The letter of severance was written, the money was given, and Du Guangsheng and Li Cuihua were sent away. Life in the family compound returned to normal.

The snow stopped, the sun came out, and Du Yunying and Su Ying walked around the family compound twice.

Feeling a bit tired, the two found a place to sit down and rest for a while.

They never participate in the gossip of the military wives; they just listen from the sidelines without interrupting.

"Have you heard? Battalion Commander Zhang's newborn daughter is deathly pale. She was taken to the military hospital but they couldn't find the cause. Last night, the baby was crying so hard that Battalion Commander Zhang didn't sleep for most of the night and rushed her to the hospital."

“She only came back this morning. When Sister Zhao came into our apartment building with her child, she looked listless.”

“But we also attended the baby’s one-month celebration. The baby was fair-skinned, tender, and adorable. He didn’t look sick at all.”

"Exactly. When we went to celebrate the baby's one-month birthday, the baby was so chubby and fair-skinned. But after just over ten days, the baby's face has become so thin, it's heartbreaking."

"What happened?"

"This morning I saw Sister Zhao almost fall while carrying her child upstairs. I went over to help her, and when I saw the child's thin and pale face, I was shocked."

The crowd huddled together, whispering amongst themselves.

Su Ying and Gu Sinian looked at each other. They had also attended the full moon celebration. The child was fair-skinned and chubby, and did not look like a sick child at all.

How could things have turned out like this in just over ten days?

This is strange.

Su Ying wanted to hug the chubby child that day, but Gu Sinian stopped her. She even tugged at the child's little wrist.

I casually took the child's pulse and found that he was very healthy, with a strong and powerful pulse, not like someone who was sick.

"You saw Ya Ya that day too? She seemed sick?"

Du Yunying shook her head. "It doesn't seem like it. If that child is sick, then there are no healthy children in the world."

"That child is quite lovable."

Su Ying fell into deep thought. How could such a healthy child become so thin in such a short time? Everything about it seemed strange.

"Could someone have done this on purpose?"

Su Yunying refuted Su Ying's judgment, "That's impossible. The doctors at the military hospital are all highly talented; how could they not find the cause of the illness?"

"Perhaps... it's hidden in a rather subtle place... so Western medicine can't detect it."

"Nowadays people admire Western medicine, and most of the great masters of traditional Chinese medicine have been sent to labor camps."

Do you remember what your father said?

Du Yunying certainly remembered that not long ago she had thought of opening a traditional Chinese medicine section in the military hospital to serve the people and pass the time, but unexpectedly Qin Fang refused.

"How could I not remember? He kept the fact that he taught my mother and me traditional Chinese medicine a secret as closely as possible."

"There are quite a few traditional Chinese medicine practitioners who have been sent to the countryside, which is causing widespread anxiety."

"But I want to go and see Yaya. That child seems to like her quite a bit. What Western medicine can't diagnose, we traditional Chinese medicine can."

"Okay. I'll go with you to take a look."

Du Yunying and Su Ying helped each other leave, and the other military wives, hearing the commotion, all looked over in their direction.

"They're so high and mighty, they don't want to hang out with us gossipy people."

"Say less. Their status is higher than the other. One is the wife of a high-ranking official, and the other is the wife of a regimental commander. They are not people we can afford to offend."

"Since we don't like each other, there's no need for us to hang out together."

"Exactly, we can't connect with those cultured people. We don't understand what they're saying, and others don't understand what I'm saying either. Why bother making ourselves suffer?"

"Exactly. We have so much fun playing and chatting together."

Su Ying and Du Yunying helped each other into the apartment building. At this time of day, there were very few people in the apartment building; they were either at work, taking a stroll downstairs, or going to buy groceries.

Su Ying and Du Yunying slowly helped each other up to the third floor and knocked on the door of room 303.

Zhao Fang opened the door, but didn't seem particularly happy to see the two of them. "Oh, it's you two. What brings you here?"

"Let's go inside and talk."

Zhao Fang nodded and let the two into the living room, where the baby was sleeping soundly in the cradle.

"This child..."

Zhao Fang smiled bitterly, "I don't know what's wrong with my child. I'm a doctor, but I just can't find the cause of my child's illness."

Su Ying suggested, "Let me take a look."

"you?"

"Yes, it's me. I can take a look at the child and see what's wrong with him."

Zhao Fang immediately realized, "You're a traditional Chinese medicine doctor?"

"Yes. But I hope you can keep this a secret..."

"I see."

Zhao Fang originally wanted to take her child to see a traditional Chinese medicine doctor, but Beijing is such a big city, and anyone who knows a little about traditional Chinese medicine would deny it.

The child doesn't have much time left either.

She took a long leave of absence to spend quality time with her child as he passed away.

Su Ying reached into the cradle to take the baby's pulse, her brows furrowing deeper and deeper.

Zhao Fang, being a doctor herself, noticed something was wrong with Su Ying's condition; the more she took the child's pulse, the more her brows furrowed.

"What's wrong?"

Su Ying released the child's hand, her face grave. "The child is fine."

Zhao Fang was almost in tears. "How can it be okay? The child is almost dead, and doesn't have much time left. How can you say it's okay? Do you even know how to treat a child?"

Su Ying said firmly, "I can cure Ya Ya's illness, but let me make this clear beforehand: if the root cause of this illness cannot be eradicated, it will get better this time, but it will relapse next time, and the child will suffer."

"What is the root cause?"

"The root cause of child abuse."

"What?" Zhao Fang couldn't believe what Su Ying said. "Our family of three has always treated the child very, very well. How could we possibly abuse the child?"

"I don't know about that. If you don't believe me, you can take off the child's clothes and examine him carefully."

Zhao Fang stripped the child of his clothes while he was fast asleep.

Su Ying cautioned, "Try not to touch her lower abdomen; there's something wrong there."

"I asked you to check the child's armpits and inner thighs."

Zhao Fang carefully examined the child's armpits and inner thighs, and saw needle marks that were not usually noticeable, a dense array of needle marks.

She stared in disbelief at everything. "What's going on? Who's abusing my child? Who is it?"

Du Yunying sneered, "Besides the three of you, who else in your family can get even half a step close to the child? If it's not you, then it's just the child's father and grandmother."

Zhao Fang recalled how her mother-in-law had been taking extra good care of Ya Ya lately, changing the child's clothes from time to time...

"What a vicious old witch! She doesn't even spare a one-month-old baby. She doesn't like Ya Ya, but she pretends to like her so much. It's utterly disgusting."