35: I can help you

When she was two, her father died in an accident; in her memory, there was only one yellowed old photo.

It was her mother who, through hard work and hardship, raised her bit by bit and supported her through university.

She had finally grown up, her wings becoming full, and she could become her mother's reliance, letting her mother, who had worked hard for most of her life, rest and enjoy some peace.

However, fate played a joke. Just as she started her freshman year, her mother was diagnosed with cirrhosis.

This illness broke her mother's body and also broke their already precarious home.

To pay for the treatment, she sold their house in their hometown, but the money was like being thrown into a bottomless pit.

It was quickly consumed by one hospitalization after another and stack after stack of medical bills.

Now, the illness had reached the end stage, and the only hope was a liver transplant.

“The doctor said... once a suitable liver source is found,” her voice began to tremble.

“But the surgery fee is at least... at least one million.”

When she stated this figure, her voice was as soft as a sigh.

“And that's just the surgery... the subsequent anti-rejection drugs, follow-up checks, and maintenance are an even more endless bottomless pit.”

So she was in despair, not believing that anyone in this world could or would be willing to shoulder such a heavy burden.

Agreeing to bring Chen Li to the Hospital today was less about believing in miracles and more like a mechanical grasping at any shred of possibility after being exhausted to the limit.

Chen Li listened quietly without interrupting or showing too much sympathy.

He just focused on the road ahead, his fingers occasionally tapping lightly on the steering wheel.

They soon arrived at the Hospital. Guided by Gu Qingcheng, Chen Li finally stopped at the door of a four-person ward.

Gu Qingcheng took a deep breath before gently pushing the door open and leading Chen Li to a bed.

“Qingcheng?”

On the bed by the window, a woman with a sallow complexion and a thin frame leaned halfway. Seeing her daughter return,

A hint of surprise and an imperceptible worry flashed in her clouded eyes. “Why are you back again?

Didn't I tell you to go back to school and get some rest?” Her voice was weak but filled with a mother's concern.

“Mom,” Gu Qingcheng walked quickly to the bedside, her voice softening unconsciously. “I... I brought a friend to see you.”

Only then did Mother Gu notice a young man following behind her daughter.

Chen Li stepped forward and nodded slightly: “Hello, Auntie. I am Chen Li.”

Mother Gu's gaze quickly scanned back and forth between Chen Li and her daughter, looking at Gu Qingcheng inquiringly:

“Qingcheng, this is...?”

“Mom, this is my classmate.”

Gu Qingcheng quickly explained, her voice carrying a hint of tension she hadn't noticed herself.

“Oh, hello, student Chen Li.”

A knowing smile appeared on Mother Gu's face, blooming on her haggard face and looking exceptionally gentle.

She already had a guess in her heart; she knew her daughter best—stubborn and strong-willed.

From childhood to adulthood, when had she ever proactively brought a boy to meet her? Especially at such a difficult time as this.

The young man before her had a decent appearance, clear eyes, and proper manners; he seemed like a steady person.

To be brought by her daughter at a time like this, their relationship must be unusual... presumably, he was the boyfriend her daughter had made.

As this thought arose, the heavy weight that had been pressing on Mother Gu's heart seemed to loosen slightly.

She knew her own body; she feared her time was running out.

At this moment, being able to see a seemingly reliable person by her daughter's side before leaving,

Her hanging heart seemed to finally find a bit of solace.

She scrutinized Chen Li carefully, her gaze interlaced with a mother's final hope and a faint scrutiny.

Standing to the side, Gu Qingcheng saw her mother's gradually knowing and gratified smile and instantly understood what her mother was thinking.

A surge of heat rushed to her cheeks, even her earlobes turned red. She wanted to explain, but the words died in her throat.

In this situation, how could she explain? And where would she even start?

She could only lower her head shyly, her fingers unconsciously twisting the hem of her clothes, her heart beating like a drum.

Chen Li took in the expressions of the mother and daughter, clearly aware of Mother Gu's misunderstanding, but he did not correct it, merely maintaining a polite smile.

Mother Gu held Chen Li and spoke many more words intermittently. Chen Li listened patiently throughout, occasionally responding with a gentle word or two.

The content of the conversation was mostly about how stubborn and sensible Qingcheng had been as a child; between the lines was the love and reluctance a mother had accumulated over twenty years.

After a while, she grew tired. After Chen Li comforted her to sleep, he turned to Gu Qingcheng and whispered, “Let's talk outside.”

The two walked to the window at the end of the hallway. The afternoon sunlight shone in obliquely, and the air was filled with the characteristic cold scent of disinfectant.

Chen Li stopped and looked calmly at Gu Qingcheng's face, which was full of weariness yet still beautiful, and got straight to the point:

“I can help you.”

These few short words were like a thunderclap clearing the haze Gu Qingcheng had been under for days.

She snapped her head up, her pupils contracting slightly from shock. She looked at Chen Li in disbelief,

Her voice carrying an imperceptible tremor: “Chen Li, are you... are you serious?”

“I am.”

Chen Li's tone had no hint of a joke, but he then changed the subject, “But, you have to agree to one condition.”

As expected... there was a condition.

Gu Qingcheng's heart sank instantly, and a desolate bitterness spread across her tongue.

Heh, men really are all the same.

She quietly sized up Chen Li; he was dressed extraordinarily and had a composed aura, clearly either rich or noble.

Besides this body, which could still be called good-looking, what else did she have to exchange?

It didn't matter, it really didn't matter. As long as she could save her mom, she was willing to pay any price.

She sneered at herself in her heart, as if this could numb the impending sense of humiliation.

“What condition? Tell me.”

She lowered her eyelashes, her voice so low it was almost inaudible, already prepared to accept any unspeakable condition.

“Within one year, you cannot have a boyfriend.”

Gu Qingcheng froze, thinking she had misheard.

“What else?”

She asked instinctively, waiting for him to propose a more specific requirement that fit her expectations.

“I said, only one condition, nothing else.”

Looking at her expression of facing death, Chen Li felt a bit like laughing and a bit of heartache—

“Can you do it?”

“I can...”

Gu Qingcheng agreed almost instinctively, followed by a surge of immense confusion and deeper bewilderment.

Just this? Not having a boyfriend? At a time when her mother's life was hanging by a thread and her own life was being crushed by pressure,

This condition was so light it hardly seemed like a condition at all. How could she still have the heart or the right to think about romance?

“Fine, give me your card number.”

Chen Li said no more and directly took out his phone.

Gu Qingcheng dazedly recited a string of numbers, still immersed in the shock of the ‘condition’.

Chen Li's fingers moved quickly on the screen for a few moments. In just dozens of seconds, Gu Qingcheng's phone let out a crisp notification sound... She pulled out her old phone, and the message on the screen made her freeze in place.

【Huaxia Bank】 Your account ending in 3186 has completed a transfer transaction of RMB 3,000,000.00, balance 3,010,125.80.

Three... three million!

It wasn't one million, it was three million!

A huge, surreal sense of dizziness seized her.

She repeatedly counted that long string of zeros, each one like a heavy hammer striking her taut nerves.

Her eyes turned red without warning, hot tears quickly gathered, and her vision blurred instantly. Her mom was saved!

“Also,”

Chen Li's voice sounded again, much gentler than before, “Eat well and take care of yourself. Only if you are healthy can you take care of your mother.”

Looking at her thin shoulders and pale face, he added: “Use this three million for now. Tell me if it's not enough.”

He paused and said that classic line in a calm tone:

“I have plenty of money.”

It was at this moment that a system prompt, which only Chen Li could see, clearly appeared before his eyes:

【Gu Qingcheng】

【Affection Level: +55】

Immense gratitude and the wild joy of escaping a desperate situation, all sorts of emotions like a bursting flood, instantly broke through Gu Qingcheng's mental defenses.