Chi Yao looked at him and spoke very slowly: “How are you and Mom doing recently?”
Not surprisingly, Chi Hanshan gave a dry laugh and said, “Pretty good.”
“Pretty good.” Chi Yao lowered his eyes and repeated his answer.
When he looked up again, he said: “So, you’re planning to keep hiding it from me.”
Chi Hanshan was stunned.
Then, he quickly realized how Chi Yao knew: “They contacted you?”
Chi Yao didn’t confirm or deny.
Chi Hanshan was speechless: “Clearly promised me they wouldn’t—”
Chi Yao asked again: “Where’s Mom?”
Chi Hanshan hesitated, stammered a bit, but finally told him: “In the hospital.”
Chi Yao’s heart sank bit by bit.
The moment Bai Qin didn’t appear at the train station, he vaguely sensed that their problems might be more serious than he had imagined.
Then he saw Bai Qin in a hospital bed at Jing First People’s Hospital.
The woman was wearing a hospital gown, her face very pale.
She lay there quietly, no longer resembling her usually stern image.
This woman, who had treated work as her whole world, had collapsed for the first time. Mental anxiety had led to a series of problems; when illness strikes, it strikes like a mountain falling. After so many years of being busy, she had suddenly broken down.
“Just gave her a sedative,” the doctor said while taking notes, “her mental state is very poor, try not to let her be exposed to work-related matters. Also, the patient is currently in the progressive stage of stomach cancer, but there are still risks with surgical treatment; you need to be psychologically prepared for this.”
The doctor flipped through the files in his hand and couldn’t help saying: “You people nowadays—your health is the most important thing, how can you ignore your body when you’re busy? Irregular meals, eating whenever you get a chance.”
The hospital was very noisy that day.
Besides the sounds of people coming and going, there were the doctor’s voice and Chi Hanshan’s voice.
“It’s like this, didn’t the factory get a batch of new parts before? At that time, the purchase method was a loan. We originally wanted to expand a new production line, but the progress wasn’t as expected. Now the market has cooled down, business is difficult, and there are problems with the capital chain…”
Although Chi Hanshan spoke vaguely, Chi Yao understood clearly what problems with the capital chain meant.
This was almost a threat to their livelihood.
The group of people who came to find him weren’t from the bank; they looked like private lending organizations. Chi Hanshan couldn’t repay the loan, and to extend the buffer time, he could only borrow more to repay the previous loans. In the end, like a snowball, it rolled into a hole that couldn’t be filled.
…
“I was too greedy.”
Chi Hanshan slowly closed his eyes: “I didn’t tell you because I was afraid you’d worry.”
Finally, Chi Yao heard his voice.
“Afraid I’d worry.”
He lightly tugged at the corner of his mouth, saying these words with self-mockery.
“Perhaps, but more likely it’s because you felt it wasn’t necessary.”
He expressed all the emotions he had accumulated over many years: “Not necessary to tell me.”
This was the part that made him feel most powerless and ridiculous.
“—Then what exactly is necessary?”
By the end, he was almost losing his composure: “We’re supposed to be family, but many times, I feel like I’m just someone unnecessary. Not necessary to exist, not necessary to appear, so also not necessary to inform.”
Eighteen years old.
What kind of age is that exactly?
Finally, Chi Yao sat on a resting chair in the hospital corridor, breathing heavily through his mask.
He raised his hand, hooked the mask, and pulled it down a bit.
Then he smelled a strong scent of disinfectant.
Bai Qin was lying just on the other side of the wall from him.
And he was also at the point of crossing over from seventeen, walking toward the other side, just one line away.
It was as if he had stepped into an unknown new world, where the whole world could be overturned in an instant.
When he stood up again, he had already returned to how he was at the train station, asking: “How much more is needed?”
Chi Hanshan didn’t react immediately: “What?”
“Money.”
Before Chi Hanshan could answer, Chi Yao continued: “Selling the house in Lianyun should ease things for a while. Don’t worry about me.”
“As for here…” he said, looking at Bai Qin on the hospital bed. Although it was a brief moment, it felt like a long time had passed, and finally he said, “I’ll stay.”
Chi Hanshan: “You want to stay? But what about your school…”
Chi Yao looked at him: “With so many things happening, can you handle everything alone?”