Chapter 319 Impermanence
The first morning after the weekend.

The northwest wind was blowing hard and dry, and the sky and the earth were covered in white.

Zhang Yunqi slurped a bowl of spicy Qifengdu fish noodles, burped happily, and went to school to make tea, look at beauties, and study at the same time.

Early in the morning, it was freezing cold. Zhang Yunqi just went out and saw the fifth child, Xiaoxiao, and a few other little ones with schoolbags on their backs, running wildly in the snow on their way to school. They were eating one-cent candies, wrapped like furry balls, running in the snow, their laughter floating in the alleys and streets full of human life. It seemed as if the whole world belonged to him.

The campus of No. 1 Middle School in the city was already covered in white.

The students crowded around the classroom windows and in the corridors to watch the first snow of the year. Many of them ran downstairs to make snowballs and threw them at the people around them and at the people upstairs. Several people even joined together to throw a person into a snow pile, making a big hole in the snow.

Everyone laughed happily.

At this time, no one probably thought about whether there would be an exam tomorrow or whether the results were acceptable. Because of the snow, the senior year of high school, which was filled with various exams, seemed less heavy.

Of course, there are also things that happen when joy turns to sorrow. During break, students from Class 156 went to the classroom to play snowball fights. Liu Zicheng and Xiao Xuemei threw snowballs at each other and accidentally broke the window glass. Soon, these two little idiots were led into the office of their teacher Wang Mingzhen like little chickens to listen to instructions.

Yang Wei didn't come to school today.

Zhang Yunqi was not surprised, although he wanted to find time to talk to Yang Wei.

As brothers, there are some things that we have to do even without saying it.

After school at noon, Zhang Yunqi did not accompany Chu Jian to eat. He called Ma Shi to come over, bought a flower basket and fruits, drove to the No. 1 Municipal Hospital, and arrived at a ward according to the address given by Liu Dongsheng.

The ward was empty white, with no objects in it and looked simple. A woman was lying on the bed. She looked to be in her fifties, skinny as a stick, with a pair of glasses on her nose. She was half lying on the bed reading a newspaper. Her face was sallow and her lips were chapped, but her expression was surprisingly calm.

Zhang Yunqi reached out and knocked on the door: "Auntie, are you Yang Wei's mother?"

The woman looked up and said softly, "Yes, you are?"

Zhang Yunqi walked in, asked Ma Shi to put down the things he brought, and said with a smile: "I am Yang Wei's classmate and good friend. My name is Zhang Yunqi."

The woman was startled: "Is that so? What's wrong with you?"

Zhang Yunqi smiled and said, "Nothing. I just happened to be here today and came to see you."

The woman was a little surprised. She probably didn't expect such a young kid to know these etiquettes: "Then please sit down quickly, kid. Thank you."

Zhang Yunqi pulled a chair and sat down and said, "Auntie, how do you feel now?"

"Fortunately, it's okay. I'm old, so I won't die for the time being. I just can't eat much. The doctor said that with my illness, I can't eat too nutritious food because my kidneys can't handle it." There was a hint of smile in Li Yuehua's calm voice. She was probably a cheerful person at heart, and she had a high level of education.

Before coming, Zhang Yunqi had thought about what kind of scene he would face. He thought it would be shrouded in pessimism and depression. However, while chatting with Yang Wei's mother Li Yuehua, Zhang Yunqi only felt the calm attitude of this old leader of the Red Star state-owned enterprise in the face of life and death.

In October this year, with the tacit approval of the competent authorities and the instruction of Phoenix Group, Sennheiser Electric led a team into the Red Star Electronics Factory, intending to shut down all of Red Star Electronics' production lines and force Red Star Electronics into bankruptcy. However, they were met with desperate resistance from the employees, and the two sides eventually engaged in a fierce conflict.

Yang Wei's mother, Li Yuehua, is the director of the production workshop of Red Star Electronics and also serves as the secretary-general of the People's Congress. She is an old leader who has worked in Red Star Electronics for more than 20 years. It can be said that she has dedicated most of her life to this factory and is highly respected among the employees.

She was the leader in that conflict.

Zhang Yunqi didn't know much about the process of the conflict. Liu Dongsheng just said that the scene was very chaotic and Li Yuehua suddenly fainted. Everyone thought she was beaten, but when they sent her to the hospital for a check-up, they got the bad news that she had uremia.

Zhang Yunqi didn't know much about this disease. He only knew that people with this disease would be very thin and have a loss of appetite. There were no obvious symptoms in the early stages, and the disease was incurable and irreversible. In the middle and late stages, there was no other way to prolong life except hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis and kidney transplantation. However, the high medical expenses were enough to put a well-off family into despair, not to mention in the 90s when people were generally not wealthy.

"Mom, this is..."

Zhang Yunqi heard the voice, turned his head, and saw Yang Jin standing at the door with a lunch box, staring at him in a daze. Li Yuehua on the bed waved and said, "Xiao Jin, come and meet me, this is your brother's classmate, Yunqi, who came to see me today, what a thoughtful kid."

Zhang Yunqi smiled and nodded: "Hello."

"Hello." Yang Jin was a little reserved, probably thinking about what happened at the night snack stall that night.

Zhang Yunqi stood up and looked at the time, and said: "Auntie, you haven't eaten yet, right? Then I won't bother you. I have to go to school in the afternoon."

"Yes, yes, you can't delay your studies." Li Yuehua put down the newspaper, and her dry and sallow face smiled warmly: "Next time you have a chance, come to my house with Yang Wei. When auntie is well, I will make you delicious food. Xiaojin, you can see Yunqi off."

Zhang Yunqi smiled and waved his hand: "No, Auntie, you eat well, I will leave first, I will come to see you next time."

Zhang Yunqi said hello, turned around and left the ward with Ma Shi, who was as stiff as a wooden stake, but Yang Jin still followed him out and called Zhang Yunqi in the corridor.

Zhang Yunqi stopped and asked: "What's wrong?"

Yang Jin hesitated for a moment, then reached out and gently closed the door of the ward. Then he said to Zhang Yunqi in the corridor: "Thank you for coming to see my mother today. I have one more thing to trouble you with."

Zhang Yunqi smiled: "You say."

Yang Jin said: "Yang Wei has not been feeling well these days, please ask the teacher for leave. My mother doesn't know about this."

Zhang Yunqi felt strange, but he nodded and said, "By the way, you are a senior this year, right?"

Yang Jin nodded: "Yes."

Zhang Yunqi said: "Next year will be the second semester of my senior year. Do you have any internship options you'd like?"

"Not yet." Yang Jin shook her head. As she was about to graduate from college, work was the most important thing and she was naturally anxious. But now her family was in such a difficult situation that she could hardly attend classes normally, let alone find a job.

Of course, Yang Jin also felt a little strange. She could sense that this boy, who was about the same age as her brother, came from a wealthy family and had a good heart, but his tone of voice was really like that of an adult.

"Well, let me introduce you to a place." Zhang Yunqi didn't think much about it. He asked Ma Shi for a business card of Wang Guibing and handed it to Yang Jin: "Liansheng, it's in Yanquan Building. You can go to the front desk and find Mr. Wang Guibing."

Yang Jin was stunned.

Zhang Yunqi said nothing more and went downstairs with Ma Shi.

When they reached the hospital entrance, the sky was covered with dark clouds, the north wind was blowing hard, and the street was still snowing. He said to Ma Shi, "Go to the cashier's office and pay 10,000 yuan in advance. You go back to Liansheng and tell Wang Guibing about the arrangements for Yang Jin. I will go back to school by myself."

Ma Shi nodded and said yes.

Zhang Yunqi was about to go out when he saw a group of people on the opposite side pushing a flatbed cart hurriedly running towards the emergency hall. The person on the cart was covered in blood, his eyes were closed, and his head was tilted to one side.

Someone nearby who knew the truth was sighing about the fickleness of fate. He said that his wife had just given birth to a son a few hours ago, and he was so happy to be a father that he drank a bottle of white wine at a dining table across the street from the hospital. On his way back, he was hit by a truck from another place transporting sand and gravel.

Zhang Yunqi couldn't help but wonder, why was this happening?

How could he be hit on such an empty road? He may not have had time to take a closer look at his son, and his wife may still be unconscious in the ward receiving an IV drip. The new family of three may not have had a minute to reunite, and a life is gone? A family is destroyed?

Zhang Yunqi lit a cigarette and walked into the wind and snow.

The bloody man on the platform car behind him has already died.

(End of this chapter)