"Tomorrow?" Wen Qing asked.
“Yes,” the old doctor said.
"Isn't it too fast?"
"Your condition is worsening faster than mine."
Wen Qing was taken aback: "It's getting worse?"
The old doctor said, "Yes, the speed is unusual. Taking medicine and improving diet in the seven days before surgery is a preparation process. Normally, the medicine will improve or suppress the condition, but you are different."
Wen Qing was shocked: "Why is this happening?"
"Whether it's your physical condition or something else, come over tomorrow."
Wen Qing was slightly taken aback before saying, "Okay."
After hanging up the phone, Yao Shiling walked in.
"Whose call was it?" Yao Shiling asked.
"The doctor's."
Yao Shiling's expression immediately turned serious: "What did you say?"
"The doctor told me to start my hospital stay tomorrow."
Yao Shiling said without hesitation, "Okay." She had wanted Wen Qing to be hospitalized for a long time, but Wen Qing had always said that it was fine to prepare at home, so she hadn't said, "I'll go prepare now."
"Mm." Wen Qing nodded.
That evening, Wen Qing sat at the small table in her room and drew lines in a notebook with a pencil.
Yao Shiling urged her to go to sleep.
She replied, "I'll go to sleep in a bit," and then continued drawing.
"Wen Qing, go to sleep," Yao Shiling urged from outside the door.
"Okay." Wen Qing finally gave in and let her go to sleep before nine o'clock. Wen Qing had no choice but to finish the drawing. As soon as she put down her pencil, she suddenly felt unwell and coughed. She covered her chest and coughed a few times. When the coughing stopped, there were a few drops of blood on the drawing.
She was startled and stared blankly at the few drops of blood.
"Wen Qing, time for bed," Yao Shiling called out.
Wen Qing quickly wiped away the blood with a cloth, then replied, "Okay, I'll go to sleep now." She then stood up, and after a moment of dizziness, she lay down on the bed, reached for the light bulb cord, turned it off, and then said, "Mom, I'm going to sleep. You should go to sleep early too."
"Okay." Yao Shiling then returned to the east room.
Wen Qing lay on the bed, staring at the empty beams, tears streaming down her face, soaking her pillow. She knew all too well that she couldn't get past the hurdle of July 19th.
She has done what she vowed to do in her past life.
She said she would rely on herself, and she did.
She said she wanted to be worthy of her family, and she did.
She said she would never marry Ji Yanjun, and she did.
So, once all this is done, it means she's leaving, right? That's why her condition deteriorated so rapidly. Well, it's for the best; she'll suffer less.
As Wen Qing thought this, tears streamed down her face. At this moment, she suddenly wondered if Ji Yanjun would be sad if she died. Would he?
Ji Yanjun and Gangzi were helping people unload goods at that moment. The two of them were wearing short-sleeved shirts that looked like they had been pulled out of the water, with water dripping down.
"Damn it, I should have known better than to take this delivery, it's exhausting!" Gangzi leaned against the truck door, panting heavily. During the day, he and Ji Yanjun waited for Wen Qing at the women's restroom door, only to find out after almost an hour that Wen Qing had returned to Shuiwan Village through the back door.
At that time, Ji Yanjun was preparing to go to Shuiwan Village to find someone, but he was afraid that others would gossip about Wen Qing. Just then, a customer asked Wen Liang to deliver clothes to a neighboring city, but the trucks that Wen Qing transported had not returned and could not be delivered in time. Seeing that the business was about to fall through, Ji Yanjun stepped forward.
That's why they're still carrying clothes so late at night.
"Yanjun, take a rest," Gangzi said.
"There aren't many packs left." Ji Yanjun carried the last few packs to the warehouse, took the money from the manager, and patted Gangzi on the shoulder: "Get in the car!"
"Okay." Gangzi, panting, slumped over in the passenger seat.
Ji Yanjun started the car, and after a while, he parked it in front of a lake. The two of them went into the lake to take a bath and wash their clothes. After getting ashore, they took out a straw mat and spread it in the back of the car, where they lay down to sleep.
Gangzi was thinking about his girlfriend while he was asleep.
Ji Yanjun was thinking about Wen Qing. Why was Wen Qing so thin? He was very worried. His worry made him dream again, and everything in the dream felt so real.
"Yanjun, if it weren't for your second uncle, would you have never married me?"
"Yanjun, I'm really tired."
"Yanjun, don't look for hospitals anymore, don't contact doctors anymore. I think it's better to die now."
"Yanjun, our child is gone."
"Yanjun, we owe each other."
"Yanjun, I regret it, I regret it so much. I won't like you in the next life, and I certainly won't marry you..."
"Ji Yanjun, Yanjun, Yanjun..."
A call, initially shy, happy, joyful, bold, and affectionate, then later angry, furious, indifferent, tired, and finally powerless.
"Qingqing...Qingqing..." Ji Yanjun called out in his dream, tears streaming down his face.
"Qingqing!" He suddenly sat up, his head throbbing with pain. He rubbed his temples, which relieved the headache, but the pain in his chest was unbearable. It felt like he was being squeezed in a plastic bag, suffocating and painful, making it hard to breathe.
"Qingqing..." Ji Yanjun whispered. He was having a dream where Wen Qing was getting thinner and thinner, and then she left this world in his arms.
"Qingqing." Ji Yanjun suddenly stood up, finally waking Gangzi from his snoring.
"Who! Who is it!" Gangzi shouted instinctively, then looked up and saw Ji Yanjun jump out of the car. He quickly scrambled to his feet: "Yanjun, Yanjun, what's wrong? What's wrong?"
Gangzi jumped off the car.
"Let's go back to the county seat," Ji Yanjun said.
“Now? It’s not even dawn yet,” Gangzi said.
"You can sleep in the car, I'll drive."
"Why the rush?"
"I dreamt that Qingqing was sick." Ji Yanjun had already gotten into the driver's seat.
Gangzi climbed into the passenger seat, closed the door, and muttered, "Crazy." Then he leaned back in his seat and continued to sleep. Since he didn't have to drive, he felt more at ease knowing that Ji Yanjun was driving than he was driving himself, so he decided to go to sleep.
Ji Yanjun drove steadily and fast. But even so, it was almost noon before they arrived in Wangcheng County.
When they reached the four-way intersection, Ji Yanjun instinctively stopped and looked at an open space by the roadside. A year ago, Wen Qing often waited for him in that open space, craning her neck to look into the distance, and would stretch out her arm to wave at him from afar, shouting, "Yanjun, Yanjun!"
But now the empty space is completely deserted.
"Why did you stop?" Gangzi asked.
“I’m going to Shuiwan Village, are you coming?” Ji Yanjun asked.
“Go ahead, let’s help you persuade Wen Qing,” Gangzi said.
Ji Yanjun restarted the car and soon arrived at Shuiwan Village. However, apart from a few children playing, no one was home in any of the houses. Most of the adults were working in the shoe factory.
Ji Yanjun searched for Wen Peng among the group of children, but couldn't find her. So Ji Yanjun asked, "Young comrades, do you know where Sister Wen Peng went?"
"Who are you?" Big Knife asked, wiping his sweat.
“I am her friend,” Ji Yanjun said.
"Oh, Pengpeng's family left in a car early this morning," Da Dao said.
"Where did you go?"
"I don't know either."
Gangzi chimed in from the side, "Fengqing Group was just established yesterday, so he must have gone to the group to warm up the atmosphere, right?"
“Okay, let’s go take a look,” Ji Yanjun said.
As a result, Ji Yanjun and Gangzi went to Fengqing Group but couldn't find Wen Qing, and Wen Liang was also nowhere to be found. By this time, Gangzi was starving.
"Brother, can you give me something to eat?" Gangzi said.
Ji Yanjun parked his car on the side of the road, got out, and was about to find a restaurant to eat a bowl of noodles when he saw Ji Ningzhi walking briskly on the road.
"Ningzhi," Gangzi called out.
Ji Ningzhi was startled. She turned around and saw Ji Yanjun and Gangzi, so she called out, "Brother, Brother Gangzi."
"Ningzhi, what are you doing?" Gangzi asked.
"I'm just taking a walk around." Actually, she went to the market to buy groceries early in the morning. When she passed by the dirt road, she saw a car parked there. Then she heard Yao Shiling's voice inside asking, "Wenqing, where do you feel unwell? Are you carsick? Will you feel better if we stop for a while?"
Motion sickness? Ji Ningzhi didn't remember Wen Qing getting motion sickness. She only remembered that Wen Qing often rode in her brother's car. So she leaned over and saw Wen Qing leaning against Yao Shiling with a pale face. She was startled and before she could figure out what was going on, the car started moving.
She hurriedly bought groceries and went home. After breakfast, she was still curious about what was wrong with Wen Qing, so she came to Fengqing Garment Factory to find out. Unexpectedly, she ran into Gangzi and Ji Yanjun.
"Have you eaten?" Ji Yanjun asked.
Ji Ningzhi shook her head: "No."
"Come on, Gangzi, I'll treat you to vegetable soup noodles with extra sliced meat!" Gangzi said.
Ji Ningzhi looked up at Ji Yanjun. She had already accepted the fact that the Ji family had fallen into ruin. She hadn't been able to eat meat for several months. Whether she accepted her fate or not, she had to accept it.
"Let's go," Ji Yanjun said.
Ji Ningzhi then followed Ji Yanjun and Gangzi into the restaurant.
The three of them ordered three bowls of vegetable noodle soup and half a pound of sliced meat. Ji Ningzhi hadn't eaten anything so delicious in a long time and was extremely hungry. Ji Yanjun even gave Ji Ningzhi his portion of sliced meat.
“Brother.” Ji Ningzhi looked at Ji Yanjun.
"Eat up," Ji Yanjun said.
Holding the bowl, Ji Ningzhi remembered what her brother had once said: he liked Wen Qing, and if Wen Qing didn't get married, he would remain a bachelor forever. But her mother said she couldn't tell her brother about Wen Qing's illness, and she hesitated in her heart.
Gangzi slurped down a few mouthfuls, finishing half a bowl of noodles, before finally asking, "Yanjun, are we going to find Wenqing again later?"
Ji Yanjun ate his noodles in large mouthfuls: "Mmm."
Where to look?
"Let's go check out Fengqing Garment Factory first," Ji Yanjun said.
“Wen Qing is not at Fengqing Garment Factory,” Ji Ningzhi suddenly said.
Ji Yanjun and Gangzi were taken aback, and asked at the same time, "Where is she?"
Ji Ningzhi glanced at Gangzi first, then looked at Ji Yanjun and said, "Brother, Wen Qing seems to be sick."
Ji Yanjun was taken aback.
"What illness?" Gangzi asked.
Ji Ningzhi said, "I don't know either. When I went to Fengqing Group yesterday, I saw her come out of the back door, clutching her stomach and coughing. She seemed unable to walk. Later, the driver and her mother helped her into the car."
Gangzi was stunned.
Ji Yanjun felt like he couldn't catch his breath, and his mind was in a whirl.
“This morning, I saw her and her mother sitting in a car. She couldn’t sit up straight and was leaning on her mother. Then they left the county town,” Ji Ningzhi said.
Ji Yanjun was completely speechless.
Gangzi hurriedly asked, "Where did you go?"
Ji Ningzhi shook her head: "I don't know, and neither do the people in Fengqing."
With a loud bang, Ji Yanjun stood up, knocking over the stool behind him and startling everyone else.
Ji Yanjun ignored everything and went out immediately, with Gangzi following right after him.
"Brother!" Ji Ningzhi stood up and called out.
Gangzi had already run out of the restaurant, but suddenly came back, took out two yuan from his pocket, put it on the table and said, "Ningzhi, you keep eating. Your brother and I have something to do. We'll pay when we're done. You can keep the rest."
Gangzi finished speaking and left in a flash.
"Brother Gangzi," Ji Ningzhi called out.
Gangzi had already run far away. He quickened his pace and, just as Ji Yanjun started the car, he quickly climbed into the passenger seat. As soon as he sat down, the car drove away, and Gangzi hurriedly grabbed the handrail.
Ji Yanjun's broad, resolute face was tense, adding to his gloomy expression. Gangzi didn't dare to speak, but Ji Yanjun was driving too recklessly.
"Yanjun, Yanjun," Gangzi called out.
Ji Yanjun did not slow down, but stepped on the gas. At the same time, scenes that had only appeared in his dreams and that he had forgotten as soon as he woke up appeared clearly in his mind.
"Yanjun, I regret it, I regret it so much. I won't like you in the next life, and I certainly won't marry you..."
Suddenly, a piercing horn blared, and the car lurched violently. Before Ji Yan could react, Gangzi swiftly grabbed the steering wheel, turned it sharply, and instantly narrowly avoided a car.
"Damn it! Are you crazy! Wen Qing is sick. If you keep driving like this, you'll fucking die!" Gangzi roared at Ji Yanjun.
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