"I told you not to eat random stuff outside, but you just couldn’t resist. Now look at you, sick like this. You're always so disobedient. Look at your cousin Lingling from your eldest aunt’s side, she’s so well-behaved. And your cousin Zhang Qiang from your other aunt’s family, he’s been cooking dinner since third grade. And then there’s your…"
Yang Jiabo couldn’t stand Zhou Lingling the most. Their eight characters were in conflict, and Li Guizhen loved bringing her up, making it feel like ten thousand flies were buzzing around his ears. Yang Jiabo felt even more nauseous. He was so annoyed and uncomfortable. Life was hard and he just wanted to die.
[八字犯冲 (bā zì fàn chōng): lit. eight characters in conflict; fig. two people who are inherently incompatible, like oil and water]
[八字 (bā zì): eight characters, referring to a person's birth chart based on the year, month, day, and hour of their birth]
"Mom, I’m hungry. Can you go buy me some porridge?" Yang Jiabo found an excuse to send Li Guizhen away, finally gaining a moment of peace.
"I’ll go right now. If anything happens, call the nurse immediately, okay?" Li Guizhen reminded him, still worried.
"I know, don’t worry."
Watching Li Guizhen leave, Yang Jiabo let out a sigh of relief. At some point, he had started feeling tense and fearful around his mother, afraid of the emotional harm she might cause. He felt powerless about the situation and could only try to keep it under control.
"Jia Jia, I'm here to see you." Wei Feng bounded into the room and jumped to Yang Jiabo’s bedside, looking at him with pity. "You look so miserable, so pitiful. I didn't know that eating too much could make you this miserable. I will never overeat again."
Song Yufang and Wei Jing followed behind him, watching him act silly in embarrassment.
"Wei Feng, I'm sick, not bloated." Yang Jiabo said through gritted teeth. How could this naughty kid insist that he'd overeaten.
"Stop messing around, Jiajia is sick." Wei Jing subtly pushed his silly brother aside and looked at Yang Jiabo on the hospital bed. When he heard Jiajia was hospitalized, he felt a bit helpless. He had noticed Jia Jia's yellowish complexion looked abnormal, but he didn’t expect it to be an actual illness.
"Oh, really?" Wei Feng looked at him with an expression ' Although I’m not well-read, don’t lie to me'.
"Jiajia, how do you feel? What did the doctor say?" Song Yufang smiled very gently, and her tone was indescribably gentle.
"Auntie Song, I’m fine. I just caught something," Yang Jiabo described his condition lightly.
"This room is so noisy," Wei Jing frowned.
The ward where Yang Jiabo stayed was the same four-person room as last time. The other three beds were also occupied. One of the beds was occupied by a particularly noisy little boy, who was crying and asking for this and that, and was feeling pain here and there.
"Just get used to it." Yang Jiabo said indifferently. In this era, aside from high-ranking officials’ wards, regular hospital rooms were all like this. He even stayed in the hallway before, which was worse than this.
Thinking of the experience of staying in the hallway, Yang Jiabo suddenly froze. That should have been about six months later, right? He had red spots all over his body and was in so much pain. He was hospitalized after tests showed his platelet count was too high. At the time, the hospital was full, so he had to stay in the hallway.
Ugh, growing up is really not easy.
It seemed like he was hospitalized at least once a year when he was a child. Life was really hard.
Wei Jing wanted to bring up the idea of transferring Yang Jiabo to another hospital, but after some thought, he decided not to mention it. That evening, Wei Jing walked into his father’s study.
"Dad, I need to talk to you about something," Wei Jing said, pulling up a chair and sitting down in front of Wei Changdong’s desk, his expression was serious.
"What's the matter?" Wei Changdong looked up. His son had been smart and had always been a worry-free person since he was young.
"Jiajia is in the hospital. I want him to be transferred to another hospital. Do you think that's okay?"
Wei Changdong pinched the bridge of his nose and looked at him seriously, saying, "Transferring to another hospital is simple, but it depends on whether Jiajia's family agrees or not. Why do you want Jiajia to be transferred to another hospital?"
Wei Jing: "The conditions in that hospital are not good."
"Then what conditions do you consider good?" Wei Changdong asked back.
Wei Jing thought for a moment and said, "At least there is a quiet environment and convenient facilities."
"Then have you ever considered that to meet the standard you mentioned, even if I can arrange it for him, the cost will definitely be high. The hospital is mainly for treating patients. Even if the living environment is not good, being able to cure the disease is the most important thing."
"I understand." Wei Jing pursed his lips, thinking about the Yang family’s situation, they probably wouldn’t agree. Even Jiajia, the penny-pincher, definitely wouldn’t be happy about it. Wei Jing glanced at Wei Changdong. Even if his parents were willing to cover the cost, whether they agreed was one thing, but the Yang family would never accept it. Wei Jing felt a sense of helplessness, and he didn’t like it.
"By the way, your grandfather wants you to return to Beijing for school. What are your thoughts on that?"
Wei Jing frowned. "It’s fine here. I don’t want to go back yet."
"Xiao Jing, you are very smart. This place is too backward, and the quality of education here is far behind Beijing’s. Your mother and I are here for work, so we have no choice, but you’re different. No matter what, you have to go back for middle school."
"I understand." Wei Jing had known for a long time that he would have to return to Beijing sooner or later. He was just a bit worried about Jiajia, he was like another younger brother to him, though neither of them was particularly easy to handle. Still, even if he left, his parents would still be here, and he could always come back during holidays.
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