Chapter 52
"Okay, okay..." Zhong Hua wanted to comfort her, but just as he forced out a weak laugh, a more violent coughing fit came without warning.
She hunched over, her shoulders shaking from coughing, her face instantly turning from pale to blue. Then, she suddenly raised her hand to grab something, her eyes suddenly rolled upwards, and her body collapsed to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut!
"Aunt! Aunt, what's wrong with you?!" Ke Xin was terrified and screamed as she rushed over, trying with all her strength to hold her falling body.
But the unconscious person was so heavy that she stumbled and could only barely hold up Zhong Hua's upper body, letting her fall into her arms. She herself knelt on the ground, unable to move. Fear and helplessness instantly overwhelmed her.
The midday sun scorched the streets, and sporadic passers-by cast doubtful glances. Some stopped hesitantly to look, while more people took a quick glance and quickened their pace to leave.
Ke Xin was trembling all over. One hand tightly embraced her unconscious aunt, and the other hand trembled as she reached for her phone. The three numbers "120" on the screen danced in her tearful eyes. Just then, a figure quickly approached, and a tentative voice sounded with concern: "Miss? Do you need help?
Ke Xin turned her head to look at the man and asked in a panicked tone, "Can you help me carry my aunt to the balcony over there?"
"Sure!" In the end, the man helped her carry Zhong Hua to the balcony, and the ambulance arrived quickly.
When Zhong Hua opened her eyes again, Ke Xin's shadow gradually became clear as she opened and closed her eyes.
The smell of disinfectant filled my nose. "Ke Xin, where am I?"
When Ke Xin saw her aunt wake up, she moved over with a start: "Aunt, how are you?"
"Why am I in the hospital?" Zhong Hua glanced at the ward. Various instruments were ticking and she had an IV drip in her hand.
She was surprised at first, then she saw Wu Cheng behind the door and her face suddenly turned pale: "Wu Cheng, why are you here too?"
Wu Cheng's face was equally pale, and the corners of his lips trembled slightly as he said, "Madam, I'm sorry. It's all my fault that I didn't take good care of you!"
As soon as these words came out, Zhong Hua seemed to realize something, and her pupils suddenly changed. She choked and tried her best to calm herself down: "Wu Cheng, Ke Xin, tell me honestly, am I going to die soon?"
Long before she felt that taking medicine was useless again and again, long before she tried her best to endure and control the pain in her chest but to no avail, she had already vaguely discovered that there was something wrong with her body.
Seeing her husband immersed in his creation every day, she knew that their family was poor and she couldn't bear to disturb him.
It was not until this moment when she saw the strange expressions of the people around her that she became more certain of her judgment of her body.
Wu Cheng's pupils contracted, and he clutched Zhong Hua's hand, trying to comfort him: "What nonsense are you talking about? You might have fainted from hypoglycemia. The doctor has taken an X-ray of you. I think you're fine. Don't worry!"
Ke Xin turned her head away. She had been silent since Zhong Hua woke up, until Zhong Hua said seriously, "Just tell me about the condition. I'm already old, and I can accept it!"
Ke Xin forced herself to raise the corners of her lips and said in a friendly tone, "Aunt, it's just a simple X-ray. The doctor said there are black spots on the lungs. We'll have to do a biopsy to find out what they are!"
Zhong Hua was stunned: "Biopsy?"
At this time, a nurse in a white coat came in with a few examination papers and asked, "Which one is the family member?"
"I!"
Wu Cheng responded immediately.
Then, at the nurse's signal, Wu Cheng subconsciously shrank his neck and left the ward under Zhong Hua's surprised gaze.
He seldom came to the hospital, and as he followed the nurse all the way, he found the hospital corridor surprisingly long!
When he entered the office, the door closed with a "click". He glanced at the serious expressions of the doctor and nurse, and a bad premonition flashed across his mind, and his heart couldn't help but skip a beat.
"The shadow is too large. I recommend immediate examination, but the final result still needs to wait for the biopsy report!"
As soon as these words came out, Wu Cheng's mind went blank. After a while, he came to his senses and found that Ke Xin had been standing in the corner without him noticing!
A few days later!
A streak of slanting sunlight filtered through the window, casting an arc of light onto Zhong Hua's report card on his desk. Inscribed on it was the following: "Advanced Lung Cancer!"
The doctor looked away, his gaze numb but with a hint of pity.
When the two returned to the ward in a restless mood, they met Zhong Hua's scrutinizing and inquiring eyes. Wu Cheng subconsciously looked away in panic.
Seeing that the doctors had been chatting for a long time, as to what they talked about, her thoughts followed her gaze and she felt a different emotion in the every move and frown of Wu Cheng and Ke Xin.
This was the first time she saw Wu Cheng's face showing a mixture of paleness, self-blame, and embarrassment.
She had also seen this kind of expression on the faces of her fellow patients in the hospital in recent days.
Although she had tried her best to persuade herself to accept the reality, when the reality was about to be revealed, the instinct for survival made her subconsciously chant: Amitabha!
But she held on to that tiny hope in her heart, and ultimately sentenced Wu Cheng to death in the droopy and dejected eyes!
She broke the silence and said in an almost open-minded tone: "I know my situation, so don't hide anything for me!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the scene became so quiet that only the slight "beep" sound from the machine could be heard!
Wu Cheng cleared his throat and finally squeezed it out with great difficulty. "Advanced lung cancer" was the reality he was most reluctant to face.
Hearing this, Zhong Hua's eyes became dull. For the first time, she felt like a salted fish on the chopping board, unable to do anything but wait for the judgment of fate.
Ke Xin said to the attending physician with difficulty: "I will pay any fee. Please help me cure her."
Then, I saw Ke Xin turn sideways and secretly wipe away her tears.
This scene reminded her of her grandfather before his death. When she was still young, she looked at the relatives around her with compassionate expressions and secretly wiped away tears behind her grandfather's back. That was the first time she realized that people will die!
She still remembers that the sky was dark and gloomy that day, and the atmosphere was so bleak that it made everyone feel breathless!
That day, she began to wonder: before his death, what would his grandfather have left behind in this world? What would he have gained? Is there really a heaven or hell for humans?
It was because of this kind of thinking that when she saw her friends of the same age getting married, pregnant and having children at the age of 18, she transformed from a young girl into a housewife who wandered around the vegetable market and took care of the house every day!
From a child who knew nothing, just because she had a marriage certificate, her life seemed to be sentenced to life imprisonment. Her incompetent and shallow husband became the emperor. From a carefree girl who went wherever she wanted to play every day, she turned into a devastated person who dared not speak out because of domestic violence from her husband!
From then on, she firmly told herself in her heart that she would never become such a person, let alone have a child to tie her life to. Fortunately, she met Wu Cheng. She saw in him the rare elegance and respect of a man, a man who did not ask her to have children.
When they got together by chance, she had already given up hope in men and just wanted to kill time. Unexpectedly, they fell in love more and more in the end. Until now, looking at Wu Cheng's face full of self-blame, the scene before her grandfather's death was like a boomerang of fate that hit her unexpectedly.
A person’s life is not long, but it is also short. In fact, it is very short!
Fortunately, she lived a satisfying and happy life!
Thinking of this, she curled her lips and smiled!
The next morning, Ke Xin asked her uncle to meet her on the balcony outside the hospital.
When she learned that her aunt was terminally ill, she cried all night, causing her eyes to be red and swollen like amygdala this morning.
Outside the pavilion, some pedestrians were walking hurriedly, with different expressions, but without exception, they were all filled with a depressing atmosphere.
She waited for five minutes before Wu Cheng slowly came over, holding a lunch box he had just packed. It was breakfast for his aunt!
Just one day later, she noticed that her uncle's waist seemed to bend a little, and his wiry hair was blown by the wind, and a few white hairs could be vaguely seen. He walked slowly, his eyes were heavy, but his steps were very light. Looking at him, it seemed as if there was a jack pressing on his heart, which could shatter fragile objects in an instant at the next moment.
After a few seconds of silence, Ke Xin broke the silence and said bluntly, "Uncle, why don't I send you abroad? Don't worry about the expenses, I'll cover it all!"
Thinking back to their previous goal of writing a book, which was to wait for it to become a hit, she took her aunt on a trip around the world. But her aunt didn't have much time left, and it was obviously too late to wait for her uncle's book to become a hit. This was the last thing she could think of doing for her aunt.
After spending a few days together, she knew that her uncle was a scholar, and scholars always had a sense of arrogance in their bones. Her voice was hoarse and cautious, and she was afraid that her words would hurt his originally fragile character!
She carefully followed her uncle's expression, and saw that when he slowly raised his head, the corners of his eyes were scarlet, as if he had not slept all night, and as if his calm face hid surging waves!
Then, his gaze slowly fell on the lushly blooming jasmine outside the pavilion, and he said in a low voice, "What a jerk I am! I promised to take her on a world tour after I made money from writing books, but I never expected that by the end of her life, I still hadn't been able to fulfill my promise!"
At this moment, the pride he had held in his heart for a lifetime was instantly shattered by the reality.
He began to think about his childhood when his father pointed at his nose and yelled at him: "What's the point of being a writer? You work so hard to earn such a pittance. You might as well come with me and work hard in the factory!"
"What can sentiment do? Can it make a living? Can it help you get married, buy a house, and buy a car?"
"I really gave birth to a ungrateful thing. What's the point of being involved in literature and art? If your father hadn't worked hard every day from dawn to dusk to support this factory, you would have been a beggar long ago, good writer!"
At that time, no amount of harsh scolding could extinguish his dream of becoming a writer. He resolutely gave up inheriting the family business, took the few hundred yuan in royalties he earned, and ran away with a few sets of clothes, intending to find a secluded place to continue writing books. When he left, he swore that when he came back, he would slap his whole family in the face by becoming a great writer.
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