Chapter 151: Insomnia

He Chuan hung up the call before she even had a chance to ask him the exact date of their engagement banquet.

Cheng Hui dialed Cheng Jiu’s number again to ask for the date, and Cheng Jiu told her it was the twenty-end of the month, which fell on the Monday of the week after next.

That was a little more than a week away.

Cheng Jiu asked, "What? Are you planning to go?"

"No reason, just asking."

Cheng Jiu replied, "If you want to go, it doesn't matter much if you attend."

Cheng Hui pulled over an ash tray and stubbed out her cigarette. A wisp of milky-white smoke drifted away into the air. She didn't answer directly and changed the subject instead, "Why aren't you asleep yet at this hour? Where is Xiao Manle?"

"She caught a bit of a cold, made a fuss all night, and finally fell asleep."

Xiao Manle was three and a half years old, quiet by nature, and very attached to Xin Gan, lacking a sense of security. Xin Gan had previously taken her for a check-up, and the doctor suggested that Cheng Jiu, as her father, should spend more time with Xiao Manle. True to the advice, Cheng Jiu had spent the whole day taking care of her, but it only made Xiao Manle unhappy, and she had cried the entire time. She avoided Cheng Jiu and insisted on staying with Xin Gan.

She had a constant runny nose while crying, and Xin Gan felt something was amiss, so she took her to the hospital. The doctor diagnosed a cold and prescribed some medication.

Upon returning home, even when Cheng Jiu wanted to hold her, she refused and buried herself entirely in Xin Gan’s arms.

Cheng Jiu felt guilty, believing he owed the mother and daughter a great deal.

Cheng Hui rubbed the bridge of her nose, exchanged a few more casual remarks with Cheng Jiu, and said she was going to sleep. Cheng Jiu asked her again, "Do you still have money on you?"

"Yes, don't worry about me. I have a job now."

"You just graduated. I can still support you for a while."

"Don't worry, I'm not lacking hands or feet. Big Brother, you've already helped me so much; I can't let you support me forever. You still have a wife and a child. Why don't you have another one? That way, Xiao Manle will have a companion."

Cheng Jiu said, "No more, one is enough. Look after yourself instead and make plans for your future."

She understood the logic behind his words, but she had her own thoughts and didn't want to get married. The primary reason, truth be told, was that the person who had once sworn so solemnly to marry her in the future was about to marry another woman.

Cheng Hui said, "I know. Don't worry about me either. I'm a grown adult, Big Brother. You've already done so much, you don't need to stress over me. If anything, I feel quite apologetic. These past few years, you've worked so hard, having to manage everything and worry about everything."

She had fallen out with Madam Cheng, harboring deep resentment and refusing to make a single phone call to her. Strictly speaking, as a daughter, she was failing in her duties. Meanwhile, Cheng Jiu was caught in the middle, and the responsibility of caring for Madam Cheng fell squarely on his shoulders, making his position extremely difficult at times.

If Cheng Jiu hadn't protected her, there was no way she could have completed her studies without a worry and returned home.

Cheng Jiu sighed. She really had grown up; he couldn't treat her like an ignorant child anymore. As for her and He Chuan's situation, it was all in the past and best forgotten.

What was past was past, and everyone had their own lives to live now.

...

When Doctor Ye returned to London, his younger sister asked him, "How come Cheng Hui hasn't come to see you lately?"

"She went home."

His sister had met Cheng Hui a few times previously and knew she was her brother's patient. Her brother was very responsible, and it was quite normal for his patients to occasionally visit him at home.

When Cheng Hui had visited that time, his sister hadn't found it strange at all and had even helped host her.

Doctor Ye’s temperament was rather detached, but his sister had grown alert to how strange he had been acting for quite some time. He frequently zoned out and seemed rather unhappy. Normally someone exceptionally skilled at controlling his emotions, he now appeared visibly affected, and it clearly had to do with Cheng Hui.

His sister brought over a cup of coffee and said, "I heard she's from Yongcheng. When you took your trip back home recently, did you go to Yongcheng?"

Doctor Ye smiled, accepting the coffee from her, and asked, "What are you trying to ask?"

"Nothing much, I just feel your current state of mind isn't very good, so I have reason to suspect it has something to do with Cheng Hui?"

His sister was not easily fooled. Through daily observation, many tiny, subtle details betrayed Doctor Ye's inner thoughts.

Especially whenever anything related to Cheng Hui was mentioned, Doctor Ye's expression would instantly turn dead serious, almost nervous.

This was far beyond the behavior one would show toward a simple patient.

Doctor Ye remarked, "Have you been reading too many Sherlock Holmes stories lately, trying to deduce me?"

"I'm not intentionally observing you; it's just you giving yourself away. Brother, we are full siblings, raised together since childhood. Most of the time, I can guess a little bit of what you're thinking."

"Alright, look at you being so smart, trying to guess my mind." Doctor Ye smiled helplessly, shook his head, closed the book in his hand, and said, "I've scheduled a physical examination for you tomorrow morning. Don't eat breakfast; we need to do a thorough check-up tomorrow."

His sister smiled gently, "It doesn't matter whether I get checked or not, I know my own body better than anyone. Brother, I'm mainly worried about you. What are you going to do with yourself in the future? Being this cowardly and not daring to tell Cheng Hui what's on your mind—living like this, you're destined to be a lifelong single dog."

Doctor Ye's expression instantly hardened into strict seriousness, his nerves tensing up as he remained silent for a long time.

His sister remained very calm. From the very beginning, ever since she learned of her illness, she had remained remarkably calm. She said, "You and Cheng Hui have known each other for so long. If you have feelings for her, Brother, you need to seize the moment."

With a straight face, Doctor Ye snapped, "Nonsense. Cheng Hui is merely my patient; I only pity her, nothing more."

His sister was not intimidated: "If she were just your patient, Brother, you wouldn't have made a special trip back to the country. You simply couldn't set your mind at ease regarding her."

Doctor Ye wanted to put on a stern expression and lecture her, but upon seeing her complexion, his tone abruptly shifted: "Stop worrying about my affairs. The most important thing right now is your illness. You need to maintain a positive mindset; I have no spare energy to care about anything else. At present, nothing is more important than you."

Knowing his personality, his sister understood that he wouldn't listen to anything else at the moment, nor would he give any thought to his own matters, placing her above all else. No matter how much more she said, it would fall on deaf ears.

...

As for her illness, she didn't harbor much hope.

Human life naturally involved painful partings. If she were indeed to leave first one day, her final wish would be to see him together with someone he loved, someone who could continue to accompany and take care of him. Then she could rest in peace.

Doctor Ye was extremely anxious about the results of the next day's examination. Although he was psychologically prepared, and being a psychologist himself, when his own younger sister fell ill—and with cancer at that—he still felt utterly helpless, not even knowing what he could do to alleviate her suffering.

His sister took things in stride and remained remarkably calm facing the final test results. As expected: advanced bone cancer.

The hand holding the medical report trembled, Doctor Ye's eyes turned bloodshot, and he sighed repeatedly, utterly unwilling to accept the reality.

His sister said, "Brother, I was mentally prepared. This result doesn't surprise me, please don't be too sad."

Doctor Ye choked out, "It's fine, we'll find a doctor. We'll find medical treatment, it can still be treated."

The doctor who handed over the test report just moments ago had provided a detailed explanation, stating that currently, there were no particularly effective treatments for advanced bone cancer, and the chance of a cure was extremely slim; they could only try their best to control the progression of the disease and prolong survival time.

Doctor Ye understood the prognosis all too clearly. Treatment needed to begin as soon as possible—the earlier, the better—yet the treatment process itself was excruciatingly painful. In fact, suffering from the disease alone was already agonizing.

Treatment abroad was, in truth, inferior to returning home to seek care at major hospitals, where the environment was generally superior to foreign counterparts. Furthermore, 叶若若 wanted to return; as fallen leaves return to their roots, she wanted to go home.

Through his connections, Doctor Ye managed to locate a domestic hospital that was both authoritative and highly experienced in treating bone cancer. He quickly decided to bring his sister back to China for treatment. That city wasn't far from Yongcheng, just a few hours' drive away. Seeing his persistence, his sister agreed to return for treatment, despite harboring very little hope.

...

With He Chuan's engagement banquet drawing closer, Cheng Hui knew from the bottom of her heart that she didn't want to attend that so-called engagement banquet of his. Fearing complications, she called He Chuan a few days in advance and said, "Look, I'll just come over directly to pick up the cats. You can just have someone open the door for me."

"No one will open the door for you."

"Then how about this, I'll ask my brother to pick up the cats from your place, and you can just hand them to him. On the day of your engagement, I happen to have business travel and won't be able to make it in person."

The business trip was true, having been assigned just yesterday afternoon.

He Chuan let out a faint, dry laugh and said, "So you're not coming?"

Cheng Hui could tell that He Chuan was somewhat displeased, but she failed to understand why he would be unhappy.

"I can't make it."

"You just don't want to see me? Are you deliberately hiding from me?"

Cheng Hui opened her mouth, about to reply, when she heard him say, "You wouldn't be harboring lingering feelings for me, would you?"

This bordered on humiliation.

Cheng Hui chuckled lightly, "I don't mean that at all. My company requires me to go on a business trip that happens to fall right on this schedule. It's not like I can just ask for leave."

"Then find a way to take leave."

"Why must I listen to you?"

"You said yourself you would accommodate my schedule. It has to be that day. If you're late, I won't give the cats to Cheng Jiu either."

He Chuan hung up right after saying that. Afterward, no matter how many times she called, He Chuan refused to answer.

This made Cheng Hui suspect whether he was just toying with her and doing this on purpose.

However, when the day actually arrived, Cheng Hui still went on her business trip. She had no intention of attending his engagement banquet, nor would she let He Chuan get his way. As for the cats, she had already asked Cheng Jiu to help pick them up.

Cheng Hui wasn't the only one on the business trip; someone was leading the team. This time she was out to learn, so she didn't need to negotiate with clients herself.

Following the negotiations, they had to host the clients for dinner. Drinking was inevitable during such dinners. While Cheng Hui had a decent alcohol tolerance, she couldn't withstand the clients enthusiastically mixing drinks—combining liquor and red wine. Although she was an assistant, precisely because she was an assistant, she was slightly 'bullied' into drinking by the older bosses. The alcohol went to her head, and she found herself unable to stand steadily.

Fortunately, Sister Ling supported her, blocked a few rounds of drinks on her behalf, and smoothed things over.

Unable to hold it in any longer, Cheng Hui hurried midway to the restroom, hunched over the toilet bowl, and forced herself to vomit by sticking her fingers down her throat. If she didn't induce vomiting now, once the alcohol was completely absorbed, getting drunk would make her feel even more miserable.

She retched for ten minutes or so until everything in her stomach was thoroughly emptied. Naturally, her breath smelled intensely of alcohol, quite unpleasant.

Inducing vomiting took a heavy toll on the body. She spent a long time recovering in the restroom, cleaned herself up, and only then returned to the private dining room.

By then, she was relatively sober and felt somewhat better.

"Little Cheng, why were you gone for so long? Are you feeling unwell?"

The opposing boss looked at her with a beaming smile. Before Cheng Hui could speak, Sister Ling chimed in with a few remarks to salvage the situation, called her over to toast the clients another drink, and let her off the hook only after seeing that her complexion looked rather poor.

When the dinner banquet concluded, they returned to their hotel. Sister Ling handed her some hangover medicine and asked, "Are you feeling miserable? Do you want to throw up?"

A wave of nausea surged through Cheng Hui's stomach. She wanted to vomit, but nothing came up since her stomach was already empty, leaving only stomach acid. She let out a breath and said, "I'm fine."

"Next time you encounter something like this, don't let them think you can hold your liquor. You must learn to refuse."

Lacking experience, Cheng Hui didn't know how to evade drinking. When the clients prompted her to drink and everyone else was drinking too, she couldn't just refuse.

Kind-hearted Sister Ling handed her a warm towel to wipe her face and said, "If you're fine, get some early rest. We can head back tomorrow afternoon. This trip went quite smoothly; the contract has been signed."

Lying wide awake in bed after a shower, Cheng Hui had zero sleepiness. Her stomach felt uncomfortable, causing her to toss and turn, unable to fall asleep. She picked up her phone to browse, and after a moment of thought, called Cheng Jiu to ask whether the cats had been picked up yet.

Cheng Jiu told her they had already been brought back and asked when she wanted them.

...

Cheng Hui replied, "I'll pick them up as soon as I return from my business trip. Big Brother, when you asked He Chuan for the cats, did he say anything?"

"No." In fact, He Chuan hadn't even handed them over personally; he had someone else give them to Cheng Jiu.

Cheng Hui breathed a sigh of relief.

Once her business trip concluded, Cheng Hui went over to Cheng Jiu's place to retrieve the cats and brought them back to her own apartment. Having just arrived in a new environment, the three cats were extremely cautious, hiding in corners and refusing to come out. Not wanting to disturb them, Cheng Hui set out water and cat food before getting back to her own tasks.

He Chuan's engagement banquet proceeded without any hitches and went very smoothly.

Wen Liang was overjoyed, as this meant she and He Chuan had taken a step further in their relationship, officially making her the rightful Mrs. He.

However, following the engagement banquet, He Chuan did not move in with her.

Wen Liang felt this arrangement was acceptable for now; moving too hastily might provoke He Chuan's aversion, even though they planned to marry at the end of the year.

Even so, Wen Liang still couldn't let go of one matter in her heart—and that was Cheng Hui.

She always felt that Cheng Hui might ruin her relationship with He Chuan. The existence of Cheng Hui was like a thorn embedded in her heart; if left unextracted, it might lead to endless future troubles.

After some thought, Wen Liang privately hired someone to snoop around on Cheng Hui's recent status, eager to find out if Cheng Hui was still interacting with He Chuan. Once this notion took root in her mind, she found herself completely unable to control it.

Unaware that she was being followed, Cheng Hui went about her normal routine of commuting to work, visited no particular places, and certainly had no contact with He Chuan.

Ever since bringing the cats back, she hadn't looked for He Chuan again, nor had she received any phone calls from him. Had she known it was this simple, she would have asked Cheng Jiu for help sooner, sparing herself those few phone calls with He Chuan.

Meanwhile, Doctor Ye had informed Cheng Hui that his younger sister was ill and returning to China for treatment. Deeply worried, Cheng Hui inquired about the details and learned they were receiving care at the best orthopedic hospital in a neighboring city to Yongcheng. Taking advantage of the weekend, Cheng Hui traveled to the neighboring city to visit both Doctor Ye and his sister.

Doctor Ye had resigned from his job to return. Since his sister's treatment would likely take a considerable amount of time, and he couldn't take indefinite leave—nor would the hospital grant it—he simply quit his job altogether.

Cheng Hui hadn't expected Ye Ruoro to fall ill, let alone with advanced bone cancer.

Remaining optimistic and open-minded, Ye Ruoro instead comforted her, saying, "I'm fine, but I'm so glad you came to see me. My brother was afraid of disturbing your work, but I was so lonely; apart from my brother, there was no one to talk to."

Having befriended Ye Ruoro through Doctor Ye, Cheng Hui said, "Add me on WeChat so you can reach me anytime, anywhere. I'll come keep you company whenever I'm free. How does that sound?"

"Won't that be too much trouble for you, having to run all the way from Yongcheng?"

"It's no trouble at all, it's very close. I have my own car, so driving is very convenient."

"You're so kind, thank you."

"Don't mention it. Your brother and I are friends, so naturally, you're my friend too." Cheng Hui didn't have many friends; Ye Ruoro possessed a wonderful, gentle personality, and Doctor Ye had helped her numerous times during her hardships. Now that he was facing difficulties, it was her bounden duty to help.

While Ye Ruoro was resting, Cheng Hui privately asked Doctor Ye, "The treatment costs shouldn't be low. Doctor Ye, let me know if you run short on money. You can borrow from me; don't stand on ceremony."

Doctor Ye smiled, "I've saved up quite a bit of savings over the years. You've just started working, how much money could you possibly have? Still, I'm very glad you said that."

"I know you have money, but Ruoro's illness is no trivial matter. Moreover, if domestic medical expenses aren't reimbursable, it's still a substantial sum. You also have to rent a place and live, money actually disappears very quickly."

Cheng Hui insisted, "Doctor Ye, Ruoro is also my friend. If you run into financial difficulties, you must speak up."

Doctor Ye raised a hand as if wanting to pat Cheng Hui's head, but stopped himself and said, "Alright, I'll keep that in mind."

Ye Ruoro's condition required chemotherapy. The chemotherapy process was excruciatingly painful—beyond ordinary suffering—and would also cause hair loss. Consequently, before starting treatment, Ye Ruoro had to shave her head.

Cheng Hui bought her a very cute hat and constantly encouraged her, urging her to maintain a positive outlook.

Taking it all in, Ye Ruoro said, "I will. Even if not for myself, I have to do it for my brother and for you."

Cheng Hui agreed eagerly.

Ye Ruoro took Cheng Hui's hand and asked, "Huihui, what do you think of my brother?"

"He's a very good person. He helped me a lot when I was in trouble, and I'm very grateful to him."

"What about his looks?"

"He's certainly handsome."

"Then I can rest easy." Ye Ruoro smiled again.

Cheng Hui pinched her cheek gently and said, "You're definitely going to get better."

Though running back and forth between the two cities, Cheng Hui didn't feel tired. Doctor Ye, however, grew quite concerned about her and said, "Don't come next weekend. Get some good rest at home, look at those dark circles under your eyes."

"I just didn't wear makeup when I went out, which is why you noticed my dark circles. I'll make sure to put on makeup before coming next week, and then you won't see them."

Doctor Ye's expression tightened: "Did you suffer from insomnia again?"

Cheng Hui paused for a moment and replied, "I just had a bit too much work. Isn't insomnia pretty normal?"