TLSMLMMM Chapter 38

Chu Junlie didn’t sleep well all night. In his dream, there was a handsome little boy with long hair, cornered against a wall by more than a dozen classmates. They looked at him with mocking eyes, using their numbers to overpower him, ignoring his struggles as they pressed pieces of chewing gum into his beautiful, soft hair, one after another.

What had once been smooth, ink-black hair was ruined by blobs of colorful gum. Tears hung on the little boy’s cheeks as he tried every possible way to wash it out—until, in the end, he could only pick up a pair of scissors.

Hair fell to the ground along with the gum. The boy’s beautiful eyes stopped crying. He looked at himself in the mirror, his gaze slowly drawing inward, growing colder and colder. When school let out again, he indifferently met the gloating looks of the culprits. On the way home, at the moment one of them passed by, the boy swung a badminton racket from PE class and smashed it hard into the other’s face.

A faint sound came from the room. Chu Junlie groggily opened his eyes and saw Liefeng snoring. It seemed the dog had heard the noise too, Liefeng shifted his sleeping position and went right back to sleep.

Chu Junlie closed his eyes again. The dream seamlessly continued, yet it had changed.

The little boy visibly grew up, becoming Mr. Si, his refined features cold and aloof, high above others.

Those long, straight legs straddled the culprit’s body. A well-defined hand grabbed the person beneath him by the collar, forcing their head up.

“Look at me.”

His pale lips parted slightly. Chu Junlie’s heart began to race uncontrollably. The surroundings shifted into a place Chu Junlie knew well. Their posture remained the same, but the location had become the walk-in closet beside the bedroom.

A full-length mirror stood brightly to one side. The wardrobe doors were all open, mirrors lining the interior. The entire space was like a maze of reflections, every surface reflecting the scene at its center.

In the mirror, Chu Junlie saw that the person pinned beneath Mr. Si had become himself. The heat in his body surged beyond control, turning into raw instinct. Looking at the person sitting on him, he let out a low, involuntary sound.

Chu Junlie jolted awake. His rapid breathing echoed through the bedroom, taking a long while to calm.

Liefeng lifted his head warily and saw his owner carefully pull back the blanket to peek inside. Immediately afterward, he slammed it back down, his face burning red.

As if he’d done something bad, the owner shuffled into the bathroom in an odd posture. Soon after, the familiar sound of running shower water came from inside.

He’d gone to bed a bit late the night before. When Si Yunyi woke in the morning, he clearly felt he’d need a nap later to make up for it.

After washing up and leaving the bedroom, Si Yunyi saw Chu Junlie in the kitchen making an omelet. Chu Junlie also seemed not to have slept well, his head was lowered staring at the eggs, his mind clearly somewhere far away.

Si Yunyi walked into the kitchen and saw that the omelet was about to burn.

“Xiao Chu.” Si Yunyi raised his hand and snapped his fingers in front of Chu Junlie.

Chu Junlie jolted back to his senses and immediately caught the burnt smell coming from the omelet.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Si!” Chu Junlie hurriedly turned off the heat, slid the smoking omelet onto a plate, then carried the frying pan to the sink to rinse it.

“What were you thinking about?” Si Yunyi calmly left the kitchen, took out two cups, poured some warm water into them, kept one for himself, and handed the other to Chu Junlie.

“Thank you, Mr. Si.” Chu Junlie accepted the cup with both hands, his gaze darting away. He didn’t dare admit that he’d been thinking about the latter half of last night’s dream, much less admit that somewhere deep in his mind, a restless desire was stirring, wishing Mr. Si would treat him the way he had in the dream.

“I… I was thinking about taking Grandpa to the hospital today,” Chu Junlie said with his head lowered, gripping the cup tightly.

Si Yunyi took a sip of water and gave a slight nod.

“Yesterday, I noticed shoe prints on the old man’s clothes. The area around his right ribs seemed to have been kicked several times. Besides the routine checkups, you should also take him for a liver ultrasound to see if there’s any damage.”

“Alright, Mr. Si.” Chu Junlie nodded seriously. After finishing the water, he did his best to rein in his wandering thoughts and returned to the counter.

After breakfast, Si Yunyi transferred more money to Chu Junlie for the old man’s medical checkups. Looking at the transaction history—one transfer after another from Mr. Si, Chu Junlie cautiously lifted his eyes to glance at him.

“If it’s not enough, tell me,” Si Yunyi said calmly as he looked at Chu Junlie. “Don’t try to save money.”

Chu Junlie couldn’t help lowering his head shyly. In his past life, he must have saved the galaxy to be able to be with Mr. Si!

The old man had no relation to Mr. Si and wasn’t even a blood relative of his own, just someone he’d helped a few times. Yet Mr. Si had joined in without hesitation, supporting and fulfilling his goodwill.

Mr. Si truly respected him.

After breakfast, Chu Junlie took a day off to accompany the old man to a major hospital for checkups. Hospitals never seemed to lack people; nearly every test required standing in line.

After a busy morning, all the examinations were finally completed. The results came out quickly, the doctor instructed Chu Junlie to retrieve them directly from the machines on the first floor after 2:30 p.m.

Once he had the results in hand, Chu Junlie brought the slightly dizzy old man back to the consultation room and handed all the reports to the young doctor.

As the doctor reviewed the reports, he seemed to notice something amiss. His brows gradually furrowed as he looked at the old man.

“Sir, have you noticed a decrease in appetite recently? Not really wanting to eat?”

The old man looked at the doctor and answered honestly, “A little. I’ve been eating better these days—I might just not be digesting it well.”

The doctor examined the data. “Have you been feeling feverish lately?”

“Yes,” the old man nodded. “Xiao Chu bought me a down jacket. Wearing it, I’ve felt hot all the time.”

The doctor glanced at him with a somewhat speechless expression, then asked the old man to roll up his pant legs. He bent down and pressed on the old man’s calves. Each press left a deep indentation that took a long time to rebound.

“Doctor, what’s going on?” Chu Junlie hadn’t studied medicine, but even he could tell something was wrong.

“Please wait a moment. I’ll call the department head,” the young doctor said, his brows tightly knit. He took the examination data and left the consultation room. Shortly after, he returned with an elderly woman in a white lab coat.

When Chu Junlie saw her, his eyes widened in surprise. The woman also looked momentarily surprised when she saw him.

“Aunt Wen!” Chu Junlie recognized her immediately, she was a good friend of Mr. Si.

“What a coincidence, Xiao Chu,” Aunt Wen said, though she clearly couldn’t bring herself to smile. Looking at the old man seated in the room, she cautiously asked, “Xiao Chu, who is this to you?”

“He’s a friend of mine,” Chu Junlie replied earnestly. “We met where I work.”

From the old man’s appearance alone, Aunt Wen already had a rough idea of the situation.

“Alright then, Xiao Chu, take your friend to do a few more tests,” Aunt Wen said, turning to the young doctor. “This patient will be transferred to me.”

“Yes, Director Wen,” the young doctor replied, quickly moving to the computer to transfer all of the patient’s information.

After completing all the additional tests Aunt Wen requested and receiving the results, Chu Junlie took the films to her office. As she reviewed them, her expression grew increasingly serious.

“Sir,” Aunt Wen said, addressing the old man who was a few years older than her, “do you have any family members who can come to the hospital?”

“I don’t have any family anymore,” the old man shook his head. “My wife passed away early. I had a son, but he borrowed money from all the relatives, ended up in debt, and ran away.”

Hearing this, the difficulty in Aunt Wen’s eyes became even more apparent.

“Doctor, you don’t need to worry about me. Just tell me the results,” the old man said, forcing himself to sit up straighter. “If I hadn’t met Xiao Chu and his partner, I could already see how the rest of my days would end. Now I have food, drink, and a place to live—I’m already very satisfied.”

Aunt Wen glanced at Chu Junlie. After hesitating for a moment, she finally took out the blood test report.

“There’s an indicator here called alpha-fetoprotein. In a healthy person, the level should be under 25 nanograms per milliliter. Yours is 407.

“Based on this alone, we can’t make a definitive diagnosis. However, your liver ultrasound shows a clear mass with uneven texture. That’s why I had Xiao Chu take you for liver function tests and imaging studies as well.”

With visible regret, Aunt Wen looked at the old man. “Based on the results of several tests, I strongly suspect that you may have liver cancer.”

The old man stared blankly at the doctor. Chu Junlie held his breath, almost unable to believe what he was hearing.

“The results of the percutaneous liver biopsy haven’t come out yet,” Aunt Wen continued, gathering the reports together. “Once those are in, we’ll be able to confirm it. Fortunately, you haven’t experienced liver pain or jaundice yet, which suggests the cancer is still at an early stage. With surgery and follow-up treatment, there’s still hope for a cure.”

“Su… surgery?” The old man froze in place.

“Yes. Surgery is mandatory and the sooner, the better,” Doctor Wen answered firmly. “Once it progresses to the middle stage and the cancer cells spread, you’ll lose the chance for surgical treatment. Even if surgery is done then, a cure is basically impossible.”

The old man lowered his head and thought for a moment, then looked up again, asking with difficulty,

“If I don’t have the surgery… how long can I live?”

“There’s no definite answer,” Doctor Wen said solemnly. “I’ve treated several liver cancer patients who refused surgery before. The shortest survived three months; the longest didn’t make it past two years.”

“You’re already very lucky,” Doctor Wen said seriously. “It was discovered early, and there’s still a chance for recovery. You absolutely must not give up like this!”

“Doctor, I won’t hide it from you,” the old man shook his head repeatedly. “I don’t have medical insurance, and I don’t have money. I can’t afford hospitalization, let alone surgery.”

“Aunt Wen,” Chu Junlie, who had been standing to the side the whole time, couldn’t help asking, “how much would the surgery cost?”

“He has no insurance. Conservatively speaking, the surgery alone would cost around sixty thousand. If complications are found, it could exceed eighty thousand,” Doctor Wen looked at Chu Junlie. “That’s just the surgical fee. Including other expenses, I recommend preparing at least one hundred and fifty thousand.”

“One hundred and fifty thousand?!” The old man’s eyes widened, and for a long while he couldn’t say a word.

“Yes,” Doctor Wen said helplessly. “Anesthesia fees, a series of pre-op exams, post-op treatment, medication… one hundred and fifty thousand is only a conservative estimate.”

One hundred and fifty thousand… and that was conservative.

The old man tried to calculate, after selling everything he owned, he wouldn’t even have one thousand yuan.

Chu Junlie also silently calculated his own finances. Today’s examinations had cost over four thousand. The rent he’d paid for the old man earlier was four thousand eight hundred. Add in daily expenses, and the money Mr. Si had given him was now less than twenty thousand.

There was still a long, long way to go before one hundred and fifty thousand.

“I… I don’t want treatment anymore,” the old man shook his head and stood up to leave.

Chu Junlie hurriedly gathered all the test reports and was about to chase after him when Doctor Wen grabbed his arm.

“My judgment is very likely correct. The biopsy results will be out in five days. You must get him to have the surgery. Once the cancer cells spread, there will truly be nothing we can do!”

“I understand, Aunt Wen!” Chu Junlie clutched the documents and rushed out. He found the old man sitting silently on the steps at the hospital entrance, his head lowered.

“Why are you running off, Grandpa?” Chu Junlie pressed his lips together. “You don’t need to worry about the surgery costs. I’ll find a way.”

“You’re not even my real son, why are you taking care of me like this?” The old man turned his back on him, forcing himself not to look at the young man behind him, saying words against his heart. “Stop meddling in my business!”

“How could it have nothing to do with me?” Chu Junlie said seriously. “My partner cares about you very much. We’ve spent so much time together, and you’ve eaten so many meals I cooked, how can you say it has nothing to do with me?”

Having eaten another’s food makes one soft-hearted; for a moment, the old man found himself unable to argue back.

“Doesn’t your conscience hurt, saying that to me just now?” Chu Junlie pulled the old man to sit aside and analyzed it earnestly with him. “I’m not your biological son, but I’m far more reliable than your real son. Don’t you want someone more reliable to take care of you?”

“But…” The old man lowered his head. “But you’re not doing well yourself either. You’ve already given up your dignity to become a live-in son-in-law. How can I make you drain your savings, and then bow your head again, asking others to borrow money for me?”

“There is no ‘others,’” Chu Junlie said, looking at the phone in his hand. “There’s only my partner.”

“Only him.”