Chapter 7 Die Soon?

Xiao Bing returned to the hotel room. He booked the room beforehand to exonerate himself. Therefore, the monitor in the hotel could only capture him entering but not leaving. As the former group leader of the best special force in Hua Xia, killing someone without getting caught was no doubt a piece of cake for him.

In the morning of the next day, Xiao-Bing had a casual breakfast after washing his face and rinsing his mouth. Then he went to the hospital and walked to the ward. At the door, he saw Su XiaoXiao chatting happily with her mother. It seemed her mother was recovering well. He knocked on the door gently, waited until the mother and the daughter noticed him, and opened the door.

"Here comes my lifesaver." Su’s mother looked quite delighted. "Yesterday, if it weren't you, I am afraid I am already dead by now. I just asked Xiao Xiao about you, but she didn't know anything."

Xiao Bing walked to them and said with a smile, "No need to call me a lifesaver, Auntie. Peiya is my comrade-in-arms, you are an elder-ship to me. What I did yesterday was little."

"That means a lot to me already. Oh, you and Peiya are comrade-in-arms? Peiya hasn't come home for a long time. How is she doing now?" Su’s mother got excited and almost sat up. Su XiaoXiao held her hurriedly and glared at Xiao Bing in anger-they had agreed yesterday to keep this a secret. However, he couldn't keep his mouth shut, which showed his unreliability.

Xiao Bing smiled and said, "You don't need to worry. She’s carrying out a mission that takes a while. That's why she couldn’t come home shortly. She wanted me to tell you she’s fine."

"Alas, my girl......I can understand her. Work is important. Not to mention she is serving the country. It’s just my poor man, didn’t get to see her again before he died......."

Su’s mother seemed quite sad. Xiao Bing and Su XiaoXiao had to comfort her right away.

After talking about this again and again for a while, Su’s mother realized that she had been neglecting her lifesaver. She said in an awkward voice, "Sorry for being discourteous. And I still don’t know your name. Mine is Li Chunlan. You can call me Aunt Li."

Xiao Bing smiled and also introduced himself, "My name is Xiao Bing, you can call me Lil Bin, Auntie Li."

"Lil Bin it is then."

Xiao Bing laughed and said, "You can call me as you like, Auntie Li."

"Where are you from, Lil Bin? How old are you? Are you married?"

Su XiaoXiao frowned hearing these questions. And Xiao Bing also felt embarrassed. "Is Auntie Li going to set me up with a girlfriend?" He thought to himself. However, it would be rude not to answer. Therefore, he smiled and replied, "I am from Feng Lan City, 26 years old now. I am not married. I don’t even have a girlfriend."

Li Chunlan felt delighted after hearing this. Other than her daughter Su Peiya who traveled a lot for work, she didn’t want to introduce anyone else to him. She thought since her daughter sent Xiao Bing to visit her, she must have liked this young man. What’s more, the fact that Xiao Bing saved her life made her believed that that’s the man her daughter should marry.

"26 is not that young now, my Peiya is also 23 already. People of your age should have a relationship. Why didn’t you find a girlfriend? Couldn’t find a good one? Your family didn’t introduce you to a girl?

Xiao Bing said in a down voice, " I grew up in an orphanage. I didn’t have a family. And I didn’t even know my parents."

"I am so sorry to hear that, I didn’t know that you...... "

Xiao Bing smiled and said, "It’s okay, Auntie, how are you recovering now?"

"I am doing much better now. I should have been discharged from the hospital now if they have listened to me. But they didn’t let me."

Su XiaoXiao complained, "Mom, the doctor said you are not even able to walk now and need to rest for two days. What’s more, the result of the general examination you had this morning is still yet to come out."

"Alas, I know my condition. Staying in the hospital for two more days won’t change anything. And I need to be there for the noodle restaurant. Nobody knows how to make the special noodles but me. If I don’t go back, who can run the restaurant?"

Su XiaoXiao got mad and said, "There are many more choices than noodles in the restaurant. Moreover, which is more important between business and your health? You are not going anywhere before getting better. You will leave here when you are allowed to."

"You kiddo......."

When Li Chunlan was about to complain, Xiao Bing said to her by side in a low voice, "Aunt Li, actually, I can make your special noodles too......"

"You can too?" Li Chunlan looked at Xiao Bing stunned. In her memory, Su’s family never shared the noodle recipe to an outsider. After her husband passed away, only she and her older daughter Su Peiya could make the noodles. Knowing Xiao Bing could also make the noodles, her eyes got brightened. What would it mean when a girl taught a guy how to make the noodles only her family could make?

Xiao Bing felt a bit awkward and said, "The true reason Peiya sent me here is to help you run the noodle restaurant. My retirement was early. And I am looking for something to do. I am just uncertain about whether you will take me or not, Aunt Li."

Li Chunlan said with joy, "Sure, Peiya has made a good friend. I already made a decision. From now on, you will help me to take care of the noodle restaurant."

Su XiaoXiao shouted out, "No!"

Suddenly the door to the ward was open from outside. The attending doctor in white gown stood at the door and said, "The patient's family should come out."

Xiao Bing smiled and said, "Have some talk with your mom, Xiao Xiao. Let me see what the doctor will say."

"Okay!" Seeing Xiao Bing willingly took himself as a family, Li Chunlan felt more delighted. "He certainly knows who he wants to be." Li Chunlan thought to herself. After Xiao Bing left the ward, she goggled at Xiao Xiao discontentedly and said, "What a good lad Lil Bin is. He saved my life. What did he do to you to make you so angry with him?"

After the doctor took Xiao Bing to the end of the corridor, he looked at him and said with a sigh, "You and your family should prepare, the patient might not survive long."

"What?" Xiao Bing got extremely shocked, "I thought Aunt Li is already recovering."

"She is by the appearance." The doctor sighed and said helplessly, "When we were doing the emergency treatment to her last night, we found something abnormal in her. Because we couldn’t determine, we didn’t tell you. Therefore, we gave her a general examination this morning. The result just came out."

Xiao Bing asked with concern, "How is the result?"

"After the thorough examination, the disease she got should be pancreatic cancer."

Xiao Bing’s face turned pale. Pancreatic cancer, even though he only knew the very basics of medical knowledge, he had heard that it’s the most difficult cancer to cure. The patient wouldn’t survive long even if he got cured. It had been so calamitous for Su’s family since Su Peiya got killed, her father died in a car accident, and even Aunt Li now would.......

The doctor said with a solemn look on his face, "You should have heard that the cure rate of pancreatic cancer is extremely low. Her pancreatic cancer is already in the late period. It’s impossible to cure. Even if we undergo surgery, she won’t survive long."

Xiao Bing asked without thinking, "If the surgery goes well, about how long can she live?"

"If lucky, she can live two years. If not, she can’t survive for more than four months. However, now the biggest problem is, if the surgery fails, she could die on the operating table right away. What’s more, according to her condition now, the chance that surgery fails is high......."

Xiao Bing looked very frustrated. The doctor sighed and said, "Therefore I think it’s better not to have the surgery. Let her eat what she wants to eat, and try your best to help her do the things she wants to do......."

Xiao Bing asked, "If she doesn't take the surgery, how long can she live?"

"She won’t survive for more than one month. The surgery is a gamble. If we lose, she might not even have one month. You should talk it over. Alas, it would be better if she could come earlier to check. Normally, people who have pancreatic cancer would sometimes feel abdominal pain. But she didn’t pay attention to it, which made her condition get worse and worse."

The doctor sighed and was leaving. Xiao Bing caught up with him for a few steps and asked, "Doctor, is there no other way?"

"Her pancreatic cancer is already in the late period. I am afraid there’s nothing I can do." The doctor said and shook his head along.

Xiao Bing’s heart sank into the bottom. The doctor suddenly paused and said again, "Unless......."

This word was like the last straw to Xiao Bing. He grabbed the clothes of the doctor and asked, "Unless what?"

"Unless Zhang Yizhi, the medical sage, could do the surgery. He was the first person in Hua Xia medical field. By virtue of his fantastic medical skills, it will at least have 70% to 80% certainty of success. If the surgery goes well, she would live a few months or even one to two years more. Unfortunately......Zhang Yi Zhi had left the medical field for years. He now lives in seclusion in Jing Du city. Few people could ask him to reinstate, not even those who are from the upper class."

"Zhang Yizhi?" Xiao Bing’s eyes brightened after he heard this, he thanked the doctor again and again, "Thank you, doctor, thank you."

The doctor thought that Xiao Bing got so desperate that he started to have an illusion of hope. After all, it was way difficult to ask Zhang Yizhi to do it. But he didn’t want to upset Xiao Bing, so he reminded him of something and left.

After the doctor left, Xiao Bing immediately went to a corner and made a call. After talking for almost ten minutes, he finally seemed to be at ease. He went back to the ward.

Seeing Xiao Bing coming back, Li Chunlan smiled and said, "Lil Bin, what did the doctor tell you? It’s been quite a while."

Xiao Bing smiled and said, "The doctor said we must take good care of you. And let you have a good rest. Aunt Li, have you been having abdominal pain?"

"Yes......." Li Chunlan laughed with bitterness and said, "Maybe it’s because I haven’t been eating on time these two recent months. It’s inevitable to have some problems with the body."

Su XiaoXiao looked to Xiao Bing and asked, "Is there anything wrong?"

Xiao Bing laughed helplessly and said, "Aunt Li, you should really pay more attention to your health. And Xiao Xiao, you should also care for your mom more. It is hard to blame that she doesn’t take good care of herself. But how could you be so careless? Do you think it's no big deal to have such strong abdominal pain?"

Su XiaoXiao would get mad if Xiao Bing said this to her in ordinary days. But now that she was worried about her mother, she got scared after hearing what Xiao Bing said, "What happened to my mom, does she get some sickness?"

"There’s a tumor in her. But no worries, the doctor said it’s small. She would be fine after the surgery."

Su XiaoXiao released a bit and said with a self-condemned voice, "Mom, it’s all my fault......I should have taken you to the hospital soon. Thank God it’s checked out now. Otherwise......"

Li Chunlan sighed and said, "There is no big deal if I die. This way I could be with your dad in heaven. It’s just I worry about you and your sister."

"Don’t say things like that. I don’t want to hear!" Although Su XiaoXiao looked quiet and graceful, she could get hysterical when she got mad.

Li Chunlan laughed and said, "Okay, okay, I will stop. Lil Bin, I have just talked with Xiao Xiao. Now the noodle restaurant is short on hands. No one could make the special noodles now that I am not there. If you don’t mind, I will pay you 5 thousand yuan per month."

"Of course I don’t mind. Not at all." Xiao Bing’s purpose was to stay and take care of them. Thus he surely wouldn’t care about the salary.

Li Chunlan smiled and said, "Good, then you can go to the restaurant anytime you like. Since I am in hospital now, I will leave the restaurant to you. Later I will make a call to Gui Zi and tell them to follow you. One more thing, I guess you haven’t found a place to stay yet?"

"I just arrived in Jiang Cheng."

"There’s a vacant room in my house which belongs to Peiya. She is not home these two years. The room has been always empty. Why don’t you move in? You don’t need to feel embarrassed. I trust in your moral quality."

Xiao Bing was going to say yes, but he saw Su XiaoXiao looking at him with a warning. Staying in the noodle restaurant already made her mad. If he moved in with them, she would fall out for sure. She never liked him.......