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Recalling just now, while the family was indulging in feasts of meat and alcohol, Xu Mo could only watch silently, feeling deeply uncomfortable.
Even if the Xu family were impoverished, they would never stoop to such a state. When had they ever been short of money?
But in recent years, it seemed no one had cared.
Xu Wanting could keep herself busy with her job, claiming she had no time to think, but she knew excuses were just that—excuses.
Like Xu Xuehui, she couldn’t find an excuse.
Now, holding this medical report and examining the data, Xu Wanting just wanted to tell him that he still had another sister.
At least there’s still that one!
Even if this sister wasn’t very reliable and couldn’t serve as his idol or object of admiration anymore, he could still rely on her.
However, Xu Mo seemed to have had enough. Each time he hoped, each time ended in disappointment, each time he prayed, he was insulted and trampled upon. He had no way back.
Tears fell onto the paper from Xu Wanting’s eyes. She wiped them away and sent a message to Xu Xuehui: “Xuehui, go find Shuying, I need to talk to her!”
“Shuying?” Xu Xuehui seemed to still be hiding in her room.
“Shuying is a doctor. I want her to take a look at Xu Mo’s medical test report! I don’t want to deal with family matters for now!” Xu Wanting spoke.
“Okay, I’ll inform Shuying then!” Xu Xuehui replied.
The fifth sister, Xu Shuying, actually had a much higher education level than the others. She had been a genius since childhood and was now a leading doctor in a top-tier hospital at a young age.
But Xu Shuying was extremely busy with work, rarely having time to come home. Sometimes when she did, she had to rush for surgeries late into the night and even had to leave for overtime.
Xu Shuying, too, had once been Xu Mo’s most admired sister, his most esteemed sister. Many times, patients in her hands had been brought back from the brink of death.
There were many anecdotes about Xu Shuying in Xu Mo’s phone. In fact, compared to Xu Wanting and Xu Xuehui, Xu Mo admired Xu Shuying even more.
Whenever Xu Shuying came home, she would be wearing a white coat. For Xu Mo, she seemed like a figure living in the clouds. Hearing about how Xu Shuying could revive people from death only heightened his admiration.
But Xu Shuying was very busy, extremely busy, to the point where she had almost no time to spare for him.
Of course, being busy might just be an excuse.
“Big Sister, did you call me?” Xu Shuying quickly answered the phone.
“You didn’t come home today?” Xu Wanting asked.
“I had a surgery to rush today, no time to go back! What’s wrong? Is something happening at home?”
“It’s about Xu Mo!” Xu Wanting spoke up. “I have Xu Mo’s Medical test report here. Can you spare some time to analyze it for me? He has a very serious problem!”
Xu Shuying fell silent for a moment before saying, “Sis, Xu Mo indeed has a significant issue. He’s…”
“He’s what?” Xu Wanting pressed.
“But I never expected him to top the college entrance exam! That was way beyond my expectations!”
“Because he thought Junzhe topped the college entrance exam, Dad bought a Porsche 911 for Junzhe. Do you think he’ll still give something to Xu Mo? What do you think Dad will buy for Xu Mo?”
“Well…” Xu Shuying was stunned.
“I think they won’t buy anything!” Xu Wanting asserted. “They really won’t! Even though Xu Mo is already extremely outstanding and has become the top scorer in the college entrance exam, they still won’t! Shuying, before, we could say Xu Mo had many flaws, wasn’t outstanding enough, so they wouldn’t buy, but now, it seems they can’t use that excuse anymore!”
Xu Shuying was perplexed. “Sister, why do you seem… particularly concerned about Xu Mo now?”
Upon hearing this, Xu Wanting’s heart sank.
“Shuying, did I used to not care about him?”
“Who cares about him!” Xu Shuying scoffed. “But you’re right. If Mom and Dad don’t buy anything, it would indeed be a bit much! After all, he’s a genuine top scorer! And now, in this situation…”
“They won’t buy!” Xu Wanting sniffed. “They… won’t!”
Xu Shuying sensed that something was off with Xu Wanting’s emotions and felt surprised.
“Sister, I think all of this is Xu Mo’s own doing! He chose to leave home, chose to be independent, so it’s not the family’s fault.”
“Shuying, do you know? When Xu Mo was in our house, he was only given a meager allowance of five hundred yuan per month! Sometimes, he couldn’t eat at home, was put on punishment, confined, not allowed to go out, and could only sneak downstairs to eat in the middle of the night!”
Xu Wanting spoke up. “Once, he ate Manni’s cake again, and Manni was furious. I have a medical test report here; you can take a look! Our family is obviously so wealthy, but it seems we haven’t given him anything!”
Xu Shuying was stunned.
“Yesterday, at the back door of No. 27 High School, he handed back three hundred thousand to Mom and Dad! Among this three hundred thousand, one hundred thousand was his living expenses for these four years, and the other two hundred thousand was compensation for the trouble he caused them by being born! From now on, it’s all over!” Xu Wanting spoke.
“Shuying, our Xu family hasn’t given him anything! Absolutely nothing!”
“Not even money for meals!”
Xu Shuying fell silent.
“Come over! I’ll wait for you!” Xu Wanting urged.
After a moment of thought, Xu Shuying said, “Sister, it’s because Xu Mo is too inadequate!”
“He’s not inadequate! He’s the top scorer now! He’s the top scorer in Xiahai City!” Xu Wanting exclaimed, tears welling up in her eyes. “When will you change this perception? I’m telling you, Xu Mo is the top scorer. He’s always been excellent. At No. 27 High School, he was among the most outstanding students!”
“He’s not worse than anyone! Not worse than you, not worse than me!”
“Xu Shuying, let me tell you, Junzhe isn’t the top scorer!”
Xu Shuying was astonished at Xu Wanting’s fervor.
“Our family never had any hope for him! All of us sisters focused our efforts on tutoring Junzhe! You, the third sister, the fourth sister, and even Xuehui! We all pitched in! But what happened? Junzhe took a bunch of supplements, but what did Xu Mo take? Who guided him?”
Xu Wanting continued, “I’ve gone to No. 27 High School multiple times to inquire. He’s always been diligent, but nobody cared, nobody paid attention! We always thought he was inadequate, that No. 27 High School couldn’t help him! We never bothered to ask, just assumed! Shuying, you studied politics, didn’t you?”
Xu Shuying remained silent for a moment, not continuing the conversation.
“Come over! I’ll wait for you!” Xu Wanting urged.
“Alright, I’ll come over! But…” Xu Shuying hesitated, then sighed. “Sis, didn’t you find Xu Mo annoying before? He used to come to my hospital…”
Bringing up this topic, tears welled up in Xu Wanting’s eyes.
“You come over first!” she avoided the topic.
Seeing her sister’s odd tone, Xu Shuying didn’t dare to say more and quickly responded, “Okay!”
…
Xu Wanting knew she couldn’t change Xu Shuying’s mindset in a short time. She felt deeply guilty and didn’t want to delve into these issues further for now.
Among all the sisters, she was the worst one. If it weren’t for her, Xu Mo wouldn’t have ended up like this.
Xu Wanting waited in the office for a while before Xu Shuying hurriedly arrived, wearing her white coat.
She probably had to go back to work soon!
“Sis, what’s wrong between you and Second Sister? She scolded me just now!” Xu Shuying came in and asked.
Xu Wanting didn’t want to say much. “Take a look at this report! It’s about Xu Mo’s issues. He has severe malnutrition! Last time, he fainted at the vegetable market!”
Xu Shuying took the report and glanced at it, slightly surprised. “Severe anemia? Underweight, partial hematopoietic dysfunction?”
Xu Wanting nodded.
“And…?” Xu Shuying hurriedly examined the report again, then suddenly noticed something. She paused, then moved to the window to scrutinize it carefully.
“This is… blood test, heavy metals…”
Xu Shuying paused. “Exceeding the standard? Palladium?”
Xu Wanting was also taken aback. “What did you say?”
“It’s just mild! Not serious, but there’s something off about this blood test report, it shows heavy metals!” Xu Shuying said, looking at Xu Wanting. “Sis, this should be no big deal with some adjustments! Xu Mo’s problem is just malnutrition, with more blood supplements and adjustments, it should be fine! This heavy metal issue isn’t severe either. As long as he adjusts well, it will gradually dilute over time!”
Xu Wanting furrowed her brows. “Let me see!”
She reached out and took the blood test report.
“Why would he have excessive heavy metals?”
“Who knows? Probably from eating unhealthy things! Didn’t you say he secretly eats stuff? Maybe he ate some random junk outside!” Xu Shuying seemed somewhat amused.
“But it shouldn’t be palladium! Palladium is a rare heavy metal!” Xu Wanting stared at Xu Shuying.
“Well…” Xu Shuying hesitated for a moment, then said, “It’s not that rare. We have quite a bit in our lab! And palladium is widely used; many electronic components contain it! He probably ingested it from eating random things!”
Xu Wanting glanced at the report. “He doesn’t have anything to eat at home. When he’s hungry, he can only eat this?”