Chapter 102 Unlucky Year
The next morning, Lin Yu woke up with a severe headache.
She sat up, rubbing her throbbing temples, and found herself still in yesterday's clothes, lying in bed with the blankets covering her properly, and a glass of warm water on the bedside table.
She tried to piece together her memory, but the scene after she came out of the bathroom last night was completely erased as if by an invisible eraser, leaving only a blurry blank.
Lin Yu reached for his phone on the bedside table, only to find that it had already run out of battery and shut down automatically. He plugged it in, and as soon as it turned on, dozens of unread messages popped up.
"Yu! Where have you been?"
"The bartender said your boyfriend picked you up. Was it Chen Guang?"
"Did you get home safely?"
Why is my phone off? Reply to this message!
Lin Yu scrolled through the messages one by one, her thoughts a jumbled mess, unable to find a way out. Boyfriend? Picked up? She had no recollection of it. Could it be Chen Guang? But how would he know she was eating there?
She took a deep breath, opened Chen Guang's WeChat, and sent him a message: "Did you bring me back yesterday?"
Chen Guang replied quickly, as if he was holding his phone and waiting for her question: "You don't remember?"
"Yeah, I drank too much." Lin Yu typed a few words, hesitated for a moment, and then asked, "How did you know I was eating there? Why didn't you tell Liam and the others first? You made them worry for nothing."
On the other side, Chen Guang quickly pieced together the whole story in a few words, inwardly cursing Jiang Chuan for being deliberately mysterious. A surge of anger welled up inside him, but he quickly calmed down, a cold smile playing on his lips.
Very well, since he's been playing dirty tricks on him time and time again, he'll just have to follow suit and play along to the end.
After a moment's thought, Chen Guang replied vaguely, "I didn't know you were with them. I just happened to be in the vicinity on business."
Upon seeing this reply, Lin Yu completely extinguished the last glimmer of hope in her heart. Sure enough, everything last night was just a hallucination caused by her drunkenness.
At this moment, Jiang Chuan was probably engrossed in a passionate encounter with Bai Qianhe, and had no time to spare for him.
Fragmented, unsettling thoughts flashed through her mind, and she couldn't help but bite her lip and tentatively ask, "Did I say anything I shouldn't have last night?"
"For example?" Chen Guang's message popped up quickly.
Staring at those two words, Lin Yu hesitated for a long time before finally retracting the edited text word by word.
"Never mind, it's nothing. Thank you, get some rest."
She logged out of WeChat, called Liam back, and explained that she had accidentally drunk a little too much the day before, and that Chen Guang had picked her up. She also sincerely apologized for leaving without saying goodbye.
Liam didn't hold it against her; he simply showed concern for her health and kindly told her to get some rest and that they could get together again sometime.
After hanging up the phone, Lin Yu put it aside and looked out at the gray sky. The dull pain from the hangover and the chaotic images in his mind were intertwined.
She sat there blankly, her mind a complete blank, as if an important memory had been ripped out of her, leaving only an unfillable void.
......
In early November, Lin Yu took the opportunity to treat his colleagues to dinner. During the meal, he subtly mentioned the company's intention to lay off a large number of employees.
Actually, it doesn't really matter whether we say it or not now, since there are no secrets in the world, and there are no soundproof toilets in the company.
Everyone had already sensed something was amiss from the unusual overtime work in the finance department and the frequent closed-door meetings of HR. Undercurrents were swirling in the office; colleagues were tacitly updating their resumes and contacting headhunters, all waiting for the storm to break.
However, Xiao Zhao's worries were quickly overshadowed by her good news. She finally passed the civil service interview and will be able to report to the power supply bureau next month, finally free from the pressure from her family to go on blind dates and get married.
Lin Yu was genuinely happy for her. Someone raised their glass first, and the originally somber farewell banquet instantly turned into a send-off party.
As the event ended, a light autumn rain began to fall outside. The weather was gradually turning colder, and the night wind, carrying raindrops, seeped into my trench coat collar.
Lin Yu leaned against the Roman column at the restaurant entrance, unconsciously adjusting his clothes, and started chatting with Xiao Zhao, who was waiting for the car with him.
"Team leader, what are your plans for the future? How about trying to take the civil service exam?" Her eyes were bright, and her question was sincere and natural.
Lin Yu smiled and pinched her round, plump cheeks. "I've been failing politics since junior high school. Besides, with my personality, I might not be able to get along well inside."
"What's there to be afraid of!" Xiao Zhao patted his chest confidently. "We'll both take the exam for the same unit, I'll protect you then!"
"Then thank you in advance, Director Zhao." Lin Yu put his arm around her shoulder and replied half-jokingly.
Xiao Zhao's car arrived first. Lin Yu opened the car door for her and leaned down to remind her, "Remember to send me a message when you get home."
The car window slowly rolled up, and the two waved goodbye through the glass. The taxi wheels rolled over the broken neon lights on the wet pavement, turned the corner, and the red light of the taillights gradually blended into the night.
Lin Yu suddenly realized that perhaps the road ahead wasn't as bleak as he had imagined. All darkness is temporary, and tomorrow will be a new day.
The rain was getting heavier, and she was about to raise her hand to hail a taxi when her phone suddenly vibrated in her pocket. Taking out her phone, Lin Yu was somewhat surprised to see it was her aunt calling. Although they were close, they rarely contacted each other at this time of day.
"Auntie?" She answered the phone and held it to her ear, a drop of cold rain sliding down her hair and into her neck.
There was an unusual two-second silence on the other end of the phone. "Banban, are you busy?" Auntie's voice was still cheerful, but with a hint of barely perceptible hoarseness.
"No rush, have you eaten yet?" Lin Yu realized his words were a bit inappropriate halfway through. At this hour, Shanghai's nightlife was just beginning, while back home, people were probably already preparing to rest.
"I've arrived in Shanghai." Two suppressed coughs came through the phone. "I'm having a minor health issue."
Lin Yu's heart sank upon hearing this. His aunt was always the type to only report good news and not bad news. A few years ago, when she was harvesting rice, she was cut by a sickle and had a wound half a foot long, but on the phone she said it was just a minor scratch.
What kind of minor ailment could have driven a rural woman, who was too lazy to even go to the clinic, to travel thousands of miles to Shanghai?
My aunt was vague on the phone, only saying that she had just had surgery and would be hospitalized for a few days, and that I should come visit her when I had time.
It's truly an unlucky year; one misfortune after another has struck, and the bad luck has been snowballing all the way to the bottom.
After hanging up, Lin Yu dialed Zou Lang's number immediately. As soon as the call connected, Zou Lang called out "Sister!" over the phone, then choked up and couldn't speak.
......
Half an hour later, the car stopped in front of a staff dormitory building behind the hospital. As soon as Lin Yu opened the car door, he saw Zou Lang run out of the shadows of the doorway.
The dim streetlights cast his tall, thin figure swaying from side to side. His thin cardigan was lifted by the wind, and beneath his disheveled hair, his eyes were terribly red and swollen.
After many years, Zou Lang had grown quite a bit taller, now towering half a head above me. But he was still as thin as a bamboo pole, as if all the food he ate had fallen into a bottomless pit.
"Sis, you have to go to work tomorrow, right?"
Lin Yu nodded, took out his phone and glanced at the time. "I'll squeeze in at your place tonight."
Zou Lang's rented apartment was on the first floor. The moment he opened the door, a faint smell of disinfectant hit him.
The apartment has two bedrooms and a living room, and is fully equipped with all the necessities for daily life. A large stack of medical records and payment slips are piled on the folding table, and next to it are neatly arranged disposable tableware.
As he pulled disposable paper cups out of the cabinet, his younger brother explained, "This is the most affordable place around here. Even though the neighborhood is a bit old, it used to be an apartment building for family members, so the prices are cheap, and it's close to the hospital."
He rummaged through drawers and cupboards looking for some tea, but in the end he only found half a packet of damp instant coffee. He sighed in frustration, poured his sister a cup of hot water, and then sat back down at the table, dejected.
"Where's Uncle?" Lin Yu didn't mind. He pulled over a plastic chair and sat down next to Zou Lang, holding a paper cup and using the steam to dispel the chill in his heart.
"I'm keeping watch at the hospital." Zou Lang's fingernails unconsciously picked at the raised ridges on his jeans. "He needs to stay in the hospital for observation for a week after the surgery, so we'll have to take turns staying with him these few days."
"Why didn't you tell me about something this big sooner?" Lin Yu stared at his younger brother's reddened eyes, his worry outweighing his blame.
"Mom said she was worried it would affect your work, so she asked me to tell you."
"I was planning to wait for the test results, and if the problem wasn't serious, I would come and see you on my way."
Zou Lang rubbed the back of his hand against the corners of his reddened eyes, pursed his lips, and bit his lower lip tightly, not wanting to shed tears in front of his sister. "Who would have thought the outcome wouldn't be so good..."
"You're unfamiliar with this place, how did you find accommodation and get an appointment with a specialist?" She knew all too well how complicated the medical procedures were in this city; sometimes even she, who had worked in Shanghai for many years, would get completely confused.
My aunt and uncle only have junior high school educations, and the farthest place they've ever been in their lives is Linjiang. They've never even ridden the subway.
She simply couldn't imagine how they had managed to travel all the way from the airport to the hospital, finding the top cancer hospital in the country, and even managing to get an appointment with the most sought-after specialist.
Zou Lang's eyes darted around, and he stammered, "Hey, just listen and ask more questions." He lowered his head and rubbed his hands guiltily, not daring to tell his sister that they had been here for more than half a month.
In fact, since the beginning of the year, Lin Feng's left chest has often been swollen and painful, and her entire arm has also lost sensation.
The doctors at the county hospital were all smiles, trying to comfort them, saying it was a minor problem, just a small lump the size of a soybean pressing on a nerve, and that it would be fine once it was removed.
However, several months after the surgery, the swelling and pain not only did not lessen, but became more and more severe, often tormenting her so much that she could not sleep at night.
It was during the frozen period in the north, and there was no farm work to be done in the fields. So, at Zou Lang's insistence, Lin Feng finally went to Linjiang's hospital for a comprehensive examination.
The old doctor shook his head repeatedly as he looked at the CT scan, guessing that she was probably in the late stage of breast cancer.
Due to a misdiagnosis at the county hospital, the illness was delayed for almost half a year. Now the situation is not optimistic, and it is recommended that they take the medical records to a major hospital in Beijing, Shanghai, or Guangzhou for further examination.
The news was a bolt from the blue for the family, as cancer seemed like a distant, unimaginable concept to them.
My aunt didn't seem to realize the seriousness of the problem. She was still hesitant about whether to stay in Linjiang for further treatment, worried that traveling far away would be time-consuming and laborious, and would delay the business of her family's small plot of land.
In the end, Zou Lang made a decisive move and used the money he had saved from working over the years to book plane tickets to Shanghai for his whole family.
Before leaving, Lin Feng packed her luggage quickly, telling her parents that she was going to take care of Zou Lang, who was working away from home. While the elderly couple were busy in the kitchen, she secretly dialed her eldest sister Lin Min's number.
On the other end of the phone, Lin Min was so anxious she was stamping her feet. She wanted to go with them but was held back by her elderly relatives. She could only go to the bank with Liu Wenbin to withdraw more money and secretly slip it into her sister's luggage when she saw them off at the station.
After seeing Lin Feng's family off, she couldn't shake off her worries. In the end, she took out her phone and called Lin Yu, wanting to ask her to take good care of her younger sister in Shanghai.
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