"Ha, you are quite well-informed." Dong Qiangqiang joked, "I just landed."
"Lao Bai said you are back."
"Arrived at 17:00. What about you? When did you come back?"
"I mentioned it to you the day before New Year's Eve, but you forgot? You asked me to help you look after your parents." Tong Lele said with a smile, "Noble people often forget things."
Hearing what Tong Lele said, Dong Qiangqiang had a vague impression, but he had too many things to remember in the past three months.
"Lao Bai has gone back, then you..."
"I won't be able to go back for a while," Tong Lele's tone sounded helpless, "My mother was also tricked."
"Then...is it serious?" Dong Qiangqiang asked cautiously.
"It was quite dangerous at the beginning of the year. It was good and bad intermittently. It seemed to be better last week, but it has been worse in the past few days. Some parameters are quite... scary. My dad and I are worried to death."
After knowing each other for a long time, Dong Qiangqiang could hear the depression in Tong Lele's mood from her words. They were both from the same place in the world, so he could only comfort her with kind words: "Don't worry, my dad was caught in the crime at the end of last year. It's the same as your mom." It’s kind of like, it’s a lot better now.”
"Then how did your dad get treated? What hospital?" Tong Lele's tone suddenly rose a few decibels.
"I don't know how to treat it yet. I know that he was in the ordinary top three with mediocre results. Then he went to Xiehe and he seemed to be recovering well. But I just landed and I haven't seen anyone else today. I plan to see him tomorrow. .”
"Is Concord treatment effective?"
"I don't know the details. Just wait and I'll ask my mother to tell you."
Dong Qiangqiang briefly described the situation at Tong Lele's home to Dong's mother. Dong's mother took the phone and while the two were chatting, Dong Qiangqiang rushed into the kitchen.
As expected, there were still piles of pots and pans in the sink that Dong's mother had not had time to clean. Dong Qiangqiang rolled up his sleeves quickly and tidied up the stains and garbage on the stove and countertop, and then picked up the leftovers and pans from the pots and pans. After sorting and bagging all kinds of garbage, when other places were clean and only washing dishes was left, he raised his head and looked in the direction of his mother, only to see that Dong's mother was still talking to Tong Lele, and he couldn't help but feel suspicious: neither of them were doing it. Familiar, why did it take so long? But it was too inconvenient to ask, so he lowered his head and tidied up the corners of the kitchen. Only after the entire kitchen had a new look did he hear Dong's mother calling him over.
He took the phone from his mother and listened to Tong Lele on the phone say: "Auntie just told me that I will go to the hospital tomorrow to ask. If it doesn't work, I will transfer it to Xiehe. We can contact you at any time. I have something else I want to talk to in person. You said it."
Dong Qiangqiang vaguely guessed that Tong Lele might be talking about her and Lao Bai's cancellation of their marriage, but Dong's mother was nearby, so he couldn't ask in detail, so he could only agree and hang up the phone.
"Is this the girl who visited me and your dad in the hospital during the Chinese New Year?" A smile that was rare all night appeared in Mother Dong's eyes, "She is your classmate in Germany?"
"Yes, that's right, classmate." Dong Qiangqiang looked at Dong's mother's "smiling but hidden" eyes and knew that her mother must have thought wrongly, "Mom, don't think too much, we are just ordinary friends. Didn't you just ask me to take it? Is it a quilt? Where is the quilt?"
Dong Qiangqiang finished speaking and was about to leave, but Dong's mother grabbed him.
"Don't worry about the quilt for now." Seeing her son talking about him, Dong's mother immediately felt that there must be something going on between her son and the girl, "Are you two majoring in the same major? I think this girl is quite good-looking and a nice person. She's also Caring about parents. What’s her name? What Lele?”
"Mom, don't worry about it." Dong Qiangqiang was afraid that his mother would start talking about the same thing again, so he quickly stopped his mother's thoughts and said, "She is not my girlfriend, she has a boyfriend."
"Has she a boyfriend?" Mother Dong asked, "Have you seen her boyfriend?"
"Of course I have," Dong Qiangqiang was amused by Dong's mother's strange question, "What do you want to say?"
"What do I want to say?" Mother Dong complained angrily, "I just said, why don't you find such a good girl for me and your father? You are not young anymore, so you should consider it if there is a suitable one. Me and Your dad supports it. Don’t act alone when you are away from home."
Before Dong Qiangqiang came back, he had decided not to mention Du Lan's matter to his parents. This was not because he was unwilling to make an official announcement, but mainly because he was afraid of his parents, especially Dong's mother, who would endlessly interrogate him. Secondly, he felt that the timing was not good. It would be more appropriate to announce it after my father has recovered.
Unexpectedly, Dong's mother stopped suddenly while she was talking, looked at Dong Qiangqiang with doubtful eyes, and said carefully: "You are not...still thinking about her, are you?"
Dong Qiangqiang was petrified on the spot as if he had been hit by something. The scene he saw through the huge floor-to-ceiling window after getting off the plane flashed through his mind.
The expression on her son's face made Dong's mother immediately understand her mistake, and she hurriedly went back to make amends: "I'm talking about the daughter of my classmate in Paris. Last time I bothered her to bring you something. How much contact do you guys have on a regular basis?"
Seeing that Dong Qiangqiang was thoughtful, as if he didn't know anything, Dong's mother pushed his arm: "Qiangqiang..."
Dong Qiangqiang finally calmed down. He took a bottle of lemonade from the side and handed it to Dong's mother. He helped her sit down, then pulled a chair and sat next to Dong's mother: "Mom, you'd better tell me first." Tell me how Dad is doing now."
This time it was Dong's mother's turn to look solemn. It took a long time before Dong Qiangqiang heard his mother's deep voice: "It's better than January, but it's definitely not as good as before I got sick. Well, this is normal. After all, our age is there."
"Mom, you and Dad are both young. Don't say things like 'old' or 'senior'. We have to treat illnesses. Please tell me about Dad's current situation." Mother Dong's words were not right. Dong Qiangqiang was anxious when he heard this.
"When you were hospitalized for the first time, your dad mainly suffered from severe coughing. Later, he took medicine and it helped, but he suddenly stopped coughing a few days later. I was so frightened that I called an ambulance. After being sent to the hospital, I I feel like the doctor doesn’t have much to do, and they are still trying to find out which treatment is more effective, but...” Dong’s mother shook her head, “The results are not good, and in the end I really had no choice, so I sent your dad to Xiehe.”
Dong Qiangqiang listened carefully and did not dare to interrupt his mother.
"When we arrived at Xiehe, your dad's state was very unstable. Sometimes he continued to have a high fever, and sometimes he was awake for a short period of time. The doctor didn't rush to treat you at first, but just repeatedly studied your dad's condition. I was in a bad mood because of your dad's illness. I was anxious and would lose my temper with the doctors from time to time. Your dad comforted me and told me to trust the doctors, saying that if something unexpected happened, don’t blame the doctors, and if even the doctors at Union Medical College couldn’t cure it, then even if I was sent abroad, There’s not necessarily any way, it’s fate. Since it’s fate, just let nature take its course.”
Dong Qiangqiang broke into a cold sweat after hearing this, and grabbed Dong's mother's hand: "When did this happen?"
Mother Dong recalled in a daze for a few seconds, then said uncertainly: "It was during the Spring Festival, or it was just after the festival."
"Then why didn't you call me?" Dong Qiangqiang blurted out without thinking, "No, no, you clearly called me during the Spring Festival, but neither you nor dad mentioned it. The mortality rate of this disease is not You're kidding, dad is like this, why..."
"Your dad... didn't let me tell you," Mother Dong said calmly, as if she was talking about something that had nothing to do with Dong Qiangqiang, "He said it couldn't affect your study."
Dong Qiangqiang heard an unknown fire rush to his forehead. He didn't expect his father to be so stubborn. In an instant, the air pressure in the room made him breathless. He slapped the table, stood up, and walked to the window in two steps. Pushing the window open with a "snap".
The window was pushed open by him with great force, hit other windows and bounced back, almost hitting his hand.
Dong's mother had never seen Dong Qiangqiang get so angry. She looked at her son in astonishment and said nothing.
Dong Qiangqiang's mind was filled with intense confusion. He didn't understand why his father would make such a stupid and ridiculous decision. If my father really had a problem at that time but he was ignorant of it, no matter how good he was in reading and could get a doctorate, what would he do? Studying and making money are meaningless in the face of life and death. Life is ultimately a fool's errand.
He wanted to complain to his mother about his father, but he felt unable to speak. Yes, what could he blame his father for?
The cold wind of an early spring night came through the window and blew tyrannically on his face. He suddenly realized one thing: if he really wanted to blame someone, he would never blame Dong's father and Dong's mother, he could only blame himself.
Seeing that Dong Qiangqiang was silent for a long time while facing the window, Dong's mother was worried that he had been irritated, so she whispered: "Qiangqiang, it's getting late. You just came back, so you should rest early..." (End of Chapter)
