WC ⋆ Chapter 18

A drunk person saying they needed to use the bathroom was a very serious situation. Jiang Yishen and Qi Lin scrambled to rescue him from the blankets, only to find the man still snoring away with no sign of any intention to relieve himself on the floor.

Qi Lin grabbed Fan Zi by both arms while Fan Zi leaned against his legs in an extremely ambiguous posture, making Qi Lin particularly annoyed: "You called everyone over at three in the morning just for this nonsense."

"Last time he didn't roll off the bed, did he?" Jiang Yishen lifted his legs, and the two of them deposited him back onto the bed in the manner of disposing of a body.

"Last time he was sleeping sideways," Qi Lin sighed. "He was sitting up talking to us, then just collapsed and fell asleep. I remember when I got up to smack him, he'd already rolled sideways to the foot of the bed. This time he's sleeping lengthwise, so there isn't enough room for him to roll."

By the time they finished all that fussing, dawn was nearly breaking, and the interrupted topic had no atmosphere left to continue. The two of them tacitly avoided it, as if nothing had really happened at all, as if a bowl of steaming hot noodles in the middle of the night had been nothing but a dream.

Qi Lin finally felt sleepy and burrowed back under the covers to sleep. Jiang Yishen was still sitting by the window, staring into the distance, lost in thought.

Qi Lin pressed half his face into the pillow and watched Jiang Yishen's back, drifting off to sleep without realizing it.

This time his sleep was not very restful. Perhaps because they had talked about family before bed, he dreamed of the scene when he came home right after graduation. At that time he had come out to his family. His parents hadn't argued with him, perhaps because both sides knew there was no way to convince the other, and they simply stood in an awkward standstill. Over the six months of the second half of that year, apart from a few holiday check-ins, they had barely been in contact.

Qi Lin was woken up by Jiang Yishen. They got up even earlier this time, moving with remarkable speed and decisiveness. Jiang Yishen spent a small fortune on a taxi and descended from the sky like a divine soldier, arriving in a somewhat disheveled state to block the front door with the ferocity of a bandit.

Dad was badly startled. The two of them pushed past him and rushed into the bedroom, bundling up the medical records and examination reports along with the bedding, then hauled the man out the door and headed straight for the hospital.

The three-month post-surgery follow-up date hadn't arrived yet. The original plan was to wait until the follow-up day and bring the reports to the hospital that had performed the surgery, but there was no time now to make the high-speed rail trip. Jiang Yishen went directly by taxi to the nearest Grade-A tertiary hospital nearby and registered for an outpatient appointment.

Dad made a fuss the entire way, saying at one moment that it was nothing, then saying it wasn't that serious, and finally, forced into a corner, he laid his cards on the table: "I just had a bit of a headache. I came to see a doctor a couple of days ago. It's just normal post-operative effects."

Jiang Yishen wasn't buying any of it. In the gaps between waiting for their number to be called, you could hear the two of them bickering: "Telling me that now is useless. You've lost all credibility with me."

Dad stood up anxiously and paced back and forth: "What's wrong with you, child?"

"Then tell me," Jiang Yishen looked up and stared directly at him, "did you arrange to meet with Mom today?"

The words were like cold water thrown onto a flame. Dad's face darkened. He stood there for a moment, then dropped heavily back into his chair and said nothing more.

Jiang Yishen bit his lower lip and said nothing. After a long while he turned away, aggrieved, to find Qi Lin, insisting that Qi Lin stay by his side.

Qi Lin shuttled back and forth between the old man and the young one, ushering them both into the examination room. The doctor's assessment was roughly the same as what Dad had said. Jiang Yishen asked about the probability of recurrence. The doctor only said there were no absolutes in such matters. Dad's tumor was located at the base of the skull, adhering tightly to blood vessels and nerves. Some areas were very difficult to forcibly separate, and the portions that hadn't been fully removed did carry a probability of recurrence, but the likelihood of another surgery was low. Radiation and chemotherapy could be considered depending on the situation.

Jiang Yishen was already aware of all this, but hearing the doctor say it again now, his state of mind was completely different from before.

Back then, the surgery had just succeeded, and the emotions of having survived a catastrophe had surged to their peak, causing all these reasonably existing risks to fade in color, as if none of them mattered.

Now that life had returned to its normal course, the post-surgical risks had become the Sword of Damocles hanging over his head, conspicuous and impossible not to accept.

Jiang Yishen's mood plunged. Father Jiang was also silent. As they walked out of the examination room, they saw Xu Huaying sitting in the waiting area not far away, wearing that thick cashmere suit.

Xu Huaying spotted them first. She rose and walked over, scanning Father Jiang up and down, then took Qi Lin by one hand and linked her arm through Jiang Yishen's with the other, saying to Father Jiang: "Let me have a word with the kids."

Things had come to this point, and the elders had been put in a position where they couldn't back down gracefully. Father Jiang rolled up his medical booklet, stuffed it back into his pocket, sighed, and sat down in the waiting area. His mask covered most of his face, and only his tired eyes closed briefly, a helplessness inside them that couldn't be concealed.

"Mom!" This time Jiang Yishen gave her no chance to muddy the waters. "What did Dad say to you?"

Xu Huaying glanced back at the figure of the man sitting in the waiting area, quickly withdrew her gaze, and pulled open the door to the stairwell: "How did you know I was back?"

As sharp as ever. Jiang Yishen had already learned that when talking to his mom, he couldn't afford to lose the initiative. So he unreasonably cut off her thread of conversation and spoke for himself: "Did something happen to Dad? He won't tell me."

"Nothing's wrong." Xu Huaying crossed her arms and leaned sideways against the stair railing, then shifted slightly and brushed off the hem of her coat where it had touched the railing. "Isn't the New Year coming up? I came back to see you."

Even Qi Lin could tell it was an excuse. The stairwell was silent for a moment, and Xu Huaying finally sighed: "Really, nothing's wrong. It's just that after the surgery your dad started fearing death. He's worried there'll be no one to look after you, and he told me that when the time comes I can't just leave you here alone."

Even though he had guessed the truth, hearing it with his own ears still left a dull heaviness in his chest. Jiang Yishen rubbed his head and said quietly: "Why doesn't he say these things directly to me?"

"Oh, come on, say it to you? Back before the divorce, he wouldn't even say it to me. He'd keep it all bottled up until it followed him into his coffin." Xu Huaying gave a short, derisive laugh.

"But he still shouldn't have come to you." Jiang Yishen's voice trailed off as he spoke. "You were doing just fine over there, and now you've been dragged into trouble by your ex-husband's family again."

"What are you saying?" Xu Huaying frowned, glancing sideways at Qi Lin before continuing: "You're my own son. I want to look after you myself. How is that being dragged into trouble? If I didn't want you, I would have cut ties after the divorce."

The reasoning was sound, but the way it came out was awfully blunt. Jiang Yishen was left speechless and turned to Qi Lin for help.

Qi Lin felt his back prickle under the gaze of both mother and son, and he dodged their eyes evasively.

"The headache business, did he tell you?" Xu Huaying finished speaking, then laughed very softly, lowered her head, and tapped the floor with her heel. "Or did you figure it out yourself?"

Jiang Yishen shook his head. Xu Huaying hadn't seen it, but she understood all the same.

"That's just how he is. The worse the relationship, the more openly he talks. With his own son he overthinks everything. If you have that same problem, fix it as soon as possible. Otherwise you'll end up divorced."

The words were like a pebble dropped into a deep lake, ripples spreading outward in rings, seeming harmless on the surface, yet truly striking the deepest part of the heart at the bottom of the lake. Jiang Yishen was silent and said nothing, unclear whether it was because of Dad's illness or because of the words themselves.

Qi Lin felt something stir in his heart and turned his gaze, meeting Xu Huaying's eyes exactly as expected.

She had made her point and stopped there, tilting her head toward the door outside: "I'll have a chat with your dad in a bit. I need to go to the insurance company at noon. Tomorrow then, let's have a meal together tomorrow."

Jiang Yishen kept his eyes lowered, seemingly still digesting everything.

"That illness of his, I've looked into it. The probability of recurrence is very low. Don't be too anxious about things that haven't happened yet. And if they do happen, it'll be fine too. We'll get through each hurdle as it comes." Xu Huaying said.

Jiang Yishen gave a soft "mm," his expression like a little dog caught in the rain.

Xu Huaying sighed and rubbed her brow: "This child is so hard to comfort. Xiao Qi, you do it. I don't know how to comfort him."

Qi Lin was called on by name. He actually wanted to explain something, but his lips moved and no words came out. The helplessness radiating from Jiang Yishen was too contagious, leaving him speechless as well.

It was a helplessness that Qi Lin could empathize with only one percent of, born from a life that even the loop could not change, the gap between possessing a superpower in the traditional sense and yet being unable to make everything go the way you wished.

Their silence gave Xu Huaying the wrong impression. Taking it to mean they had already gotten back together, she continued: "Now that you two are together again, at least you have each other for company. Knowing you're looking out for each other puts my mind at ease."

Xu Huaying felt this conversation had reached a proper conclusion, and she pulled open the stairwell door: "I'll talk to your dad. You two don't stay in the hospital. The flu has been bad lately. Go on, get out of here."

She turned and walked out as she said this. Qi Lin followed behind. He was just about to step through the door when he suddenly heard Jiang Yishen say: "I want to rest for a bit."

Qi Lin startled and turned back to see a pair of quiet eyes watching him, deep and unfathomable, as if those words just now had been hinting at something else entirely.

"What did you say?"

Jiang Yishen only looked at him, as if a thousand words were all contained in that silence. His dry eyes blinked once, blinking away all the emotions of a moment ago, and he simply lowered his head and shook it: "Nothing."

Qi Lin frowned slightly, sensing something was off, but unable to quickly figure out what exactly was wrong. He could only say: "You're a bit tired. Go back and rest."

Jiang Yishen gave a soft "mm" and followed obediently behind him.

His hands were tucked in his pockets, fingertips rubbing that ring, pressing hard enough that the metal dug into his knuckles.

Ever since the loop began, Jiang Yishen had stopped making wishes carelessly. But right now he was making the greatest effort he could to wish that the loop could grow just a little bigger, could rewind just a little further, back to the very beginning, back to when nothing had happened yet.

Back then his family was healthy, he was in the most leisurely second year of university, he didn't need to think about the future, life was ordinary but carefree, the trivial days held no great worries, and he was a fool who didn't know how lucky he was.

Back then he and Qi Lin had just started dating, and as long as he drooped his tail, Qi Lin would come and hold him.

Jiang Yishen thought of that rainy day when he and Qi Lin first began their tentative closeness, at the cruise terminal, the Ferris wheel turning slowly in the distance. Their fate had begun with Fan Zi's earth-shattering tumble, a splashing crash that sent water droplets flying up to become every rain and snowfall, every cloud that followed, accompanying them through a complete cycle of winter, spring, summer, and autumn, and finally becoming their tears, falling quietly on a day of lingering autumn rain.

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