He was momentarily at a loss for words, unsure how to comfort her, and chided himself for his earlier actions, finding them ridiculous and childish.
After she had cried for a while, he finally spoke, "I'm sorry. I saw you and that doctor acting a bit too intimately, and I thought... never mind that. I'll take you to the hospital."
Lan Yu pushed him away. The mix of grievance and bitterness made her feel particularly distressed. She didn't want to get into his car; she just wanted to hail a taxi herself.
Xiao Anjing simply put his arm around her shoulder and apologized, "You never told me your mother was sick, which is why I misunderstood your relationship with that doctor. It was my fault, alright? It's rush hour now, and it's hard to get a taxi. Just let me drive you."
With that, he didn't give Lan Yu a chance to refuse. He embraced her and put her into his car.
"Which hospital?"
"City Oncology Hospital," Lan Yu replied, looking out the car window.
Her mother getting a terminal illness and missing the best treatment period were all because of her.
Ever since she had married Xie Qining against her mother's advice, she had no status in the wealthy family and was constantly mistreated. Her mother often felt sad and upset because of her, and had to endure the contempt of the Xie family.
Her mother, always a strong-willed person, had kept all the grievances she suffered for her sake bottled up.
When she was divorcing Xie Qining, her mother had mentioned to her once that she had stomach pain.
She had assumed her mother just had a common gastrointestinal issue, and told her to see a doctor herself, rest more, and be mindful of her diet.
In reality, her mother's stomach and abdomen were already in severe pain at that time, sometimes so much that she couldn't sleep all night.
But she was in the midst of a divorce and couldn't properly care for her mother.
It wasn't until she was kicked out of the Xie family and divorced Xie Qining with nothing that she saw her mother again and noticed her terrifyingly sallow complexion.
Her mother, afraid of her worrying, had said she had gone for a check-up, had gastroscopy and colonoscopy, and that there were no major issues.
It was then that she realized her mother's condition was not right. She forcibly took her mother to the hospital for a full body scan.
The doctor, after reviewing her mother's CT scan, delivered an unbearable truth: her mother had pancreatic cancer, and it was in its late stages.
Upon hearing this result, she was stunned. To save her mother, she was willing to give everything, but she discovered she didn't have much savings after leaving the Xie family with nothing.
Her biggest worry was her mother's treatment costs, which was why she had readily agreed when her best friend suggested starting a company, why she had worked so hard to attract investors, and why she had ultimately failed to uphold her principles and cashed Xiao Anjing's check...
"You don't need to remind me often. I know our relationship is a transaction. Whenever you need it, you can exercise your rights. But today, today I really need to be with my mother at the hospital," Lan Yu said, her tone bitter yet stubborn.
Xiao Anjing hadn't meant anything by it. But the moment he saw her being intimate with another man, he had lost control of his emotions. Now, he wanted to say that he cared about her as a person, and that the transaction didn't matter, but the words wouldn't come out. He just drove in silence.
He took her to the hospital. She asked him not to follow, but he still followed her into Dr. Lu's office.
Lan Yu didn't deliberately ask him to leave. Since he insisted on following, she simply treated him as if he were invisible.
Dr. Lu's face was still swollen. He had put on his white coat and took out a thick medical record, handing Lan Yu one of the examination results. "Your mother's condition has spread severely. In fact, there's no point in surgery or chemotherapy; it will only increase the patient's suffering. Why not let her spend her remaining days happily?"
Lan Yu looked at the examination results, tears no longer falling, and asked, "Does my mom know?"
"We haven't told her yet. It's best not to tell her. It might be better for her to have hope in her final days..."
"What's your medical skill like?" Xiao Anjing couldn't help but ask. "To give the patient a death sentence so quickly? If you can't treat her here, I can help find authoritative experts abroad for a consultation."
As Xiao Anjing spoke, he took the examination results from Su Su and glanced at them. He couldn't understand much either, only thinking about sending Lan Yu's mother's medical records to overseas experts in this field.
Dr. Lu raised an eyebrow and looked at him, saying coldly, "If you don't trust me, you can find foreign experts anytime. If someone can cure Miss Lan's mother's illness, I would be overjoyed."
Lan Yu quickly interjected, "Dr. Lu, he didn't mean it that way. He doesn't understand anything. I just want to save my mom. As long as she can be saved, as long as she doesn't leave me, I'll do anything! Can you think of any other better treatment methods?"
Dr. Lu knew that even if they found experts from all over the world, they would be powerless in her mother's current condition. However, he couldn't bear to discourage her further. Since this Mr. Xiao wanted to play the hero, he could only comfort her by saying, "Currently, I don't have any better treatment methods. Why don't you let this Mr. Xiao try and see if he can find more skilled experts?"
With that, Dr. Lu closed the entire medical record and handed it all to her. "This is all of your mother's hospitalization records since she was admitted to our hospital. It will be helpful when you consult other experts. Also, before you find foreign experts, I suggest you don't let your mother stay in the hospital. There's a hospice center in the suburbs that can alleviate her physical suffering. You can transfer your mother there."
"What hospice center? How inauspicious," Xiao Anjing disagreed. "I'll transfer her mother to the best private hospital. It's more suitable for the patient to recuperate there."
Dr. Lu felt he was deliberately being difficult and looked at him, saying, "That's up to you. I'm just giving my advice."
At this moment, other patients came to see him. Lan Yu felt embarrassed to take up more of his time, so she stood up and said to him, "I'm sorry. I will go and see the care center you mentioned. I won't disturb you any longer. Please carry on with your work."
Lan Yu tightly held her mother's hospitalization records and immediately got up and left the doctor's office.
As soon as she stepped outside, she leaned against the wall, feeling weak. She looked at Xiao Anjing, who had followed her out, and asked, "Hiring experts from abroad, or sending my mom abroad for treatment, how much would that cost? Of the four million, I've only spent over a million. Is the remaining money enough?"
"Don't worry about the money. I'll arrange it. Depending on your mother's physical condition, if she's not fit for long-distance travel, then I'll have the experts flown to Lancheng." He was unconvinced by Dr. Lu's words and wanted to find authoritative experts in treating this kind of illness to overturn Dr. Lu's conclusion and show Lan Yu who could truly help her.
Lan Yu seemed to see hope again. Compared to her mother's life, what was her own sense of shame?
Suddenly, she knelt before Xiao Anjing. "Mr. Xiao, thank you. As long as my mother's illness can be cured, I'll do anything you ask."