coughing up blood
After Lanmei had disappeared from his sight, Chen Nanxing returned to the wheelchair with Lihua in his arms. Ji Chuan secretly checked Chen Nanxing's expression and asked carefully:
"Nanxing, what's wrong? Are you in a bad mood?"
Chen Nanxing was trying to decide between helping and not helping. Unable to find the right balance, she sought Ji Chuan's advice:
"Xiao Ji, do you really want to help Lan Mei?"
Ji Chuan didn't know what Chen Nanxing was thinking, so he answered conservatively:
"I feel sorry for her."
A grandmother who favors boys over girls, a father who is in jail, a mother who has disappeared, and she is in a difficult situation.
Except for the father who is in jail, this is a true portrayal of Chen Nanxing before she was seven years old. She can empathize with Lanmei's experience, but Lanmei's father is a human trafficker, one of the people Chen Nanxing hates the most.
As a life born from the trafficking of women, Chen Nanxing could not forgive the traffickers, and his sympathy for Lanmei also dropped sharply.
"She is very pitiful, but her father trafficked women. The families who lost their daughters because of her father are pitiful, and the lives that were forced to be born because of her father are even more pitiful."
She was speaking both of herself and of women trapped in pain with no escape.
Ji Chuan's personality is just like his appearance, optimistic, which means he maintains absolute goodwill towards everything and everyone:
"There's a saying that misfortune doesn't affect children. The crime was committed by her father. Lanmei is innocent, but her father was implicated."
Different life situations have created differences in personality, which is an unbridgeable gap. No matter how much they talk, they can't reach an agreement. Chen Nanxing saved the argument and asked Ji Chuan the same question he had asked Lan Mei just now.
"So how do you want to help her?"
Ji Chuan thought without hesitation: "Give her grandmother some money, so that she will give up the idea of letting Lanmei get married and send Lanmei to school."
Optimists have a common problem of being impulsive. Chen Nanxing smiled and let Lihua get close to its owner, Ji Chuan, and said gently:
“Xiao Ji, have you ever thought about what Lan Mei wants money for?”
As a person who has done very well in the field of self-media, Ji Chuan has the ability to see the essence through phenomena.
"To get leniency for her father."
He passively touched the pear blossoms that forced the father-daughter love, and analyzed it clearly:
"As long as her father's problem is solved, her grandmother will give up the idea of marrying her off in exchange for a betrothal gift, and Lanmei will naturally be able to go to school."
Lihua's father-daughter love only lasted for a brief minute. After quickly seducing Ji Chuan, Lihua went back to Chen Nanxing's legs without stopping, rubbing against Chen Nanxing with her charming figure. Chen Nanxing felt the furry touch under his hands and calmly analyzed the more essential moral shackles.
"The victim was shattered, and the perpetrator used your money to buy leniency. Xiao Ji, do you really think it was worth it?"
“…”
Ji Chuan was speechless.
All of Chen Nanxing's experiences combined are richer than those of a sixty-year-old man. She is not so much older than Ji Chuan in vain, so it is easy for her to convince this young man who has just entered the society.
However, ideological persuasion cannot erase the kind nature, and Ji Chuan still wants to do something for Lan Mei.
"But……"
"I know what you want to say."
Chen Nanxing interrupted him, suggesting another possible implementation for this goodwill while clarifying his bottom line:
"We can help her, but my money must not become compensation for criminals to seek leniency."
"you mean?"
Ji Chuan also understood what Chen Nanxing meant. His eyes seemed to be suddenly painted with highlights, like the dawn light, dispelling the haze around him, and he turned into a sunny puppy again.
Chen Nanxing lowered her eyelashes and a faint smile appeared at the corner of her lips.
Early the next morning, Lan Mei tremblingly sat down on the stool opposite Chen Nanxing. Next to Chen Nanxing sat the high-spirited Ji Chuan.
Lanmei was the one Ji Chuan called early in the morning.
The three people were sitting in a tripod formation, and no one spoke first. It was Chen Nanxing who asked them to be called. Chen Nanxing coughed and took the initiative to start a conversation.
"A few years ago, the country enacted a law stipulating that children of appropriate age must receive compulsory education. Compulsory education is mandatory. How come it's not universal here in the mountainous area?"
Lan Mei had read books and had a good cultural foundation. She understood what compulsory education meant and nodded. Chen Nanxing didn't understand.
“Isn’t it popular?”
Lan Mei shook her head again, and suddenly she realized that this could not convey her meaning, so she said:
"The school teacher came to my home and asked me to go back to school. The teacher said that it was already nine years of compulsory education, so I should go back to school."
The fact that the country has gone to the countryside to encourage education shows that its work is quite successful. It seems that the problem lies with the parents.
It turns out that there was indeed a problem with the parents, and Lanmei fluently explained the reason:
"My grandma said I was a money-loser. After I finished my education, I would marry into another family. It's better not to waste the money..."
Stubborn and conservative.
Chen Nanxing and Ji Chuan looked at each other and saw in each other's eyes the contempt for the ignorant ideas of the previous generation.
However, after spitting, Ji Chuan sensitively found the flaw in Lan Mei's words. How could the feudal remnants with such thoughts be so kind as to let Lan Mei go all the way to the third grade of junior high school?
Ji Chuan didn't quite believe it, so he asked.
"Why did your grandma send you to school before?"
Lan Mei stammered, "It was my mother who made me go to school. The uncles and aunts in the village said that my mother was also abducted by my father, but she was obedient and did whatever my father asked her to do. Not only was she willing to follow my father in doing such a conscienceless thing, she also gave birth to a son for my father. So my father treated my mother very well and would meet some of her requests. My mother asked me to go to school, and my father agreed."
The balance in her heart silently tilted towards Lan Mei's innocent side. Chen Nanxing didn't know what to say anymore. She let Lihua climb onto her shoulders and said softly:
"I can send you to school, and if you want to study, I can support you to graduate from college."
Lan Mei instantly raised her head, which had been hanging down by habit. Hope shone in her eyes, and her gratitude was overflowing with words:
"Thank you, sister! I will study hard! Sister, when I become educated, I will definitely repay you!"
By the time she finished her studies, she had been dead for many years. Chen Nanxing didn't want any reward. She bent down and helped Ji Chuan support Lan Mei, who was about to kneel on the ground again.
"Lan Mei, you don't have to be like this. Just listen to me first."
Lan Mei sat there like a good baby with tears in her eyes, listening to Chen Nanxing's words. Chen Nanxing told Lan Mei the results of the discussion with Ji Chuan yesterday.
"I will sponsor you to go to school, but I won't give you the money directly. I will contact your school teachers and pay your semester fees and other fees. I will refer to the standards here to determine your living expenses and transfer them to you on time every month. It won't be a lot, but it should be enough to cover your daily expenses."
This was their compromise, connecting directly with the school, but Lanmei didn't seem very satisfied with this solution. The light in her eyes slowly went out, and despair returned to her voice.
"But...my grandma won't let me read it."
This is Chen Nanxing's bottom line, and it will never be lowered again. For this reason, she does not hesitate to expose her own scars.
"Lanmei, our mothers have had the same experience, so I will not and will never pay compensation to the traffickers. Do you understand?"
A single stone caused a thousand ripples. Ji Chuan looked at Chen Nanxing first. There was shock in his eyes, but more of it was heartache that was about to overflow. Lan Mei also looked up at her with a complicated expression.
Chen Nanxing seemed to have turned on the shielding function, automatically blocking the gazes of both of them, and placed a piece of paper with a phone number written on it in Lanmei's palm. Using his rich life experience, he planted the first seed of resistance in her who had always been submissive.
"When we are in desperate situations, we must have the determination to escape."
For example, her instinct to escape as a child, and her courage as a girl.
Lanmei's dark and thin fingers pinched the piece of paper with Chen Nanxing's phone number on it, as if she understood something but not quite.
After seeing Lan Mei off, Chen Nanxing kept thinking about how women in poor mountainous areas could get equal access to education. He pondered over it for a long time and finally collapsed on a rainy night.
He spat out a mouthful of blood before falling down.
The wooden house had poor sound insulation, and the sound of Chen Nanxing falling attracted the other three people in the house.
Ji Chuan was the closest and arrived at Chen Nanxing's room first. When he opened the door, he saw Chen Nanxing lying unconscious on the ground with blood on half of his face and mouth.
"Nanxing! Nanxing! What's wrong with you? Don't scare me!"
Ji Chuan was so scared that his soul almost flew out of his body. The hand holding Chen Nanxing was shaking, and the hand pinching her philtrum was also shaking. He had no strength at all. It was the two bodyguards who rushed over to check the situation who made a prompt decision and suggested taking Chen Nanxing to the hospital in the rain.
When he woke up again, the pungent smell of disinfectant awakened Chen Nanxing's nerves. He was in the hospital.
Chen Nanxing opened her eyes and sat up, and saw a head lying on the side of her bed.
"Xiao Ji..."
Ji Chuan had an unshaven beard and looked extremely haggard.
"Yeah, I'm here. I'll go get the doctor."
Chen Nanxing stopped him from going to the doctor and asked:
"Why am I here?"
Ji Chuan's eyes were still sleepy.
"You coughed up a mouthful of blood and then fainted. The two older brothers and I took you to the village clinic that night. The doctor there said you fainted due to long-term malnutrition and initially diagnosed you..."
He didn't mention at all how difficult it was for him on that rainy night in the mountainous area where visibility was less than five meters. He was filled with only deep sadness.
Chen Nanxing has always known about her illness, and she completed what Ji Chuan couldn't say.
"Stomach cancer, right?"
Ji Chuan forced a smile:
"No, we've lived in that countryside for so long, and you only eat a small bowl of rice every day. It's normal for you to be malnourished, and the coughing up blood is just because..."
He was surprised that Chen Nanxing had guessed the doctor's speculation so quickly, but to Chen Nanxing, this was not a guess, but a fact she had already known. She smiled brightly:
"Xiao Ji, it's stomach cancer."
She leaned weakly against the headboard, her blue and white striped hospital gown making her look thinner than paper.
"As early as when we first met in Licheng, I was already a patient with advanced gastric cancer."
Ji Chuan's brain was congested, his vision was blacking out, and the tinnitus in his ears was like a tide that was about to drown him. Amidst the waves, he caught the voice of Chen Nanxing.
"I didn't tell you because stomach cancer isn't contagious. I should have told you earlier. I'm sorry, Xiao Ji."
With a loud "boom", Ji Chuan heard his whole world collapse into ruins at this moment.
In the information age, news travels very quickly. As soon as Chen Nanxing was admitted to Zhaofeng Hospital from the mountains, her hospitalization information appeared on Qi Feng's desk within an hour.
The person who had been searched for for almost a month was finally found, and Qi Feng went to report with Chen Nanxing's location.
"Mr. Lin, there's news from the wife."
Lin Shanglu raised his head from his arms as if he had been electrocuted: "Where?"
Qi Feng uploaded the information: "It's in a private hospital in Zhaofeng."
Lin Shanglu took the information and read it through. He smoothed his messy hair back and looked like he was only seventeen or eighteen years old.
"Have the doctors we've contacted get ready. I'll go and bring my wife back."
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