Chapter 235: Some Enjoy Life, Some Fight Pain

In a small supermarket on Earth House Street, the officer turned to look at Xiao Yucheng: "Is it your child who's missing?"

"Yes, yes! Have you seen him?" Xiao Yucheng nodded, his expression panicked, breathing heavily.

"How old?"

"Seven!"

"What characteristics does he have?" the officer asked again.

"Not tall, very thin, should be wearing a blue short-sleeve T-shirt. Oh, right, he, he also has very serious asthma, lung disease, should have been wearing a mask when he went out..."

"Then it must be you," the officer nodded interrupting: "Come with me."

"What happened to him?" Xiao Yucheng immediately asked.

The officer paused, looking somewhat sympathetically at this limping father: "It's like this - he had a bit of an accident, had an attack here last night, didn't get timely treatment, so...!"

Xiao Yucheng only heard half the words before his head exploded with a boom, his face turning deathly pale as he stood stunned.

......

An hour and a half later, in the morgue corridor of Zha'nan Central Hospital, wisps of cold air swirled as the large iron door to the mortuary stood coldly before everyone.

When Xiao Yucheng reached the door, his legs were already weak, his mind completely blank.

The officer was young and rather kind-hearted. He supported Xiao Yucheng with his left hand, comforting him while signaling the hospital staff to open the mortuary, then everyone entered together.

The staff member put on a mask, pulled open the large drawer containing the body, saying numbly and coldly: "Need to sign later."

After speaking, the staff member turned and left as the officer said softly to Xiao Yucheng: "You weren't home yesterday, right? Seems your son went downstairs to buy something to eat, met some children halfway who called him to play ball... I interviewed some eyewitnesses - they said at first your son didn't play, just sat on the curb eating meat pies... but later, he probably couldn't resist and was called to the field by the other children, had an attack after playing a while... no adults around, the children all ran away when they saw something wrong, finally the old night watchman at the field found your child, but when he notified patrol officers and sent him to the hospital it was already too late, missed the best rescue time...!"

By the large drawer, the officer was gently explaining the facts to Xiao Yucheng, while the latter stared blankly at the drawer, his heart and gall splitting with pain.

His son's face was purplish-blue, frost clinging to his eyelashes and skin surface, still wearing that blue short-sleeve T-shirt, with several obvious needle marks on his arms left from the hospital's rescue attempts.

Breakdown, regret, disbelief surged in Xiao Yucheng's heart as he looked at his cold, stiff son - he seemed to have no strength left, all hope gone.

Though Xiao Yucheng hadn't had his son in old age, his son was his only hope. So many years of laborer life had long made him unable to feel any pleasure in life.

In Xinaluo, he woke up to work and slept when dark, with absolutely no private time. Sometimes hearing artillery fire in the middle of the night, he had to get up immediately to hide in air raid shelters.

Wandering outside, his wife was lost, he became disabled - thirteen years passed in the blink of an eye. In Xiao Yucheng's memory, he was like an endlessly running machine, numbly living his days, earning money to feed his family.

Xiao Yucheng could no longer remember his original purpose in coming to Dragon City - his youthful ambitions and ideals had long been crushed in his painful life. With his wife gone, his only hope was to raise his congenitally ill son to adulthood, give him a relatively healthy living environment, save some money for him, let the next generation not have to live like him.

But today, the son Xiao Yucheng had carefully nurtured was also gone - all his hopes shattered like a vase hitting the ground.

In the cold mortuary, Xiao Yucheng leaned against the large drawer, slowly squatting down, holding his head, crying in confusion and despair.

Beside him, the officer didn't hurry him, turning to go outside to smoke.

After who knows how long, who knows who all spoke to him, anyway Xiao Yucheng dazedly signed several notices claiming his son's body.

The hospital staff member put away the paper and pen, looking up to ask Xiao Yucheng: "Cremation? Have transport, five hundred yuan."

Xiao Yucheng replied woodenly: "No... no cremation."

"No cremation, and private burial not allowed - what will you do?" the staff member said frowning. "Now private burial means fines plus detention if caught, you see...?"

"Then cremate," Xiao Yucheng replied with no expression on his face.

About ten minutes later, the car carrying the body drove out of the hospital, while Er Bao responsible for monitoring Xiao Yucheng followed the lead car while talking on the phone: "...Damn it, I'm so unlucky, the guy I'm following, his son died. Yeah, he just left the hospital, going to the crematorium... Ah, what to do? Give him two more days to handle the funeral? Fuck! Whatever, what kind of matter is this!"

Er Bao talked on the phone communicating with those above while driving to follow Xiao Yucheng to the crematorium.

......

A person's birth requires a mother's ten months of pregnancy, requires mother and child's double pain - even particular new parents may prepare for pregnancy for one or two years, experiencing countless difficulties before a child can come into this world.

But a person's death and disappearance needs only less than three minutes - one fire burns up, leaving not even bone fragments.

Late at night, Xiao Yucheng carried the urn walking out of the crematorium as cold wind blew past - no one to meet him, no relatives or friends who could feel his grief, only Er Bao who hadn't even eaten dinner, following his every step.

Er Bao who had squatted all day got out of the car, smoking as he walked to Xiao Yucheng's side calling: "Take you back?"

Xiao Yucheng looked at him, nodding woodenly.

"Let's go!" Er Bao called out.

Two minutes later, the car left the compound. Er Bao sat in front, saying carelessly: "You running into this matter is really unfortunate, but one matter is one matter - your case still needs to be handled quickly! I can't follow you every day - that's trouble for you and trouble for me. You'd better hurry to find money, settle things and be done with it."

Xiao Yucheng sat in the back seat, looking at his head, his body stiff as a sculpture.

"Just now at the crematorium, I called Brother Xu - I begged for mercy for you, he agreed to give you two more days," Er Bao continued. "But my meaning is, if you can gather money quickly, then quickly gather it, don't drag it out - this way it's more convenient for handling your child's funeral later. But if you really can't gather it now, then at most two days, you must also..."

Life returned to Xiao Yucheng's numb gaze, his eyes turning blood red.

......

At the Dock Workers Association headquarters.

Jing Yan held the phone saying: "Chairman Lu's meaning is, after Karl and them from the Control Department leave, we can discuss sending goods to Xinaluo. Yes, I plan to have Gu Baishun do it..."