Chapter 224 : He Was Doing Well
Chapter 224: He Was Doing Well
After the gifts were distributed, the homeroom teacher, Qin Wei, collected the remaining unclaimed presents again, preparing to do his best to deliver every single one of them.
After all, these were his students whom he had taught for three years. Now that one of them had passed away, and her mother had come to him with her daughter’s belongings asking for help, there was no reason for him to turn a blind eye.
Moreover, when Jiang Xia was in school, she had always been a well-behaved girl. Almost every teacher liked her. Though she was a bit unbalanced in her studies, with slightly above-average grades, she loved to smile. When he received the news, he messaged a few other subject teachers who had taught her back then. Even though more than three years had passed, every teacher still remembered that girl.
When they heard that she had passed away, they were all shocked—followed by an uncontrollable sigh.
Everyone stayed in the private room for a while longer. From the descriptions of Li Yanhong and Teacher Qin Wei, everyone roughly learned what had happened over the past three years.
It turned out that during the second half of senior year, less than a month before the college entrance exam, Jiang Xia fainted during a break and was hospitalized—diagnosed directly with cancer. She then took a week off.
Under the teacher’s reminder, everyone recalled that such an incident indeed happened.
But a week later, Jiang Xia returned to school as if nothing had happened. When her classmates asked, she only said she wasn’t feeling well before but was fine now.
Upon hearing that, her classmates didn’t think much of it, and Jiang Xia stayed in school until the very last day of the college entrance exam.
Jiang Xia came from a single-parent family. Her father had died unexpectedly when she was young, and her mother raised her alone without remarrying.
When Li Yanhong learned of her daughter’s illness, she felt as if the sky had collapsed. At first, she didn’t want her daughter to return to school under any circumstances.
However, after visiting many hospitals, every diagnosis left her feeling desperate. It meant her daughter’s life was already on countdown.
But as a mother, how could she give up on her child? Even if she couldn’t be cured, she had to try! Just when Li Yanhong was about to use up all their savings and sell the house for one last bet, Jiang Xia made a major decision—
To give up treatment!
Her reasoning was simple. She didn’t want to spend the rest of her limited time lying in a hospital bed.
She was still so young. There were so many foods she hadn’t tasted, so many places she hadn’t visited. Since the outcome couldn’t be changed, she might as well live her remaining time freely and joyfully according to her own will.
She wanted to go out, to travel while she could still move.
To spend the money on joy, not on pain in the hospital.
She wanted to use the money to take her mother around the world—to let her see more of it, to spend her last moments together, leaving her mother with beautiful memories of her instead of the painful image of her suffering in a hospital room.
Because she understood very clearly—people live on beautiful memories; otherwise, life would only be filled with pain.
At first, Li Yanhong, as a mother, couldn’t agree. She couldn’t bear to watch her daughter die right before her eyes.
But Jiang Xia’s attitude was firm. Though the illness was in her body, her spirit was astonishingly strong—strong enough to face death directly and accept it calmly.
In the end, it was Jiang Xia who comforted her mother and persuaded her, because the result was already set in stone.
Rather than living in pain, it was better to spend what little time she had left in joy.
However, Jiang Xia also made a concession—to continue with basic treatments and take her medications as needed.
And so, the mother and daughter reached an agreement. Jiang Xia returned to school and finished the final month of high school, successfully taking the college entrance exam.
During that last month, she smiled even more than before, was livelier than ever, and even chatted often with classmates she hadn’t interacted with much before. She was like a little sun in the classroom.
On the day of the final exam, she looked at her classmates one last time at the school gate, picked up her things, and disappeared from everyone’s life.
After that, the mother and daughter traveled to many places, living a period of carefree and joyful days. Jiang Xia even received her university admission notice, and the two of them went to visit the campus together.
For the next three years, the mother and daughter kept traveling. They only returned home during the Lunar New Year for a few months before setting out again. During that time, Jiang Xia’s condition worsened a few times, but it never stopped them from moving forward.
They climbed many famous mountains, visited the sea and grasslands, explored minority regions, and tasted all kinds of local delicacies. In her final two years, she lived a truly wonderful life.
But as time passed, Jiang Xia’s body gradually weakened. Half a year ago, she no longer had the strength to travel and could only stay in bed at home. Even so, relying on the beautiful memories of her journeys, she remained cheerful and optimistic every day.
“Jiang Xia’s condition had already worsened last month,” Li Yanhong said through tears, “but she kept saying—just a few more days, until October 1st, when you all would have your holiday. She wanted to wait for you to come back; otherwise, it’d be inconvenient for you to collect the gifts she left.”
“She did it. Just after midnight on October 1st… she left.
“She… she also said she wanted a quiet burial, no need to notify any of you to come. She said you finally got a break and needed to rest more. She only asked me to remember to deliver the gifts.”
By the end, Li Yanhong was sobbing uncontrollably. A few girls hurried to comfort her, while everyone else felt a deep sorrow.
The room fell silent for a long time, as if everyone carried in their hearts a girl named Jiang Xia.
Finally, they escorted Jiang Xia’s mother to the gate of Experimental High School. A light drizzle was falling, but no one held an umbrella.
“Go home now, Auntie’s leaving. Thank you, all of you!” Li Yanhong said as she boarded a bus, waving to the group at the school gate.
When she looked at those children, she couldn’t help but think of her own daughter—if she hadn’t fallen ill, she would have been just as full of life.
“Goodbye, Auntie!”
“Take care!”
“Our condolences!”
Everyone waved with their “gifts” in hand as they watched Jiang Xia’s mother leave.
As the bus moved farther and farther away until it disappeared from sight, Li Yanhong sat on the seat, lowered her head, and wept. Her shoulders trembled, and after a long while, she murmured—
“Daughter, Mom met that boy named Lin Mo for you. He’s doing well!”
Meanwhile, the group stood where they were, unwilling to leave for a long time. Suddenly, someone spoke softly:
“Time really flies. It feels like the college entrance exam just ended yesterday. Right here, we were all shouting...”
Hearing this, everyone—including Teacher Qin Wei—turned toward the tightly shut retractable school gate. In that instant, the school, quiet for the holidays, seemed to come alive again with echoes of youthful voices.
In front of their eyes, it was as if students in uniforms appeared again—freshly finished with exams, shouting and cheering at the top of their lungs:
【Zhongda, here I come!】
【Mom, I finished the exam!】
【Hey, wait for your dad! Let’s go to the internet café together—I’m pulling an all-nighter!】
【Jiajia, Lu Zhiqiang likes you!】
【Be together! Be together...】
【I’m going on a trip across the country!】
【I’m going to lose 50 pounds!】
【I’m going to the capital to watch the flag-raising!】
【I’ll go to anime conventions and learn to draw!】
【Get a driver’s license!】
【Get drunk once!】
【I’m dyeing my hair green!】
【Sleep until I wake up naturally!】
Everyone had shouted their hearts out, not caring about the looks from passersby. It felt like liberation—as if they were finally escaping the prison that had suffocated them for three years. They would finally do everything they loved.
Back then, there were always people watching them in silence—office workers, delivery riders, traffic officers, and men in suits who looked successful.
But only now did they realize that those quiet onlookers—the adults watching their madness—were who they themselves had become.
What were they looking at back then? Perhaps their younger selves, just as they were now.
If given a chance, everyone wanted to tell their younger selves—
‘Slow down. The road ahead is still long. Look around you more carefully.’
Because once some people are missed, you may never see them again in this lifetime. The school remains the same—only, it no longer belongs to them.