It was past eleven at night when Yan Ziruo barged into the secondary bedroom again.

She wrapped an arm around her brother's shoulders as he sat at his desk, peering at the work on it. "Whoa," she gushed, "it's so lifelike!"

"With this level of skill, Feifan, you could be a street artist doing portrait sketches for tourists and make a killing."

Yan Feifan looked at the sketch on his desk and nodded in satisfaction.

The drawing first used a few simple strokes to outline three thoracic vertebrae. Then, using perspective and 3D techniques, it meticulously detailed the tumor inside them.

For surgeons, having some basic drawing ability was more or less a requirement.

When creating a surgical plan, some steps were impossible to describe with words alone, so you had to draw a simple surgical diagram.

Back then, to make his drawings of organs, bones, blood vessels, and nerves more vivid and detailed, Yan Feifan had specifically studied sketching for a while.

Now, after all the training in the world of his consciousness, the fine motor control in Yan Feifan's hands had improved dramatically.

His sketching skills had also made a qualitative leap.

Yan Feifan said smugly, "Sis, if you didn't come in here to bother me every ten or twenty minutes, I could have drawn it even better."

"I give you a little praise and you're already getting cocky."

Yan Ziruo lightly tapped her brother's head, then said with a pained expression, "Feifan, my face really hurts."

"Is it going to hurt all night?"

Yan Feifan grunted in affirmation. "You'll definitely have to endure it for most of the night. As long as you get through tonight, you'll be fine."

Yan Ziruo shook her brother's shoulders, whining pitifully, "My dearest brother, please give me a few more painkillers."

"It hurts so much I can't sleep. It's really awful."

Yan Feifan said sternly, "Sis, you've already taken the painkillers. A few more pills won't increase the effect by much."

"The pain is still within your tolerance range."

He then tried to console her. "How about this? I'll go to your room and watch TV with you. We can get through the night together, okay?"

Yan Ziruo nodded reluctantly.

The siblings gathered some snacks and drinks and moved them to the master bedroom.

They lay down on the spacious bed, leaning their backs against the headboard, adjusted their positions, and started watching TV.

"Feifan, our situation is much better than before. When our uncle comes back this time, maybe we shouldn't let him go back out to sea?"

"Working on a ship for years on end is pretty tough."

Yan Feifan said with some worry, "Sis, are you sure he's kicked that destructive bad habit of his?"

"We can't afford for him to cause trouble again!"

Yan Ziruo sighed softly. "Out at sea, the conditions are restrictive. He couldn't cause trouble even if he wanted to."

"I'm just afraid that once he's back in Binhai, he won't be able to resist temptation and will relapse."

"But he's already thirty-five or thirty-six. He doesn't even have a wife. He can't just drift at sea his whole life, can he?"

Yan Ziruo added fretfully, "If only we could find him a tough wife who can keep him in line."

"A tough wife isn't that easy to find..."

As he said this, a figure popped into Yan Feifan's mind.

'Liu Xia!'

She used to be in the underworld and even got 're-educated' inside for a few years.

Now she's running Xinfeng Restaurant all by herself. She definitely doesn't lack connections or tact.

As for her ex-boyfriend getting half his 'family jewels' cut off, Yan Feifan always felt it was her sinister design.

This Liu Xia had a colorful past, was resourceful, calculating, and could be ruthless when necessary.

Even so, Yan Feifan's impression of her was quite positive.

"Sis, I actually just thought of someone who might be able to handle our uncle."

"Who?"

"I've mentioned her before. One of my patients, Liu Xia, the owner of Xinfeng Restaurant..."

Yan Feifan then recounted everything he knew about Liu Xia to his sister in detail. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Yan Ziruo said thoughtfully, "I'm not worried about her being ruthless and resourceful. From your description, she also sounds like a loyal and principled person."

"Someone like that would be perfect for our uncle."

Yan Feifan said with some concern, "I just don't know if they'll end up liking each other."

Yan Ziruo chuckled. "Our uncle is tall and handsome, and he's been a seaman for so many years. He's full of masculinity, which must be very alluring to mature women."

"And based on what you said, that Liu Xia is full of mature charm and owns a restaurant. She's sure to pique our uncle's interest."

"We can try to set them up first. Where there's a will, there's a way..."

Yan Feifan let out a soft "oh," then added worriedly, "But what if they really hit it off, and our uncle starts gambling again? Wouldn't we be ruining her life?"

A cold glint flashed in Yan Ziruo's eyes as she said icily, "After all these years of hardship, if our uncle still hasn't grown up, if he can't control himself and breaks his vow against gambling again, then we'll have to disown him completely."

Yan Feifan suddenly felt a chill.

"Sis, you're a little scary right now."

Yan Ziruo's expression softened as she said quietly, "Our uncle has already squandered everything he could possibly squander."

"Even though Grandma and Grandpa both died from illness, he deserves a share of the 'credit' for that."

"If he still can't cherish the life he has now, then we really will have to disown him. We'll cut off all ties with him."

Yan Ziruo reached out and put her arm around her brother's shoulders again. "But that's just the worst-case scenario."

"When our uncle resolutely went to sea to become a deep-sea sailor all those years ago, and then stuck with it for seven or eight years, it shows he has a determined streak."

"I believe our uncle can change for the good."

Yan Feifan said hopefully, "I hope so."

"Okay, let's not talk about this anymore."

Yan Ziruo scooted closer to her brother and asked playfully, "Feifan, how far have you and Su Ye gotten?"

"Hugging? Kissing? Touching? You know...?"

Noticing her brother's completely baffled expression, Yan Ziruo was speechless.

"Feifan, you and Su Ye are both doctors. You don't still need someone to teach you about 'that sort of thing,' do you?"

"Besides, aren't doctors supposed to be pretty open-minded?"

Suddenly, Yan Ziruo asked with a worried look, "Feifan, has your... 'function' down there not recovered yet?"

Yan Feifan said, embarrassed, "Sis, this isn't something you should be concerned about."

Yan Ziruo said righteously, "An older sister is like a mother! And this is a big deal. If I don't worry about it, who will?"

Yan Feifan sat up straight and said, a little flustered and annoyed, "Sis, if you keep talking like this, I'm not staying up with you anymore."

"Fine, I won't say any more."

Yan Ziruo tugged on her brother's arm and quickly changed the subject. "Let's talk about something else."

In her heart, she had already made a decision.

'It would be better to make a breakthrough on this from Yu Suye's end.'

"Oh, right, I forgot to tell you. Next Saturday is Uncle Duan Dong's son's wedding. Can you go?"

"Next Saturday?"

Yan Feifan mused, "Probably not."

"Sis, you'll probably have to go by yourself again..."

The two of them chatted casually until one or two in the morning.

Yan Feifan was the first to give in, drifting off into a hazy sleep.

Although Yan Ziruo's face still hurt, she didn't wake her brother up. She adjusted his sleeping position and covered him with a thin blanket.

She turned the TV volume down a little more, nibbling on snacks as she quietly watched TV...

The next morning, Yu Suye tiptoed into the master bedroom and saw snack wrappers littering the floor.

On the large bed, Yan Feifan, dressed in his pajamas, was curled up on his side, sleeping right on the edge.

It looked like he would fall off if he rolled over again.

As for Yan Ziruo, her sleeping posture was quite wild.

She was sleeping almost horizontally across the bed, with both of her feet kicked up against Yan Feifan's butt...