Chapter 1139: Two Silver Dollars
What Ning Shu said about Zhu Yanqiu not having paid the hospital fee last time probably left a bad impression on Fang Feifei because she stood in front of the sickroom door for a good while. She tidied up her clothing a little before finally walking in.
Zhu Yanqiu had called a doctor over because his wrist hurt. His entire hand and even his fingers felt swollen with pain. When the doctor saw that there were no injuries on his hands and that they weren’t swollen, he just attributed it to the fact that Zhu Yanqiu’s body was fighting inflammation.
Zhu Yanqiu was staring at his hands when Fang Feifei walked in, so she asked, “Yanqiu, what are you looking at?”
When Zhu Yanqiu saw that Fang Feifei was here, he stopped worrying about his hands. As of now, that piercing pain seemed to have disappeared again, so he looked towards Fang Feifei with a gentle expression. “You’re here.”
Fang Feifei nodded, then poured him a cup of water. She thought for a moment, then said, “Yanqiu, you’re so severely injured. Why don’t you tell your family and have them come visit you?”
Zhu Yanqiu had been in the middle of drinking water when he heard this, so he choked. He hastily said, “There’s no need.”
Fang Feifei asked in surprise, “Why? You’re so severely injured, it’d be best to tell your family.”
There was no way Zhu Yanqiu would tell his family. If he did, his mother probably wouldn’t be coming and when the time came, it would be Zhu Suniang coming to visit him. What if Zhu Suniang and Fang Feifei ended up bumping into each other? What if Zhu Suniang ended up letting something slip? At that time, wouldn’t Fang Feifei leave him?
“My mom is quite old and lives so far away, she won’t be able to take the trip by steamship. If I tell her that I’m hospitalized, she wouldn’t be able to do anything except. I can’t let my family know about this incident,” explained Zhu Yanqiu. He took Fang Feifei’s hand and said, “Once summer break starts, I want to take you to see my hometown.”
Fang Feifei said in a peeved tone, “Who wants to visit your hometown? Oh right, I still don’t know what your family situation is like?”
A trace of sadness flashed across Zhu Yanqiu’s face as he told Fang Feifei about his family situation. “My father was a scholar of the late Qing dynasty, but he went into business instead of politics. However, he’s already passed away. My mother is the one supporting the entire family now. That’s why I can’t tell my mom about getting injured. She can’t step away from the family business and wouldn’t be able to come visit me, so it’d only bring her pointless worry.”
Zhu Yanqiu directly skipped over Zhu Suniang and Zhu Siyuan. He also didn’t dare to tell the truth, that the Zhu family had already fallen into dire straits.
Fang Feifei nodded with a slight smile. “That’s true. We can’t make her worry.”
Ning Shu was naturally unaware of what Zhu Yanqiu had said. She walked in with the bill and said directly to Fang Feifei, “Please go pay the bill. The doctor says that this patient still needs to stay in the hospital for observation.”
Fang Feifei’s brows furrowed, then she asked Ning Shu, “How much is it?”
“Two silver dollars,” said Ning Shu. “It’s mainly because the antipyretic that the patient is using is rather expensive, so I’ll have to trouble you to pay the bill.”
After Ning Shu finished speaking, the sickroom immediately felt quiet. There was a strong awkwardness in the air, but Ning Shu didn’t say anything else and just looked at the two.
In the end it was still Zhu Yanqiu who spoke first. “Feifei, can you pay the bill for me first? Once I get better, I’ll tell my mom to send me money.”
Ning Shu rolled her eyes. Your mom’s not even here anymore, it’d be more effective to find a spirit medium.
Fang Feifei said, “I’ve already paid five silver dollars so I don’t have much money left on me. I don’t have two silver dollars. I’ll go borrow some from our classmates.”
“Can you wait for a few days?” asked Fang Feifei. “I don’t have enough on me.”
Ning Shu saw that Fang Feifei was clutching her little Jacquard weave lace purse tightly and felt that Fang Feifei probably had two silver dollars, but she didn’t want to take it out.
Ning Shu curled her lips. “I’ll have to ask the doctor, I can’t decide. If you can’t pay, the patient will have to be discharged.”
It was only now that Zhu Yanqiu truly felt what it meant to have poverty stunt ambition. He couldn’t help but resent Zhu Suniang. If Zhu Suniang had sent money to him, he wouldn’t be in such an embarrassing situation.
Zhu Yanqiu felt so embarrassed that sweat covered his back and his injuries started hurting even more. However, he forced himself to stay calm and said to Fang Feifei, “Feifei, then please go borrow some. I’ll pay you back.”
Fang Feifei sighed and said to Zhu Yanqiu, “I’ll head back to campus to borrow some money.” Fang Feifei said to Ning Shu, “Please give me a few more days.”
After saying that, Fang Feifei turned and left.
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