Chapter 323

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

Liang Xinghua and his wife Lan Menglian only returned for one day before rushing back to Shenzhen early the next morning.

Before leaving, Liang Xinghua gave Zhou Aidi three thousand yuan, telling her to use this money first to find a traditional Chinese medicine doctor for Liang Yuanchao; Zhou Aidi nodded in agreement and didn't say anything.

She knew her son had only taken one day off, so it was impossible for him to stay at home for long.

It was just that this trip came in a rush and went in a rush, which inevitably made her feel sad.

Life is also like this — coming in a rush, going in a rush; what exactly is the meaning of being alive?

After Liang Xinghua and Lan Menglian left, only the old couple remained at home.

For the next several days, Liang Yuanchao always sat on the old bamboo chair at the courtyard door, sitting for a whole day at a time, from the warmth of the morning sun, to the scorching heat of noon, to the icy chill of the evening sun.

Zhou Aidi still had to go do farm work; the family had planted quite a lot of peanuts and corn, which needed weeding and pesticide spraying.

She usually went out in the morning and was busy until eleven o'clock, then came back to make lunch; after eating lunch, around two in the afternoon she went out to work again, not returning until nightfall.

"I heard people say there's a traditional Chinese medicine doctor in town who's very good at treating liver disease; how about tomorrow I take you to see him."

That evening during dinner, Zhou Aidi suddenly said this sentence.

"Okay."

Liang Yuanchao only replied with this one word.

At this time he had already wasted away to skin and bones, and his complexion was very yellow — even the whites of his eyes were yellow — yet his belly had begun to gradually swell; that was abdominal distension caused by ascites.

"You'll get better; you need to relax your mood a bit."

Zhou Aidi comforted him.

She had already lost count of how many times she had said such comforting words to Liang Yuanchao.

In fact, even she herself didn't believe them.

These past few evenings, she had been constantly thinking about one question: if Liang Yuanchao passed away, what would she do with her life afterwards?

"Mm-hmm, I'll relax my mind."

Liang Yuanchao said this.

Early the next morning, Zhou Aidi took Liang Yuanchao to town.

They found that rumored old traditional Chinese medicine doctor who was said to be very good at treating liver disease.

After the old TCM doctor examined Liang Yuanchao's condition, he prescribed quite a few Chinese medicines for him, totaling over one thousand yuan; this was a bit expensive, but compared to going to a big city hospital for surgery, it was still relatively cheap; Zhou Aidi gritted her teeth and ultimately paid the money.

Carrying big bags and small bags of Chinese medicinal materials back home, that very afternoon Zhou Aidi began decocting medicine for Liang Yuanchao.

She strictly followed the old TCM doctor's method for decocting medicine — how much water to add, how high a fire to use, how long to decoct — she strictly observed all of it, not daring the slightest negligence.

The decocted Chinese medicine was very hard to drink, but Liang Yuanchao still forced himself to swallow it down.

Although Liang Yuanchao was now listless and at death's door, deep down he actually still had a thread of desire to go on living.

This medicine was practically his last life-saving straw rope.

Just treat it as a dead horse living horse doctor — whether the Chinese medicine works or not, don't worry about it.

Liang Yuanchao took Chinese medicine continuously for several days; his complexion seemed to have improved somewhat, and his spirits were also better than before.

But for some reason, his belly kept getting bigger and bigger.

It was very obvious that his ascites had become even more severe.

The so-called improvement in complexion was merely terminal lucidity.

Some Chinese medicinal materials cause extremely great damage to the liver; late-stage liver cancer liver function was already on the verge of collapse, and at this time drinking large amounts of Chinese medicine could only have one result: accelerated destruction.

Sure enough, Liang Yuanchao only experienced terminal lucidity for three days; by the fourth day, he began to suffer violent pain all over his body.

His cancer cells had actually already metastasized throughout his body long ago.

Now he had entered the "cancer pain" phase.

Anyone with some understanding of cancer would know what entering the "cancer pain" phase means.

It means there are not many days left to live.

In the time that followed, Liang Yuanchao vomited whatever he ate; he could no longer keep any food down, and every day he wailed in pain incessantly.

Zhou Aidi put down the farm work in her hands and began staying by Liang Yuanchao's side the whole day, cleaning his feces and urine, wiping and washing his body.

Seeing Liang Yuanchao's appearance of painful low moans, Zhou Aidi also suffered immensely, washing her face with tears almost every day, her spirit on the verge of collapse.

Only those who have taken care of a cancer patient's family member can deeply experience how difficult that process is, and only at that time would one deeply agree that perhaps death is also a kind of liberation.

Not only liberation for the patient, but also liberation for the loved ones.

This day Liang Yuanchao could no longer get out of bed; he was already gasping his last breaths, visibly about to not make it.

Zhou Aidi hurriedly called Liang Xinghua.

Liang Xinghua answered the phone, very surprised:

"How come he can't make it this fast? Last month wasn't he still pretty good?"

Besides being surprised and shocked, Liang Xinghua found it difficult to accept in his heart, and also felt some resistance.

He had only taken leave to return home once last month; he had thought that even if his father's condition progressed rapidly, it might have to wait until next spring before he passed away, yet he never expected that only a month had passed and he was already about to not make it.

"Xinghua, come back — see your dad off on his final journey."

Zhou Aidi said this.

Liang Xinghua said:

"Okay, I'll go ask for leave right now."

Then he asked again, "Does Meng Lian need to go back together?"

Liang Xinghua actually didn't want Lan Menglian to go back together; the old person at home was about to pass away, and she was pregnant with a child in her belly, so going back at this time would be inauspicious.

Shangou Village has a custom: when handling funeral affairs, pregnant women generally must avoid it.

It is said they are afraid the soul of the deceased, upon seeing the pregnant belly, will drill inside and not go transmigrate, possibly causing the pregnant woman to give birth to a ghost fetus.

"If she's afraid of the trouble, then don't let her come back; originally the custom requires avoidance anyway, and moreover the family conditions are poor, her carrying a big belly back is also inconvenient. Most importantly, handling affairs afterward will probably be quite busy, and you won't be able to take care of her either; better to let her stay in the city by herself."

Zhou Aidi's consideration was still quite thorough.

"Alright, then I'll have her stay in the city."

Liang Xinghua hung up the phone and went to ask the Leader for leave.

Moreover this time it wasn't asking for one day of leave, but asking for three days of leave.

The Leader's face was unwilling, and his mouth was still muttering: "Wasn't it just recently you asked for leave to go back home? Now asking again, the production line is very busy right now..." but in the end he still approved Liang Xinghua's leave slip.

Liang Xinghua got off duty, returned to the rental house, told his wife about the family situation, and then alone, rushed back to his hometown overnight.

This time he didn't bring any luggage, traveling light, not tossing about like last time.

Past ten o'clock at night, he arrived back at his hometown.

At this time Liang Yuanchao was already unconscious.

Liang Xinghua came to his bedside, called his name, and he also had no reaction.

His eyes were vacant, drowsy and muddled, unable to speak, just hanging on by a thread of breath.

"Mom, you go rest; tonight I'll keep watch over Dad."

Although Liang Xinghua was exhausted all over, he still took the initiative to make this request.

Zhou Aidi wiped tears and wept:

"With your dad like this, how can I sleep?"

These days taking care of Liang Yuanchao, Zhou Aidi had aged a lot; originally she still had no white hair, now already nearly half her hair had turned white.