Chapter 29
"Third brother, is everything okay at home lately?" His fingers were wrapped around the phone cord, and there was obvious nervousness in his hesitant voice.
There was no word from the other end, but Fang Zhiyang could hear heavy breathing coming from the other end. The rough breaths hit his eardrums, and his back began to itch. He felt an embarrassment and struggle that he couldn't express, swallowing back and forth in his throat.
"Ayang, the boss has already told me about your situation." The voice on the other end was a little unnatural. After he finished speaking, there was a pause and silence. He didn't continue until he let out a long breath. "We just paid the down payment to Qiao'er. I also counted with your sister-in-law at home these two days. There really isn't much left. So, I'll ask Qiao'er to send you a card tomorrow with 50,000 yuan in it. You can use it for emergencies first. There's still 50,000 or 60,000 yuan in the bank. I'll withdraw it at the end of the month. Ayang, don't blame me for being unfair. I also have a family to support."
Fang Zhiyang grabbed the connecting wire at the end of the phone, his thumb clasped around the bend of the wire. He swallowed and said, "Thank you, Third Brother."
"What are you thanking me for? We are brothers." The voice on the other side paused for a while, and he exhaled softly, "Ayang, let this happen. I can't persuade you. If Xiaoshu's illness can be cured, we will empty our family's savings to treat her. But if it can't be cured, there is not much hope. It's useless for you to invest more money. Think about Xiaohui. His wife is pregnant. Don't let the child have too much pressure in the future."
Fang Zhiyang held the phone tightly, lowered his head, and his lonely face fell on the hunched shadow that was completely blocked by his body. Tears rolled uncontrollably in his eyes, and his throat seemed to be choked by something, and he couldn't speak for a long time.
"Xiaohui's baby is due in a few months. You said he earns 7,000 to 8,000 yuan a month. After Tingting gives birth, we definitely can't expect her to go out to work right away. Xiaohui is the only one supporting the family, and your pension is just that little."
"Brother, I know you are thinking about us, but if you want me to give up now, what can I say? Xiaoshu has worked hard for this family all her life. Even if I can't save her life, I can make her life more comfortable and less painful in the future." His voice was almost trembling, with strong pleading, praying that the other party would not say those words that made him give up, and also begging him not to always think about giving up.
It's clearly not time to give up, why are you starting to say you've given up?
"Forget it," the person on the other side sighed, "Your sister-in-law just bought an old hen. I'll ask Qiao'er to bring it to you tomorrow."
The person on the other end hung up the phone, and a busy tone sounded in the receiver. Fang Zhiyang slowly put the phone back.
I clutched the phone book tightly in my hand, the window open. The sun had already set outside the security window. The dim incandescent light feebly illuminated the living room. The tiles were cracked, and the narrow crevices held sludge, like scars that would never heal. The old, faded leather sofa, the drawer door under the coffee table, which refused to close, hung there lopsidedly.
The occasional barking of dogs in the community garden made his eyes, which hadn't slept peacefully for a long time, bloodshot. Confused, Fang Zhiyang looked up at the white light with exposed wires and the vaguely illuminated corner of the ceiling next to it.
"Dad, look at this." Fang Hui came in from outside with a cell phone in his hand. The incessant chatter on the phone made the room extremely noisy.
Seeing the person walking towards him, Fang Zhiyang put down the phone book and said, "Your third uncle said that Qiao'er will give us 50,000 yuan tomorrow to pay off your mother's medical bills. Today is the 21st of this week, and there are still eight days left. It should be enough to cover the medical expenses before the end of the month."
He counted the days on his fingers.
Fang Hui turned off his phone and sat on the bench next to the sofa. "You weren't here this morning. During the ward rounds, the doctor told me that if Mom's illness continues to be treated, she'll have to switch to foreign medicine. Domestic medicines are no longer effective for her."
"Foreign medicine." Fang Zhiyang looked over with a turbid look, his eyes filled with panic and anxiety. He kept rubbing his hands back and forth on his knees. "Then, how much will it cost?"
Seeing the thick stack of medical records and test reports beside him, the names on them made his temples throb.
Fang Hui scratched his hair, holding his head in frustration. His mind raced through the years. He couldn't remember what his mother looked like when she was young. It seemed as if from the earliest memory, she had always been that slightly plump, wrinkled face, that age-defying look. He looked up and saw his father's hunched body across from him, so thin and frail under the light.
This illness has drained all of my family's savings, and my meager salary is just enough to support my daily life without illness or disaster. Now that it has come to this, all the more than ten years of study I have received are actually of no use at all.
Fang Hui bit his lips, the muscles on his face tensed and twitching from the exertion. After a long silence, he finally spoke, "Let's try. Since the doctor said that foreign medicine is effective for Mom, let's try it. As for the money, I'll think of a way later."
He dropped his thigh fiercely, as if he had made up his mind, but the blankness in his eyes still accurately exposed his fear and helplessness. "At worst, I can just sell my current house."
"You can't sell the house," Fang Zhiyang hurriedly stopped him. "You can't sell your house at all. If you sell it, what will happen to you and Tingting? Tingting is pregnant. Where will you let her live in the future? Will she go back to her parents' home?"
Fang Zhiyang looked at him, "Your mother and I have lived together for most of our lives. It's okay for us to suffer a little, but Hui, you and Tingting are still young. If we marry her, we have to be responsible for her. We can't let her follow you and enjoy no benefits, only to have all the problems of old age. I'm sorry for your mother, and you can't let Tingting down again."
Fang Hui said: "The real estate agent said that the house you and my mother have bought won't sell for much, and no one has come to ask about it yet. We can't just watch our mother get ruined by this problem."
Fang Zhiyang looked at the back of his hand, which was so dry that it was peeling. He asked, "I told you a few days ago that I asked you to take our bottle for identification. Did you check it? How did you do it?"
"I contacted a few companies, and they told me to take it first, but the result would take at least half a year."
Fang Zhiyang couldn't believe it, "Half a year, how could it take so long?"
The room was silent again. The light shone on the two of them. They sat facing each other, unable to speak.
Ding Dong.
A message came in on his phone, and Fang Hui was worried that something had happened in the hospital.
I unbuttoned my phone. The live broadcast I had just watched hadn't ended yet. The host's excited voice echoed through the not-so-large room. "Okay, let's connect with the next family member. What do you want to share with us?"
"What's that sound?" Fang Zhiyang was stunned, and looked towards the source of the sound with cloudy eyes.
Fang Hui then thought of the live broadcast he had just seen. He took his phone, pointed at the person who was talking nonstop on the phone and said to Fang Zhiyang, "Dad, this is a very popular treasure appraisal anchor online. Why don't we ask him to give it a try? He can check it out for us. If it is a treasure, there should be a lot of people online looking for us to buy it. Wouldn't that be faster than the six months the appraisal agency said?"
"Will this work?" Fang Zhiyang was unsure.
Fang Zhiyang said: "The thing is in our hands, he just looked at it through the phone, it must be fine"
The commodity market is filled with a dazzling array of shops, selling all sorts of goods. Yang Ye doesn't like going out, but she loves visiting these old commodity markets. In her own words, people feel most comfortable in such an environment.
Xiao Xiao followed Yang Ye with her bags and the red plastic bag she was holding seemed about to fall. She stopped and readjusted the things in her hands. Seeing Yang Ye still looking for a store ahead, she asked with difficulty, "How much more do we need to buy?"
Yang Ye flipped through the records she had written in the notebook, "Bed sheets, quilt covers, dowry boxes, wedding bowls, wedding chopsticks, oh, did that store just now also sell pillowcases? How could I have forgotten? I wonder if there are any more before that."
Xiao Xiao was really exhausted, "Boss, why don't we go back to the car first?"
"Tired? Then give me some." Yang Ye walked back, "Zhou Yiheng is going to move the car, why don't we wait for him at this intersection?"
Xiao Xiao symbolically gave two bags of light items to Yang Ye.
Yang Ye gestured, "Give me that box."
"I'll just take it," Xiao Xiao said.
Yang Ye saw her expression and asked, "What's wrong? You look so reluctant."
"Not reluctantly," Xiao Xiao sighed. She couldn't quite put her finger on what she'd been thinking lately. It had been almost ten years since she'd been with Xu Jingzhe in college. During Chinese New Year this year, the two families had gathered for dinner, and somehow the topic of their lives came up. After all these years, it was time for them to get married. She hadn't felt much when she agreed, but after realizing it, she felt like something was off.
Xiao Xiao ran to Yang Ye and asked, "Boss, how did you feel about getting married back then?"
"I don't feel anything." Yang Ye looked at her little movement of leaning closer, holding all the bags in one hand, and she took Xiao Xiao's arm.
Xiao Xiao asked: "Don't you feel strange?"
"What's so strange about that?" Yang Ye turned his head to look at her. "Actually, my age at that time was already too old to get married, so I wasn't thinking about getting married, but how to learn to chant scriptures and worship Buddha with my mother."
"But you ended up marrying Xue Shangyang."
"He came to ask my father for it," said Yang Ye.
Xiao Xiao continued to ask: "Have you met before?"
Yang Ye shook his head, then nodded, "I have seen him twice. Once was at his house. I hid in the corner and watched him quietly. Another time was on the day of my engagement. He helped me up, but I don't know if he has seen me."
"You didn't ask later?"
"Why am I asking? Marriages are arranged by parents and matchmakers. My sisters-in-law never met my brother before they married him."
Xiao Xiao joked, "So, Xue Shangyang fell in love with you at first sight?"
"Who knows?" Yang Ye suddenly chuckled.
She thought of the day when Xue Shangyang came to her house to propose marriage. He was wearing a dark blue suit and his hair was combed neatly. The housekeeper came in from outside to greet him, and he talked to his father in the hall for a long time.
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