"What kind of professor is he, really?" Long Xingyu's expression turned cold. "If Mu Ya'an hadn't fallen for him, if the Mu family hadn't raised him up, would he ever have had the chance to stay on as faculty and become a nationally acclaimed name? Not a chance."
"He's an ungrateful bastard. Mu Ya'an devoted herself to him heart and soul. Elder Mu and Professor Gu even taught him everything they knew. The disciple ceremony was already planned, they were just about to hand him the attic key."
"But of all times, that was when the Mu family ran into trouble. Even though Elder Zhang signed a risk agreement with Elder Mu before the acupuncture treatment, once the old man died, the Zhang family still made a huge fuss."
"Back then, the Zhangs held immense power. Elder Mu blamed himself for failing to save Old Master Zhang and ordered that no one in the Mu family retaliate. He thought the Zhangs just needed to vent and things would blow over. But who could've foreseen what happened next…"
"Elder Mu lost his position, and Professor Gu had to leave his own institution. Due to public pressure, Mu family-run hospitals were shut down one by one. In just two years…"
"The top TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) family in Shen City fell from its pedestal, reduced to the target of scorn and accusations of quackery. Yet even then, no one in the Mu family gave up on traditional medicine or the Mu-style acupuncture method."
"But Han Weicheng… he was the one who gave up. Just like those ignorant outsiders, he began to look down on Mu-style acupuncture. He stopped learning, stopped passing it on. He even…"
Though Long Xingyu didn't know the exact details behind Han Weicheng and Mu Ya'an's breakup, her instincts told her it was he who walked away, who abandoned her.
"The day they broke up, Mu Ya'an was in a car accident. After waking up, she even asked the family not to make things hard for him. You have no idea—I was furious."
Shu Lanzhou gripped Long Xingyu's hand gently. She could somewhat understand Mu Ya'an's thinking.
At the time, the Mu family was already under pressure, with the Zhang family eyeing them like a tiger. Han Weicheng knew all their secrets—if they pushed him too far, he could easily turn on them and ally with the Zhangs. That would've been catastrophic.
Better to part on decent terms. Go their separate ways. Pretend they'd never met.
"After that, the responsibility of inheriting Mu medical tradition fell on Mu Rongxie," Long Xingyu continued. "At the time, we were still madly in love. I'd already begun learning Mu-style medicine under my teacher. But…"
She gave a frustrated sigh. "My talent just wasn't up to par. I wasn't the ideal candidate for a closed-door disciple. But by then, Elder Mu had already lost the will to find someone new."
"Before they could even hold the disciple ceremony, Mu Rongxie got injured. Then he and I fought, and in a fit of anger, I left the country. I heard that afterward, Elder Mu became completely disheartened and planned to abandon the Mu-style altogether."
"It was your teacher who pleaded with him to preserve it. She begged to keep everything in the attic. According to Mu family rules, she and He Xin were the best suited to inherit—but alas…"
Long Xingyu sighed again. "Mu-style acupuncture isn't something just anyone can learn. I lacked talent. Your teacher… probably had none at all. The basic techniques, sure. But the life-saving, advanced Mu-style methods? As far as I know, she's never successfully executed even one. I'm telling you this quietly—don't repeat it to her."
Shu Lanzhou blinked. "She actually told me something similar. She said she wasn't truly the successor of Mu-style acupuncture—just its custodian."
"She said she could only teach me a little. That the books were there, but the understanding had to come from me."
At the time, Shu Lanzhou had thought it was just a way to test her. But now she realized her teacher had been entirely sincere.
"Mu Yaaning did a great service for the family. Her talent might've been lacking, but her judgment was spot on. She picked a wonderful husband."
"All these years, He Xin has done everything to protect her hands and preserve her dexterity, so she could keep practicing acupuncture. He wouldn't even let her do housework. He slowed his own career just to help her with her research."
"To be honest, I think He Xin is much more capable than Han Weicheng. If it weren't for the fact that Elder Mu had already chosen Mu Ya'an to be the family head, that closed-door disciple title never would've gone to Han Weicheng."
"Family head?" Shu Lanzhou blinked in surprise.
Long Xingyu nodded. "The Mu family's traditions are steeped in structure. I heard from your teacher that you and Mu Side are already legally married. There are some things you should know."
"Mu Side was chosen by Elder Mu himself to be the next head of the family. Before him, it was your teacher. Before her, your uncle. And before him, it was Mu Ya'an. Do you see the pattern now?"
Shu Lanzhou nodded slowly. "So… the closed-door disciple must be the partner of the family head? The successor can be chosen first and then matched with a partner who becomes the head—or vice versa?"
Long Xingyu chuckled. "Haha… that's one way of putting it. According to Mu family rules, the successor and the head of the family are married to each other. Their interests balance one another—mutual restraint, mutual support."
"If a descendant shows great talent in medicine and becomes the successor, then their spouse takes on the duties of family head. And if the reverse is true, then the one with talent remains focused on medical work, and their partner handles family affairs."
"But your teacher and Professor He?" Shu Lanzhou asked, puzzled.
Long Xingyu waved her hand. "Your teacher pleaded for her role. After I left for abroad, Elder Mu was ready to shut it all down. She was the one who asked to preserve the attic and its contents."
"Your uncle recovered, but insisted on staying single and helping your teacher preserve the Mu-style legacy. With no other options, the old man handed him the family head position."
"So they became a special pair—siblings, not a couple—but they filled the two core roles of successor and head. Elder Mu and Professor Gu, worried for their youngest son, desperately wanted to find a new successor so he could start a family."
"They brought Mu Side back from abroad and personally trained him in Mu-style medicine and acupuncture. Same with He Sixin—she started learning medicine and acupuncture from childhood."
"But even though both kids had some talent, they weren't particularly passionate about the Mu-style. They only studied it to keep it from being lost. As for reviving it…"
"Your teacher once told me that Elder Mu gave Mu Side a final instruction: if he hadn't found a highly gifted and willing successor by age twenty-five, he was to give up on Mu-style acupuncture altogether."
"Never speak of it again. Donate all the attic's medical books to the state."
"Destroy the book that contained the complete Mu-style acupuncture system. Withdraw the Mu family from Shen City, and let its medical tradition fade into history."
"Future descendants could choose whether to pursue medicine. No more forcing every child to study Mu medicine from birth."
Shu Lanzhou felt a chill. That was exactly what Mu Side had told her in her previous life…
No wonder the Mu family vanished from Shen City in the end.
"In this day and age, so many powerful families tear each other apart over inheritance and wealth—siblings turning on each other, fathers and sons at odds. Families like the Mu family are incredibly rare."
"Their values are righteous, their descendants upright. Parents, siblings all united. Generation after generation, they dedicate themselves to healing. My father once said: to marry into a family like that… is a blessing."
"I hope I'm someone blessed enough to join them. And I hope you can carry that blessing forward."
Shu Lanzhou sensed that Long Xingyu meant more than she was saying, but couldn't quite grasp the deeper meaning—or find the right question to ask.
"Why destroy the Mu-style acupuncture book?" she finally asked, picking what seemed like the most important question.
Long Xingyu laughed softly. "You've probably already seen the full version by now. You must've realized—every method in there is incredibly complex and dangerous."
"The results are miraculous, yes. But not everyone can execute them successfully. If that book ever fell into the hands of someone with bad intentions… who knows how many lives it could cost?"
"Even Elder Mu…"