He adjusted the camera, first showing off his unscathed self to the lens, explaining the situation just now. Then, holding the phone close to the snake corpse, he muttered, "This guy just tried to attack me, but Fifth Brother helped me kill it. Do you like snake meat, Lian Jun? Although its head is smashed, the body should be enough for a stir-fry."

In the study, Lian Jun, who was about to rush over in a panic, stopped in his tracks. He listened to Shi Jin's muttering and watched his profile on the screen, slowly sitting down.

After swallowing his fear, he furrowed his brows and typed: "What nonsense!"

When Shi Jin saw the exclamation mark in his message, he felt a little guilty and touched his nose, saying, "Don't be angry, I didn't expect there to be a snake on the tree... But it's okay, Fifth Brother is a doctor, I'm safe, don't worry."

However, Lian Jun became even angrier after hearing this and immediately called Shi Jin. Shi Jin quickly answered the phone and comforted him in a low voice.

Behind Shi Jin, Li Jiuzheng listened to him cooing into the phone and gradually relaxed his tense body. He looked at his hand, which had mostly wiped away the blood, and then sat down on the ground, feeling exhausted.

Did he protect Shi Jin?

That's great... He wasn't scared, that's great.

In the end, Shi Jin really brought the snake's body back. He would boast about Li Jiuzheng's great achievements whenever he met someone. Knowing that Lian Jun couldn't eat snake meat, he found a vacant space between two villas, gathered some firewood, made a small fire, processed the snake meat, marinated it, and grilled it on wooden skewers.

"Mmm, it smells so good," Shi Jin sniffed the aroma of the snake meat and was so delighted that he almost bubbled over. "This must be delicious. Thanks to Fifth Brother, I have fresh wild game to eat today."

Li Jiuzheng was praised again, and although he didn't show it on his face, he felt very embarrassed. He said, "If you like it, eat more, Xiao Jin."

"We'll split it in half. Fifth Brother, have you ever tried snake meat? Today's your chance... Or maybe we can go catch some wild rabbits tomorrow. Rabbit meat is pretty tasty too," suggested Shi Jin eagerly, even placing his arm around Fifth Brother's shoulder, hoping to get him used to physical contact with others.

As Li Jiuzheng watched Shi Jin's face draw closer, a small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth and he nodded in agreement.

Seeing Li Jiuzheng smile, Shi Jin couldn't help but grin as well. Life was like this, wasn't it? If you accumulated enough happiness, the pain would slowly fade away. Time was the best medicine.

......

Before they knew it, the new year had arrived.

Everyone went up to the mountains and into the forest to gather ingredients, even Lian Jun was pushed onto a boat by Shi Jin to help with fishing. They all prepared the food together, cooked it together, ate it together, set off fireworks, and welcomed the new year.

At midnight, Shi Jin cooked the dumplings that they had all made together for New Year's Eve. Each person got a bowl and he said, "New year, new beginning. Whoever finds the coin in their dumpling will be the lucky king of next year. Let's see who's lucky!"

Number Two laughed and teased, "You're the one who came up with this idea. You probably secretly put the coin in your own bowl."

Shi Jin glared at him and picked up a piece of fruit to stuff in his mouth.

Li Jiuzheng smiled as he watched Shi Jin. He stirred the plump dumplings in his bowl with his chopsticks, remembering that he and Shi Jin had made them together. His smile grew wider as he picked one up and popped it into his mouth.

"Mmm!" He suddenly covered his mouth.

Everyone at the table looked at him with expressions of disbelief. Li Jiuzheng also looked at everyone, his eyes widened a bit, slowly loosened his hand, and spit out a coin from his mouth.

"Shi Jin, you cheated! You didn't leave any dumplings for Young Master Jun!" Number Two ruthlessly exposed Shi Jin's little trick.

Lian Jun looked at the bowl in front of him, expressionless, with no intention of picking up his chopsticks.

Li Jiuzheng was stunned, turning his head to look at Shi Jin.

Shi Jin didn't expect Number Two to be so despicable and sow discord. He rushed over and gave him a beating, gritting his teeth and saying, "Who said there was only one dumpling with a coin inside? Eat your own dumplings, you talk too much!"

Everyone laughed, Li Jiuzheng looked at the coin in his hand, slowly closed his palm, tightly holding the coin, and smiled - his little brother secretly gave him a year's worth of luck, too cute.

His smile was too pure, full of childlike innocence, with slightly curved eyes that seemed to be sprinkled with stars of happiness.

When Shi Jin saw it, he suddenly felt a release of something that had been tightly wound up inside him. He turned his head to look at the gentle waves under the night sky and let out a long sigh.

A child who grew up in pain had finally learned to truly smile. It wasn't easy.

He let go of Number Two and walked over to Lian Jun, embracing him from behind and burying his face in his shoulder.

"What's wrong?" Lian Jun lifted his hand to hold onto his arm and turned his head to look at him.

"Happy New Year," Shi Jin whispered, explaining in a low voice, "There are three dumplings with coins inside, and you have two in your bowl."

Lian Jun was stunned, then smiled and leaned over to kiss his hair. "You really have learned to be mischievous... Thank you, and Happy New Year."

......

On the fifth day of the new year, Lu Shan called.

"I know it's not a good time to disturb you during the holiday, but I can't delay it any longer. The leaders of Meridian Gate and Thousand Leaves personally came to treasure island to find me and offered a huge deal. If I keep delaying, they will start to suspect something," she said.

When Shi Jin was teaching Li Jiuzheng how to play mahjong on the couch, he was taken aback by Lu Shan's words and frowned at Lian Jun behind the desk.

Lian Jun had already anticipated this call and reassured Shi Jin with a glance before answering the phone, "It's normal. The conference is about to start this year, and they probably want to stabilize the alliance before it begins."

"So should I accept their offer?" Lu Shan asked.

"Go ahead. When you negotiated with them, was it Meng Qing from Thousand Leaves or Qi Yun from Meridian Gate who was in charge?"

"It was Meng Qing from Meridian Gate."

Lian Jun understood immediately. "It's really him. He's a bit arrogant and likes to take charge. Compared to him, Qi Yun is much more cunning. Be careful around Qi Yun and don't get too close to him."

"I understand," replied Lu Shan.

The conversation was brief, but both of them knew that the real battle was about to begin.

"It'll probably be after this meeting. Be prepared," Lu Shan spoke again, with a hint of a sigh in her voice.

Although her words were not very clear, Lian Jun knew what she meant. "I've been prepared for a long time. But you, be careful and don't get caught up in it. And thank you for helping me delay until now."

Lu Shan suddenly laughed and said, "You little brat, how dare you talk to your aunt like that? I've been through so much hardship, it's not easy to break me." She paused and added, "You better take care of yourself, we'll see each other at the conference."

"At the conference then." Lian Jun said before hanging up the phone. But just as he did, the door to his study suddenly pushed open from the outside, revealing Uncle Long who had been locked up in the lab since arriving on the island.

"Let's not wait until the conference." Uncle Long spoke slowly and deliberately. "The latest test results are out, Young Master Jun, you can start taking the medicine now."

Bang!

The tablet in Shi Jin's hand fell to the ground with a loud noise. He stood up and asked, "What did you say, Uncle Long?"

Uncle Long looked at him and said, "I said, Young Master Jun's body has reached the standard for medication. In addition, I have some bad news."

Shi Jin quickly asked, "What bad news?"

Uncle Long patted the documents in his hand and said, "I have said before that the residual toxins in Young Master Jun's body will definitely become active again after medication. Unfortunately, these toxins are more stubborn than I estimated. They are showing signs of activity even before medication. I speculate that this change is due to the gradual improvement of Young Master Jun's physical function."

Lian Jun slid out in his wheelchair, held Shi Jin's hand, comforted him, and asked Uncle Long, "Are you saying that I should take the medication as soon as possible?"

Uncle Long nodded and said, "Yes, preemptive strikes are useful against both people and toxins. It's safer and less harmful to let the toxin struggle in a suppressed state and then use medicine to suppress it, rather than letting it become active and stronger before trying to suppress it."

Everyone understood what he meant, but now there was a problem. The April conference was not far away, and if Lian Jun used medicine now, he would likely be in the most painful stage of toxin torture by April, making it unsuitable for him to appear in public.

However, Lian Jun could not miss this year's conference. The four families were forming an alliance, and showing any weakness at this time was not an option.

"How long does it take to completely eliminate the toxin after using medicine?" Lian Jun continued to inquire.

Uncle Long glanced at Shi Jin, whose expression had become very unpleasant, and replied, "If it's fast, it will take three months. If it's slow, it could take six months to a year. These are all uncertain. Your treatment is not just about detoxification, but also about repairing and nurturing your body after detoxification. These two things are combined, so it can't be done quickly."

The earliest it could be done is three months, and now they only have two months left to the April meeting.

Shi Jin clenched his fists.

Lian Jun frowned and pondered for a moment before asking, "Can the medication time be shortened?"

Shi Jin squeezed his hand tightly and said, "Don't joke about your body."

Lian Jun stopped talking and saw that his expression was really bad. He stood up and hugged him, soothingly stroking his hair, but he himself was at a loss for what to do.

Shi Jin hugged him back, his brow furrowed deeply. Treatment and conflict have collided, and now what should they do?