lcionline Chapter 1 Good News and Bad News
Chapter 1 Good News and Bad News
In January 1994, the corridors of Tongji Hospital in Jiangcheng were filled with a faint, cold, and pungent smell of disinfectant. Inside the consultation room, Xie Weimin and Zhang Yun sat side by side, their backs ramrod straight, their expressions so solemn as if they were carrying a thousand-pound boulder. They even breathed very softly, afraid of missing a single word the doctor said.
Professor Hu, who was over fifty years old, held the test report in his hand, his brows furrowed, and his tone was as heavy as lead: "The test report is out. It can be confirmed that it is a genetic problem, but the specific cause cannot be determined at present."
He paused, looked at the anxious couple before him, and softened his tone: "Considering the child's current physical condition, there is good news and bad news."
Xie Weimin's body trembled violently, his knuckles clenched until they turned white, and his voice trembled almost imperceptibly: "Professor Hu, please... please tell me the good news first."
"The good news is that the condition will not worsen further. With proper care, the child can live and grow up like a normal person." Professor Hu sighed softly, then changed the subject, his tone becoming somber again.
Zhang Yun, standing beside her, already had red eyes, tears welling up, and asked in a choked voice, "Then... what's the bad news?"
Professor Hu raised a finger, his expression growing increasingly serious: "The child's constitution is exceptionally weak, with extremely poor resistance. Even a minor illness could trigger a chain reaction, endangering his life." He paused, then added, "If he receives extremely meticulous and thorough care, he might live a long time, but if even the slightest accident occurs... he'll likely have a hard time surviving past adulthood."
These words struck Xie Weimin and Zhang Yun like a thunderbolt, instantly turning their faces deathly pale. They were dazed and confused, only able to vaguely hear the doctor's follow-up instructions. Mechanically, they rose and staggered out of the consultation room, slowly making their way back to the specially arranged private ward.
The ward was quiet, and sunlight streamed gently through the window onto the hospital bed. A very delicate-looking little boy lay quietly, his eyes closed, his long eyelashes casting soft shadows beneath his eyelids. His expression was as peaceful as if he had fallen into a sweet dream, showing no sign of the hidden dangers lurking in his body.
"Weimin, what do we do?" Looking at her child's obedient appearance, Zhang Yun finally couldn't hold back her tears, which had been building up for so long. Her voice was so choked that she could barely speak a complete sentence. "The doctor said 'good care,' but that's practically impossible... There's no truly sterile environment in China. Are we really going to have to keep our child trapped in this special care ward for the rest of his life?"
Xie Weimin took a deep breath, suppressing the bitterness and despair in his heart. His expression remained solemn, and he said in a hoarse voice, "Let's wait until Anran wakes up first. There will always be a way."
……
Half an hour later, the little boy on the hospital bed slowly opened his eyes. His clear eyes did not contain the confusion or crying that a child should have; instead, they revealed a calmness that was inconsistent with his age, a quietness that was somewhat unusual.
Xie Weimin immediately moved closer to the bedside, his tone full of concern: "Anran, are you feeling alright? Is anything bothering you?"
Xie Anran stared at the familiar yet unfamiliar face before him, his heart churning with turmoil. He couldn't understand how, after just one night's sleep, he had been reborn as himself at the age of seven. In his memories, his father, Xie Weimin, should have been a small business owner, but now he was the director of the Urban Construction Bureau; and his mother, Zhang Yun, who in his previous life was an illiterate who hadn't even finished elementary school, was now the financial accountant of the Cultural Bureau.
A jumble of chaotic memories surged through his mind. After a few seconds of silence, he slowly spoke in his childish voice, "I'm fine."
"That's good, that's good." Xie Weimin breathed a long sigh of relief, the anxiety in his eyes fading slightly. But looking at his child's unusually quiet demeanor, a hint of doubt arose in his heart—while his child wasn't particularly mischievous before, he would never have been this composed, as if he had grown up overnight. He gently shook his head, suppressing his doubts, and said softly, "Anran, there's something I want to discuss with you."
"Oh...you go ahead." Xie Anran was still frantically sorting through the fragments of memory in her mind, her expression somewhat absent-minded, and her tone somewhat indifferent.
Xie Weimin carefully chose his words, trying to make his tone as tactful as possible: "Considering your physical condition, you can't do strenuous exercise in the future, you can't run and jump around outside, you can't eat street food, and you absolutely can't get injured..."
He knew perfectly well that what the doctor meant by "good care" was essentially to treat the child like a porcelain doll, to be extremely meticulous in every aspect of the child's life, from clothing and food to housing and transportation, and to allow no mistakes whatsoever.
After hearing Xie Weimin's words, Xie Anran's expression gradually became complicated. She looked up at her father, her tone filled with confusion, "Dad, why do you have to do this?"
This question instantly silenced Xie Weimin and Zhang Yun. They exchanged a glance, both seeing the difficulty in each other's eyes. The child was still young; forcing him to follow these rules would likely backfire and provoke his rebellious nature.
After a moment, Xie Weimin spoke slowly, his tone gentle yet heavy—this was the result of his and Zhang Yun's discussions all the way here. Rather than hiding it, it was better to be honest: "Anran, your health isn't very good. You need more careful care than other children to grow up healthy." He paused, his eyes full of expectation and pleading, "As long as you're obedient, Mom and Dad will agree to anything you want, okay?"
Xie Anran swallowed hard, looking at the worry and exhaustion in his parents' eyes, and nodded blankly. He had roughly figured out his situation and vaguely guessed the hidden dangers in his body.
Seeing that their child didn't resist, Xie Weimin and Zhang Yun breathed a sigh of relief. Their biggest worry was that their child wouldn't be able to accept such constraints and would react excessively. As long as their child was obedient, no matter how hard or difficult it was, they, as parents, were willing to do everything in their power to protect them.
"Mom and Dad, I want to lie down a little longer," Xie Anran said in her childish voice, then slowly lay down, closed her eyes again, and seemed to fall asleep again.
Xie Weimin and Zhang Yun carefully got up, their footsteps extremely light. They were even afraid of disturbing their son on the bed when they closed the door. They gently closed the door and left the ward without making a sound.
The ward fell silent once more, and Xie Anran was now fully awake, his consciousness sinking into a strange space deep within his mind—his own space of consciousness.
Here, he discovered both good news and terrible news that would send him to hell.
The good news is that he was not only reborn, but his family background was far superior to his previous one. Both his parents were civil servants, holding leadership positions, and even his grandfather was a high-ranking official with real power. As long as he lived his life methodically, after the millennium, he could take advantage of the real estate boom to buy a few properties, make some investments, and achieve financial freedom would be within easy reach. That kind of enviable life for the younger generation seemed to be just around the corner.
But the bad news was so cruel it suffocated him—he had less than ten years left to live.
"Damn it!" Xie Anran stared intently at the ancient scroll floating in mid-air, and couldn't help but curse under his breath, his tone full of resentment and indignation.
Is the price of rebirth really this heavy? He was perfectly healthy in his previous life, so why can't he even live to be eighteen in this one?
The writing on the scroll was clearly visible; a few words, yet each one pierced the heart, making his heart pound with fear:
Name: Xie Anran
Lifespan: 9.8 years
Abilities: None
Simple and straightforward, without any unnecessary embellishment, yet it precisely hits the spot where he fears most.
"No, I want to live! I must live!" Xie Anran clenched his fists, a fierce will to survive burning in his eyes. At this moment, he craved health and survival more than ever before. His gaze searched urgently within his consciousness space, a growing certainty in his heart that this scroll could not possibly be just a simple label; it must have other hidden functions.
Just as he was lost in thought, the scroll suspended in mid-air indeed stirred. The lower half of the scroll slowly unfurled, revealing lines of entirely new handwriting—a bucket list. At the same time, a flood of unfamiliar information rushed into his mind, only to be instantly absorbed by him.
"An inheritance... If I fulfill these wishes, I can inherit the estate?" Xie Anran stared intently at the list of wishes on the scroll, his eyes flickering with uncertainty, a mixture of doubt and barely concealed anticipation in his heart. Could this be his only hope of reversing his lifespan and surviving?