TYSUF – Chapter 37 An Old Friend Returns This Year (2)

Duan Menghe didn’t seem to be joking.

“He…”

“I met Fu Tongwen in Beijing and talked with him about tumors. That’s why he entrusted his father to me,” Duan Menghe said. “But I’ve reviewed his father’s medical records—they’re quite complicated. I hope you can take over this patient with me. That way, I’ll feel more confident.”

Shen Xi picked up her teacup and lowered her head to take a sip.

He hadn’t disappeared from her world over the past two years. There were still reports about Fu Tongwen in Ta Kung Pao, New Youth, and various other newspapers. Regardless of the publication, the evaluations of him were consistently negative: they said he openly supported the Beiyang government, branded him a traitor to the revolution, a running dog of the Beiyang clique. Others labeled him a black-hearted capitalist, a vampire behind the warlords.

Yet it was these kinds of scathing commentaries that kept Fu Tongwen alive in her world.

She worried about him constantly. The path he chose was far too difficult.

She had thought they would never cross paths again. She never expected… his father would be sent here.

Still, considering the newspapers claimed Fu Tongwen supported Duan Qirui, it wasn’t surprising he and Duan Menghe would know each other. Shen Xi gently turned the teacup in her palm and asked, “Why not send him to Renji Hospital? Or there are good hospitals in Beijing as well.”

“In this field, is there anyone in the country more qualified than you and me?”

That was true. The more famous you became, the more high-profile patients came. It snowballed from there, and their reputation spread. In fact, thinking back, it had started off as a coincidence. They treated a well-known patient, and after a successful recovery, a newspaper arranged an interview. That not only promoted the newly founded Western hospital but also put the two of them in the spotlight.

“Let’s go. We’ll take a look first.” She set the teacup down.

Though she spoke lightly, the moment they arrived outside the patient’s room, her mind became unsettled. She took a moment to steady herself.

“You and the old gentleman from the Fu family—was there some conflict?” Duan Menghe asked.

Shen Xi thought for a moment, then shook her head.

The man she remembered was a very stern elder. She’d only seen him twice—once in a study, wearing a Qing official’s robe in an attempt to restore the old era, and once in a theater’s upper balcony. Now, recalling his face, it was vague and indistinct.

Duan Menghe pushed the door open. The two entered one after the other.

This was a private room, the finest in the hospital.

Madam Fu, Fu Tongwen’s birth mother, was seated on the sofa, dressed in traditional robes from an earlier era. She had clearly been exhausted from the long journey and had dozed off despite trying to stay awake.

Even so, her posture remained composed, and even the jade earring by her ear didn’t so much as sway.

Shen Xi trailed a step behind Duan Menghe. As she entered the room, she hadn’t yet seen the patient on the bed but first heard the voice of Old Master Fu, weakly saying, “Young Master Duan has arrived.” Ever since Yuan Shikai’s downfall, the Fu family had lost much of its former status. If not for Fu Tongwen’s connections, an old relic of the former dynasty like him would never have been able to associate with someone as prominent as a Duan family member.

Thus, upon seeing Duan Menghe, even while feeling unwell, he eagerly beckoned and asked a maid to help him sit up properly.

Madam Fu quickly opened her eyes as well and smiled at Duan Menghe, saying, “Young Master Duan.”

She then noticed a female doctor, already surprised, but when she saw Shen Xi’s face clearly, she froze.

Shen Xi gave her a slight nod. “Madam Fu.”

Duan Menghe brought Shen Xi forward and introduced her to Old Master Fu: “This is the best doctor in our hospital when it comes to tumors—Doctor Shen.”

At that moment, Shen Xi clearly saw Old Master Fu’s face.

Gone was the old commanding presence. His body was swollen, his hair entirely white, and he lay bloated inside the hospital gown. His eyes struggled to stay open. He tried to greet Shen Xi with polite words, his lips just starting to part—when he suddenly recognized her.

Shen Xi assumed the old man was merely surprised to see her in Shanghai, or perhaps startled by her occupation.

Unexpectedly, Old Master Fu’s lips began to tremble, and he was seized by a violent coughing fit, as if greatly agitated. Duan Menghe stepped forward quickly to support him, but the old man pushed his hand away in agitation and pointed at Shen Xi, shouting hoarsely, “You… get out…”

Shen Xi froze.

“You…” He coughed, “You’re just like him… trying to get my money… Young Master Duan, please, don’t let her in. I don’t want her to treat me.”

The two nurses in the room looked equally bewildered, unsure of the connection between the old man and Shen Xi.

Shen Xi was caught in a dilemma, but Duan Menghe seemed to have anticipated this outcome and tried to soothe her. “Calm down first.”

“No! Make her leave, Young Master Duan. I’m not questioning your hospital, but I don’t want to see that woman. I won’t let her treat me. She’s nothing but a harbinger of death to me! Young Master Duan, I trust you, I only trust you!”

Fu Tongwen’s father couldn’t stop coughing, grasping Duan Menghe’s hand helplessly and desperately.

Duan Menghe looked back at Shen Xi—she had just come to her senses.

If it weren’t for the special nature of this patient, she should have already left. A doctor must not agitate a patient’s emotions—this was a basic professional quality. Shen Xi retreated outside the ward. Through the glass window set in the wooden door, she saw Duan Menghe gently calming down Mr. Fu. Then she leaned against the hospital wall, utterly confused.

When she left the Fu family back then, there was no conflict. She had been just an unnoticed girl in that household.

Why was it like this now?

The door opened, and Duan Menghe stepped out. “Come with me.”

Seeing the look in his eyes, Shen Xi guessed he was going to explain things, so she followed. They went from the ward floor back to his office. Duan Menghe called in a resident doctor, gave instructions for the tests to be conducted for Fu Tongwen’s father, then locked the door behind him. Turning around, he looked at her. “There were two things I didn’t make clear earlier. I thought it wouldn’t be an issue for you to check in, but clearly, I was negligent.”

Shen Xi looked at him in puzzlement.

“When Fu Tongwen brought his father in, he specifically requested that you not be involved in this matter.”

He specifically requested it?

Shen Xi was even more confused. “I don’t understand—what exactly did the two of you discuss? We used to be the best partners. He should know… or if he didn’t, then you should’ve told him from a professional standpoint.”

“There’s nothing much to it,” Duan Menghe hesitated, “Maybe he was thinking of your past… in the Fu household—”

“I didn’t have any real involvement with the Fu family. I only met his father twice,” Shen Xi had never brought up her time at the Fu household in the past two years. “There were no arguments, no entanglements. Even when I left… it had nothing to do with his father.”

Back then, even if she had stayed, at most she would’ve become Fu Tongwen’s concubine. The Fu family already had dozens of women with the title of “concubine.” She was nothing special.

Shen Xi was torn with uncertainty.

Was Fu Tongwen refusing her involvement because he didn’t want to be entangled with her again? Was it because Gu Youwei would mind? But this concerned his father—even if there was a rift between father and son, blood ties couldn’t be severed.

Suddenly, she asked, “Do you have a way to contact him?”

“You’re going to find him?”

“I don’t want to discuss personal matters today,” Shen Xi tried to keep herself calm. “I want to ask the patient’s family why they refused a doctor’s treatment.”

Duan Menghe nodded, wrote down an address and handed it to her. “This is his private residence in Shanghai,” below the address, he had written a three-digit phone number. “And this is the number he left.”

“He’s scheduled to see his father tomorrow and will bring a lawyer. I assume he’ll arrive in Shanghai tonight.”

Shen Xi took the paper, folded it, and held it in her hand.

“Shen Xi… have you considered that Fu Tongwen is no longer the man he used to be?” Duan Menghe hinted at something deeper.

She looked up.

“You follow current events. You should know what I mean,” Duan Menghe said.

Shen Xi hesitated for a moment. “You mean… he’s not a good person anymore?”

Duan Menghe gave a bitter smile. He didn’t want to argue with her over Fu Tongwen’s transformation. Shen Xi had made it clear what position Fu Tongwen held in her heart. But Fu Tongwen’s reputation had spread over the past two years—Duan had heard of everything. Even earlier, as the third young master of the Fu family, his reputation had never been good. Back on that cruise ship, Duan Menghe hadn’t wanted to reveal his identity because he didn’t want any association with him.

If it weren’t for Shen Xi, he wouldn’t have brought this up at all.

Duan Menghe wasn’t politically inclined, nor did he enjoy gossiping about others behind their backs.

The office suddenly fell into an uncomfortable silence.

She wanted to argue—but found herself unable to defend him.

Even Shen Xi herself had dismissed all the negative rumors about him with nothing but a vague sense of “trust.” But if she truly had to explain it—she had no evidence, no position, and third—Fu Tongwen wouldn’t want anyone to defend him in the first place.

Shen Xi carefully put away the address and number, then also took Fu Tongwen’s father’s medical records and left.

The private residence was in the International Settlement, while both her home and the hospital were in the French Concession. It was too far to walk. But hiring a rickshaw again felt wasteful—she had already taken one that morning. Thinking it over, she decided it would be better to walk.

But halfway there, Shen Xi changed her mind.

Coming from afar, his parents were both being treated at a hospital in Shanghai—his wife must have accompanied them too.

So she turned around, went to the boundary and pulled out her credentials for working in the International Settlement, then re-entered the French Concession. She waited a while on a wide street until a bright red tram slowly pulled up. She boarded.

Below, voices buzzed in the street. The tram was empty, until halfway through the journey, when three people hopped on and sat in the front compartment. Shen Xi sat there, distracted by the wind and sunlight outside the tram window, wondering what kind of person he had become over the past two years.

Will there be a child?

For the past two years, she had never dared think of him—afraid that even a single thought would be like the tide rising in the river, breaking down the dam she had painstakingly built.

Even now, she still wasn’t ready to meet him.

It was better to speak over the phone.

She rented an apartment on Xiafei Road, near Gu Family Garden, not far from the little apartment he used to live in.

Two years ago, after selling the boat ticket, she had carried her suitcase and sat in Gu Family Garden for an entire afternoon. She made up her mind to stay in the motherland, newly restored to the Republic, even though the path ahead was still shrouded in fog. A few days later, she rented this apartment.

When she returned home, the landlady from the first floor happened to want to borrow her phone.

Normally, people in this alley weren’t even eligible to install a telephone. Even if they were, they couldn’t afford it—fifty silver dollars a month was equivalent to a regular family’s entire yearly income. It was only because Shen Xi was a well-known doctor admired by the elite in Shanghai that someone had made a special request to connect a phone line here in order to make appointments with her. The hospital covered the monthly fee, and that’s how the first telephone in the alley came to be.

Shen Xi was always accommodating and often lent the phone out.

But today, when she needed it herself, the landlady still lingered by the phone. It wasn’t until Shen Xi had finished her bath and changed into her nightgown that the landlady finally hung up. She rolled the jade bangle on her wrist and fiddled with it as she said, “Thank you, Miss Shen. I brought you sesame crisps and pine nut cakes. They’re really good.”

Shen Xi thanked her and saw her out.

After locking the door, she sat down in front of the phone.

Fu Tongwen’s father’s medical record was open in front of her, laid out on the table. While the landlady was using the phone, she had taken the opportunity to fully prepare—what she would say, what points to emphasize.

Finally, letting out a small breath, she picked up the receiver and held it to her ear.

“Good afternoon. Where would you like to be connected?” The operator asked gently on the other end.

“Three-three-four.”

“All right, please hold.”

The operator began to connect the call.

She waited, no one answered. Leaning in toward the receiver, her heart tightened.

“No one is answering at three-three-four,” the operator said.

Not home? No maids or servants in the residence?

Almost involuntarily, she said, “Please… try again.”

“Certainly,” the operator replied.

This time, someone picked up.

Through the receiver came the sounds of clattering—someone seemed to be moving things.

“Hello.” A slightly deep voice came from the other end of the line.

Unconsciously, Shen Xi’s hand had already clenched into a fist, pressing down on the medical record…

“Hello,” Fu Tongwen repeated, this time with a noticeable edge of impatience.

“…It’s me,” she said softly, “It’s me, Shen Xi.”

There was sudden silence on the other end.

Was it inconvenient? Shen Xi grew uneasy. Could it be that Gu Youwei was beside him? She wondered if there was anything inappropriate about the call—she hadn’t said anything wrong…

Tan Qingxiang’s voice dispelled her guess. He was asking Fu Tongwen who was on the phone and why he wasn’t speaking. Fu Tongwen didn’t answer him.

Separated by the telephone line, it was as if they were face to face—unable to see each other’s features, yet able to sense each other’s breath.

Tan Qingxiang didn’t ask again. For someone so curious and constantly concerned about Fu Tongwen, why wouldn’t he press further? Perhaps Fu Tongwen had shut the door on him, or maybe he had stopped him with just a glance.

Shen Xi held the receiver and heard him cough, and her heart trembled with it.

His voice lowered as he asked her, “Where are you?”

Just four simple words, yet it felt as if he had traveled across mountains and rivers to find her and still couldn’t reach her… Shen Xi suddenly choked up.

“Was that earlier call also from you?” he asked again.

“Mm… I have something I want to talk to you about,” she held her breath.

“All right. I just arrived in Shanghai. I entered the house just moments ago. I had originally planned to visit your hospital this afternoon… to see you… but the car was delayed on the road. Where are you now? At the hospital or at home?” he explained, then laughed lightly and apologized, “Sorry to make a young lady reach out to me first.”

She wasn’t really a “young lady” anymore—not in her teens.

But the way he spoke to her, his tone and manner, still felt like that of her Third Brother.

Shen Xi suddenly began to sob, tears falling one by one onto the medical record. She hastily wiped them from the paper with her hand, but more tears dropped onto the back of her hand. She had no choice but to close the medical file and push it aside, pressing her hand against her eyes.

Without warning, Fu Tongwen said, “Let’s meet—shall we?”

The wind blew in through the window, brushing past the receiver.

Shen Xi adjusted her breath slightly and said in a low voice, “Today? I heard you’re going to the hospital tomorrow. Let’s just talk over the phone today. You’ve just arrived in Shanghai—you should rest first…”

Besides, she still wasn’t ready to see him.

He fell silent, and after a long while said, “Don’t cry like that. I’m coming to see you right now.”