her head, her gaze falling on the man's face so close to hers, illuminated by the colorful lights. The light and shadow sculpted his profile with sharp, defined lines.
In that moment, she felt her heart fill to bursting, her heartbeat echoing the explosions of the fireworks outside.
She couldn't resist and leaned in, kissing him.
Qin Beiting immediately raised his hand, cupping her head as she began to withdraw, deepening the kiss.
Outside, the fireworks painted the sky in a riot of colors; inside, their affections intertwined.
Two hours later.
The helicopter landed in the middle of the courtyard of a historic siheyuan in the capital.
Yu He watched as the escorting fireworks finally subsided and thought, "Is that it now?"
The capital strictly prohibited fireworks. If they continued like this, they'd likely be in the police station having tea until dawn.
"Close your eyes," Qin Beiting said, taking Yu He's hand as they disembarked.
Yu He complied, closing her eyes. She felt Qin Beiting withdraw his hand.
After a moment, Qin Beiting said, "Alright."
Yu He slowly opened her eyes. Qin Beiting handed her a sparkler, its silver sparks dancing in the air. "This is the last one."
It reminded her of when she was little, and a boy had handed her a lit sparkler.
"Thank you," Yu He took it, a beautiful smile spreading across her delicate face.
Qin Beiting gazed at her ethereal smile, which merged with the radiant smile of the little girl in his memory. A deep affection involuntarily flickered in his eyes.
This was the first time he had seen her smile so happily in months.
She had been such a cheerful child. If not for the incident involving the sixth brother and sister-in-law back then, this little girl wouldn't have become who she was today.
"Your smile is so sweet. You should smile more often. Don't always have such a stern face," Qin Beiting couldn't resist pinching Yu He's tender cheek.
Yu He batted his hand away. "I don't make a living by smiling."
Qin Beiting chuckled softly, then smoothly took her hand, their fingers interlocking. "Come and see your gift."
As he spoke, he magically produced a set of keys in his other hand.
"There's more?" Yu He blinked. Wasn't the two-hour fireworks display enough?
Qin Beiting tossed the burnt-out sparkler from her hand into the trash can by the door, then gestured with his chin towards the brass lock on the red door. "Open it and see."
Yu He looked at the shape of the brass lock, then found a key from the keyring. She wondered if he had gotten her a whole siheyuan.
She unlocked the brass lock and pushed the door open. Qin Beiting turned on the lights, and they were greeted by a screen carved with auspicious symbols of wealth, prosperity, and longevity made of huanghuali wood.
Rounding the screen, they saw a modernized Chinese medicine storehouse and a room for alchemical equipment.
Yu He was pleasantly surprised and stepped forward to examine it.
The storehouse contained all the basic Chinese medicinal herbs, quite comprehensively stocked. The alchemical equipment, including various cauldrons, and acupuncture needles of gold and silver, were all complete.
Clearly, these were all prepared specifically for her.
She had initially considered setting up a medicinal storehouse in her suburban villa, but the location wasn't convenient. Since she had gotten used to the laboratory at Kaiwei, she had procrastinated on moving it.
Now that she was coming to the capital for school, she couldn't possibly commute back to Kaiwei. She hadn't expected Qin Beiting to have prepared this for her here.
"The other three side rooms are the living quarters, a consultation room, and a chemistry laboratory," Qin Beiting said, leading Yu He out into the courtyard and introducing each room.
"It's quite close to Tsinghua and Peking University. You can open a traditional Chinese medicine clinic here, and do your alchemy and treat patients."
Yu He looked at Qin Beiting, suddenly feeling as though this man might be able to read her mind. He had already prepared everything she had planned to do in the capital.
Then, something occurred to her, and she asked, "How did you know I could do alchemy?"
She had only given him medicinal pills; she hadn't told him how she made them.
Qin Beiting's gaze flickered, almost giving himself away.
Yu He hadn't explicitly stated that she made the pills herself, but she had implied it when she was operating under the alias of the "Nameless Divine Doctor."
"Weren't the pills you gave me made by yourself?" he countered.
"Speaking of which, didn't you say before that only the Black Spirit Pearl could save me from my illness? But I'm better now. Was it because you used the Black Spirit Pearl? But the Black Spirit Pearl is with the Nameless Divine Doctor, isn't it?"
Qin Beiting raised an eyebrow, looking at Yu He as if to say, "Let's see how you explain this."
Caught off guard, Yu He felt as though he already knew her identity as the Nameless Divine Doctor. But how could he know?
Currently, the outside world believed that Qi Yuanyuan was the Nameless Divine Doctor.
But Qi Yuanyuan was using her name to practice medicine indiscriminately, which made her very angry. She had to stop her, but now was not the time.
There was something she had overlooked: the money she had used to con Qin Meimei through "Crow" had been directly transferred to Xing Que.
If someone were to exploit this and hack into Xing Que's system, upon careful examination, they would discover that Crow's payment was for services rendered by the Nameless Divine Doctor.
If she were to expose Qi Yuanyuan as a fraud and claim to be the Nameless Divine Doctor herself, it would be equivalent to announcing to the world that she was the "10 million US dollar" fugitive wanted by Interpol.
Therefore, she needed to find another opportunity, perhaps when the Master of Xing Que Palace was away, to discreetly hack into Xing Que again and delete the transaction data from that time.
"This shows my medical skills are superb!" Yu He answered irrelevant to his question, then pointed to the west wing, changing the subject.
"This is the bedroom, right? It's almost three o'clock. I'm so sleepy. Let's stay here tonight."
Qin Beiting looked at her retreating back and smiled helplessly.
Did the young lady not intend to let him know her identity yet?
Yu He used her key to open the door to the west wing. The lights inside automatically illuminated, revealing a traditional foyer. To the left was the bedroom, and to the right, a study.
Although the overall decor was antique and elegant, the living amenities were complete.
Yu He opened the wardrobe in the room and saw men's and women's pajamas, undergarments, and outer clothes neatly arranged in separate compartments. She turned back abruptly.
She saw Qin Beiting leaning against the bathroom doorway, a devilish smile playing on his lips, and an invitation issued: "Baby, want to take a shower together?"