Chapter 62 Fulminant myocarditis, hospitalized...

He suffered fulminant myocarditis, but was rushed to the hospital and underwent a successful surgery, saving his life.

After the New Year, a new person came to the workstation that my colleague had vacated.

In March, Fang Minzhou switched jobs to the commercialization team of an internet company in Jiangcheng.

Ouyang Qian once stopped by her place for a meal while on a business trip.

Ouyang Qian now runs a business with her aunt, and they can barely manage to act like a wealthy and powerful boss. She thought Fang Minzhou had changed to an easier job, but after chatting, she was shocked to find that the workload was still astonishing; Fang Minzhou had to go back to work overtime after dinner.

She suggested that Fang Minzhou become her financial manager and asked Fang Minzhou to name her price. Fang Minzhou gave a number, and Ouyang Qian coughed, did some quick calculations, and said, "Honey, you have more money in your account than I do."

Fang Min and Zhou Xiao.

"Why make things so tiring?" Ouyang Qian kept advising Fang Minzhou to liberate herself as soon as possible, "Working for someone else is not as good as being your own boss."

Fang Minzhou also knew that her current life wasn't what she wanted. In comparison, Ouyang Qian was much more carefree. During the years she studied in another province, whether she let loose or was influenced by the local customs, she completely revealed her mischievous side, getting piercings and even opening a tattoo shop with her friend. That was before she got together with her aunt.

Fang Minzhou asked her how it felt, whether it hurt, and Ouyang Qian said it didn't hurt, it felt great, "but it still hurts a little more than getting an earring."

Fang Minzhou laughed.

She had always wanted to get her ears pierced, but she was afraid and hadn't done it yet.

She's a contradictory person; she can tolerate pain yet is afraid of it, works incredibly hard, but doesn't consider herself a very career-driven person. Ouyang Qian, upon hearing this, said that she had a flawed self-perception.

Fang Minzhou: "Hmm?"

Fang Minzhou felt that Ouyang Qian's words made sense, and she asked, "So why am I like this?"

"I don't know," Ouyang Qian said. "Everyone is different, and there's nothing wrong with that, but being happy is the most important thing."

Are you happy now?

Ouyang Qian nodded.

"What about before?"

Ouyang Qian smiled without saying a word. After a while, she was still itching to help Fang Minzhou come up with a plan.

She hadn't told Fang Minzhou much before, but her calm and gentle personality made her easy to trust. She hadn't thought much of it before, but now she realized it was a rare quality. Ouyang Qian only understood later why she had told Fang Minzhou her secret in high school. It wasn't just because of the similarity between her name and her aunt's, but also because she inexplicably felt that Fang Minzhou understood her and wouldn't tell anyone else.

"Didn't you try starting your own business when you were in college? You were running some kind of tutoring center."

"No, I just went to help."

"So you also have a side job doing study abroad tutoring?"

"I've been too busy; I haven't taken any orders in a long time."

“Look, you have a deep connection with the education industry, you could try to develop in that direction.”

"Good, Master."

Ouyang Qian clasped her hands together in return, and the two of them laughed together.

As she laughed, she became so distressed that she could no longer laugh and told Fang Min to take care of herself and get some rest when she had time.

Fang Minzhou said she knew, and asked Ouyang Qian, "Starting a business is risky, why do you keep encouraging me? What if I lose money?"

"We'll share the good times and the bad. If you really start a business, I want to be a shareholder and then count my money at home."

"Okay," Fang Minzhou replied.

After meeting with Ouyang Qian, Fang Minzhou felt a surge of energy coursing through her body. On a whim, she decided to dye her hair, something she hadn't done in a long time. She cut her shoulder-length hair short and dyed it blue.

She knew her condition was somewhat unhealthy, constantly torn between herself and others. But the longer she remained tense, the more unconsciously she found herself in a state of equilibrium, even though this equilibrium was precarious and could collapse at any moment.

Fang Minzhou thought that this might be a kind of mental anguish, as pain can release endorphins, which can calm her down.

She anticipates that her breakdown might be an illness that forces her to stop and think about macro-level questions such as life, living, and existence, but not something too fatal; she needs to be given a chance to correct herself.

Later, she did indeed fall ill, but it was her mother who got sick.

Her parents didn't tell her, but Fang Minzhou sensed from recent phone calls that they were hiding something from her. She took a day off but went home temporarily with her computer. By then, the test results and treatment options had come out: uterine fibroids, and a hysterectomy was necessary.

"The doctor said it's a minimally invasive surgery for a very common gynecological condition." My parents were very calm.

But later, her aunt told Fang Minzhou privately that she originally wanted to save her uterus, "but the doctor said it's very easy to relapse. There's nothing we can do. Your mother is too carefree. She eventually came to terms with it. Otherwise, she would have bled to death if things continued like this."

Fang Minzhou knew that her parents just didn't want her to worry, but they must have been very anxious inside, which is why they didn't say anything to her about her blue hair.

The surgery was laparoscopic and took three to four hours.

Family members waited outside the operating room. At first, they were talking, some nervously, some interrupting each other. After a while, they all fell silent. After a long silence, they started talking again.

Her father, who usually loves to preach, was the most silent one, while her aunt held her hand and started talking about the past. Back then, conditions were so bad, but Xiaoying was the top student.

Her aunt held her hand, sometimes saying how good her mother was, and sometimes saying how hard her mother was suffering.

Fang Minzhou's eyes stung and dried repeatedly, but she held back her tears in front of her aunt, trying her best to repeat comforting words. She knew her aunt was scared; they were both women who had gone through childbirth, and as sisters, they understood each other's feelings best at that moment.

The surgery was successful, and the mother was wheeled out.

When Fang Minzhou saw her mother looking so weak and dazed for the first time, tears welled up in her dry eyes. Without wiping them away, she quickly draped the small blanket she had brought from home over her mother.

Although she wasn't spoiled growing up, she hadn't really done much manual labor. She sat in classrooms when she was in school and in offices when she worked. This was Fang Minzhou's first time caring for a patient in a hospital. Despite researching extensively and preparing many things beforehand, her movements were still clumsy and chaotic. Luckily, her aunt and father were there.

She couldn't sleep for six hours after the surgery and couldn't drink water for four hours. Fang Minzhou, her father, and her aunt chatted incessantly by her mother's bedside, massaging her calves and feet to prevent blood clots and spasms. At this time, her father resumed his usual talkative manner, while her mother was too weak to speak, only blinking and smiling.

It was supposed to be minimally invasive, but how could it not be painful? Mom said it was very similar to childbirth, with pain so intense that she had to use a pain pump. Besides the wound pain, her shoulders and ribs also throbbed with pain. The air injected during the surgery seemed to travel all over her body, and she had to get out of bed and walk around. Fang Minzhou and her aunt each supported one side of her as they took her for a slow walk in the hallway.

Her mother kept telling Fang Minzhou to go home and go to work, and not to worry about her. But at this moment, she felt like she was a child, and even worried that she would catch a cold if she stayed in the hospital too long. Fang Minzhou didn't listen. While her aunt was wringing out a towel, she stayed by her side and helped add water.

She could read financial reports and write code, but her knowledge was useless at this moment. The only thing that could be considered helpful was the insurance she bought for her parents after she started working, but she still suffered the pain. Fang Minzhou felt extremely frustrated and empty. Only when she took care of her mother a little more did she feel that her soul had returned to its rightful place, as if she was atoning for her sins. As soon as this thought arose, she felt that she was very hypocritical.

She took leave from work, but she still made time to check her messages every day.

The inpatient ward is closed to all visitors after 8 p.m., so it quieted down early. Fang Minzhou finished her phone call outside, and the fresh air dispelled the lingering smell of disinfectant.

Amidst the rustling of leaves, Fang Minzhou gazed at the silent hospital building. The city nights were no longer filled with stars. She thought of her mother living inside, and of the many people suffering from illness. She also thought of her own carefree idea of ​​getting sick and restarting her life. In the still-sweltering September night, Fang Minzhou felt a chill, as if she had suddenly sobered up.

My mother was discharged from the hospital three days later. She will need one to three months to recover after the surgery.

Fang Minzhou returned to the company and submitted her resignation.

Her supervisor spoke with her, essentially saying they understood her mother's illness and would allow her to take leave to care for her. They also offered to allow her to work remotely if the leave was long enough. Fang Minzhou politely declined; she had made up her mind.

The manager expressed regret, as a strategy Fang Minzhou had been actively promoting last quarter was just gaining traction and showing promising results, expected to generate significant revenue for the project by the end of the year. Fang Minzhou thanked the manager for recognizing her talent, but said she no longer cared about the figures. The manager inquired whether her parents were the primary reason for her departure and what her plans were afterward.

"Actually, that's not entirely true," Fang Minzhou said. "I'll probably rest for a while and then see how it goes."

The surgical wound wasn't large, but it was a real incision in her abdomen, comparable to a broken back. Any movement that used her back became difficult, including getting up and lying down. Later, Fang Minzhou's parents confessed that their return had actually relieved them considerably, as her father still had to work and her mother was alone at home, which was inconvenient.

But as time went on, especially after Fang Minzhou officially completed her resignation procedures, it became impossible to keep her departure a secret.

Fang Minzhou's mother's reaction was even stronger than she had expected. She thought Fang Minzhou had gone mad. She wasn't paralyzed or had any terminal illness. She was going back to work after she recovered. How could Fang Minzhou quit her job?

Fang Minzhou explained, "It's not like I've stopped working."

"Then why did you resign without telling us?" Zhao Ningying said excitedly. As she spoke, her voice lowered, and she suspected that Fang Minzhou's company was dissatisfied with her frequent leave requests, or that she had implicated Fang Minzhou.

Fang Minzhou was both amused and exasperated: "No, I resigned on my own."

She didn't dare tell anyone that her boss had tried to persuade her to stay, otherwise her mother would probably be even angrier.

“You…” Zhao Ningying was heartbroken and confused.

Fang Liangping spoke up, saying that since she had resigned, she might as well work in Zhangcheng. Upon hearing this, Zhao Ningying's expression softened slightly, and she felt that this made sense.

“Minzhou, your parents don’t expect you to earn a lot of money, but everyone needs a job, right? And you were doing well at a company, so what are your plans now?” Fang Liangping asked seriously.

There were some things Fang Minzhou had been holding back from saying. She had anticipated her parents' reaction and had asked herself to remain calm and composed in the face of their anger. However, her mother's wounds were no longer so easily broken by anger, so she finally said, "I will find a job later. I have savings and I can support myself. I quit my job because I want to take good care of my mother now, otherwise I will regret it."

Zhao Ningying and Fang Liangping both fell silent.

Fang Minzhou could read the fear they were trying to hide from their expressions.

They felt she was a stranger.

Thinking about it, that makes sense. During the years she was away from home, her parents were completely unaware of her growth, and even she herself sometimes only realized the changes in her.

There were some things Fang Minzhou didn't say; let her parents take it as her being filial.

On a night later, when the mother and daughter were sleeping together, Zhao Ningying couldn't help but worry about Fang Minzhou. Fang Minzhou was originally her pride, but now she had resigned because of such a small matter. "Your aunt also said you've gone crazy."

Fang Minzhou wasn't angry.

During junior and senior high school, she spent a lot of effort trying to understand her parents' love for her. Later, she realized that her parents' love was distorted, and that no one's love could perfectly match another person's needs. They couldn't change it, and she didn't need to prune herself, but she needed to be able to adjust herself and accept what she could accept.

So she just smiled and then asked her mother from the bottom of her heart, "Did you regret quitting your job because of me and Grandma?"

This question had been on her mind for many years.

Zhao Ningying's voice faded into the dark room. Lying flat on her back, she glanced at Fang Minzhou with a strange smile and said, "That was so long ago. How could I possibly regret it? You were so young then, and your grandmother was sick and had no one to take care of her. Didn't you need someone to take care of you? You're comparing yourself to me back then. How can you compare? I had your father, and you had such a good job..."

Fang Minzhou sat next to her mother, listened with her eyes closed, and did not refute.

It took her twenty years to truly understand the sacrifices her mother made back then and the source of her own burdens.

Actually, she was trying to atone for her sins, but why did she need to atone? Perhaps it was because she realized that one day she would have to live her own life.