“This child is very hard to raise alive…”
Five minutes later, the on-duty servants and family doctor on the third floor were all startled awake by Li Xingchuan.
The butler was also woken up by the noise once again, sliding into his slippers and hurrying downstairs.
Li Xingchuan had never cared for a patient before.
He could only stand aside with his lips tightly pressed, watching the servants dip towels in water, wring them out, and wipe Su Tang’s forehead and neck to perform physical cooling.
The doctor sat by the bedside, flashed a flashlight to look at Su Tang’s tongue coating for a moment, and then went to feel his pulse.
Finally, he used a stethoscope to intently listen to the breath sounds of the heart and lungs for quite a while. He said, ” Theoretically speaking, the problem is not big.”
“It’s just the alternation of cold and heat that led to a cold.”
He took off the earpieces, his expression turning serious: “However, this child’s foundation is truly too weak.”
“In daily life, you must pay attention to keeping him warm; he cannot be allowed to blow even a sliver of wind, nor can he endure a bit of cold air.”
“Otherwise, as long as he stays outside a little longer and then comes inside to be baked by the heating, the shock of cold and heat will very easily make him catch a cold and fall ill.”
The doctor looked at Li Xingchuan, his tone heavy and slow: “His respiratory rhythm is irregular, accompanied by intermittent murmurs, and his heart and lung functions already show signs of disorder. Organic problems might also exist. Even if it’s just a minor cold, it’s easy to induce complications.”
“Complications?” Li Xingchuan asked.
The doctor nodded: “Given his condition, triggering a cough/asthma or pneumonia would be considered the mildest.”
“If it gets even more serious, the situation will become much more complicated.”
“—That is something his body and his family’s financial situation cannot afford.”
Li Xingchuan gazed at the child with damp eyelashes on the bed, his whole person feeling as if he were nailed in place.
The doctor walked past him: “I’ll go mix and administer the fever-reducing medicine for him first.”
“He is unconscious and unable to be diagnosed through questioning, and the young master probably doesn’t know his allergy history, so other medicines won’t be prescribed for now.”
During this time, Su Tang woke up and fell asleep, fell asleep and woke up several times.
Once, he hazily opened his eyes and saw figures swaying. First, he unconsciously whimpered twice, his voice sticky and soft like a frightened kitten. When his mind cleared a little and he perceived that he was sleeping in the brother’s room, and his body was still burning with fever, he suddenly quieted down, lying obediently and not daring to move.
When the situation eased a bit, the servants left first, and the doctor and butler were also about to leave.
Li Xingchuan acutely caught the moment when the doctor and the butler stepped outside the door and exchanged a meaningful look for a split second.
He kept his guard up, quietly and maintaining a distance, following behind the two of them.
The two of them indeed lowered their voices and whispered to each other:
“What a sin. Running into such parents, dumping a sick child to elderly people who are financially strapped and understand nothing… Fortunately, Mr. Li is compassionate and gave him a transfer and a raise.”
“When I was examining that child, my heart skipped a beat, and then another beat. Raising this body to this age is probably the limit.”
“Old Qin, what do you mean?”
“My meaning is, this child is hard to raise.”
“How hard is it to raise?”
“You must throw money at raising him. Otherwise, he won’t survive… With his position, unless he gets rich and strikes it rich overnight, just relying on odd jobs still won’t be enough to raise him.”
“Alas, such a pretty child, what a pity. If only he were also Mr. Li’s child, if he were meticulously cared for, could he live longer?”
“Maybe. In this society, there is actually only one disease—”
The two sighed in unison: “The disease of poverty!”
Li Xingchuan didn’t know how he walked back.
When he felt his soles stepping unevenly—one deep, one shallow—he looked down at his feet.
He found that at some point, he had actually lost a slipper. Now one foot was wearing a shoe, while the other was bare.
With a kick of his left foot, he simply sent the lonely left slipper flying away as well.
As he turned the corner of the door, he caught sight of Su Tang sitting up.
Su Tang was lifting his damp eyes, looking at Li Xingchuan with a red face.
“You’re awake?” Li Xingchuan walked over.
Su Tang’s voice was soft and mushy: “Brother… I’m sorry.”
Li Xingchuan sat down by the bedside and asked in a low voice, “Still feeling uncomfortable?”
“Not uncomfortable anymore~” Su Tang answered softly.
Then he stubbornly repeated: “Brother, I’m sorry.”
When Su Tang was sick, his eyes were always damp, his pupils like black glass immersed in clear spring water, gazing at people covered in a layer of mist, making him appear exceptionally timid and pitiful.
——Even though he tried hard to squeeze out a smile.
That smile was also soft and limp, exuding a kind of habitual, cautious ingratiation and lowliness.
“What are you apologizing for?” Li Xingchuan asked.
“Apologizing for ‘being a troublemaker.’ I always… hum…” Before he finished speaking, a cough suddenly leaked out of Su Tang’s throat. He hurriedly reached out to cover his mouth, turned his body away, and made a tiny sound.
His small shoulders shook violently and suppressively.
Li Xingchuan suddenly sat at the head of the bed, parted and grasped Su Tang’s mouth-covering hand: “You are not allowed to hold it in.”
“Cough it out!”
Su Tang coughed until his little face turned even redder. His hands were suddenly restrained by Li Xingchuan in a manner that wasn’t very gentle. He froze for a moment, his eyelashes trembling lightly.
He nervously and apprehensively discerned Li Xingchuan’s mood.
Li Xingchuan asked him: “Did you remember?!”
Su Tang subconsciously pouted his lower lip.
But the next second, he heard Li Xingchuan’s tone turn so gentle that even his voice became softer than just now: “Don’t hold it in; if you’re uncomfortable, you can cough it out.”
Li Xingchuan asked him: “Remember, okay?~”
Su Tang looked at Li Xingchuan with damp, bright eyes, pulling back the pout he had just made. Obediently and softly, he replied: “Brother, I’ve remembered it~”
After this incident, Grandpa Su refused to let Su Tang stay overnight at Li Xingchuan’s house anymore.
He carried a crate of free-range eggs and the most expensive milk available at the store to Li Xingchuan’s house to thank Li Xingchuan for helping take care of his sick little grandson.
——His apology was very sincere, and a deep apology and lingering fear were plastered across his wrinkle-covered face.
At that time, Li Shenglan was not around.
Grandpa Su thanked the butler and Li Xingchuan himself.
Li Xingchuan tried hard to look for even a tiny hint of resentment and anger on Grandpa Su’s face like last time.
But he saw none.
Therefore, Li Xingchuan came to a conclusion—
Su Tang was relatively rarely scared and frightened sick, so when he was frightened sick last time, Grandpa Su would be angry.
However, on many previous nights, Su Tang must have spent them frequently running fevers and falling ill. So frequent that Grandpa Su had even gotten used to it, which was why he would subconsciously feel guilty just like Su Tang.
Li Xingchuan’s mood suddenly became restless again.
Li Xingchuan’s tutoring classes were held three days of study and four days off a week.
After three consecutive days of classes, when it reached Li Xingchuan’s day off, Su Tang didn’t come over.
And on this day, when Li Xingchuan went early in the morning to Su Tang’s house to find Su Tang, Grandpa Su looked worried again and said: “Tangtang can’t play today.”
“Why?” Li Xingchuan lowered his knocking hand and asked nervously.
Grandpa Su sighed: “Tangtang is sick again.”
“Grandpa, didn’t Su Tang just get well?”
“Alas, he just got well, alas, but he really is sick again. His body is just like this… There’s nothing that can be done.”
Li Xingchuan wanted to ask, how can there be nothing that can be done!
If he’s sick, why not go get treatment!
Go find a doctor for treatment, find a specialist. If small hospitals don’t work, go to big hospitals; if big hospitals don’t work, go to even bigger hospitals. If Jianjing can’t cure him, go cure him abroad!
However, however, Li Xingchuan couldn’t ask it out.
He swept his gaze over Grandpa Su’s dark face and the ravines of wrinkles crisscrossing it.
Repeatedly thinking in his heart of the family doctor’s words “you must throw money at raising him”…
——He couldn’t blame an “ignorant” old man who was truly helpless yet still worried himself sick.
He stood outside the door, watched Grandpa Su like that for a moment, and said, “I’ll go take a look.”
Grandpa Su stopped him: “He just fell asleep…”
Li Xingchuan retreated, stepping back outside the door.
He said, “Grandpa, is Su Tang’s illness serious this time? When will he get better?”
Grandpa Su said, “If it’s fast, he can play with you tomorrow.”
“If it’s slow, he’ll have to stay in bed for two or three days.”
Li Xingchuan turned and left the small western-style building, the polite expression on his face collapsing in an instant.
It was covered with the gloom and tyranny of a gathering storm.
He aggressively kicked open Li Shenglan’s ajar study door.
Li Shenglan happened to be at home today.
When his door was kicked open by Li Xingchuan, he merely raised his head in front of his desk and looked at Li Xingchuan.
Li Shenglan seemed to hold back for a second, but couldn’t help it. He said, “Get out.”
After Li Xingchuan stood in place for half a minute, for the first time, he didn’t talk back to Li Shenglan.
He retreated with his tail somewhat between his legs, and even reached out to restore Li Shenglan’s originally ajar wooden door back to its position.
With a dark face, Li Shenglan suddenly lost the heart to work either.
He took off his gold-rimmed glasses and lowered his head to pinch the bridge of his nose.
Right at this moment, the wooden door was suddenly knocked softly with a “tap, tap, tap.”
Thinking it was the butler, Li Shenglan said, “Come in.”
The door was pushed open with a “creak,” but Li Shenglan didn’t hear the butler make a sound.
So he put his gold-rimmed glasses back on and raised his eyes to look.
——Only to see Li Xingchuan standing three steps away from his desk, staring fixedly at him with a calm expression.
In Li Shenglan’s world, time seemed to have stopped for a full minute.
“What is it?”
Li Shenglan asked.
Gone was the rage from just now.
There was even a hint of obscure anticipation that he hadn’t even noticed himself.
Li Xingchuan said, “Can I talk to you?”
Ten minutes later.
With a gloomy face, Li Shenglan asked, “You mean.”
“You want to work and make money by helping me out like Housekeeper Ye, Dr. Chen, and Dr. Qin?”
Li Shenglan rubbed his temples: “You’re quite smart, are you doing BOSS Zhipin?”
He lowered his head and looked at Li Xingchuan: “But I don’t hire child labor.”