Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Yu Luocheng disliked hospitals. The air here was thick with the smell of formalin. There was a period of time when his father Yu Jing was hospitalized, and Yu Luocheng had to visit the hospital regularly. He’d never gotten used to the smell.
At the moment, he paid it no heed as he rushed to the ward to find Li Yun.
She was out in the corridor, deep in discussion with a man in doctor’s clothing. Seeing the forlorn look on her face, Yu Luocheng guessed that his father’s condition was even worse than the last time.
“For now, just look after him,” the doctor was saying. “When the head doctor arrives tomorrow, you can discuss this matter with him further. He told me the patient’s condition has gotten worse. He should have been coming here for regular check-ups and treatment long before this.”
And then the doctor was gone, leaving Li Yun alone in the corridor with a mask of distress, holding back a breath full of questions she didn’t know how to ask.
“Mom.” Yu Luocheng walked up to her, and took a peek inside the ward. Inside, he saw his own father lying on a sterile white bed, hooked up to an IV drip. He didn’t go in.
“How is he?” he asked.
Yu Jing had been in poor health for a while now, something about his liver.
The problem had been discovered some time ago, but Yu Jing kept insisting that he felt fine. He didn’t pay much attention to his health after being discharged from the hospital, and went right back to work at the factory.
It should just be his liver acting up again, but Yu Luocheng had a terrible feeling of foreboding, especially after hearing what the doctor had said.
“The doctor says his condition is severe, but we’ll have to wait until the head doctor shows up tomorrow for us to get a definite idea of what’s going on.” Li Yun’s voice was heavy with worry.
Yu Jing had been to the hospital several times on account of his liver, but it had never really been that big a deal. Certainly, it had never involved an ambulance.
“You look exhausted, Mom. I’ll take over here, so you can go home for now.”
“Alright. I’ll be back later tonight.” Li Yun didn’t object. After urging Yu Luocheng a few more times to look after Yu Jing, she hurried away.
This left Yu Luocheng alone in the ward with Yu Jing, silently lying in bed.
Yu Jing’s face was the color of dark copper, his skin coarse and wrinkled. Perhaps he was in pain—his lips were drawn and pale.
His thick eyebrows were set in a fierce expression, making him appear stern and unrelenting, even unconscious as he was.
***
After an interminable amount of time, Yu Jing’s brows knit together in an expression of discomfort. A fine sheen of sweat appeared across his forehead.
Seeing him like this pained Yu Luocheng. He fetched a towel and wiped the sweat off his forehead for him, although that wouldn’t do anything for the agony he was suffering.
The pain seemed to have awakened Yu Jing. When he opened his eyes, they were morose and somber. He turned and looked at Yu Luocheng, unsmiling and sour as ever.
“Where’s your mother?” he asked.
“She’s gone home to rest. She’ll be back later. Are you okay, Dad? It looks bad.”
“What’s so bad about it? Just something acting up again. Can’t keep me down.”
“The doctor says it’s really serious, this time.”
“Doctors always exaggerate.”
With nothing more to add to this, Yu Luocheng fetched a cup of plain water and fed it to Yu Jing.
“When will your exam results come out?” Yu Jing inquired. No one was more concerned about this matter than him. Even lying in a hospital bed, it was the first thing on his mind.
“Not so soon. The 20th of June, at the earliest.”
“I’ve checked out a bunch of schools for you.”
“Alright, alright. Don’t talk so much, you should get some rest.” Yu Luocheng cut him off, and made to lay him down in bed.
“I said I’m fine!” Yu Jing snapped angrily.
There was nothing for it, that was just the way his father was. However, Yu Luocheng often felt that his dad was much like a temperamental child, always insisting on being tiresome.
“Very well, say your piece, then—but my results haven’t even come out yet, there’s no hurry to find me a place to go.” Yu Luocheng acquiesced to Yu Jing’s behavior. “I’d guess you’ve only been looking at the best schools. If it turns out I’ve only gotten second- or third-class grades, what a waste of time it’ll all have been.”
“You screw up like that, it’ll be my duty as your father to fix your wagon but good,” Yu Jing declared grumpily.
“Now’s not the time to fuss over such things. You’re in a hospital now, you’ve got to look after your own health. Sure, it’s your own body, no one knows better than you how you’re feeling right now—but you came here in an ambulance. Mom and I have been climbing the walls with fright this whole time.”
Chastised so by his own son, Yu Jing fell silent.
Yu Luocheng was done speaking, as well. It wouldn’t do to make a habit of talking down to his old man. Disaster lay down that road. Much like chasing after Singed, it could quickly lead to the tables turning against yourself.
At length, Yu Jing sighed. “You just don’t know what it was like, after I finished high school…”
“You had finals exams, back then?” Yu Luocheng cut in.
“Why not? They’d just brought it back!” Yu Jing puffed himself up. “You know, I was always top in my high school.”
“How many people even made it into high school, back in those days…” Yu Luocheng muttered.
Yu Jing harrumphed at Yu Luocheng’s contrary manner. “In those days, getting into a university was a hundred times tougher than it is now. There were only a handful of options available.”
Certainly, during the eighties, a university graduate was worth their weight in gold. It was a real feather in your cap.
The university graduates from those days were now government officials, cabinet ministers, or captains of industry. Yu Luocheng had always wondered about this: His father was a university graduate from that era, himself—how was he still just a laborer in a factory?
He’d wondered about this for a long time. To this day, he still didn’t have a clue—so he asked.
Yu Jing replied, “I didn’t make it. I failed by three points.”
As they spoke, the door was gently pushed open.
Li Yun walked in with an air of weariness, but she was clearly relieved to see that Yu Jing was up. She pulled up a chair to sit by the bedside.
“Yu Luocheng, you can go home now. I’ll stay here with your father,” she said.
“I’m okay,” Yu Luocheng replied. “Not like there’s school tomorrow.”
“All the same, everyone crowding in here will only make it hard for your father to relax. Go on, run along,” Li Yun insisted.
On second thought, Yu Luocheng felt that might be the right idea. If Yu Jing started on this story about his past, it might take a while. Not to say he didn’t want to hear it, but it wouldn’t help him to recover any faster.
“I’ll be back tomorrow morning, then.”
(Translator’s Note: The author mostly refers to Yu Luocheng’s parents by name, rather than ‘mother’ or ‘father’, so I’ve been following suit. I’m not sure if that sounds unnatural to anyone.)
***
Yu Luocheng left the ward, closing the door quietly behind himself. It was only when he’d walked out of the hospital that he realized he’d left his phone by the sick bed.
Hence, he turned back.
He heard Li Yun’s voice when he returned to the ward. For some reason, his hand froze over the door handle.
“That brother of yours, some family he is. He’s the elder brother, but he’s making such a big fuss over lending us this tiny amount of money, even now that his own flesh and blood has been hospitalized.”
“Never mind, it’s no big deal.”
“No big deal? I’ve just spoken with the head doctor. He says they’ll have to operate. There’s no way Doctor Fong would lie about this sort of thing!”
A silence fell over the ward.
“How much will that cost us?” Yu Jing asked.
“We’ll only know tomorrow. At least five figures, maybe more, they said…”
“Is Yu Yu having any problems?”
“She’s doing fine, don’t worry about her.”
“But we’ll also need to set aside some money for Yu Luocheng to go to university.”
“That’s months away. Put it aside for now,” Li Yun said.
“No! Put it aside? I’m not putting it aside!” Yu Jing raised his voice.
“Your health takes priority. Our family isn’t so helpless. In two or three months, we’ll be able to raise enough money for his tuition fees. If he gets a scholarship, we’ll barely have to pay for anything. Oh, look at you. What am I supposed to say? Look, times have changed, now. People have changed.”
“And if things don’t go that smoothly?”
“You just can’t let go of what happened to you.”
Yu Jing made no reply to this.
“Money matters can be settled later. First, we’ll see you cured. Let’s have no more fuss out of you!” With that stern declaration, Li Yun decided the issue.
***
Neither of them noticed the door quietly being closed shut, nor the faint footsteps disappearing down the corridor.
