Baihe County First People's Hospital.
Lu Hongluan hurried into the hospital room.
Seeing her gaunt and haggard mother, she burst into tears once again.
"Mom, why didn't you tell me when something like this happened?"
The girl's mother looked rather exhausted. In her youth, she had been a beauty, but now the passing years and illness had eclipsed most of that prettiness.
Looking at Lu Hongluan, she said softly, "Mom's body is fine, your uncle is just worrying over nothing."
"Think of how far you came from Tianhai City, and how expensive the train ticket is."
"Still, it's good that you're back. Help Mom get discharged."
Lu Hongluan shook her head frantically. "Mom, I can make money now. I have money."
She hurriedly pulled out a thick stack of cash and said, "I met a kind-hearted boss who gave me a job. Mom, don't worry, get your treatment and don't fret about the medical bills."
Her voice was choked with sobs.
Yet her mother simply shook her head.
She said, "Save this money to use as your dowry."
"Mom is useless and didn't leave you any dowry."
Lu Hongluan's eyes were red-rimmed.
At that moment, a doctor walked over. "Are you Lu Yuzhen's family member? Please come and get the paperwork and the billing list."
"Mom, I'll go pay first."
She followed the doctor outside.
Then, upon seeing Lu Yuzhen's medical diagnosis notice, her mind went completely blank.
"According to our preliminary diagnosis, your mother appears to be in the middle stage of gastric cancer."
"There's still hope if she receives timely treatment."
Lu Hongluan hastily said, "Doctor, please, I'm begging you to save my mother."
"Hear me out first." The doctor paused and continued, "Baihe County is a small county, and our capabilities and equipment are rather limited. Therefore, if you want to proceed with treatment surgery, we suggest transferring directly to a major hospital, such as Changan Hospital."
"Of course, if you have the means to transfer to an even better hospital, that's fine too."
"In addition, my preliminary estimate is that even with comprehensive insurance coverage, you will still need to prepare an additional four to five hundred thousand for subsequent physical therapy and recuperation."
"While the hospital can cover a portion through insurance, the subsequent expenses are not reimbursable."
Lu Hongluan froze in place.
When the doctor spoke those words, it meant reality was ruthlessly shattering her.
She didn't have much money.
Although she had been earning money recently, a portion of it had to be kept for living expenses at university, and another portion had to go toward repaying her loans.
Almost all her college funds had come from student loans.
Besides that, she also had to reserve a portion of the money to rent a place outside, otherwise, her part-time job would be extremely inconvenient.
As for the money at home...
She took a deep breath, and just as she was about to say something, she saw the older brotherly figure who had kindly brought her here speak up: "I'll cover this money."
Jiang Chen was standing at the doorway, having heard the entire process.
After seeing the sick woman and witnessing the conversation with the doctor, his intense self-absorption had faded somewhat.
Even so, his impression of Lu Hongluan could still not be considered very good.
After all, Lu Hongluan was far too pretty—so pretty that she didn't look like a child from an ordinary family at all.
He said, "Let's make a deal. I can cover all the expenses for your mother's treatment, and I can also arrange for her to receive treatment at the best hospital in Tianhai City."
Lu Hongluan looked at Jiang Chen and instinctively asked, "And the price?"
"Two years," he said. "I want you to be my girlfriend for two years."
...
When Su Zhi saw Jiang Chen hang up the phone, her headache only worsened.
She curled up on the sofa, looking like an abandoned infant.
Su Zhi's headaches were an old ailment.
It somehow still traced back to Qin Yu.
When she was seventeen, Qin Yu went swimming with others and got a cramp in his leg.
Since she happened to be on the shore, she dove into the water without a second thought.
In the end, the two of them naturally came out safe and sound, but ever since then, her headaches had occasionally flared up.
Later on, her relationship with Qin Yu met with opposition from everyone in her family, and even her best friend Lu Yao didn't look favorably upon it either.
Due to her mental anxiety, her headaches grew even worse.
When she was dating Jiang Chen, he discovered this issue of hers.
She remembered that back then, Jiang Chen had specifically sought out an old doctor of traditional Chinese medicine to treat her, and the doctor had said it required special acupoint massage for relief in order to slowly recover.
Jiang Chen went and learned it.
Ever since he learned the massage techniques, she had never had a headache because of it again.
However, Su Zhi hadn't taken the matter to heart at the time; after all, having someone fawn over her was only natural.
But now...
Lying on the sofa, Su Zhi suddenly realized how pathetic she looked.
With her eyes closed, she instinctively called Lu Yao.
"I feel so awful, Yaoyao."
Su Zhi's groan reached Lu Yao's ears.
Roughly half an hour later, Lu Yao arrived at her residence.
"Ugh, I really can't stand you."
Though there were complaints on Lu Yao's lips, her movements remained efficient. "How did you manage to get yourself into this state?"
"Did Qin Yu bully you again?"
She was standing up for her best friend.
Her friend was so exceptional, yet she still fell into Qin Yu's traps day after day.
It was utterly infuriating.
Still, who asked this person to be her best friend?
Listening to Lu Yao's accusations, Su Zhi instinctively said, "It's not him."
"Not him? Who else could it be?"
Lu Yao curled her lips and said, "How come your old headache acting up again? Didn't your boyfriend already fix that for you?"
"You wouldn't happen to be telling me that you were angered by your boyfriend, would you?"
Su Zhi was slightly startled and instinctively said, "He said we're broken up."
Lu Yao curled her lips. "Serves you right. You went and posted two photos on your WeChat Moments—any man would break up with you. Still, for him to actually be willing to let go of the Su family heiress status and not pester you is quite impressive, I have to admit."
Lu Yao hadn't interacted with Jiang Chen many times, and in her view, Jiang Chen had simply been dating Su Zhi for the sake of her status.
Su Zhi instinctively said, "But I don't want to break up."
"My dear sister, your boyfriend isn't a dog." Lu Yao paused and said, "Forget it, looking at how miserable your complexion is, I'll go boil some brown sugar water for you."
Lu Yao let out a slight sigh.
Su Zhi fell silent.
Perhaps, even she herself didn't quite know what kind of thoughts she was having right now.
She opened her phone and instinctively tapped on her WeChat Moments.
Only then did she notice that there was not a single piece of information regarding Jiang Chen in her Moments.
As if he had never existed at all.
Seemingly thinking of something, Su Zhi suddenly clicked into Jiang Chen's WeChat Moments.
Then, she saw that Jiang Chen had updated his status: "Let me introduce my new girlfriend."
A picture was attached to the update.
It was a picture of Jiang Chen's right hand holding Lu Hongluan's left hand.
Su Zhi's face turned as pale as paper, disbelieving.