Chapter 14.14. I want to borrow money from you. I need to borrow 200,000 yuan. ...

Siyi eventually escaped danger and was sent to the ICU for further observation.

The blond-haired boy was taken away by the police first. After the emergency treatment was completed, the parents argued again about who should pay for the medical expenses.

The police were so annoyed by the noise that they decided to take them all back to the police station and wait for a preliminary determination of liability before processing the compensation.

Visiting hours in the ICU are limited. Grandma Xia, Xia Chan, and Chen Zhoudu only had time to see Siyi briefly when they were transferred to another ward before the doctor pushed her into the ward and asked the family to stay.

The anesthesia hadn't worn off yet; her face was pale, and her body was covered in tubes of all sizes.

When Grandma Xia saw her like this, her eyes welled up with tears again. It took Aunt Chao, Xia Chan, Chen Zhoudu and the others a long time to coax her before she finally agreed not to stay at the hospital indefinitely, but to come during visiting hours the next day.

By the time they returned to "Du" and settled Grandma Xia in, it was already evening.

As dusk fell, it was already past school dismissal time. Not to mention the science exam, evening self-study was about to begin.

Xia Chan and Shen Zhoudu exchanged a glance and tacitly decided not to go back to school today, but to go and get scolded in person tomorrow.

Because of the unexpected accident at the "Crossing" station today, Grandma was unable to cook dinner. So, dinner fell to Xia Chan.

"Du" has only had a few guests checking in recently, and two guests just paid for a shared meal last night. She looked at the orders the guests posted and started preparing quickly.

Shen Zhoudu also put on an apron and volunteered to help in the kitchen. "What can I do for you?"

Can you?

Hearing the voice, Xia Chan looked up and caught sight of him, and couldn't help but tease him with a smile. Chen Zhoudu then lowered his eyes honestly and shamefully, and said with a smile, "Not really."

But he added, "But you can learn."

Xia Chan met his calm and sincere eyes and smiled, letting him be. She casually pointed to some unwashed green vegetables next to her and asked him to wash and pick them.

After accepting the task, Chen Zhoudu carefully washed his hands and began picking vegetables.

She also grabbed a kitchen knife and started chopping vegetables. Surprisingly, her knife skills were quite good. The blade tapped smoothly on the cutting board, and each slice of potato was cut evenly and evenly.

Chenzhoudu was initially surprised, but then he realized it made sense.

She can even cut wood with perfect precision.

After Xia Chan finished preparing all the ingredients, she heated oil in a wok and added the vegetables.

The vegetables sizzled as they hit the pan, releasing a burst of oil.

She cooks with remarkable speed and efficiency, tossing the wok a few times, adding seasonings, and then a few more stirs. Soon, the kitchen is filled with a rich aroma, and in the blink of an eye, two dishes are ready.

Looking back, I discovered that there was still a little over half of the vegetables that Chenzhoudu had picked.

"You really are meticulous and extremely serious about what you do. Do you need me to get you a ruler so you can measure it when you pick it?"

Xia Chan was really amused by him, so she pulled over a small stool and sat down opposite him to help him pick the fruit.

He actually did a very good job; he kept the freshest parts of each vegetable, washing and cleaning the leaves until each one was a vibrant green. It was just a little too meticulous…

Chen Zhoudu lowered his eyes again and said, "I'm sorry."

Xia Chan smiled silently without replying, deftly picking a few more. In the gaps between her actions, Chen Zhoudu couldn't help but mention, "Remembrance..."

Xia Chan paused briefly while picking vegetables, but quickly continued. She had already guessed that he might ask about this, and even smiled slightly, as if they were talking about dinner.

"Congenital Tetralogy of Fallot"

She looked up and met his surprised gaze with a smile. "Cool, right?"

Chen Zhoudu couldn't laugh; he stared at her intently for a moment.

Xia Chan lowered her head again to continue picking vegetables, saying as she did so, "She is Grandma Zheng's granddaughter."

"Grandma Zheng... was my maternal grandmother's best friend in her life."

Grandma Xia wasn't actually a native of Qingshui. According to her own account, she was a sent-down youth from the south who came to the countryside during the Cultural Revolution. She was only a teenager when she arrived in Qingshui, completely unfamiliar with the place and unable to speak the language. Only Grandma Zheng treated her the best.

Grandma Zheng had a tough life. She had many siblings and didn't receive much education. She was married off early by her family. Her husband was also bad-tempered and prone to violence. Grandma Zheng endured this for many years, and her body was always covered in bruises.

Later, it was Grandma Xia who went to her house with a wrench and gave her husband a good beating, forcing him to promise that he would never lay a hand on Grandma Zheng again. Only then did Grandma Zheng's life become a little better, and the two girls cherished and relied on each other.

“My grandma used to work on the railway.” Xia Chan raised her hand, mimicking a wrench gesture, and raised an eyebrow at him, her eyes brimming with pride. “Cool, right?”

Chen Zhoudu couldn't help but smile and nod sincerely. He could completely imagine what Grandma Xia looked like when she was building the railway. That must be the spiritedness and vitality that they inherited from each other.

Xia Chan continued.

Later, Grandma Zheng's husband was fortunate enough to die in a railway maintenance accident, and life improved. Grandma Zheng even received a compensation payment for this.

She used the compensation money to get her son married and also opened a small kindergarten.

Within two years, the Zheng couple had a lovely daughter, named Zheng Siyi. They thought life would only get better and better, but fate played another cruel joke on them.

"When she was born... she was diagnosed with congenital heart disease?" Shen Zhoudu's voice was low and slow, as if he could guess what had happened later. His fingertips clenched silently, not wanting to face those cruel realities for the moment.

"Mm," Xia Chan replied calmly.

"Back then, because of Siyi's illness, they argued a lot, and eventually they divorced. Siyi's parents didn't want her, so she was left to be raised by Grandma Zheng."

“At first, her parents would come back to see her. But as time went on, her mother disappeared, and her father died while driving a delivery truck.”

“Siyi was probably five or six years old at that time. Grandma Zheng was very sad, but she still managed to get through it all by herself. She sold the kindergarten and the house to support Siyi’s medical treatment and schooling. Siyi is fifteen years old this year. According to her age, she should be in the first year of high school, but she is still in the second year of junior high school because she had surgery when she was seven years old, and the recovery took two years. However, the doctor said that she will need two more major surgeries before she turns twenty, and she will also need to take good care of herself.”

The sun on the horizon had already sunk like a runny egg yolk, casting a half-orange, half-blue shadow over the entire courtyard. Chen Zhoudu stared at her for a long time, his Adam's apple bobbing, without uttering a word.

After a long silence, he finally asked in a hoarse voice, "That blond guy?"

"Yellow Hair..." Xia Chan hesitated for a moment, seemingly unsure where to begin, before finally considering her words and trying to speak.

The bonds between Huang Mao and Si Yi are different.

Huang Mao wasn't actually from Qingshui, but from Baijia Town, which is next to Qingshui. The biggest thing that happened to him was that his father was murdered, and the person who killed his father was his mother.

This happened ten years ago, when Huang Mao was nine years old.

The case caused a great stir at the time, and several surrounding villages and towns knew about it. Not long after, the court sentenced Huang Mao's mother to death for intentional homicide.

After the incident, some of Huang Mao's relatives were unwilling to adopt him and avoided him like the plague. Huang Mao simply became an orphan and spent his days hanging out with petty thugs from several surrounding villages and towns.

Back then, he stole things, begged for food... and going to the police station became a regular occurrence for him.

Later, by a twist of fate, Huang Mao stole some cured meat from Grandma Zheng's backyard, and that's how he became acquainted with Grandma Zheng and Siyi.

"It's quite funny... He hadn't eaten for several meals back then, and when he saw the meat drying in Grandma Zheng's backyard, he tried to steal it, but Grandma Zheng caught him red-handed. Grandma Zheng had worked on the railway when she was young, and she was no joke. She grabbed a rolling pin and gave him a good beating, making him cry..." Xia Chan laughed.

Later that day, Grandma Zheng still felt sorry for him and gave him a bowl of rice after she beat him up.

The yellow-haired boy ate until he was covered in snot and tears of gratitude.

After that, Huang Mao begged Grandma Zheng to take him in.

Grandma Zheng was worried that he still wouldn't learn his lesson and refused, so he knelt down and kowtowed until his head broke to make a promise to Grandma Zheng.

Grandma Zheng couldn't afford to send her second child to school, so he went to Master Qi's place as an apprentice.

Unexpectedly, Huang Mao actually turned over a new leaf. He often took on odd jobs to supplement the family income and protected Si Yi from being bullied. When Grandma Zheng took him out again, she would say that Huang Mao was her own grandson.

With a mix of emotions in his heart and a calm gaze, Chen Zhoudu could roughly guess what was going to happen next. He still asked in a low voice, "Then... what about Grandma Zheng now..."

"It's gone," Xia Chan said simply and calmly.

“Three years ago, she had a heart attack and died suddenly. When she was found, the food was still cooking on the stove. At that time, Siyi was facing the same situation as Huangmao. Other relatives refused to take her in, and if she were sent to an orphanage… she probably wouldn’t have many years left. So Huangmao came to my grandmother and begged us to save Siyi’s life. He said he would pay back the surgery fee as a debt to my grandmother and spend his life doing so. But my grandmother had watched Siyi grow up, how could she watch her go to her death? So she kept both Siyi and Huangmao. And since then, they have been ‘crossing over’.”

Chen Zhoudu was filled with mixed feelings. He lowered his eyes and remained silent. The vegetables had all been picked, and the two of them carried the vegetable basin to the tap to wash them.

“I didn’t expect Huang Mao to be nineteen this year.” After a while, she spoke, trying to avoid heavy topics to lighten the atmosphere. “I always heard him call you ‘sister,’ so I thought he was younger than you.”

“He didn’t call me that before. He started calling me that after he came to beg me and Grandma that year.” Xia Chan chuckled. “‘Sister’ is a title that signifies status!”

She raised an eyebrow at him playfully, a hint of arrogance in her eyes. Chen Zhoudu couldn't help but smile as well, the sun had completely set, and the sky was dotted with sparse starlight.

As she quickly finished preparing and serving the dish, Chen Zhoudu pondered for a moment and then asked in a low voice, "How much will the surgery cost?"

Xia Chan looked at him with a moment of surprise.

Meeting her gaze, he suddenly felt inexplicably uncomfortable, always worried that she might think he was showing pity or trying to assert something.

Xia Chan narrowed her eyes and then forced a smile, asking, "What, you want to borrow money from us?"

He was about to explain when she asked with a smile, "How much money can you offer?"

This question caught him off guard, and he stared at her in surprise, momentarily taken aback by her unexpected move. Xia Chan, seeing his expression, couldn't help but chuckle even more, her eyes crinkling with a playful, half-serious tone, and said, "I'm not a saint. Who wouldn't take money offered so readily? If you're willing to give or lend, I'll accept it. The more the merrier!"

"..." Shen Zhoudu was stunned for a moment, as if she had been amused by her words. She lowered her eyes, chuckled softly, and shook her head secretly.

He looked up at her again with a serious expression, "How much do you need? I'll try to find out."

His gaze was so sincere that it stunned Xia Chan this time.

She stared intently at his fingertips, which were silently clenching at his side as if in a state of turmoil.

"Three hundred thousand." But in the end, she still said it, her voice very low, "Maybe... at least three hundred thousand."

-

That evening, after dinner, Xia Chan helped Grandma Xia go back to rest early. Chen Zhoudu washed the dishes alone and went back to his room to calculate all the money he had.

He has actually had some money over the years, mostly the New Year's money given to him by his elders when he was young, and some movable assets left to him by his mother and maternal grandfather.

After arriving here, Shen Jinghai stopped using his usual credit card, but still symbolically sent him a few thousand yuan a month for living expenses.

All things considered, it adds up to 120,000.

He set aside a portion for future expenses, which amounted to 100,000.

We are still short at least 200,000.

Chen Zhoudu didn't really have a concept of money, because he had never lacked money since he became conscious.

When he was young, the Shen family wasn't that wealthy, but he never lacked anything in terms of food, clothing, or shelter. Later, when Shen Jinghai became rich, his quality of life improved even further, and he no longer had to worry about money.

But at this moment, those two hundred thousand suddenly seemed like an insurmountable chasm.

For the first time, he directly experienced the hardship that money brought to ordinary people.

He pulled out a phone number and stared at it in silence for a long time.

When Shen Zhoudu dialed Shen Jinghai's number, he still hesitated.

The dial tone of a call quickly came through the receiver. Each tone felt like a slow, agonizing torture of the eardrums.

Just as he was hesitating about whether to hang up, the call was suddenly answered on the other end.

Chen Zhoudu gripped his phone tightly for a moment, his knuckles turning white.

The two-second pause felt exceptionally agonizing and long.

Two seconds later, a man's voice, its tone ambiguous, came from the other end.

"Hello."

"Hey." Shen Zhoudu also slowed his breathing and lowered his voice, trying to make it sound normal. "I want to borrow two hundred thousand from you."

A note from the author:

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Good evening, everyone! I'm here! [Sprinkling flowers] The next chapter will be available for purchase (VIP). Thank you all for supporting me this far. I hope to continue reading with you after the VIP chapter ends!

The next update will be at midnight tomorrow night, a little later than 9 PM. After the VIP chapters begin, I can update daily! I'll also be giving out red envelopes for the first three days after the VIP chapters start. Welcome everyone to continue playing! [heart]

My next book will be "If Time Doesn't Remember," which is a story about a wife-chasing tragedy, but it still maintains the warm and healing tone I like, and won't be angsty. I've been working on this synopsis for quite a while, and I might revise it based on the actual text, but the core concept will remain the same. I hope many of you lovely ladies will add it to your favorites!

There are many other pre-orders in this column, so feel free to bookmark them if you're interested! By the way, let me promote the author: Milk Tea Hamster, a soft and cuddly person who loves writing pure love and heartwarming stories! You can support her by adding her to your favorites list in my column [Let me see!].

That's all. See you tomorrow! I'll be waiting for you with a little red envelope. Goodnight! [Blue Heart]

——————

Synopsis of "If Time Doesn't Remember":

Everyone in Beijiang City's social circles knows that Shi Sheng, the young lady of the Shi family, is infatuated with Lu Huaiyu, so much so that she is willing to be a substitute for him.

Lu Huaiyu, the second young master of the Lu family in Beijiang, is a promising young man with a cool and aloof demeanor. As the most promising young talent in the industry, his only regret is that there is always a white moonlight in his heart.

It is said that Miss Yao, his beloved, was his benefactor in his youth, and had nearly risked her life to save him many years ago. Lu Huaiyu had been devoted to her for many years, and was content even when she eventually became engaged to someone else.

During the years Shi Sheng stayed by Lu Huaiyu's side, she never competed or fought for anything, remaining content and obedient. She gave him all her passion and love, but in the end, she couldn't warm Lu Huaiyu's heart.

On the day she decided to leave, Lu Huaiyu asked her, "Where do you plan to go from here?"

Shi Sheng said, "I'm going to forget about you."

The man remained silent for a long time, then finally left with a stiff face, his expression as cold as ever. "As you wish."

...

After Shi Sheng left, Lu Huaiyu learned that Shi Sheng suffered from neurogenic retrograde amnesia.

She would gradually forget this illness unless she deliberately tried to recall it. Every now and then, she would forget her previous memories.

She had forgotten the color of the parrot her family had when she was seven years old;

She had forgotten the name of the puppy that had been with her when she was ten years old;

She had also forgotten that when she was twelve, she had almost risked her life to save a boy named Lu Huaiyu.

...

On the day Lu Huaiyu learned the truth, he came to the Shi family's door alone.

That day, the sun shone brightly and the wind was warm. The girl stood in the breeze and smiled at him, just like when they first met.

Who are you?

-

The female lead was the one who saved the male lead, but she forgot because of her illness, so she also thought that the person who saved the male lead was the female supporting character.

The male lead loves the female lead. Don't worry about whether he loves the female lead or the person who saved him; the synopsis can only provide so much information. You'll find out when you read the story!