Li Xi did not ultimately stop Yuan Chu from trying the new medicine. Although he didn’t believe in miracles, this girl might still have a glimmer of hope.
On the day of the trial, Li Xi stayed by Yuan Chu's side, watching her swallow the pill without hesitation. She even obediently thanked Dr. Song Zhicheng, completely unaware of what she was about to face, making Li Xi angry.
"Do not drink water or eat anything for 3 hours," Dr. Song Zhicheng reminded her. "After 3 hours, you can consume a small amount of liquid food."
"Okay," Yuan Chu nodded seriously, indicating that she remembered.
"So obedient," Dr. Song Zhi Cheng patted her head and praised her with a smile.
Li Xi sat silently beside them, his eyes coldly fixed on them.
After Dr. Song Zhi Cheng left, only the two of them remained in the room.
Li Xi glanced at Yuan Chu, who had quickly covered him with a blanket, comfortably resting her head on the pillow with closed eyes, appearing peaceful.
Li Xi: "...How do you feel?"
"Okay," Yuan Chu sneaked a glance at him. "It would be even better if you could tell me a story."
"Huh," How presumptuous!
Li Xi stood up, "Lie down, I'll go first."
With long strides, he left the room.
Left alone in the quiet ward, Yuan Chu, with her slender body, almost disappeared into the pillow, leaving only her bright eyes.
Half an hour later, the door was pushed open, and Li Xi stomped in, holding a shopping bag in his right hand.
"Choose one." He threw the contents of the shopping bag onto the bedside table, showing a disdainful and impatient expression.
Yuan Chu turned her head to see several hardcover picture books on the bedside table, titles like "The Little Girl Who Sold Matches", "XX Prince", "The Daughter of X", "X Ballet Shoes"... All are tragic stories.
Yuan Chu: "...Is it appropriate to show a terminally ill patient like me such books?"
Li Xi looked down on her and asked, "Have you read these popular fairy tales?"
He had them specially bought according to the classic fairy tale rankings, so there shouldn’t be any issues.
Believe it or not, Li Xi had never read a fairy tale and naturally didn't know they were all tragedies.
Yuan Chu picked one and handed it to Li Xi.
"Why don’t you read this one?" She commented sarcastically, but had already taken the book, looking down, it was: "The Little Girl Who Sold Matches".
Li Xi opened the book and began to read, "It was extremely cold, snowing, and getting dark..."
Yuan Chu listened with enthusiasm, feeling the kindness emanating from him.
The story was short, only a thousand or so words. As Li Xi read, he suddenly felt something was off.
When he got to the part where the little girl froze to death in her dream, his face turned dark, forcibly changing the ending, "The next morning, when the little girl woke up, she found her dream had come true... From then on, she lived happily with her grandmother!"
Yuan Chu: ...If he didn't sound so resentful, she might have believed in the happy ending.
"What nonsense story is this? The plot is ridiculous, and it makes no sense." Li Xi mercilessly threw the book into the trash, then picked up the second book, quickly skimmed through it, followed by the third, fourth... Ridiculous! Is the authors of these books insane?
After reading these stories, Li Xi felt terrible.
Yuan Chu wanted to laugh but held it back, pretending to be sleepy, "Not reading anymore?"
Seeing this, Li Xi quickly put all the books, including the one he had thrown away, back into the shopping bag, stood up and said, "No more reading, you should sleep."
After speaking, he left without looking back.
With a smile, Yuan Chu closed her eyes. After a while, tiny beads of blood oozed from her fair skin, and her organs were gradually failing.
At night, Li Xi was awakened by a chaotic sound of footsteps. Frowning, he got up to check.
A patient from the end of the corridor was being pushed out by medical staff and urgently sent to the ICU.
A group of people hurriedly passed by Li Xi, and he quickly recognized one of the patients as one of the three volunteers for the drug trial. His face was pale, continuously spitting out fresh blood, which flowed all the way to the elevator.
Li Xi silently followed behind them, arriving at the ICU floor, leaning against the cold wall, staring intently at the tightly closed door.
After a while, a doctor came out of the ICU and asked a nurse beside him, "Have you contacted his family?"
"They are on their way."
The doctor sighed, "Resuscitation failed, time of death 2:21 am."
This patient was the first volunteer for the drug trial. His condition had improved over the past few days, but unexpectedly deteriorated suddenly.
Li Xi stood still for a long time until the deceased's family arrived before leaving numbly.
Standing at the door of Yuan Chu's ward, he hesitated before pushing the door. His hand holding the handle trembled slightly.
The new medicine failed. Not only did it not have any therapeutic effect, but it also accelerated death!
Thinking of the man's miserable condition, Li Xi felt as if something was choking his heart, heavy and oppressive.
After standing at the doorway for a few minutes, Li Xi slowly let go of his hand, the expression in his eyes gradually faded, eventually turning into indifference
Didn't he already know? They are all people destined to die, so what's the point of caring?
Li Xi turned around, step by step entering his own sickroom, gently closing the door, isolating all sounds from the outside world.
Yuan Chu opened her eyes, a hint of regret on her face. During the day, there had been a faint connection between her and Li Xi, but just now, that connection disappeared.
In the morning, Yuan Chu had barely managed to drink a bowl of porridge and went next door to find Li Xi. But he hadn't even let her in and sent her back.
Yuan Chu wasn't disheartened. Seizing an opportunity, she ran up to him to make her presence felt. Li Xi appeared cold but had a warm heart, straightforward in his speech.
Though he was often gruff, he never rejected her closeness. He helped her in every possible way, but their relationship had not progressed.
As time passed, Yuan Chu felt the heavenly law increasingly repelled her, and the side effects of the medication became more evident.
She couldn't be as lively as before and spent most of her day in bed, unable to get up at all. Li Xi noticed that the little girl hadn't come to see him for two days.
Resisting the urge, he peeked and saw her sleeping on the bed, so he didn't disturb her.
Just as he was about to return to his room, he suddenly heard the voice of a nurse from the corner of the corridor: "I really want to switch shifts with someone else. Taking care of that patient every day is driving me crazy."
"I know right? It's so pitiful. I feel both sympathy and fear when I see him."
"I heard from Dr. Song that he probably won't live past three days."
"Living in such agony, it's better to release him early..." Two nurses passed by the corridor, completely unaware of Li Xi hiding behind the room door.
Who were they talking about? Another volunteer? Li Xi's heart trembled, tightened his grip, and finally opened the door, walking towards the room where the patient was.
"Ah—" a scream entered Li Xi's ears, causing him to freeze. Through the slightly open door, he saw two medical staff pressing hard on the patient's bed.
The patient had become extremely thin, covered in fresh blood, sparse hair, and pale yellow skin, struggling weakly like a dried fish.
Li Xi quickly retreated a step, then staggered away, heading straight to Yuan Chu's room.
Song Zhicheng happened to be there for an examination, and seeing him rush in, he quickly pulled him out."Why are you in such a hurry?"
"Why am I? I wanted to ask you!" Li Xi's eyes were filled with suppressed anger, "Is this the new drug you developed? Not only is it ineffective, but it's also torturing the patient to this extent?"
"The drug isn't ineffective, it's just that the side effects are too strong and need improvement," Song Zhicheng tried to explain calmly.
"Huh, do we have time to wait for your improvements?" Li Xi's gaze fell heavily on Yuan Chu's room door,
"How is her condition?"
"Not good."
Li Xi pushed him aside and walked into the room, standing by the bed, silently looking at the little girl lying there.
No wonder she hadn't come to see him for two days. She must have been too sick to get out of bed.
"Her side effects appeared four days ago," Song Zhicheng whispered.
Four days ago? Li Xi hadn't noticed at all. The little girl had always smiled brightly and her eyes had always been so bright in front of him.
"What are the side effects?"
"At first, there's dizziness, vomiting, and then frequent bleeding, weakness in limbs, extreme fatigue, accompanied by severe pain throughout the body," Song Zhicheng didn't hide anything.
Li Xi clenched his fists, his shoulders trembling. If only he had stopped her earlier, instead of letting her suffer in pain, it would have been better to let her spend her remaining time peacefully.
"This girl is very special," Song Zhicheng added, "Considering her age and physique, after being infected with the poisonous gas, she shouldn't have survived. But she managed to hold on until now, which is truly admirable."
"What's so admirable about it?" Li Xi glared at him fiercely, "She's been tortured by illness for a year, do you think she's lucky?"
Song Zhicheng had nothing to say and felt guilty. Although they had done their best, watching these patients die one by one in front of him was something he couldn't let go of.
"Stay with her for a while, I'll come to check on her later," leaving this sentence behind, Song Zhicheng walked away with heavy steps.
Li Xi ignored him, silently sitting by the bed, his eyes empty, thinking of nothing.
"...Brother?" A weak voice suddenly echoed in the room, pulling him out of his daze.Li Xi looked down at her.
"You came to see me?" Yuan Chu showed him a joyful smile.
"I knew you couldn't resist coming to see me." Li Xi frowned and scolded, "Stop smiling, it doesn't look good."
Doesn't she feel any pain with those wounds on her face?
Yuan Chu raised her thin hands to cover her face, muttering, "Is it that ugly? Then I won't smile."
Seeing her like this, Li Xi felt like getting angry again.
"I'm worried you'll hurt the wounds on your face!"
"Oh." Yuan Chu put down her hands covering her face, pointing to her dimples,
"So, my smile isn't actually ugly?"
"Yes, yes, yes." Whatever you say. He's grown up; why is he arguing with a silly girl?
"I'm hungry." Yuan Chu looked at him expectantly.
"Brother, can you buy me some food?"
"Okay, wait a moment." Li Xi stood up, preparing to get his phone from his room.
Just as he walked out of the room, he suddenly heard a faint vomiting sound behind him. He quickly turned around, only to see Yuan Chu leaning over the side of the bed, her frail body trembling uncontrollably.
She spat out a large amount of fresh blood, splattering it on the floor, creating a large bloodstain, glaringly bright red.
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