Chapter 35

Yeyuan drove the Raptor at high speed on the highway to Landa City.

"I never thought that Li Hui's family would end up like this."

Originally, Yeyuan, who had been taking care of his classmate's family business, without any hesitation, immediately drove to Landa City when he learned about what had happened to Li Hui's family.

The Raptor roared like a beast, speeding towards Landa City, with trees on both sides quickly passing by the car.

Now, Yeyuan's mind was full of the gentle smile of Li's mother and the scenes of Li Hui's father often putting meat in his bowl when he ate at Li Hui's house.

Soon, the car arrived at the Landa City dock. After searching for a long time without finding anyone, he learned from a few laborers standing at the dock waiting for work that Li Hui's father's condition had worsened, and he had rushed to the hospital.

After finding out the name of the hospital, he drove there and went directly to the oncology department.

At the nurse's station, "Hello, can you tell me which room Li Dongming is in?"

A young nurse with a bit of baby fat looked up at Yeyuan and said in a rather cold tone, "People like you, when someone is so sick, you still come every day to ask for money. You will eventually drive him to his death."

Yeyuan knew the nurse had misunderstood him. Just as he was about to explain, he saw a woman with white hair approaching.

The nurse warmly said to the woman, "Aunt Zhao, if you need anything, just press the bell."

The woman looked at Yeyuan, slightly stunned, and asked uncertainly, "Yeyuan? Are you Xiao Hui's classmate?"

At this moment, Yeyuan also recognized the woman with white hair, Zhao Yueru, Li Hui's mother.

"Yes, Aunt, I am Yeyuan. I heard that Uncle had some issues, so I came to see him."

The young nurse, hearing their conversation, realized she had misunderstood Yeyuan. She stuck out her tongue and said to Yeyuan, "Sorry, I misunderstood you."

"It's okay, it's okay. You were just concerned about the patient."

"Xiaohui, the IV is almost finished. Can you help me remove it?"

Li's mother smiled at the young nurse, and Yeyuan felt a mix of familiarity and strangeness seeing this smile.

He remembered that Zhao Yueru had married Li Hui's father at a young age. At that time, many mothers in the class were already in their forties or close to fifty, but Zhao Yueru was only 42.

In their senior year, the boys in the class secretly voted for the most beautiful mother, and the honor went to her. Zhao Yueru's beauty was well-known in the county. She should have been around 47 or 48, but now she looked over 60. It was unclear how Li Hui's family had gotten through these years.

Li's mother pulled Yeyuan and warmly led him to the ward. Upon entering, they found that a room that should have only had four beds was now filled with six beds.

The corridor was full of folding beds for the caregivers.

Li's mother went to the farthest bed by the window and said to the young man, "Xiao Hui, look who's here."

The young man lifted his head, saw Yeyuan, and his eyes showed a brief moment of surprise, followed by tears welling up in his eyes.

Yeyuan quickly walked over, patted Li Hui's shoulder, and glanced at the emaciated middle-aged man lying on the bed with his eyes closed.

Li Hui looked around and found no place for Yeyuan to sit, so he pulled Yeyuan out of the ward and said to Li's mother, "Mom, I'll take Yuan out to chat. There's no place to sit here."

"Okay, go ahead."

The two walked to the end of the corridor, where there were a few waiting chairs. After sitting down, Li Hui said, "Why did you come? I heard you stayed in Landa after graduation. How's it going?" Yeyuan could hear the distance in Li Hui's words.

The last time they met was in their first year of college, when they went to a KTV in the county and had a big drink.

"I just went to the dock to find you, and they said there was a problem here. What happened?" Yeyuan didn't answer Li Hui's question but directly asked the most pressing one.

Hearing Yeyuan's question, Li Hui's eyes turned red, and he spoke in a suppressed voice, "The doctor asked me to come and told me that if I don't have surgery, it might be too late..." He then squatted down, burying his head deeply, and tears could be seen sliding down his determined face.

Yeyuan suddenly thought of a saying, "Men do not shed tears easily, only when they are truly heartbroken."

Looking at Li Hui, Yeyuan felt a mix of emotions. This person could be said to be his best friend before college. Seeing his childhood friend crying like a child now, he didn't offer comfort. He knew that Li Hui had been suppressing his feelings for a long time, with the pressure of his parents and financial strain weighing heavily on him, yet he was just a young man starting his career.

After Li Hui calmed down, Yeyuan asked, "What's the current situation with Uncle's illness?"

"Without surgery, it will soon turn into a late stage. At that point, it will be too late. Although we have health insurance, many of the surgery costs are not covered, and post-surgery nutrition will also require a lot of money. Our family's current ability cannot afford it, so my father has always been against the surgery."

After hearing Li Hui's story, Yeyuan immediately took out his phone and called the leader, Zhao Chuan. If it came to medical technology, where could it be better than in Shangjing? He wanted to ask Zhao Chuan if he could arrange for a hospital to perform surgery on Li Hui's father.

Zhao Chuan, after hearing Yeyuan's story, said casually, "This would be difficult for others, but it's easy for you. How about the Huaguo Navy Hospital? It's a military hospital with good facilities and advanced technology, and you can also invite experts from other hospitals for consultation."

Yeyuan, of course, agreed. He immediately wanted Zhao Chuan to make the arrangements, but Zhao Chuan laughed on the phone and said, "I don't want to owe you a favor. If you want to get this done, call Grandpa Xu. He has been asking for your phone number."

He then sent a phone number via WeChat.

Yeyuan looked at the phone number in WeChat and shook his head with a bitter smile. He didn't want to deal with that grandfather and grandson, but in the end, he had to take the initiative to find them.

He directly dialed the number.

"Hello, who is this?"

A strong, elderly voice came from the phone.

"Grandpa Xu, hello, I am Yeyuan, Zhao Chuan's college classmate. We met at his father's birthday party."

Yeyuan introduced himself formally.

"Ha ha, you young man, why do you have time to call this old man? Is there something you need? Did you get that special fish for me?"

It was clear that the old man was in a good mood, so Yeyuan directly explained the situation, emphasizing that this was an important elder to him.

"This is no problem, but how will you thank me?" The old man joked.

"Grandpa, this is a matter of life and death. Can we handle this first? We can discuss the rest later."

"Okay, tell me the patient's name and the hospital, and wait for my news." The old man, seeing that Yeyuan was really in a hurry, stopped joking.

Yeyuan sent the information via text message to the old man's phone and soon received a short reply: "Stand by."

Yeyuan shook his head. It was truly a military style, even the text message had a strong military flavor.

ps: Thanks to brother 08a for the tip, and thanks to all the friends who voted.