NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1 - I
The weather in March was unusually cold for spring. Most pedestrians outside still wore thick coats, but Xie Qi, on the other hand, only had a thin spring and autumn school uniform coat. Due to the cold, his originally fair ears turned red, and his lips were slightly pale.
Following the payment notification call from the hospital, his breath floated in the air like mist. There was no expression on his beautiful face, and his tone darkened as he spoke to the other end of the phone, saying, “I understand; I’ll go to the hospital to pay later.”
After hanging up, he took the key, inserted it into the keyhole, turned it gently, and the door opened.
The house still looked the same as when his parents left. The living room and bedrooms were neatly tidied, with slightly dusty floors from not being mopped for a few days.
Xie Qi removed his school uniform, found a mop, soaked it in water, wrung it out, and began mopping the floor.
After working for a long time and cleaning the house again, he went into his parents’ bedroom to find money.
Thinking about Xie Qi’s family.
His mother was still his biological mother and his father was not his biological father, but a stepfather. His name was Hou Linong, a physics teacher in his high school. Speaking of which, Teacher Hou was able to connect with his mother because they happened to be in the back row at the parent-teacher meeting. They saw each other and got married.
Teacher Hou didn’t have much money as a teacher. Before getting married, he lived in the faculty dormitory. Afterward, he took Xie Qi and rented a house with his mother. They were indeed a very ordinary family.
What was extraordinary? Probably Xie Qi and his mother had good looks. Xie Qi was tall like his biological father, but his face was entirely inherited from his biological mother, Jiang Sining. He looked like a mix of a boy and a girl, with delicate and beautiful facial features. There was a small black round mole under the corner of his mouth.
His mother was also a very famous beauty in the village back then. Mother and son were at least 60% similar, and the remaining 40% were inherited from his grandfather, who was also a very famous beauty.
However, although Xie Qi was good-looking and exceled in studies, he had a real flaw. His eyesight was not very good.
His eyes were beautiful, with a lovely curvature. The eyelashes were thick and long. The pupils were golden, the color of amber. Such eyes had little melanin, making them naturally sensitive to light. Moreover, Xie Qi suffered from nystagmus, and his eyesight was even weaker. He usually needs to wear special glasses in class.
Originally, Teacher Hou and his mother, Jiang Sining, discussed having an operation after the college entrance examination. But Teacher Hou believed that such an operation might cause blindness and refused to do it. He even got into a dispute with Jiang Sining because of this.
It was good now that they hadn’t woken up yet; they couldn’t make any noise.
.
Xie Qi received a call and learned that his parents had a car accident two days ago. He had been traveling back and forth between the school and the hospital for the past two days. He had finally paid the temporary surgery fees for his parents and felt a little exhausted.
Stepfather Hou Linong sustained severe injuries: 11 broken ribs, punctured lungs leading to pneumothorax, a right leg bone penetrating the skin, shattered leg and arm bones, and a cracked skull. These surgeries had to be staggered over time, and Hou Linong remained in comatose.
The initial procedures included pneumothorax surgery and brain stitches, necessitating two ICU stays. A critical illness notice was even issued to Xie Qi during the most critical phase.
In contrast, Xie Qi’s mother, Jiang Sining, faced a comparatively better situation with a broken leg, facial stitches, a broken arm, internal bleeding, and corneal damage from glass shards during the car accident. Removing the glass shards caused corneal scarring, significantly impacting her vision. Restoring normal vision was practically impossible without a corneal transplant.
Despite the severity of their conditions, Hou Linong was in the ICU while Jiang Sining remained unconscious.
Two seriously ill patients suddenly appeared in the family. It was really difficult for a high school student to take care of them. Fortunately, he knew Teacher Hou’s bank card password, so he was able to pay the surgery fee for the time being.
But that was far from enough, so Xie Qi came back to look for money.
He searched on the desk beside the bed and found a small cloth bag. He poured it out and saw it contained some gold jewelry, mostly given by Hou Linong. Xie Qi made an estimate and calculated that it would be worth between thirty to forty thousand yuan.
Although Teacher Hou gave it to his mother during the festival, which had a special meaning, at this critical moment, there was really no other way. Everything that could be sold must be sold first.
A ventilator costs at least 3,000 to 4,000 yuan a day to operate, not to mention the medicines and medical equipment prescribed—all of which cost money.
Xie Qi was still in the critical period of his senior year in high school. He would be taking the college entrance examination in a few months, so everything seemed to be coming together for now.
Xie Qi calmed down for a moment and took the bag of gold jewelry to a gold store to get some money first. Due to the fluctuation in gold prices, it was thousands more than Xie Qi expected.
Xie Qi took the money and hurried to the hospital.
Xie Qi’s eyesight was not very good. Although there was not much sunlight outside, he still felt tired after looking at it for a long time, so he put on a baseball cap to block the light a little.