Chapter 55: Life-Saving Grace
Translator: Noodletown Translated Editor: Noodletown Translated
Hao Ren was slightly relieved when he heard the news.
“Come on, I’ll take you to the hospital,” Zhao Guang picked up his keys and said to Hao Ren.
“Ok!” Hao Ren stood up from the couch immediately.
Zhao Yanzi also followed him to the door.
Zhao Guang drove smoothly, and they reached Eastern Hospital in 20 minutes. He got in touch with Zhao Hongyu and found out that Hao Ren’s grandma was in stable condition and was placed on a hospital bed.
They walked along the stairs and through the quiet corridors. Then, they reached the room Zhao Hongyu mentioned.
There were four beds in the room, and three of the beds were taken by other elderly patients as well. Zhao Hongyu didn’t want Zhao Yanzi to get noisy, so she made shushing gesture to her before they entered.
Hao Ren’s grandma was lying flat on the bed, and she had an intravenous drip in her arm – it was the saline solution. Her eyes were closed, and her breathing seemed regular. The wrinkles on her face were like the valleys between the hills.
“The doctor says she will be fine after resting for two days,” Zhao Hongyu stepped forward and said to Hao Ren softly.
“Thank you, Auntie!” Hao Ren was relieved and walked over to take a look at his grandma.
“Since this was an emergency, she was put into a standard ward like this. I will talk to them tomorrow and see if they can transfer her into a single room,” Zhao Hongyu whispered to Hao Ren from behind.
“It’s ok,” Hao Ren turned around, having no idea how to thank her.
“I need to pay for a bunch of speeding tickets tomorrow, but I have an appointment with Phillip Stark because he wants to visit my studio. So, I won’t have time to pay…” Zhao Hongyu whispered into Zhao Guang’s ear.
Hao Ren sat beside the bed and looked carefully at his grandma. He caught what Zhao Hongyu was whispering about, and he thought about how she helped him out even though they were not related. He was incredibly grateful towards her.
“Let me pay for the tickets, auntie,” he turned to Zhao Hongyu and said.
She was surprised at how sharp Hao Ren’s hearing was. After a short moment of pause, she shook her head and smile, “It’s alright. There are only two or three of them.”
Zhao Guang looked at Hao Ren and thought for a bit. Then he asked, “Did you break through the second level of the Spirit Concentration Scroll, Ren?”
Hao Ren nodded. He was so worried about his grandma that he forgot to mention the good news to Zhao Guang.
“No wonder I sensed something different about you. Your five senses have gotten sharper too,” Zhao Guang suddenly understood.
“Five senses?” Hao Ren was confused.
“Yes, five senses – seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching,” Zhao Guang explained.
Hao Ren didn’t feel anything special, but since Zhao Guang said they were enhanced, then that must have been the case.
Zhao Yanzi, who was beside Hao Ren, looked at him in surprise. She thought, “It hasn’t been long, and he has already broken through the second level of the Spirit Concentration Scroll? I ate elixirs at home as if they were candy and barely got to Kan-level.”
“You should keep your grandma company since she is alright. Zi has school tomorrow, so I’m going to take her back home. Oh, I have already paid for the hospitalization and treatment fees, and I also paid 6000 yuan in additional deposits. She can take her time to recover here, and I’ll come by tomorrow if I have some time,” Zhao Hongyu said to Hao Ren.
“I’ll pay you back. Thank you, Auntie!” Hao Ren said sincerely.
“It’s not much money so don’t worry about it. Taking care of her is your priority,” Zhao Hongyu took Zhao Yanzi by the arm, and the three of them left.
Hao Ren stayed in the ward, waiting for his grandma to wake up. She finally came to her senses at midnight when Hao Ren was about to fall asleep.
“Ren! She called out softly as soon as she saw him beside her bed.
Hao Ren was suddenly woken up by her voice, and he rubbed his eyes to have a better look. When he saw his grandma awakening up, he called out in excitement, “Grandma!”
Then, he immediately covered his mouth as he remembered that there were still other elders in the room.
“Why am I here?” his grandma asked.
“You fainted at home, so we took you to the hospital,” Hao Ren answered lightly.
“Oh, I remember now. I was cleaning the house… but I don’t remember what happened next,” she raised her skinny arm and pinched her forehead as she continued, “Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be in school?”
Hao Ren told her exactly what had happened. However, he replaced Zhao Hongyu’s identity of “mother-in-law” to “his student’s mom.”
“In that case, they are a family of good people. I must go thank them in person after I recover.” Grandma sighed.
She was too weak to keep up their conversation, so he persuaded her to rest some more since he didn’t want her to pass out again.
When she looked at her filial grandson, she was delighted and forgot about her health condition.
At sunrise, a nurse brought over breakfast, and Hao Ren took it from her and fed his grandma carefully.
“Ren, today is Friday, so you still need to go to school, right?” Grandma asked as Hap Ren lifted up a spoon full of soup.
“It’s ok. I can take a day off to keep you company,” Hao Ren said immediately.
He was planning to go back on the weekend to keep his grandma company, but he didn’t think that something like this would happen. Hao Ren felt guilty when he thought about his grandma being home alone when Uncle Wang wasn’t very good at taking care of her.
However, his grandma’s words reminded him of Zhao Jiayi and the guys. He called them up and told them to help him out. That meant if a teacher took attendance, Zhao Jiayi and the guys would need to inform the teacher of the situation.
Grandma had to keep having her intravenous drip today, and Hao Ren went back and forth as a filial grandson; he washed towels and peeled apples for her, doing whatever he could.
In the afternoon, Hao Ren received a text message from Xie Yujia, asking about his grandma’s condition. Hao Ren knew she must have overheard Zhao Jiayi when he explained it to the teacher, and this message was her way of caring for him.
Although it was only a friendly text, Hao Ren was still a bit moved by it.
Grandma saw Hao Ren hesitating on his cell phone, so she laughed, “Is it your girlfriend?”
“No,” he laughed and typed in “Thank you for asking” after a few seconds of hesitation.
“It’s normal to have a girlfriend at your age,” Grandma kindly brought up the old topic again.
Hao Ren knew that she had the traditional concepts of the suburb farmers and believed that boys should start dating at the age of 20 and get married before they turn 25. However, given her age, it was understandable that she wanted to have a granddaughter-in-law as soon as possible. Therefore, he didn’t argue with her.
The strange thing was, Xie Yujia would always pop up in his head whenever his grandma brought up this topic. It was as if his instinct had been telling him that a smart and understanding girl like her would be the type of granddaughter-in-law his grandma would like.
“But if you do have a girlfriend, she would probably be visiting me now that I am sick, right?” Grandma didn’t want to let this topic slip, so she kept asking tentatively.
As she finished her sentence, Zhao Yanzi entered the room curiously. She was in her blue school uniform and had the pink backpack on her back.