Chapter 403

Zhou Bingyi, together with Hao Dongmei, ran into the hospital ward in a hurry. He looked at Wang Yan, Chen Jing, Zheng Juan, and Cai Xiaoguang sitting inside, as well as Zheng Guangming and his wife, and finally, his gaze settled on his parents lying on the two beds.

Zheng Guangming got married at the end of 1985; it was introduced by a doctor in the hospital. He was a college student who graduated from Jiangliao University. After graduation, he worked at FAW in Jichun, and the unit was quite good. He looked decent enough, and his family conditions were also fine. In 1986, the two of them had a boy, and Zheng Guangming named his son Zheng Yi. Their little life was going quite well.

This was all notified by Zheng Juan via phone. Because they had to be hospitalized for a while and it wasn't good to leave them alone, Wang Yan asked Chen Jing to drive over and take Zheng Juan home to pack up the things the old couple would need. When leaving, Zheng Juan asked if they should call others, and Wang Yan didn't object.

After all, this matter couldn't be hidden; the old couple were both lying in the hospital, and there was no need to hide it. Moreover, children should know about their parents' health. Therefore, Zheng Juan called all of them, and even Zhou Bingkun, who was busy outside, knew about it and was rushing back from the south.

Seeing this situation, Zhou Bingyi hurriedly looked at Wang Yan: "Xiao Yan, is everything okay?"

"There's a small matter, but the problem isn't big; it's just that they have to stay in the hospital for a while."

Confirming there was no life-threatening danger, Zhou Bingyi let out a long sigh, and only then did he look at Zheng Juan to the side: "You didn't say too much on the phone before. What exactly happened, Zheng Juan? Weren't Mom and Dad doing quite well before? How did they suddenly collapse together?"

These words had a tone of questioning, which everyone present heard. After being pulled by Hao Dongmei, Zhou Bingyi also realized it, and he continued: "No, Zheng Juan, don't misunderstand. I don't mean to blame you; I'm just anxious."

"It's okay, Big Brother, I understand." Zheng Juan nodded. She looked at Cai Xiaoguang and was just about to speak when she was interrupted by Cai Xiaoguang.

"Let me say it, Zheng Juan." Cai Xiaoguang sighed: "It's like this, Big Brother. Before, when Zhou Rong was giving birth, the child died before it was born. Her thinking was a bit extreme, and at that time... tonight, Wang Yan took Mom and Dad over to see Zhou Rong, and Dad said... and then they couldn't catch their breath and collapsed. Mom saw Dad collapse, and in her agitation, she fainted too. It's fortunate that Wang Yan was with them; otherwise, we would have made a huge mistake..."

After hearing the cause, process, and result of the matter, Zhou Bingyi fell silent. He knew it was impossible to stop his own father, and he knew it was impossible to avoid, but he didn't expect Zhou Rong to be like this. He sighed: "This Zhou Rong... is she okay?"

Cai Xiaoguang nodded: "She's fine."

Zhou Bingyi nodded, then went to the bedside, looking at his old father and old mother. He smoothed the stray hair on Li Suhua's forehead, looking at her aged face, and he looked at Zhou Zhigang's circle of white hair and sallow complexion. He held his parents' hands, perhaps only then realizing his parents' old age, lamenting the passage of time, and perhaps simultaneously repenting for himself...

Of course, his repentance was useless; it was just that at a specific time, a specific emotion arose. After this feeling passed, he would go back to doing whatever he was doing, and in the blink of an eye, he would forget it completely.

Wang Yan said: "Alright, everyone go back. I had you come over just so you would know the situation of your aunt and uncle. Now that you've seen them, go back if there's nothing else."

Zheng Juan volunteered: "Brother, let me watch here."

"No need, there are still three children at home. You come over tomorrow; I'll be here. Chen Jing, you drive her back, and then go home."

"Xiao Yan, when can they wake up?"

"They won't wake up tomorrow morning, but they should wake up by noon. Don't worry."

After saying a few more words, Wang Yan sent everyone away, leaving only himself in the ward to look after the old couple, Zhou Zhigang and Li Suhua. Actually, there was no need for him to do anything; after all, he was from this hospital, and his status was very high, so why would he need to stay up with them? Moreover, the old couple were not in life-threatening danger, so there was no need to be overly concerned. Therefore, after everyone left, he stayed for a while longer, gave a few instructions to the nurse, and went directly to his lounge in the hospital to sleep.

The next day, early in the morning, after the children went to school, first Cai Xiaoguang brought food over, then Zheng Juan also rushed over with food, and Chen Jing also came to take a look before going to work; of course, there was no shortage of food. Zheng Guangming, who worked at the hospital, as well as Hao Dongmei, also came to take a look.

Hao Dongmei was from the medical school; she was delayed for two years because of giving birth, studied clinical medicine for eight years, and only graduated last year. She was assigned to the City First Hospital where Wang Yan worked. The City First Hospital was not bad to begin with, and with Wang Yan working there for more than ten years, building a high-level TCM department, increasing financial appropriations in all aspects, rebuilding the hospital layout, importing advanced medical equipment, and recruiting and cultivating medical talent, it was the hospital with the highest comprehensive level in the entire Northeast. One could imagine how high the threshold was. So, even though it was an assignment, it still didn't lack the help of Jin Yueji.

Li Suhua's condition was lighter; she had woken up once in the middle of the night yesterday, drank two sips of water, simply asked about the situation, and slept until after nine o'clock before waking up.

Looking at Zheng Juan guarding to the side, Cai Xiaoguang sitting not far away with a sorrowful face, and turning her head to look at her old partner still in a coma on the adjacent bed, she asked for water...

When Wang Yan went again at noon, Zhou Zhigang had already woken up. He checked on the old couple again; they only needed to recuperate for a few months, and they would be about fine. There was definitely damage, after all, they were old, but he had tried his best to treat them, and it was always better than the original outcome.

Of course, that was his wishful thinking. After all, now that Zhou Zhigang and Zhou Rong had fallen out, as parents, Zhou Zhigang and Li Suhua were undoubtedly suffering immense pain. Mentally, they were not well, and living while worrying all day was also uncomfortable.

However, even so, he had no psychological pressure. After all, from beginning to end, the only thing he did was let Feng Yue go to Zhou Rong and Feng Huacheng's side. After all, what fault was there in letting a daughter live with her parents? As for the rest, that was all Zhou Rong's own performance. Therefore, as for the old couple, they had to figure it out themselves.

It had to be said that Zhou Zhigang was not having it easy either. He had been trying to reason with his daughter Zhou Rong, hoping she could understand where she was wrong. Of course, he didn't want to quarrel with the pregnant Zhou Rong, and he didn't want to see this situation today either. But there was no help for it; Zhou Rong didn't understand, didn't comprehend, and didn't find the problem within herself.

Zhou Rong just thought her own father was holding onto a small matter and wouldn't let go, deliberately making things difficult for her. So after a few words, she felt Zhou Zhigang was going too far, and her words became sharp and biting. Zhou Zhigang's temper was what it was, and his intentions were also there. When that sentence was said a bit too harshly, Zhou Rong heard it wrong, and that was how the quarrel started.

But to be honest, they didn't really quarrel for long; as soon as they saw things were not right, they pulled apart. It was just that they couldn't help but sulk...

In the afternoon, when the sky was about to darken, Zhou Bingkun ran back in a hurry.

Seeing his parents on the hospital bed, he ignored Zheng Juan and asked anxiously: "Dad, Mom, are you okay?"

Having recovered some strength but still unable to hide his weakness, Zhou Zhigang leaned against the head of the bed: "It's okay, it's okay. Look, aren't your mom and I perfectly fine? I said we could go home, but Xiao Yan insisted we couldn't. Sigh..."

"My brother is a doctor, he knows what he's doing. If he says you should stay in the hospital, then he must be right."

Li Suhua said: "Weren't you in Pengcheng? Why did you come back so fast?"

"I flew back from Yangcheng."

"You took a plane? No wonder it was fast." Li Suhua smiled: "Your dad and I are fine. You're so busy in Pengcheng, it would have been better to wait until the New Year to come back."

"It's fine, there are only ten days left until the New Year, it doesn't matter. Everything is almost done."

Zhou Bingkun chatted happily with his parents, never mentioning Zhou Rong's matter from beginning to end, and even ate dinner with them before leaving.

Of course, he didn't go anywhere else; he drove directly to Zhou Rong's house. He had originally wanted to give her a good scolding, but he also knew that Zhou Rong had just lost her child and had been scared yesterday; she was currently ill. Seeing Zhou Rong's weak and fearful appearance, he couldn't bring himself to scold her. He wanted to say harsh words, telling Zhou Rong never to go back again, but he couldn't say that either. Finally, he sighed and only said not to provoke Zhou Zhigang and Li Suhua in the short term, and then he left.

He was still soft-hearted and still wanted his parents to be well. Although he had opinions about this sister before, and this time she almost scared his parents to death, his parents were still alive after all, and he knew his parents were even softer-hearted. Maybe at some point, they would forgive her. So he didn't say anything about never entering the Zhou family's door again, and didn't say anything about never seeing each other again.

Of course, if Zhou Zhigang and Li Suhua were gone in the future, that would be hard to say. Zhou Bingkun was now, at any rate, a business tycoon; if he weren't ruthless, he wouldn't be able to stand firm, and he wouldn't be able to manage so many subordinates.

Zhou Zhigang and Li Suhua stayed in the hospital until the 28th before going home, and they still needed to recuperate and couldn't be provoked again. Come to think of it, ever since Zhou Zhigang retired and returned, he hadn't had a moment of peace in the past six months. Either he was recuperating from being angered, or he was angered again after recuperating; he really hadn't had time to say he had stayed enough and wanted to find work.

In the blink of an eye, it was the Spring Festival, and in the blink of an eye, another year had passed.

During this year's Spring Festival, Zhou Rong and Cai Xiaoguang didn't return. At noon, Feng Yue came back to eat, and then Zhou Bingkun sent her back. The absence of Zhou Rong didn't affect the atmosphere of the New Year. Zhou Zhigang and Li Suhua were trying their best to be cheerful, and their son and daughter-in-law were also trying their best to be happy, so as not to let the old couple think too much.

On the first day of the New Year, Cai Xiaoguang brought things over to visit, said a few words, and left. He was actually the one in the most difficult position. His son was gone; to say he had no resentment toward Zhou Zhigang was impossible, after all, they had always been quarreling. But he was rational, he was reasonable, and although he was a "simp" who had risen to the top, he hadn't lost his way. Having spent these two years together, he knew Zhou Rong's character well and knew the root cause was in Zhou Rong. He still wanted to try his best to ease the relationship between Zhou Zhigang and Zhou Rong, which was why it was difficult. If he had simply ignored it or only stood on Zhou Rong's side, it would have been easier instead.

On the second day, the annual meeting of the in-laws. This time, because of Zhou Zhigang and Li Suhua's health, they didn't go to Hao Dongmei's house. Jin Yueji came by car to check on the situation, gave a few instructions about taking care of themselves, and left without staying for a meal to disturb them.

On the third day, this good day that Zhou Bingkun had originally planned to spend with his good friends for life, he didn't go to the gathering. The reason, of course, was still the same as before; it wasn't that he looked down on his former good friends, but that his good friends felt he looked down on them, feeling that he had changed once he had money.

Moreover, the fact that they bought land and built buildings to sell to employees was no secret; after all, they had to rely on this to motivate old employees and attract new ones, and it was already good that they hadn't made a big fuss about it. Among them were the houses of Xiao Guoqing and Sun Ganchao; this was the affirmative answer they got when they couldn't hold back and asked Zhou Bingkun earlier.

This news naturally reached Cao Debao and Qiao Chunyan. Last year, they came to find Zhou Bingkun, talking about friendship, life difficulties, and the bleak future, wanting Zhou Bingkun to give them one too.

The houses were for employees, for excellent employees. Xiao Guoqing and Sun Ganchao were already doing quite well and were small leaders. They could also be considered to have started with Zhou Bingkun early on, so even if they weren't friends, they were entitled to these houses. But Cao Debao and Qiao Chunyan were different; they weren't employees, and even if Cao Debao said he wanted to work in Zhou Bingkun's factory, as a new employee, it wouldn't be his turn to be allocated one. Moreover, they already had a house to live in, the one allocated to Qiao Chunyan by the Women's Federation, so Zhou Bingkun didn't pay any attention to them at all.

Another point was that the situation at the soy sauce factory was currently bad. Previously, Cao Debao had represented their factory and found Zhou Bingkun, wanting him to put up money to buy shares and bring the dying soy sauce factory back to life. Zhou Bingkun knew why his "good brother" didn't take over those factories, and of course, he wouldn't look for trouble for himself, so he refused again. If they met, there would definitely be endless nagging. He wanted happiness at the gathering, not to find trouble for himself. They weren't friends anymore, so why would he go?

He saw it clearly and didn't look for his "good brother" to talk about these things anymore.

Wang Yan was still quite gratified, gratified by Zhou Bingkun's growth; this was a good thing. The current Zhou Bingkun was no longer the one from the original drama.

After the New Year, his life was still the same, without any waves, conscientiously fulfilling his duties as a doctor.

After more than ten years of accumulation, treating countless patients, and cultivating disciples who were also capable, he would occasionally publish a couple of papers, and his strength was obvious to all. Now, he was no longer someone outside the mainstream, but a medical tycoon with considerable prestige and significant influence in the medical community.

He had thought about writing a book before to convey his medical philosophy. In 1985, he published his first personal medical work, "A Brief Analysis of Medical Principles," divided into two volumes, upper and lower.

The upper volume reviewed the history of TCM development, listed key figures crucial to TCM development, and from there introduced his own philosophy. It detailed pharmacology, pathology, and so on. The latter part also discussed his thoughts on TCM and Western medicine, using Western medicine in TCM and combining the two.

The lower volume was purely some cases accumulated over these years, ranging from small things like colds and fevers to various difficult and miscellaneous diseases, and even terminal illnesses. There were those he saved and those he failed to cure. It detailed the causes, treatment methods, and most importantly, in conjunction with the upper volume, clarified his treatment and medication ideas.

Once released, it caused a huge response in the medical community, mainly the TCM community, establishing his status as a TCM tycoon. Now that book was a must-have for TCM students.

As for the development of Long Teng, there was no need to mention much; having come through so many worlds, it had its own mature model, and "leaps and bounds" was not enough to describe its terror. Various studies were launched as scheduled and were progressing well; he was very relieved.

Chen Jing was also doing well. Back then, knowing the family's industry was large and her husband was a hands-off manager, she volunteered to go to the company, saying she couldn't let people fool them. After working for a month, she wasn't afraid anymore. But that month also gave her a vague concept of how large the family industry actually was. So she begged Wang Yan to open a film and television production company to film the things she wrote.

Wang Yan had of course seen her works; he couldn't say they were bad, but he couldn't say they were good either. To summarize simply, it was four words: "a spendthrift woman."

But it didn't matter; paying for a beloved career was fine, it was all small money...

After so many things happened, Zhou Rong and Cai Xiaoguang, unsurprisingly, divorced. It was a drizzly morning in June; the two entered the Civil Affairs Bureau, and after coming out, Cai Xiaoguang left. Zhou Rong was still the same as at the end of her previous marriage, watching Cai Xiaoguang's back walk away. But this time, when she wandered around Jichun again, it was truly very large.

This was very normal. After angering her own parents into fainting, Zhou Rong was very guilty. But later, knowing her parents were fine, and with Cai Xiaoguang constantly trying to ease her relationship with Zhou Zhigang, it was inevitable that he would nag a few times. In fact, even at this time, as long as Zhou Rong lowered her head and went back to the old Zhou house, a few words could have smoothed things over. Although the traces remained, it would have been turned over. Zhou Zhigang and Li Suhua couldn't hold a grudge against their daughter, not to mention they truly felt guilty in their hearts. Zhou Zhigang had never been able to let go of the fact that the child had died.

This was Cai Xiaoguang's good intention, but it aroused Zhou Rong's rebellious psychology, inevitably causing her thinking to fall into extremes, and she felt even less that she was wrong. Of course, there were no kind words for Cai Xiaoguang, and she would always say things like "Are you blaming me for losing our son?" full of resentment.

Cai Xiaoguang was already feeling miserable, and Zhou Rong was impervious to reason and spoke harshly, so there were times when he couldn't take it anymore. So, naturally, it was over.

Two failed marriages, a son who died before he was born, and conflicts with her family caused her temperament to change drastically. With this change in temperament, she always had to find an outlet, always had to reveal some negative emotions or words and actions, so their interactions were no longer as harmonious. Those who suffered, besides the students at school, were of course Feng Yue.

In the past, whether it was Feng Huacheng or Cai Xiaoguang, she had eaten and lived well at home. But now that only the two of them were left, she lived very unhappily.

A child not yet sixteen, how could she care about so much? So she ran to her father's place, occasionally ran to the old Zhou house to stay for two days, and refused to go back with Zhou Rong no matter what.

After leaving Zhou Rong, Feng Huacheng wandered for a few more years, gaining many insights, and had produced many excellent works in the past two years. Naturally, his status in the Writers' Association rose, and naturally, he was allocated a house.

Although he was not young, he still had his charm, just like that Wang Zi in the original drama; there were others who admired him, and he was quite happy. He naturally cherished this only child immensely. So he withdrew from the world, stayed at home to take care of his daughter, and the father and daughter lived quite well.

Zhou Rong was left all alone...

The old couple, Zhou Zhigang and Li Suhua, knew the news and were genuinely miserable for a long time. However, with things having reached this point today, plus the fact that Zhou Rong had never come to see them before, there was nothing they could do except feel miserable. Because Zhou Zhigang knew that if he went to find Zhou Rong again, there would be nothing but quarrels.

He just had Zhou Bingyi take time to go see her, but it ended unhappily.

Zhou Zhigang fell ill again because he knew his daughter would likely never come back...

---Author's Note---

Thanks to the four brothers (Pang Da Yu), (Liu An Hua Ming Liu Yang), (Tian Shang Po Jun), and (Ivanwank) for their continued support.

Daily thanks to the good brothers who cast monthly tickets for their support,

Thanks to all the brothers who cast recommendations for their support,

Thanks to the brothers who silently read the book for their support.