In truth, the influencers had no choice.
It wasn’t that they wanted to delete the posts—they had received legal notices from Scott Corporation. Who dared to go head-to-head with the Scott Family?
What’s more, the Scott Family offered some compensation in exchange for their cooperation.
Even more impressive, Scott Corporation directly purchased accounts that refused to cooperate.
In the end, all influencers came to a unanimous agreement—don’t mess with Scott Corporation. Don’t mess with people so rich that money is all they have left. And above all, don’t mess with someone like Livinus, who is so ruthless he’d buy out accounts just to silence them.
Without her name being linked to the trending Facebook posts, Sophia felt a sense of relief. She had no idea that this was due to a single directive from Livinus to Joanna:
“From now on, Sophia’s name can only appear alongside mine.”
Joanna pursed her lips, holding back her thoughts: “Does Sophia even want her name associated with yours?”
—
As the weather grew colder, the chill in the mountains became biting. The old house Sophia lived in felt increasingly uncomfortable, especially when the temperature dropped. On rainy days, moisture seeped into the house, and no matter how many times she mopped the floor, it still felt damp and unpleasant.
Living in such a damp environment wasn’t good for her health. Sophia considered renovating the house and installing underfloor heating, which would make winters more bearable. After all, with enough money, even a straw hut could be made cozier than a mansion.
But the issue was, she simply didn’t have the funds. A significant portion of her money had been spent purchasing her new house, while the rest had gone into investments for the factory. Due to the high initial costs, all the profits from her online store were immediately reinvested into production.
Currently, she relied on her clinic’s earnings for her daily expenses, along with some additional income from selling herbal supplements and brown sugar products.
Still, after deducting costs, her earnings were far from enough to cover renovations. To make matters worse, last night’s rain had leaked through the broken windows, forcing her to wake up in the middle of the night to bail out water.
If she couldn’t make renovations work, she might have to move into her newly purchased house, though she disliked the environment there.
While lost in thought, she heard Tobias calling out:
“Dr. Smith, someone at the back of the line is saying there’s an emergency case.”
“An emergency?”
“Yes!”
Tobias, who had become the unofficial queue coordinator at her clinic, was considered an elder among the regulars. As an SVIP patient, he had earned the respect of others in line, and newcomers often approached him with questions instead of bothering Sophia directly.
This time, a parent, worried about their child’s condition, had pleaded to skip the line. Seeing the child’s emotional state, Tobias decided to let them move ahead.
In this queue, patients often adhered to a strict “no cuts” policy, even if offered money. However, they were willing to make exceptions for genuine emergencies like this.
“Thank you, sir,” the parent said tearfully.
Tobias waved it off with a smile. “What’s there to thank? We’re all here because we’re sick. Helping each other is only right.”
“Ah, I’ll treat you to a drink next time!”
“No need! Just go get your child seen.”
The parent, dragging the “child,” entered the clinic. Sophia looked up and froze. Based on Tobias’s description, she had expected a young child, but the “child” was taller than her and looked old enough to be in college. Dressed in a school uniform from a nearby high school, it was clear the patient was actually a teenager.
“What seems to be the problem?” Sophia asked.
The parent, despite still harboring doubts about Sophia’s young age, had been briefed before coming in. Everyone said that, despite her youth, Dr. Smith was an incredibly experienced traditional medicine practitioner. Judging her by her appearance would be a mistake.
“It’s my child,” the parent began.
The girl immediately exploded, crying and yelling, “I’m not sick! You’re the one who’s sick! Why don’t you just let me die? I’m tired of you mocking me and scolding me every day. I’ve had enough!”
