Ercheng didn't believe that his father, who had always been strong like a cow, could get this fatal disease, he was afraid that he had heard it wrong, so he repeatedly confirmed with the doctor: "Doctor, please take a good look, how did my father get this disease, my father's health has always been very good." Ercheng held back his tears and stared at the doctor for a moment.

The doctor sighed lightly and said, "I understand your feelings as family members. He put the film up and pointed it out to Ercheng: "Comrade, look here, the shadow on both sides is the tumor, now the tumor has begun to block the esophageal lumen, you see that there is only such a narrow slit left, your father must have been eating very slowly recently, and he needs soup to send the rice down, if it can be detected early and treated early, the patient may live a few more years, but now the disease has reached the middle and advanced stages, what we can do is to try to prolong the survival of the patient, of course, this also requires the active cooperation of your family and the patient." ”

The light in Ercheng's eyes slowly went out, said goodbye to the doctor, dragged his legs and walked slowly to the ward, he didn't know how to tell his father and mother, just now Dr. Zhang said, like Dad's situation, it is possible to have a survival period of about a year if you cooperate with the treatment well, that is to say, Dad can live for a year at most, Ercheng can't accept it, out of the doctor's office, stay on the chair outside the ward, let the tears fall in strings, Ercheng dare not cry, Dad and Mom are in the ward separated by a wall, he is afraid that the cry will be heard by his father. In the village, I often hear people say that if the patient himself does not know that he has a terminal illness, he may be able to live for a longer period of time, if he knows, his mind collapses, and the person may not be finished in a few days.

Sun Xiufang waited left and right in the ward and didn't see Ercheng come back, how long has it been, hasn't the doctor finished speaking, she patted Sanfu's arm: "Third brother, you go to greet your second brother, why haven't you come back for a long time, don't you can't find us." ”

"Mother, look at you, how old my second brother is, why can he still get lost." As soon as he finished speaking, seeing that Sun Xiufang was about to stare at him, he hurriedly changed his words and said, "Okay, okay, I'll go now, let's go, let's go together." ”

When the three brothers came out of the ward, they looked left and right, and saw Ercheng in a daze on a chair not far away.

"Second brother, why don't you come into the house when you're back." Sanfu led the two brothers to sit down next to Ercheng: "What did the doctor say." ”

Ercheng wiped his face indiscriminately, and his voice was choked: "Don't scream, be careful so that your father hears." ”

The second brother's expression was wrong, it was impossible for a big man to cry like this for no reason, the three brothers all felt bad, and Liuquan lowered his voice and said urgently: "Second brother, what is our father's illness?" Say it. ”

"The doctor said... said that our father had esophageal cancer, that is, choking disease, and he would live for a year at most. ”

"What?!" The three brothers were in disbelief, and Wusheng and Liuquan even jumped up directly from the connecting chair.

"Be quiet! Be quiet! Ercheng hurriedly lowered his voice and shouted.

Wusheng hurriedly lowered his voice, bent down and said, "Second brother, the doctor can't be mistaken, right?" ”

"I hope I'm wrong, but it's not very likely."

"What then?" The three brothers were dumbfounded, and sat down in silence on the chairs.

Shi Gengtian and Zhou Xiurong took their two sons to the county hospital, inquired all the way, and found Shi Youtian's ward. Before entering the house, I saw four young men sitting on the chair without saying a word, and the four approached, Shi Gengtian asked: "What are you four sitting here, what about your father, what's wrong with him?" ”

"Uncle, auntie, you are here, sit down." Ercheng hurriedly stood up and asked Shi Gengtian to sit down.

"Brother Tao, Brother Qiang, why are you here too, sit down and rest first." Liuquan also hurriedly got up and gave up his seat to the two cousins.

Fu Ruitao patted Liuquan on the shoulder: "Brother is not tired, you can sit down, what is the situation of my uncle now?" ”

Liuquan sniffed: "It's not good, the doctor said that my father has choking and eating disease." ”

"What?!" Shi Gengtian was excited, turned his head and was about to go to the ward.

"Uncle! Ercheng hurriedly called out to Shi Gengtian: "My father doesn't know what disease he has, don't tell him yet." ”

Shi Gengtian paused and looked at Ercheng, and after thinking about it, he understood Ercheng's thoughts: "Yes, it's right not to tell him, what are you going to say at that moment?" ”

Ercheng was full of sadness: "Uncle, I don't know what to say, I want to discuss with the big guy." ”

Shi Gengtian pondered for a while: "Your father's illness can be hidden for a while, but he can't hide it for a lifetime, he will have to know sooner or later." ”

"Uncle, I understand, tell him slowly, otherwise I'm afraid my father won't be able to stand it."

Shi Gengtian pulled out the cigarette pouch pot from his waist, pinched a pinch of tobacco and filled it in, lit it, took a few puffs, thought about it again, and said, "Second child, what did your father say about the doctor who vomited blood." ”

"The doctor said it was because my father coughed violently and cracked his blood vessels, causing him to vomit blood."

"That's it, you see if it's right to say this, just say that it's something in the throat and eye, and it can't be diagnosed for the time being, you need to take a look again, the second, the third, is this right?"

I really can't think of any reason to come, my father is not a three- or two-year-old child, and I can deceive him by making up two sentences of nonsense, and my father can still believe it. Ercheng and his three younger brothers glanced at each other and nodded: "Okay, uncle, I'll say that in a while." ”

Sun Xiufang felt that something big was going to happen, and she was afraid that something big would happen, the head of the family was the pillar of the family, if he fell, what would happen to this family? She was in turmoil, and she kept chanting Amitabha Buddha in her heart, asking the Buddha Lord to bless the old man without incident.

Ercheng cleaned up the tears that had cried on his face, and led Shi Gengtian and his party into the ward, his mother was still lying in front of the bed holding his father's hand and whispering, and Simin stood in front of the window with a gloomy face and didn't know what he was looking at.

Shi Gengtian took a few steps: "Aritian, is it better?" ”

"Big brother is here." Ishigeta struggled to sit up.

"Don't move, don't move, just rest." Shi Gengtian hurriedly pressed his brother's shoulder.

Sun Xiufang saw Ercheng and hurriedly asked, "Second child, what did the doctor say?" ”

"The doctor said......" Ercheng glanced at Shi Gengtian: "The doctor said that my father had something in his throat, and he vomited blood in the morning because my father coughed too violently and cracked his blood vessels." Ercheng finished speaking in one breath, and then looked at Shi Youtian's expression nervously.

"What's it?" Shi Youtian asked urgently.

"It is not known at the moment, and it needs to be further diagnosed, so it should not be a serious problem."

"Oh." Shi Youtian let go of some of his heart, as long as it wasn't a fatal illness: "If it's not too serious, we won't be hospitalized, let the doctor prescribe some medicine for us, let's go home and raise it, how much does it cost to lie in the hospital every day?" ”

Money, money, money, and I'm afraid of spending money at this time! Shi Gengtian's heart swelled with anger, and his tone was a little harsher: "If you have a field, you have to be cured if you have a disease, is life more important or money important?" ”

Shi Youtian sneered: "Brother, didn't you say that it wasn't a serious illness?" The family finally saved two dollars, I was thinking about selling the wheat, and I took the time to build a few more rooms, the hospital is not for us poor people, if I lie in the hospital for a few more days, the few money I saved can make me clean. ”

Shi Gengtian hates that iron does not become steel, in the brother's family, in addition to Dayong, the five sons are like little chickens who have not tied their arms, curled up under the wings of the old chickens to live, in addition to farming, what is lacking in the family is to care about Dayong, there is no assertiveness at all: "You, the heart that can't be finished, you look at the second child, they are all adults, you should let them exercise by themselves, you take care of today, take care of tomorrow, can you still manage them for a lifetime, I heard Ercheng say that there is no diagnosis and need to do further examination, Haven't been diagnosed yet, what hospital are you out of? ”

"It's not diagnosed yet." Shi Youtian pondered for a moment and asked Sun Xiufang: "Why don't I go to Dayong's place and let Dayong take me to another place?" ”

That's right, I forgot about my eldest brother in a hurry. Sanfu slapped his thigh and hurriedly said, "I'm going to shoot a telegram for my eldest brother." After Sanfu finished speaking, he stretched out his hand and asked Ercheng for money: "Second brother, give me some money, I'll go to the post office to send a telegram." ”

Just kidding, how much does it cost to shoot a telegram? Telegrams are all written on a literal basis. Shi Youtian hurriedly stopped: "What kind of telegram are you shooting, just write a letter and send it over, and it will be ten days or eight days late." ”

"Arita, let the child go, the illness can't be delayed, the sooner you see it, the better."

Ercheng took out two yuan from the cloth bag and handed it to Sanfu: "Is two yuan enough?" ”

Sanfu took the money from Ercheng's hand, twisted his eyebrows and said: "I don't know if it's enough, I haven't taken a telegram, just look at it there." After Sanfu finished speaking, he turned his head and walked out.

A letter costs 8 cents, and I don't know if it's enough for two yuan to shoot a telegram, two yuan, which is equivalent to ten catties of white flour, Shi Youtian was distressed, reluctant, and hurriedly "Eh!" Huh! He shouted twice and tried to stop him, but Sanfu pretended not to hear, pushed open the door of the ward and went out.

Sanfu knows where the post and telecommunications bureau is, and in recent days, as long as he is free, he will change into old clothes, take a tattered sack to the city to pick up rags, and the streets and alleys of the entire C county are about to be called to him to shop.

The post and telecommunications bureau is located in the center of the county, a two-story small building, the whole floor has been dark green, and the big red letters directly above the gate are written in C county post and telecommunications bureau. Entering the door, there is a high counter, behind the counter is also wearing dark green clothes staff, there are not many people sending letters, a man and a woman are gossiping, Sanfu stood in front of the counter, put his arm on the counter, and said to the male comrade: "Comrade, I want to take a telegram." ”

There was business coming to the door, the two stopped talking, and the male staff stood up and put a form in front of Sanfu: "You write the address first, and then fill in the content." ”

Sanfu picked up the pen next to him and wrote crookedly: Big brother, my father is sick, and the doctor said that it was esophageal cancer. Sanfu's cultural level is not high, and he can't write the word 'cancer', so he bit the pen and thought for a long time, and asked the male staff: "Comrade, how to write the word cancer?" ”

"No, it's empty first, I'll make it up for you later, you write something else first."

"Oh." Sanfu agreed, and continued to write: The doctor said that Dad won't live long, come back quickly, and Dad said to let you take him to your side to see.

After Sanfu finished writing, he handed over the form in his hand, and the male staff member kindly reminded: "Comrade, the telegram is calculated by the word, one cent and four cents per word, you write like this is too wasteful of money, you can't take it without five or six yuan, just use the least number of words to express what you want to say." ”

When he heard that he wanted so much money, Sanfu was startled and hurriedly said, "Five or six yuan!" Is it expensive? I'll bring two dollars here, how can I get it, comrade, I haven't taken a telegram, please help, how should I write it? ”

"Comrade, do you mean to tell your eldest brother that your father is seriously ill and let your eldest brother come back?"

"Yes, my father is terminally ill, and the doctor said that he will live for many years at most."

The two staff members glanced at Sanfu sympathetically, and the male staff member took out a form again and wrote: Father is critically ill, return quickly.