Chapter 11: Chapter 9: Protecting Happiness
"I worked overti on the weekend, so I'm on compensatory leave today."
Fang Cheng took the mop, mopped the floor vigorously while explaining,
"I know my mom hasn't been eating properly again, so I ca especially to supervise."
Li Biyun watched her son mop with a vigor that outshone his usual self, a smile uncontrollably curling the corners of her mouth.
But she still habitually nagged a little:
"You should sleep in more on your days off, it's such a long commute, two hours by bus back and forth, don't you get tired?"
"Besides, the hospital cafeteria is open all afternoon..."
"Those fast foods are both expensive and taste bad, nowhere near as good as what I make."
Fang Cheng, skilled at cleaning, moved efficiently and finished mopping the floor in no ti.
He then pulled Li Biyun over to sit on a chair in the patient resting area and opened each container in the insulated lunch box.
Today, he prepared three dishes and one soup.
Lotus root and pork rib soup, crispy fried yellow fish, fresh mushroom with choi sum, and spring rolls.
"Here, try how your son's cooking is."
Seeing these carefully prepared dishes, the fine crow's feet at the corners of Li Biyun's eyes smoothed out as she smiled, blooming like flowers.
"Chengcheng has really grown up, he knows how to care for his mom now..."
Fang Cheng knew that these were all his mother's favorite dishes.
Watching her pick up a piece of fish with her chopsticks and put it into her mouth, he asked expectantly,
"How is it, any improvent?"
Li Biyun nodded her chin and savored carefully:
"The fish is fried crispy on the outside and tender on the inside; the sauce is flavorful. You're almost catching up to your mom's level."
"Really? The truth?"
"Seriously, when have I ever lied to you?"
Li Biyun wiped the corner of her eye and patted her son's arm lightly, "I can't finish all this food by myself, co and eat with ."
Fang Cheng shook his head,
"I've already had lunch before coming over; there's enough here to save for dinner, we can reheat it with the nurse's station microwave."
He didn't continue speaking; instead, he just quietly watched his mother eat slowly.
Her pointed chin, her gaunt cheeks.
She must have been more beautiful than those celebrities when she was young, but the hardships of life had left her looking excessively haggard despite only being in her forties.
Because her father had stomach cancer, experiencing long-term vomiting and pain with scarce dical aid in the countryside,
Li Biyun took advantage of her job as a caretaker to pull so strings and arrange a hospital bed so her father could receive treatnt.
Moreover, to take care of him while trying not to miss work,
she specifically requested to transfer to the more dirty and tiring oncology departnt.
Spending this entire month in the hospital for eating, living, and sleeping was indeed very hard.
Li Biyun, feeling sowhat embarrassed by her son's gaze, gave her precious child a glance.
She then personally picked up a piece of rib and stuffed it into Fang Cheng's mouth,
forcing him to drink the soup to the last drop, so he would get more nutrition to continue growing taller.
Fang Cheng had no choice but to agree and pretended to eat a few bites.
A simple al seed to carry the happiness of two people.
The golden sunshine passed through the large window behind, gradually moving onto the rows of chairs in the rest area.
It gilded the bowls, dishes, and their silhouettes.
Watching his mother's long-absent smile, the tightly wound string in Fang Cheng's body from the past few days seed to be soothed.
Only after she swallowed the last bite of rice did he continue to ask:
"Mom, how's grandpa doing now?"
Li Biyun's hand, which was holding chopsticks, stiffened for a mont before she softly replied,
"He's still intubated right now. The doctor says he needs to rest for two months before they can try a new treatnt plan."
Fang Cheng nodded.
His grandfather had already gone through radiation therapy and focal lesion surgery before without much success.
He had spent a week in the ICU before coming out of the critical period and was just transferred to the general ward three days ago.
Li Biyun packed up the leftovers, closed the lunch box, and then said:
"Your uncle just went down to pay the fee. He said he would treat the money as a loan from you and pay you back in the future."
Fang Cheng frowned slightly and imdiately refused:
"We're family, what's with being so formal? Am I not our grandfather's relative as well?"
Li Biyun opened her mouth to speak but hesitated.
At that mont, a call for "Aunt Li" ca from the nurses' station.
Li Biyun quickly responded, got up, and asked her son to go see his grandfather by himself.
Then she briskly walked away, imrsing herself in her new duties.
Watching his mother's retreating figure, Fang Cheng also got up and headed towards his grandfather's ward alone.
The door was left ajar.
Upon entering, he saw the beeping monitors and an elderly man with drainage tubes and connected to a ventilator.
There should be another bed patient separated by a blue curtain, their specific situation obscured, with only the faint sound of moaning heard.
Fang Cheng sat on a chair by the bed, looking at the sleeping elder.
His grandfather had lost a lot of hair; his face had beco much thinner, skin clinging to bone - obviously tornted by the illness.
Seeing him so weak now, Fang Cheng felt heavy-hearted as he rembered those beautiful days of his childhood spent in the countryside.
His grandparents only had one son and one daughter.
His uncle had been a good-for-nothing layabout when he was young and hadn't settled down even past the age of forty.
Most of the family burdens fell on his mother, the eldest daughter.
Fang Cheng knew what his mother was worried about.
The money previously collected for the surgery had just about emptied their savings.
The upcoming two months of hospital fees, plus further surgery and chemotherapy costs.
For this family, which was not wealthy to begin with, it was adding insult to injury.
Besides, maternal grandfather being a rural resident, the reimbursent rate couldn't compare to urban employees.
Although no one put any pressure on Fang Cheng.
In reality, this heavy burden had also fallen upon him, the only grandson from on the maternal side.
Fang Cheng pursed his lips tightly, secretly plotting.
He must find a way to earn so extra money.
He couldn't pull out a lot of money, but at least he wanted to share so of the burden with his mother.
"Ah Cheng, you're here too?"
While he was deep in thought, there was a creak, and the hospital room door was pushed open again.
A slightly unruly voice followed.
Fang Cheng turned his head to look.
He saw a middle-aged man walking in, wearing a bomber jacket that was popular among the youth, with a row of stubble above his upper lip.
His thin and sallow face showed a trace of fatigue, and from two ters away, one could sll the strong odor of smoke on him.
"Uncle."
Fang Cheng promptly stood up to greet him.
After exchanging a brief greeting, to avoid disturbing maternal grandfather's rest, they went outside to talk.
At the end of the corridor in the drying area, the patients' changed clothes and underwear swayed in the wind.
Uncle pulled out his cigarette pack, shook out a cigarette and offered it to Fang Cheng.
Fang Cheng waved his hand to refuse.
He looked out the window, casually chatting with him about family matters and maternal grandfather's condition.
Behind the hospital, there was East Capital's famous tourist attraction, West Mountain.
From there one could see the dark green hills and trees.
Under the clear blue sky, flocks of birds took flight.
Vaguely, there was also sothing that looked like the dot of a helicopter moving slowly.
According to the news reports, the city's archaeological team was excavating the ruins of an underground palace of a thousand-year-old temple, continuously unearthing precious artifacts.
The two chatted sporadically.
Suddenly, a slightly dull beeping sound started.
Fang Cheng imdiately reached into his bag.
But he saw that uncle, almost at the sa ti, pulled out a compact mobile phone from his pocket.
"I've told you it's not , don't you understand human language?"
"Tell you, I'm involved with a gang, with a single call I have dozens of subordinates ready to take orders, dare to harass
with calls again, and I'll get soone to hack you!"
Uncle's eyebrows flew up, he spat spray, and berated into the phone.
Then, after hanging up, seeing Fang Cheng looking at himself with so surprise, he smirked and explained:
"A friend gave it to , it's more convenient to keep in touch with this thing since I'm quite busy with business."
His gaze shifted, and noticing the phone of similar model in Fang Cheng's hand, he said:
"I heard from my sister that you rented a phone and got a new number?"
Fang Cheng nodded in agreent, exchanged contact information, and then asked:
"Uncle, you've been running around all the ti recently, have you raised enough money for the surgery?"
As soon as he said this, uncle's complexion turned very ugly, and he muttered under his breath.
He uttered swear words like "bastard looking down on others," "ungrateful white-eyed wolf."
It was clear that the progress was not ideal.
Fang Cheng let out a silent sigh.
But he hadn't held much hope to begin with.
Regarding this relative who was only twenty years older than himself, Fang Cheng always had a dismissive attitude.
Uncle's na was Li Dingjian, tall and thin with an appearance that wasn't bad at all.
His greatest skill, however, was his slick tongue, sneaking around, and misleading and deceiving others.
Six years ago, he said he was going to work hard and do business at the southern border, but he ca back limping, and it took years to recover from his injuries.
Now, he's still idle all day long, even stooping to the point of mooching off an old spinster.
"Phew..."
Li Dingjian let out a long puff of smoke, his eyes gazing out the window held a trace of decadence, as if reminiscing about the glorious days of the past.
"If only your father were still here, who wouldn't call
Brother Jian with respect?"
"And you could be a playboy, playing around with those female pop stars..."
Fang Cheng's mouth twitched slightly, not interested in talking about this subject.
Li Dingjian didn't continue, pinched out the remaining cigarette butt, and tossed it into the nearby trash can.
Then he flexed his arms, showing a refreshed and energized deanor.
"Ah Cheng, don't worry about the money, I've found a benefactor to help."
"That's good."
Fang Cheng didn't probe further.
Although uncle liked to take shortcuts, he had been mingling with people from all walks of life for years and had a wide network of connections.
Maybe he really could borrow a large sum of money from so wealthy woman.
Just as the two were about to return to the hospital room to look after maternal grandfather.
Suddenly, the sound of people talking like broken gongs rose up, traveling through the corridor and into their ears.
"Damn, got the wrong address, no wonder we couldn't find that brat!"
"Yingjun, go over there and ask the nurse, be polite."
"Okay, bro."
Fang Cheng looked in the direction of the voices.
He saw three slightly familiar figures coming out of the elevator area and walking towards the nurse's station.
Groups of well-dressed young n, clearly those suspected gang mbers.
"Shit, are they born under the 'Dog' sign..."
Li Dingjian muttered under his breath upon seeing them, and imdiately turned his head away.
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