The Scorching Sun - 47
When Fang Zhuo stepped out of the office, she saw Xiao Mu standing in the corner of the waiting area, staring down at the tips of his shoes, completely at a loss.
Seeing Ye Yuncheng collapse in front of him had shaken him badly. He blamed himself, convinced that he hadn't taken good enough care of Ye Yuncheng.
Everything about this place was unfamiliar to him, yet he couldn't even find the ordinary fear he ought to have felt.
Fang Zhuo composed herself and walked over, putting on a deliberately casual smile. "It's okay now. The doctor said he'll be better soon."
Xiao Mu lifted his head and asked through his sobs, "Really?"
Fang Zhuo rubbed his head and pulled the corners of her mouth into a strained smile. "Really."
The world had seemed to flicker past like a mirage just moments ago, leaving her in a panic unlike anything she'd ever known. It suddenly made Fang Zhuo realize that she wasn't nearly as strong as she'd imagined.
Life was too unpredictable, full of rises and falls, light and darkness shifting without warning. Sometimes, all it took was one small accident to leave a person utterly helpless. At the same time, she realized that no matter how mature she became, she might never be able to calmly face Ye Yuncheng's departure.
So this was what maturity meant. Not becoming so strong that nothing could defeat you, but finding the courage to face every single thing you'd once been afraid to face. You couldn't close your eyes. You couldn't run away. Sometimes, you even had to smile and pretend you were doing fine.
Once again, she desperately wished she could grow up, grow up enough to protect other people.
Fang Zhuo buried every trace of her own despair and smiled as she comforted Xiao Mu. "It's a good thing you were with your uncle and got him to the hospital in time. That's why nothing serious happened."
Xiao Mu asked again, "Really?"
"Really," Fang Zhuo said. "Let's go see him."
When they entered the hospital room, Ye Yuncheng was still unconscious, sleeping quietly where he lay. His brows were drawn tightly together, and even in sleep, he looked deeply uneasy.
There was only one chair beside the bed. Fang Zhuo had Xiao Mu sit there and wait. He half-lay against the edge of the bed, obediently keeping quiet.
Fang Zhuo had no idea what she was supposed to do at a time like this. After gathering her thoughts, she decided to find Liu Qiaohong first. She picked up the phone from the bedside table and lit the screen, only to find several text messages waiting there.
They were all from Yan Lie, asking what was wrong and where she was. He'd sent four or five in a row, then stopped around the time class ended. He'd probably gone straight to find the homeroom teacher.
Fang Zhuo was just about to type out a reply when a new incoming call appeared on the screen. The caller ID read "Homeroom Teacher."
She took the phone out of the room and walked toward the small balcony at the end of the corridor, tapping to answer as she went.
"Fang Zhuo, where are you right now?"
Fang Zhuo gave hee the name of the hospital, then briefly explained Ye Yuncheng's condition and said that she probably wouldn't be able to return to class for the next couple of days.
"As long as he's okay, we'll sort everything else out. I'll have the Class Monitor copy the notes and bring them to you later, so don't worry." The homeroom teacher paused before asking, "Do you have enough money with you? Is there an adult there with you?"
"I don't know. I haven't found out how much it'll cost yet," Fang Zhuo said. "I'll call Uncle Liu and ask. He should have all of my uncle's information."
It was still between classes, and the background on the other end was extremely noisy. Every now and then, Fang Zhuo could even hear Yan Lie's voice. She said, "Okay. I've still got one last class. I'll come to the hospital after it's over and check on you. Keep the phone with you. If anything happens, call me, understand?"
Fang Zhuo said she understood, hung up, and immediately dialed Liu Qiaohong.
The hospital corridor was long and dim. Even with the lights on in broad daylight, it gave off a cramped, oppressive sense of gloom.
The moment Fang Zhuo stepped onto the balcony, the view opened up before her. The moving air swept away the hospital's ever-present smell, clearing her head considerably.
At this hour, Liu Qiaohong was outside doing promotional work. When he answered the call, he greeted her in a hearty voice. "What's up, Ye-ge? Something good happen?"
Hearing his voice, Fang Zhuo was suddenly overcome by an inexplicable ache. "Uncle Liu."
Liu Qiaohong immediately sensed that something was wrong. He found a quieter place before speaking. "It's Fang Zhuo? Shouldn't you be in class right now?"
"My uncle's been hospitalized." Fang Zhuo drew a breath. "He's going to have his gallbladder removed."
"I see..." Liu Qiaohong's voice remained calm, carrying thoughtfulness but little outward emotion. "It's okay. It's a minor operation. Are you at the hospital right now?"
The steadiness in his voice calmed Fang Zhuo as well. "Yes. I wanted to ask about medical insurance. I don't really understand how it works. Given my uncle's condition, roughly how much will it cover?"
Liu Qiaohong gave a couple of dry laughs. "Don't worry about the money. I remember gallbladder removal isn't expensive. Old Qin from our village didn't get his gallbladder operated on until it was already inflamed and swollen. He went to a specialist, and it only cost him twenty or thirty thousand. His insurance covered eighty percent. Your uncle should be able to get ninety-five percent covered. I'll go apply for temporary assistance for you now and bring it over later. You won't have to pay anything. If there's a problem, go to a major hospital and explain the situation. They'll operate on your uncle first. We'll deal with everything else once I get there."
Fang Zhuo nodded. "The doctor said they'll operate as soon as the examinations are finished."
"Then that's good. Nothing to worry about." Liu Qiaohong's voice suddenly rose, and he put on an angry tone. "What's wrong with Ye-ge? Acute cholecystitis, and bad enough that he needs surgery. I told him to take better care of himself, but he never takes it seriously. Once he's recovered, I'm definitely going to give him a talking-to. Oh, right, did you get your medical insurance through school? You have to get it, you know."
Fang Zhuo wasn't sure either. "The school should've enrolled me, right?"
Liu Qiaohong became serious. "Ask your teacher again and make absolutely sure. You don't have a registered poverty status, so you can't afford to miss out on benefits like this."
There was a pause of two or three seconds on the phone.
"It's okay," Liu Qiaohong said. "Did you get scared by all those stories in the news about people who couldn't afford treatment? Things are changing quickly. In just these past couple of years, there have been a lot of policies to help ordinary people and alleviate poverty. The targeted poverty alleviation strategy started being implemented in 2015. Someone in your uncle's situation is exactly the kind of person the government is supposed to help. Otherwise, what do you think Uncle Liu gets paid to do?"
Fang Zhuo smiled faintly and answered in a muffled voice. "Mm."
She looked toward the end of the corridor. A dark silhouette was gradually emerging from the glare. Xiao Mu said the doctors and nurses were looking for someone over there, Fang Zhuo quickly hung up and hurried back to the room.
The medical staff explained everything in painstaking detail. Fang Zhuo entered all the precautions into her phone's notes, then followed their instructions and signed the necessary paperwork. Before long, a place opened up in the operating room, and Ye Yuncheng was wheeled away.
Once the bed was empty, several of the other patients' family members nearby took the initiative to strike up a conversation with Fang Zhuo.
A slightly plump auntie washed an apple for Fang Zhuo and told her to go back and gather the things she'd need for washing up. She also gave her plenty of advice on caring for a patient, saying she'd take Fang Zhuo around to several of the hospital cafeterias later.
They had seen that Fang Zhuo's family situation could only be described as "extremely difficult." There was one disabled patient, one person with an intellectual disability, and one high school student. Every one of them needed someone to care for them, so they had plenty to say. Before leaving, even the doctor had asked everyone to look after them a little more.
Gallbladder removal might be considered a minor operation, but postoperative care still required great caution, and Ye Yuncheng would need to remain in the hospital under observation for more than a week. If it wasn't taken seriously, he could develop an infection, suffer internal damage, or experience a number of other complications, all of which could be extremely painful.
Even if the surgery itself didn't cost much, the rehabilitation, recovery, and dietary care afterward would still require money. Fang Zhuo had Xiao Mu wait outside the operating room while she went home to gather some things and bring over Ye Yuncheng's savings.
On the bus ride home, Fang Zhuo no longer felt any particularly strong surge of emotion. She watched the still-bare greenery lining both sides of the road and let the threads of spring wind brush past her. Her state of mind felt like the lake in her neighborhood, disturbed only by the faintest ripples.
She dug a nylon sack out of the little storage room downstairs and dragged it upstairs with her.
The rented apartment was thick with the rich aroma of braised food, and the ingredients were still spread out across the table exactly as she'd left them.
Fang Zhuo went around shutting the doors and windows tight. She checked the stove valves and electrical switches, making sure everything was safe before returning to the kitchen. She cooked a pot of rice, then ladled two bowls of the braised food into insulated containers to bring to the hospital for lunch, putting the rest temporarily in the refrigerator.
She remembered that Ye Yuncheng kept his money together with his account book, hidden underneath one of the cabinet drawers. Once she entered the bedroom, she calmly sorted out the clothes she needed before crouching down and rummaging through the drawers.
She found everything easily enough. The loose cash was tucked inside the account book. After taking it out and carefully counting it, she found there was only 1,200 yuan in total. It was money he'd kept aside for buying groceries and other daily necessities. There was also a bank card beside it, but Fang Zhuo didn't know the password.
She quickly went through everything again from the beginning, checking to make sure she hadn't missed anything.
The account book had been in use for many years, though it was only recently that it had started filling up with entries so frequently.
Ye Yuncheng's sources of income were exceedingly simple. In the early years, he had lived on substitute teaching and various subsidies. His expenses were just as limited. Aside from buying ingredients, there was almost nothing else to spend money on.
Fang Zhuo had always found one thing puzzling. Ye Yuncheng lived alone and hardly ever bought anything unnecessary. He didn't even replace his furniture with new pieces. So why had he been in such dire straits when she'd first met him? Other than the money he'd eventually sent on to her school, he hadn't had any savings to spare. Uncle Liu had always looked after him, too.
Fang Zhuo flipped toward the middle of the book and saw a familiar name.
Fang Yiming. After his name was a string of bank account numbers, followed by a series of small, irregular transfers, ranging from a few hundred to more than a thousand yuan. At first, he sent money every few months. Later, as the government's assistance became more substantial, he began sending it once a month. There were occasional gaps when he fell ill himself, but he had kept it up all this time. Until the time he sent Fang Zhuo that letter asking her to come home to tend the grave.
He'd saved the money from the following months and used it to renovate the grave.
The emotions Fang Zhuo had kept piled high inside her finally collapsed completely, swallowed whole by a tsunami that had risen out of nowhere.
How could he have done this?
How could he have taken Ye Yuncheng's money?
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