Chapter 112

After hearing what Charlie said, Zinnia suddenly lost all interest in the Moore family. She thought, "I used to wonder if Master might be one of them. But with their terrible medical skills, there’s no way. It must just be a coincidence."

Zinnia and Charlie returned to the Lynn residence.

When Isaac came home for the weekend and learned what had happened at school, he was so furious he wanted nothing more than to storm into the police station and beat Betty up.

Zinnia stayed at the Lynn residence for the weekend, keeping Henry and Sofia company. It wasn’t until Monday that she returned to school with Isaac. The moment she arrived on campus, she saw Ethan chatting animatedly with Maisie and the others.

Ethan said, “Did you hear that? Anne’s finally awake! I’ve been so restless these past few days.”

On Saturday, Anne went in for another checkup. To everyone’s surprise, the results showed that the blood clot in her brain had somehow shifted to a safe spot.

That same day, Charlie scheduled Anne’s surgery for the following day. The operation went smoothly, and Anne regained consciousness. Ethan and the others received the news that morning.

Maisie scoffed, “At least she’s awake now. How stupid can she be? After all Betty did to her, she still chose to let Betty off the hook!”

Just thinking about Anne’s situation made Maisie feel exasperated. She just couldn’t understand why Anne chose to let Betty off with just a minor punishment. Betty didn’t even serve the full seven days in jail.

Zinnia heard their angry words but remained silent.

Lydia asked gently, “Zinnia, what’s on your mind?”

Zinnia replied, “Weekend is coming. That means we don’t need to come to school.”

Lydia smiled warmly.

Hearing Zinnia’s words, Maisie suggested, “Let’s go on a trip!”

That afternoon, Zinnia returned home. She only had two worksheets for homework, and since they weren’t particularly difficult, she wasn’t in a hurry to do them.

Having just returned from the Lynn residence where she’d spent the past two days, Zinnia finally had time to tend to her medicinal herb garden. She carefully loosened the soil around each thriving medicinal herb, taking her time with the task.

Zinnia didn’t have many hobbies and wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. Over the years, her Master had taught her many things, but she only managed to grasp a few. Medicine, however, was the one exception; she devoted herself to it wholeheartedly.

Every day, Zinnia found joy in tending to her lush and vibrant little medicinal herbs. She carefully pulled out the weeds, gently loosened the sun-baked soil, and gave the herbs a good watering.

She thought, "What a pity I’m not in Tareston. Here, I only have this tiny patch of land to tend. If I were back there, surrounded by vast fields of herbs, my heart would be filled with joy."

Just as Zinnia finished loosening the soil, the doorbell rang. She thought it was Yannis sending someone to deliver meals again.

Zinnia set aside her tools, slipped off her mud-caked slippers at the edge of the garden, and padded barefoot toward the front door.

As the door swung open, a shadow fell in front of Zinnia, and a crisp scent of mint drifted towards her. She looked up to find Yannis. Seeing the dark circles under his eyes, Zinnia could tell that he hadn’t rested again.

Zinnia called out, “Yannis, you are back!”

At the same time, Yannis asked, “Why aren’t you wearing shoes? Put your shoes on!” His gaze dropped to her bare feet.

In the end, Yannis bent down to grab a pair of slippers from the shoe cabinet and set them by her feet. He said, “Put these on. The floor’s cold."

Zinnia slipped on the slippers and asked, “Yannis, when did you get back?”

“Just got back. Have you eaten yet? Come to my place for dinner,” Yannis said in a lazy, slightly hoarse voice.

“Not yet. Okay,” Zinnia replied. She hadn’t eaten yet and had assumed Yannis would just send someone with food as usual. But now that he had invited her over, the thought of his cooking made her mouth water.

Yannis always sent her gourmet meals; the taste was impeccable. But Zinnia still preferred his home-cooked dishes.

Yannis nodded and said, “Let’s go then.” His eyes rested on her face, and he realized that Zinnia hadn’t gained any weight in the past few days.

Zinnia said, “Wait a sec!” She suddenly remembered the herbal pills she’d made for Yannis and hurried off to the herb room.

Last time, after Zinnia bought a bunch of medicinal herbs, saying she wanted to experiment with them, Jackson went out of his way to set up a dedicated herb room for her.

Jackson even dedicated a whole wall to neatly display all kinds of common herbs, most of which Raymond had helped Jackson source.

Zinnia carefully filled a bottle with the herbal pills, then gathered all the pre-packaged Soothing Soup ingredients.

Caught off guard by Yannis’ sudden return, Zinnia couldn’t find a bag in her haste. Worried Yannis might get impatient waiting, Zinnia bundled everything up in her arms and rushed out.

Seeing her arms overflowing with bundles, Yannis stepped forward to relieve Zinnia of most of the load. He asked, “What’s all this for, Zinnia?”

Zinnia replied, “These are all for you. The brown paper packages contain Soothing Soup. Keep some at home and some at your office, so you’ll always have them on hand. Drink one every day.

"It’ll help with your headaches and nourish your body. Your organs are still a bit at risk, so you need to stop staying up so late if you want to recover quickly.”

Ever since Yannis mentioned forgetting his things at home last time, Zinnia had been worried it might happen again. So later, whenever she prepared things for him, she always put together multiple sets.

Yannis and Zinnia chatted as they took the elevator up to the 19th floor.

Yannis said, “Zinnia, you do care about me, right? You went all out with these.” A warm smile softened his gaze, and the weight of his exhaustion began to lift from his shoulders.

“I won’t let anything happen to you,” Zinnia said firmly, turning to meet his gaze. She remembered what he said last time about no one being around. She thought, "That will never happen on my watch."

Hearing this, Yannis paused briefly. Then he gestured toward the fingerprint scanner and said, “Zinnia, my arms are full. Can you open the door for me?”

Zinnia reached out and unlocked the door with her fingerprint.

“Zinnia, your slippers are on the top shelf,” Yannis said.

“Okay,” Zinnia bent down to grab her pastel yellow bunny slippers.

Yannis stepped inside, carefully setting the bundles down on the entryway table before changing into his house slippers.

Chapter 113