Chapter 60 Ning Yu
At 6:30 a.m. sharp, Huo Nanchen's biological clock woke him up.
The seat next to her was empty, and the soft sound of turning pages came from the living room. Lin Xili had gotten up to continue her studies for the exam.
He got up quietly, changed his clothes, and habitually went to the kitchen to prepare a simple breakfast.
However, when the cabinets were opened, they were empty, the stove was clean and shiny, and the kitchen looked like a makeshift room, devoid of any living atmosphere.
He then remembered that Lin Xili ate in the cafeteria; she couldn't cook and had no time to cook.
He closed the cupboard door, turned around, and picked up his phone and keys.
"I'm going downstairs to buy breakfast," he said, gesturing towards the living room.
"Okay," Lin Xili replied, her gaze remaining fixed on the book.
Huo Nanchen went downstairs and bought soy milk, steamed buns, and tea eggs at a nearby breakfast shop.
When he returned, Lin Xili had already tidied up his desk.
The two sat quietly at the small table eating breakfast, the atmosphere as harmonious and natural as it was in the small town.
After breakfast, Lin Xili handed him the car keys: "You drive to the city hospital, I'll walk from here, it's very close to the bureau."
Huo Nanchen took the keys: "Okay."
Following the navigation, he drove his car into the morning rush hour traffic in Hong Kong.
The director of the endocrinology department of the city hospital was already waiting in front of the office building. When he saw him, he warmly greeted him and shook his hand tightly.
"Dr. Huo, we've been waiting for you! We have so many thyroid patients here. Some of them experience repeated symptoms after taking medication, leaving them physically and mentally exhausted, on the verge of collapse. Welcome, welcome!"
Huo Nanchen subtly withdrew his hand and politely replied, "You flatter me, Director. Let's go directly to the consultation room and begin the consultation."
"Alright, this way please!" the director quickly led the way.
The city hospital is far larger than the township health centers; the thyroid department alone has five consultation rooms.
The waiting area outside was packed with people, and the air was filled with a mixture of anxiety and anticipation.
Huo Nanchen put on a white coat and a mask, and instantly got into work mode.
Calling out patient numbers, taking medical history, reviewing past medical records and test reports, explaining the condition, and developing and adjusting treatment plans...
One after another, they quickly pressed the next number.
A slender woman dressed in a simple linen dress walked in with her head down and placed her medical record on the table.
Huo Nanchen took the medical record and habitually looked at the name first to see if it matched—Ning Yu.
He paused for a moment, holding the medical record, then looked up at the woman sitting opposite him.
Ning Yu also happened to look up, and their eyes met. Time seemed to stand still at that moment.
Although it had been five years since we last met, although she had become much thinner, and although a layer of gloom had now settled over her once smiling brows.
Huo Nanchen recognized her at a glance—Ning Yu.
Five years ago, a quiet third-floor coffee shop.
Ning Yu's originally bright and cheerful face was now covered in tears.
She pleaded tearfully, "Huo Nanchen, I beg you, please ask the Huo family to cancel the engagement, okay? I have someone I love."
At that time, Huo Nanchen had no expectations for marriage and only wanted to numbly accept the marriage arrangement made by his family.
However, his reluctance to break off the engagement with Ning Yu was not because of love.
I just felt that this girl was sunny and bright, and her eyebrows were always full of smiles like stars.
It looked exactly like his mother when she was young, a memory that had long since faded from his mind.
He always wanted to grasp something, to hold onto that lost warmth that belonged to his mother.
He knew that they couldn't make their own decision about their marriage, and neither family would agree to annul the engagement.
At that moment, he was selfish, wanting to grasp a sliver of warmth for himself through her.
In the end, ignoring her tears, he still said, "I'm sorry, it was arranged by my family."
Ning Yu stood up, forcefully wiping away her tears, her voice as still as dead water: "Huo Nanchen, I would rather die than marry you."
After saying that, she turned and left.
Soon, panicked cries and screams from the crowd could be heard.
He looked out the window and saw Ning Yu lying in a pool of blood.
Ning Yu left the store and jumped down from the third-floor corridor, landing in a flowerbed full of pebbles.
He rushed down, grabbed her, who was covered in blood, and frantically ran towards the nearest hospital...
Ning Yu survived, but underwent major surgery and suffered severe physical damage.
After waking up, she never smiled again; her heart felt crushed by the pebbles.
Huo Nanchen knelt in the Huo family ancestral hall for three days and three nights, his forehead covered in blood from kowtowing.
Ultimately, his family forced him to cancel the engagement in exchange for giving up part of his inheritance rights, but in the end, he still harmed her.
Later, he heard that Ning Yu had married the person she had always loved.
Huo Nanchen attended their wedding, but only watched from a distance, standing in a corner.
Wearing a wedding dress, Ning Yu stood beside the man she loved, and her eyes finally regained their bright smile.
At that moment, the huge weight of guilt in Huo Nanchen's heart eased a little.
He couldn't help but think of his mother, who was originally a sunny, cheerful girl who loved freedom.
After marrying into the strict Huo family, her loveless marriage gradually extinguished her smiles.
Finally, one morning when he was seven years old, his mother hanged herself, resolutely ending her own life.
When his father, Huo Donghua, once again arranged for him to choose from a young lady from a prominent family for a marriage alliance, he openly resisted for the first time.
He was scared, truly scared. His mother and Ning Yu were both because of him; the price was too heavy for him to bear.
Huo Donghua was furious: "Huo Nanchen, if you want to enjoy everything the Huo family brings—reputation, power, status—you must bear the corresponding responsibilities."
"You want the right to choose your own marriage, to follow ancestral rules, and to give up your status as a descendant of the Huo family."
He knelt before the ancestral tablets in the ancestral hall, his back ramrod straight. "Fine, I'll give up my Huo family identity."
Enraged, Huo Donghua picked up a ruler and struck his back repeatedly, leaving it bloody and mangled.
Finally, Grandma Huo risked her life to break in and bring him out.
Huo Donghua eventually stopped and agreed to his conditions, and he completely gave up his identity as a member of the Huo family.
His mother's suicide and Ning Yu's jump from the building weighed heavily on his heart, like two towering mountains.
He chose to escape, leaving Hong Kong and arriving in the town of Lixiang.
Grandma was worried about him and insisted on going with him. She opened a bed and breakfast there, while Huo Nanchen was hired by the health center as a thyroid doctor.
As his thoughts returned, Huo Nanchen looked at Ning Yu in front of him, her lips pressed into a straight line.
But now... how did she become like this again?
He quickly suppressed all his emotions and regained his professional composure as a doctor, flipping through her medical records.
"Have you had hyperthyroidism for five years? Have you been taking methimazole?" he asked as usual, his voice sounding somewhat muffled through his mask.
Ning Yu naturally recognized him as well. Her eyes flickered with mixed emotions, and she lowered her gaze, speaking very softly:
"Yes, I've been taking methimazole for a long time, and the condition has worsened."
Huo Nanchen carefully examined her recent thyroid function and antibody results, and then looked at her symptoms of bulging eyes and slight hand tremors.
“If long-term medication is ineffective and causes drug side effects and complications, iodine-131 radiotherapy can be considered.”
He offered direct advice, suggesting that this might be a better option for her at the moment.
Ning Yu was stunned for a moment, and asked blankly, "The doctors here have never mentioned this treatment plan to me. They only told me to continue taking the medicine and adjust the dosage."
"Different doctors may choose different treatment plans. Iodine-131 treatment has its indications, advantages and disadvantages. You can go back and learn more about it and consider it carefully."
"If you want to do it, you can come back and register to see me again."
He handed the medical record back to her, his movements still steady.
Ning Yu took the medical record, her fingers slightly curling the edge of the paper.
She looked at Huo Nanchen's dark eyes peeking out from behind his mask, opened her mouth as if to say something.
In the end, he simply said softly, "Thank you, Dr. Huo."
Then he got up and left the consultation room, the door closing gently behind him.
Huo Nanchen leaned back in his chair, took off his mask, took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled.
After putting his mask back on, he pressed the call button.
"Please have Li Yun, number 36, come to the fifth consultation room."
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