Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Doctor Gong took some time out of his schedule to speak with me privately. He told me that although my condition had improved slightly, it was still very serious, and he did not recommend that I be discharged.

Then, he asked, “I heard from the nurses that a practitioner of Chinese medicine visited your ward and mentioned Fasting Therapy?”

I nodded. “It actually seems to be working.”

He thought for a moment, looking hesitant to speak. “If it’s working, that’s for the best. Chinese medicine has such a long history; it certainly has its brilliance. We also advocate for an integration of Western and Chinese medicine these days. However, having seen patients for so many years, I’ve also encountered some scammers posing as practitioners. Of course, I’m not saying your practitioner is a fraud, but there are many gray areas in this field. You and your Grandma need to be careful.”

I managed a small smile and simply asked, “Is there no real chance for me to get better?”

He paused for a moment before answering, “I have seen late-stage patients who lived for decades.”

I couldn’t help but smile. I appreciated how hard he was working to pull a kind, gentle phrase out of such a sharp and terrible reality.

The chilly evening breeze seeped through the crack in the window. I pushed it open, reaching out to feel the night air.

I needed it to be colder. I needed the cold to find the courage to speak.

“Using both the specialty drugs and the Chinese medicine would definitely be better for me. Doctor Gong, I know that. But… I don’t have any money left. You have no idea-my Grandma actually went and borrowed money to pay for my treatment.”

Sigh. I ended up crying anyway. Guan Qian, you’re so useless.

“When I was in high school, Grandma used to collect and sell scrap metal to save up for my tuition. Once, after school, I was walking with my classmates when we ran into her. She was digging through a trash can for bottles. She called out my name, but I was so afraid my classmates would laugh at me that I pretended not to hear her and just walked away. You see? I used to break her heart like that. I was so thoughtless.”

The tears flowed faster. I wiped them away and continued, “Later, I kept thinking that when I grew up, I would take good care of her. I’d buy her grand feasts, let her live in a big house, and take her to travel the world. I’ve only just reached the point where I can treat her to a nice meal, and now everything has stopped.”

I covered my face with both hands. My fingers, chilled by the wind, pressed against the corners of my eyes, but they were quickly soaked by warm tears.

“She’s over seventy years old, yet she’s still borrowing money for me. She hasn’t even considered what she’ll do if I’m gone. How is an old woman like her supposed to pay back that debt? Is she going to go back to picking up bottles and selling scraps? If that happens, I won’t even be able to rest in peace after I die.”

The doctor silently handed me some tissues.

I crumpled the tissues in my hand and forced a smile. “A single injection of the specialty drug costs tens of thousands of yuan. That same amount can pay for a month’s worth of Chinese medicine. Forget it-treatment is treatment, right? Maybe I really will get better by drinking herbal medicine at home. Thank you for taking care of me these past few months, Doctor, and thanks to the other doctors and nurses too. When I get better, I’ll definitely bring you a silk banner of appreciation.”

He was silent for a long time. Perhaps seeing how low my spirits were, he patted my shoulder and said with forced cheerfulness, “Then I’ll be looking forward to that banner. Don’t you dare break that promise.”

His phone rang. He answered it and began hurrying out.

Before stepping out the door, he stopped again and spoke quickly but solemnly, “Guan Qian, if anything happens, you must call me. Remember, even after you’re discharged, you are still my patient.”

He waved at me and quickened his pace, phone in hand. “Hello? I’m on my way.”

Watching from a distance, the sunset light in the long corridor cast a rosy glow over his white coat. This became the final image the Affiliated Hospital left me with.

It was so warm, so comforting.

I was discharged and returned to my hometown.

As Doctor Fang said, our hometown has beautiful mountains and clear waters. The air and water quality are both excellent, making it a good place to recover.

Yes, I had another month’s worth of medicine prescribed by him.

The ingredients used this time were more precious, and the dosage was larger, so the cost was significantly higher than before.

Fortunately, the final payments for the photos I had edited earlier started trickling in. After pooling everything together, I almost had enough.

When Doctor Fang learned that I was still three thousand yuan short for the medicine after scraping every penny together, he sighed. “It’s fine. Thirty-seven thousand it is. Getting you healthy is the most important thing. I’ll cover the remaining three thousand for the ingredients myself.”

I clutched my phone, my eyes stinging with tears. “Thank you so much, Doctor Fang.”

Doctor Fang gave a kind smile. “Silly girl, don’t thank me. Just focus on recovering.”

By the ninth day of taking the medicine, I felt completely light-headed and untethered. The ringing in my ears grew worse, and I felt like I wanted to eat everything in sight.

But I endured it all, one by one. Doctor Fang had told me that the more fragile I felt, the more the medicine was fighting the cancer cells. I had to be patient.

The result of that patience was that while I was playing with the neighbor’s toddler, hooking our pinkies together, my vision suddenly flashed black and red. I only had time to hear the toddler start crying, but I didn’t have a shred of strength left to comfort her.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

I could hear my heart beating frantically.

I could hear Grandma’s piercing, desperate screams and the sound of frantic, disorganized footsteps.

And then there were her hands, gripping mine tightly-so rough, and so cold.

I wanted to speak, but I didn’t even have the strength to move a finger.

Before me was a void; all my senses seemed to fail in an instant.

I blacked out completely.

When I finally opened my eyes in the emergency room, I finally had enough strength to send a WeChat message to Doctor Fang to ask if I should pause the medication. That was when I discovered he had deleted me.

I couldn’t believe my eyes.

Was it Doctor Fang’s little grandson playing with the phone? Did he accidentally delete the wrong person?

I tried calling him, but on the other end, a cold, mechanical female voice repeated: “The number you have dialed is no longer in service.”

Nearby, Grandma asked me in confusion, “Why can’t I get through to Aunt Li? Is she out of credit? Should you top up ten yuan for her?”

I gripped my phone. My logic hadn’t fully returned, yet layer upon layer of cold sweat broke out on my palms.

A doctor pulled back the curtain and walked in. “Your Grandma said you fainted from hunger? You’re young; don’t try to lose weight. You’re already so thin.”

He looked a bit like my attending physician at the Affiliated Hospital. Since I wasn’t wearing my glasses, the name “Doctor Gong” almost slipped out.

In a flash of realization, I suddenly remembered Doctor Gong’s hesitant words-

“Traditional Chinese medicine has a long history and certainly has its brilliance; we even advocate for a combination of Western and Chinese medicine now. However, after seeing patients for so many years, I have also encountered some scammers posing as practitioners.”

Scammers.

He had said scammers.

Like a sharp bolt of lightning splitting a clear sky, all those little inconsistencies began to connect into a line, piercing right through me-

The fellow local I met at the temple…

The “miraculous” old practitioner…

The way they desperately urged me to save money by leaving the hospital, only to vanish into thin air the moment they confirmed I didn’t have a single cent left…

It only took an instant for a massive wave of panic to surge from the soles of my feet to the top of my head.

The doctor glanced at me. “Hey, girl, don’t cry. I just told you not to diet; I haven’t even said anything else yet.”

I gripped the bedsheets tightly, refusing to let the tears fall. I struggled to remain calm as I said, “My Grandma might not have explained it clearly. I wasn’t dieting. I thought this would cure my cancer.”

The doctor seemed to realize something and whispered, “It wasn’t Fasting Therapy, was it? A lot of scammers use that as a front. Though one shouldn’t generalize; that method apparently has actually saved some people.”

I forced a smile. “Yeah… but the two people who put me on Fasting Therapy have both vanished into thin air.”

The doctor looked at me with sympathy. “Call the police. Whether they’re scammers or not, you need to get to the bottom of this.”