Chapter 309: Chapter 309: Laura Quinn’s Change of Perspective
She saw a pregnant woman with a large belly half-lying by the roadside, blood seeping from beneath her and pooling at her feet, making one’s scalp tingle with fear.
Ann Vaughn’s heart instantly felt as if it were tightly gripped by a huge hand, scenes of life and death, some vague and others clear, flashed before her eyes.
In an instant, sweat trickled down her forehead.
She gritted her teeth, pushed aside those thoughts in her mind, opened the car door, and ran towards the pregnant woman.
The early winter temperature in The Imperial Capital was already chilling and bone-piercing, the cold wind brushing past her cheeks like a knife, unbearable.
This stretch of road had few pedestrians, and traffic was sparse, appearing particularly desolate.
"Hold on a bit longer, I’ve already called the hospital, the ambulance will arrive soon."
Ann Vaughn took off her jacket and placed it over the pregnant woman, then squatted down to insert a Golden Needle into her acupoint to stop the bleeding.
She then placed her fingers on the woman’s wrist, discovering that the woman wasn’t in labor due to ruptured amniotic fluid but was showing signs of a miscarriage.
"Please... save my child..." The woman’s face was pale and grim, sweat drenching her hair and neck, and her hand that gripped Ann Vaughn’s was also wet and icy cold.
Her other hand tightly clutched the fabric over her abdomen, as if sensing something, instinctively uttering a plea.
"Don’t worry, you and your child will be fine," Ann Vaughn softly reassured her, her bright eyes showing a touch of seriousness, fingers lightening the pressure on the Golden Needle.
The Fetal Protection Pill wasn’t much help at the moment, so she could only use the needle to stabilize the fetal energy.
The pregnant woman felt the change keenly; a moment ago her belly was throbbing with pain, but now she felt no pain at all.
"I... I don’t seem to be in pain anymore..."
"If it doesn’t hurt, you’re alright now." Ann Vaughn smiled slightly, removed the Golden Needle from her body, and then handed her a porcelain bottle from her bag, "This is the Fetal Protection Pill, one every three days for a month."
In the beginning, the pregnant woman probably wouldn’t dare accept the medicine she offered, fearing it might be poisonous.
But now, without a second thought, the woman accepted the porcelain bottle and hastily thanked Ann Vaughn, "Thank you, really, thank you for helping me! If there’s a chance, I will surely repay you!"
The ambulance arrived at this time, and the pregnant woman climbed inside without assistance, as if in perfect condition.
The nurse and doctor exchanged glances, wondering if she was ever in any real danger.
Ann Vaughn watched as the ambulance left, wiped her fingers clean with a tissue from her bag, and walked towards the car.
What she didn’t see was a champagne-colored Bentley parked on the other side of the road.
"Madam, I’m wondering if you perhaps misunderstood Miss Vaughn too deeply before?" The driver, who witnessed everything, couldn’t help but speak up for Ann Vaughn.
"Many people passed by that pregnant woman, but Miss Vaughn was the only one willing to stop and help."
In today’s environment, people tend to mind their own business and ignore the plight of others.
While this isn’t necessarily wrong, given the numerous cases of good deeds leading to trouble.
However, a person who still reaches out to help under such circumstances is unlikely to be selfish and vain, as you’ve described her, Madam.
But when one harbors a prejudice against another, even their breathing seems faulty.
Laura Quinn, seated in the back, said nothing, frowning as she looked at the bloodstain outside the car window.
She had always looked down on Ann Vaughn, despising her for coveting power and occupying someone else’s nest, for being raised in the countryside and assuming she was inherently uncouth like a country bumpkin.
Despising her even more for learning Chinese medicine, something she considered harmful, a disgrace to the Hawthorne Family.
But Ann Vaughn’s remarkable achievements in Chinese medicine could be selectively ignored by Laura Quinn, yet just now, Ann Vaughn, with just a few needles, revitalized a nearly lifeless pregnant woman.
Even the heavy bleeding subsided.
Is Chinese medicine really so magical?
Or has her prejudice against Ann Vaughn blinded her all along?
Ann Vaughn was oblivious to Laura Quinn’s sudden change of thoughts. She declined Dragon’s offer to help bring her belongings upstairs, left her luggage on the ground floor, then entered the elevator.
Due to only accommodating clients by appointment and never marketing, the studio was largely unknown to most people.
Despite this, the studio still received a fair share of clients daily and had no shortage of workload.
Yet, when Ann Vaughn entered the studio, she found it devoid of clients, only Sherry sitting behind the desk, sighing.
"What’s the matter? Why do you look so troubled?" Ann Vaughn chuckled, placing the gift she’d brought back from Marinia in front of Sherry.
Sherry was a bit surprised, "Why have you come here instead of going back home to rest?"
"If I don’t come, how would I know the studio is doing this poorly?" Ann Vaughn sat on a nearby soft stool, her exquisite eyebrows hinting at understanding, "It’s related to The Snowbell Clinic, right?"
"Yes," Sherry sighed again, "I had someone investigate, and they indeed use the same formula we did two years ago. They’ve also released a scar removal cream and beauty cream, which are in high demand."
"Oh?"
"I even had someone buy two bottles of each, and guess what? Their scar removal cream and beauty cream nearly match the formula we provided to Elliot, with only minor modifications."
Hearing this, Ann Vaughn was also surprised, "So, our formula was leaked?"
Sherry nodded, "I just don’t know at which stage it leaked. You don’t have to say it, it’s impossible from my end, so that only leaves... Elliot’s side."
"Rather than it being Elliot’s doing, I lean towards The Snowbell Clinic being backed by the Sheridan Family," Ann Vaughn smiled, her eyes tinged with frost, "Maybe Jane and that newly reunited daughter of the Sheridan Family."
"Wilder’s twin sister, she’s been found?"
"Seems so..." At the mention of this, Ann Vaughn couldn’t help but recall Wilder’s face, a hint of puzzlement on her pretty features, "Sherry, haven’t you thought it’s uncanny how much Wilder and I look alike?"
When Sherry had casually mentioned her and Wilder’s resemblance, Ann Vaughn hadn’t paid much attention.
She thought it was normal for people to resemble each other occasionally, never expecting the likeness to be so striking.
Compared to that peculiar woman in the qipao, Ann Vaughn felt that Wilder resembled her more.
"Have you met Wilder? You didn’t believe me back then, do you now?" Sherry teased, "For a while, I even speculated you might be the Sheridan Family’s long-lost daughter, but I never said it to you."