Hormones That Can't Be Hidden - Chapter 23

“What happened to Mom?! Tell me clearly!”

Dong Junhao gripped his phone tightly, his body snapping upright.

“Mom… she’s been saying her chest feels tight and she’s had trouble breathing these past few days. I thought she was just tired and didn’t take it seriously… Today, today I had the day off and forced her to go to the hospital… the results just came back…”

Dong Xiaogang’s voice was shaking uncontrollably, his words incoherent. “The doctor said… it’s coronary heart disease! It’s very serious! He said a major vessel is blocked and she must have a heart bypass surgery as soon as possible! Brother! The doctor said if we delay any longer, she could be in danger at any time!”

“But… but the surgery costs so much money! So, so much! Where… where are we going to find that kind of money?! What do we do, Brother?!…”

BOOM—!!!

Dong Junhao felt as though his brain had been struck by a heavy sledgehammer. It went blank instantly, a sharp ringing drowning out everything else. What followed was a vast, icy panic that surged from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head like Arctic seawater, freezing every part of him.

Coronary heart disease… heart bypass… massive surgery fees…

These terms were like red-hot irons searing into his consciousness, bringing a vivid, devastating pain. In recent years, he had baked under the sun on construction sites and sweated in the sweltering heat of the bathhouse, scraping together every cent by being as stingy as possible. Only a few months ago had he finally paid off the last of the debts for the renovation of the old family house. The meager savings he had now wouldn’t be enough to sustain a complex heart surgery it might not even cover the hospital deposit!

On the other end of the line, his brother’s helpless, desperate crying was like a rusty, blunt knife sawing back and forth across his heart. He was the eldest son, the only pillar of the family currently capable of earning money. His parents were aging, and his brother was still in school; the family relied entirely on him.

He couldn’t panic, and he certainly couldn’t collapse!

He gritted his teeth so hard he nearly used up all his strength just to suppress the sobs and panic rising in his throat. When he spoke again, his voice was miraculously steady, carrying a cold, almost foreign composure:

“Xiaogang, listen to me. Stop crying first!”

His tone was resolute and unquestionable. “Where is Mom now? At the hospital or back home? What did the doctor say? Does she need to be admitted immediately?”

“We just got back from the hospital… The doctor said it’s best to be admitted right away for a surgical assessment… but Brother, the deposit alone is tens of thousands, we…”

“Brother will find a way for the money!” Dong Junhao interrupted him, every word hitting like a driven nail. “I still have some savings here. Whatever is missing, I’ll borrow or get an advance on my salary. There’s always a way out; we’ll find one!”

“The most important thing for you right now is to stay by Mom’s side, look after her, and keep her calm. Not a single word about the surgery fees in front of Mom! Do you hear me?!”

After repeated instructions and barely calming his brother who was on the verge of a breakdown Dong Junhao hung up. The moment the call ended, his forced composure shattered like a fragile glass shell. He collapsed onto the cold, hard bedboards, fingers digging deep into his coarse hair, tugging at his scalp as if the physical pain could relieve the soul-crushing pressure and despair.

Where am I going to find the money? That much money!

Relatives? The moment the thought surfaced, images from a few years ago flashed through his mind memories of accompanying his father as they went door-to-door, bowing their heads and begging for loans to fix the house. He saw the troubled faces, the excuses, and the cold indifference of those who stated their own pockets were tight. It wasn’t that his relatives were naturally heartless; in this world, no one lived comfortably. And for a family like theirs with two sons (meaning a double burden in the future), they were “high-risk” borrowers in the eyes of relatives who had to calculate every cent of their own lives. Those awkward silences, polite rejections, and the hushed gossip behind their backs… every memory made his throat tight and his stomach churn.

He paced the cramped dormitory like a caged beast, his mind racing to calculate every possible avenue. A bank loan? A man like him with an unstable job and no fixed assets wouldn’t even know which way the bank doors opened. Private lenders? Shark loans? That would be nothing more than drinking poison to quench a thirst; it would drag the entire family into an even deeper abyss…

One idea after another rose, only to be ruthlessly snuffed out by reality. Finally, all paths seemed to point in the same direction begging his boss, Xu Jun, for a salary advance, even if he had to get on his knees.

The next day, Dong Junhao knocked on Xu Jun’s office door, his eyes dark and puffy after a sleepless night. He cast aside all remnants of his pride, using the briefest, most direct language to explain the dire situation of his mother’s illness and the urgent need for surgery fees. He pleaded with Xu Jun to advance him six months or even more of his salary.

Xu Jun sat in his large executive chair, leisurely smoking. After hearing the explanation, his fat face habitually bunched into that mix of shrewd calculation and a superficial layer of “sympathy.” He slowly blew a smoke ring, watching it twist and dissipate in the air before finally speaking:

“Junhao, I’ve heard about your situation at home, and honestly, it makes me feel quite bad. To be fair, you’re a top performer here great skills, honest guy. In principle, it’s not impossible to advance some salary for an emergency…”

Dong Junhao’s heart leaped, and he held his breath.

“…However,” Xu Jun shifted his tone, spreading his hands in a troubled gesture. “You see how it is. It’s the off-season right now; the bathhouse business is just okay, and the cash flow is tight. I have a large family here, and so many mouths waiting to eat I have to keep things circulating.”

“If you want two or three months’ advance, I could grit my teeth, tighten my belt, and scrape it together for you.” He looked up at Dong Junhao’s face, which had instantly gone ashen, and added “sincerely”: “But the surgery fees you just mentioned… Junhao, I’m not trying to discourage you, but that’s not a small sum. Even if I grit my teeth and give you three months, that money would barely make a splash in a bucket. It’s a drop in the ocean; it’s too far off!”

Dong Junhao’s heart felt as though it had fallen to the bottom of an ice cellar. Xu Jun was speaking the naked truth. Even a three-month advance remained a world away from the astronomical costs of the surgery and treatment.

Xu Jun watched the last light of hope fade from Dong’s eyes. He flicked his ash and leaned forward slightly, lowering his voice in a show of concern. “Doesn’t the family have any other relatives or friends who can help out? Or…”

“You knew that Mr. Fang from before, didn’t you? Someone of his status… just a little leak from between his fingers would probably…”

“I won’t look for him!” Dong Junhao interrupted Xu Jun sharply, as if stung by a scorpion. His voice was slightly distorted by agitation and a sharp pain. “He and I… we’ve had nothing to do with each other for a long time! And we never will again!”

Xu Jun was startled by the violent reaction. He soon wore a look of understanding and nodded, not pursuing the topic further. He merely sighed with regret: “Then… I really am powerless to help. Try to think of other avenues. Sigh, life isn’t easy for anyone these days.”

Stepping out of that office filled with the scent of tobacco and reality, Dong Junhao felt the world turn gray. The salary advance path seemed to solve a momentary crisis but couldn’t fix the core problem. Finding relatives… that was a path of thorns where dignity and hope were equally bleak.

Could he really just stand by and watch his mother be tortured by illness, wasting away her last spark of life while waiting?

Just as he was being eaten alive by despair as if sinking into a sunless abyss the next day, things took an unexpected, sugar-coated “turn” in a nearly bizarre manner.