Chapter 317: Hope Falling Through Time and Time Again Will Shatter a Person's Will

After Zhu Yuan came out, Sheng Yu took her hand; just as Pei Ling took a step forward, a low voice came from beside him.

"Second Master Pei, would it be convenient for me to perform an examination on you?"

Pei Ling stopped in his tracks, lifted his eyes to look ahead without showing any abnormality; it seemed he was not affected by those words, nor did he let Zhu Yuan notice anything.

Zhu Yuan, walking in front, turned her head to look at him and gave him a smile.

He curled his lips slightly, his peripheral vision sweeping over the hand she held tightly with Sheng Yu, his face devoid of any ripples.

"In the future, don't bother me with those messy matters again."

Zhu Yuan nodded with a smile, "In the future, only your godson will bother you."

Pei Ling's gaze froze slightly.

He had not forgotten their agreement.

To be the godfather to her son, wanting him to teach her son to study—Sheng Yu's spawn, why would he need him to teach?

Not until Sheng Yu left with Zhu Yuan did he turn his head to look at Qiao Mai, "No need to waste your effort; I know my own body."

"Then wait until I have finished the examination before saying that; you should give me a chance, shouldn't you, Second Master Pei?"

Qiao Mai persisted, even stretching out an arm to block Pei Ling.

He had the air of someone who would not let Pei Ling leave today unless he stayed for a physical examination.

Pei Ling lowered his eyes to look at this middle-aged male doctor; it was his first time encountering such a persistent doctor, but even though his body was far worse than before, dealing with a middle-aged man was still effortless for him.

Yet, facing Qiao Mai's eyes, which remained clear and sincere despite being fifty years old, Pei Ling held his forehead, just about to speak.

Doctor Qiao Mai boldly said, "If you don't get checked, I will tell Miss Zhu!"

"Say that again?" Pei Ling stared at him with a cold gaze.

Qiao Mai swallowed a mouthful of saliva, "Second Master Pei, I am a fifty-year-old man; I am not afraid of threats."

Pei Ling narrowed his eyes; just as he lifted his foot to step out, Qiao Mai subconsciously took a step back and pulled his phone from his pocket, "I really will tell Miss Zhu, oh."

"Examine!" Pei Ling knit his brows.

Because Pei Ling had not eaten for half a day, Qiao Mai arranged a gastroscopy for him directly; using anesthesia, Pei Ling fell asleep on the hospital bed.

Qiao Mai and several experts stood before the screen, looking at the internal images of Pei Ling's stomach transmitted from the endoscope; even these few well-informed people gasped upon seeing that riddled, scarred sight.

"Dean Qiao." The one who spoke was the most prestigious oncologist at home and abroad, Doctor Chen, whose specialty was digestive tract cancer.

He shook his head at Qiao Mai.

Qiao Mai's heart tightened, "Is it difficult, or is it impossible?"

Doctor Chen was silent for a few seconds, and the other doctors also wore grave expressions.

The answer was self-evident.

"The success rate of the surgery is extremely low, so low it is less than one percent." Doctor Chen finally spoke.

"And..."

"Even if it succeeds, the survival time will not be long."

When he first received Pei Ling's pathology report and examination sheets, Qiao Mai had gone to find Doctor Chen without a second word; Doctor Chen was very clear about Pei Ling's condition.

If even he said so, then it was the truth.

Qiao Mai said optimistically, "It doesn't matter, we still have time; Second Master Pei's current condition can still be maintained for about half a year with Medicine, and I don't believe we won't find a way within half a year."

They did not know that the person lying on this hospital bed was not only the famous Second Master Pei of Jingdu City, but also the benefactor of the Sheng Family.

Qiao Mai waited by the hospital bed for a while; Pei Ling woke up earlier than he had expected.

"Second Master Pei, are you feeling uncomfortable?" Qiao Mai reached out his hand, wanting to help him up.

Pei Ling brushed his hand away and sat up, lowering his head to put on his shoes, his expression unfathomable, "Why, has this old man become so weak?"

"This is my doctor's instinct," Qiao Mai said with a smile.

After waking up, Pei Ling did not ask about his condition, as if everything was within his expectations.

Before leaving the hospital, Qiao Mai gave him two bottles of Medicine, "You should take these two types of Medicine from now on."

Pei Ling gripped the two white medicine bottles in his hand; there was English text on them—one bottle was for pain relief, and the other was some kind of inhibitor.

He said nothing, but the knowing expression on his face when he turned around made Qiao Mai feel unbearable pity.

He suddenly understood the reason why Pei Ling had resisted the examination from the start.

An examination represents holding onto hope; hope falling through time and time again will shatter a person's will.

And the willpower of this tall, young man had no idea how shattered it had become.

In all his years of practice, this was the first time Qiao Mai had felt so powerless.

The lights in the Pei Family Old Residence lit up one by one.

From the main gate, all the way inside.

Shadows were stretched long by the lights, extending all the way to a corner of the courtyard, beneath a huge, black iron cage.

Hearing the housekeeper call out "Second Master," the man in the cage shook the iron chains like a madman, "You're back! You're finally back!"

"Pei Ling—"

Pei Ling lifted his eyelids; the clamoring Pei Shaoshen in the cage revealed a look of terror, his hands clawing at the edge of the cage, the curses stuck in his throat, his bloodshot eyes wide.

"What are you shouting about!" Pei Li lashed a whip at the iron cage; Pei Shaoshen let out a cry of pain and rolled onto the ground.

Pei Ling ascended the steps, and Pei Shaoshen's roars came from the cage again, "You can't treat me like this, I am your brother, I am the Head of the Pei Family, you can't treat me like this!"

"Head of the Pei Family?" Pei Ling stopped his steps, his back looking desolate, "Do you think I covet being this Head of the Pei Family?"

He sneered, "This Pei Family, I find it disgusting to guard for even one more day."

"When will you let me out! What exactly do you want to do!" Pei Shaoshen shook the iron chains with a clanging sound.

Pei Li lashed another whip at him!

"Ah—"

He fell to the ground again in pain, one hand dangling through the gap in the iron cage's bars.

Pei Ling walked over slowly and stepped on that hand, which was tanned dark and had broken skin; this cage was kept in the courtyard regardless of wind or rain, just like the one he had been locked in before.

The only difference was that the one he was locked in was a dog cage, while the one Pei Shaoshen was locked in was a wolf cage.

"You haven't been short on food or drink, so what are you in such a rush to get out for?"

Pei Shaoshen grimaced in pain, "What exactly do you want to do!"

The sole of the shoe ground against that hand.

Pei Ling looked down at Pei Shaoshen, who looked like a dog, and his mind drifted back to when he was little; it was the year he turned six, he had been starved for three days by that person, and Pei Shaoshen had thrown a steamed bun outside the dog cage; starving, he had reached out to grab it, only to have Pei Shaoshen step on his hand and grind it into the ground.

As small as he was, he hadn't made a sound despite the pain, and he hadn't even shed a single tear.

Watching Pei Shaoshen grimacing in pain at this moment, Pei Ling suddenly lost interest, withdrew his foot, and walked into the house without looking back.

"In less than five months." Her child should be born.

And his own time would be about up as well.

"By then, you will know what I want to do."

The cold wind whistled through the cracks in the window, carrying with it the faint, lingering scent of snow.