Chapter 383: Chapter 383: Tired Out Last Night?
The consequence of being reckless and fighting against impossible odds the night before directly led to Ann Vaughn being two hours late to the Vaughn Clinic.
Seeing Ann Vaughn yawning constantly as if she hadn’t slept well, Sherry was about to ask if she wanted to go back and rest first. But then she noticed the faint, ambiguous marks on her delicate neck.
Sherry’s face felt hot for a moment. Just how much force must have been used to cause such deep red marks?
Holding back a laugh, she said, "Annie, do you want to rest in the room for a while? You look tired from last night."
"Huh? No need, I’ve arranged to go to the Crawford Family for treatment in half an hour. I can sleep after I get back," Ann Vaughn replied, giving an acupuncture point on her hand a jab with the Golden Needle, clearing her fuzzy thoughts instantly.
"Recently, Kenny isn’t having any episodes, right? With your adjustments, he doesn’t seem as weak as other sick children and is quite energetic. You needn’t worry too much; there is still time."
Is there really still time?
Ann Vaughn shook her head, "If I don’t hurry up, there might not be any leftover time for me."
Since Cyrus Hawthorne had already started planning to fight for custody, he wouldn’t give her much time to catch her breath.
Fortunately, for now, he showed no intention of confronting her about it.
Otherwise, her plan to seduce him again would be nearly impossible.
Sherry didn’t quite understand but didn’t ask further. Instead, she brought up another topic, "After you appeared at the press conference yesterday and dispelled the rumors about disfigurement, the demand for Heavenly Fragrance Dew increased fivefold."
"Also, the requests to resume your consultation appointments have surged. I followed your previous practice of seeing only ten patients a day. Based on the current reservations, this will be booked until the month after next."
Gasp! Ann Vaughn almost choked on her sip of water, puzzled, "The month after next?"
"Yes," Sherry was also somewhat helpless, "Someone spread the word that you did, in fact, suffer disfigurement but healed yourself, so you look perfectly fine. People believed it, and the previously discarded Heavenly Fragrance Dew has become highly sought after again."
Looking at this trend, it’s even crazier than before.
However, the current stock of Heavenly Fragrance Dew at the Vaughn Clinic is not much, with a small portion already given away to customers before.
The majority had been pre-ordered by Shane Sharp even before Ann Vaughn decided to collaborate with Hawthorne Corp.
Now that the Vaughn Clinic and Hawthorne Corp. have partnered, with the powerful channels of Hawthorne Group supporting them, even if people are desperate with anxiety, they only need to wait peacefully for the public release of Heavenly Fragrance Dew.
"Everyone loves beauty," Ann Vaughn smiled knowingly, "Even if the scandal over Heavenly Fragrance Dew isn’t cleared, those who’ve used it will discover its miraculous effects."
By then, the backlash might be even stronger than now.
...
To prevent a repeat of last time’s incident, the Crawford Family personally sent a car and bodyguards to escort Ann Vaughn to their home.
Once Ann Vaughn arrived at the Crawfords, she noticed that all the servants and bodyguards had been replaced with new faces, presumably due to the previous incident.
Chairman Crawford was relieved to see Ann Vaughn still willing to come over and hurriedly greeted her with a smile.
"We are incredibly sorry for the fright and grievance you suffered last time. We’ve been feeling terribly guilty but hadn’t found the chance to apologize."
As he spoke, Chairman Crawford handed over the items received from his assistant to Ann Vaughn, explaining, "This is just a small token."
Ann Vaughn had encountered such practices abroad often, and these people tended to worry less when you accepted their gifts. If you didn’t, they’d start suspecting and overthinking.
To put it simply, they had too much money burning a hole in their pockets.
Ann Vaughn opened the gift box presented by Chairman Crawford and saw two property deeds for Lakeside Apartments and a set of Ferrari keys inside...
Quite a "small token," indeed.
Ann Vaughn pulled her lips into a wry smile, closed the gift box, and pushed it back to Chairman Crawford, "Chairman Crawford, I’d like to see your son’s condition first."
Hearing this, Chairman Crawford knew it was a refusal. He felt slightly disappointed but decided not to press further and led her upstairs instead.
Since Ann Vaughn disliked having people around during treatment, Chairman Crawford dismissed the servants and doctors from the room before leaving, closing the door behind him.
She instructed Keith Crawford to remove his shirt, then retrieved a needle kit and some herbs from the medical box.
"This will hurt a bit, bear with it." Saying this without much elaboration, Ann Vaughn began deftly inserting the Golden Needles, without the slightest hesitance in her technique.
In the next moment, nearly twenty shining Golden Needles pierced into the acupuncture points on Keith Crawford’s back, forming a mystical pattern akin to a Bagua array.
Keith was about to speak to ease the tense atmosphere, but the moment the needles went in, he almost screamed from the pain!
Damn it, does she really call this just a bit painful?!
Ann Vaughn hadn’t realized this level of pain was indeed rather intense for a pampered young master.
However, even if she had realized it, she wouldn’t consider enduring a little pain for the sake of curing an illness too much, as it was better than losing one’s life.
Lighting the herbs, she patiently guided the smoke along the needles. Before long, wisps of black vapor began to emanate from the tops of the Golden Needles.
Mingling with the fragrant medicinal aroma, there was an unmistakable scent of blood.
"Ugh—" Keith’s face changed, bending over with the urge to vomit.
"Hold it in, don’t move," Ann Vaughn said with a stern face, as the crackling sound of burning herbs grew fainter in her hand.
Her command hit Keith like a slap of reality, forcing him to swallow that nauseating urge, stuck in his throat.
So fierce!
It wasn’t until Ann Vaughn’s herbs had burned to ashes and the dark gas from the needle tips had largely subsided,
that she discarded the herb remnants into the trash and wiped her hands clean with a handkerchief, removing the needles one by one from Keith’s back.
The moment the last needle was extracted, Keith noticed a barely perceptible energy flowing through his limbs and eventually converging in his heart and lungs.
Suddenly, he felt a refreshing relief, as if a cloud of murky air entwined around his chest had been dispelled.
He couldn’t resist a light cough, testing if it would still cause severe pain in his lungs, but it triggered his nausea again, making him retch.
"If you want to vomit the medicinal effects you’ve absorbed, just go ahead and vomit. You’ll just have to endure more needles," Ann Vaughn glanced at Keith’s face and said, lightly shutting the medical box afterward.
This stern remark from Ann Vaughn forced Keith, who was about to give in to his nausea, to hold back fiercely, not daring to open his mouth again.
The tearful Little Young Master Crawford: What did I do to deserve this...