Atlas Studios

  Atlas Studios

  When Lin Nuan was young, she was in poor health. Every time the season changed, she would be plagued with cases of the flu, coughs, and fevers. On the other hand, when Lin Chen caught a cold, even if he didn’t take medicine simply because he tended to forget about it, he would be fine shortly after.

  According to Liang Mulan’s logic, every time Lin Chen fell sick, his immunity would go up, so Lin Chen fell ill less and less often.

  On the way from the hospital to the cafe, Lin Nuan and Lin Chen didn’t speak a single word. You Nainai, who was by Lin Nuan’s side, didn’t talk much either. After all, she wasn’t familiar with Lin Chen, and she had a stuffy personality to begin with.

  When they passed by Lin Chen’s car in the parking lot, Lin Chen pulled open the car door and threw his medical report into the front passenger seat before taking Lin Nuan to the cafe.

  In the cafe, You Nainai sat in a spot not far from Lin Nuan and Lin Chen. Lin Chen ordered cups of cocoa for Lin Nuan and You Nainai. He had originally wanted to get himself a black coffee, but he remembered Dr. Zhou’s reminder and thus got the waiter to change his order to lemon water.

  Lin Nuan gazed at the steaming cup of hot cocoa, silently waiting for Lin Chen to speak up…


  Lin Chen’s fingers grazed the sides of his glass, silently watching Lin Nuan, who was sitting opposite him with her dense eyelashes lowered. His Adam’s apple gently vibrated, and he retracted his gaze, then pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from his pocket. His mature and steady voice had an imposing aura as he said, “Don’t tell Mom about this!”


  She watched as Lin Chen tried to shake out a cigarette, but after a long while, nothing came out despite his shaking. He frowned even harder, then crumpled the pack and tossed it into the white ashtray on the coffee table before setting his lighter aside. Lin Nuan wanted to urge Lin Chen to smoke less, but she didn’t say it out loud after all.

  “Brother, what illness were you diagnosed with?” In the end, Lin Nuan still asked.

  Based on Lin Nuan’s understanding of Lin Chen, if it weren’t a tricky illness, Lin Chen wouldn’t hide it from the family and secretly come to Jinjiang to have his condition diagnosed by an old classmate.

  Add to that what Zhou Yiheng mentioned earlier about something being benign and malicious when the door was opened, and Lin Nuan felt her heart in her throat. If Lin Chen didn’t say what it was, Lin Nuan would have wild guesses about it, all of which were so scary they made one’s teeth tremble and tormented one’s heart.

  Lin Chen, who had just raised his warm lemon water, heard Lin Nuan’s words and lowered his cup back to the table. Lin Chen knew that Lin Nuan wouldn’t be convinced if he dismissed it as some minor illness!

  His black eyes were fixated upon Lin Nuan’s fair and pretty face as he said, “Tumor.”


  Lin Nuan’s heart skipped a beat. Although she had thought of that outcome, upon hearing Lin Chen speak of it so breezily, Lin Nuan still felt terrified, her heart clenching.

  Once, Lin Nuan had thought that such things were distant to her, but when it really happened to her kin, Lin Nuan still found it hard to control her own emotions. Her shoulders trembled, and tears welled up in her eyes.

  Lin Chen was most afraid of seeing such a Lin Nuan—with her eyes reddened. He frowned and said, “It’s really not a big deal. With medical science so advanced now, it’s fine after they cut it out!”


  Watching as a silent Lin Nuan lowered her head with her nose reddened, Lin Chen pursed his lips, a frustrated helplessness in his heart. He lowered his voice and said, “It’s fine!”


  “Where?” Lin Nuan asked.

  “Heart…” Lin Chen didn’t hide it from Lin Nuan. “Generally speaking, tumors at this spot are usually benign!”


  Lin Nuan gasped. Heart… the heart that provided blood to the body every day!

  Lin Nuan couldn’t hold back her tears. She turned her head and secretly wiped them away with the back of her hand. Her voice sounded heavily muffled and anxious as she said, “The most famous and authoritative cardiologist in the country is Jincheng’s Dr. Guan Yanfei! You ought to seek her out for treatment!”


  “I looked at the video, and it doesn’t seem like a difficult surgery. There’s no need to go to Jincheng for this…” Lin Chen’s reply was very peaceful. He gazed at Lin Nuan’s tearful self, unable to hold back the vexed feelings in his heart. “I studied medicine, so I know these things very well.”


  Hearing Lin Chen’s reply, Lin Nuan lost control of her emotions a bit. “So what if you know these things well? Are you able to perform surgery on yourself? You’re the pillar at home, don’t you know? How are Dad, Mom, Grandpa, and Grandma going to live if something happens to you? Brother, can you not be so proud in this matter?”


  Lin Nuan clearly knew that Lin Chen was saying that to comfort her, yet she couldn’t resist arguing with him.

  Lin Nuan had never spoken so loudly to Lin Chen before!

  He was clearly sick, yet he refused to tell his family and was unattentive to his illness. If something happened to him, what was his family to do? Especially Liang Mulan. She would blame herself so much that she wouldn’t be able to live on anymore, regretting her inability to discover Lin Chen’s illness earlier!

  Lin Nuan didn’t even dare think about the images that followed. Although she was holding a hot cup of cocoa, the warmth couldn’t reach her palms. Even her fingertips were cold.

  “Brother, you’ve got to tell Mom and Dad!” Lin Nuan’s expression was resolute. “You can’t hide it from the family just because you’re afraid they might be worried. The more you hide this, the more they’ll worry about you when they find out. Never mind Mom and Dad, but Grandma and Grandpa are advanced in age. Especially Grandma. She’s been in poor health all these years and was even sent to the hospital last July because of a cardiac arrest…”


  “This is precisely the reason I can’t tell them!” Lin Chen was much calmer than Lin Nuan.

  Lin Nuan choked, and her tears started falling down her cheeks like a broken string of pearls.

  Lin Chen took out a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to Lin Nuan, but she didn’t extend a hand to receive it. “I’ll accompany you to Jincheng! Let’s go and look for Dr. Guan Yanfei. I can get my friends to help!”


  Lin Nuan had always been a person who would do something herself if she could do it herself, never liking to trouble others!

  However, this time it concerned Lin Chen. Even if she had to lower her stance and beg others, Lin Nuan was willing to do it.

  Even though she wasn’t biologically related to Lin Chen, she did grow up in the Lin family, and emotionally, she regarded Lin Chen as her real brother! The kinship between them never once ceased, even after Lin Nuan’s parentage was exposed, subsequently leading her to leave the Lin family.

  Hence, when something happened to Lin Chen, Lin Nuan couldn’t sit by and do nothing!

  Gazing at Lin Nuan’s teary and reddened eyes, as well as the determined look in them, Lin Chen set his handkerchief down next to Lin Nuan’s cup of hot cocoa, his throat vibrating gently. “I’m an adult already. I’m fine going to the doctor myself!”


  “Either I accompany you, or you let me tell Mom! Choose one!” Lin Nuan’s attitude was firm.

  Lin Chen held back the emotions that were boiling in his heart. The strong feelings that he had been forcing himself to hold back felt like they were going to gush out anytime now. The finger that was grazing the side of his cup halted, then he asked Lin Nuan slowly, “Who are you to me, to be accompanying me to visit the doctor? My younger sister?”


  Lin Nuan, who was caught by surprise, subconsciously nodded in reply to Lin Chen’s question.

  He raised his glass, took a sip of his lemon water, and lowered it and said, “I don’t lack a younger sister. I already have one at home. Lin Nuan, you’re smarter than girls your age, so you should be able to tell that I don’t just regard you as my younger sister. I regard you as a woman, a woman worthy of my love. Don’t tell me you couldn’t tell and weren’t aware. You’ve known all along, but you played dumb! So, if you’re smart enough and love Fu Huai’an enough, don’t try and intensify my fondness for you.”