Prev | Table of Contents | Next
Chapter 128: Even if we keep it like this, we can still support it.
This was the first time Chen Wengang met Huo Niansheng’s family.
After Huo Zhenfei’s lengthy speech, it was normal for Chen Wengang to have a bad impression of him.
However, after calming down, he realized that what truly bothered him wasn’t that Huo Zhenfei was wrong. On the contrary, it was because Huo Zhenfei was right, subtly hitting his sore spot. He and Huo Niansheng were bound to part ways sooner or later, so why rush it?
Huo Niansheng still told him not to take others’ words to heart, but Chen Wengang wasn’t sure how much of it he had actually taken in.
But it was as if Huo Zhenfei’s crow mouth prophecy had come true, because half a month later, another issue arose.
A paparazzo suddenly revealed that Huo Niansheng had a hidden lover, who was a man.
He posted photos on his social media account of Huo Niansheng entering and exiting theaters and restaurants with this mysterious man.
As one of the people involved, Chen Wengang only found out about it a week later. Nowadays, he wasn’t much interested in entertainment news and was quite slow to perceive changes in the outside world. Moreover, even if he had seen it, there was nothing he could do about it.
He was a living person, and so was Huo Niansheng. When they went out in public, they couldn’t stop others from seeing them.
The photos didn’t capture any particularly intimate actions between them, given that they were outside. Looking at the photos, there was one where Huo Niansheng turned his head and smiled at him. In front of them, there was a section of steps, and Huo Niansheng reached out his arm to support Chen Wengang’s back.
In another photo, Huo Niansheng was opening the car door, and Chen Wengang was getting out with his head down, not noticing that Huo Niansheng’s hand was still on the door.
It was no surprise that the local tabloids, always keen on juicy gossip about the rich and powerful, spread the news that Huo Niansheng had a new lover.
Even though many joked that this player changed partners so fast they couldn’t tell who was who anymore, the incident didn’t cause a city-wide scandal. However, with such a ruckus outside, Chen Wengang went out even less frequently.
He had to revert to a reclusive lifestyle once again.
If it had only been this, it wouldn’t have been so bad. The worst incident was when he and the housekeeper went shopping in a distant market. Aunt Meng wanted to buy fish maw, and on their way, a middle-aged fat man suddenly appeared and asked, “Are you Chen? Chen Wengang?”
At that time, they were at the corner of an alley. Aunt Meng had never experienced such a situation, and Chen Wengang didn’t react immediately. Hearing his name, he instinctively looked over. The man had a photographer with him and, without any explanation, pointed a recorder at him—
“Mustn’t be mistaken, right? You know Huo Niansheng, don’t you?”
“Was it you having dinner with him at Feng Cui Lou?”
“You two, what’s your relationship now? Dating? Being kept?”
A barrage of unexpected questions, the man came prepared, revealing his true intentions. This paparazzo actually knew who Chen Wengang was, knew who his adoptive father was, knew about his history with the Zheng family, and knew he was still in prison until early last year.
The man finally asked about him being kicked out of the Zheng family, asking how he managed to make a comeback and latch onto Young Master Huo.
The man’s fat and round chin formed three layers of folds, and his uncomfortable gaze stung Chen Wengang.
Chen Wengang finally came to his senses and replied that he had nothing to say, pulling Aunt Meng away.
But the man’s attitude was downright rude, blocking their way.
It quickly escalated into a physical conflict. In the scuffle, Chen Wengang’s hat was knocked off, and his mask was half pulled down.
The photographer raised his camera and immediately snapped pictures of his face.
The scene was chaotic, a veritable farce.
The incident ended with Chen Wengang suddenly falling ill, collapsing to the ground in front of everyone. Who called the ambulance, when it arrived, whether the man continued to block them, he wasn’t clear.
He hazily lowered his head and saw his short arms and legs, with thin wrists.
Chen Wengang looked up, and everything around him seemed incredibly tall. He pushed open a door and saw a young woman by the stove. Though her face was blurry, she had a kind beauty and called him “baby,” asking if he wanted to eat osmanthus cake that night.
At this moment, his father came home from work, tossing him a plush toy, saying it was bought from a street vendor’s discount sale.
The next time he woke up, he was in a hospital bed.
He had bumped his forehead on the railing, but the heart attack-like symptoms were diagnosed as cardiac neurosis.
In other words, there was no organic disease; it was a psychological heart condition.
But this episode was quite an ordeal, with Aunt Meng praying the whole time.
The person they encountered that day was a notorious paparazzo known for his unscrupulous methods. Given his way of doing things, the subsequent scenes were exciting material worth writing about, but none of it ever surfaced.
When Huo Niansheng came to see Chen Wengang in the hospital, he didn’t mention anything about it.
He only said that the photographer’s photos had been dealt with.
But later, Chen Wengang received an email with an attachment of a handwritten letter of self-criticism.
The letter was a lengthy confession of his mistakes, pleading for Chen Wengang’s forgiveness. The handwriting was so sloppy that Chen Wengang took a long time to decipher it. It was only by checking the signature that he realized who it was from. At the end, the writing became larger and more chaotic, with a tone of exaggerated flattery and sarcasm, stating that if he was still not appeased, the person would kneel and apologize in person.
It almost made one suspect that the paparazzo had been threatened with being cemented into a barrel and sunk into the sea by Huo Niansheng.
When Chen Wengang was a child, there were rumors that a tabloid reporter, having offended a gang leader, faced such death threats, and only after kowtowing and apologizing was he spared. Of course, these were mostly baseless urban legends.
Afterwards, there were still incorrigible tabloids and magazines gossiping about Huo Niansheng’s scandals, continuing to live just fine.
However, everyone took a step back, and they also stopped relentlessly pursuing Chen Wengang’s identity.
A tabloid exposed the insider information, claiming that Huo Niansheng’s new lover this time was an MB from the entertainment circle.
This was evidenced by his frequent visits to a certain nightclub. Another media outlet provided more detailed information in a blog post, stating that the MB was also a college student. Due to a poor family background, he entered the scene to make a living. With his innocent appearance, he caught the eye of this wealthy young man. However, little did he know, his happiness would turn to sorrow, as he became the target of jealousy and ended up with his face disfigured. This may have stirred pity in Young Master Huo, who then took him under his wing.
The comments section was filled with various opinions.
Of course, this wasn’t the only interpretation. With a little effort, one could find even more different speculations.
Scandals in the market were generally just that, though absurd and fleeting in freshness.
Just like stories of people being cemented into barrels and sunk into the sea, they were exciting to hear, but afterwards, it was hard to tell what was true and what wasn’t.
Chen Wengang stayed indoors for a while, and then he received a call from the hospital.
According to the plan, he was scheduled for his first skin graft surgery.
Aunt Meng started packing the things needed for his hospital stay—dentures, comb, pajamas, disinfectant wipes, nursing pads, turning pillows…
She packed these items one by one, and the hospital had sent a treatment manual in advance, which contained various precautions about the surgery.
After reading through the colorful booklet with her reading glasses on, turning each page carefully, Aunt Meng, still with lingering fear from seeing photos of post-operative skin necrosis and non-healing wounds, asked, “Is this really necessary?”
Chen Wengang sat cross-legged on the sofa, playing with his medical card.
He felt he didn’t have a choice in the matter. “Just do it.”
Aunt Meng shook the booklet slightly. “It says here, ‘patients are advised to consider carefully,’ you see.”
Chen Wengang said, “Surgeries are arranged by the hospital. We’re all prepared now, so how can we back out?”
She sighed a couple of times, and then finished packing.
When Huo Niansheng returned to the apartment, Aunt Meng had already prepared dinner.
Holding the treatment manual sent by the hospital, he read it more carefully, going through it several times from start to finish. He flipped back and forth, his brow furrowing into a frown, and finally, Huo Niansheng sighed.
Blade skin grafting…
Roller blade skin grafting…
Drum-type skin grafting machine…
Skin grafting involves removing a portion of healthy skin from oneself to cover the area where scars are removed. Ultimately, it was a way of robbing Peter to pay Paul, a painful process with high risks and accompanying sequelae such as necrosis and infection.
Chen Wengang lay on Huo Niansheng’s bed, using his arm as a pillow. “I didn’t even sigh, why are you sighing?”
Huo Niansheng said, “Then think about what reward you want when you’re discharged from the hospital.”
Chen Wengang said he wasn’t a child anymore, he didn’t need rewards for getting injections and taking medicine.
Huo Niansheng said he still had to give them.
Chen Wengang smiled and extended his other fair arm towards him. Huo Niansheng turned over, embraced him, and patted him on the back. Perhaps to comfort Chen Wengang’s mood, he talked about a lot of random things with him. Later, when they got tired of talking, Chen Wengang fell asleep next to him.
In the days before going to the hospital, he spent the nights in Huo Niansheng’s room.
They whispered sweet nothings to each other, slept foot to foot, and shared the same pillow.
On the appointed day, Huo Niansheng postponed other matters. Early in the morning, he woke Chen Wengang up and sent him to the hospital.
The driver helped move things upstairs, and Huo Niansheng stopped him. He asked Chen Wengang, “Do you have all your documents?”
Leaning against the door, Chen Wengang nodded at him.
Huo Niansheng’s driver was a middle-aged man named Li, with a simple and honest personality. Over the past year, he had become very familiar with the route to the hospital—whether to take which road during peak hours and which road during off-peak hours. He joked that he could now drive there with his eyes closed.
After completing the formalities, Chen Wengang still stayed in the familiar ward.
This time his hospital stay spanned quite a long time.
From summer to winter, the entire latter half of the year, Chen Wengang hardly returned to the apartment.
In order to increase the area of skin available for grafting, doctors had to implant expanders under the skin, injecting saline solution multiple times. Cutting the skin, placing the expanders, waiting for healing, getting injections, cutting off the skin, surgical sutures… then waiting for several months of long recovery.
Huo Niansheng visited and accompanied him from time to time.
Seemingly because he could empathize with the pain of the surgery, he showed utmost care, almost like clocking in for work, visiting five or six times a week. Sometimes Chen Wengang, due to medication, slept without distinguishing between day and night. When he closed his eyes, Huo Niansheng was by his bedside, and when he opened his eyes again, he was still there.
He suspected that Huo Niansheng saying goodbye last night meant he hadn’t left at all.
Huo Niansheng said no, he had just come today.
Chen Wengang was in the surgical department’s ward in the hospital building, and coincidentally, there was a teenager in the neighboring bed who was over ten years old. Because of severe burns, he also needed skin graft surgery, and the painful swelling and cracking of his skin often filled the entire floor with cries of agony. Every time he was about to be taken for an injection, it was like going into battle. He would grab onto the bed rails, IV stand, door frame, and anything else to prevent himself from being dragged away and tortured.
The two of them would listen to the particularly fierce screams from the corridor together in the room, along with the curses and insults he had learned from somewhere.
Chen Wengang was relatively okay. As an adult, he wasn’t yet resorting to the same ways to vent his anger and frustration.
He just became much quieter and didn’t feel like joking around as much.
Long-term pain would lead to decreased sleep quality, loss of appetite, and a gloomy mood. When doctors and nurses came to ask him questions, he answered truthfully, and when they left, he would silently lie back on the bed. If Huo Niansheng joked with him, he would cooperate with a smile.
But he stopped drawing. Every time Huo Niansheng entered the ward, he would mostly be curled up in bed sleeping.
Over these months, Chen Wengang always seemed to be in a sorry state in Huo Niansheng’s eyes.
He often had various medical devices on him, indwelling needles, braces, bandages… and all sorts of marks, either bruised or oozing pus. Even the skin donor site would leave scars. In short, he never looked completely intact.
So his immune system was also weak, and various postoperative complications emerged one after another, as if erupting suddenly. Fortunately, the worst didn’t happen, but the most serious incident during this time was when Chen Wengang developed severe pneumonia.
He was on a ventilator for a week and coughed for over a month. During that time, Huo Niansheng stayed in the hospital to accompany him, sleeping on the sofa in the outer room at night. Chen Wengang coughed violently, keeping him awake all night, and Huo Niansheng might be awakened three or four times in one night.
When he was awakened, he would go in, turn on the night light, pat Chen Wengang’s back, and give him some water to suppress the cough.
Chen Wengang couldn’t understand him more and more.
He tried to fathom Huo Niansheng’s mindset, feeling that Huo Niansheng seemed to have developed some sort of knightly complex towards him. The more effort one invested in taking care of someone, the greater the cost would be, and it would become increasingly difficult to let go. But this someone didn’t necessarily have to be limited to a specific person; many people also meticulously took care of pets, disregarding costs and returns. He seemed to be Huo Niansheng’s… how should he put it, a pet, a piece of artwork, a charitable project.
A bed partner who couldn’t be considered ideal.
A responsibility taken on inexplicably.
One night, Huo Niansheng woke up again in the middle of the night, hearing the stifled coughing in the ward.
He pushed open the door, and Chen Wengang was lying with his back to the door, hunched over like a shrimp, trying to suppress the cough, but it was easier said than done. He endured it, his entire back trembling, muscles tensing tightly, emitting wheezing, painful breaths akin to asthma from his throat.
Huo Niansheng clicked on the light, and Chen Wengang heard him wake up, so he didn’t need to hold back anymore, turning into a series of heart-wrenching coughs.
He coughed deeply, the itching rising from his bronchi, lingering and persistent, making it impossible to breathe for quite some time.
He felt a warm, broad hand placed on his back, gently tapping.
Chen Wengang said, “You can go back, there’s really no need for you to stay up. With things like this now, you can’t sleep well, and I can’t sleep well either.”
Huo Niansheng sat on the edge of the bed, picked up the syrup from the bedside table, unscrewed it, and gave him a sip.
Chen Wengang swallowed and said he was fine, telling him to go to sleep. After speaking, he felt his lungs itch again, and another round of unending coughs ensued.
Huo Niansheng patiently waited for him to calm down. His eyes were clear, showing no signs of sleepiness, so they both decided not to sleep.
Chen Wengang talked about how he was born prematurely and spent half a month in an incubator when he was a child. Perhaps because of this, his immune system had always been weak from a young age, often falling ill. He even blamed his short stature on this when he was younger.
After speaking, he seemed to find it amusing, a hint of long-lost mischief appearing at the corner of his mouth.
Huo Niansheng could tell he was joking.
Suddenly, he kissed him on the corner of his lips.
During the day, they went for walks. Huo Niansheng took Chen Wengang out to get some sun. There was an art to sunbathing, preferably on the back, but unfortunately, the weather was bad that day, with thick clouds covering the sky. Fortunately, there was wind at high altitude, slowly pushing the clouds aside, and suddenly, a gap appeared in the sky, the sunlight dazzling. It melted his hair, giving it a caramel-like hue.
Chen Wengang sat on the bench, his legs bent, pulling up the pants of his patient gown to reveal two slender ankles.
He stayed indoors for a long time, and his skin was just as glaringly white in the sunlight.
Huo Niansheng leaned his arms on the armrest, looking down with lowered eyes, lost in thought.
He thought that a red string and a pure gold lucky bead would be suitable to wear on his wrist—it might be a bit tacky, but it didn’t matter. It wouldn’t look bad on someone with such fair skin, and the main thing was the good symbolism, for peace, good fortune, and prosperity.
In fact, from some point, Huo Niansheng had already vaguely begun to have doubts.
Why bother enduring all this suffering here?
Cosmetic surgery wasn’t a necessity. If Chen Wengang couldn’t accept himself looking like this, if he minded others’ curious stares, or if he wanted to reintegrate into society, Huo Niansheng could certainly put effort into helping him achieve that. But what if he didn’t want to?
Even if he didn’t work, socialize, or go out, maintaining his current state wasn’t impossible.
There are many ways to live one’s life, nothing is mandatory, and nothing is too serious.
Suddenly, there was a weight on his shoulder, and Huo Niansheng lifted his gaze to see Chen Wengang leaning over, resting his head on his shoulder.
His eyes were slightly closed, as if tired from the sun, and his thin eyelids were trembling imperceptibly. His breathing was shallow, his chest barely rising and falling, and his left hand lay loosely on his knee. His wrist was also thin, mainly because he was too skinny, as if it might break with a slight bend.
Huo Niansheng held his hand, rubbing his fingertips on the back of his hand twice.
Chen Wengang squeezed his hand back.
Not long after winter began, a fellow patient Chen Wengang knew, Professor Lu in Room 403, passed away.
On the day the old professor passed away, his children all returned from abroad. They were all highly educated and behaved very calmly. They held a dignified farewell for the deceased and then sent the body to the morgue.
The child at the end of the corridor was transferred to another hospital, apparently to a children’s hospital, but the details were unclear.
The names on the patient cards in the ward kept changing, with patients coming and going, faces constantly changing.
Even Chen Wengang himself hadn’t realized that by the time he was finally discharged from the hospital and returned home, it was almost the end of the year.
Thinking about it, this year had just passed like this. Students in school were taking final exams, employees in companies were writing self-assessments, everyone was summarizing and looking back, but he, being idle, hadn’t even felt like he had done anything.
About a month before the Spring Festival, the nanny Auntie Meng proposed to resign.
Her two grandsons had been born, her son-in-law was busy with work, and her daughter was a new mother, needing help. She had actually made this decision a long time ago, but she had delayed it for several months just to take care of Chen Wengang.
Huo Niansheng agreed to her resignation.
The domestic service company didn’t lack excellent staff, but because it was during the New Year period, it wasn’t easy to find suitable personnel.
Chen Wengang said forget it, he had hands and feet, and he didn’t necessarily need someone to take care of him.
Huo Niansheng now cherished him as if he were a sick child with special care privileges. Fortunately, the property services were complete, providing hotel-style services for homeowners, so there was no need to worry about household chores like with a live-in maid, but there was no problem with home service.
The crowds buying New Year goods on the street were bustling, carrying goods for eating, wearing, and using, as if they were free.
Huo Niansheng took Chen Wengang to the Spring Flower Market. When they arrived, it was packed with people. Red lanterns hung in strings, vendors shouted continuously, selling couplets, antiques, and, most of all, various kinds of flowers. Orchids, chrysanthemums, kumquats, and peach blossoms were the most popular, with traditional potted plants being the most sought-after and selling the fastest. Chen Wengang still wore a mask, and Huo Niansheng embraced him in the crowd.
With such a high density of people, even paparazzi would find it difficult to sneak in and take two pictures of them.
Huo Niansheng bought two pots of kumquat plants and took them home.
On the day of Laba Festival, an unexpected guest arrived at Yun Ding Building, and Chen Wengang saw his cousin, Huo Zhenfei, again.
Huo Zhenfei had come to visit—he brought several boxes of valuable bird’s nest, stacked them on the entrance cabinet, took off his coat, and was invited into the living room, where he sat on the sofa. He casually chatted with Chen Wengang, showing concern for his recent situation.
He observed Chen Wengang and the doctors had finally made him look a little better, although he still had a long way to go compared to normal people. This wasn’t surprising; he had heard of other cases of sulfuric acid disfigurement, and it was possible to undergo surgery dozens of times.
They chatted, and Huo Zhenfei mentioned that their father wanted to go to Ning An Temple to burn incense for the New Year.
Ning An Temple was built on Longming Mountain, which belonged to Zhang city. It was famous for its bustling incense and was crowded with devotees every New Year’s Day, vying for the first incense. Huo Niansheng thought it was troublesome: “Can’t you take a leave?”
Huo Zhenfei said, “Of course not.”
Huo Niansheng asked, “Where did this idea come from again?”
His cousin said, “Grandfather’s tablet is enshrined in Ning An Temple, and it’s been exactly three years since his passing. Dad even said he dreamt of him that day. Just go along to make the old man happy, accompany him to pray for prosperous family business and thriving descendants. Isn’t it good for the whole family to be happy together during the New Year?”
Huo Zhenfei added, “Burning incense and worshiping Buddha, if you have any wishes, you might as well go along and pray while you’re at it.”
Huo Niansheng laughed, “But I don’t believe in Buddhism! Why am I still being dragged by elders like a primary school student to burn incense?”
Huo Zhenfei showed a helpless expression, “Uncle Er’s family plus Jing Sheng, everyone is going, it wouldn’t be right if you’re the only one missing. Come on.”
Suddenly, Huo Niansheng’s elbow was pushed.
Chen Wengang whispered softly, “You should go.”
Huo Niansheng heard it, still with a smiley yet not smiley expression. He relaxed, crossed his legs, and his gaze flickered between Chen Wengang and Huo Zhenfei, as if carefully weighing and considering something.
Finally, his gaze returned to Chen Wengang, and for some reason, he suddenly said, “Okay, okay, I’ll go. How many days are we going for?”
Huo Zhenfei said, “Dad wants to stay for two days of vegetarian meals. If you have things to do, after you finish burning incense, you can come back on your own.”
So, before the thirtieth day of the lunar month, Huo Niansheng returned to the old house.
For Chen Wengang, the Spring Festival was really insignificant. The so-called family reunion had no special meaning for him.
He arranged the kumquat plants Huo Niansheng bought neatly, wiping each leaf clean.
The refrigerator was still filled with various ingredients. Huo Niansheng’s refrigerator was like a treasure trove, always full and never lacking.
Chen Wengang wasn’t good at cooking, so Huo Niansheng let him handle it himself. There were pots in the house, and he didn’t need to worry about bowls; he could leave them in the sink for the housekeeping staff to clean up.
He cooked a bowl of noodles, brought it to the coffee table to eat, turned on the TV, and the house became lively. On TV, experts were talking about traditional customs for the New Year, a repetitive segment every year, and then switched to a debate on whether modern society’s New Year atmosphere was fading.
Being single and without a family, Huo Niansheng didn’t bring his driver. He directly squeezed into the car with Huo Zhenfei’s family of three.
The Huo family’s convoy set off mightily, stopping at a hotel at the foot of the mountain. This place could operate as a five-star hotel, relying on the mountain for resources and the water for sustenance. It was all thanks to the famous mountains and temples that drove the local economy, which many celebrities and tycoons favored.
On the first day of the lunar New Year, as dawn broke, Uncle Huo took the younger generation from their family to light the first incense as they had wished.
In front of the Buddha statue, there was a lingering smoke, flowing upwards, and the solemn sound of bells echoed through the sky.
Dang—
Ning An Temple had a long history, with ancient and solemn buildings nestled among red walls and green trees, but it wasn’t quiet. Starting from New Year’s Eve, it was bustling with people coming to pray. The crowd wrapped around layers inside and out. Huo Niansheng gradually drifted away and blended in with the tourists.
Two girls had just finished burning incense, holding hands as they passed by him, chatting lively with melodious voices.
“They say the amulets here are effective. They’re blessed, why don’t you buy one? You can give it to someone as a gift.”
“I have no one to give it to. Otherwise, I’d help Teacher Yang see if there’s one that attracts peach blossom luck?”
“Then call it a Peach Blossom Talisman instead of a Peace and Fortune Talisman—hey, does the temple even sell Peach Blossom Talismans?”
“You can pray for marriage in front of the Buddha, it’s not impossible!”
Huo Zhenfei led his son out from behind the Moon Cave Gate and saw his rebellious cousin lounging around, seemingly striking a male model pose against a gnarled pine tree in the backyard.
Huo Niansheng leaned leisurely against the tree trunk, head held high, gaze distant, his posture relaxed, one hand hanging down.
Huo Zhenfei saw that he was holding something in the palm of his hand, with a bright red silk thread peeking out from between his fingers.
Huo Niansheng heard footsteps but didn’t look at them. He was staring at the towering eaves of the temple, as if he were gazing at the solemn appearance of the Buddha through the earth and wood architecture in this deep forest temple.
Phones had to be set to silent upon entering the temple until they returned to the hotel. Huo Niansheng saw a missed call on his phone.
The screen displayed Chen Wengang’s number.
He hesitated for a moment, then dialed back. There was no answer on the first try. It wasn’t until the second try that the call went through, but there was still no sound from the other end.
Huo Niansheng stood by the window, calling out Chen Wengang’s name, telling him not to panic, and asking what was wrong.
The response he received was still the silent silence, only the increasingly heavy breathing.
Huo Niansheng furrowed his brows, and as he raised his hand, he accidentally knocked over a cup, which rolled to the ground, soaking the carpet.
Chen Wengang curled up in the vestibule, hugging his knees. His lips moved, but he couldn’t make any sound. He originally made the phone call seeking help. When he heard Huo Niansheng’s voice, for some reason, his throat felt like it was stuffed with cotton, and he couldn’t speak despite trying several times.
Half an hour later, Amanda rushed from her parents’ house to the boss’s apartment.
She helped Chen Wengang up and called a car to take him to the hospital.
His eye discomfort had actually been there for a while, at least since Huo Zhenfei’s visit, when he had some symptoms. At first, it was just a subtle pain and a slight sensitivity to light. But he wasn’t sure if it was a big problem, so he didn’t mention it rashly.
It wasn’t until he woke up from his nap that he couldn’t see anything—so it’s not surprising that he panicked. There was no one around, and the familiar home suddenly became difficult to navigate. He groped his way to the door, but there was nothing he could do, and he didn’t even think to call for emergency help.
Sympathetic ophthalmia.
The doctor explained, “So, our body is like a very sophisticated machine. If one part is affected, it can affect the whole body. Sometimes people say that if one eye goes blind, the other will too. That’s because if one eye is injured, it can stimulate the production of antigens in the eye, triggering an autoimmune reaction that may affect the healthy tissue of the other eye. The injured eye is called the sympathetic eye. Eye trauma doesn’t always cause sympathetic ophthalmia. Some people develop it weeks or months after eye injury, some after a year, and some may not experience it until several decades later…”
He skillfully drew a diagram of an eyeball on paper and talked eloquently.
After the doctor finished speaking, he stopped, having been in the medical field for many years, leaving time for the patient’s family to understand and react.
Huo Niansheng sat in a chair opposite him, his face as calm as water. He was still wearing the same clothes he wore to light the incense, a black Chester coat with a matte velvet lapel, and shiny leather shoes. He exuded an air of formality suitable for attending formal occasions.
His fingers fidgeted with the metal cigarette case in his pocket, then moved away.
Huo Niansheng shifted in his seat and asked humbly and gently, “Wasn’t everything fine before?”
The doctor smiled kindly, pointing to his own eyes. “Our bodies are like machines, and the original parts are always the best. If you can avoid it, don’t mess with them. The principle of treatment is first to save lives, then to save the eyeball, and finally to save vision. The previous treatment was fine. Sometimes, it depends on whether fate is on your side. If you can’t save it, then you have to make the tough call.”
Huo Niansheng confirmed the time for further consultation with him.
He entered the hospital building. It was still the New Year season, but there seemed to be more people hospitalized this year than last. A bed was wheeled past him, the patient’s face obscured, only a short, thick hand poking out from under the covers, with an IV bag attached to the top. A caregiver helped an elderly woman down the stairs slowly, her back hunched, her withered hand gripping the handrail.
A middle-aged doctor led a few interns, discussing medical records as they walked out.
Huo Niansheng climbed the stairs, counting the door numbers until he found the room.
Chen Wengang had already been properly placed on the bed. Hearing the door push open and footsteps approaching, he slowly sat up again.
Huo Niansheng saw him groping and reaching out towards him.
That hand hesitated in the air for a moment before getting a response. Huo Niansheng hesitated for a few seconds before finally reaching out and holding it.
Chen Wengang felt someone sitting down beside him. Despite the darkness before his eyes, he keenly smelled the familiar scents of aftershave and woody perfume. It felt like he found a refuge, so he wrapped his arms around, tightly hugging Huo Niansheng’s waist.
His warm breath sprayed on Huo Niansheng’s neck. Huo Niansheng asked, “Are you scared?”
Chen Wengang said, “No.”
His emotions had calmed down, and he apologized for causing a commotion with everyone during the New Year.
Huo Niansheng sat at the bedside, chattering away, reiterating the doctor’s words, complaining about what had happened, and scolding him for not speaking up when no one was around. He even said that next time, if anything was wrong, he should speak up earlier—something even children knew.
Chen Wengang leaned his head against his neck, silent, allowing Huo Niansheng to scold him.
Huo Niansheng adopted a soothing tone again, saying that nothing serious would happen, and asked if he could recover his vision.
He rushed back in a disheveled state, his voice hoarse. With every word he spoke, Chen Wengang felt the corresponding vibration in his chest.
Chen Wengang was familiar with this voice. He closed his eyes, but couldn’t imagine Huo Niansheng’s face, especially his expression. Because it simply didn’t sound like Huo Niansheng, but like another personality splitting from his body, gentler, calmer, but unlike him.
Was he always like this? Just by listening to his words, who would think he was a playboy who lived for pleasure?
Huo Niansheng laid Chen Wengang back down, still lying beside him, and helped him open his eyelids to administer eye drops.
The consensus reached by the experts was that he would need eye removal surgery.
The day Chen Wengang entered the operating room, Huo Niansheng, as usual, waited outside for him.
The red light above his head remained on. Amanda dutifully stayed with him in the waiting area, but to be honest, it was very boring. With nothing else to do, Huo Niansheng turned his phone sideways, played a surgery education video out loud, and passed the time by watching it while lowering his head.
She glanced at it. The 3D animation was demonstrating how to sever the six extraocular muscles and the optic nerve one by one, and how to separate and remove the eyeball. It wasn’t live-action, and it wasn’t gory, but it was still a bit challenging for ordinary people’s nerves. She quickly looked away.
But Huo Niansheng didn’t seem to care much either. After a while, he even asked Amanda to go downstairs to buy coffee.
She came back with the cup to find that her boss was gone.
Amanda searched around and finally saw him through the window.
There was a not-so-small terrace outside the second-floor corridor, and Huo Niansheng had probably moved there to smoke. He was sitting there, one leg on the chair’s armrest and the other on the ground. Being a tall and burly person, the chair seemed a bit small, and this posture made him look like a bankrupt tycoon, still dressed in high-end clothing, with an indescribable sense of defeat and disappointment emanating from his back.
In Amanda’s impression, he hadn’t smoked for a long time, and she thought he had quit. She went over and handed him the coffee before it got cold.
Huo Niansheng took it, set it aside, and continued puffing on his cigarette.
Suddenly, he asked, “By the way, do you believe in Buddhism?”
Amanda was momentarily bewildered but replied, “My mother does. Sometimes, she goes to the temple on the first and fifteenth of the month to release loaches.”
Huo Niansheng raised an eyebrow. “Feudal superstition. Buying loaches on one end and paying money to release them on the other—it’s really a lucrative business.”
Amanda added, “I’m not sure about that. I haven’t paid much attention to these things. If money spent makes her happy, then so be it.”
There was a moment of silence between them.
She continued, “In this kind of thing, it’s said that sincerity is the key. If you want to pray for Mr. Chen, I can ask my mother and give you a contact. There are many opportunities during the period from the first to the Lantern Festival.”
Huo Niansheng stared at her face, but he seemed distracted. After a while, his expression suddenly relaxed.
He laughed loudly, “Without sincere belief, it’s useless!”
Huo Niansheng extinguished his cigarette, adjusted his expression, and stopped joking around. After finishing the coffee in a few sips, he stood up and buttoned his coat.
He straightened up, his trousers clinging to his long legs. With one straightened, all the sense of defeat suddenly dissipated—as if the previous scene was just an illusion, and he was once again the calm and indifferent Huo Niansheng.
Amanda took a step back to make way for him and heard him say, “I don’t know if they’re done yet. Let’s hurry up and go upstairs to check.”
As Huo Niansheng passed by the trash can, he tossed the empty cup into it.
They waited for another two hours, and the “in surgery” sign turned into a green light.
The door of the operating room opened, and a person was pushed out.
Chen Wengang was under local anesthesia, still conscious but not particularly clear-headed. He could hear the sound of the rolling cartwheels, pouring into his ears, but it seemed to have no special meaning. Amidst the rustling sound, the cart made its way into the ward.
Male nurses and caregivers wanted to move him onto the bed, but Huo Niansheng waved them off. He bent down and found it easier to lift Chen Wengang horizontally by himself and put him on the bed. Chen Wengang’s hospital gown drooped down, revealing a piece of his waist.
Huo Niansheng pulled up the blanket to cover him up to his chest.
Amanda went downstairs to handle some paperwork, and the caregivers also temporarily left. After a brief chaotic moment, the air settled down.
Author’s Note:
1. All medical symptoms and medical-related content in the text are sourced from Baidu Baike, Baidu Health, popular science public accounts, and other medical websites. Due to the author’s mixing and rephrasing, it is difficult to directly correspondingly cite the sources. If there are any omissions, please remind me. Thank you!
2. Lighting the first incense stick is often done at dawn on New Year’s Day, and it usually follows the time when the temple opens its doors.
Prev | Table of Contents | Next
I’m running out of tears