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"Mr. Hughes, I am sorry to tell you that your mother is in the late stages of liver cancer…"
Jack stared at the doctor in front of him who was shaking his head, and he suddenly felt dizzy and his eyes were red with crying.
Since he was a child, his mother and him had been relying on each other. His mother had been working ceaselessly to support his schooling fees, and this had culminated in her current predicament. Without having the chance to enjoy her twilight years, she was suffering instead.
"Doctor, I beg you to save my mother. Is there really no other ways?" Jack's voice was hoarse and sadness-stricken.
The doctor hesitated for one moment before answering him, "There is actually a way. We can do a liver transplant, and the hospital currently has the technology and resources to achieve that…"
He paused again while looking Jack up and down. He knew very well how the long and arduous medical treatments had taken a toll on Jack.
However, he decided to break it to him, "But… the fees are quite costly. The whole procedure probably needs at least two hundred thousand yuan."
Two hundred thousand yuan?
Jack's eyes suddenly lit up as he grabbed the doctor's hands, "Then you must save her no matter what. I still have two hundred thousand yuan!"
He could work again to earn the amount, but he could never get another mother again if he lost his mother this time.
"Then you should come up with the amount soon. If this drags on further, the liver transplant would not be able to commence."
The doctor nodded while letting out a sigh before turning around to leave.
After exiting the hospital, a drizzle was drumming the earth.
After shooting a glance at Jack, Katherine asked, "Is there no more hope for my Mom?"
"The doctor told me that a liver transplant is the only way." Jack sounded as if he had grasped the last straw of hope as he continued excitedly, "The cost is two hundred thousand yuan, and it's lucky that we have this amount. My mother has one last chance here."
After he said that, he turned around to get the bank card.
However, Katherine's face changed as she halted him, "Jack, stop right there!"
Jack frowned as though he suddenly recalled something important. He turned around and stared at Katherine, "Where's the money?"
She looked guilty as she started to stammer.
"Did you give them to your family again?" Jack raised his eyebrows while flashing a bitter smile.
He headed to the sofa with weak legs while taking out a cigarette box from his pockets. With a flash, he ignited one cigarette and put it to his mouth while sucking in a mouthful. Then, he collapsed onto the sofa.
They had been married for three years, and this was not the first time something like this had happened.
"Katherine, that amount of money is my last hope to save mum." Exhaustion was seeping through Jack's voice. "Is there any way to get it back?"
"Get it back?"
Katherine's eyebrows shot up as she screeched, "Jack, what are you trying to say? I have offered that money to my parents as a way to show my filial piety. How can I ask for them to return it?"
A cold look entered Jack's face as he said, "There is a compatible liver waiting for mum in the hospital right now. If I can pay the cost immediately, the hospital can carry out the liver transplant surgery immediately. From what I see, mum is on her last legs."
"That is not my concern, you should come up with a solution since it's your problem." Katherine suddenly broke out in tears as she mumbled.
"Where do you expect me to get two hundred thousand yuan in such a short time?" Jack felt like his head was going to explode with anger, but he still begged Katherine with a pathetic tone, "Katherine, you have to help me this once. You have to get back that money. My mum needs that amount to stay alive!"
"Jack! I told you that I have given them to my mother. There's no way I can ask for it again." Katherine wailed while sitting on the floor. She continued crying, "Your mother is going to pass away anyway, but you still continue to throw all of our money to the hospital. Do you ever stand in my shoes and think for the family for once?"
A shiver ran through Jack's body when he heard that. He felt that his anger was going to explode at any moment.
He swiftly grabbed Katherine's phone as he threatened, "If you won't call them, I will do it myself!"
Before Katherine could stop him, the call came through.
"Mum, Katherine has given you twenty thousand yuan, right?" Jack implored, "Can you please return it for now? I need it to save my mother. I need that amount to pay for her surgery while she is waiting in the hospital."
At the other end of the phone, his mother-in-law rebuked him with a shriek, "Jack, what nonsense are you spouting now? Katherine has given us that amount to show her sincerity and filial piety, and you have the nerve to ask us to return them? We never agreed to your marriage last time, so you should consider yourself lucky that Katherine would agree to marry you, considering your poor background."
"Now, it's great that Katherine knows how to express her gratitude to us two for raising her, but you are such a good-for-nothing for begging us to return the money. Let me make it clear, Tommy is going to marry soon, and we are going to use that two hundred thousand yuan to pay for the deposit of his future house. You want it back? You will not even get any."
With that, the line went dead.
Jack was completely stunned. Was his mother-in-law somehow unable to understand his words?
"Jack, are you crazy?" Katherine grabbed Jack's clothes like mad as she howled, "How can you do that? Is it wrong for me to give some money to my parents?"
Jack stared at Katherine with listless eyes. His eyes were reddened now, "In your eyes, your brother's new house worth even more than my mum's life."
"Nonsense!"
Katherine let go of Jack before grabbing the items in their house and threw them in all direction.
In an instant, the living room was in a mess.
Katherine then slipped down onto the floor as she continued to scold, "Jack, you are really a useless man. Why did I marry you back then? Do you know how much money you have burnt for your mother's sake? I have been eating frugally since I was married, and even our house right now is a rental unit. Do you ever think for my sake? Tommy is my little brother, so he is your brother too. If he is going to marry, is it wrong for me as her sister to lend a helping hand?"
"Lending a helping hand?"
Jack was completely mad at the moment, "In the three years that we are married, how many times have you helped that useless Tommy? The reason Tommy becomes a good-for-nothing that he is today is because of you guys, who have been spoiling him non-stop!"
"Don't you ever talk about my brother like that!" Katherine retorted with her face completely distorted as she pointed at him with trembling fingers.
Jack snickered coldly, "Why can't I comment about him? When he caused someone to become pregnant in his university days, I was the one who had settled this problem for him. I was the one who had bought him his car. Do you know how much I have contributed to your family? You are the one who is not thinking for our family's sake seeing that you couldn't stop spoiling your damn little brother!"
"Ah! Shut up." Katherine shrieked with a piercing pitch, "What do you mean by that? Do you want to ruin our lives?"
"You're the one who is planning to use the money which is supposed to treat my mother for your useless brother's house deposit. You're the one who is turning a blind eye towards my mother, so you're the one who is actually ruining our lives!"
Jack shrugged while declaring with a blank face, "Let's divorce!"
Katherine was stunned, "What, what did you say?"
In their three years of marriage, this was the first time Jack had talked to her using such a tone.
"Let's get a divorce." Jack repeated, "It seems like you're too miserable staying with me, and I am not worth your time as well. I can't comply with the antics of your family anymore."
After saying that, he turned around to leave.
He's not someone who liked to drag things around. Throughout the past three years, he had been enduring in silence all the time. He was able to do that because Katherine had agreed to marry him despite her superior background. Furthermore, her feelings towards him that time was another reason for him to carry on.
However, he finally couldn't stand her anymore.
When Jack was finally gone, Katherine finally returned to her senses.
She frantically picked up her phone to call her mother. She wailed when the call connected, "Mum… Jack is going to divorce me."
"That bastard dares to do that?"
At the other end of the phone, a sharp voice was blaring out, "Then just leave him! He's just a poor, useless guy yet he thinks he is something! The two hundred thousand yuan is with me anyway, you can make his wishes come true by leaving him. Let him struggle endlessly with his damn mother!"
At the same time, Jack was wandering aimlessly outside his house.
Tiny droplets of rain were falling down from the night sky, drenching him all over.
He scratched his head with frustration as he took it all out by kicking the puddle by his feet.
Money! Every damn problem in this world happened because of money!
Now that he had fallen out with the Parry family, how could he get two hundred thousand yuan in a short time to save his mother?
Suddenly, a Rolls-Royce Phantom rolled to a stop beside Jack.
The window slowly unwind, and an old man wearing a traditional Tang suit appeared into view. He was smiling gently at Jack.
"You are the Master Hughes, right? Get in the car now, we are going to the LJ Hospital."
Master Hughes?
Jack stared blankly at this old man in front of him, seemingly in a daze.
The old man smiled as he added, "Your mother is currently undergoing liver transplant surgery in the hospital right now as we speak."
