Chapter 511: Chapter 511

“It’s okay, I’ll go check on my grandpa again later, I’ll head back first,” Xiao Caizi said.

“Then drive safely on your own,” Song Jining seemed genuinely remorseful and wanted to say more but found words were inadequate, so he had to rush off to perform surgery.

Xiao Caizi sat in the office for a while longer, then got up and left Song Jining’s office, heading towards the nursing home behind.

Her grandfather suffered from dementia. He used to live in another nursing home on the outskirts of the city. It was only after her and Song Jining’s matters were settled that she had transferred her grandfather to Taiheng.

It was also considering the relationship with Song Jining that her grandfather could receive better care at Taiheng.

Although it hadn’t been long since the transfer to Taiheng Nursing Home, Xiao Caizi was already quite familiar with the route to her grandfather’s ward.

And so, she went her familiar way.

Upon reaching the ward, she found her grandfather had already fallen asleep. The caretaker whispered to her, “Miss Xiao, the old master is asleep.”

“When did he fall asleep?” Xiao Caizi whispered back.

“Just a short while after you left, the old master fell asleep,” the caretaker responded, “He mentioned several times that he wanted to eat dumplings, but he never liked the dumplings from the hospital when we gave them to him before.”

Xiao Caizi sighed softly, “He wants to eat the dumplings made by Grandma.”

People with dementia have disordered memories, so sometimes they speak incoherently and might mention things that are impossible to occur again.

For example, the dumplings made by his wife—those were an impossibility now, as she had passed away several years ago.

“So…” The caretaker, seeing the expression on Xiao Caizi’s face and guessing the situation more or less, didn’t know quite what to say about asking Grandma to make dumplings.

After thinking for a bit, Xiao Caizi said, “I’ll see if I can make some myself and bring them over for him to try.”

“Ah, that might work, give it a try,” the caretaker nodded repeatedly.

Xiao Caizi didn’t leave immediately and sat by her grandfather’s bed instead.

The Xiao Family and other families in Beijing actually weren’t much different; after all, it was clear from how her marriage was treated like a business deal, that the family atmosphere was not all that pleasant.

Her father and uncles fought over power and profit, and the marriages of their children were all used to their advantage. To put it bluntly, it was quite disgraceful.

Yet having been born into such a family, after more than twenty years, she wasn’t sure whether to call it habituation or numbness, but in any case, she didn’t feel such intense emotions towards these matters.

Although her father’s generation behaved scandalously, her grandparents’ generation was actually not so bad. At least her grandfather had never used his children’s marriages for personal gain.

So, after her grandmother passed away and her grandfather became ill, her father and uncles, busy with their fight for power and profit, didn’t have much time to visit their father and sent him to an expensive nursing home, as if that fulfilled their filial duties.

So, it was only Xiao Caizi and her cousins who would make regular visits to see their grandfather.

In another ward.

Jing Su, exuding a scent of tobacco, entered the room.

“Mr. Jing.” The caretaker stood up when he saw Jing Su coming in.

At Taiheng Nursing Home, each patient was taken care of by two caretakers working shifts. This way, if some of the patients with severe dementia had trouble recognizing people, it would avoid difficulty in caretaking due to changing faces too often.

Thus, this caretaker was one of those specifically looking after Jing Ce and naturally recognized Jing Su.

“Mm,” Jing Su nodded, “What are you doing?”

Of course, this was not asking the caretaker what he was doing, but rather asking him what Jing Ce was doing.

No sooner had Jing Su spoken than he heard a cold voice ringing from inside, “I’m not dead yet, you could just come and ask me directly?!”

The voice sounded not weak, but the enunciation was somewhat unclear. The original injury had affected not only his mobility but also his speech capabilities.

The caregiver smiled awkwardly and whispered to Jing Su, “The old man has returned from rehabilitation and slept for a while. He just woke up, and I was about to prepare some fruit for him to eat.”

The caregiver’s voice became even lower, “Rehabilitation is quite tough, so the old man’s mood is usually not good after finishing each session.”

“Thank you for your hard work,” Jing Su said politely to the caregiver.

He walked into the hospital room and saw Jing Ce sitting on the hospital bed.

Compared to Jing Su’s thinness, Jing Ce had actually gained weight. There was more flesh on his face and body, which made him look less rigid than before.

However, his previously rigid appearance had been spirited, and now, although he had put on some weight and seemed less rigid, he also showed signs of aging.

The wrinkles at the corners of his eyes and the expression lines on his face were more pronounced.

His eyes were no longer as bright and alert as before; they seemed somewhat murky.

He stared at Jing Su with a gaze that could certainly not be called friendly, cold and chilling. Facing such a pair of eyes was quite uncomfortable.

“Are you on drugs? You’ve become so skinny?” Jing Ce sneered coldly, “After barely managing to bring me down, you better not die before me. Now that would be interesting.”

Since Jing Ce had regained the ability to speak, almost every visit, Jing Su heard this kind of malicious speech.

Jing Su had gotten used to it, numb to it.

He sat down on the chair beside the bed, ignoring Jing Ce as if he had heard nothing, picked up the fruit tray and fruit knife that the caregiver had left on the small table, and started to peel the fruit.

Jing Ce was very angry watching him do this.

In fact, he was always angry, raging every day.

For someone like Jing Ce, who was used to controlling everything, now having lost all control—even to the point of not being able to manage his own body—was a constant torment, like being burnt alive.

Seeing Jing Su acting as if nothing was wrong only fueled Jing Ce’s anger.

“Mr. Jing, shall I do it?” the caregiver offered from the side.

Jing Su shook his head, “It’s fine.”

But Jing Ce suddenly went berserk, triggered by the caregiver calling Jing Su “Mr. Jing.”

It was him, Jing Ce, who used to be known as Mr. Jing in everyone’s mouths!

And what was Jing Su? He was nothing more than a young master who had merely basked in the glory of his father!

Now, everything had changed.

He had become a decrepit, disabled old man…

This almost drove Jing Ce mad; he was angry every day, every minute, every second.

Even during rehabilitation earlier, when he couldn’t manage to walk a few more steps, his rage intensified.

And as Jing Su came over at this time, looking at his young and strong son surely hit a raw nerve for Jing Ce.

He snatched the fruit knife from Jing Su’s hand and swung it at him!

“What kind of Mr. Jing are you! What are you worth! Rebellious child! If it wasn’t because of you, how would I have ended up like this! It’s all your fault! All your fault! Go to hell! Die!”

The caregiver immediately screamed in shock.