Chapter 4

The dimly lit and secluded road leading away from the Quinn residence stretched ahead. Scarlett pulled out a set of silver needles from her bag and quickly inserted them into her GV14 acupoint, LI11 acupoint, LI4 acupoint, and the tips of her ten fingers. Back at the Quinn residence earlier, her whole body had already been burning like a furnace. Yet no one in the entire family noticed her condition besides herself. Scarlett was personally mentored by Alton Becker, a man who had a resounding reputation in the medical world, known as a living legend. When she was only three, while playing in the mud with the other village kids, she happened to encounter Alton leading a group of students into the mountains to gather herbs. Out of curiosity, she tagged along and, just from overhearing snippets of their conversation, was able to recognize many medicinal herbs. When it came time to eat, all the other kids went home for lunch except for her. She, with her dirty little fingers in her mouth, just stared at the students eating instant noodles and drooled. She noticed they had collected a lot of herbs, some of which were said to be rare and hard to find. So she turned around, went into the mountains, and brought back a large handful. She went up to the white-haired old man leading the group and said, "Sir, I'll give you these Arician leaves, Plantago asiatica leaves, and Ardisia lindleyana leaves… Can I have just one bite of your noodles? Just one bite! I'm so hungry…" Alton was taken aback, probably because she named those herbs so smoothly and confidently. Not only did Alton give her an entire cup of instant noodles, but he also bought her several boxes to take home before asking her to take him to her house. Her home had only a mentally unstable mother and a bedridden grandmother. After his visit, Alton frequently visited her and even cured her grandmother. It was from that moment on that she resolved to study medicine under Alton. But two years ago, Alton passed away from natural causes, leaving her this box of silver needles. Since returning to the Quinn residence this year, she had used these needles to cure a variety of ailments for the family. Todd's frozen shoulder, Margot's migraines, and Jonathan's cervical spondylosis were just the beginning. She also treated her second brother, Jared's trigeminal neuralgia, her fourth brother, Jackson's insomnia, and even the tendonitis affecting Julius, Jacob, and Jonah—her fifth, sixth, and seventh brothers, respectively. She even cured Lily of her uterine issues. As for her third brother, Josiah Quinn, he was a doctor himself—an exceptional surgeon. Josiah was rather put off by her use of silver needles for healing. What she remembered most clearly was when he warned her, saying, "Mr. Becker had countless mentees around the world. Now that he's passed, you'd better not go around flaunting his name and recklessly using those needles. "If something goes wrong, Mr. Becker's reputation will be ruined!" But the truth was, she had truly cured the long-standing ailments of her family members. They enjoyed the benefits she brought, yet still looked down on her skills, disregarding her completely. In her previous life, around this time, she had also suffered a high fever. If Lily hadn't come to her searching for the Celestial Drop, she might've died without anyone ever knowing. Fortunately, she no longer placed any hope in them. … Scarlett made her way into the city, bought some medicine, and spent the night at a hotel. The next morning, she prepared to move into the school dorms. Although her current school was the top academy in Yendale and was filled with students from wealthy and influential families, it still provided dormitories for all students, considering privacy and lunchtime naps. But in reality, almost no one actually lived on campus. She would probably be one of the first to do so. Yet, the moment she stepped through the school gates, she could feel the strange stares and whispers surrounding her. "Isn't that Scarlett? I heard she got expelled for stealing." "Why's she dragging a suitcase? Is it full of the stuff she stole?" "Wow, I never would've guessed! She always seemed so quiet and well-behaved…" Scarlett instantly knew—it could only be Lily and Jonah behind this again. She had also been burdened with the same baseless accusation in her past life. At school, she became a walking target for everyone. The constant whispers almost drove her to depression. She had tried to explain herself, but under Lily's sly manipulations, her words only made things worse. Eventually, her Class A classmates signed a petition to have her transferred to another class. Even the homeroom teacher, whom she had always respected, looked at her coldly and said, "You've affected the reputation of Class A far too much. These students are all aiming for top national scores. If you drag them down, what can you possibly do to make up for it? Please, do us a favor and transfer." However, she clearly had more potential to be the national top scorer than any of them. Still, the teacher and everyone else chose not to believe in her, giving up on her completely. Unable to endure the verbal abuse in Class A, she compromised and moved to the underachievers' class, thinking that with hard work, she could still reach the top. Yet, she didn't expect that many of Lily's admirers would be in that class. Led by Jonah, they bullied her for half a semester. They pulled her hair in class, poured ink on her clothes, smeared glue on her chair, stuffed dead rats in her backpack, and threw basketballs, volleyballs, and baseballs at her head during PE. Jonah, the instigator, merely stood not far away and watched. Only after she was thoroughly humiliated would he step forward with disgust and say, "This is the punishment you deserve for stealing. I've spoken up for you a lot with them. You should be thanking me for that." And just like that, the relentless bullying destroyed her. On the day of the SATs, Lily even pretended to care, handed her a glass of fresh milk, and urged her to do well. Scarlett knew Lily couldn't possibly be that kind, but she drank the milk anyway as Jonah was watching. The result? She had severe diarrhea and completely bombed the exam. Thinking back to those cruel images left Scarlett feeling nothing but cold, unfeeling detachment. Strangely enough, this time around, she was directly expelled from the school, but if they thought they could get rid of her that easily, they were sorely mistaken. She was no longer the Scarlett of her past life, the girl who swallowed every injustice silently. With her suitcase in tow, she made a beeline for the academic affairs office. The Dean of Students, Herbert Riggs, threw a sheet of paper at her face without even looking up. "Look what you've done, Scarlett. You've been expelled!" Scarlett bent down to pick it up. It was an expulsion letter, stamped with the vice principal's seal. She curled her lips into a cold smile. "Before expelling me, did you get the principal's approval?" Herbert was momentarily stunned, then scoffed, "Why would we bother the principal just to expel a troublemaker like you? Students like you only tarnish the school's reputation. You're a cancer to society." Sneering, Scarlett tore the expulsion letter in half. "If you want to expel me, have the principal sign it." With that, she turned and walked away, suitcase in tow. Herbert was left completely dumbfounded.