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Shawn Young felt a sour ache in his heart. He had never seen his father, Sam Young, look like this before. He quickly strode forward to support his father, asking anxiously, "Dad, are you okay!?"
Sam Young was stunned for a moment, then looked up to see his son Shawn had come home, and behind him were two beautiful girls, looking a bit nervous and shy. Judging by their bashful demeanor, it was clear they had a close relationship with Shawn—maybe one of them was even his girlfriend!
Sam quickly forced a smile and asked Shawn with concern, "Oh? Shawn, school isn't on break yet—why did you come home early? Did you... bring your girlfriend here for me and your mom to check out?"
"Uh—yeah, I guess!" Shawn hadn't expected his dad to care about this kind of thing.
"Oh, oh! Then don’t neglect them, you hear? Do you need some spending money? I know, I know, a man with a girlfriend can’t be stingy. How much do you want? I’ll give it to you in a bit!" Sam said, glancing now and then at Rainie Cheng and Joanna Gong.
"Oh! No need, Dad. I’ve made some money myself—enough to cover my expenses. From now on, you don’t need to give me any more allowance. I can earn my own!" Shawn replied quickly.
"Huh? You... you have a job now? Well, even if you do, you still have to take care of yourself and your girlfriend!" Sam didn’t want his son to lose face in front of the girls.
"Let’s talk about that later, Dad. Didn’t you just come back from the hospital? What did they say?" Shawn asked with concern.
"I’m fine, it’s just a minor illness. Some rest and I’ll be good as new! Really, it’s nothing—haha—" Sam waved his hand, but there was a glimmer of despair in his eyes.
Shawn quickly noticed something was off with his father. He gathered his energy and looked closely at Sam’s complexion, and saw a layer of deathly gray aura on his face. Shawn was shocked—according to the Codex of Ascension, people who eat regular food give off five elemental auras: healthy folks show pale yellow or light red, weak ones grayish-white, but those facing disaster or serious illness emit this deathly gray! Out of all the elemental auras, the one on Sam’s face was the most dangerous!
"Dad, don’t hide it from us. Where’s your medical record? Where did you put it? You know your condition is really serious now!" Shawn asked anxiously.
"I told you, it’s just a minor thing! Why are you cursing your old man like that, kid? Really!" Sam snapped, but his eyes flickered with panic.
"Dad! Don’t be like this! Just tell me! Only then can I figure out how to help you!" Shawn called out urgently.
"Sam, hurry up and give me your medical record! Don’t hide your illness and scare us like this! Come on! Oh, you’re driving us crazy!" Linda Young saw her husband’s expression and knew he was hiding something, so she started searching his pockets.
Sam knew he couldn’t hide it anymore. He let out a long sigh, pulled a medical record from his jacket pocket, and handed it to Linda Young. In a heavy voice, he said, "Stop fussing. The doctor says I have stomach cancer. Late stage. I’ve only got about three months left."
"What?! Oh my god—" Linda Young was struck like lightning, her vision went dark and she nearly fainted. Rainie Cheng quickly supported her.
"What—late-stage stomach cancer?! How could this happen?!" Shawn was also shaken to the core.
"Mom, are you okay? Don’t scare me!" Sherry Young saw her mother’s pale face and rushed to hold her, rubbing her chest anxiously.
Seeing this, Shawn hurried over to check Linda Young’s pulse. Her energy was in chaos—clearly the shock of Sam’s illness was too much for her to bear, and she almost fainted. Shawn quickly channeled his Celestial True Qi into her pulse point, and as the pure energy flowed in, her breathing calmed, and she slowly came to.
Once she came to, Linda Young hugged Sam’s arm, crying, "Sam, what did we do to deserve this? How did you end up with this illness? If something happens to you, how will we survive? Boo hoo—"
"Mom, don’t worry. I’ll find a way to treat Dad’s illness! No matter the cost, I’ll save him!!" Shawn comforted his mother.
"But... your dad’s got late-stage stomach cancer! The doctor said he only has three months left. Is there really any hope? Boo hoo—" Linda Young took Shawn’s words as mere comfort, not believing he could really help.
"Mom, you have to trust me. I’ll save Dad—he’ll be okay! Just believe me! Let’s go home first, and I’ll figure something out!" Shawn insisted.
"Sigh—now that I know about your dad’s illness, I don’t feel like running the shop at all. Forget it, we’re not working today. If working ourselves sick is all we get, what’s the point of making money? Shawn, Sherry, help me pack up the fruit! Let’s go home!" Linda Young wiped her tears and spoke sadly.
"Okay! Let’s go home first—boo hoo—" Sherry Young sobbed as she started packing up the fruit. Shawn, Rainie Cheng, and Joanna Gong helped out, and soon they finished cleaning up the fruit stand. After closing the shutters, Shawn flagged down a taxi, supported his father, and got in with everyone, heading home.