Chapter 157 Eternal Light

Chapter 157: Everlasting Light

So, what exactly is fate?

Jiang Luo was truly confused.

Everything had changed, so why did Bai Ting still get cancer?

Does fate always have to deliver such a nasty blow when others are happy and content?

Can't people who are meant to be happy just stay happy forever?

And what about him?

He had worked so hard to change everything, walking a path completely different from his past, and had come so far. How would fate interfere with his life now?

Would he get cancer again too?

If that really happened, if he really got lung cancer again, what would become of Huo Zongzhuo? What would happen to the person he loved most in the world?

Just thinking about these things made Jiang Luo feel choked up.

Fate now felt like a knife hanging over his head.

But it was also fate that had given him a second chance at life.

Wasn't it?

Wasn't it!

Why was it treating him like this?

Why!?

Jiang Luo looked at Huo Zongzhuo with a sadness he'd never felt before. He couldn’t bear to imagine what would happen if he still got cancer and died on that Lunar New Year’s Eve in '99. What would Huo Zongzhuo do?

Huo Zongzhuo loved him so much.

Sure enough, after hearing everything, Huo Zongzhuo was visibly shocked, his face and eyes momentarily blank.

Jiang Luo felt even worse: "I reminded Wang Chuang to take his mom for a check-up every year, especially focusing on gynecological health."

"I thought that since I returned, everything would change."

"I thought as long as we paid attention and took preventive measures early, this illness wouldn’t recur."

Jiang Luo started rambling: "After I came back, I’ve been really careful myself."

"Whether I was addicted or not, I never smoked again."

"Sometimes when the craving hit, I’d have candy instead."

"I thought I could change Auntie Bai’s outcome and my own too, I…"

Huo Zongzhuo pulled Jiang Luo into a fierce hug, his face full of fear: "Don’t say any more, don’t say it."

"It won’t happen!"

"Of course you’ve changed everyone’s fate!"

"Wang Chuang’s mom won’t die! You won’t get cancer again either! It won’t happen!"

"I won’t let you leave me either!"

Huo Zongzhuo said firmly: "After Bai Ting’s surgery is over and she’s settled, we’ll go to Beijing, to Peking Union Medical College Hospital, for a full-body checkup."

"If there’s any issue, any problem at all, we’ll begin treatment immediately. We’ll definitely cure it!"

"You won’t get that disease again!"

"Even if you really get it, I’ll have you cured."

Jiang Luo had never seen Huo Zongzhuo like this before. He felt his nose sting with tears: "Huo Zongzhuo, I don’t want to die, I don’t want to leave you."

"You won’t."

Huo Zongzhuo held Jiang Luo tightly, holding him as tight as he could: "I won’t let you leave me."

"I won’t let anything happen to you."

They remained embraced for a long time. Finally, Huo Zongzhuo fully grasped what Bai Ting’s cancer meant.

At this moment, Huo Zongzhuo wished even more than Jiang Luo for Bai Ting’s treatment to go smoothly and for her to be safe and sound.

Panic coiled in his heart, lingering, unable to fade.

Later that night, as they lay in bed together, Jiang Luo—who never talked about his past life—briefly brought up his illness back then:

"At first, it was just a cold, a cough that wouldn’t go away."

"By the time I went to see a doctor, the disease had almost reached the middle stage."

"I kept getting treatment in Haicheng, but the illness progressed quickly. With some help, I was transferred to Peking Union Medical College Hospital in Beijing."

"But it was useless. It couldn’t be cured. I could feel my body getting worse day by day."

"A few days before New Year’s Eve, I was in a daze all the time. That’s when I knew I was probably going to die soon."

"Then suddenly, I opened my eyes, and I was back."

Huo Zongzhuo held Jiang Luo tightly, planting a firm kiss on his forehead: "I won’t let anything happen to you."

"Even if you really get it again, I’ll find the best doctors, use the best medicine, and cure you."

Jiang Luo closed his eyes: "I just don’t understand. Everything has changed, so why is this the only thing that hasn’t?"

"Now more than ever, I don’t want to die."

"I want to be with you always and see what the world is like after 2000."

Huo Zongzhuo: "Of course you’ll see it. We’ll be together forever."

Bai Ting’s surgery was a complete success. Even the doctors said the lesion was particularly good, with clear margins and a very clean removal. The prognosis would definitely be excellent.

Everyone was overjoyed. Wang Chuang dropped to his knees right there on the floor outside the operating room, kowtowing repeatedly toward the sky through the window.

Jiang Luo and Huo Zongzhuo both saw it. They exchanged a look, and both could read the same thought in the other’s eyes—sometimes, you really can only pray for heaven to show mercy.

After settling Bai Ting, Huo Zongzhuo booked flights and prepared to fly with Jiang Luo to Beijing right away.

Before boarding the plane, Jiang Luo hesitated and said to Huo Zongzhuo, "Let's go back to Haicheng for the check-up."

"Why?"

Huo Zongzhuo didn't understand Jiang Luo's concerns.

Jiang Luo explained, "I'm a bit scared of Peking Union Medical College Hospital. I took a lot of medicine and got many shots there before. I don't really want to go back. I'm afraid that as soon as I go there, I'll be reminded of the past."

Huo Zongzhuo completely understood. "My bad. I only thought about taking you to a good hospital but didn't consider this."

"If you don't want to go, we won't. We can get check-ups anywhere."

So they changed their plans and flew back to Haicheng.

Upon arriving in Haicheng, Huo Zongzhuo specifically asked Jiang Luo which hospital he had visited before. They deliberately avoided that hospital and went to Zhongshan Hospital instead.

At Zhongshan Hospital, Huo Zongzhuo made a call and pulled some strings, easily securing an appointment with a respiratory department specialist without having to wait in line. With someone from the hospital guiding them, they went straight into the consultation room of the specialist on duty that day.

The doctor was no longer Huang Bingbing from back then but a chief physician in his fifties.

The chief physician first listened to Jiang Luo's heart and lungs and found no issues. He then ordered tests for Jiang Luo to undergo a series of examinations.

While waiting for the test results, they sat together on chairs outside. Jiang Luo looked at Huo Zongzhuo and said, "Are we both seeing danger everywhere?"

Huo Zongzhuo smiled. "You used the idiom correctly this time."

"Shut up."

Jiang Luo laughed too.

Jiang Luo leaned against Huo Zongzhuo and said softly, "I have a feeling everything will be fine."

"Yeah."

Huo Zongzhuo raised his arm and wrapped it around Jiang Luo's shoulder. "Even if there's something, don't worry."

Jiang Luo turned to look at him. "I still want to cross into the new century with you."

Huo Zongzhuo said gently, "Of course."

"I was thinking, a few years after the year 2000, if possible, we could adopt a child and become fathers together."

Jiang Luo was surprised. "You like kids?"

"They're okay."

Huo Zongzhuo said quietly, "Wang Chuang's two kids are very cute, and I can see you like them too."

"Great!"

Jiang Luo perked up. "How many do you want to adopt? Boys or girls?"

Huo Zongzhuo looked at him. "Haven't you always talked about being an only child?"

...

They chatted enthusiastically for a while until the doctor came out and handed them the test reports and lung scans.

In the consultation room, the chief physician carefully examined Jiang Luo's lung scans under the light and nodded. "Very beautiful lungs. Clear and healthy, not even any nodules."

Both Jiang Luo and Huo Zongzhuo breathed a sigh of relief.

After leaving the hospital, Jiang Luo laughed. "This is what you call 'mistaking the shadow of a bow for a snake'."

Huo Zongzhuo said, "We'll come for regular check-ups from now on. I'll bring you. Any issues, we'll treat them early."

"Not just the lungs, other areas need attention too."

Jiang Luo held his hand. "You too. You need check-ups as well, and any problems should be treated early."

"Okay, of course."

Jiang Luo adjusted quickly. Since he didn't have cancer and it hadn't happened, he didn't dwell on it or let it drain him. He just carried on as usual.

But Huo Zongzhuo cared too much about Jiang Luo and couldn't just move on so quickly—this man, who never believed in gods, ghosts, karma, or reincarnation, actually sought out a master to check the feng shui of the house on Wukang Road and have Jiang Luo's Bazi read.

The master didn't find anything wrong with the house, but regarding Jiang Luo's Bazi, the so-called master actually noticed something significant.

The master said Jiang Luo's destiny analysis was a bit strange. While most people's destiny lines have one beginning and one end, Jiang Luo's destiny seemed to split into two lines.

He said one line indicated an early death, while the other was relatively smooth, even suggesting great wealth and prosperity.

Huo Zongzhuo felt that since this master could pinpoint some things, he seemed somewhat legitimate. He paid a hefty sum for the master to perform rituals at their home, praying for peace, safety, and health.

Not only that, after hearing that Mount Wutai and Mount Putuo were known for answered prayers, Huo Zongzhuo spent a lot of money to have eternal lamps lit for Jiang Luo at several major temples.

Eternal lamps for a long life.

At the same time, Huo Zongzhuo also brought back a consecrated Bodhisattva statue from a temple and placed it in a corner of his office.

He also started wearing a string of prayer beads on his wrist.

At first, Jiang Luo didn't pay much attention to it, thinking such things were a matter of belief, and he personally didn't believe in them.

But when he noticed that Huo Zongzhuo's wrist, which usually only had a watch, suddenly had a string of slender prayer beads one day, he understood—Huo Zongzhuo was truly afraid he wouldn't make it past the year 2000.

One day, Jiang Luo brought it up casually in conversation with Huo Zongzhuo, his attitude and tone very ordinary. He talked about what if, just what if, he still ended up with the same outcome as his previous life—dying—and what Huo Zongzhuo would do alone.

Jiang Luo said calmly, "It's a good thing our wedding banquet was also my mother's birthday celebration, not a proper wedding ceremony."

"In the future, if you're with someone else..."

Huo Zongzhuo cut him off. "What other person? What are you talking about?"

Clearly displeased, he said, "Don't talk nonsense!"

"I'm serious," Jiang Luo said calmly. "Someone always dies first. If I die first, would you be alone then?"

"Huo Zongzhuo." Jiang Luo was being earnest. "If, and I mean if, if my ending is the same as last time, move on from me."

"After the year 2000, in 2001, 2002, go love someone else."

"I can't bear the thought of you being alone afterward."

"With a new love..."

Huo Zongzhuo fiercely cut off Jiang Luo with a kiss, sealing his lips and the rest of his words.

Jiang Luo thought with a sigh that now he would be even more reluctant to die.

He changed the subject and talked to Huo Zongzhuo about the future: “Let’s adopt a little boy. Since we’re two grown men, raising a daughter might be a bit inconvenient.”

“Someday we can have our son marry and give us a granddaughter.”

“I want to raise a son who looks like you.”

“Eventually, we can move to a new house or renovate our current one, adding a children’s bedroom, a study for the child, and a playroom.”

“You can teach him to read and write, and I’ll teach him to play soccer and ride horses.”

…

Even as Jiang Luo idly imagined this, he knew it was unlikely they would find a child who resembled Huo Zongzhuo. After all, the child wouldn’t be his biological child, and the world was so vast—what were the odds of such a coincidence?

What Jiang Luo didn’t know was that, at the end of 2004, his lackey Xue Zhizhong would find a little boy in an orphanage in a certain city—a child who looked like both him and Huo Zongzhuo.

That year, the three of them formed a family and lived happily together on Wukang Road.