Chapter 45: Child Bride

Chapter 45: Chapter 45: Child Bride

"She’s not my daughter."

"I am willing to."

The two voices rang out simultaneously.

Deng Yuyuan’s smile froze for a moment. She wondered what he was willing to do. Had she even made a request?

Fang Zhongwen pressed a fist to his mouth and let out a light cough. He pressed Gou Ya’s abdomen—it was rock hard. Then, he listened to her heartbeat, which sounded fairly normal. "Given the child’s condition, let’s induce vomiting first. After her stomach is pumped, we’ll run a blood test and take an X-ray to see if a purgative is necessary."

"Go pay the fees first." Fang Zhongwen handed the treatment form to Deng Yuyuan, making sure she saw the total price. The traditional Chinese medicine for inducing vomiting, along with the X-ray and blood test fees, could amount to half or even a full month’s income for an average family. If she had financial difficulties, it wasn’t as if he couldn’t help her.

Deng Yuyuan didn’t look troubled. She stood calmly, thanked him, and left the room, leaving the child behind. Fang Zhongwen watched her go. Her slender, thin back no longer possessed its past sickliness; she stood as straight and tall as a graceful young white poplar.

He inexplicably lowered his head and chuckled to himself. It wasn’t until Gou Ya tapped on the desk, her face filled with anxiety, that he finally snapped back to reality. He murmured an apology. The ink from his pen had already bloomed into a dark blotch on the paper, where the faint outline of three characters could still be seen.

"Doctor, can one yuan cover the medical fees?" Gou Ya asked.

Assuming the child was just curious, Fang Zhongwen shook his head. "It costs several times that. Have you learned multiplication yet?"

Gou Ya’s face instantly turned ashen. She glanced up at the doorway, her calloused hands anxiously twisting the hem of her shirt. "T-Then can I just not get treated? I don’t have that much money."

"Don’t worry, Ms. Deng has it." Fang Zhongwen patted her head comfortingly, though he felt a bit uncertain himself. He wondered if Deng Yuyuan really had the money, considering she had walked out looking so confident.

"If Ms. Deng doesn’t have it, how about I lend it to you?" he probed gently.

Gou Ya shook her head rapidly. It was so much money; even if she borrowed it, she would never be able to pay it back. It was much more cost-effective to skip the treatment and wait for the illness to heal on its own.

She no longer had the bandwidth to ponder this doctor’s eccentricities or his attempts at conversation. Staring fixedly at the doorway, she felt uneasy. Would Sister Deng just run away because the medical fees were too expensive, leaving her all alone here?

Deng Yuyuan was actually pondering this very issue. She didn’t mind accompanying Gou Ya while they induced vomiting and administered the purgatives, but sitting through an IV drip was far too boring. Since there were usually nurses to keep an eye on patients receiving IVs anyway, making her presence useless, she wondered if she could slip away and sneak back when the drip was almost finished.

By the time she returned to the examination room, Gou Ya was staring unblinkingly at her with wide eyes. The little girl lunged forward, skillfully wrapping her arms around Deng Yuyuan’s calf, and pleaded, "Sister Deng, let’s go home. Can we just not treat it?"

Deng Yuyuan patted the girl’s stomach. "Don’t you want your stomach anymore? Don’t you want your life?"

Meeting Gou Ya’s eyes, which brimmed with pain and panic, she understood everything.

"Don’t worry so much. Everyone at the Knowledge Youth Institute highly recognizes your working abilities. You can only clean more diligently once you’re cured. This is an investment." Deng Yuyuan scooped her off the floor and set her on her feet. Unable to hold back any longer, she burst into a chuckle. "You’re not allowed to do this when Tuantuan is around in the future. Otherwise, she’ll learn from you, and the two of you will each be hugging one of my legs, begging me..."

At the thought of that scene, Deng Yuyuan flashed a meaningful smile.

"It’s a minor issue if this ego-trip makes you happy, but it’ll be a major problem if I have to advise you to visit the neurology department."

Her smile instantly vanished.

Terrified and anxious, Gou Ya resembled a little snail that had just learned to poke its head out of its shell. "What’s an investment? I-I don’t know how to do that."

Deng Yuyuan handed the receipt-stamped form to Fang Zhongwen and scooped the girl up. "If you don’t know, you can learn later. Just follow the doctor. The treatment might be very uncomfortable later, alright?"

Gou Ya completely stiffened in her arms, remaining motionless with her hands awkwardly drawn against her chest.

Deng Yuyuan manually guided the girl’s arms to wrap around her neck. "Hold on tight."

Gou Ya sat in a warm embrace she had never dreamed of having. She was close enough to smell the faint, refreshing fragrance on Deng Yuyuan and to hear her strong, steady heartbeat.

"I can’t pay back that much money," Gou Ya reminded her quietly once more.

"If you can’t pay it back, I’ll sell you to Tuantuan to be her child bride," Deng Yuyuan said casually. She had originally wanted to joke about selling the girl as a maid, but feared the child might take it seriously and feel hurt. Instead, she made up something utterly absurd so the girl could relax upon hearing it.

Gou Ya shuddered, wondering if that was actually possible. Wasn’t Tuantuan a girl? Or was she just too ignorant about the world? After all, she was just an illiterate little girl who didn’t know much about anything. Sister Deng was a highly educated youth from the city; there had to be some truth to her words.

Knowing she would become Tuantuan’s child bride, Gou Ya felt slightly relieved. For the first time, she boldly rested her head on someone else’s shoulder, her heart swelling with sweetness. When she grew up and married Tuantuan, Sister Deng would become her mother-in-law, her actual mother.

However, how could two girls carry on a family line?

Before Gou Ya could earnestly worry about this for long, her treatment began.

Fang Zhongwen and a nurse performed the procedure, advising Deng Yuyuan to make sure she coaxed the child if she struggled. But Gou Ya was incredibly obedient. With her little face taut, she drank whatever she was told to drink and threw up whenever instructed. She didn’t cry or fuss, acting completely serious—as if she were undergoing an interview for a better life.

Instead, it was Deng Yuyuan whose heart ached watching this. Even though it wasn’t her own child and they weren’t exactly close yet, it was hard for her to see a kid suffer so much.

Gou Ya’s already dark lips were now tinged with purple, but she still couldn’t eat or drink anything. After her checkups, she was taken to get an IV drip.

A parent nearby, struggling to hold down a child who was thrashing harder than a fresh shrimp, watched with envy. "If only my kid were as well-behaved as yours."

Hearing this hurtful comparison, the child struggling in her grasp cried even louder.

Deng Yuyuan carried Gou Ya back. The contrast between their skin tones was incredibly stark, prompting the curious parent to ask, "Does the baby take after her father? She doesn’t look like you at all."

"No." Deng Yuyuan let out a heavy sigh. "I was also dark when I was little. I just got paler as I grew up."

She carried the child to the infusion room. Feeling nervous again, Gou Ya said, "Sister Deng, I can walk by myself."

"That doesn’t sound sweet enough."

"Beautiful, smart, gorgeous, and generous Sister Deng, I can walk by myself," Gou Ya skillfully buttered her up.

Fang Zhongwen gave her a strange look. How could such a small child be such a smooth talker?

Deng Yuyuan was highly pleased. She took large strides forward and set the girl down as they neared the X-ray room.

X-rays, blood tests—Fang Zhongwen accompanied them for almost the entire process. In an era with limited medical resources, if he didn’t follow up, no one might even bother looking at the lab reports.

"Shall we grab a quick lunch together at noon? We can discuss the child’s condition in detail," Fang Zhongwen asked, stepping closer and lowering his head. "I can ask a nurse to help keep an eye on her."