Chapter 35
"Thank you for sending us all to the hospital."
Outside the ward, Sister Chang leaned against the wall in the corridor, holding the payment receipt she had just processed.
The bun on her head was completely loose, and her shirt was no longer smooth. She looked disheveled and depressed, and the fatigue that emanated from her heart could not be concealed at all.
Yao Yingmo looked away, leaned against the wall together, raised his right foot slightly, and drew small circles on the ground.
"I just asked the driver to change his route," she said.
"That's enough." Sister Chang said softly, "In fact, Amu's health was found to be problematic as early as last year. Only Jiayou and I knew about this. Guangguang should have known about it, but..."
Yao Yingmo raised her head and looked at the safety escape instructions posted on the wall across the corridor. The warning written in red was too glaring, and like the pungent smell of disinfectant in the hospital, it mercilessly stung the memories buried deep in her heart.
She lowered her eyelashes and stared at her toes. "I don't know how to tell him, right?"
Sister Chang glanced at her and said, "You know him very well."
"The child has been studying with Amu since he was in junior high school. Their relationship has become more like that of father and son. We really can't tell him this cruel news."
"That's why Amu asked that child to learn transformation."
Yao Yingmo: "He did a great job."
"Amu actually wanted to talk to him before the project started, but when he really went to him, he couldn't bring himself to say it. In the end, he didn't muster up the courage to let him know."
Yao Yingmo: "He still knows now."
Sister Chang sighed deeply and said, "We didn't do a good job."
Yao Yingmo lowered his eyes. "In the face of illness and death, no one can do well."
She spread out her hands, and there were several bloody marks on her palms from her fingernails.
Before Sister Chang looked over, she placed her palms down on her knees, hiding the wound in the dark.
She didn't tell Sister Chang that when she answered the phone for Shi Xuze, she almost couldn't breathe.
The three words "emergency room" are her lifelong nightmare.
It was the pain in her palm that made her mind clearer and realized that at that moment, she, as an outsider, needed to remain calm and help Shi Xuze and Xiao Su, who were hit hard by the news, find their backbone.
She immediately snatched Xiao Su's phone and talked to the driver, changing the destination to the hospital.
On the way here, Shi Xuze was in a daze.
Seeing that he was unable to recover, Yao Yingmo let him hold her sleeves, using him as spiritual sustenance and a source of security.
Fortunately, when they arrived at the hospital, Uncle Mu had been successfully rescued and was conscious.
Sister Chang gave the seat next to the bed to Shi Xuze, and she hurried to complete the hospitalization procedures and payment.
Yao Yingmo was quite experienced in what the patients' families had to do. He accompanied Sister Chang from stop to stop, completing all the formalities before returning to wait outside the ward together.
Yao Yingmo had just found out that Sister Chang and Uncle Mu were husband and wife. She was no less panicked and devastated than Shi Xuze, but her experience and responsibility made her at least appear calm on the surface.
But in fact, Yao Yingmo watched her signing, unable to control her trembling hands, and made three mistakes in a row.
But there are so many documents that need to be signed that after signing, people become numb and enter a state where they cannot understand the documents and seem not to recognize their own signatures.
All Yao Yingmo could do was accompany her.
At times like this, having someone by your side is enough.
There was a vibration in my pocket.
Yao Yingmo paused and pressed Sister Chang onto the empty chair next to him. "Please sit down and rest for a while. I'll go get some water."
Sister Chang: "Okay, thank you for your help."
Yao Yingmo glanced at the ward door and turned to leave.
The cell phone in his pocket kept ringing. Yao Yingmo only picked it up after he went downstairs.
"Xiao Yu."
Zhou Yu immediately questioned, his tone filled with anxiety, "It's been several hours since the comic convention ended, why haven't you gone home yet?"
Yao Yingmo stopped and asked, "Are you coming to my house to see me?"
Zhou Yu: "Where are you?"
Yao Yingmo sighed and said, "Hospital."
Zhou Yu panicked instantly, "Which hospital? I'll go there now."
Yao Yingmo didn't want to tell the truth at first because he was worried that Zhou Yu would panic.
No one understood better than her what the hospital meant to Zhou Yu, especially when relatives went to the hospital, it was almost like a farewell forever.
Yao Yingmo knew that Zhou Yu was on the verge of collapse. She took a deep breath and tried to speak to him in a gentle tone: "Xiao Yu, listen to me. I'm not sick. It's Shi Xuze's teacher who is sick. I'm just here to help. Just wait at home."
There was silence on the other end of the phone for a long time, as if he was digesting the information or choosing his words.
Yao Yingmo was used to Zhou Yu's silence. She continued walking forward, keeping the phone open, waiting for Zhou Yu to turn his head.
When she stood in front of the vending machine, Zhou Yu spoke: "Um... Is that guy okay?"
Are you concerned about Shi Xuze?
Yao Yingmo chose two bottles of water and said, "I thought you hated him."
Zhou Yu: "I'm just more cautious."
Yao Yingmo chuckled and turned back to answer his question, "He behaved similarly to you back then."
Zhou Yu: "Oh."
The water bottle fell, Yao Yingmo squatted down, reached in to get it, and said, "I'll be back later. If you're tired, go to sleep first and don't wait for me."
In the ward.
Uncle Mu was lying flat on the hospital bed with several tubes inserted into his body and connected to the instruments beside the bed.
His figure became noticeably thinner, and his hair turned yellow.
Shi Xuze looked at him blankly, and suddenly realized that Uncle Mu had never appeared in the studio since that conversation.
I don't want him to notice the change.
He should have noticed.
Even though Uncle Mu didn't often appear in the studio in recent years, he never stayed away for a month or two.
He was so immersed in the joy of producing a radio drama for his idol that he didn't even notice anything unusual.
If only he had noticed.
"teacher."
His throat felt sticky and dry, and his voice was hoarse. He didn't know whether it was because of the whole day of signing autographs or the stuffiness in his chest that made it impossible to utter a sound.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Hearing this, Uncle Mu raised his hand with difficulty and slowly pressed the back of Shi Xuze's hand. The tube was inadvertently moved during the movement.
The smooth touch of the plastic forms a stark contrast to the rough wrinkles on Uncle Mu's palm.
Shi Xuze felt a dull pain in his chest as if he had been hit hard. He bit his lower lip and his mouth was filled with the taste of rust.
Seeing Uncle Mu move again, as if he wanted to turn around and speak, he quickly stood up and put his head in front of Uncle Mu.
"Teacher, please don't move. I'll come over and listen."
He moved so quickly that he didn't notice that he still had styled hair, and his hair accidentally brushed Uncle Mu's face.
Uncle Mu had just been to the gates of hell and was feeling extremely unwell. He had to use all his strength to make any movement.
Shi Xuze's actions were considerate, but his clumsy and flustered manner brought more smiles to Uncle Mu's face.
"It's too close." Uncle Mu said, "It's itchy."
Shi Xuze stepped back a little, "Teacher, what do you want to tell me? You just woke up, so you can't exert yourself too much. If you're not in a hurry, why don't you wait until you've rested a little before telling me?"
"There's no time to rest. I'm well aware of my own physical condition."
Shi Xuze: "Teacher, you are not even old enough to retire yet. Don't give up hope."
"I knew about this disease last year. I've been receiving treatment during this period, but as you can see, it hasn't gotten better and has only gotten worse."
Shi Xuze's eyes were red.
"Don't cry."
Shi Xuze sniffed and hummed softly.
"You are my only disciple, and I will hand over the new blade to you."
Shi Xuze suddenly figured something out, "That's why you suddenly want me to be the dubbing director and chief planner."
Uncle Mu smiled with satisfaction. "Yes, I planned to give you a full range of training. But now it seems a little too late. But don't worry, everyone in the studio will support you, and I believe you can make Xinren better and better."
"teacher……"
Shi Xuze really wanted to ask, if he couldn't learn well, would Uncle Mu get up from his hospital bed, return to the studio, and hold his head to teach him like they did when they were children.
But looking at Uncle Mu's sick face, he realized that this could not be saved by his acting coquettishly.
"I hope you can take good care of yourself and Xinren. Can you promise me?"
Shi Xuze took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, his eyes had become firm.
"I can."
"good."
After saying that, Uncle Mu closed his eyes, as if his previous lucidity was just a breath he had been holding in order to explain to Shi Xuze, and now that he was finally relieved, he let out the breath, and his energy and spirit were also released.
Shi Xuze quickly reached out his hand to feel his breath, and after confirming that he was still breathing, he hurriedly pressed the bedside bell to call a doctor.
When Yao Yingmo came back, he saw a team of medical staff rushing over and pushing Shi Xuze out of the ward.
She frowned.
Shi Xuze stood there stiffly, his eyes fixed on the ward door.
Sister Chang also stood up from her chair and paced anxiously.
Yao Yingmo quietly waited with them.
Not long after, the ward door opened again.
Shi Xuze strode forward, his expression full of panic, "Why so fast?"
The doctor was somewhat helpless, "The patient just fell asleep."
Shi Xuze breathed a sigh of relief and stumbled backward. Yao Yingmo took a step forward and barely supported him, preventing him from falling to the ground and becoming another patient to care for.
The doctor said, "We understand the family's anxiety. It's normal to misjudge the situation due to shock. But you can rest assured. The patient has passed the most critical period. From now on, all he needs to do is rest well."
"But you also need to be mentally prepared. The patient's condition gives him at most a year to live. I suggest that after he wakes up, you discuss the follow-up treatment plan and try to make his final days as pleasant as possible."
Shi Xuze lowered his head and said nothing. Sister Chang was also silent for a few breaths before she said in a hoarse voice, "Okay."
The doctor said nothing more and left quickly with a group of people behind him.
Silence fell outside the ward again.
Yao Yingmo gave a bottle of the water he had just bought to Sister Chang and Shi Xuze respectively.
Sister Chang opened the bottle and took a sip. "You two go back first. I'll watch here."
Yao Yingmo looked at Shi Xuze.
Although he took the bottle, he didn't move at all. He just stared at the ripples in the water in the bottle, not knowing what he was thinking.
Sister Chang: "He should have told you everything, right?"
Shi Xuze: “Yes.”
"You and Mr. Zhaohe should go back and rest first. Don't you have work arrangements next? The production of Mantianxing cannot be stopped, and the studio cannot be shut down either."
Shi Xuze: "I know, I will let him recover in peace."
Shi Xuze said he knew, but his feet seemed to be covered with cement, frozen in place and motionless.
Sister Chang urged again: "Go home."
Yao Yingmo patted Shi Xuze's shoulder and said, "Don't worry, Sister Chang, I will take him home safely."
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