Outside the ward, Qiao Zhenya guessed wildly and started to blab. At his stupid words, Mayor Du’s mouth corner kept twitching, and he was in an impulse to slap Qiao Zhenya hardly in the face.
Back against the wall, Qiao Qiao looked absent-minded and kept silent. No one knew what she was thinking now, and she looked like a peaceful white lotus in blossoms.
As Qiao Zhenya kept blabbering, others found the waiting time more torturing. Mayor Du, who was full of worries, looked graver and graver and breathed faster and faster, and his chest kept jumping fiercely…
Xu Minglu, who had been observing the situation carefully all along, took a step backward to stay further from Qiao Zhenya. He could feel that Mayor Du was trying hard to suppress his anger, like a powder barrel that would explode anytime. Thus, he decided to stand further from Qiao Zhenya so that he would not get hurt when the powder barrel exploded.
At the moment, he was full of admiration toward Mayor Du, who could suppress his anger for so long. “He is indeed a leader that he even could put up with such an annoying relative. It takes a really broad mind to do so. If I were him, I would drown this annoying child in a closestool.” Xu Minglu thought to himself.
“It indeed takes unusual talents to be a leader. It looks that I’m still too inexperienced and need to continue on training,” Xu Minglu sighed secretly, trying to find out the gap between him and the mayor and summarizing his shortcomings.
“Enough! Are you finished?”
The absent-minded Qiao Qiao finally regained her presence of mind, and scolded her brother as she spotted that her uncle was near an outburst of anger.
The blabbering voice suddenly stopped. Qiao Zhenya looked at his sister with bitterness in his eyes, and looked at her again, again, and again…
He finally gave up after seeing his sister’s emotionless face and fierce eyes. He curled his lips, lifted his right tiptoe and draw circles on the ground, like a wronged little wife, and draw again and again…
Xu Minglu and Mayor Du let out sighs of relief at the same time. Since the “fly” was gone, the place became at peace again. Even the air seemed fresher and the sunshine seemed brighter.
Qiao Qiao looked helpless. Her brother was good in all respects except that he was too energetic and had never remained quiet except in sleep. He was always a troublemaker and brought a lot of troubles to the family.
At last, everyone in the family was helpless. His grandma, who doted on him the most, could not put up with this troublemaker anymore and sent him to the track-and-field team as an athlete, to consume his superfluous energy. As a result, he finally became less troublesome.
“Sister, is your classmate reliable? Can he cure aunt?”
Qiao Zhenya, who had been quiet for less than one minute, asked with a serious face.
“Hmm!”
“What do you mean by saying that? Is he reliable or not?”
“Hmm!”
“Sister, is it really good for you to be so perfunctory to me? How about you persuade your classmate to give up being a doctor and become an athlete like me.”
“Hmm!”
“So, do you mean yes?”
“Hmm!”
“Great! It’s a deal. You must keep your words!”
“Hmm!”
“Yeah! I know you treat me best, sister!”
“Hmm…what did you say just now?”
“You… I won’t talk to you anymore!”
“Oh!”
“Boohoo… I’ll tell grandma that you bullied me.”
“Okay!”
…
Upon hearing the conversation between the sister and brother, Xu Minglu was full admiration toward Qiao Qiao, who remained emotionless all along. “Look, she is a master in dealing with a blabber.” he thought to himself.
“Creak!”
As the light sound of opening a door echoed, everyone looked at Ding Ning, who walked out of the ward and looked tired.
Mayor Du’s heart almost jumped out of his throat. He walked over to Ding Ning and asked in a trembling voice, “Doctor Ding, how is it going?”
A smile appeared on Ding Ning’s serious face. He replied in a hoarse voice, “Luckily, it was very successful.”
“Are you… not joking?” Does Xinyu… really wake up?”
Though Mayor Du had always been a calm man, at the moment, he could not suppress his excitement and sounded crying as he talked.
“Yes, she woke up, but, because she has been lying on the bed for more than two years, she has muscular atrophy and can’t get up or walk now. I have acupunctured him. In the following days, give her some massage to stimulate her muscles to recover themselves. In less than half a moth, she will be fully recovered. She should eat food of light flavours and avoid eating spicy and greasy foods.”
Ding Ning continued in a flat voice, “You can go inside to see her now.”
“Thank you, thank you!”
Mayor Du choked with sobs due to excitement. His eyes turned red with tears, and he kept thanking Ding Ning while he could not help but hurry into the ward.
“Xinyu!”
With Mayor Du’s affectionate call, low crying voices sounded inside the ward. It seemed that the husband and the wife were hugging each other crying bitterly.
Qiao Qiao and her brother, who wanted to enter the room, both stopped their steps wisely. At this moment, even the stupid Qiao Zhenya knew that they’d better not disturb the mayor and his wife now.
Qiao Zhenya looked Ding Ning up and down, like observing an alien. He asked like a curious baby, “Bro, did you really cure my aunt? How incredible!”
Then, he looked a little upset and seemed in a dilemma while he ground his teeth and said, “But I still think it’s better for you to be an athlete. How about you beg me to let you become an athlete and then I refuse you? I will feel better in this way.”
Ding Ning looked at this stupid guy and felt speechless. He suddenly reached out and grabbed Qiao Zhenya’s wrist.
“Ahh… what are you doing? Let go of my hand or I will tell others you tried to assault me…”
Qiao Zhenya yelled in a loud voice and struggled hard, trying to get rid of Ding Ning’s iron grip. However, all what he did was in vain.
Qiao Qiao seemed to have thought of something. She stared at Ding Ning nervously, and her face turned increasingly serious as she said, “Did you find anything? He has been like this since he was a child and was diagnosed as ADHD.”
“No, it’s not ADHD. He couldn’t stay quiet even when sleeping, right? Like he has too much energy to let out?”
Ding Ning frowned. ADHD is characterized by difficulty paying attention, excessive activity and acting without regards to consequences.
However, Qiao Zhenya was obviously not of the type. He could not stay quiet at any time and had a strong desire to display himself. He gesticulated with hands and feet when he spoke. Those who did not know him would think him an orator. Normally, gesticulating was used to make the words more appealing. However, Qiao Zhenya always talked heedlessly, ridiculously, and desultorily. He would only focus on what interested him, like being an athlete.
Qiao Qiao’s heart trembled, and she replied nervously, “Yes. Is there any problem with that?”
“Yes, of course. This is abnormal. He is not excessively energetic but is consuming his vitality. This disease is very rare, and there has been just one case in the records worldwide. This disease is named Cellular Aging of an Overtaxing Type. That patient with such a disease died at 25,” Ding Ning said in a serious tone.
Through inspection, he found that Qiao Zhenya was not excessively energetic due to his special physique but was continuously consuming his vitality.
Though Qiao Zhenya was only 18 or 19 and looked like at that age, his organs were visibly aging. If the situation continued, he would die in several years.
“What do you mean?”
Qiao Qiao unconsciously grabbed Ding Ning’s hand tightly and asked.
“I’m saying, since he had these symptoms, he has been continuously consuming his vitality. The metabolism of his body was five times faster than that of others. You should know what I’m talking about.”
Ding Ning had never looked as serious as at this moment.
“Ah! You mean Zhenya…”
Qiao Qiao’s face turned pale, and she covered her mouth in disbelief. With tearful eyes, she looked at Qiao Zhenya, who kept struggling and paid no attention to what they were saying.
“Yes!”
Ding Ning nodded seriously. He knew that Qiao Qiao had understood what he meant.
“Is there any way to cure him?”
Qiao Qiao took several deep breathes, forced herself to calm down, and looked at Ding Ning expectantly.
After a long while in silence, Ding Ning shook his head slowly. Seeing this, Qiao Qiao felt as if she had fallen into an ice grotto. With a pale face, she grabbed Ding Ning’s arms tightly and begged him, “You must know how to cure him since you can tell his disease, right? Please save him, will you?”
Ding Ning let go of Qiao Zhenya’s hand and looked at Qiao Qiao deeply, saying, “For the time being, I can’t think of any solution. This case is too rare. I need some time to consider it.”
“Please save him. He is my only brother. I beg you.”
As Ding Ning could remember, Bai Qinglian had never begged others before. When he heard she say the word “beg”, his heart ached. He said seriously, “I will try my best to help him, but…”
“But what?”
Qiao Qiao asked eagerly.
“But you should tell your families about this news. It will take a long time to cure his disease. I’ll think of a way to decrease the consuming of his vitality first to buy us more time to think of a solution.”
Ding Ning frowned deeply and thought hard how to cure Qiao Zhenya. The disease was too tough.
Qiao Qiao released Ding Ning’s arms in disappointment, and her clear eyes were full of sadness at the moment. She bit her lips and nodded before saying, “I’ll tell my families.”
“Okay. Call me when your families are mentally prepared for the worst. I don’t want to be treated as a swindler. If your families don’t believe my words, I’d suggest you take him to the hospital to do an examination. His organs are slightly aged. I’m afraid there is not much time left for him.”
Ding Ning said with self-mockery. Thought he misunderstood Qiao Qiao as a gold digger in the past, what Qiao Qiao’s father said to him at that time was too harsh and mean.
Qiao Qiao’s father’s bossy manner hurt him like a saber stabbing into his heart. It pained him so much and had become his nightmares all these years.
Though as a doctor, he would try his best to help Qiao Zhenya, it did not mean that he would forgive Qiao Qiao’s father.
Every dog has its day. Ding Ning, who never regarded himself as a magnanimous man, wanted to see whether that arrogant old man would bow his head toward fate for his son.
Qiao Qiao was a smart girl. Though she was flustered and worried at the moment, she could sense the mockery in Ding Ning’s tone. She sighed lightly that after so many years, she still fell into his hands in the end.
Though she hated her father’s attitude toward Ding Ning back then, she dared not to defend Ding Ning because she knew very well that her father was an overbearing man.
At that time, she believed that once she showed any care or love toward Ding Ning, her father would strike Ding Ning with all his strength so as to let Ding Ning give up her.
Nevertheless, she knew now she had to explain to Ding Ning. She lowered her head and said in a low voice, “I’m sorry. Back then, I didn’t mean to cheat you. It’s my family’s tradition that the children in the family need to experience life in the disguise of poor children. This tradition means to educate us to be humble and compliant, and to understand the hardship in life. Except Zhenya, who was under a special situation, all children in my family had such an experience .”
“So, is your name Qiao Qiao or Bai Qinglian?”
Ding Ning stared at her without blinking. In fact, he admired such a tradition of education. Only the youngers in all the families had experienced hardship and the life of the lower ranks could there be fewer fops and NEETs and more elites in the society.
