Chapter 362 The Materialization of Destiny

“Why aren’t you letting Qianqian go?” she asked.

“She’s perfectly healthy, what’s there to check?” Jiang Nian paused, then turned and said, “Oh, right, remember to keep it a secret.”

Song Xiyun had been following closely behind him, and when she heard the words “keep it a secret,” she instantly felt guilty.

The phrasing made it sound like they were doing something illicit.

But she shouldn’t be that kind of person, so she stopped in her tracks, standing still.

“Sec… sec… secret, meaning?”

“Heaven knows, Earth knows, your mom knows. Just don’t tell Xu Qianqian that I took you,” Jiang Nian warned her with a glance, without further explanation.

“Hey, you… why are you still scolding people?” Song Xiyun grumbled softly.

Hearing this, Jiang Nian was speechless.

“‘Your mom knows’ means your mom also knows. It’s fully authorized by a parent, not some illegal activity.”

Song Xiyun didn’t know how this person got the authorization; she just found it incredibly absurd.

“Then why can’t I tell Qianqian?”

“Because I haven’t told her. If you tell her, aren’t you setting me up?” Jiang Nian countered, “I’m doing this for your own good, and you’re going to betray me?”

For a moment, Song Xiyun couldn’t find a flaw in Jiang Nian’s logic.

She stood on the road, dazed for a while, then suddenly reacted. She scurried after him, unsure what to say.

A BYD car pulled up by the roadside.

Jiang Nian, who had been squatting on the street, stood up and patted Song Xiyun’s shoulder.

“Let’s go, get in.”

The hospital where Zhou Yuting’s relative worked was not on Zhennan Chang Street. Walking there wasn’t impossible, but it would be a bit tiring.

“Oh, oh, okay,” Song Xiyun followed closely, her thoughts still a bit jumbled. She sat in the back seat with him, feeling somewhat disoriented.

After the car started, she watched it turn in a strange direction. Only then did she remember to ask about their destination, turning her head to inquire.

“Where are we going?”

“The Third Hospital,” Jiang Nian had just replied to a WeChat message and was still fiddling with his phone. “Once we get there, someone will take us in.”

Hearing the word “we,” Song Xiyun secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

At least she wouldn’t be going in alone. It would be particularly awkward for someone a bit muddled to run around different departments with a form.

Ten minutes later, the car stopped at the hospital entrance.

Shortly after the two got out, they met the person waiting for them at the hospital entrance. It was a middle-aged man named Zhao, who was very enthusiastic.

After all, he was getting paid to do a favor, and it was introduced by his own niece. The other party was quite principled and had arranged everything.

They even used some queue-jumping methods, but locals were already used to it and just shrugged when they saw a doctor bringing a young girl.

After a series of examinations, the results gradually came out.

Eleven o’clock in the morning.

Jiang Nian sat on a stone bench outside the hospital, holding up the examination report’s description of the lungs and looking at it against the sun.

He thought to himself, a not-so-small illness, could it actually become a source of disease?

He had already verified that all the illnesses Song Xiyun would suffer from in the future would be triggered by this one. They would be intermittent, recurring repeatedly.

Perhaps dragging on and on, it would transform into a new illness.

Taking it lightly due to youth, until one day it completely erupted. Or perhaps various circumstances would lead to the worsening of the condition.

Song Xiyun stood beside him, like a quail, asking nervously.

“What’s… wrong with me?”

Jiang Nian glanced at her and put away the form.

“Pneumonia.”

With a ding, the mission panel popped up.

【Mission: Ascertain Song Xiyun’s illness. Reward: Skill: Winning the Lottery (refreshes every five days) has been issued.】

“Huh?” Song Xiyun was at a loss, like a child. “How could this be… my cough was clearly better.”

Above their heads was a large dead tree, with a few birds perched on its dry branches. They chirped and hopped in the warm winter sun.

“No more physical education class,” Jiang Nian said.

“What?” Song Xiyun asked subconsciously.

“I said… get treatment,” Jiang Nian stood up, took a photo of the form for backup, “If a disease is found, treat it, what else can you do?”

“Wait!!” Song Xiyun grabbed him, pleading, “Can we not treat it yet? Maybe they made a mistake.”

“Are you more professional than the doctor?” Jiang Nian put his hands on his hips, acting like an adult.

No, he was eighteen.

He was already an adult who could do whatever he wanted with an ID card, he could have conversations with anyone, provided he found someone.

Finding someone for a two-person team in an internet cafe was indeed somewhat difficult.

“But what if?” Song Xiyun bit her lower lip, stiffening her neck and arguing, “And I really look fine.”

“Alright, if you say there’s no problem, then there’s no problem,” Jiang Nian conceded a step.

Hearing this, Song Xiyun breathed a sigh of relief.

“Thank you.”

But before she could finish speaking, she heard Jiang Nian suddenly say,

“I’ll send it to your mom to see.”

“Don’t!” Song Xiyun instantly reacted like a startled cat, becoming anxious and pressing down on Jiang Nian’s hand.

The two instantly tumbled onto the stone bench, feeling awkward.

A passerby marveled at the sight.

He thought, a mature manga brought to life: a misguided girl being blackmailed with photos by a punk. Truly, the world is degenerating, and people’s hearts are no longer pure.

Jiang Nian pushed Song Xiyun away and stood up calmly.

“I’m not trying to scare you, but the doctor said that if you don’t treat this illness, there won’t be much opportunity later when you want to.”

Song Xiyun was immediately frightened; everyone fears death.

She even held her breath when she usually passed the door with the number 404, let alone hearing such terrifying remarks.

Unsurprisingly, the girl’s vision was already blurring, and she asked weakly.

“How much longer do I have to live?”

“That depends on you. This illness of yours is indeed not simple,” Jiang Nian said with a look that suggested he was about to use a Japanese-style threat.

“Then can I… can I wait two years to treat it?” Song Xiyun lowered her head. “I want to use the money I earn myself to treat it. My family doesn’t have money anymore.”

“Better to treat it now. In two years, your money might have been spent on a boyfriend,” Jiang Nian said truthfully.

“How could that be!” Song Xiyun looked up and retorted!

Jiang Nian didn’t even blink, thinking to himself that in a parallel universe, his buddy spent her gold coins. How could he not know?

When she goes to college, he’ll trick her out of some more gold coins.

Just kidding, one shouldn’t… at least not just trick a little. He should trick it all, transfer it to his account for management.

“It can’t be that serious, can it? It’s not a severe illness; with medical insurance, it might only cost a few thousand yuan,” Jiang Nian said, puzzled.

Hearing this, Song Xiyun immediately lowered her head and fell silent. She stood in front of the stone bench in silence for a while before finally speaking.

“My mom doesn’t like staying in Zhennan either. She’s only here because of me… When I graduate, she’ll be free.”

“One more expense means one more burden.”

Jiang Nian quietly listened to everything she said. Fortunately, he wasn’t overly sympathetic, otherwise he really would have been momentarily hard-controlled.

Then he would gently ask about her difficulties and various past events.

In reality, asking was useless; he couldn’t possibly pay. It wasn’t that he couldn’t afford the money, but that wasn’t how money should be given.

Giving money would also be a kind of pressure.

So, Jiang Nian stood up, looked at the sky, and said, “It’s getting late, and my leave slip has expired. How about this, I’ll suggest a method, and see if you can accept it.”

“What method?” Song Xiyun became nervous.

Outside the lottery stand near the supermarket.

Song Xiyun looked at the shop, then at Jiang Nian. She was incredulous, unable to utter a single word for a moment.

“This is your method?”

“Yes, let fate decide,” Jiang Nian looked at Song Xiyun and asked, “Do you believe in the probability of scratch-offs?”

“Not ex…” Song Xiyun was about to shake her head. “It mainly depends on whether the boss is shady or not; most of them are.”

Jiang Nian pointed at her, “I didn’t say how much we’d win.”

“Then it’s pretty random indeed,” Song Xiyun retracted her previous statement. “However, the probability isn’t high.”

Jiang Nian nodded and said directly.

“I’ll buy one scratch-off. If we don’t win anything, then I’ll listen to you, and I won’t tell your mom. I’ll keep it a secret.”

“What if we win?” Song Xiyun swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

“If we win, the money is yours, but I’ll have to tell your mom,” Jiang Nian spread his hands, his tone not sounding like a negotiation.

Song Xiyun hesitated for a long time, then asked softly.

“Then the money for the scratch-off… who pays?”

“You, of course. I already said if you scratch it, it’s yours,” Jiang Nian extended his hand towards her. “Cash or transfer?”

Hearing this, Song Xiyun’s heart ached.

But after weighing her options, she still paid the money.

The two arrived at the shop, ready to choose scratch-offs. In front of them, a few people and a young couple were also scratching.

Jiang Nian didn’t hesitate much. From a pile of tickets, he chose one that caught his eye, paid for it, and then handed it to Song Xiyun.

“Here, you bought it, you scratch it yourself.”

“Oh,” Song Xiyun was a little hesitant.

It was her first time buying such a thing, and she knew it probably wouldn’t win. Buying less might earn something, but buying more would definitely result in a loss.

If she was lucky, she might win fifty or a hundred, but most of the time, luck wouldn’t be on her side.

She was already prepared to lose money, considering it as listening to Jiang Nian, as it wasn’t easy for him to take time off and be busy with this.

The people next to them used plastic scrapers, almost all of them shouting and yelling together. Fifty one moment, twenty the next.

Song Xiyun held a twenty-one yuan scratch-off ticket, with a top prize of eight hundred thousand. The probability of winning that was almost impossible.

Next were second prizes of five thousand, one thousand, five hundred, and so on, in descending order.

She wasn’t short, but she wasn’t brave. She couldn’t squeeze into the scratching area, nor could she get a plastic scraper, and she was too embarrassed to speak.

She could only stand there blankly, waiting, watching those few people loudly scratch their tickets. Finally, they dispersed, leaving behind a mess of debris.

At this moment, Song Xiyun quietly shuffled over. She picked up a plastic scraper and began to scratch the ticket carefully and seriously.

The young couple nearby was relatively quieter and hadn’t participated in the earlier commotion.

The prize they eventually scratched was neither a profit nor a loss, just enough to break even. At most, they earned twenty, which was considered good luck.

They didn’t leave but watched Song Xiyun scratch with interest.

“Little girl, only buying one? Why not buy a few more?”

Song Xiyun lowered her head, “I didn’t buy it.”

The young couple didn’t take it seriously, exchanging smiles. They just thought this sister was a bit introverted and stood there watching for a while longer.

Song Xiyun clumsily finished scratching, feeling completely bewildered.

“Jiang Nian, help me look…”

Hearing this, Jiang Nian walked towards her. His expression was calm; he wasn’t curious about the result. 【Winning the Lottery】 plus 【Precision】.

If it didn’t win, he would have to make a big scene behind the shop owner.

Damn it, playing fake, are we?

“Uh, let us help you take a look,” the young couple said enthusiastically, still smiling. “Yeah, we play this often.”

The two leaned over to look, and their expressions instantly changed.

“The probability of winning with this one is actually… wait, win… win?”

“It’s a win, looks like five thousand.”

“Holy crap, it really is!”

Ten minutes later.

Song Xiyun stood by the roadside, watching cars pass by. Then she looked at the five thousand yuan that had appeared in her phone, feeling a bit lost.

She turned her head to look at Jiang Nian, who was squatting under a tree waiting for a car.

“Did you know it would win all along?”

Jiang Nian glanced at her, put away his phone, and stood up.

“Do you take me for a deity?”

In the sunlight, Song Xiyun watched the golden rays of sun cast down from the sparse, old tree branches. They hit the concrete ground, forming strips of light.

The young man in front of her had deep-set eyes, soft black hair, gently swaying in the wind.

For the first time, she had a tangible sense of fate.