Chapter 147 — The Long-Awaited...

Yang Xu said helplessly, "Fine, fine. Next time you're off, if I'm free, I'll go with you and finish your shopping. But you'd better be quick about it—if you dawdle like you did today, I won't be accompanying you."

"Don't worry, hee hee." Jing Yu nodded, but inwardly she thought: clothes go out of style fast, and by next time it'll probably be spring already—everything we saw today will be off the shelves and out of stock. That won't be my fault, and picking out new ones then will be unavoidable.

Yang Duo had no idea about the little schemes in Jing Yu's heart; otherwise he'd have been furious.

"Where are you headed? I'll drop you off first," Yang Yanzhou said.

"I need to stop at the pharmacy first to get some medicine for my grandma. The hospital's medicine is too expensive—luckily that doctor was kind and wrote me a prescription, telling me to buy it at the pharmacy." Jing Yu smiled. "Just take me to the pharmacy."

"Your grandma's sick, and you're out buying all these clothes for yourself?" Yang Ce thought Jing Yu seemed a bit thoughtless.

"Ah." Jing Yu sighed. "It's an old ailment—a problem from when she was young that wasn't treated in time. Now she's bedridden and has to take medicine constantly."

"That serious?" Yang Ce had assumed it was some acute illness; he hadn't expected a chronic one like this. Such illnesses were the most grueling, the most costly—and the hardest on a girl like Jing Yu.

From Ge Xinyao he had already learned the rough outlines of Jing Yu's background: orphaned young, she had grown up depending on her grandmother alone. And now, hearing that the old woman was bedridden and brought in no income at all, Yang Ce felt sympathy and admiration for Jing Yu rise up from the bottom of his heart.

What kind of iron will did it take to shoulder a burden like that? Schooling and tuition on one side, money for her grandmother's medicine on the other—for a girl in the bloom of youth, it was simply too heavy a load.

Looking at Jing Yu's giggly, scatterbrained manner, one would never guess. But after a day of close contact, Yang Ce had discovered that she was no simple girl at all, but one with firm convictions, clear opinions, and real toughness.

In the great crucible of today's society, it was a miracle that Jing Yu had kept herself clean—and yet, viewed from another angle, it also showed how considerable her wits were.

"Heh, it's really nothing much," Jing Yu said with a smile. "The doctor said there's no danger to her life. It's just that on overcast or rainy days her legs ache, and she can't do heavy work anymore—other than that, she's healthy as can be."

Yang Ce gave a faint sigh. "Is there any hope of a cure?"

"There is, but it's very slim." Jing Yu shook her head.

"Then why not treat it? Is it a matter of money?" Yang Ce had money to spare; if money really was the problem, Yang Shuoxuan would not mind lending a hand. The two of them were, after all, fairly congenial friends by now.

"That's not it. If surgery were really an option, I'd scrape together the fee no matter what," Jing Yu said. "It's just that the doctor said my grandmother is too old for surgery. There's hope of a cure, but a big chance of failure too—and then she'd be completely paralyzed. Right now at least she can still get up and walk around, play cards with the neighbors. If she were paralyzed completely, what would become of her?"

Yang Xutang nodded. So that was it. "If that's the case, then it's better not to treat it."

"That's what I think too. Grandmother is old, after all, and surgery isn't suitable. The doctor said conservative treatment is better—some Chinese medicine to ease things along," Jing Yu said.

"Which pharmacy do you go to? You must have a regular one to have your prescriptions filled." Yang Ce started the car and asked.

"Yes—Defa Community. That's where I live. There's a pharmacy at the gate run by people we know; they give me a discount," Jing Yu said.

Yang Ce had never heard of Defa Community, but that was hardly strange. Though he was a Songjiang native born and bred, there were so many residential compounds these days, and many old neighborhoods had been renamed after property management companies were set up, so Yang Shuoxuan had no idea what was where.

He opened the navigation and set it up—and sure enough, Defa Community was in the system.

"You really don't need the navigation. I can just tell you how to go," Jing Yu said.

"Then why didn't you say so earlier?" Yang Ce put the navigation away. "I thought you didn't know the way."

"You're the one who doesn't know the way. However big a fool I am, I couldn't fail to find my own home," Jing Yu said indignantly.

Defa Community was in fact easy to reach—from here it was almost all broad open avenues, no small side roads, leading straight to the gate of a compound that looked like it had seen some years.

"Right there—Defa Pharmacy," Jing Yu said, pointing to a shop not far off with a red cross hanging outside.

Yang Ce parked at the pharmacy's door, and the two of them got out.

"Xiaolu, come to get your grandmother's medicine again?" The pharmacy owner also lived in the compound and had been Jing Yu's family's neighbor for decades, so she was especially warm at seeing her.

"Yes, I've come to get my grandmother's medicine," Jing Yu said with a nod.

"How come you're back so early today? Not working?" the owner asked as she began filling the prescription. "Same formula as last time?"

To be continued

998. The Great Memory Tree Filling Plan

"Yes, the same as last time." Jing Yu nodded. "I'm off today—a friend and I went shopping, so I came back a little early."

"Heh, with your boyfriend, I bet?" The pharmacy owner had spotted Yang Ce coming in behind Jing Yu and smiled. "Aren't you going to introduce him to Auntie Zhang?"

"Well—" Jing Yu was caught in a fix. Yang Ce was not her boyfriend; she could impose on him once, but not again and again—that would only put him off.

Seeing Jing Yu's awkwardness, Yang Hengye laughed and stepped forward on his own. "Auntie Zhang, is it? My name is Yang Ce. I'm Xiaolu's classmate." Yang Ce neither confirmed nor denied, leaving Jing Yu plenty of face.

Auntie Zhang, though, did not read much into it—she simply assumed Jing Yu was shy, and said with a smile, "Heh, good, good. Xiaolu, you've got steady work now, and seeing that makes Auntie Zhang happy. And now you've got a boyfriend too—your grandmother will be overjoyed when she hears."

Auntie Zhang knew well enough what Jing Yu had been like before, but there was nothing she could do about it. Given the circumstances Jing Yu had grown up in, Auntie Zhang could not help even if she wanted to.

Most of the people living in this compound were not well off. Auntie Zhang did not run the pharmacy expecting to make much money—just enough to offer the neighbors some discount and cheap medicines, with the rest covering the family's pocket money and expenses. So she had little money on hand and no way to help Jing Yu's family beyond letting her have the medicine at cost.

Auntie Zhang also knew a thing or two about what Jing Yu had done before—fleecing men for money, running with shady types from the margins of society. Though it was plain Jing Yu had never let anyone take advantage of her, Auntie Zhang still could not quite stomach it.

But ever since Jing Yu had gone to work at a big company a while back, she had changed completely—washed the heavy makeup off her face and turned into a fresh, innocent girl. And now, seeing that she had found a boyfriend she was happy with, how could Auntie Zhang not be glad?

The reason she was so sure Yang Ce was Jing Yu's boyfriend was that Jing Yu had never once brought a man home before—and this time was the exception.

"Auntie Zhang, he and I really are just ordinary classmates," Jing Yu said, a little bashfully—which astonished Yang Jiyan. Had Jing Yu changed her nature? Yang Ce found himself rather unaccustomed to it.