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Published at 18th of May 2023 01:02:18 PM


Chapter 18

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NOVEMBER 27, 2022 NYXBIRD LEAVE A COMMENT

After the consultation, the Jiang family set the time of admission to the hospital at the end of April.

On the day Jiang Zhuo was admitted to the hospital, it coincided with the routine physical examination of the high school second years. There was no class in the morning and more than half of the teenagers were in especially good spirits. They laughed and joked without care, full of energy.

Only Shen Xu was an exception, his face pale, watching the line in front of him shorten little by little, and his whole person wanted to cry but he was without tears, and could only hunch his thin shoulders pitifully and helplessly.

Jiang Chen stood behind him, holding a black-covered book in his hand, reading while waiting in line, leisurely and calmly.

“Brother Jiang, why do you think they draw such a large tube of blood?” Shen Xu stretched his neck to watch the person in front of him draw blood, and after watching it, he leaned on Jiang Chen tremblingly, with a chalk white face: “I won’t faint from the blood loss, will I?”

“You say that every time you had your blood drawn before, but did you ever faint?” Jiang Chen glanced at him, then lowered his eyes to continue reading.

“You fellow, crossing the river and demolishing the bridge!” Shen Xu was not comforted, and he became dissatisfied in an instant, but his spirits also rose and he said: “You want to switch our test tubes, and your good brother, I, agreed without a word. But when I am so nervous and in need of a little comfort from you, you actually ignore me like this. Soon my body will be hurt later, but now you actually hurt my heart first, do you have a conscience, are you still my good brother or not?”

Jiang Chen sighed in the bottom of his heart. He very much missed Huo Bo at times like these, if Huo Bo was here, just a look from him would make Shen Xu shut up.

“How do you want me to comfort you?”

“May 1, accompany me for at least three days!” Shen Xu immediately stood up straight, and said while counting his fingers, “One day to play basketball, one day to play video games, and one day to…..”

Jiang Chen didn’t wait for him to finish, and just helped him to finish: “Go to the library to study.”

“What library, what study!” Shen Xu was dissatisfied: “Seven days off! It’s a long vacation! Who goes to the library! And how could there be any spot left in the library?”

“You will go if there’s an open spot?”

“I…..” Shen Xu pursed his lips, but knowing that Jiang Chen was going to go, he could only reluctantly say: “Fine, fine, it happens that my parents are at home this holiday, although they know that I will be hanging out with you and won’t lecture me, but if they know we are going to the library, I might have more pocket money next month.”

Jiang Chen patted his shoulder and raised his chin slightly: “It’s your turn.”

The blood draws on this line have basically been finished. Most of the boys rushed in front and left after the drawing. Most of the girls queued behind the boys, but they also knew that they would have to have their blood drawn sooner or later and so did not dawdle, just rolled up their sleeves when their turn arrived. Only Shen Xu felt faint from needles and blood, and dragged Jiang Chen to the end of the line, until only the two of them were left in the arranged office.

However, this was exactly what Jiang Chen needed.

Shen Xu stepped forward, the nurse looked up at him and asked, “Jiang Chen?”

Shen Xu paused, then nodded.

“Put your arm on the table, when I ask you to make a fist, you will make a fist, and if it’s let go, then you let go.” Probably because Shen Xu’s complexion was too ugly, and it was the last two students already, the nurse smiled and comforted: “‘Classmate Jiang Chen ‘, don’t be afraid, this will be over very quickly.”

The fake Jiang Chen nodded, grabbing the real Jiang Chen’s arm with one hand, resting his other arm on the cushion, stiffened his neck and closed his eyes as if he was being tortured.

Jiang Chen sighed, covered Shen Xu’s eyes, and whispered to the nurse, “Please be gentle.”

“Don’t worry.” The nurse smiled and said, “It’s just an ant bite, it won’t…..”

“Owwwwwww——”

Before the nurse’s words that it wouldn’t hurt was even finished saying, Shen Xu’s screech startled her so much that her hands almost trembled. Fortunately, her professional quality was still there, and she quickly drew the needle, the process considered finished.

However, she really had been shocked and said with both amusement and irritation: “How could it hurt so much, classmate Jiang Chen, you are such a big boy, but you are like a child toward having your blood drawn.”

Shen Xu clutched his arm, his expression weak and fragile but confident: “I, Jiang Chen, am afraid of injections. I have been afraid of injections since I was a child, not only injections but also…..”

Jiang Chen rolled up his sleeves and glanced at him calmly when he stretched out his hand. Shen Xu immediately shut his mouth.

The nurse quickly drew blood for Jiang Chen, and after drawing the blood, she said to Shen Xu, “Look at ‘classmate Shen Xu’, he is not afraid at all, you are friends, learn more from him.”

Shen Xu covered his stomach with a snort and bent over from the laughter. Before waiting for Jiang Chen to speak, he nodded again and again: “Okay, okay, I will definitely learn from ‘classmate Shen Xu’.”

After the physical examination was the May 1st holiday.

Yesterday, the school went on vacation, and Jiang Zhuo was officially admitted to the hospital to prepare for surgery. Yang Si went to the hospital early in the morning with a change of clothes and breakfast. Jiang Chen went over at noon, and after changing shifts with Yang Si, delivered lunch to Jiang Zhuo. After sitting with him for a while, he was then driven away.

Both Jiang Zhuo and his wife felt that after the accident, Jiang Chen’s character was much more serious and solemn than before. Although others would think he had become more sensible, they felt distressed in their hearts. Before on holidays, the child would often go out to play basketball with friends. Now he always stayed at home or studied or helped out around the house. Children of this age didn’t need to be like this, they just wanted him to be happy.

Therefore, when Jiang Zhuo saw Jiang Chen sit next to him, pick up the book he brought and opened it, as if he was going to read it all afternoon, he took out the book in his hand and drove him out without hesitation. He stuffed him with fifty yuan and told him to find Shen Xu and Huo bo to play what he wanted to play, and eat what he wanted to eat, and not to sit dully at home or in the hospital all the time.

Jiang Chen had no choice but to leave the hospital with the money.

Today was the first day of May. Shen Xu and his parents were going to visit relatives and Huo Bo was not in Yan City now. So today he planned to read a book in the hospital while taking care of his father. But at this time, the plan was disrupted and he didn’t know where else to go.

Walking out the hospital, Jiang Chen paused and his eyes fell on the lively quaint old street two blocks away.

It was an antique street and was quite famous in Yan City. A few years ago, someone bought a long-necked gourd bottle from the Qianlong period for 30 yuan on a street stall and became rich overnight. Since then, Antique Street had also grown in popularity and there was an endless stream of people who go there to find treasures, as well as attract many tourists to visit.

Although Jiang Chen had always lived in Yan City, he only passed by there in his first life and never went in, and the same was true in this life. It just so happened that he had nothing to do now, so he turned and walked towards Antique Street.

Antique Street was crowded with people, it was a holiday now, and there were many tourists.

Jiang Chen had just walked a few steps but he was already about to turn around and go back, but the crowd pushed him forward, and it was very difficult to turn back now, so he had to choose to go out from the other end of Antique Street.

Most of the storefronts on both sides were decorated in retro style. There were big houses with red doors and stone lions, and there were small houses with wooden beams and carved wooden windows. If there were no crowds of people in modern wear, at first glance, it really appeared like a scene from ancient times.

Jiang Chen stopped in front of a wooden door, and his eyes stopped at the copper basin that was placed at the door. The basin was full of round ancient coins, some clean and some mottled, of different sizes.

“Customer, would you like to buy some copper coins?” Probably seeing him standing for a long time, the shop clerk dressed in a very retro style came over, but his words were a strange blend of ancient and modern: “If you want to buy it, our Guyun Shop will definitely satisfy you. What year does the customer want, I can give you a look?”

Jiang Chen returned to his senses, declined the clerk’s promotion, and turned around and left the shop.

Standing at the door for a few seconds, he pursed his lower lip, raised his legs and walked in the opposite direction of the flow of people.

After leaving Antique Street, Jiang Chen sat down at the bus stop next to him and lowered his eyes to think about what he had just suddenly thought of.

In the first life, when the company he started with Huo Bo and Shen Xu was just starting, they finally negotiated a cooperation that was extremely important to them at the time. In order to show respect for their future partners, all three of them attended the banquet hosted by the other party.

He had never liked to participate in these banquets, and he had hardly attended them a few times in total. That banquet was one that left the most impression on him, because their future business partner, after a few drinks, grabbed him to sit down next to him and told him his rags to riches tale.

“On May Day in 2004, I was going to the outskirts of Yan City to see my relatives. Who would have thought that I would pick up a silver currency banknote printed by the Hubei Official Money Bureau? Do you know what a Hubei Official Money Bureau Silver Currency Banknote is? Have you seen it before? Let me tell you…..the silver banknote reads ‘Based on this banknote, withdraw an estimate of ten taels’, I still remember it clearly, not a single word forgotten! When I saw that silver banknote, my heart skipped a beat, and I knew that my chance to make a fortune had come, so I immediately hid it and took it home. It turned out that I really hit the jackpot. In 2006, there was an auction in Hong Kong. Do you know how much it cost? 1.3 million yuan! 1.3 million! That’s how I got my first pot of gold hahahaha…..”

Although he only relayed what was written on that banknote once, Jiang Chen’s memory had always been excellent. In addition, the experience of having a drunk man who was grabbing on to him at that time and alternating between boasting about his rags to riches tale and then bursting into folk songs was too particular. Despite two lifetimes having passed, that incident and that out-of-tune singing was still not erased from his memory.

It was just that this incident never held an important place in his memory, it was a memory garbage that left such an impression that it was difficult to eliminate, so before seeing that pot of copper coins just now, he didn’t recall it at all, but after seeing those copper coins, the memory appeared naturally.

Now was the first day of the May Day holiday week in 2004. Although he didn’t know which day the person picked up the banknote during the holiday, within this time period, Jiang Chen decided to check it out.

If that silver banknote was picked up by him today, he would keep part of the money, and if not, he would not go look for it again.

The No. 213 bus stopped in front of him, Jiang Chen got up and stepped onto the bus.




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