Chapter 68 (1/2)

On Valentine’s Day, Shu Xiaoman, Lin Wenxi, Gu Xi, Zheng Kai and a few boys and girls gathered together in the evening to comfort each other. Shu Xiaoman enviously told them that at the beginning of this year, Zhao Yuan had come to the city to visit Chen Wanxin.

She made many guesses as to why Zhao Yuan had visited Chen Wanxin during the spring festival and kept talking at the table. Zheng Kai and Lin Wenxi kept listening to her without saying a word. Gu Xi enjoyed gossiping together with Shu Xiaoman for a while. After that, when he noticed that Zheng Kai did not wear the jade goddess of mercy pendant necklace, he felt displeased and kept pestering Zheng Kai. Zheng Kai asked him to stop making a fuss over such a small thing.

“By the way, why didn’t Zhao Yuan come here together with you guys? Do you know where he is, Wenxi?” asked Gu Xi.

Lin Wenxi and Zheng Kai fell silent at the same time.

Early this evening, Chen Wanxin had suddenly come to their dorm and asked Zhao Yuan to go out with her. Zhao Yuan tried to refuse her in the beginning, but in the end, he still packed up his things and left with Chen Wanxin silently.

Since being told by Chen Wanxin that he did not know something about Zhao Yuan, Lin Wenxi had always wanted to find a chance to ask him about it in recent days but failed to think of a proper reason to ask him about his personal affairs.

Lin Wenxi did not know this thing for a reason.

During the new year holiday, Zhao Yuan had received a call from a nurse of a hospital in the city not long after Lin Wenxi had left his house. The nurse told him that his father had been in the hospital for nearly half a year and owed the hospital a lot of money now.

Zhao Yuan hurriedly went to the hospital to see his father. When he found out that his father looked alright, he felt much relieved.

The debts were a big problem for him. He thought, “It looks like that I can only raise the money by selling our house in the county and borrowing money from my relatives and friends.”

When he was lost in thought, the door of the ward was suddenly opened, and Chen Wanxin came in while carrying many nutrition supplements. They were surprised upon seeing each other here.

“You?” They exclaimed simultaneously.

Chen Wanxin told Zhao Yuan how she had accidentally found his father in this hospital. “My cousin works in this hospital. One day, she told me that a patient who got wounded in a traffic accident stayed in her hospital for a long time without paying the medical expenses and refused to contact his family. I was just curious and then found out that this patient is from Yangzi County and his surname is Zhao. I checked his photo and thought that he looks similar to you, so I decided to come here to see him.

“Uncle Zhao refused to talk to me when we first met. When I told him that I’m your girlfriend, he felt much relieved. I told him that you perform well in our university, and he was moved to tears.

“Uncle Zhao said that he wanted to save more money for your future, so he came to work in the city to make money. One day, when he was driving a truck, a pedestrian suddenly stood in his way. To avoid hurting the pedestrian, he made a sharp turn and thus drove his truck into a pond. Fortunately, he was taken out of the pond in time. But the pedestrian was nowhere to be found.”

(What Zhao Ming had not told Chen Wanxin was that he suspected that someone had altered his steering wheel. As he had no evidence, he could only bear the loss by himself. He used all his money to pay off his loans and thus did not have money to pay for his medical expenses.)

Chen Wanxin continued, “Uncle Zhao did not want to make you and your relatives worried and insisted on waiting for the traffic police to find out the pedestrian who should bear half of the loss. As such, I paid for his medical expenses and helped him to hide this thing from you.” When Chen Wanxin was talking, Zhao Ming thought to himself, “My son has a good girlfriend. When I’m discharged from the hospital, I’ll have a serious talk with him. I should urge him to study hard and work hard to pay the money back to his girlfriend.

“And this girl is so pretty and kind. She helped me a lot. Obviously, she must love my son very much. If Zhao Yuan loves her too, I should advise him to mary her when he has a successful career and a good income.

After hearing Chen Wanxin’s words, Zhao Yuan felt touched and said, “Thank you.”

Zhao Yuan loved and respected his father very much. He had lost his mother when he was little, and it was his father who had worked hard year after year to support him. He thought, “I didn’t treat Chen Wanxin very well in the past. I’ve never expected her to do such a thing for me. I’m really grateful for her, but she told my father that she’s my girlfriend. This is somewhat awkward.”

Upon hearing Zhao Yuan’s words, Chen Wanxin said with tears welling up in her eyes. “Don’t thank me. I always treat your father as my own father.”

Zhao Ming was so moved. He suppressed his urge to cry and said, “Yuan, your girlfriend is really nice. She took good care of me every time she came to see me. She fed me water and food and even washed clothes for me.” While saying this, Zhao Ming could not help but think of his missing wife. He thought that if his son could marry this kind girl he would really have nothing to worry about in the future.

“Wanxin…” Zhao Yuan stuttered. “I’ll definitely pay you back.”