Chapter 40 Lin Rong's Fourth Time Travel
Consciousness gradually awakened amidst a cacophony of sounds—the creaking of an old printer, the ringing of telephones, and conversations with heavily accented voices.
Chu Yanxi suddenly opened her eyes, and what came into view was a cramped office. Several faded banners and yellowed rule and regulation signs hung on the mottled beige walls, and one of the fluorescent tubes overhead flickered incessantly, emitting a buzzing electrical sound.
At this moment, Chu Yanxi found herself sitting behind an old desk with peeling paint, a stack of forms and documents in front of her, and an enamel mug with the words "Anning Community Workstation" printed on it next to her.
This time, the original owner's memories quickly flooded into her mind.
It is May 2005. She is Chu Yanxi, an ordinary staff member at the Anning Community Workstation in Jiangcheng City, who has been working there for two years.
Anning Community is a typical example of a large, sprawling community formed during urban expansion, mixing old state-owned enterprise family compounds with newly built commercial housing. Community work is incredibly complex and multifaceted. Chu Yanxi is responsible for a variety of tedious and demanding tasks, including mediating resident disputes, visiting families in need, and disseminating policy information.
What mission awaits her this time travel?
Chu Yanxi rubbed her temples, trying to dispel the brief dizziness brought on by the time travel. Just then, she heard the hushed whispers of two middle-aged female colleagues at the next workstation.
"Hey, have you heard? That Lin Rong from Building 7 of Kang Le Yuan, she's a real scumbag..."
"Which Lin Rong? Oh, the one whose husband ran away because of gambling debts, leaving her to raise a sick child alone?"
"Yes, yes, that's her. Her son, Xiaobin, is only five years old. He has leukemia and is undergoing chemotherapy in the hospital. The money is being spent like water. She has borrowed from all her relatives and friends, and now she can't even afford the hospital deposit."
"Oh my god! What do we do?"
"What can we do? I heard that if we can't pay the bill by tomorrow, they'll stop the medication. Wouldn't that kill the child?"
"Oh, how pitiful. An orphan and a widow, encountering this disease, it's like the sky has fallen..."
Lin Rong, leukemia, should she stop taking medication?
These keywords instantly brought Chu Yanxi to her senses, and her heart sank.
It's still that book, "Breaking the Cocoon"!
This is a heartbreaking case from that non-fiction novel.
— Desperate Motherly Love
The story takes place in late spring of 2005. Lin Rong, a single mother, is unable to afford the huge medical expenses for her son who is suffering from leukemia. After being ordered by the hospital to stop taking his medication, she takes a desperate gamble and attempts to kidnap the son of a wealthy businessman who works at the same hospital in order to extort a ransom.
Police responded quickly and Lin Rong was arrested on the spot.
Ultimately, Lin Rong was sentenced to prison for kidnapping. Her son, Xiao Bin, was sent to an orphanage after his mother went to jail. Soon after, his condition deteriorated, and he could not be saved.
A family was torn apart in the most tragic way.
Chu Yanxi, who had already crossed the threshold three times, showed no abnormality on her face. She picked up a low-income assistance application form on the table that needed to be verified by visiting the site, and quickly scanned the address on it - Room 401, Building 7, Kangleyuan, tenant Lin Rong.
From a timing perspective, Lin Rong has not yet committed a crime, so there is still time.
Chu Yanxi stood up and said to her colleagues who had been discussing earlier, "Sister Zhang, Sister Li, I was just about to visit Kangleyuan. Lin Rong applied for subsistence allowance, and I'm going to verify the situation."
After she finished speaking, she waved the materials in her hand.
"Oh, go ahead, Xiao Chu, you're in charge of that area." Sister Zhang replied casually, then sighed, "Sigh, if Lin Rong's family is in a similar situation, we should help them out if we can. They're so pitiful."
Chu Yanxi nodded without saying anything more, picked up her visit logbook and pen, and quickly walked out of the noisy office.
The afternoon sun was a bit dazzling. There were several old locust trees in the community courtyard, with tender green new leaves. Under the trees, the elderly were playing chess and chatting, and the children were chasing and playing, a seemingly peaceful scene of everyday life.
Kang Le Yuan is a typical old residential area built in the 1980s and 1990s. It consists entirely of five- or six-story brick-concrete buildings with mottled exterior walls, dark stairwells, piles of miscellaneous items, and a smell of dampness and cooking fumes in the air.
Chu Yanxi found apartment 401 in building 7 according to the address and knocked on the door.
After a moment, the door was gently pulled open a crack. Lin Rong's pale, haggard, and almost emaciated face appeared behind the door, her eyes vacant, bloodshot, and filled with dark circles. She looked much older than her actual age, her hair dry and disheveled, and she wore a faded old coat.
"Who are you looking for?" Lin Rong's voice was hoarse and weak, filled with wariness.
"Hello Ms. Lin, I am Chu Yanxi from the community work station," Chu Yanxi showed her work ID and spoke in a gentle tone, "I'm here to conduct a routine home visit to verify your application for minimum living allowance."
Lin Rong opened the door, and Chu Yanxi walked into the apartment she rented.
The room was small and cramped, dimly lit, with old and simple furniture. The only decoration was a few childish drawings pasted on the wall. The house could almost be described as bare. The only things that stood out were a few empty medicine boxes piled in the corner and a large stack of hospital bills on the coffee table.
While routinely asking questions about family income, expenses, and difficulties, Chu Yanxi observed Lin Rong's reaction.
Lin Rong's answers were mechanical and brief, her gaze mostly wandering, sometimes looking out the window, sometimes staring at the payment receipts on the coffee table, her eyes flashing with an unusually stubborn, even somewhat obsessive, light.
Seeing Lin Rong like this, Chu Yanxi made a preliminary judgment—she is currently in a typical high-risk psychological state, just one straw away from collapse.
After the visit, Chu Yanxi offered a few words of comfort and then took his leave.
Alas, yet another story of a hero being brought down by a mere penny.
Wasn't Ruan Xiaofen, whom I met during my last time travel, also bent over by the heavy burden of her mother's serious illness and being laid off, which led her to choose to steal technical data?
With the medical technology available in 2005, leukemia was treatable, but the costs were enormous. For a small business owner like Lin Rong, who had no stable employment, no social security contributions, and no medical insurance, it was simply unaffordable.
Conventional community assistance is undoubtedly a drop in the ocean compared to the astronomical medical expenses.
How can we help Lin Rong?
Chu Yanxi sighed as she thought about her meager savings of only a few thousand yuan.
The original owner was a girl from the countryside who finally got into university after a lot of hard work. Because of her diligence, hard work and composure, she stayed in Jiangcheng to work after graduation on the recommendation of her teacher. She had to send half of her monthly salary home and couldn't save much money.
Even if she wanted to help Lin Rong out of her own pocket, she would need to have the means to do so.
After leaving Kangleyuan, Chu Yanxi did not return to the community work station, but went straight to the Second People's Hospital of the city, which was not far from the community.
The hospital entrance is always bustling with people, filled with the smell of disinfectant. Looking at those anxious faces, one can't help but feel the impermanence of life.
As Chu Yanxi walked to the front of the outpatient building, her gaze habitually swept across the surroundings when a familiar figure unexpectedly came into her view.
Lu Zhe.
He was wearing a light blue shirt and gold-rimmed glasses, and was carrying a notebook and a voice recorder as he walked out of the inpatient building, looking focused as if he were thinking about something.
Almost at the same moment Chu Yanxi saw him, Lu Zhe also looked up as if sensing something. Their eyes met, and a bright light flashed in his eyes. He smiled broadly and strode towards Chu Yanxi.
They're truly kindred spirits; the two have met again in another time and space.
The two walked tacitly to a relatively quiet corner of the hospital garden and stood under a lush camphor tree.
"Community work station?" Lu Zhe spoke first, his gaze sweeping over the badge hanging on Chu Yanxi's chest, his tone affirmative.
"Hmm. And you?" Chu Yanxi nodded, looking Lu Zhe up and down. His demeanor was more composed and scholarly than when he was at the Red Star Textile Factory, resembling that of a scholar.
“Researcher at the Social Sciences Academy of the Municipal University, Research Group on Family Stress During Social Transition.” Lu Zhe waved the notebook in his hand. “Nominally an academic interview, but actually… the target is the inpatient department of hematology, focusing on single-parent families and cases of individuals burdened by serious illnesses.”
Upon hearing this, Chu Yanxi thought, "This is like a pillow for someone who's sleepy! What a coincidence!"
Chu Yanxi asked, "Did you pay attention to Lin Rong, a single mother, during the interview?"
Lu Zhe thought for a moment and said, "There is such a person. I heard from the doctor that she already owes 20,000 yuan. If she doesn't pay the treatment fees soon, she may have to stop taking her medication. After all, the hospital is not a charity."
Chu Yanxi told Lu Zhe the story from "Breaking the Cocoon".
Lu Zhe smiled wryly: "It seems that our mission this time is to save Lin Rong? Is it to stop her from committing crimes, or to help her get out of her current predicament completely? Treating childhood leukemia is a long process and very expensive."
Chu Yanxi shook her head: "I'm not sure what level of achievement is required for the time-travel mission. But judging from the last time I traveled through time, it's probably not just about stopping crime, but also about truly bringing the target to life."
In her first time-travel experience, Qiao Zhaoran successfully completed her studies and stayed on at the university to work at the Chemical Engineering Research Institute, where her life was set to be smooth sailing.
In her second time travel, Chunhua returned to Jiangcheng. She was independent and strong-willed, and she could make a living whether she was working or running a small business.
During her third time travel, Ruan Xiaofen secretly slipped into the technical department office, but the textile factory leaders treated her leniently. Through a report in the provincial workers' daily newspaper, she received social assistance and eventually became the manager of the Breaking Cocoon Training Company, founded by Chu Yanxi and Lu Zhe, with a bright future ahead of her.
It seems that this fourth time travel is not only about stopping crime, but also about truly helping Lin Rong.
Thinking of this, Chu Yanxi said, "I just came from Lin Rong's house, and the situation is worse than I imagined. She's destitute, and her mental state is on the verge of collapse. If the hospital insists on stopping her medication, I'm afraid she might..."
Lu Zhe's expression immediately turned serious: "I had an in-depth interview with her yesterday afternoon. She was very emotionally unstable, repeatedly muttering the words 'there's no way.' Near the end of the interview, she suddenly grabbed my hand and asked me if I knew where I could quickly get a large sum of money."
Chu Yanxi looked at Lu Zhe, and both of them realized the urgency of the situation.
Chu Yanxi asked, "Has the hospital said when the medication will be stopped?"
Lu Zhe nodded: "I found out that the deadline is 5 pm tomorrow. The more than 20,000 yuan in overdue treatment fees must be paid in full, otherwise... the doctor will not prescribe any more medicine the day after tomorrow."
The two stared at each other in silence.
This time, they faced a mother's most direct and frantic survival instinct as her child's life was on the verge of death.
This kind of irrational crime, stemming from the most primal maternal love, is truly heartbreaking.
"The conventional channels of assistance are too late," Chu Yanxi stated calmly.
Lu Zhe took out a bank card and handed it to Chu Yanxi: "I have more than 30,000 yuan here, which can help her pay off this medical bill. But it's still short of the 100,000 yuan she asked for."
Holding the bank card, Chu Yanxi made a rare joke: "It seems like every time, you're richer than me."
Lu Zhe smiled sheepishly: "I prefer to save money."
Chu Yanxi looked up at him, a slight smile playing on her lips: "What a coincidence, I also like to save money."
The two looked at each other, and smiles appeared in their eyes.
The last time they traveled through time, they started a company together, endured hardships and built a business together, and became familiar with each other's character.
Both Lu Zhe and Chu Yanxi are people who lack a sense of security.
Lu Zhe witnessed his mother being abused at home and committing suicide in despair when he was young. He was determined to break free from his father's control, and his greatest hobby was saving money. Only when he saw the numbers in his savings account increase did he feel safe.
Chu Yanxi's father died early, leaving her emotionally estranged from her mother. She boarded at school from a young age and wanted to control everything, and the thing she could control most was money.
The difference is that Lu Zhe invests in stocks and real estate in his spare time, making him quite capable of earning money. Chu Yanxi, on the other hand, is a workaholic who lives and eats at his workplace, wears the uniform issued by the bureau, has little desire to spend money, and is not interested in investing.
Lu Zhe said, "As the saying goes, you can help someone in an emergency, but you can't support them in poverty. Even if we keep paying Lin Rong's medical expenses, it probably doesn't count as truly helping her, does it?"
Chu Yanxi nodded emphatically: "That's right. If we give her money, firstly, Lin Rong might not accept the kindness of strangers, and secondly, she hasn't truly established herself; instead, it will make her even more dependent on others. Once we leave, where will she go?"
The afterglow of the setting sun filtered through the branches and leaves of the camphor tree, casting dappled light and shadow on the two of them.
Lu Zhe frowned: "Tell me, what should we do next?"
Chu Yanxi: "There's only one day left before she carries out the kidnapping. Let's take it one step at a time."
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