Chapter 870

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Protagonist:

Fang Ziye

The cemetery's gravestone forest was solemn, in black and white tones.

Luo Pan's photo with a faint smile was completely out of place with everyone's grief-stricken expressions; he lay "peacefully" in the very center of the wreaths, and a great many people had come to pay their respects.

Everyone held flowers in their hands.

The farewell ceremony did not last very long, and the rest of the people then dispersed one after another.

It was as if Luo Pan's passing was merely an occasion for everyone to gather; close friends or colleagues met by chance alike, in the end they all had to go back to living their own lives.

Fang Ziye stood in the distance, scanning the few who had not yet left, and in an instant a great many emotions welled up within him.

Luo Tingzhu, Min Limin, Lan Tianluo, Fang Xi Yan.

The rules passed down from ancient times are not without reason; only blood relatives will, after you pass away, still think of you constantly and linger unwillingly — other people's remembrance of you is mostly a kind of "ritualistic feeling."

In Eastern Han, the dead are treated as paramount, so when someone passes away, most people with any connection will come to see them off, yet it is only to see them off.

Night fell as evening approached, and everyone's shadows were stretched very, very long by the setting sun.

Lan Tianluo was dressed formally — suit, shirt, tie — a bouquet pinned at his chest, murmuring in a low voice as he kept Luo Pan company chatting: "Dad, you were busy your whole life, busy here, busy there; now it's good, you can finally rest."

"The rather laughable thing is, after you settled down to rest, I've turned into what you were back then."

"Now I've become very busy! ~"

"Dad, let me tell you, I've graduated with my doctorate, been promoted to Attending Physician, and become an Associate Professor, an Associate Researcher — how about that? At my age having this rank, I'm doing better than you were at my age, right?"

"It should be better; the things I do, though not as grand as yours, not with such a lofty angle, with 'national heavyweights' constantly on your lips."

"But I've achieved one thing: the number of patients healed because of me is not small, and right now."

Lan stopped there, secretly glancing toward Fang Ziye's direction, then continued his "complaining": "And Brother-in-law really doesn't treat me as an outsider, he works me like a beast of burden."

"Surgeries he can skip he slacks off on; ward rounds he can avoid he doesn't come to the Department for a whole day — I'm just an Associate Professor, an Attending Physician, I'm only thirty years old, and I have to live this kind of 'inhuman' life, I don't sleep soundly any day."

"But I have no way out; I have opinions in my heart but dare not speak them, after all Brother-in-law can do surgeries I can't do, and when I encounter patients I can't handle, I still have to ask him for help."

"Dad, asking for help is hard..." Lan Tianluo's rambling, his voice not low.

Fang Ziye and Luo Tingzhu could both hear Lan Tianluo's feigned complaints, yet they did not go disturb him.

Fang Xi Yan's height was only eighty-five centimeters, not even half of Fang Ziye's height; she wore a delicate little skirt of blue silk flowers, paired with pale pink shorts underneath, a pair of single shoes looking small and cute.

She lifted her delicate chin: "Mommy, why won't Grandpa speak? The phone won't get through either?"

Luo Tingzhu was a girl, but not an ordinary girl; as the Anesthesiology Department's Associate Professor and Deputy Director Physician, after taking on anesthesia tasks alone, she had witnessed too many partings of life and death.

A person's destined destination from birth is only death; separation by life and death is the complete circuit of a fulfilled life, and no one can escape it.

"Xi Yan, Grandpa used to work too hard, so he needs to rest well, rest for a very, very long time." Luo Tingzhu's tone was calm.

For many years before, she and Luo Pan had barely communicated, but in recent years, Luo Tingzhu and Luo Pan met often, chatted; Luo Pan talked to Luo Tingzhu about his past, asked about Luo Tingzhu's past...

If Luo Pan had not contracted a rare disease, he should have been able to enjoy the bliss of grandchildren around his knees, and Luo Tingzhu could have enjoyed a few more years of "paternal love," but there are no ifs in this world.

ALS is still an incurable disease; this kind of incurable disease is not something that Fang Ziye, Luo Tingzhu, Lan Tianluo and a few others can quickly resolve by throwing themselves into it headfirst.

Still that saying: medicine has traces to follow. The more acute the onset of a disease, the simpler and more direct the solution often is.

Conversely, the slower the onset of a disease, the more the search for a solution becomes a protracted war of attrition.

Emergency, infection — death comes fast, but saving them can also be fast.

Tumors, rare diseases — onset slow, progression slow, course slow, but they're a stubborn kind; even if the whole world's power is mobilized, if they want to move forward there's nothing you can do.

After all, there are no immortals in this world.

Fang Xi Yan was two years old; though very young, both parents were doctors, and when they went out to work, Grandpa, Grandma, and Maternal Grandma would often explain the meaning of their parents' work to her.

"Is Grandpa dead?" Fang Xi Yan's gaze was pure; she didn't quite understand what death meant, but Grandpa and Grandma always said that if their own dad and mom didn't go to work, someone might lose their life.

"Yes! Grandpa passed away, went to the sky, turned into a star watching you~" Luo Tingzhu nodded, telling the "fairy tale" she had heard back then.

When Grandma passed away, Luo Tingzhu cried her heart out; after all, back then Luo Tingzhu was more sensible.

"Then why didn't Daddy and Mommy save Grandpa?"

"Grandpa, Grandma, and Maternal Grandma said you saved many, many people; Mommy's dad is Grandpa, I love, love Daddy very much, I would definitely save him." Fang Xi Yan looked at Luo Tingzhu uncomprehendingly, fully displaying childish innocence.

A two-year-old baby, as long as she's not crying or being naughty, can be as cute as can be.

Pink chubby face, soft glutinous tone, soft adorable expression, sincere eyes...

Lan Tianluo turned back to look at Fang Xi Yan, then rambled on: "Dad, look at you, how can you be so heartless? My child still has no prospect yet, but Xi Yan is so cute, you don't have even a bit of reluctance?"

"Dad, would you blame me and Sister? Your condition, both Sister and I know — the longer it's dragged out the more painful it is, but for the sake of still having a dad to call, we insisted on dragging you out a few more years."

"Dad, you won't blame us, right?"

"We really tried our best..."

"Daddy and Mommy, and Uncle too, thought of many, many methods, worked hard for many, many years to save Grandpa, but were still powerless."

"Xi Yan, do you know what powerless means?" Luo Tingzhu asked.

"Know, know." Fang Xi Yan explained: "Like me, I can only move my SmallStool; the Dining Table at home I can't move — that's my strength not being enough."

"Grandpa said if I grow up I'll be able to move it."

"Daddy, Mommy, are you also not fully grown up yet?" In Fang Xi Yan's world, Fang Ziye and Luo Tingzhu were both adults.

But she also knew that compared to Grandpa, Grandma, Maternal Grandpa, Maternal Grandma, Daddy and Mommy seemed not to have grown up either.

"Right, me and your Daddy are both not fully grown up; we're both babies of three to four hundred months."

"Xi Yan, you're already twenty-four months old, oh." Luo Tingzhu no longer explained to Fang Xi Yan in extremely, extremely great detail.

"Oh!!!" Fang Xi Yan's adorable voice seemed capable of melting everything.

Night was falling, and vision was growing more and more blurred; Min Limin walked over and persuaded, "Tian Luo, Ziye, Tingzhu, let's go back, it's not early anymore."

"Let him rest well; actually, your father doesn't have much regret left."