Old Hughes' words shocked everyone present, including Deanna.
She looked at Old Hughes in astonishment and whispered, "Wasn't I assisting you and discussing the treatment plan together? How did it become me treating the patient alone?"
"If I didn't say that, would you have come with me?" Old Hughes blinked, speaking rather roguishly.
Deanna laughed in exasperation.
At that moment, a sharp voice rang out.
"Old Hughes, it's not that I doubt your judgment, but this young lady looks so young. Can she really cure my grandfather?" The speaker was a young girl named Leticia Walsh.
Perhaps it was a case of like repelling like. Or maybe she found Deanna too beautiful, which made her look at Deanna with an inexplicable hostility and a hint of jealousy.
The rest of the Walsh family remained silent, clearly agreeing with Leticia's skepticism about Deanna's abilities due to her youth.
Old Hughes frowned tightly, his expression showing displeasure.
Deanna, however, remained calm, her face showing no emotion. After all, it wasn't the first time someone had doubted her medical skills.
Before she could respond, Leticia spoke again, "As his granddaughter, I very much hope my grandfather can be freed from his suffering. But before you arrived, Old Hughes, we had already invited top medical teams from around the world, and none of them could cure my grandfather. I find it hard to believe that this young lady has such great skills to cure him."
Leticia looked at Deanna arrogantly, her eyes flashing. She thought her words would embarrass Deanna and make her angry. However, to her surprise, Deanna remained unfazed and calmly said, "If Miss Walsh does not trust me, I can refrain from treating him. I came here only because of Old Hughes' invitation."
Upon hearing this and seeing Deanna's composed demeanor, Leticia's face turned somewhat unpleasant.
"What do you mean? Are you saying treating my grandfather is beneath you?" She raised her eyebrows and scolded Deanna.
Perhaps it was Deanna's attitude that irked her even more, as she spoke without restraint, "Let me tell you, not just anyone can treat my grandfather's illness!"
Almost immediately after she finished speaking, Old Hughes' face darkened.
Mr. and Mrs. Walsh noticed this and frowned, looking displeased as they glanced at Leticia.
"Leticia, don't be rude. Apologize immediately," Mrs. Walsh reprimanded.
Leticia's face stiffened instantly. She pouted her red lips and said, "Mommy, I'm not wrong. Why should I apologize? She's so young; how could her medical skills possibly surpass Old Hughes'?"
Old Hughes laughed angrily at this.
"I'll tell you this: Anna's medical skills are indeed better than mine. Anna won't be here if not for my sake!"
The Walsh family members were all stunned by his words.
They found it hard to believe what Old Hughes said. To them, it seemed like he was just trying to get them to agree to let Deanna treat their elder.
"Old Hughes, please don't joke. Your medical skills are well recognized by everyone," Ernest said awkwardly.
Old Hughes looked around at their expressions and knew they didn't believe him. He said calmly, "I'm not joking. Anna is a successor of ancient medical art. In our traditional medicine field, ancient medical art far surpasses traditional medicine. If I weren't so old and Anna refused to take me as a student, I would have wanted to be her apprentice."
"How could that be?" The Walsh family was stunned by Old Hughes' words.
Deanna felt both amused and touched. She hadn't expected Old Hughes to lower himself to defend her.
Old Hughes spoke again, "Whether you believe it or not, Anna is the only one who might cure Old Walsh. If you doubt her, then forget about the treatment. You can find someone else while I take Anna upstairs to visit Old Walsh and then return to the hotel."
As he spoke, he motioned for Deanna to follow him upstairs.
Deanna nodded and was about to leave when a clear and cheerful voice called out.
"Old Hughes, please wait."
"What do you want now?" Old Hughes asked impatiently.
Deanna turned around with a frown and saw that the speaker was a young man who had remained silent until now.
The young man was quite handsome, around twenty-five or twenty-six years old, and looked rather steady. However, compared to Lance, he fell short in both appearance and demeanor.
Deanna glanced at him briefly before returning to stand quietly beside Old Hughes.
The young man glanced at Deanna and smiled slightly. "I do have something to say."
"What do you want to say?" Old Hughes raised an eyebrow at him.
Instead of answering immediately, the young man looked at Deanna. "Miss Jones, on behalf of my cousin, I apologize to you. She's young and immature; I hope you don't take it to heart."