My Youth Began With Him

“Of course not.” Huo Mian smiled.

“Child… stop lying to me… if I’m fine, Doctor Liu wouldn’t have shut me down every time I asked to be discharged,” Qin Yumin said. Truth be told, he was a wise old man…

Huo Mian didn’t say anything and stared quietly at her father-in-law.

“Your mom is easy to trick, but I’m not like her. If it’s just my blood pressure, it would’ve been controlled through injections and medicine a long time ago, so why won’t the hospital discharge me? So… stop trying to hide it from me, tell me if I’m sick.”

“Dad…”

“Mian, I may be older than you, but I respect you very much because you’re an outstanding doctor. Just tell me the truth…”

Qin Yumin made it very clear that he wanted to know what was wrong with him, so Huo Mian felt bad about hiding his condition.

“Dad… they found a shadow in the middle of your brain.”

“Shadow?” Qin Yumin froze, and Huo Mian nodded, “The CT showed a small shadow in your brain, but they don’t know what it is yet.”

“Could it be a brain tumor?”

“The doctors don’t know yet, they have to send it to the pathology department. But, it’s located in a sensitive area. You might not know, but the center of the brain is extremely delicate, it controls the functions of the central nervous system and cortical reflex zone. If something’s growing there and presses too hard on your nerves, you might suffer from acquired epileptic aphasia. The worst-case scenario is… you’ll suffer from a seizure and become paralyzed.”

Huo Mian said everything slowly and word for word, while Qin Yumin’s expression became complicated.

Upon seeing her father-in-law’s serious expression, Huo Mian consoled him, “Dad… don’t think too much, it might just be a blood clot that was caused by a burst blood vessel due to your high blood pressure. The results aren’t out yet, so you have to be optimistic. Patients shouldn’t give themselves too much pressure.”

“I’m fine, Mian… truth be told, I was prepared for this since I’m not young anymore and my health hasn’t been great… Don’t tell Qin Chu and your mom about this yet, I don’t want them to worry.”

“I won’t, but you have to cooperate with the doctors and let them keep you under observation here for a while longer, okay?”

“Mhm.” Qin Yumin nodded heavily.

After spending some time at the hospital, Huo Mian drove back to GK. She felt restless since she didn’t tell her father-in-law the true extent of his conditions.

Dr. Liu made it very clear that the shadow in his brain was a tumor, but he didn’t know if it was benign or malignant. It wasn’t just a blood clot…

It didn’t show the last time he was hospitalized, but now it was the size of a soybean.

It didn’t matter if the tumor was benign or malignant, he would still need to undergo a craniotomy.

It was a difficult surgery because the tumor grew very fast and once it reached a certain size, it would start to press against his cranial nerves.

Her heart felt heavy; she really didn’t know how to tell Qin Chu about this. There was enough on his plate these days…

If her father-in-law’s assessment comes back positive for malignant, then there’s a chance that he might die.

If he died before getting to see his grandchildren, Huo Mian would feel like the ultimate sinner…

The more she thought about it, the more depressed she became.

As soon as she arrived at the office, she dove right back into work. Qin Chu wasn’t home anyway, so she didn’t see the point in going home and therefore decided to work overtime. It was also 11 PM by the time she looked down at her watch.

Exhausted, Huo Mian yawned. She turned off the lights and left the office, but the elevators had stopped operating.

Oh my god, was she going to climb down more than thirty flights of stairs? At this thought, she madly pressed the elevator button a few more times, but nothing.

Therefore, Huo Mian had no choice to walk down the stairs. The sensor lights in the staircase were turned off as well, so Huo Mian used the flashlight on her phone and carefully headed downstairs.

When she was on the 29th floor, she suddenly heard heavy footsteps below her. She was confused – all the employees were home at this hour, so who would take the stairs?

At this thought, the hairs on Huo Mian’s head stood up and she instinctively turned around to run back upstairs…