Zhou Sheng couldn't wait until next week.

He finally received a reply from Lin Sitian, saying that she would be in the hospital to take care of his grandmother over the weekend. So Zhou Sheng went to the hospital early on Saturday morning with a fruit basket. He didn't want to bother her too much, just to find out about his grandmother and her situation, put down the fruit basket and leave.

Zhou Sheng arrived at the door of the ward, which was wide open, and he knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" Lin Sitian yawned and walked out with the clacking sound of her sneakers. When she looked up and saw Zhou Sheng, she was stunned. The girl was unkempt, her face was tired, her eyelids drooped, and her long hair was sticking up. She was wearing a loose cartoon T-shirt and wrinkled knee-length shorts that she had casually put on.

"Good morning." Zhou Sheng raised his hand to greet her.

Lin Sitian panicked for a moment. She covered her face and hurriedly closed the door in front of Zhou Sheng. "Wait a minute—"

Zhou Sheng froze there, confused.

About a minute later, the door opened again. This time, Lin Sitian looked much more energetic. Her long hair was casually tied into a high ponytail, her eyes were bright, and her shoes were properly worn on her feet.

"Why are you here?" she asked, making way for Zhou Sheng and motioning him to come in.

After entering the single room, Zhou Sheng put away the fruit basket. His sick grandmother was still asleep. He lowered his voice and said, "Come and see grandma..."

"oh."

"--and you."

Lin Sitian pursed her lips shyly and moved a stool for him, "Sit down."

Zhou Sheng moved another one and placed it next to this stool, "You sit too."

The two of them sat on the window side at the end of the bed, feeling as awkward as if they had just met.

Zhou Sheng first asked: "How is grandma?"

"It was already in the late stage when it was discovered," Lin Sitian spoke in a low voice, a volume that only the two of them could hear. "The doctor said the conservative estimate is half a year. If a bypass surgery is done, then optimistically it will be about a year." She may have digested this fact in the past two days. She didn't have much emotion when she said this, it was more of a compromise.

Zhou Sheng didn't know what to say. Any comfort at this moment would be pale. He just raised his hand and patted her on the back.

"In fact, it's not that there were no signs at all," Lin Sitian said, "She has lost a lot of weight in the past six months, and she never eats well. I thought she was busy playing mahjong, but in fact she had no appetite and couldn't eat. She often complained of back pain and stomach pain, and occasionally blood clots, but she was only willing to go for acupuncture... Later I heard from the mother-in-law downstairs that she went to the hospital but nothing was found, and she thought it was too expensive, so she never went again. If I hadn't let her do what she wanted, I would have discovered it earlier and taken her for a thorough check-up..."

Her hands were clenched tightly on her knees and her head was bowed.

"Early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer is difficult, and most cases are already in the late stages. That's not your fault, Lin Sitian." After learning about his grandmother's condition, Zhou Sheng read a lot of information. The detection rate of this disease is very low, but the mortality rate is very high. The moment it is discovered that it is in the late stages, it has basically been sentenced to death.

Lin Sitian knew that getting sick was a matter of fate, but how could she let herself go completely? Because she would regret it if she missed the opportunity, and she would assume that if she had…

Assumption is a dangerous proposition.

Lin Sitian thought of what Zhou Sheng said.

Zhou Sheng: "What will happen next? Are you going to take care of her in the hospital?"

Lin Sitian shook her head. "Dad has hired a nurse, and my cousin's aunt will come to help next week. He told me to go back and study hard, and not to worry about this place..." She turned her head to look at Zhou Sheng. "I'm sorry, I've been accompanying my grandma in the hospital these days, and I haven't replied to your messages much."

"Why are you talking about this?" Zhou Sheng smiled and pinched her face. "It's not like I can't tell the difference between the important and the urgent."

Lin Sitian held the hand on her face and rubbed it gently, looking so fragile that it made people feel distressed.

"Family member of room 403, please come in for a moment." The nurse said at the door.

"Ah, here I come." Lin Sitian stood up hurriedly.

Before leaving, he turned back and reminded, "Zhou Sheng, don't leave yet, wait for me to come back."

Zhou Sheng nodded, "Go ahead."

As soon as Lin Sitian left, Zhou Sheng stood up and checked on his grandmother for a while.

The morning light refracted into the ward through the glass and fell right on grandma's forehead. Zhou Sheng turned around to draw the curtains to block out the disturbing light.

"water……"

Zhou Sheng was surprised to find that the old woman behind him had woken up, so he hurried to the bedside, rocked the bed to help her sit up, and served her a sip of water.

"You are..." After drinking the water, Grandma Lin, who had regained her composure, looked at Zhou Sheng, "The one... the one I saw downstairs that day—"

"Zhou Sheng."

"Yes, yes," Grandma Lin nodded, indicating that this was the name she wanted to say, "You... are Tiantian's boyfriend?"

“…”

"I just woke up."

The implication is that I was eavesdropping just now.

Zhou Sheng was caught off guard. He didn't have the first plan in mind for his elders to discover his affair, so he could only nod his head.

Grandma Lin frowned and looked Zhou Sheng up and down, then pouted and said, "I still like Xiaoyu."

Zhou Sheng's heart skipped a beat.

What was wrong with his performance? He couldn't just point at the fruit basket on the bedside and say, "Grandma, these are all for you, right?"

It is highly suspected of bribery and will only damage one's character.

"You don't look tough, kid. I don't know whether you will take care of Tiantian or Tiantian will take care of you in the future." Maybe because she has been lying in bed for the past few days, grandma's voice is a little hoarse. "Besides, you are pretty, so it's easy to attract peach blossoms."

——???

If possible, Zhou Sheng really wanted to slap the comparison report of his and Meng Qiaoyu's popularity with women in school in his grandmother's face.

Never mind, she's still a patient.

"We usually take care of each other and don't make such a clear distinction," Zhou Sheng said, "And, I only like Tiantian, and I have never had any romantic relationships." He never thought that he would have to face questions about his girlfriend's family's qualifications at this age, but since the doubts have arisen, he needs to clarify them in time.

After hearing this, Grandma Lin looked at him carefully for a few more times and then began to ask questions.

It was hard for Zhou Sheng to imagine how a patient who had just undergone surgery two days ago could have the energy and brainpower to check the household registration so carefully. In short, Grandma Lin asked every detail, so he could only keep up with her. It seemed that if she continued asking, all the history of the Zhou family going back three generations would be revealed, and she had almost asked questions that touched Zhou Sheng's blind spots in knowledge.

"Oh, I'm hungry. I want to eat osmanthus lotus root powder." Grandma Lin suddenly sighed.

"I..." Zhou Sheng suddenly paused, "Grandma, it's only been two days since you had the surgery. You probably can't eat yet."

Grandma Lin said: "If it was Xiaoyu, she would buy it for me."

——Meng Qiaoyu, what kind of character are you creating for someone who helps the evil?

"It's not a question of who buys it for you," Zhou Sheng insisted, "or I'll go ask the nurse what you can eat now."

"How can you be so stupid, child? You can't eat but just look at it?" Grandma Lin was so angry that she turned her face away after saying this.

When Lin Sitian came back, she saw her grandmother, who had regained consciousness from her illness, was all alone.

"Eh? Grandma..." She wanted to ask where Zhou Sheng was, but then she thought that if her grandma didn't see him either, it would seem like she would be admitting her guilt.

"Are you asking about that boy?" Grandma Lin really understood her granddaughter.

Lin Sitian nodded vigorously.

"He ran away. He got scared away when I woke up."

"Ah, Zhou Sheng...no way?" Lin Sitian was skeptical. He was indeed a little shy, but he would never leave without saying hello just because he was timid.

"How bold can a little kid be?" Grandma waved at Lin Sitian, "Tiantian, come here and show grandma."

Lin Sitian walked forward after hearing that.

"Sit here." Grandma patted the edge of the bed.

Lin Sitian sat on the edge of the bed, and her grandmother touched her face with her wrinkled hands.

“…My granddaughter is so pretty.”

There was already a little cloudiness in her old pupils, but at that moment, the look in her eyes when she looked at Lin Sitian was extremely clear, emitting the wisdom accumulated over the years.

"He's going to college next year..." Grandma sighed, "No one in my family has ever been to college... Grandma really wants to see it."

Lin Sitian's tears fell and dripped onto the bedding.

"You said your father was so honest but he never found a reliable one. He lived alone for more than ten years... I was scared. I was thinking what would happen if our Tiantian was also bullied... Then you would have no one to take care of you, and grandma wouldn't be able to leave peacefully..."

Lin Sitian suddenly threw herself onto her grandmother's shoulder and burst into tears.

Grandma held her in her arms, patting her back gently with her wrinkled hands. "Now that I think about it, you were so small when I held you in my arms when you were little, and now you are seventeen years old. Time flies."

Time really flies by too fast. The old man who was a big shot at the mahjong table yesterday is now lying in bed and waiting for his return. More than ten years of companionship may result in a cruel separation in just a few dozen days.

Birth, aging, sickness and death, life always has a cycle.

"In fact, grandma has lived a life that is not bad enough," grandma touched Lin Sitian's head, "there will always be a day when you have to go, it's just that the day has come early."

"But, I don't want, I don't want grandma to leave..."

"It doesn't matter whether you want to or not. It's your destiny. But grandma wants you to promise me one thing——"

"Um..." Before I asked anything, Lin Sitian had already nodded in agreement.

"We need to be more discerning when it comes to boys. If we really can't make it, we can just live on our own and not be bullied by other people's families."

Lin Si nodded.

"... Zhou Sheng is a pretty good kid. Grandma likes him."

Lin Sitian was stunned. She never expected that the topic would suddenly return to Zhou Sheng.

Just at this moment, footsteps were heard at the door of the ward, and a young man walked in, panting, carrying a bag.

"Look," Grandma said, smiling -

"The kid who searched the streets for you to find sweet-scented osmanthus lotus root powder is back."