After taking care of the patient's paperwork, Du Heng went with Xu Pinglin to the Chinese Medicine Department and called Li Jianwei to have lunch together.

When Du Heng returned to the hospital, it was already 3:00 p.m. He quickly refocused and finished reading the materials he hadn't completed in the morning.

However, while he was reading, Du Xueting and Gu Ya, who had originally agreed to return before 5:00 p.m., came back before 4:00 p.m.

But one look at Gu Ya's tired face and Du Heng knew the reason.

This girl's body was too weak. She wasn't suited for going out shopping or traveling. What she should be doing at this stage was resting quietly in bed, perhaps reading a book or browsing her mobile phone, and keeping her activity to an absolute minimum.

When packing up to go home, Du Xueting suddenly asked Du Heng, "Uncle, isn't Auntie coming back with us?" 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Du Heng's packing movements paused for a moment. "She's a bit busy, so she won't be going back with us this time." After saying that, he resumed his previous demeanor.

Du Xueting noticed Du Heng's unnaturalness, which made her heart skip a beat.

Du Heng had had two girlfriends, and she had liked them both. One was gentle and quiet, like an Elder Sister, giving off a sense of camaraderie. But fate had other plans. And this current one was capable and cool, efficient and decisive in her actions; being with her made everyone feel energetic.

Seeing Du Heng's current state, Du Xueting cautiously asked, "Uncle, did you and Auntie have a fight?"

Du Heng looked back at his niece. Seeing her worried expression, he said with a light smile, "What are you thinking? We didn't fight; our relationship is still good."

Seeing Du Heng's relaxed demeanor, Du Xueting felt she had been too sensitive. After a sigh of relief, she asked again, "Then why did you look a bit off just now?"

"Hah," Du Heng couldn't help but laugh out loud. "Your Auntie got a promotion. She's busier than before. I haven't seen her in person for five days now, and we've only had one phone call. Do you think I can be happy in this situation?"

Du Xueting pouted along with Du Heng. "That's true. But Auntie is making progress. You should support her, encourage her, and be her strong backbone."

"Alright, that's enough out of you, little miss know-it-all," Du Heng glared irritably at Du Xueting. "Do I need you to teach me what to do?"

Du Xueting stared at Du Heng unhappily. "You're such a clueless man! I'm trying to teach you how to make a girl happy."

"Okay, I'm a clueless man, I'll remember that." Du Heng closed the rear car door. "Let's hurry home; your mom's waiting anxiously."

Gu Ya, a girl from a southern city, had never seen the scenery of the Northwest countryside. The way Duke Village was built layer upon layer against the mountain was an even greater novelty to her.

Moreover, having seen so many bare mountains on both sides of the road during the car journey, she hadn't expected that the Nanshan area, where Duke Village was located, would actually be a place lush with vegetation and green cover.

Even though she wasn't feeling her best, she woke up early the next morning and dragged Du Xueting along to go play in the mountains.

Seeing the two girls' enthusiasm, Du Ping didn't stop them, but merely reminded Du Xueting, "Don't go too deep; just stroll around the edge of the mountain. The mountains have been closed for afforestation for over twenty years. The grass has grown taller than people, and the old mid-mountain paths are all gone. Your classmate isn't well, so don't let her climb too high or go too deep. You need to look after her carefully on the way."

Du Xueting nodded repeatedly, though it was unclear if she'd truly taken Du Ping's words to heart, and then she and Gu Ya headed straight for the mountain.

Du Yi, who was standing nearby, had been eager to go. Seeing his sister about to leave, he quickly said, "Dad, I want to go too! The wild strawberries and plums in the mountains are ripe. I want to pick some."

Du Ping had a very hands-off approach to raising his son, Du Yi. As long as he didn't cause trouble or play pranks, his supervision was quite relaxed. Moreover, under Du Heng's guidance this past year, the boy had settled down considerably, so Du Ping didn't refuse Du Yi's request this time.

He just reminded Du Xueting once again to take care of both of them.

After the children had left and his sister-in-law had gone to help someone else, Du Heng finally sat down with his elder brother for a chat.

But before they started chatting, Du Heng handed Du Ping a card. "Brother, there's five hundred thousand yuan in this card. Take it and use it for now."

Du Ping didn't take the card, instead looking suspiciously at Du Heng.

He knew Du Heng could make money. However, he also knew Du Heng only had 200,000 yuan this month and had recently bought furniture and appliances for two houses. So, for Du Heng to produce five hundred thousand yuan at once made him want to ask a few more questions.

However, Du Heng knew Du Ping's temperament too well. Before Du Ping could ask, Du Heng said directly, "Brother, the pharmaceutical factory I partnered in with my classmate has distributed profits."

As he spoke, he handed his mobile phone to Du Ping. On it were pictures of some contracts and a bank deposit notification.

Du Ping glanced at Du Heng, not saying anything like "I trust you," but actually took the mobile phone and looked through the photos one by one.

When he saw the deposit notification text, Du Ping's eyes widened like a bull's. His finger pointed at the numbers on the screen as he murmured softly, "Thousands, ten thousands, millions..."

Then his voice rose sharply. "Is this more than 5 million yuan?"

Watching his elder brother's eyes about to pop out, thirty-year-old Du Heng felt incredibly happy. This feeling was even something he'd never experienced with Wu Shengnan.