Feng Ru (21)

The emergency that caused Jiang Li to not be able to come to the meeting Na Yu held proved to be quite a headache. It was his department's advisor that called for him. When he came into the music department's head professor's office, the middle-aged guy dressed in a white buttoned up shirt and grey pants patted him on the shoulder and gave him a meaningful and pitying glance. He must admit that irked some of his nerves a bit, especially since he didn't know the reason for it.

"Professor Xu?" He questioned.

The older man did not even offer him a seat and just started explaining, "Somebody phoned me a few minutes before I called you. It seems your mother couldn't get through you directly, maybe it is because you changed your number or they don't have it memorized, so when they said you're studying here, a nurse looked through our information and reached out to me."

Jiang Li scoured his memories and found no information about this. But if it's about his number, then actually there was one.

He recently had to change his number and phone because within the first day of his arrival here, after thoroughly reviewing 'his' memories, the anger he felt upon seeing He Chen's craziness about Tang Lan overwhelmed the happiness brought by his contact with the villainess. As a result, he threw away the phone which held all 'his' attachment to the female lead.

Using the money he saved up from part time jobs, he purchased a new one and bought a new sim card too. The only problem was that he hadn't called home yet to inform He Chen's family of his new number.

However right now, this was actually not that important. Since He Chen's parents were mentioned in the same breath with a nurse, he had an inkling it could only be a bad thing. The slightly obese man hadn't said anything yet, but his heart was already skipping a few beats. It was definitely that persistent remnant soul's influence. 

'He Chen's parents are rarely mentioned or showed in the memories after the Original entered college. But what's sure is that they are both in good health, managing their farm and poultry at the village together. He Chen's brother is in junior high and is also supposed to be in good health too... What's the matter then?'

He didn't like the feeling at all. With a worried face on, he urged, "Sir please just go directly to the point."

Seeing his reaction, Professor Xu nodded, not minding Jiang Li's slightly disrespectful tone. "Since it's an unknown person demanding your presence, I had her reveal what's the purpose of the call. To my surprise it's about your father. The nurse only passed the message from your mother. She wants you to come to the hospital as soon as possible. Your father is diagnosed with cancer. The nurse left out most of the details probably because only the relatives are allowed to know the specifics. But based on her tone, I can only guess that the situation is not optimistic."

If he was in his normal self, Jiang Li would have already criticized the nurse for disclosing such a classified information to a non-relative. But because the shock was quite great plus the original's feelings were flooding him, all he thought of was to leave now and go to the hospital to confirm the situation.

"Sir, thank you for informing me this. What's the name of that place?" His voice had obvious hint of urgency in it.

While the man pulled up a pen to write an address and number there which was seemingly being copied from his own phone, he continued saying, "He Chen, I know you're not a local here so I'm writing down the address and contact info. It's the city's general hospital. However, since it's a public hospital I don't think they are equipped with the best treatment programs and facilities. In any case, just go there now. I included my number here. Call me if you need help."

Jiang Li actually only needed the name of the place and had the taxi driver ferry him there, but he couldn't reject the professor's kindness hence he just accepted the piece of paper and thanked the middle-aged man before leaving the office.

Inside the taxi, after telling the driver to fly the cab to the hospital, he texted Cheng Du that he wouldn't be able to attend the meeting. He then did his trick to check his father's information and when he saw the two lines He Song: Stage IV Osteosarcoma, with a scarily composed expression he began to contemplate which wealthy conglomerate or bank to hack. After that he searched for the best oncology center using his phone, bypassing the ads and deceptive articles before landing on some decent forums...

'This private treatment center then... Even though it's not a mission, since I'm just borrowing this identity, I better secure his family and not allow any chance for my rewards to lessen.'

He closed his eyes after.

In actuality, while he was saying this to himself, deep within, he was just simply not inhumane enough to let an immediate family member die when he could have done something to help.