The nurse came over with the test results and asked, “Who is the family member?”
Zhu Yun spoke up before Fu Yizhuo could, saying, “I am.”
The nurse waved her over. “Come in.”
The room had a desk, an examination bed, a computer, green plants, and a small tank of goldfish — an ordinary doctor’s office, yet in Zhu Yun’s eyes it felt almost sacred. She sat respectfully on the stool, waiting for the doctor to speak.
The doctor was in his fifties, dressed in a white coat, his glasses slightly lowered as he studied the test results in his hand. After a long moment, he asked unhurriedly, “What does he do for work?”
Zhu Yun answered promptly, “IT…” Worried the doctor might not be familiar with the term, she added, “The computer industry.”
The doctor nodded knowingly. “That explains it.”
His calm, unhurried tone made Zhu Yun suspect the situation might not be serious. Sure enough, the next moment the doctor said, “Don’t worry — there’s nothing majorly wrong.”
Zhu Yun finally exhaled, sinking back into the chair as though completely drained.
“Nervous, were you?” The doctor looked at her. “You’re all the same — anxious after the fact. What were you thinking when you were running him into the ground before?”
Zhu Yun said, “I was too careless.”
The doctor said, “He has cervical spondylosis — the common name is a cervical spine condition. The symptoms are already quite pronounced. Judging by the degree of muscle stiffness, this has been a chronic, long-standing problem. If you ask me, people in your industry have absolutely no regard for their own lives — every year there are people who drop dead from overwork.”
Out in the corridor, Fu Yizhuo stared at the doctor’s office door and suddenly said, “Give up.”
Tian Xiuzhu stood beside him, also looking at that tightly shut door.
Fu Yizhuo said, “She doesn’t even know how much she loves my little brother. Being by Li Xun’s side is different for her than being by anyone else’s.”
Tian Xiuzhu curved the corners of his mouth slightly.
Inside the room.
The doctor pushed his glasses up and said to Zhu Yun, “This patient must certainly be feeling dizzy and a heavy pressure in his head. He’s been working at an extremely high load for too long — his brain gets absolutely no chance to relax. His sleep quality must be poor too. No one should be working like that.”
Zhu Yun said, “He frequently has back pain.”
The doctor said, “Of course he does! If you stayed in the same sitting position all day, your back would hurt too!”
Startled by his sharpness, Zhu Yun gave a slight flinch, then said, “So the primary cause of his collapse today was…”
The doctor gestured as he explained, “The muscle pain is only a surface symptom — the spine is the root issue. His back is stiff, so blood can’t be properly delivered to the shoulders, but his brain is operating at high speed and requires high oxygen and blood flow over long periods. When those two demands collide, it would be strange if he didn’t pass out.”
Zhu Yun asked, “So what should we do?”
Under the doctor’s repeated recommendations, Zhu Yun ended up purchasing a large quantity of medications and nutritional supplements, and also signed up for a physical therapy package at the hospital.
When she came out of the doctor’s office, Zhu Yun immediately spotted Tian Xiuzhu standing in the corridor.
It was just noon.
With Li Xun’s condition now confirmed, Zhu Yun’s emotions had settled. Standing in the sunlight, she felt as though she had just been pulled from the water — her back was soaked through with sweat.
She looked at him and said softly, “You were right.”
Tian Xiuzhu smiled. “About which part?”
Zhu Yun said, “About all of it.”
— His health is not good. He’s running on sheer willpower.
— No one has an inexhaustible supply of energy.
— Living out one’s life calmly and in good health is the rarest thing of all.
People always achieve their deepest realizations after moments of great joy or great grief. Zhu Yun had not yet reached full enlightenment, but she had let go of a great deal.
Tian Xiuzhu suddenly asked her, “Do you remember the first time we met?”
Zhu Yun nodded, and Tian Xiuzhu continued, “At the time you seemed to look right past every painting in the exhibition, and yet you stood staring at my name for such a long time. I felt we had a certain connection.”
Looking back on that time now, it felt to Zhu Yun like something from a dream.
Tian Xiuzhu said, “Do you know when it was that you moved me the most?”
Zhu Yun shook her head.
Tian Xiuzhu said, “It was when I asked for help upgrading the art gallery’s system.” Seeing that Zhu Yun didn’t quite follow, he explained, “You were crying in front of the painting called Rugged Peaks.”
She was taken aback. Tian Xiuzhu smiled and said, “Did you think no one saw you?”
That day they had originally arranged to meet at the gallery at seven in the evening to discuss the details of the system design, but Tian Xiuzhu had run into something unexpected and arrived late. By the time he got there, he found Zhu Yun standing in front of that painting with tears on her face.
She had been wearing a somewhat masculine-style button-up shirt and dark jeans. Because of the heat, she had undone two buttons, and her long black hair was casually tied up with a few loose strands falling across the white fabric, giving her an air of languid summer warmth.
Her hands were tucked into her pockets as she stood quietly before the painting, quietly weeping, completely lost in her own world.
Tian Xiuzhu knew every painting in that gallery by heart, just as he knew every detail of the story he had heard about Zhu Yun.
“It was so beautiful,” Tian Xiuzhu said gently. “That was the moment I was most moved — and most heartbroken.” He looked at her. “Zhu Yun, I’ve decided to step back.” He looked at her with a smile. “Now that I’ve said I’m stepping back, do you feel even a little relieved?”
Zhu Yun lowered her head. She still had the billing receipt from the pharmacy in her hand. Tian Xiuzhu pulled her into an embrace, intending to say a few more words, but he was taken aback by what he felt through the hug.
“You’ve lost more weight.”
Zhu Yun hadn’t noticed. She didn’t know what she weighed now.
Tian Xiuzhu said, “Throwing yourself into love is a beautiful thing, but collapsing on the job is hardly romantic. Take care of yourself.”