Shocking! The Broke Campus Heartthrob Is My Child’s Father - Chapter 79
After the meal, everyone was in high spirits—except for Lu Yicheng, who felt awkward and out of place.
Grandmother gave Lu Siyan a red envelope. After seeing Jiang Ruoqiao nod, he happily accepted it. He loved receiving red envelopes! And this one from his great-grandmother held a completely different significance!
Jiang Ruoqiao accompanied her grandparents back to the guesthouse.
She had been quite busy lately. Having barely finished a photoshoot, she accepted a written translation assignment from her company. Compared to interpretation, she preferred oral translation, especially since the materials sent by the company were business-oriented. Each industry had its own specialized terminology that not all English majors would encounter or understand. Translating such documents was mentally exhausting, and the pay wasn’t particularly high—calculated per thousand characters, at a rate of several hundred yuan per thousand.
While the compensation seemed decent, it wasn’t substantial.
Her supervisor had already told Jiang Ruoqiao that many senior colleagues at the company were unwilling to accept such assignments.
Translating such a document might earn her a few thousand yuan, but that wasn’t something achievable in just an hour or two. It consumed a lot of mental energy. She had been working on this particular document since yesterday… After showering, she opened her computer and began working with her dictionary. When she heard a knock on the door, she instinctively checked the time in the lower right corner of her screen—it was already eleven o’clock at night.
It was undoubtedly her grandmother who, getting up in the middle of the night, had noticed that the light in her room was still on and came to check on her.
Jiang Ruoqiao went to open the door, and sure enough, her grandmother was standing there.
She was holding a porcelain bowl that was still steaming. “Seeing that you weren’t asleep yet, I thought you might still be busy, so I made you a brown sugar egg. It’s good for you.”
Jiang Ruoqiao didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Grandma, I never eat late-night snacks.”
“When your brain is overworked, you need to eat,” her grandmother coaxed. “Be good. I checked the calendar, and your period is coming in a few days. This is good for you. Listen to your grandmother—health is the most important thing.”
This reminded Jiang Ruoqiao of her high school days. Without exaggeration, back then she had been studying as if her life depended on it.
She had known from an early age that if she wanted a good life, she needed to study hard and get into a prestigious university.
Back then, evening self-study ended after 10 PM. By the time she got home and finished washing up, it was nearly 11:30 PM, but she would still review for another hour.
In her senior year, she suffered from severe sleep deprivation, but her hard work paid off—at least she got into her dream university.
Her grandmother had always worried about her becoming malnourished. During her senior year, she had reluctantly eaten many brown sugar eggs.
Not wanting to disappoint her grandmother’s good intentions, Jiang Ruoqiao accepted the porcelain bowl and ate in small bites.
Her grandmother sat on the edge of the bed, looking at her face with loving affection. “Qiaoqiao, let me ask you something. What’s your relationship with that Xiao Lu? I noticed he’s quite attentive to you.”
Jiang Ruoqiao: “…”
It was indeed about gossip!
Jiang Ruoqiao lowered her head. “Just… schoolmates.”
She would have mentioned the other relationship too if there was one.
“It doesn’t seem like it.”
Every woman who gets serious becomes a detective, and grandmothers are the most astute detectives of all.
“Look how well he takes care of you. How well he takes care of me and your grandfather,” her grandmother said. “When I see him, I’m reminded of your father.”
Jiang Ruoqiao’s expression froze slightly.
“Your father treated me and your grandfather better than a biological son would. This Xiao Lu truly cares. Look, at a table full of people, he noticed that your grandfather likes yam, and he also noticed when I needed water. Your grandmother has been around. When a young man pays attention to your family, it means he’s paying attention to you. Otherwise, why would he bother, right?”
Jiang Ruoqiao remained silent.
She was already twenty this year and had dated three times. She had been fervently liked by many people. She wasn’t blind to Lu Yicheng’s feelings toward her.
But how to put it? She never troubled herself with such matters.
If Lu Yicheng could make her like him, then she would go for it.
If he couldn’t make her like him, even with Siyan in the picture, she would remain where she was.
Had Lu Yicheng said anything yet? No.
He hadn’t confessed or expressed anything, so it wasn’t her place to overthink this matter prematurely.
She was still here, still single, and ultimately, her boyfriend would be someone she liked.
Everything else was for the person who liked her and wanted to be with her to worry about.
In essence, matters of the heart were very straightforward—it all came down to mutual effort.
After spending a day with her grandparents, Jiang Ruoqiao took the elderly couple to the hospital.
The two seniors had been completely persuaded into going.
She claimed it was a benefit from the hanfu shop, which had annual physical examination quotas. Two spots were leftover, and she had bought them at a bargain price. Her grandparents actually didn’t like going to hospitals, always feeling they were unpleasant places, but unable to resist Jiang Ruoqiao’s persuasion, they obediently went. After a full day, both seniors had undergone comprehensive examinations. Grandfather’s health was still the same—just high blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar. There weren’t other problems; he just needed to follow the doctor’s instructions and take his medicine on time.
Grandmother’s health, just as in the dream, showed problems.
The doctor, looking at the examination report, furrowed his brow and pointed to a certain area on the scan, saying, “This area might have an issue. You should have her undergo a re-examination.”
This doctor was also from Xi City, considered a fellow townsman, and disclosed some information to Jiang Ruoqiao, suggesting she take her grandmother directly to another major hospital to make an appointment with a specialist for re-examination. Whether she needed a biopsy or surgery, it could all be scheduled under that specialist, thus saving time and avoiding the need to go to the major hospital after re-examining here.
“Dr. Huang Hongying is an authority in this field,” the doctor said. “She’s more professional. Consult her, and she’ll give you the best advice. It’s just that her appointments are hard to get. You’ll need to find a way.”
Jiang Ruoqiao’s heart sank.
Nowadays, doctors wouldn’t make any judgments before seeing absolute pathological reports.
This doctor was probably giving the most candid advice because they were from the same hometown, suggesting she go directly to an authority in this field… Jiang Ruoqiao’s legs felt weak. At first, she had considered that the situation might not be good, but when the moment actually came, she was still afraid.
It’s difficult to see a doctor or make an appointment these days.
Jiang Ruoqiao had already decided to directly make an appointment with Professor Huang.
In the evening, she told her grandparents that the dormitory was checking attendance and she needed to go back to sleep there. Her grandparents didn’t suspect anything and even urged her to return to school quickly. After leaving the guesthouse, she took the subway directly to the hospital. All day, she had been searching online for how to make an appointment with Professor Huang. Professor Huang was an authority in this field, with people coming from all over the country every day to seek her medical advice. Of course, appointments could also be bought from scalpers, but several patients’ families said they had been scammed. In Beijing, each day incurred significant expenses—they couldn’t afford delays.
Jiang Ruoqiao had no understanding of scalpers and naturally wouldn’t seek them out.
Time was indeed of the essence, but it had nothing to do with money or expenses. It was about time itself. She truly feared that delaying even one day would have a negative impact on her grandmother’s health.
She decided to follow the example of some patients’ families and start queuing from the evening to wait for the release of appointment slots.
Appointments could also be made online now, but for these specialist slots, there were none available online for the entire month. Only the hospital counter released a few slots every day.
After arriving at the hospital, Jiang Ruoqiao called Lu Yicheng.
Lu Yicheng answered quickly. “Hello.”
Jiang Ruoqiao’s voice remained calm. “Lu Yicheng, I need to ask a favor.”
She couldn’t think of anyone else to turn to at this moment.
“My grandparents are old, and they’re at the guesthouse now, while I’m outside,” Jiang Ruoqiao said. “I was thinking, since you live in the neighboring community, it’s more convenient for you to go back and forth. If they need any help, could you please make a trip over? Is that okay?”
Lu Yicheng certainly wouldn’t refuse, but he still couldn’t help asking, “You’re outside?”
Jiang Ruoqiao lowered her eyelids and didn’t hide it from him. She gripped her phone tightly. “Yes, I’m at the hospital, trying to make an appointment with a specialist. I might not be back until tomorrow morning.”
Lu Yicheng was silent for a moment, then asked, “Is it your grandparent’s health issue?”
“Maybe. Anyway, I’m going to make an appointment with a specialist first to see.”
Lu Yicheng asked again, “Which hospital are you at?”
Afraid that Jiang Ruoqiao might overthink, he said, “I have experience with making appointments.”
Jiang Ruoqiao told him the name of the hospital.
*
An hour later, Jiang Ruoqiao stood in the queue, bored.
The hospital was probably where one could see all aspects of life.
Every day, it witnessed birth, aging, sickness, and death.
She had once thought that queuing for a whole night to make an appointment was just something people talked about. Only after she actually came did she realize it was true. Several people were already queuing in front of her, waiting for appointment slots to be released during working hours tomorrow.
People were also gradually lining up behind her.
When Lu Yicheng rushed over, this was the scene he saw. Among the crowd, Jiang Ruoqiao was a unique color. She stood there, not chatting like others, not playing with her phone, just looking—he didn’t know what she was looking at. From behind, she looked very lonely, which reminded him of a few years ago when he was in the same situation. It was winter then, and he had been queuing to make an appointment for his grandmother, trying to secure a chance for her survival.
He watched her from a distance.
It was difficult to describe his feelings at that moment. He had always thought of himself as lonely, but now he realized that if there was one person in this world who had experienced what he had, who had encountered the same things, it could only be her.
On this night, as he looked at her, he seemed to see such a scene—
In that winter, his queuing self stood behind her. The whole world was nonexistent; there were only the two of them.
He saw his younger self, and he also saw her.
*
Jiang Ruoqiao was only brought back from her deep thoughts when someone tapped her. She turned her head to find that it was actually Lu Yicheng.
She was slightly surprised. “Why did you come?”
Lu Yicheng was still carrying that black backpack. He smiled at her. “I have experience. I came to help you queue.”
Jiang Ruoqiao’s first reaction was to politely decline. “Oh, there’s no need. Thank you.”
“My equipment is more complete,” Lu Yicheng said. “And I’ve told Siyan. Siyan is waiting for you to pick him up at home.”
As he spoke, he took off his backpack, unzipped it, and showed her that his claim of “more complete equipment” wasn’t an exaggeration.
He had bought a folding stool, a handheld small fan, a power bank, toothpaste, a toothbrush, a towel, and mouthwash.
Jiang Ruoqiao couldn’t help but smile. Throughout the day, this was the only time she had genuinely smiled. “You even brought toothpaste and a toothbrush.”
Lu Yicheng said awkwardly, “So I wouldn’t have to buy them again.”
He glanced at her and comforted her softly, “Don’t worry. Go back and be with your grandparents. I really do have experience with this.”
In such a situation, he couldn’t offer much help. This kind of assistance within his capabilities was naturally something he wanted to do.