[Inspired by real experiences... May this day never come]
Medicine says I haven't gone blind, but that morning, my world really did disappear.
One morning during her sophomore year, Xu Weixi woke to find the world blurred behind a pane of frosted glass. Highly nearsighted, she experienced for the first time how terrifying it was when her glasses stopped working.
The doctor flipped through her test results. "There's nothing wrong with your retinas. Stay in the hospital for observation."
The counselor looked at her leave request. "If your parents don't come to sign it, how can we know it's serious?"
Her mother asked anxiously over the phone, "Should I come over right now?"
She simply pressed her phone to her tear-streaked face. "No, Mom. I'll be fine."
From the campus clinic to the provincial hospital, from a blurry eye chart to an even blurrier future, Xu Weixi struggled to find her way through the gaps in the medical system.
Only on the day her sight returned did she understand that the hardest part had never been the pain itself, but having to prove to other people that she was really suffering.
When medical data meets real fear, when rules and regulations collide with living, breathing pain, just how sick do we have to be before we're allowed to say it hurts?
Completed on August 13, 2025
Fully revised on February 12, 2026
Premise: Be brave and grow up
