Terminally Ill

Contemporary subject matter. The early chapters are somewhat bleak, so don't read if that's not your thing.

--

While trying to make it through life, they found each other.

One young punk, one old punk.

The younger one spends all day thinking about getting into a four-year university. The older one is sick but refuses treatment.

"After meeting him, dead wood bloomed again and all things came back to life."

--

The two of them live in a tiny city, somewhere near the bottom of the rankings.

The year Zhang Shengyan first met Yi Er, the guy was still a college student at a two-year vocational school.

One was twenty-nine, struggling and treading water in an uneventful life.

The other was twenty, itching to turn the whole world upside down, a total troublemaker.

They couldn't stand each other.

Zhang Shengyan thought Yi Er was too immature and never did anything useful. He was just a punk.

Yi Er thought Zhang Shengyan was too worldly, always wearing a fake smile like a mask. He wasn't sincere.

"I can't stand you. If you don't want to do something, then don't. Why wear yourself out?" Yi Er said with a frown.

Zhang Shengyan smiled faintly. "What do you know? When I entered the real world, you were still playing in the dirt."

Yi Er didn't back down. He casually straightened up. "I wasn't playing in the dirt. I started waiting tables when I was ten."

--

There are good things about being twenty-nine. You know how to care for someone, and when you take off your mask, you always seem warm and approachable.

The puppy gradually let his guard down.

One cold winter, when he had nowhere to go,

a warm-hearted owner took the stray dog home.

"Where are you going?" Yi Er asked.

"I've got some free time this afternoon, so I'll help you move. Come live with me tonight." Zhang Shengyan smiled warmly. "Hurry, before the first snow."

They promised to spend every New Year together from then on.

--

They had once been so good together, so good that it felt like the world had turned upside down.

Not even illness could separate two people in love.

"Yan, you did great today. The doctor said you cooperated really well in the operating room, and the surgery went smoothly. He also said that after the second surgery and a few rounds of chemotherapy, we can go home."

Zhang Shengyan's Adam's apple bobbed. He couldn't speak, his fingers rubbing Yi Er's wrist.

"It'll be soon." Yi Er's voice was softer than ever. "It's already Jingzhe. Spring is here."

Zhang Shengyan's eyelids fluttered.

"Winter is over. By the time next winter comes, we'll have made it through." Yi Er reached out and gently touched Zhang Shengyan's head.

--

They didn't make it to the next winter.

In the end, they still parted ways.

The puppy didn't understand their reasons or the harsh realities of life. He only knew that his warm little home was gone.

"Yan, I told you I couldn't make it without you, but you wouldn't believe me."

--

When they met again five years later, the puppy had grown into someone others could rely on.

Their past, the intimate days they had buried beneath the ruins, came crashing down like a wall without warning.

The weight of it left them struggling to breathe.

"Give me a chance, Doctor Yi."

A laugh escaped Yi Er's nose. His lips tightened as he said quietly, "Zhang Shengyan, how dare you?"

--

Supporting each other and growing together

Nine-year age gap, younger love interest, happy ending

Theme: Live well