Riding her electric scooter, Lin Wanwan soon arrived at the nearest China Gold store relative to her company.
The last time she bought earrings for her grandmother was at China Gold.
back then, the shop assistant hadn’t shown any impatience because of her penny-pinching, but instead appeared very enthusiastic, which gave Lin Wanwan a favorable impression of the brand.
Pushing open the glass door, warm yellow lights wrapped in metallic luster greeted her face, and the vista of sparkling gold before her eyes gave off a profoundly breathtaking feeling.
Seeing a guest enter, a sales assistant immediately came up to welcome her with a smile:
“Hello beautiful, what would you like to see?”
Just as Lin Wanwan walked to the counter, her eyes casually swept over the gold price on the electronic screen, causing her steps to freeze abruptly and her eyes to instantly widen.
She reached out and rubbed her eyes, thinking she had misread it. Looking closely again, the electronic screen clearly displayed “Today’s Pure Gold Price: 750 yuan/gram.”
“How could it be so expensive?” Lin Wanwan gasped.
She could still remember that last year, when she bought earrings for her grandmother, the gold price was only 670 yuan per gram.
Just one short year had passed, and it had actually risen by 80 yuan per gram.
At the current gold price, buying a somewhat presentable gold bangle would cost at least over twenty thousand yuan.
This sum of money was no small amount.
If it were in the past, she would certainly weigh her options carefully and might even settle for second best by choosing a lighter pendant or bracelet.
However, she was now a woman with 180,000 yuan!!!
What was a mere twenty or thirty thousand yuan?
When she was young, her parents worked in another town, so she lived with her grandmother in Dongguan.
On summer nights, her grandmother would hold a cattail leaf fan and sit in the courtyard, fanning her while telling worn-out folktales until she fell asleep.
In winter, when her hands and feet were icy cold, her grandmother would tuck her small hands into her own warm bosom, warming them up bit by bit with her body heat.
When her mouth watered for soy sauce chicken, even though conditions at home were not prosperous at that time, her grandmother would still go to the food market to pick the fattest, most tender free-range chicken.
She would make super delicious soy sauce chicken for her, and watching her eat with grease all over her lips, the smile on her grandmother’s face was brighter than anyone else’s.
Money could be earned again once gone, and relying on the hints from future emails, she could seize even more opportunities in the future.
However, her grandmother was getting old, with one fewer birthday every time one passed; every single day that could make her grandmother happy was exceptionally precious.
How could she wrong her grandmother who had always doted on her just because the gold price had gone up?
Lin Wanwan spoke with a smile:
“Hello, I want to choose a gold bangle for my grandmother.”
The sales assistant was a very experienced lady. Hearing Lin Wanwan say this, she immediately nodded with a smile:
“Choosing a bangle for an elder, then a plain band style is definitely right—classic and timeless, comfortable for elderly people to wear, and not easy to catch on clothes.”
As she spoke, she took out several plain band bangles of different weights from the counter, then laid them out one by one in front of Lin Wanwan:
“Look at these, the weights range from 15 grams to 50 grams. You can choose according to your budget and your grandmother’s wrist size.”
Lin Wanwan picked up the bangles to compare them one by one, her fingers gliding across the cool surface of the gold and feeling the heavy texture of the metal.
She remembered her grandmother’s wrists were not thick; a bangle that was too heavy might be tiring to wear, while one that was too light wouldn’t feel substantial enough.
Ultimately, her gaze rested on a 20-gram plain band bangle.
Lin Wanwan picked up the bangle and weighed it in her hand.
This bangle was moderate in size, with a very comfortable matte texture on its surface.
“I’ll take this one,” Lin Wanwan said without hesitation.
The sales assistant immediately brought out an electronic scale to reweigh and confirm, carefully cross-checked the purity mark, and then skillfully calculated the price:
“This one is exactly 20 grams. Calculated at today’s 750 yuan per gram, plus the craftsmanship fee of 15 yuan per gram, the total comes to 15,300 yuan.”
Lin Wanwan pulled out her phone and paid briskly. Watching the sales assistant carefully place the bangle into the red jewelry box, her heart was filled with anticipation.
She seemed to already see her grandmother’s face filled with smiles from eyes to brow upon receiving the bangle.
Carrying the jewelry box out of the gold shop, the sky had already darkened.
Riding her electric scooter, Lin Wanwan hurried home in a cheerful mood, her head full of thoughts about what to say when she saw her grandmother tomorrow.
The time quickly arrived at 12:00 midnight sharp.
Her mailbox popped up a notification: You have a new email.
Lin Wanwan clicked open the mailbox.
[Time Mailbox: You have a letter from September 21, 2025].
“Grandma was perfectly fine while eating cake, how did she suddenly have a stroke after taking a nap?!”
“The doctor said the golden rescue window had already been missed by the time she was brought in, and the situation is very dangerous now.”
“Even if she can wake up, it’s very likely she will suffer from paralysis.”
“I regret it so much. If only I had brought Grandma for a physical checkup earlier, maybe it could have been prevented in advance.”
“Now I only hope Grandma can overcome this crisis.”
…
Reading the content of the email, Lin Wanwan’s brain buzzed with a loud noise, as if struck violently by a heavy sledgehammer.
Her grandmother was going to have a stroke?
Her grandmother was clearly so healthy normally, often going out to do square dancing with friends—how could she suddenly suffer a stroke???
Her heart beat frantically, as if about to burst through her chest, and even her breathing became ragged.
Her mind was in a complete mess, alternating between her grandmother’s kindly smiling face and the words “missed the golden rescue window” and “situation is very dangerous” in the email. The two images intertwined, making her nearly crumble.
“No, I can’t panic!”
Lin Wanwan pinched her thigh hard, the intense pain helping her regain a bit of sanity.
The email was from the future. Right now, the stroke had not happened yet; as long as she found a way, there was still time to save everything!
She rapidly tapped on her keyboard, searching for “stroke warning signs” and “stroke screening methods.”
Information jumped onto the screen one piece after another. She read every word and sentence, her eyes staring unblinkingly at the screen for fear of missing any key information.
As Lin Wanwan quickly gained an understanding of various stroke information, her panicked emotions gradually calmed down.
Although stroke was an extremely serious disease, as long as it was treated in time, it was actually one of the easiest severe illnesses to manage medically.
There were warning signs before a stroke, such as sudden dizziness, limb numbness, and slurred speech. Furthermore, through physical checkup items like carotid artery ultrasound, blood pressure monitoring, and blood lipid and glucose tests, stroke risks could be screened out in advance.
If risks were screened out, severe cases could even be cleared using thrombolytic injections, lowering the probability of a stroke from the root cause.
Seeing this information, the heart hanging in Lin Wanwan’s throat eased slightly, though her back was still instantly soaked in cold sweat, clinging to her skin with a chilly dampness.
Thank goodness, thank goodness there was still a chance!
According to what the email said, her grandmother had the stroke after the weekend birthday banquet.
Then there was still time before the weekend. As long as she returned to Dongguan first thing tomorrow and immediately brought her grandmother to the hospital for a physical checkup, she would definitely be able to detect the risk in advance and prevent the tragedy from happening!