Less than a week remained until the loan deadline, and Yu Zi’s money still hadn’t been sorted out.

Perhaps due to the change in seasonal weather, he hadn’t been feeling well these past few days. At first, it seemed like symptoms of a cold, with a slight headache and occasional coughing. But the next day when he woke up, he felt pressure building in his temples.

The last time he felt this way was thirteen years ago.

That year, Yu Qing and Shang Ping agreed to divorce. Yu Zi wasn’t clear on the reasons for the divorce, but the same year, Yu Qing remarried with his current wife.

After the divorce, Shang Ping voluntarily moved out of the villa in the western suburbs, returning to one of her own properties to live.

At the time, Yu Zi was already thirteen years old. He figured Shang Ping probably didn’t want to see Yu Qing anymore, or anything related to him, which led her to make that decision.

That night, Yu Zi packed his bags, even squeezing his favorite model into the suitcase, preparing to leave with Shang Ping. But Shang Ping carried his luggage back to the entrance, held his face at the doorway, and told him, “You’re a big boy now. Learn to take care of yourself.”

Then she took the luggage and left alone in the nanny car.

Yu Zi stood in front of the villa in the western suburbs, feeling a bit dizzy. He watched the black nanny car drive away along the shaded road, completely disappearing from his view.

Later, he called Shang Ping many times, asking why she didn’t come to pick him up, why she left him alone in that big mansion.

Shang Ping never gave a reason. Yu Zi cried until he had a headache on his end of the phone, sobbing and saying, “Mom, I hate you.” But all he got from Shang Ping’s end of the phone was a long silence.

That year, on the Mid-Autumn Festival, his half-brother, You Ziheng, was born. This suddenly made the villa in the western suburbs lively; Yu Zi had never seen so many people at home before. They raised their glasses in celebration, dancing and singing all night, even livelier than during the New Year.

But on the same day, news came from the Shang family that Shang Ping had passed away. Everyone was stunned upon hearing the news, but no one put down their glasses.

Yu Zi rushed to Shang Ping’s residence alone, with only his grandmother and an uncle present. They stood by Shang Ping’s bed, heads bowed, quietly weeping.

The uncle handed Yu Zi a dark green velvet box.

When Yu Zi opened it, he saw a Swiss watch lying inside.

“Your mom said she wanted to leave this to you,” the uncle said.

For the next few days, he suffered from intense headaches, often waking up from nightmares. In his dreams, he saw Shang Ping’s silhouette leaving in the nanny car, wearing opaque sunglasses behind the gray car window. He couldn’t even see her eyes.

No one told him the reason for Shang Ping’s death; Yu Qing said she died from excessive drinking. Yu Zi didn’t believe it.

Shang Ping didn’t have the habit of drinking excessively.

Many years later, Yu Zi gradually came to understand that perhaps Shang Ping had long been depressed. She felt that the world wasn’t fun anymore, so she left ahead of time.

At Yu Zi’s insistence, he placed Shang Ping’s memorial tablet in an empty room in the villa in the western suburbs. But apart from him, no one else would ever burn incense for her again. The following year, on Yu Ziheng’s first birthday, Yu Qing said having a dead person’s tablet at home was unlucky. Then, while Yu Zi was away, he had someone from the Shang family remove the tablet and move it to a hall outside the Shang family’s estate.

Every year thereafter, Yu Zi didn’t celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. Everyone in the villa in the western suburbs celebrated Yu Ziheng’s birthday, three years old, five years old, ten years old, each time more grand than the last. Only Yu Zi would go alone to the club outside and spend some time with Shang Ping.

His life had little genuine happiness; most of it was fleeting, such as buying watches, buying cars, which only brought joy for a day or two at most. So much so that every time he went to chat with Shang Ping, he couldn’t even find one good thing to share with her.

He lived this way in a daze until he was twenty-five. He picked and chose along the way, picking up some things and then casually discarding them, only to realize eventually that he was the one who was discarded.

At this moment, Yu Zi sat in this small room, the window outside lit by pale moonlight. He pressed his temples, but the headache still hadn’t eased.

He took off his clothes, preparing to take a hot bath in the bathroom. Turning on the shower, the steam soon made it difficult for him to breathe. The bathroom window was an inward tilting one, and he struggled to open it a crack.

After the bath, however, Yu Zi felt even worse. His right ear seemed blocked, and he couldn’t hear external sounds clearly; only low-frequency noise.

He suspected water might have gotten into his ear during the shower, so he tilted his head to try to let it out. However, half an hour later, the condition hadn’t improved.

He thought it might be due to recent lack of rest, and his body was reacting. He forced himself to close his eyes and sleep.

But the next morning when he woke up, his right ear hadn’t changed at all.

He had an appointment with a loan company in the morning, and time was tight, so he had to dress and go to the appointment.

“Mr. Yu?” A staff member of the loan company waved his hand in front of his eyes.

“Hmm?” It took Yu Zi several seconds to react.

“Did you hear what I said about interest settlement?” the staff member asked.

“Oh, sorry, could you repeat that?” Yu Zi pressed his right ear; the muffled feeling persisted, and there was even a buzzing sound.

He shook his head vigorously, the movement a bit exaggerated.

The staff member across from him immediately looked up. “Do you have any concerns?”

“No…” Yu Zi’s fingers clenched tightly, his mind gradually blanking out along with the buzzing in his ear, unable to absorb any information.

“Perhaps we can chat another day. I have something to attend to today,” Yu Zi suddenly stood up from the leather sofa.

The staff member obviously hadn’t expected Yu Zi to say these things. “Do you have any concerns? I can explain it again, or perhaps we can take another look…”

“No need!” Yu Zi’s concern about not hearing his own voice clearly grew, and he couldn’t help but raise his voice.

This startled the staff member, and he shook slightly.

“Alright, alright. Let me escort you. We can reschedule for another time,” he hastily got up and led Yu Zi to the elevator.

“I’ll go by myself,” Yu Zi pushed away his hand.

Under the scorching sun, spring arrived with a bang. Yesterday, Yu Zi bought a new shirt, and now even his back was sweating. He looked up at the sun, unable to open his eyes due to the light.

He stood at the end of the pedestrian crossing. The red light at the intersection ahead had just turned green, and cars were passing by on the right.

But he couldn’t hear the honking of the cars speeding toward him. All the sounds seemed heavy and sluggish.

A minute later, the green light on the pedestrian crossing began to flash. Yu Zi hurried forward. Suddenly, a strong gust of wind blew, and then a car slammed to a stop in front of him.

“Hey! Can’t you watch where you’re going?!”

Yu Zi startled, hesitated for two seconds before realizing, then hurriedly crossed the intersection.

His heart raced, but he couldn’t accurately perceive the sound of each beat. He felt as if the right half of his body had been submerged in seawater.

He quickly pulled out his phone from his pocket, canceled the next company meeting, and then hailed a cab to the hospital.

Half an hour later, Yu Zi sat in the office of the outpatient doctor, facing the doctor on his left.

“Neurological deafness?” He held the diagnosis sheet that had just been printed out.

“Yes. Are you under a lot of stress usually? Feeling anxious lately?” The middle-aged doctor in front of him pushed his glasses up.

Yu Zi’s Adam’s apple bobbed, nodding slightly.

He was more than just stressed; he felt like a frayed string. All his bodily functions were stretched to the limit.

“Tsk tsk.” The doctor shook his head.

Upon hearing the tone, Yu Zi’s heart clenched. “So, can I recover?”

The doctor took off his glasses, looking at him. “Luckily, you came early. It’ll take about seven days of intravenous therapy. But most importantly, you need to relax. Otherwise, if the stress gets too high, it might recur. Understand?”

“So, you mean I can recover?” Yu Zi pressed.

“I can’t guarantee that. Some people remain like this for life. As I said, the most important thing is to relax.”

Damn. That’s the same as saying nothing.

Yu Zi took the prescription the doctor gave him to pay the fee. The pharmacy rattled out a bunch of medication for him, and he scheduled the next seven days of intravenous therapy. After finishing all this, it was already dusk.

The infusion hall during the seasonal change was filled with flu patients, with him being the only one with partial deafness.

He patiently waited in line at the back of the queue, and half an hour later, he sat on a low stool, watching as the nurse inserted a thin needle into the back of his hand. A small amount of blood flowed back into the transparent tube, and two seconds later, the medication successfully entered his veins.

Yu Zi held the medication bottle and looked around before finding a corner to sit in. Leaning back in the chair, he tilted his head, his nostrils filled with the distinct smell of hospital disinfectant.

Across from his seat was a glass door, faintly reflecting his current appearance in the dim daylight. Yu Zi looked at the person inside and couldn’t decide whether to cry or laugh.

When he was a child, Shang Ping had told him stories of princes overcoming obstacles to become kings. But he clearly wasn’t cut out to be a king. Just as he rode his white horse out of the forest, he encountered bandits, losing both his horse and becoming disabled himself.

Yu Zi thought of the watch Shang Ping had left him; it was his quickest way to get money. Did Shang Ping anticipate that he would have such a miserable day?

But that watch was still in Xie Dongcheng’s luggage at home. He needed to find an opportunity to go there. He sighed deeply, deciding to let go of his only concern.

The infusion flow rate was slow, and it took Yu Zi over an hour to finish. When he stood up and looked, the sky outside the hospital window was already pitch black.

He was about to call the nurse to remove the needle when his phone suddenly vibrated in his pocket.

It was Xiao Liu’s call.

The shop should have closed by now, so why was Xiao Liu calling?

Yu Zi thought it might be about accounting again. He quickly silenced the phone. Then he called the nurse to remove the needle.

As Yu Zi pressed the cotton ball against the back of his hand, preparing to leave the hospital, his phone vibrated again.

He had no choice but to discard the cotton ball and answer the call.

However, once the call connected, Xiao Liu’s voice sounded urgent: “Boss, can you come to the hospital? Right away?”

Yu Zi was puzzled. “I’m already at the hospital. What’s wrong?”

“Dongy got rear-ended while driving and is now in the emergency room!”

Buzz. The ringing in Yu Zi’s right ear started again. The needle hole on his hand began to bleed.

Yu Zi could only run towards the emergency room against the crowd, cursing all the way.