The elderly man, with his white hair and beard, still stood tall on the stairs. His bright eyes, beneath his thick eyebrows, shone with a kind smile, filling Jiang Cheng's heart with warmth and affection.
We set off again.
Gu Qingwan's tone remained gentle: "Boss, we'll arrive at Mr. Zhong's building in half an hour. Would you like to rest for a bit? I've had the air conditioning on in the back for half an hour, so the temperature should be just right now. I've also turned on the sleep-aid fragrance, the same scent as the one I use at home."
"Um."
Jiang Cheng didn't even need to give any unnecessary instructions like "call me when we arrive," he just closed his eyes and fell asleep.
The half-hour drive flew by, and Jiang Cheng managed to get a reasonably good afternoon nap.
When Jiang Cheng opened his eyes and saw the small villa in front of him, the smile on his lips became even more pronounced.
Although he was Chen Shi's proudest student, Zhong Yingzhe was actually his first mentor.
If he hadn't met Zhong Yingzhe back then, he would never have achieved what he has today.
It is no exaggeration to say that Zhong Yingzhe was his mentor.
As the car slowly came to a stop in front of a building, Jiang Cheng's originally gentle face suddenly froze, and his gaze fell on the old man downstairs.
"Teacher Zhong, what's wrong...?"
Jiang Cheng didn't even have time to get out of the car before asking urgently, "Why do you look so haggard?"
As he spoke, he hurriedly opened the car door, grabbed Zhong Yingzhe's elbow, and helped him walk up the stairs.
Meanwhile, Zhong Yingzhe slowly descended the stairs. Although his physique remained largely unchanged from years past, not particularly thin, his back was no longer straight, and his steps were unsteady and weak, even extremely heavy. It seemed that Zhong Yingzhe had lost control of his body. As he approached step by step, Jiang Cheng could clearly see that his forehead and face were covered with wrinkles, and his eyes were dull and lifeless. His full head of white hair swayed slightly in the wind, and his brows were filled with a deep sense of sorrow.
Looking at the weathered old man in front of him, Jiang Cheng couldn't help but feel a pang of sorrow.
Zhong Yingzhe smiled nonchalantly, then put his hand on Jiang Cheng's shoulder and said with a sense of age, "Hey, it's nothing. I'm just getting older now, and my condition isn't as good as before. It's nothing serious."
As he spoke, he patted Jiang Cheng on the shoulder affectionately and led him into the house.
Standing beside Zhong Yingzhe, Jiang Cheng could clearly see that his eyes were bloodshot and his sallow face showed endless haggardness and exhaustion.
Mingming is not even eighty years old yet, a few years younger than Chen Shi.
Clearly, Zhong Yingzhe wasn't like this a few years ago, how come he...
How did it suddenly become like this?
Looking back a few years, Zhong Yingzhe could be considered the sole pillar of the Institute of Medical Technology. Among a group of inexperienced researchers, he stood out as extremely different, yet he wielded immense power, leading all the researchers to achieve remarkable success. Under Zhong Yingzhe's direction, there was no project they couldn't accomplish once they set their minds to it!
The more spirited and ambitious Zhong Yingzhe was then, the more aged and weathered he is now.
This contrast is what makes Jiangcheng most heartbroken.
Seeing Jiang Cheng's head bowed, the hunched old man sighed with emotion, speaking with a hint of relief, "I know what you're worried about. Alright, I understand your feelings, and I thank you for caring so much about me. Actually, you don't need to overthink it, I just..."
After struggling to organize his thoughts, Zhong Yingzhe said with a wry smile, "Actually, there's nothing hard to say. My workload back then was enormous. I could only sleep four or five hours a day, and I devoted the rest of my time to work. But since retiring, I feel like my whole body has been drained of energy, and I can never get back to the state I was in back then."
At this point, Zhong Yingzhe looked at the sun gradually disappearing into the clouds outside the window with great emotion, and continued in a gentle tone: "I also tried to find something to do again, hoping to find the state I had when I was working before, so that at least every day wouldn't be so hard to endure. But once a person relaxes from a taut bowstring, they can never go back to being taut."
Zhong Yingzhe casually picked up a rubber band from the side, stretched it out tightly, and then loosened it, showing it to Jiang Cheng while saying with a hint of self-deprecation, "You see, I'm just like this overused rubber band. No matter how tight or loose it is now, I can never go back to the state I was in before. Maybe, this is how my life will just go on."
Seeing Zhong Yingzhe's dejected state, Jiang Cheng's eyes also revealed deep self-reproach.
The old man before him had dedicated his entire life to the medical cause of China. Now, because of his kindness, he had aged prematurely. How could Jiang Cheng not feel heartache?
Thinking of this, he gripped Zhong Yingzhe's right hand tightly, lowered his head, and said with extreme remorse, "I'm sorry, teacher. If I hadn't been so eager to persuade you to semi-retire, you might not be in this situation now. I should have stopped you a little more back then..."
Before Jiang Cheng could finish his apology, Zhong Yingzhe interrupted him, shaking his head with a smile. "No, you misunderstood. I'm telling you all this to explain that my condition is inevitable and has nothing to do with anyone or anything. Please don't apologize to me; we don't owe each other anything. I understand that you're letting me rest for my own good."
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