Chapter 176

Chapter 176 - 176 169 The End of Yan Cong Changling Breaks Up with Chapter 176: 169: The End of Yan Cong, Changling Breaks Up with Xie Shang (Second Update) Chapter 176: 169: The End of Yan Cong, Changling Breaks Up with Xie Shang (Second Update) He had been waiting in the house where Wen Changling grew up, waiting and waiting, through the dark night until the dawn broke, but he did not wait for Wen Changling to return.

Three hours earlier.

“My name is Wen Changling.” Wen Changling asked Qin Qi, “Are you my father?”

“I don’t know either.”

At this moment, Wen Changling’s phone rang; it was a call from Yan Boyong. There could only be one reason Yan Boyong would call her.

“Grandpa Yan.”

“Changling,” Yan Boyong said, “Yan Cong is waiting for you.”

Wen Changling immediately headed down the mountain.

Qin Qi called out to her, “Miss Wen.”

She stopped and looked back.

“May I know your current address?”

“Lotus Pond Street, number five hundred and thirty-two.”

Farewell, Mr. Qin.

Wen Changling descended the mountain.

*****

Wen Changling booked the next available flight back to the capital. By the time she arrived at Dihong Hospital, it was almost eleven o’clock.

Yan Cong was in the ICU, with the attending physician and Jhiang Youyou both present, but there was nothing more they could do for Yan Cong. That Yan Cong had managed to hold on until now was an extreme rarity.

After changing into sterile clothing, Wen Changling went in and sat down.

“Yan Cong.”

Yan Cong slowly opened his eyes.

Wen Changling felt she had been too greedy, just because she had said she was not ready, she had let Yan Cong suffer for so long. The once vibrant and handsome young man was now almost unrecognizable, tormented by illness.

His fingers twitched slightly, “Changling.”

“Mm,” Wen Changling took his hand, “I’m here.”

“I’ve spoken with my uncle; if you want to go to the Qin Family, go find him.”

“Mm.”

“If you encounter something you can’t handle, go to my grandfather, he will help you.”

“Mm.”

He was imparting his last words, and because of the tubes in his nose, each word was a struggle.

“Changling, in this life, I haven’t had many blessings, but I’m very glad to have known you.”

His life was far too short, merely nineteen years.

He never knew the love of caring parents, practiced sports since he was a child, never got to properly see the world. Diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at seventeen, he gave up sports after surgery, never making it to the Olympics. He lived the life of a normal person for two years before the cancer relapsed, never getting the chance to truly love someone.

That was his nineteen years.

Apart from his grandfather, his only fortune was meeting Wen Changling, someone who would prepare sugar for him when he took his medicine.

“I know you think of me as Ah Na.”

“Big sister.”

Yan Cong rarely called Wen Changling big sister. Only when she got drunk and insisted on calling him Ah Na, would he briefly play the role of Ah Na and call her big sister.

“I am Yan Cong.”

Wen Changling placed her other hand on the back of the chair, gripping it tightly. In her palm was a piece of broken plastic, a spoon from the airplane meal that she had snapped. She didn’t know how she brought it off the plane; the plastic cut through the skin of her palm, and she didn’t feel it, replying to Yan Cong in a numb and mechanical way, “I know, I know.”

You don’t know.

“Changling, I really...”

I really like you.

In the end, Yan Cong still couldn’t bring himself to say those words, as it would only make Wen Changling sadder.

“Don’t cry,” he promised Wen Changling, “I won’t die.”

Wen Changling sat there like a soulless puppet, speechless, with only her eyes showing life, shedding tears.

Yan Cong felt his eyelids growing heavy.

Having seen Wen Changling, it was time for him to go.

“Changling, I have something to tell my grandfather.”

Wen Changling seemed not to hear.

Yan Boyong nodded to Jhiang Youyou, who then approached, “Changling.”

Wen Changling came back to her senses, stood up, gave Yan Cong one last look, and then left.

Yan Boyong sat down by the bedside, his white hair tousled, tears streaming down his face.

“Xiao Cong, Grandpa is here.”

Yan Cong’s gaze was already fading.

“Grandpa,” he spoke very slowly, with difficulty articulating, “you promised me, I can’t die in front of Changling.”

“Grandpa will take you now, I’ll take you right away.”

*****

Wen Changling watched as Yan Cong got into the car and left.

Yan Cong said he was going home. He lay there quietly with his eyes closed, and then the car door shut, and he disappeared from Wen Changling’s line of sight.

Wen Changling remembered her first meeting with Yan Cong.

Their department colleagues said that a handsome ice hockey youth had arrived at the oncology department. It was a pity that his fate was not good, as he had pancreatic cancer. The colleagues also said that the ice hockey youth came from a wealthy family, had a bad temper, refused to take his medication, and liked to give the medical staff a hard time.

When Yan Cong was in so much pain that he rolled around in bed and threw things, Wen Changling came.

“Little brother.”

She gently tugged at the blanket that covered Yan Cong’s head. “Not taking your medicine will make it hurt even more.”

“Get lost.” Who are you calling little brother.

Wen Changling unwrapped a piece of candy and reached her hand under the blanket.

Yan Cong lifted the blanket. “Get lost—”

As he opened his mouth, a hard candy was stuffed into it.

There was a faint smile in Wen Changling’s eyes, but it was obstructed by her glasses. “Sweet, isn’t it?”

Very sweet.

Yan Cong had a sweet tooth since he was a child.

“My name is Wen Changling.”

A nurse with the guts of the heavens. If he wanted, he could get her fired on the spot.

He turned his back on her.

“Yan Cong.”

He crunched the candy in his mouth and said indistinctly, “My name is Yan Cong.”

Wen Changling called him, “Little brother Yan Cong.”

He was impatient. “My name is Yan Cong!”

The first time they met, Wen Changling called him little brother Yan Cong.

She didn’t know that Yan Cong had fallen in love with her at first sight, and she would never know. Pancreatic cancer was the king of cancers, and he was not qualified; he couldn’t even provide the most basic companionship, so he couldn’t tell her.

Wen Changling stood at the hospital entrance from evening until the next day, the piece of plastic that had been brought down from the airplane lying at her feet, soaked in blood.

“Changling.”

Fu Ying hurried over.

Wen Changling turned her head slowly, her feet had long gone numb, unable to move, “Yueyue.” She stood there in a daze, muttering, “Yan Cong is gone too.”

Fu Ying held her. “Cry it out.”

She shook her head. “Yan Cong said not to cry.”

Fu Ying took Wen Changling back to her own home.

Without eating or drinking, Wen Changling slept for two days and one night, unwilling to get up, unwilling to wake up. Her phone was turned off, so Yan Boyong contacted Fu Ying.

Fu Ying handed the phone to Wen Changling.

“Changling.”

“Grandpa Yan.”

Yan Boyong said, “Don’t be sad, I took Yan Cong overseas. There are new medications abroad, and Yan Cong will get better.”

Wen Changling was silent for a long time, calmly agreeing, “Mm, he will get better.”

She felt it was fake.

After hanging up the phone, Wen Changling got out of bed, cleaned up, ate the congee prepared for her by Fu Ying, and returned to her usual self, eerily calm.

“I’m going home.”

Fu Ying was worried about her. “I will take you home.”

She shook her head. “I’m fine, Yueyue, I can go home by myself.”

She left the house alone.

Fu Ying carefully followed her from a distance.

Wen Changling got off the bus too early and walked a long distance. By the time she reached Lotus Pond Street, it was already dark. She walked unsteadily, always looking down at her own shadow on the ground.

“Changling.”

She heard a voice and lifted her head.

It was Xie Shang.

Just now on the road, she was still thinking about how there were no stars tonight.

Xie Shang came over, his eyes very red. Since Wen Changling had left him behind, he hadn’t closed his eyes for a moment.

After returning to Dihong, he looked everywhere for Wen Changling. Not finding her, he waited here indefinitely, just waiting without end.

He instinctively reached out to hold Wen Changling’s hand.

She immediately shook him off, like a hedgehog, raising all her spikes toward him, “Xie Shang, you’re so smart, you should know what I mean.”

Xie Shang knew about Yan Cong.

“I know you’re very upset right now,” his gaze filled with supplication, he pleaded softly, “can we talk about this later?”

Wen Changling was very calm. “We have broken up.”