William was in the yard sipping tea and watching his TV series when Nathaniel sauntered into the garden.
“Mr. Richardson, have you had dinner?” Alice quickly got up to greet Nathaniel.
Nathaniel seemed to be in good spirits, but there was an unnatural expression on his face. He chuckled dryly and said, “Oh, Alice is here too! That’s great! I was about to ask William to call you.”
William remained seated without moving an inch and said, “Nathaniel, how about some tea? This is a rare tea, You can’t get this anywhere else.”
“Rare? More precious than the big box of Lipton tea bags I buy from the supermarket?” Nathaniel quipped, but he still took a seat on the stone bench.
Alice hurriedly poured him a cup and said with a smile, “Mr. Richardson, this tea is really good, please have a taste.”
The teacup William held was worth a fortune, and the tea leaves were a rarity in the world.
Alice had once taken some of the tea leaves to her grandfather, who was a tea leaf collector and an expert on the subject. To her surprise, the tea from William’s house turned out to be the Rare Golden Tips variety, which one could only encounter at auctions, authenticated and valued highly by experts.
Alice’s grandfather even told her in shock that this type of Rare Golden Tips had long disappeared from the market and could only be seen in extremely limited samples at places like the Smithsonian Museum.
Yet, William had a whole box at home and would casually brew it for drinking, which was incredibly luxurious.
Nathaniel took a sip of the tea, savored it gently, and then said offhandedly, “Tastes pretty much like my usual Lipton tea.”
William responded with a smile, “It’s like expecting a wild boar to appreciate fine wine.”
Nathaniel wasn’t offended; instead, he retorted with a laugh, “Oh, come on, young man!” Then his smile faded, and he added seriously, “Actually, I’m here today because there’s an important matter I need to discuss with you.”
William took a sip of tea and said, “Just get to the point, you’re not thinking of inviting me to play poker tomorrow, are you? I have classes tomorrow, and it wouldn’t be right for someone of your age to interfere with the studies of an excellent university student.”
“As if your studies need any delaying from me,” Nathaniel replied with a roll of his eyes, “What I meant to say was, my illness doesn’t need treatment anymore.”
“Why?” Alice asked in surprise, “Mr. Richardson, we’ve been preparing for this for over half a month, and tomorrow we could cure it completely. Why don’t you want to be treated?”
“You don’t trust my medical skills?” Alice could only think of this reason.
Nathaniel quickly said, “How could that be? With your care during this time, I can feel that my body has improved a lot…”
“Did your granddaughter find you a better doctor?” William asked.
If William wanted to know the reason, he could actually divine it, but he couldn’t do that. Once he started divining, it was highly likely that Nathaniel wouldn’t survive.
“You don’t need to worry about it, I just don’t want to be treated,” Nathaniel sighed and said, “When you’re old, you’re old. What’s the point of living so long?”
After speaking, his expression was despondent, with a hint of resoluteness as if ready to face death.
William stared at Nathaniel, sensing the energy fluctuations in his body.
He could clearly feel that the energy in Nathaniel was draining away at an unnatural rate.
Recently, with Alice’s care and the fitness routines taught by William, it was possible to ensure that the energy loss in Nathaniel’s body slowed down.
If he were to receive treatment tomorrow, living another ten years should not be a problem.
But now it was evident that Nathaniel himself had lost the desire to continue living.
He didn’t want to live any longer, and at such an advanced age, it was no longer just a matter of treatment.
“Nathaniel, what exactly happened?” William’s tone remained very calm.
Life and death were matters he still wanted Nathaniel to decide for himself.
If he wanted to live a few more years, with Alice’s current abilities, she could treat him. In that case, it wouldn’t be a problem whether William intervened in someone’s destiny or not.
But if he himself had decided not to continue living, then even William was helpless.
“It’s nothing.” Nathaniel slowly got up and said to Alice, “Alice, come with me, I have something for you.”
Alice glanced at William, who nodded slightly, signaling her to go.
After more than ten minutes, Alice came back, holding a painting in her hand and with a gold bracelet now on her wrist.
“Master, I feel like Mr. Richardson isn’t in the right state,” Alice said. Although she could not perceive Nathaniel’s energy loss as clearly as William, she sensed something was off.
William nodded: “I know.”
“Mr. Richardson gave me this gold bracelet.” Alice handed the painting to William, “He asked me to pass this painting on to you.”
William took the painting and slowly removed the covering on top, only to find that the person in the painting was actually him.
This painting was clearly a treasured heirloom of Richardson’s family. William vaguely remembered that Nathaniel’s ancestor had been a distinguished figure of his time, akin to a poet laureate in the academic world. That ancestor had personally painted a portrait of William and accompanied it with a verse from Shakespeare.
“The palaces in the sky, with their twelve lofty towers. Divinity bestows upon me glory, for immortality is now ours. Earthly joys I sought to claim, but lost in tumult was my course. Many a holy sovereign becomes but talk, as transient as clouds’ force.”
Even that talented ancestor, having painted William’s likeness, did not dare to add his own verses next to it.
William recalled that the gifted man had said, only the great Shakespeare’s poetry was worthy to accompany his portrait.
It seemed Nathaniel had a premonition about something.
William smiled and slowly put away the painting.
He was not sure if Nathaniel thought he was the very person in the painting or a descendant of his.
Immortality inevitably leads to too many entanglements with the beings of this world.
Descendants of old friends are indeed numerous.
William did not want to delve into why Nathaniel suddenly decided to stop treatment.
He could only guess that it definitely had something to do with Evelyn.
“Tell this to Evelyn, tell her that her grandfather doesn’t want to continue treatment.”
Alice paused, her voice low: “Mr. Richardson wanted me to keep it a secret from Evelyn…”
“I feel like Mr. Richardson is…”
“Settling his estate,” William said with a smile, “so let’s not tell Evelyn.”
“Master, how can you still laugh?” Alice countered, “Shouldn’t we persuade Mr. Richardson to continue treatment? He has every chance of recovering.”
“If you want to persuade him, go ahead and try.” William slowly stood up, “I’m going to rest, you tidy up here.”
Alice watched William’s retreating figure and stamped her foot in frustration.
Clearly, her master could easily cure Mr. Richardson’s illness, and by all logic, Mr. Richardson’s condition should be earnestly addressed.
Why give up then?
The relationship between Mr. Richardson and William was clearly quite good. Even for Lucien, he was willing to use a divine medicine for treatment, so why not for Mr. Richardson?
Alice suddenly felt that her master was very heartless.
After tidying up the tea set, Alice walked to the door of William’s bedroom, where it had already fallen silent. She could only return to Nathaniel’s courtyard, where the lights were also out, suggesting he had gone to sleep as well.
What on earth were these older people thinking?
It was a matter of human life, so how could they just go to sleep as if it didn’t matter?
Unable to make sense of it, Alice drove home, planning to bring everything necessary the next morning to ensure Mr. Richardson’s illness would be treated.