Chapter 25: Sister Mei's Letter

Lu Kuan, with a heart as hard as iron, had already been back in Jingcheng for over half a month.

The entanglements of the mortal world are best ended cleanly; Sister Jiang was too obsessed, insisting on hanging herself from a single tree—how could that ever work?

This relaxed public relations firm boss naturally had no grudges in his heart; the only thing he couldn't pick up or put down in this life was his chopsticks, everything else was just passing clouds.

During this time, he had eaten with the enthusiastic and cheerful Zhou Xun a few times; she was a bit superstitious and had asked Lu Kuan to tell her fortune and provide some guidance, though it was free of charge.

Consider it compensation for teasing her and Li Yapeng on the day of the wrap party.

The rest of the time, he stayed in his senior fellow apprentice's luxury apartment, solving problems and writing scripts.

He was doing "Three Years of College Entrance Exams, Five Years of Simulations," and writing scripts in the standard Hollywood format, in both Chinese and English—life isn't easy, so one must copy when one must.

Especially once "Blind Shaft" started filming, the initial funds would soon bottom out, and the crew would be like a nursing child, looking forward to his blood transfusion.

The young Daoist was using the method of undetermined coefficients to find point coordinates when the phone rang abruptly.

Looking at the location on the caller ID, Lu Kuan understood in his heart.

Faint, noisy sounds came from the other end of the line, followed by the still calm and composed voice of Anita Mui.

"Mr. Lu, it's me, Anita Mui."

"Hello, Sister Mei, have you been well?"

"I have been ill, heh, but thanks to your advice, Mr. Lu." This soon-to-be thirty-eight-year-old big sister of Xiangjiang had a surprisingly good attitude.

She immediately said earnestly: "Mr. Lu, I have asked my assistant to go to Beiping to pick you up. Please come to my home for a visit so I can thank you in person!"

Her phone number must have been obtained through Zhao Wenzhuo from Jiang Qinqin, so it was no surprise she knew he had returned to Beiping after the wrap.

Lu Kuan did not act coy; how could one not leave a name after doing a good deed? When it was time to settle the score, one shouldn't be soft-hearted or worry about face.

"I'll listen to your arrangements, Sister Mei."

After hanging up, Lu Kuan let out a long breath. This should be the first major thing he had done since flapping his butterfly wings in this world; although it carried a hint of utilitarianism, it could hardly be considered a bad thing.

His "thick-black" philosophy was about how to do things, not how to treat people; good people should be rewarded, and Anita Mui deserved it.

That night in Wuxi, Anita Mui contacted a private doctor, then quickly returned to Xiangjiang to undergo a routine cervical smear screening at Queen Mary Hospital.

After the initial diagnosis suggested a lesion, she underwent a colposcopy and biopsy, and was finally diagnosed with stage 0 cervical cancer under the joint diagnosis of experts from all over Xiangjiang.

In this day and age, one had to return to their place of origin to apply for a travel permit to Xiangjiang and Aomen; after several days of hassle, Lu Kuan finally arrived at Anita Mui's luxury mansion at 8 Shoushan Village, Heng'an Pavilion, in the Southern District of Xiangjiang.

Land in Xiangjiang is worth its weight in gold; Heng'an Pavilion had only 12 duplex units in total. Anita Mui spent 20 million HKD to purchase one in 1993, and it was acquired by Sun Hung Kai for 147 million HKD in 2013.

Not to mention this life's Lu Kuan, even the Boss Lu of the previous life would only be considered a country bumpkin here.

"Mr. Lu, you've arrived."

Anita Mui's complexion was normal; she was sitting on the second-floor terrace sunbathing, and she stood up to greet Lu Kuan.

She was not dispirited by her cancer diagnosis, only helpless against the clamor of the family members around her.

"Mother Mei! I have a guest here, please don't be so noisy."

Lu Kuan smiled and watched coldly from the sidelines; after Anita Mui passed away, this whole family caused quite a stir.

Anita Mui's mother, Qin Meijin, was holding paper and pen. Seeing Lu Kuan standing there like a telephone pole, she didn't want to push too hard, so she took the will and returned to the living room first.

That's right, it was a will...

In the later years, after Anita Mui was first diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2003, she called her mother, whose first reaction was to tell her cash cow to hurry up and write a will, crying and insisting that her daughter leave her a generous pension.

To say Anita Mui was an enhanced version of Xiangjiang's Fan Shengmei is no exaggeration; it is hard to say whether the blow from her family was a factor in Anita Mui's passing in the later years.

Lu Kuan was invited to sit down and drink tea. Only then did Anita Mui say with a desolate expression: "Excuse the mess, Mr. Lu."

"It's nothing, this is for you, Sister Mei."

Lu Kuan took out a slightly long, narrow jade talisman from his pocket, about the length of a middle finger, drawn in nine-fold seal script.

He had made it at his home in Maoshan when he returned to Su Province to handle his travel permit; it was a basic skill for a Daoist.

Whether it was useful or not, giving it to Anita Mui like a peace talisman to express his prayers was always fine.

But because of his previous "words becoming reality" and accurate predictions, this jade talisman appeared very precious in Anita Mui's eyes.

She received it with both hands, flattered, and held it tightly, feeling its coolness.

"Mr. Lu, thank you!"

Lu Kuan smiled: "It's nothing valuable; this is a 'Hundred Calamities Dissolving Blessing' drawn in nine-fold seal script, just take it as a prayer for you to dispel disasters."

He then said seriously: "Sister Mei's condition is cervical cancer, right?"

Anita Mui was not particularly surprised this time, perhaps feeling that the young Daoist could calculate everything.

"Sister Mei, you must not trust the wandering sorcerers, Daoists, or monks in Xiangjiang. If you are sick, go to a regular hospital for treatment."

Discovering it early in this life, he believed it could satisfy her wish to preserve her uterus and have children.

Anita Mui laughed: "Shouldn't you be selling me some talisman water or sacred ash to drink? Why is a Daoist talking about science?"

Lu Kuan feigned mystery: "The Heavenly Dao only occasionally reveals a corner for mortals to know; the true path of the human world is full of vicissitudes!"

Anita Mui was stunned by his casual remark; "the true path of the human world is full of vicissitudes"—how well said.

"I started singing for money when I was four and a half, under the pressure of Mother Mei."

She did not hide the tense relationship between herself and her mother; "Mother Mei" was exactly how she referred to Qin Meijin.

"After walking through thirty years of wind and rain, now that I have a terminal illness, I realize there isn't a single person around me I can rely on."

Anita Mui had always presented a strong front; even after being diagnosed with cervical cancer, she did not shed tears. Now, facing Lu Kuan, who seemed to see through everything, she quietly let down her defenses.

She closed her eyes in pain, and two lines of clear tears slid down her thin cheeks.

Debuting at a young age, treated as a cash cow by her family after growing up, her mother and two brothers taking turns sucking her blood, and her most beloved elder sister passing away...

Until the final romance with Zhao Wenzhuo ended without result, she spent her whole life struggling to find love but never obtaining it.

She stunned an era, yet left with regrets.

The world kisses me with pain, and I repay it with a song.

Lu Kuan also sighed with emotion.

Birth, old age, sickness, death, separation from loved ones, meeting those one hates, not getting what one wants, and inability to let go—Anita Mui had tasted these eight sufferings of life one by one.

"Sister Mei, imagine what the situation would be if you had only discovered the cervical cancer a few years later."

"Then I would probably choose not to be treated. I have no other wishes in this life, I just want to have a child of my own."

Lu Kuan smiled: "As long as you actively seek treatment, you can still star in Zhang Dao's new movie, and you can still hold a concert in the mainland on your 25th anniversary of your debut. Everything is still in time."

(End of chapter)