Chapter 17 This Damn Cancer

# Chapter 17 This Damn Cancer

After the physical examination, Qiao Shuyan did not let Sun Xumin leave the hospital. She took the preliminary examination report of the gastroenterology and arranged for her to be hospitalized. Her pathological results came out on the third day. Qiao Shuyan was stunned by the "moderate-poor differentiation" on the report.

The only good news in the past two days is that all the necessary examinations have been done on Sun Xumin, and no metastasis has been found so far.

Despite this, no matter who is labeled with the words "malignant tumor", they will inevitably suffer physically and mentally.

Sun Xumin, on the other hand, was more open-minded. She still didn't quite believe that she had malignant stomach cancer. After all, she didn't feel any discomfort anywhere in her body, not even when she was hospitalized. Instead, she encouraged Qiao Shuyan to be more open-minded.

Mr. Qiao's health is fine. Apart from the increase of some common indicators, there is no major problem. According to their director, if he eats a lighter diet and does some exercise every day, he will live to be 99.

Therefore, the task of taking care of Sun Xumin fell on the two healthy men in the family. Qiao's father put down his work and chatted with Sun Xumin in the ward every day, but the effect was not very good. Qiao Shuyan's phone rang within ten minutes, and then he went to the ward to save the situation.

This is why it is convenient for him to work in the hospital. If it were someone else, they would probably go crazy.

As Sun Xumin's health condition was not optimistic, Qiao Shuyan was in a very bad mood in the past two days. He was silent every day and his face was full of worry.

On the day when the pathology results came out, Qiao Shiyan also rushed back, and Song Hao came with her.

The older sister was relatively calm. When she arrived at the ward, she started by scolding her mother: "How many times have I told you not to eat those leftovers, and how many times have I told you to eat less salted and pickled vegetables, but you just couldn't do it. This time you've attracted cancer. Are you satisfied?" However, at the end, her voice was choked with sobs.

Sun Xumin rarely responded with a retort, but smiled comfortingly, "Why are you so anxious? I'm fine, aren't I?"

Qiao Shiyan tried not to cry, she snorted through her nose, walked closer to the bed, looked at her mother carefully, and didn't speak for a long time.

After a while, she called Qiao Shuyan out.

Song Hao put all the things he brought into the cupboard, and then said to Sun Xumin: "Mom, Shi Yan has that kind of temper. She is just worried about you. Don't take it to heart."

Sun Xumin laughed and said, "I know exactly how many tapeworms are in the belly of the girl I gave birth to. How can I be angry with him?"

Outside, Qiao Shiyan asked Qiao Shuyan to take her to the director's office. Director Zhang was there. After asking about Sun Xumin's condition in detail, she had an idea in her mind. After leaving the office, both of them were unhappy. After a while of silence, Qiao Shiyan spoke with a choked voice: "Fortunately, she had a physical examination this year, otherwise..."

Qiao Shuyan sighed and said, "Yes, it's a good thing that I had the physical examination. If I had waited until I had symptoms, once the tumor had metastasized, it would not have been such a simple matter."

"Fortunately, fortunately, surgery should be able to basically solve the problem. Director Liu of our hospital is also a very authoritative expert in this area. I have communicated with the hospital, and now the results of various tests are out. The surgery should be arranged as soon as possible in the next two days. It can't be delayed any longer. Low or moderate differentiation... the longer the night, the more trouble..."

As Qiao Shuyan spoke, his eyes were filled with mist. He exhaled heavily. Ever since Director Zhang told him about this possibility, he had been feeling like a huge stone was pressing down on him, making him unable to breathe. Now that he saw Qiao Shiyan, it seemed that some of the pressure had been transferred to her. He felt a little better, but he didn't dare to relax. He knew in his heart that his sister also had elderly parents and young children to take care of, and the pressure was no less than his.

Qiao Shiyan pulled Qiao Shuyan's hand, then held her in her arms and comforted her, "Don't be afraid, Xiao Qiao. I'm always here."

Qiao Shuyan sniffed and said to his sister, "Surgery...surgery is risky..."

"Don't be silly, Mom is still waiting to see you get married, everything will be fine." Qiao Shiyan said, patting his back.

Qiao Shuyan nodded silently and said "hmm" in his sister's arms.

In the afternoon, Liang Yu came.

He was also there when Sun Xumin was having a gastroscopy and was quite concerned about her condition. However, he had just taken on a new project a few days ago and was very busy in the past two days, so he was unable to come and accompany her.

After receiving Qiao Shiyan's message, Qiao Shuyan ran over from the department. When he entered the ward, Liang Yu was talking to Sun Xumin.

When Sun Xumin saw him coming, she said, "Xiao Qiao, I was just saying, Xiao Liang is so busy at work, don't let him run away. I don't have anything important to do, don't delay his work."

Qiao Shuyan wanted to say that malignant tumors were no small matter, but he held it back and just looked at Liang Yu and said, "My mother has us here, you just need to focus on your work."

Liang Yu looked at him, a little surprised. After not seeing him for just two days, Qiao Shuyan looked much more haggard, with some blue stubble on his chin, making him look extremely spirited and unhealthy, as if he had aged a few years. It's not that he looked older, but his original sunny boyish feeling disappeared in an instant.

Liang Yu didn't expect that this incident would have such a big impact on him. However, if he put himself in the other person's shoes, he was not much better than Qiao Shuyan.

Liang Yu looked at Sun Xumin and saw that she was in a stable mood and in good spirits, so he stopped worrying. After telling his mother about the situation, he left the ward with Qiao Shuyan.

The Second Provincial Hospital was renovated two years ago, and the green gardens in the hospital were also redesigned and reconstructed. It looks a bit like the gardens in Suzhou. It's a pity that the solar terms in the north are different from those in the south, so the scenery in winter is not as good. It is early spring now. Although it is still warm and cold, the vigorous grass has begun to emerge, and some trees are struggling to get rid of the shackles of winter and sprout.

The two of them walked in the hospital garden, and Qiao Shuyan asked, "You have a lot of work to do on that project, so why are you here?"

"I noticed you haven't been home for two days, so I brought you some toiletries and clothes." Liang Yu said casually. It seemed to be very reasonable, but he was the only one who knew in his heart that he was worried about the other person.

Qiao Shuyan asked, "What about work?"

Liang Yu said: "The basic direction has been decided. I've temporarily handed it over to the people below to do it. I'll check it when I get back." He also didn't say that his total sleep time in the past two days was less than eight hours.

Qiao Shuyan saw that his eyes were also dark blue, and felt touched, but did not say anything else. Since the two met, Liang Yu always did things that made him grateful, and the only way to put an end to this was to treat him better.

The two of them didn't say anything else, and they walked slowly for nearly ten minutes. Liang Yu saw a park chair, and they sat down one after another. He took out a box of cigarettes from somewhere, shook out half a cigarette, and handed it to Qiao Shuyan, "Want one?"

Qiao Shuyan looked at Liang Yu, then at the cigarette, and shook his head, saying, "I don't know how to smoke."

Liang Yu was about to withdraw his hand, but Qiao Shuyan took out the cigarette again, held it awkwardly in his hand, and asked, "Do you have a lighter?"

Liang Yu smiled and said, "Of course." Then he lit a cigarette for him.

This was Qiao Shuyan's first cigarette in his life. He was a little nervous, but the moment he inhaled it, although the pungent smell of nicotine made him uncomfortable, it also made him feel a little numb and relaxed. He couldn't help but think that this was really a good thing.

However, he didn't know how to spit it out, and the smoke got into his lungs or somewhere else. It made Qiao Shuyan cough violently, and his face turned red and tears came out. He finally got over the pain.

Liang Yuben also lit up a cigarette and was about to smoke it, but he didn't expect the other party to have such a strong reaction. He quickly put out the cigarette, tried to calm the other party, and comforted and patted him. It took a long time for the other party to calm down.

"..." Liang Yu took the cigarette back from Qiao Shuyan helplessly, put it in his mouth, took a puff, exhaled the smoke, and said slowly: "It seems that cigarettes are not suitable for you."

Qiao Shuyan saw that he was very skilled at smoking, and the smoke rings he exhaled were very artistic. At this moment, the male hormones in his body seemed to be stronger, and he was a little distracted. After a pause, he asked, "When did you start smoking?"

Liang Yu's hand holding the cigarette seemed to hesitate for a moment, and then he said, "When I first entered college." To be precise, it was when she had just broken up with her first boyfriend in high school.

"My mother and sister don't allow me to smoke. I remember when I was in the third grade of junior high school, a classmate came to my house and wanted to take me to smoke. My sister found out and together with my mother, she gave me a lecture. It was so profound that I never dared to do it again." Qiao Shuyan didn't know where he was looking, his eyes were unfocused, as if he was looking at the old time when "he was being lectured". There was a bit of nostalgia in his eyes, but also a bit of unfathomable pain and sorrow.

Liang Yu didn't answer.

Qiao Shuyan continued, "I work in a hospital. Although it's not a clinical setting, I have heard too many stories of life and death. I just never thought that cancer would find my mother one day." As he spoke, his voice choked up again.

Qiao Shuyan looked lonely and frail at this moment, which made Liang Yu inexplicably feel distressed. The Qiao Shuyan he knew should be the boy who didn't talk much but was sunny and cheerful, a kind person who wanted to return the kindness of others doubled, but at this moment, there seemed to be a bit of hatred in his eyes, hating the fate that made his mother suffer from a malignant tumor.

The cigarette that Qiao Shuyan had only taken a puff of was already put out by Liang Yu and thrown into the trash can beside him. He reached out and took Qiao Shuyan, letting him rest his head on his shoulder, and said, "Shuyan, cry if you want to."

Inexplicably, these words were like a switch. The tears that Qiao Shuyan had tried hard to hold back even in front of his sister finally burst out and rushed out, instantly shattering his self-esteem, which he thought was strong. He didn't care that he was in a public place in the hospital, and just cried on Liang Yu's shoulder, his heart broken.

Liang Yu had not expected that he would be in so much pain. Hearing his cries made him feel distressed. So, originally he was only half holding the man on his shoulders, but after meeting the gazes of passers-by, he silently held the man in his arms, at least to prevent anyone from seeing his face.

The pain, worry and fear that had accumulated for two and a half days since Director Zhang said, "You might have stomach cancer," finally broke out in a concrete way at this moment.

Qiao Shuyan was more afraid of what was going to happen next than the pain. Any surgery has risks. This surgery must be performed under general anesthesia. In order to prevent the growth of tumors or metastasis in the future, the chief surgeon, Dr. Liu, suggested that the entire stomach be removed.

If the surgery goes well, the days ahead will not be easy for Sun Xumin. First, she will have to be very careful about what she eats; second, she will have to change many of her daily habits...

Just thinking about the risks of the surgery made Qiao Shuyan tremble with fear. He grabbed Liang Yu's coat tightly like a drowning man grabbing the last straw. The veins on the back of his hands were bulging and he was still shaking.

Sensing the other person's collapse, Liang Yu placed his hand on his back, stroking him slowly, and coaxed him in a low voice: "It's okay, Shuyan, it's okay, God bless you, nothing will happen."

"I'm scared, Liang Yu, I'm scared." Qiao Shuyan said tremblingly.

Liang Yu sighed slightly and said, "Do you know why I returned to China at that time?"

Qiao Shuyan didn't know why he suddenly brought up this matter. She was a little confused and just shook her head in the other's arms, still not raising her face.

“In fact, I was in the rising stage of my career at that time, and I was doing well there. But one day, my mother suddenly called me and told me that my father had lung cancer.

"I didn't even have time to worry or get scared, because I had to make the decision to quit and return home, and I had to handle everything as quickly as possible...explaining to my boss, writing a resignation letter, cancelling the lease, booking a flight, packing, mailing, and returning home...it took me about 30 hours to do all this, and I didn't even sleep. It was only when I hurriedly boarded the plane that I reacted and had time to think about my dad."

Qiao Shuyan had never thought that he had returned to China for this reason. For a moment, she even forgot to cry and just lay blankly in Liang Yu's arms.

"I was actually very sleepy at the time, but I couldn't fall asleep on the plane. My heart was beating very fast during the more than ten hours of the flight. I was very scared, but I couldn't tell anyone... So, Shuyan, I understand how you feel now. I feel the same way. You can cry and vent, but you also have to know that your father is old, your sister has a child and is still away, and your mother can only rely on you in the future... But you should also know that I am always here."

As he spoke, he continued to pat his back soothingly. His movements were light and gentle, yet powerful and firm.