Earlier, when Guan Qijun heard Ou Shaowen say that he could regrow his organs, he was actually a little bit relieved. It was as if it was an extra fig leaf to hide the fact that Guan Qijun himself hadn’t been able to agree to donate his heart without hesitation, as he thought he would before.
But now, listening to his words, he knew Ou Shaowen was actually not confident that he would survive.
So he did make this decision not caring about life or death. It was like this when he had had nothing, and it was still like this after he had become a favourite of millions.
“….Good.” In the end, his shock and his doubts remained unspoken, and he simply promised in a low voice, “I’ll remember.”
The call ended, and some more time passed. In order not to make his subsequent disappearance too abrupt, Ou Shaowen resumed his work. The jobs were very tightly arranged, but because he could come back to live in the villa, he could occasionally see Ou Renjin.
Ou Renjin was always very busy with his work and didn’t feel that the infrequency of his meetings with Ou Shaowen was the result of a deliberate neglect.
When the weather got colder, Ou Renjin finally had the chance to meet Ou Shaowen at home, hugged him and wouldn’t let him go.
He leaned against the big bay window of his room with his arms around Ou Shaowen, his hand on Ou Shaowen’s neck, enduring the physical discomfort. His heart was more prone to attacks every winter, his chest was tight from time to time, and his hands and feet were cold.
“What’s wrong with you? Do you feel uncomfortable?” Ou Shaowen noticed that something was wrong with him and wanted to turn around to see him.
Ou Renjin put one hand on his shoulder to prevent him from turning his head, “Don’t move, let me hug you, I haven’t hugged you for a long time.”
Ou Shaowen struggled a little, a bit too insistently. Ou Renjin let him go and his somewhat pale complexion was revealed to Ou Shaowen. Ou Renjin raised his eyes and smiled at him gently, but there was no light in his eyes, and he looked a little tired.
Ou Shaowen pursed his lips, and his expression immediately became sad. He opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but in the end remained silent.
Don’t hesitate anymore, Ou Shaowen, he said to himself.
Originally, he shouldn’t have come home today. Today was the day when Ou Renjin was going to the hospital for a routine check-up, and it was also the day when they were planning to perform a transplant operation.
They would cooperate well and falsely claim that a patient who had just been brought in from a car accident passed away in their hospital. His heart happened to match Ou Renjin’s. The opportunity was rare and extremely urgent. Ou Renjin would be immediately wheeled into the surgery room, preferably without even having time to inform Ou Shaowen.
However, when Ou Shaowen was about to go to the hospital to make preliminary preparations, for some reason, he suddenly felt that he missed Ou Renjin too much and just wanted to see him again.
You see, he was so willful, so he would always mess things up.
He came home today, and according to his character, he would never let Ou Renjin go to the hospital alone. Once he went with him, no matter what excuses he made later, Ou Renjin would not believe that he would leave when he was preparing for the surgery.
Ou Renjin wanted to laugh when he saw his sad face, leaned over and kissed his eyelids, “Don’t look at me like you’re newly widowed.”
Ou Shaowen also curled up the corners of his mouth and turned his head away. “I’m leaving soon, there will be a job at two o’clock.”
Ou Renjin was about to answer, and Ou Shaowen was afraid that he would say something to keep him, so he hurriedly stepped forward and kissed the corner of his mouth, “I’m sorry, I really have to go.”
He lowered his eyes and deliberately laid the groundwork, “A few minutes later, and it won’t be possible to drive under sixty.”
So even though Ou Renjin was ready to flirt with him, he didn’t say anything. He knew Ou Shaowen did not like to miss appointments, so he stepped back and waved his hand at him, “Okay, no more teasing you, go and call me tonight.”
When Ou Shaowen turned around and was about to leave, Ou Renjin’s voice suddenly sounded behind him, “So why did you come home if you have to catch up on a job?”
Ou Shaowen’s body trembled, and he almost thought he was going to expose himself. When he looked back, Ou Renjin just smiled at him, “I know you miss me, don’t be so capricious next time, little friend.”
Ou Shaowen glanced at him deeply and nodded, “Okay.”
“Go.” Ou Renjin raised an eyebrow.
Ou Shaowen turned around, his steps got faster and faster, and he never dared to look back.
He came to the hospital first. The preliminary examination had been done and the equipment had been deployed many times. He sat in the office and stared ahead blankly.
Next to him, Guan Qijun was talking to the doctor in English. Ou Shaowen had been taught basic English and French in the laboratory before, but now he wasn’t in the mood to distinguish what they were saying.
Guan Qijun was holding a confidentiality agreement and asked the artificial heart surgery expert from abroad to sign it. He had a gentle smile, his tone was not anxious, but his expression was very firm.
“Sorry, but I must emphasise it again. We can agree that any details of this operation, including any physical data of Ou Shaowen, will appear in your research results and related papers, and even newspapers, magazines and news reports, we don’t mind. However, the only thing is that the names of the two people involved in this operation must remain confidential, and you must not disclose any information about their ages, professions, appearances or nationalities, including any references to them. In exchange, we don’t need you to do it for free, we will reimburse you the cost of the surgery including the cost of the instruments at the price higher than the market price, and we can even agree to you videotaping the contents of the surgery, but of course, the relevant images need to be reviewed by us first to ensure that no private features of the two subjects are revealed.”
After saying this, Guan Qijun handed the confidentiality agreement in his hand to Professor Robin Patel, “I think there is nothing wrong with this, right?”
“Yes, these are the conditions we negotiated in advance,” Professor Patel readily signed the confidentiality agreement, still a little incredulous, “I really can’t wait to do this operation.”
After putting away the confidentiality agreement, Guan Qijun walked to Ou Shaowen and awakened him from his thoughts that had drifted somewhere, “Are you nervous?”
Ou Shaowen raised his head to look at him. His eyes were a little hollow, and it took him a long time to focus on Guan Qijun’s face, “A little.”
“Don’t be nervous, nothing will happen.” Guan Qijun comforted him softly, “In addition to Professor Robin Patel from the research institute, my friend also came. In the next two months, he will be responsible for taking care of you personally. Of course, he also signed a confidentiality agreement. Also, you and Ou Renjin will not be in the same operating room later. The anesthesiologists and nurses are from our hospital. On Ou Renjin’s side, including him, everyone will think that the heart belongs to another patient. As for you, we will cover your face a little bit, and the name tag will be replaced. I will do my best to make sure that this matter will not be known to more people.”
Guan Qijun had always been meticulous in his affairs. From the moment this idea was conceived, all the details had been rehearsed countless times in his mind over and over again. He knew that this operation had one big drawback; that is, once it was publicised, no matter on what level, it would cause an uproar.
At that time, both Ou Renjin and Ou Shaowen would be very disadvantaged.
Ou Shaowen grew up taking his physical characteristics for granted, and although he knew he was special, he still did not have the slightest idea of the impact this matter would have if it was publicised, so he did not care about the so-called confidentiality.
At most, it would be just like the old days.
“Uh-huh.” He nodded somewhat perfunctorily, “When is Ou Renjin coming over?”
As soon as the words left his mouth, Guan Qijun’s mobile phone rang. It was a message from Dr. Chen, saying that Ou Renjin had finished his check-up and his condition had a vague tendency to deteriorate, but the indicators were still normal for the time being.
Given his check-up results, it was also true that he needed to undergo surgery as soon as possible and it could not be delayed any further. The more they delayed, the worse it got, and later it might not even be possible to operate.
“He’s already here, finished his check-up, and arrangements are being made there so he can come over for the surgery right away.” Guan Qijun handed Ou Shaowen the phone screen to look at.
After reading the message, Ou Shaowen lowered his head and turned the ring on his ring finger. His heart hanging in mid-air slowly settled down little by little. He tilted his face up and gave a fairly bright smile to Guan Qijun, “Next, I’m counting on you.”
Looking serious and calm, Guan Qijun nodded and said “Okay”. As he led Professor Robin Patel and Ou Shaowen towards the surgery room, every muscle in his body seemed to stiffen, his fists clenched and his heartbeat pounding like a drum on his ears.
After changing his clothes, Ou Shaowen obediently lay on the surgical bed by himself. His chest was completely exposed, and other places were tightly blocked by sterile cloth. He couldn’t see anything, so he simply closed his eyes.
It was strange that he didn’t have to be restrained during the operation. He moved his wrists freely, even feeling the slightest sense of novelty.
After a while, the doctor and the nurse came in and the anaesthetist started to administer the anaesthetic. The sounds in his ears became more and more muffled and then he gradually lost consciousness.
……
When Ou Renjin woke up again, there was still a kind of panic and confusion in his mind. He looked at the white ceiling for a while and the anaesthetic gradually wore off and the dull pain in his chest began to stimulate his nerves. Only then did he recall that he had just completed a heart transplant.
Fate was really magical. In the past, every time he learned the news of the source of the heart, he always tossed and turned and felt uneasy, not knowing whether the dust would settle or not, preparing himself for anything, only to have the things go wrong. But at a certain time when he didn’t even have any expectations for the future, on a certain day of routine check-up, the decision was made so quickly that it didn’t even give him time to react.
He felt a little uncomfortable and was only awake for a short while, and then fell asleep again.
When he woke up once more, it was already another night. Xiao Liu was sitting on the sofa next to him playing with his mobile phone. Seeing him wake up, he ran to his bed in a hurry and asked happily: “President Ou, how are you, do you want to vomit? The doctor said that you might vomit when you wake up from anaesthesia, and I didn’t dare to fall asleep all night.”
He shook his head, “It’s okay, I don’t want to vomit.”
“I’ll call someone to come and have a look.” Xiao Liu first rang the bell by the bed, then decided it wasn’t safe to just call the nurse over and ran out to call the doctor.