Chapter 293 - 198: Learn to Love You

Chapter 293: Chapter 198: Learn to Love You

In the hospital room, a few minutes earlier.

Jiaqi was asleep.

After a long silence, Gu Qingyan suddenly spoke in a low voice, "I’ve already contacted the critical care rehabilitation center at Charite Medical School, Berlin. Once Jiaqi’s infection markers go down and she’s past the postoperative fluctuation period, I’m taking her with me."

"No, she can’t go to Germany," Zhang Sui said immediately.

Gu Qingyan frowned. "What right do you have to say no? Zhang Sui, I left our daughter with you, and this is how you take care of her? If it weren’t for Jiang He this time, do you have any idea what would have happened?!"

"I know it’s my fault, and that’s why I want to make it up to her. But Jiaqi was born and raised in this country. You spend all your years holed up in a lab doing research. If you take her to Germany now, a place where she doesn’t know the language and the environment is completely foreign, she’ll only suffer more!"

"It’s better than staying with you and risking her life at any moment!"

Gu Qingyan couldn’t hold back, her tone growing harsh. "You don’t even know what she likes to do or who she hangs out with! Zhang Sui, you’re not fit to be a father!"

Zhang Sui pressed his lips together, unable to say a single word in response.

’I brought rules into our family, got used to measuring right and wrong with standards.’

’It ultimately led to a broken marriage, and my relationship with my daughter dropped to a freezing point.’

’It seems I really... brought this all on myself.’

In reality, Gu Qingyan, standing on the other side of the hospital bed, was just as trapped in her own confusion.

It was only today that she had the shocking realization that she didn’t understand her daughter at all.

Jiaqi was always well-behaved in front of her, never rebellious.

But what was the reality?

’Was it because of my perennial absence? Because I failed to communicate with my daughter?’

Every single word she had just used to scold Zhang Sui was, in truth, also a condemnation of herself.

Her insistence on taking Jiaqi to Germany was ostensibly because Charite had the best rehabilitation system in Europe. But in truth, it was also a way to hide her own panic at facing a daughter who had become a stranger.

These two towering figures of the medical world were now like a pair of helpless fools.

They thought they were keeping their voices down.

But they didn’t know that Zhang Jiaqi was awake the entire time.

’Being sick is so painful, especially a serious illness...’

’There’s a gastric tube in my nose, and it’s uncomfortable to even swallow a bit of saliva.’

Listening to her parents’ suppressed argument.

Zhang Jiaqi’s eyes were utterly vacant.

From her perspective, her parents didn’t love her at all.

They were just fighting over a prop they could use to assuage their guilt...

Just then, the door was pushed open.

Jiang He walked in, holding a medical chart.

Zhang Sui and Gu Qingyan quickly composed their emotions.

They showed Jiang He absolute respect.

"Dean Zhang, Teacher Gu." Jiang He nodded slightly. "The follow-up tests this morning show her serum amylase and lipase levels are steadily decreasing. Jiaqi is recovering very well."

"Thank you for your hard work, Jiang He."

"It’s my duty. However... regarding the cause of Jiaqi’s attack this time, I think we need to discuss it again."

Zhang Sui was stunned. "Didn’t the emergency room records say it was caused by her drinking a large amount of iced beverages on an empty stomach at a KTV?"

Jiang He calmly shook his head.

"The cold drinks were just the trigger. The onset of hyperacute severe pancreatitis, especially in a seventeen-year-old girl, is usually accompanied by long-term autonomic dysfunction and an extremely irregular diet. More importantly, drastic emotional fluctuations can lead to sympathetic nervous system overstimulation, causing prolonged spasms of the sphincter of Oddi. This leads to a sharp increase in pancreatic duct pressure, ultimately triggering pancreatic auto-digestion."

Simply put, before the onset of the illness, Jiaqi had experienced extreme psychological trauma and emotional repression.

Seeing the changing expressions on their faces, Jiang He said, "Dean Zhang, Teacher Gu, let’s talk outside."

...

Under the lights of the hallway.

Jiang He pulled a few sheets of paper out of his white coat pocket.

"The ones who brought Jiaqi to the emergency room that night were two of her friends. They kept her personal belongings safe and told me some things... I think, as her parents, you need to see this."

Jiang He handed the papers over. "Jiaqi has been carrying several medical books in her bag. Did you know about this?"

Zhang Sui’s pupils contracted sharply. Gu Qingyan froze on the spot.

Their gazes fell upon the paper, where a sentence filled with confusion was written:

"If I also get into Medical School, if I wear a white coat someday, will I finally understand—was it medicine that made you so cold-blooded, or were you always like this? Does becoming a doctor mean you’re doomed to lose the ability to love someone?"

Every word was a stab to the heart.

Zhang Sui’s eyes instantly turned red, his hands trembling.

Gu Qingyan covered her mouth, tears immediately welling up.

Jiang He looked at them, his voice soft.

"Dean Zhang, Teacher Gu, you both did a lot for me during that academic storm. I’m very grateful."

"But what Jiaqi needs right now isn’t the director from the Charite District or the Vice Dean Zhang of Affiliated Hospital No. 1. She just needs her mom and dad."

"Go have a good talk with her. She’ll understand."

Jiang He gave a slight nod and turned to leave.

The hallway was terrifyingly silent.

Gu Qingyan leaned against the cold wall, gradually breaking down into sobs. Zhang Sui stood there, at a loss, before carefully folding the piece of paper and tucking it into his shirt pocket.

They looked at each other through teary eyes, seeing a deep sense of defeat in each other’s swollen, red eyes.

—Out in the world, they saved lives and healed the wounded, but back at home, they didn’t even know how to be a family.

Zhang Sui pushed open the door to the hospital room. Gu Qingyan followed right behind him.

Hearing the noise, Zhang Jiaqi immediately turned her head straight and stared at the ceiling.

Zhang Sui dragged a chair over and sat down by the bedside.

He reached out, clumsily and carefully avoiding the IV needle, and took his daughter’s hand.

"Jiaqi..."

He had only said her name when a tear fell onto the back of his daughter’s hand.

"Dad saw your note."

"Dad was wrong... I always thought that doing things by the book and paving the way for you was what was best for you, but I never once asked if that was what you wanted."

"I’ve spent half my life learning how to be a good doctor, but no one ever taught me how to love you. I’m so stupid. I pushed you to this point, and I almost... I almost lost you forever."

"Will you give Dad a chance to learn how to love you again? Please?"

Jiaqi’s lips trembled slightly, but she stubbornly remained silent.

Just then, Gu Qingyan walked to the other side of the bed.

She sat down and took her daughter’s other hand.

"I’m not taking you to Germany anymore."

"I’m going to email the HR department at Charite right now and apply for a six-month leave of absence."

"Mom always thought you were so well-behaved. Only now do I realize I don’t understand you at all. I’m a terrible mother. I’m sorry, Jiaqi."

"For the next six months, Mom isn’t going anywhere. I’ll stay right here with you. Even if you curse me out every day, even if you try to drive me away every day, I won’t leave. I also want to learn how to love you the right way, okay?"

Seventeen-year-old Zhang Jiaqi still didn’t say a word.

She turned her head to the side and squeezed her eyes shut.

But two streams of warm tears broke free, flowing from the corners of her eyes.

They ran down her cheeks, soaking the pillow.

The thick ice had finally cracked.

This was Jiaqi’s first time being a daughter, too. She might still need time to process everything, to learn how to respond to this belated love.

But at least this family of three was finally on the right path.

...

Outside the nurses’ station.

Jiang He gazed toward Zhang Jiaqi’s room from a distance.

Through the glass, he could faintly make out the scene of the family of three together in peaceful quiet.

Her body had passed through the most dangerous, acute phase. What came next was the patient work of emotional rehabilitation.

Watching others slowly piece their family back together filled Jiang He’s heart with a gentle warmth.

His thoughts turned to Teacher Shen again.

The day he planned to go to the capital and propose to Shen Yu was drawing closer and closer.

’I have to prepare a romantic and grand proposal for Teacher Shen.’

’Hmm... It has to be much more romantic than in my past life.’

’Damn, when I think about my past life, I was so half-assed! It was unforgivable! I was blessed and didn’t even know it. How could I have proposed to Teacher Shen so casually?! I was just shamelessly taking advantage of the fact that she liked me and didn’t put any real thought into it! Proposing in a rented apartment... Damn it, how could I even come up with something like that!’

Jiang He gave himself a good scolding.

Then he decided he needed to find an expert to consult about the proposal.