After dinner, Yannis sent Zinnia home.

After washing up, Zinnia took out her chest. She wanted to make Soothing Soup for Yannis. She thought, ‘He might not live to a hundred, but at the very least, he should live to seventy or eighty. Someone as wonderful as him deserves a long and healthy life!’

Knowing Yannis would frown at bitter medicine, Zinnia carefully sorted through the herbs. She picked out the bitter ones and added sweeter ingredients in their place. After blending the perfect Soothing Soup, she neatly wrapped each portion in parchment paper.

Before, Zinnia wanted to help Yannis with his insomnia mostly as a favor to Jackson, but now, she truly wished for Yannis to live well.

She rummaged through her medicine chest and found a top-grade wild ginseng root. She broke it into sections and placed them into the mortar. Then she took out a handful of other rare, valuable herbs and added them to the mortar one by one.

With little finesse, she ground them into powder bit by bit. She thought, ‘Yannis, I’m determined to nurse you back to health, no matter what it takes!’

Under the warm yellow light, Zinnia’s delicate face was etched with concentration. Her hands gripped the heavy pestle, meticulously grinding each herb into a fine powder. In her opinion, machine-ground could never match hand-pounded.

The next day, Zinnia showed up at school with noticeable dark circles under her eyes after an all-night session of making medicine.

Ethan chuckled when he saw the dark circles under her eyes. He joked, “Zinnia, you’ve turned into a panda.” He thought, ‘Oddly enough, those dark circles don’t make her look bad. If anything, they add an extra touch of cuteness.’

Lydia also couldn’t suppress a soft chuckle at the sight.

Zinnia stared at them in silence. She remembered seeing pictures of dark circles in her social media feed. Now, realizing she had a pair herself, she instinctively wanted to check in a mirror.

Seemingly reading her mind, Brian miraculously conjured up a mirror from nowhere and held it up to her face. He said, “Here, take a look, Panda Princess.”

Zinnia studied her reflection. Her skin contrasted sharply with the dark circles under her eyes, as if she’d gone a round in the boxing ring. But with her face, she didn’t mind them.

Zinnia stayed up until 1 a.m. to finally finish making the herbal pills. They still needed a whole day to dry.

Zinnia thought, ‘Once I get home, I’ll give them a sugar coating and package them up. Then, Yannis can enjoy them as a special treat.’

Lydia scooted over to make room, her eyes filled with concern as she looked at Zinnia. She asked, “Didn’t sleep well last night?”

Zinnia shook her head and replied, “Just stayed up a little late.” Then she handed Lydia a bottle and said, “Here, use this. You’ll feel better soon.”

Inside the bottle was the Moon Scar Cream. Zinnia had made it a few days ago, originally for Maisie. But Zinnia felt Lydia needed the cream more, so she decided to give it to Lydia first.

Zinnia thought, ‘As for Maisie, I will just make a bottle for her later. And I remember Maisie mentioning that Yvette liked the cream too, so I’ll do the same for Yvette.’

Lydia looked at the bottle Zinnia handed her. She found it was the same ointment Zinnia had applied to her the previous day. “It’s almost healed,” she said.

The cream worked wonders, and Lydia’s injuries were nearly healed. Perhaps after taking so many beatings, Lydia had developed a remarkable ability to recover quickly.

“Just take it,” Zinnia said simply.

Lydia accepted the bottle. Then she pulled a box from her desk drawer and handed it to Zinnia.

Zinnia peeked inside and saw three cupcakes. As she opened the box, her eyes instantly lit up. The cupcakes were in different flavors, each one looked mouthwateringly delicious.

Lydia said, “You can’t have cream, so I used yogurt instead.” She learned from Maisie about Zinnia’s allergy to cream the previous day. She felt relieved that she hadn’t made any cream-based desserts for Zinnia before.

Zinnia took the cakes and said, “Thanks, Lydia!” Ever since she sat with Lydia, she’d been spoiled with all sorts of delicious goodies every morning.

Ethan, sitting in the front row, caught a whiff of something sweet and turned to see Lydia giving Zinnia special treats. He pointed at himself and Brian with a playful grin. He joked, “Hey Lydia, don’t we get any?”

Lydia fished another box out of her drawer and handed it over. She said, “Here, one each.”

Ethan grinned as he handed one cupcake to Brian. He said, “Come on, Brian.”

Lydia’s baking skills rivaled those of a professional pastry chef, maybe even surpassed them. But she rarely baked. So getting to taste her creations was a real treat.

Zinnia picked a chocolate-flavored cupcake to munch on. The butter crisp inside was delicious, and her eyes curved in delight. She thought, ‘Lydia is talented.’

“Anything else you’d like me to make for you tomorrow?” Lydia asked Zinnia, her usually cool eyes now soft with affection.

“Waffle and caramel pudding!” Zinnia blurted out excitedly, recalling all the mouthwatering treats she’d seen while scrolling through food videos last night.

Lydia said, “Alright, I’ll make them for you tomorrow. By the way, did you have any trouble with yesterday’s homework? I can go over it with you if you’d like.”

With frustration, Zinnia replied, “Yes! I had so many problems I couldn’t solve yesterday.” She thought, ‘Thank goodness tomorrow’s a holiday, no more torturous classes.’

Zinnia pulled out her homework. Lydia scooted her chair closer, her gentle voice flowing through the classroom as she began explaining.

Just then, William walked past the classroom. A faint smile spread across his face as he saw his students studying hard. He thought, ‘They may not be the top of the class, but they’re all good kids at heart.’

At noon, the five of them left school and headed to a small diner nearby for lunch. Once they’d ordered, Ethan brought up the topic of Anne again.

Ethan said, “We went to check on Anne yesterday. She’s already out of the ICU. The doctor said she’s fine. She just hit her head. There’s a blood clot pressing on some nerves, so she still can’t wake up.”

On the day of the accident, Anne was fine when they left. No one could have imagined Betty would go that crazy. Anne gave her heart and soul to Betty, yet Betty just turned around and slapped Anne across the face.

The previous day, Ethan and others were asked by their parents to offer an apology. Even though they were not directly present at the scene, they still felt obliged to visit.

When they arrived, Anne had already been transferred from the ICU to a regular ward and was lying unconscious in her hospital bed. Hugo, the Carson family’s adopted son, stood vigil outside, his eyes bloodshot from exhaustion and worry.

Maisie couldn’t help but feel exasperated as she thought of Anne. She said, “Everyone warned Anne that Betty would ruin her someday, but she just wouldn’t listen.”