Zhou Cheng felt groggy when he woke up, too tired to even speak, but his eyes were still open to show that he was listening.
His attending physician recommended that he stay in the ICU for two more days. Brain surgery is very risky. Apart from being able to speak, his limbs are unable to move. He is at risk of having difficulty breathing and high fever at any time after the operation.
After leaving the ward, Dr. Liu told Zhou Cheng's family, "His symptoms started about a year ago. Although part of the tumor was removed, an X-ray showed that the cancer cells in his brain have spread. We are currently considering more conservative radiotherapy."
Liu Mei burst into tears after hearing this. "Doctor, can you tell me how long he can live?"
Doctor Liu said: "It depends on Zhou Cheng's physique and desire to live. Everyone's situation is different. Some people can live for ten or more years, while others die in a few months... Recently, there is a radiotherapy in China, boron neutron capture therapy. BNCT for short, is very suitable for brain tumor patients. Because its equipment is expensive, our hospital has not introduced it. It has pilot hospitals in S City and G City. You can consider it."
Doctor Liu has communicated with Zhou Xiu many times recently and found that although the child is young, she is very sensible and smart. She can understand a lot of professional terms. She is already a senior high school student, but such a thing happened at home. The doctor feels very sorry.
I heard from her mother that her grades were very good and she had just won the gold medal in the national biology competition some time ago. He felt even more sorry for such a good kid.
Dr. Liu asked Zhou Xiu to go back to school, but Zhou Xiu shook her head.
Even if Zhou Xiu returns to school now, she won't be able to concentrate on her classes. It would be better for her to stay in the hospital and look after Zhou Cheng, where she will feel more at ease.
Zhou Xiu had seen BNCT technology many times in journal articles. It was a cancer radiotherapy first invented by a British Nobel Prize winner in physics in the last century, jointly experimented by MIT and laboratories, and finally developed in Japan. These days, Zhou Xiu has been reading information about brain cancer and comparing dozens of treatment methods one by one.
The higher the expectations, the heavier the mood. For the first time in his life, Zhou Xiu felt how insignificant and powerless he was.
After lunch, Zhou Xiu checked the money left in her account and felt heavy-hearted. The house that Liu Mei put up for sale has not been sold yet. Thanks to the medical expenses that Xie Cheng had deposited in advance, otherwise the balance in her bank card would not have lasted for a few days.
Zhou Xiu has already finished five of the ten math test papers, with the most recent one scoring 72 points. During the three days that Zhou Cheng was in a coma, she spent all her time studying math, except for eating, drinking, defecating, sleeping, and visiting Zhou Cheng.
People coming and going in the family lounge felt a little sad when they saw this scene. They were used to seeing adults collapse, so they were always particularly moved when they saw the back of the girl studying beside the hospital bed. Before she had the chance to enjoy being spoiled by her parents like her peers, she had already begun to bear the pressure of her family.
Her tender shoulders were always straightened, and she was always studying, whether early in the morning or late at night, no matter how difficult it was. Many adults felt warmed at heart and were inspired when they saw this.
Zhou Xiu rubbed her eyes after finishing her math test. The system seems to have lost connection these days, and there is no sound. In the past, with its company, Zhou Xiu never felt discouraged no matter how difficult the task was.
Zhou Xiu put down her phone, and the screen clearly showed a deposit of 10,000 yuan, which was the reward for the test paper with 72 points. Fortunately it is still there.
The next day, Zhou Cheng woke up in a daze and asked to change wards.
It turned out that after he woke up, he heard the family members of the patients in the same ward arguing. The high ICU treatment costs were unaffordable for the family members, and they were ready to give up treatment.
Zhou Cheng then realized that the hospital ward he was staying in cost more than 10,000 to 20,000 yuan a day, and he knew that he had a terminal illness.
Zhou Xiu was shocked. She didn't expect that the thing she had kept secret could be exposed so easily. Liu Mei talked to Zhou Cheng in the ward, "You have to be treated. You haven't enjoyed any happiness yet. Be obedient... We can get treatment after we sell the house."
Zhou Cheng shook his head and sighed: "No, I won't sell it. I bought this house with great difficulty. I will leave it to you and Xiuxiu. I want to go home..."
The house was the result of the hard work of their whole family. Even the decoration was done bit by bit by Zhou Cheng. Every piece of wood on the bed, bookcase and wardrobe had traces of being planed by him personally.
Zhou Cheng kept shaking his head and Liu Mei kept nodding. Zhou Xiu clutched the test paper in her hand and said, "If Dad doesn't want to sell the house, then he doesn't have to, but we have to treat the disease."
Zhou Xiu quickly calculated in her mind, how long would it take to finish reading the 10G of information given by Teacher Wang, a week? Or a month?
Is one month enough? Zhou Xiu grew up in poverty and had suffered from poverty ever since he was old enough to understand. However, there had never been a moment when he understood as clearly as he does now that a penny can make a hero fall, and the importance of money.
No matter how hard you try in this life, you can't change the outcome of your previous life? "Zhou Xiu" failed to save her father, and she was also powerless. Why does God treat them like this?
Zhou Cheng pulled off the oxygen mask and struggled to sit up, forcing a smile and saying, "I'm fine now, just a little dizzy. I'll go to the general ward, it's okay. I'm staying here now, and I feel uncomfortable all over. Really..."
Liu Mei kept crying and didn't nod in agreement. Zhou Cheng frowned and kept explaining. Zhou Xiu spoke after a long while, "Stay for two more days. Change Dad's ward after two days."
Zhou Xiu took out his mobile phone to show him the background and pulled out the historical profit records to reassure him. "I make a lot of money doing live streaming, so don't worry about not having money."
It’s a pity that the money has already been donated… When Zhou Xiu donated the money, her family was thriving, and she never expected that an illness would easily destroy it all.
After ten minutes of visiting time, Zhou Xiu and Liu Mei walked out of the ward.
A nurse came to inform Zhou Xiu, "Xiu Xiu, your family is here to see you. They are in Doctor Liu's office."
Liu Mei shed a tear and asked in surprise, "What family members?"
She suddenly thought that because she had been busy with Zhou Cheng's affairs these days, the 800 yuan pension for this month had not been remitted yet. It would be very upsetting if her mother-in-law or those relatives from the countryside came to bother her at this time.
Zhou Xiu thought so too, but she still went to Dr. Liu's office.
Unexpectedly, what I met were the old man and old lady of the Jiang family, who looked elite and capable.
Old Man Jiang and Old Lady Jiang had been waiting in the doctor's office for a long time. Seeing that no one had arrived yet, they were already feeling dissatisfied. Before coming, they asked Uncle Jiang to inquire about Zhou Xiu, and what they got were photos of Zhou Xiu in the countryside. He is dark, thin and not very tall.
I heard that Zhou Xiu has always been the first in the class since childhood, but can the first in a township school be compared with the first in a key school in the city? These materials and photos successfully reduced their expectations.
At this time, Zhou Xiu and Liu Mei came to the office. Zhou Xiu was wearing a clean autumn school uniform, a blue and white long-sleeved jacket, and blue trousers. The simple light-colored school uniform was more eye-catching than the model in the school uniform promotion. She has a pair of black and clear eyes and snow-white skin, making her easy to spot in the crowd.
Her face was very pale, and her eyelids were covered with a thick layer of blue shadow, which made her look particularly pitiful.
Old man and old lady Jiang found it hard to connect her with the photo. They never expected that the ugly and inconspicuous girl from the past would turn out to be the young and beautiful girl in front of them.
After a moment of surprise, they said, "You are Zhou Xiu, right? I want to tell you something. In fact, you are our granddaughter."
They looked at Zhou Xiu and finally felt a little blood relationship, "Zhou Xiu, we are your grandparents."
Liu Mei was startled, her eyelids twitching constantly. She quickly grabbed Zhou Xiu's hand and said in panic: "Xiu Xiu, let's go, they recognized the wrong person."
When Mrs. Jiang saw Liu Mei's panic, she had some bad guesses in her mind, because what happened back then was unusual. They were children who were lost in City B. How could they be lost in such a poor mountain area? She must have been trafficked.
Liu Mei kept shaking her head, "No, you got the wrong person, this is my daughter." She looked up at Zhou Xiu, "Xiu Xiu, let's go. You didn't eat much this afternoon, you must be hungry, right?"
The matter has not been laid out and made clear yet, so how could the old couple of the Jiang family be willing to let Zhou Xiu leave?
In just ten minutes, Old Lady Jiang had already told Zhou Xiu's life story in detail.
The more Liu Mei spoke, the more tears flowed from her eyes. The old lady smiled and said with a little pride and dignity: "Zhou Xiu, come with us. We will help you pay for your father's medical expenses."
"The educational resources here are not very good. We can send you to the best school in City B. You are already in the third year of high school. Although your grades are good in the countryside, you will definitely not be able to keep up with the students there. You can repeat a year and take the college entrance examination next year, or we can send you to study abroad next year. Zhou Xiu, do you understand?"
If the students in Class 24 heard these words, they would probably think it was ridiculous and unbelievable. Are you crazy, saying such things to the God of Show! Is this because he has watched too many dramas about wealthy families recognizing their relatives and has become a drama queen?
Zhou Xiu had been listening without saying a word. When he saw Liu Mei's tears falling like beans, he was busy trying to comfort his mother.
Her left ear was filled with Liu Mei's crying, and her right ear was filled with the "life stories" that the two old people had dug up. After Zhou Xiu got over the initial shock, she quickly calmed down. She quickly sorted out the key points from the confusing information and said seriously, "I understand, thank you, but you don't have to do this."
She held Liu Mei's hand and returned to the simple family lounge. Liu Mei's hands and feet were very cold. Zhou Xiu tore several rounds of napkins for her, but couldn't wipe away her tears.
Liu Mei said: "Xiu'er, you are my Xiu'er, they lied to you."
When Zhou Xiu saw Liu Mei's expression, he already knew that what the two strange old couple said just now was probably true. She nodded, "I know."
In the afternoon, Zhou Xiu went to deposit the balance on the card into Zhou Cheng's account.
When she came back, she happened to run into the old couple Jiang questioning Liu Mei in the lounge. It’s more like “questioning” than asking. Their questions were like knives, each one colder than the last.
"Who did you buy Zhou Xiu from back then?"
"Is the thing she was wearing still there?"
Liu Mei kept shaking her head, unable to bear this humiliation, and couldn't help but raise her voice and said, "No, it's not like that..."
That’s asking too much! Zhou Xiu took a deep breath and walked into the lounge. She could no longer bear it and said, "I think I have made it very clear. You are not welcome here. Please leave. My mother is very tired. Please don't irritate her anymore."
Old Mrs. Jiang was stunned for a moment, her mouth slightly opened in surprise, she didn't expect Zhou Xiu to speak to her in this tone.
She regained her usual pride and indifference, walked out of the lounge and turned back to suggest: "Child, you may think we are liars now. But you can check 'Xingda' before you think about saying these things. Follow me, you will go to the best school, you will meet the best friends and teachers, you will have endless beautiful clothes to wear, you can eat whatever you want, you will have everything that others envy but cannot get, and you will no longer have to stay in a bad environment and endure poverty.
Your adoptive father is very ill and the medical expenses must be quite high. It’s not too late for you to call me grandma now. ”
After hearing this, Liu Mei looked at them in disbelief, then looked at Zhou Xiu eagerly, and her tears fell even harder.
She finally understood something. Zhou Xiu would definitely live a good life if she followed them. In comparison, the humiliation she suffered was nothing. The words "Xiu Xiu, you are my daughter" in her mouth were swallowed silently into her throat, and her face was filled with fear of losing.
Zhou Xiu patted Liu Mei's hand soothingly and closed the door of the lounge in front of the old couple.
In the lounge, Liu Mei carefully whispered to the family members of her fellow patients what "Xingda" was, and took out her mobile phone to ask them to search on Baidu for her.
She used Zhou Xiu's method to convert a whole screen of incomprehensible words into speech. She hid in a corner and listened with difficulty. The more she listened, the more lonely and humble her expression became. She glanced at Zhou Xiu who was working hard on the test paper, and felt both happy and sad.
In the afternoon, Zhou Xiu fought for 10 minutes of visiting time to accompany Zhou Cheng.
Someone told him that Zhou Xiu's grandparents came to visit him today. Zhou Cheng said in a daze: "Xiu'er, I want to tell you something..."
"That day was the first time that Dad and Mom saw you. You were only five or six months old. Someone asked us to help look after the child. Dad held you for a while, and then the person never came back. I waited for a month, but he didn't come back either."
At that time, Zhou Cheng didn't expect that this hug would last a lifetime. In that era, there were many families in the countryside who abandoned their girls, so he took Zhou Xiu back home without thinking too much. At that time, Zhaodi had just died, so Zhou Cheng and Liu Mei believed that Zhou Xiu was a child given to them by God, so they named him Zhou Xiu.
Zhou Cheng's voice was so weak that it seemed like it could be blown away by the wind. Zhou Xiu had to move closer to hear it clearly.
"We treat you as our own daughter. Zhaodi and we have a very thin bond, so we have to raise you well. Xiu'er, I'm sorry... Daddy has never been to school and is too stupid. Xiu'er, who doesn't understand Daddy, will also feel wronged. Fortunately, you are smart and have your own ideas.
It doesn’t matter if I can’t survive, after all, God has given me such a smart and kind daughter. ”
After hearing this, Zhou Xiu couldn't stop her tears from flowing and kept nodding her head. She knew that their questions to Liu Mei were a humiliation to her. Xiushui Village is such a poor place, and there are so many girls in the Zhou family that you can't count them with one hand. Why would Zhou Cheng and Liu Mei buy girls? But for her, Liu Mei was willing to be humiliated by others.
In the past, Zhou Xiu always felt angry and blamed Zhou Cheng and Liu Mei for making her suffer so much. However, in her dream, "Zhou Xiu" walked out of the mountains and never looked back at her parents in the mountains.
Zhou Cheng knelt down and kowtowed in front of Grandma Zhou for the last time, gave up his biological mother, and chose to return to City C with them. At that moment, Zhou Xiucai realized that her father loved her very much. The "Zhou Cheng" in the dream would rather die of illness than drag down "Zhou Xiu". She should have understood this long ago, understood "Zhou Xiu's" regret, and understood the forgiveness that she did not have time to express. Understand her regret for not being able to visit Zhou Cheng's bedside to fulfill her filial duties.
At this moment, pictures seemed to appear before Zhou Xiu's eyes. From then on, "Zhou Xiu" threw away mathematics, biology, and ideals, and devoted himself to the most profitable career. He became the most hardworking person, working tirelessly day and night. Many years later, she knelt in front of Zhou Cheng's tomb, brushed away the lush grass, and burned stacks of money for Zhou Cheng and Liu Mei in heaven.
Zhou Xiu walked out of the ward, took out a test paper from her schoolbag and slowly unfolded it. Her tears dripped onto the test paper, and the ink from the water-based pen spread out into a black flower.
The dignity of the poor always carries with it a deep sense of helplessness. It is difficult for them to maintain their own dignity and they have to bend their bodies and bow to life, humble but unwilling to surrender. Zhou Xiu's tears burst out like a dam breaking. She held the pen and wrote down a series of numbers and symbols fluently with the tip of the pen.
She firmly believes that she can also try hard to reach the places that she has reached with passion and dreams.
In the quiet late night, Zhou Xiu's eyes were red and she racked her brains, using all her patience and care to write the test paper, so devoutly as if the words in front of her represented Zhou Cheng's hope of survival. How she wished that her dream could save Zhou Cheng.
"Your account number is 4***6, and the online payment received RMB 30,000 on November 2, and the balance after the transaction is 30,012.5"
"Your account number is 4***6, and the online payment received RMB 30,000 on November 2, and the balance after the transaction is 60,012.5"
"Your account number is 4***6, and the online payment received RMB 30,000 on November 2, and the balance after the transaction is 90,012.5"
Until Zhou Xiu wrote until late at night...after her phone vibrated for the last time, the battery ran out.
"Your account 4***6 received RMB 10,000,000 in online payment on November 2, and the balance after the transaction is 1090012.5"
In the early morning, many friends texted Zhou Xiu in shock: "I saw you spent the whole night writing the test paper in the live broadcast room. Is Xiu Shen so awesome?"
Gu Mingxi asked: "How did you get all the answers correct on the last test paper? That's amazing!"
Xu Qing noticed that Zhou Xiu's cumulative online time in the live broadcast room this week has exceeded 90 hours. "Xiu Xiu, what happened these days? You should take care of yourself."
Xie Cheng also asked, "Is your uncle feeling better? If the medical expenses are not enough, we will help you find a way."
Even Lao Wang sent a message for the first time, asking: "Zhou Xiu, I heard that you were still studying math in the middle of the night. Are you so diligent? The teacher has forgiven you for being absent from class these few days."
Old Wang didn't know the reason why Zhou Xiu asked for leave at this time. Early in the morning, his students reminded him that Zhou Xiu had been writing the test paper all night. He was so moved that he almost thought that Zhou Xiu had asked for leave specifically to review mathematics.
After Zhou Xiu finished her last test paper, she slept until noon. When she woke up and opened her phone, she was flooded with messages. Almost every message reminded her to check her own live broadcast room. The barrage in Zhou Xiu's live broadcast room was like snowflakes at the moment, with the words so dense that they could not be seen clearly.
It was only when she saw the last text message about the bank transfer that she realized what had happened. It turned out...she had gotten all the answers on the last test paper correct.
The last three questions on the test paper Zhou Xiu did were all variations of the most difficult finale questions from previous IMO sessions. They were perfectly solved at four o'clock in the morning. The brand new style of problem-solving made the fans watching the live broadcast fall on their knees and exclaim 666. The host of this live broadcast room is a real academic genius, the kind that is not diluted at all.
Zhou Xiu stared at the account balance and revealed her fangs involuntarily. She quickly transferred 200,000 yuan to Xie Cheng.
…
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