Don't Talk to Me About Dignity - Chapter 8
Chapter 8
I didn’t go back to the ward that night. Instead, I sat on the hospital rooftop for a long time, clutching the documents.
As I flipped through them page by page, I realized that Xu Yan had done far more for my family than just paying the bills.
She had been in contact with the authorities to determine liability for the accident, pushing forward the worker’s compensation process, and haggling with the other party’s insurance company.
She had even made preparations for the worst-case scenario in advance.
But seeing all of this only made me feel worse.
I was afraid that, in the end, these gestures would make me unable to let her go once again.
Xu Yan didn’t come the next day.
She didn’t come the day after that, either.
She simply had her assistant send me the list of expenses and the progress of the insurance claims.
It was cold and clinical, without a single extra word.
She had truly started doing exactly what I asked-only talking to me about money.
After my dad was moved to a general ward, even he noticed something was wrong.
“Why hasn’t Xiao Xu been around lately?”
My hand paused as I peeled an apple. “She’s probably busy with work.”
My dad glanced at me, his voice soft.
“Zhiwei, don’t lose your temper with her.”
“That girl stayed here for several nights recently.”
“She’s done everything she possibly could for our family.”
I lowered my head, and the apple peel snapped in my hand.
That evening, I sent Xu Yan a message.
“I saw the list of expenses.”
She replied with only one word.
“Okay.”
I stared at that word for a long time before adding another sentence.
“I’ll pay you back as soon as possible. From now on, you don’t need to worry about anything else besides the money.”
After a long while, she replied.
“Fine.”
Still just one word.
I should have been satisfied, but as I looked at that “Fine,” my eyes suddenly burned.
Two days later, my mom took me downstairs in the evening to get some fresh air.
When we reached the back garden, she suddenly asked, “Is it really completely over between you and Xiao Xu?”
“It was over a long time ago.”
My mom was silent for a long time before she spoke in a low voice.
“Back then, before you two broke up, I went to see her.”
I stopped dead in my tracks.
“What did you see her for?”
My mom’s eyes reddened instantly.
“Your father had lost his job back then, and you were still fighting with us because of her.”
“I was afraid you’d throw your whole life away, so I went to beg her to let you go first.”
Her voice trembled.
“I told her that you were too stubborn-that once you set your mind on something, you refuse to turn back.”
“But with her family situation being what it was, and ours being what it is, your life would only get harder and harder.”
I froze completely.
My mom said that after she finished saying those things, Xu Yan remained silent.
She thought Xu Yan would be angry or demand to know what right she had to interfere.
But Xu Yan just stood by the rain shelter downstairs and asked one thing:
“If I leave, will she have it a bit easier?”
My mom hadn’t dared to answer.
Xu Yan, however, seemed to already know the answer. She nodded.
“I understand.”
The next day, she asked to meet me.
That was also the day she stood in the rain and told me that love couldn’t solve my problems.
It turned out that what I had always believed-that “she was the one who let go first”-wasn’t the whole truth at all.
