Rebirth: Slice-of-life Cultivation Chapter 1567 - Extra 2:

Xue Yuantong grinned: "Chuchu, do you remember when we were little, you bought a pack of soda, and I said I would only drink a small sip."

She was immensely proud: "As a result, I drank half the pack in one go, pretty impressive, right?"

"Yes, impressive." Xue Chuchu.

"And when you bought spicy strips, I just gobbled them up..."

"Chuchu, what’s wrong..." Xue Yuantong noticed that Chuchu suddenly started to cry.

She hurried to find tissues to wipe Chuchu’s tears, but as she looked down, she discovered bright red blood dripping onto the sheets and then falling like scattered pearls.

It was her own blood.

Xue Chuchu grabbed the tissue bag, wiping Tongtong’s nose with one hand and pressing the call bell, leaving the blood-stained tissues all over the floor.

After a long time, the nurse left.

Xue Yuantong lay weakly on the hospital bed, turning her small face to gaze at the sky.

The afterglow of the sunset reddened the western sky, the evening clouds filled the sky, dazzling and spectacular.

"It’s so beautiful." Tongtong said softly, images of boundless fields appeared in her mind, and she reminisced: "Chuchu, actually my happiest times were when we were little, stealing watermelons from the fields. You were always timid, running even faster than me every time."

"Ah, I really don’t want to grow up, or come to the big city. I want to be a simple village girl, herding sheep every day in the countryside, waiting for you to succeed and come back..."

Xue Chuchu held Tongtong’s hand, cold as ice, she spoke: "When you get better, let’s go home and herd sheep together, alright? I’ll steal watermelons with you again."

"Like when we were kids, alright?"

Xue Chuchu imitated her childhood voice, gently responding: "Don’t worry, I’ll find you to play after I finish eating~"

In an instant, it was as if they had returned to a carefree childhood.

Back then, Xue Yuantong would always finish her meal first and run next door to call Chuchu, who would always respond like this.

Xue Yuantong’s face became even paler. She reached out to touch Chuchu’s hair, her mouth curving into a smile: "Hehe, no need Chuchu, you can eat slowly in the future, no need to rush, so your tongue won’t get burned..."

In that moment, Xue Chuchu felt a sourness in her nose and her eyes burned.

She couldn’t hide it from Tongtong again.

Why has it never succeeded even once.

...

After coaxing Tongtong to sleep, Xue Chuchu left the ward. She stood in the hallway outside, wiped away her tears, and prepared to head to the neurology ward to visit her mother.

Halfway down the corridor, she met Aunt Gu, who was holding a report and whose weather-beaten face looked ashen.

"Aunt, what’s the news about Tongtong’s illness... what did the doctor say?" Xue Chuchu quickly asked.

Aunt Gu said with difficulty: "At most three weeks, things aren’t looking good, maybe less than two weeks."

Xue Chuchu felt as if struck by lightning, stood frozen, then frantically grabbed Aunt Gu’s hand: "What about a bone marrow transplant, can’t we? Chemotherapy? Transferring hospitals? If Yuzhou can’t treat it, we’ll go to the provincial hospital."

Aunt Gu’s face remained gray, her voice hoarse: "They found a bone marrow match, but to transplant it, she must survive the first phase."

Xue Chuchu leaned blankly against the wall, unable to bear it.

Aunt Gu sighed and said: "Chuchu, your mother is still waiting for you."

Xue Chuchu left in a daze.

Aunt Gu placed the report at the nurse’s station, then entered the ward.

Aunt Gu walked to the bed, and the sleeping Tongtong immediately opened her eyes: "Mom, you’re back."

"Mom, I’m hungry." Tongtong said.

Aunt Gu: "I’ll heat your meal."

She took the lunch box to the microwave in the hallway and heated it, quickly returning to the ward.

Aunt Gu sat by the bed, picked up the spoon and scooped the food, blew on it with each mouthful, feeding her daughter one bite at a time, but the usually gluttonous Tongtong only ate two bites today and couldn’t eat anymore.

"Tongtong?" Aunt Gu asked.

"My throat hurts." Tongtong said.

"Alright, eat when it doesn’t hurt anymore." Aunt Gu put away the lunch box.

"No, I still want to eat."

Aunt Gu continued feeding her, Xue Yuantong took two more bites, then said she wanted to play with her phone. Aunt Gu placed the phone in front of her.

Xue Yuantong swiped a few times, then suddenly blinked: "Mom, everything is suddenly so blurry?"

She turned her face to look out the window, seeing the sky getting dark vaguely, the red should be the evening glow, getting redder and redder, gradually, everything became nothingness.

She reached out her hand, trying to grasp something, but caught nothing, only the endless cold.

She said: "Mom, I can’t see."

Aunt Gu leaned closer, discovering that the once bright eyes of Tongtong had become cloudy, streaked with fine blood vessels forming a web.

Aunt Gu recalled the doctor’s warning, suddenly realizing something, her daughter couldn’t see anymore.

She stayed silent for a long time, her usually gentle face showing rare signs of complaint: "How many times have I told you not to stay up late playing on your phone, why do you never listen?"

Xue Yuantong blinked, her small hand felt around her mother’s face: "Mom, I’m fine."

Aunt Gu’s tears rolled down as she continued to blame her: "You never listen to me, every time I tell you not to eat snacks, why do you always sneak some?"

"Mom! What’s wrong?" Tongtong called out helplessly, she anxiously rubbed her mother’s face, fingertips full of scalding tears.

Aunt Gu kept on complaining, reprimanding her daughter’s mistakes.

Tongtong cried, "Mom, I was wrong, I’ll definitely be good from now on, please don’t blame me, okay?"

Aunt Gu finally broke into sobs, filled with resentment towards heaven: "Why, why wasn’t it me who got sick?"

...

Night, 11 PM.

Urban area, Jiang Qitian’s home.

Jiang Ning stayed in the small room, the desk lamp emitting a warm yellow light.

He seriously worked on a math test paper, even though he had solved this problem once, encountering it again left him at a loss.

An inexplicable irritability filled his heart, he picked up his phone, opened QQ, found Xue Yuantong on the list, and clicked into her QQ Zone.

What met his eyes were all related to studying, points for writing essays, solutions ideas for various subjects, all neatly organized and posted in QQ Zone by Xue Yuantong.

Jiang Ning found the solution idea in a math set, successfully solving the problem.

When he exited Xue Yuantong’s space, he suddenly realized that she hadn’t updated anything in a week.

Jiang Ning remained silent for a while.

He had indirectly received Xue Yuantong’s kindness, yet had never repaid it.

Suddenly, there was a knocking sound at the door, Jiang Ning was about to get up to open it, but then heard Aunt angrily rebuking: "Longlong, are you asking him to play games again? Playing games all day long, I’m really afraid you’ll learn bad things from others!"

Jiang Junlong defended: "I’m not playing games."

"Get back to your room!" Aunt harshly reprimanded.

Jiang Junlong helplessly said: "Brother Ning, I’ll head back first."

Jiang Ning listened to everything outside the door, from start to finish, he said nothing.

In the past three years, similar occurrences were too frequent, he no longer wanted to argue, anyway, it would end in just one more month.

The next moment, his Redmi 2a phone screen lit up.

Shen Qing’e: "I don’t understand, why do you always play games with Junlong, what’s his grades? What’s yours? No wonder Aunt dislikes you."

Jiang Ning: "Aunt likes you, fine."

Shen Qing’e: "Ha ha, she is indeed nicer to me."

Jiang Ning: "Yeah, everyone is nice to you, including the past me."

Shen Qing’e: "Right, unlike you, who no one loves."

Jiang Ning turned off the phone screen, pushed the door, and walked out of the small room.

Aunt, who was watching TV in the living room, lifted her head and glanced at him, Jiang Ning also said nothing, and quietly pushed open the main door.

Aunt’s voice floated into the air: "We’ll go to sleep later, no one will open the door for you when you come back."

Uncle Jiang Qitian frowned: "What are you talking about?"

Jiang Ning was no longer listening.

In the deep night of May, the temperature was cool and comfortable, Jiang Ning walked aimlessly down the street, constantly moving forward.

He saw the flow of cars on the road, the lights in apartment buildings, saw customers drinking heartily in front of barbecue stalls, saw the flashing neon lights of KTV. The city was indeed prosperous, indeed good, but unfortunately, it had nothing to do with him, he didn’t belong here.

Thinking carefully, there seemed to be not a single person in the world who cared for him, who was concerned about him.

He seemed to always have been very lonely.

A gust of wind blew, making Jiang Ning feel cold.

He happened to spot the bright light of the self-service ATM at the Industrial and Commercial Bank in the corner.

Unconsciously, Jiang Ning walked up, pushed the glass door, he stood in front of the ATM, inserted his bank card, and withdrew all of the five hundred yuan balance, which was all his possessions.

He grabbed the money, hurriedly headed towards Yu Zhou Fourth Middle School, his pace especially urgent.

Twenty minutes later, Jiang Ning surveyed the courtyard wall of the school’s east playground, he took a breath then a deep breath, suddenly sprinted, grabbed hold of the wall, and clumsily climbed over it.

The playground was pitch dark, not a single figure in sight, the teaching building’s lights were all extinguished.

Jiang Ning crossed the playground, burst into the No. 3 teaching building, climbed to the second floor.

He opened the window of the Grade 3 Class 1 classroom, climbed into the classroom in the dark.

Finding Xue Yuantong’s seat, he confirmed it again, then placed all the five hundred yuan he just withdrew into the desk hole.

In the dim classroom, Jiang Ning murmured: "Get better."