The light in front was somewhat dazzling, and it took Lin Jie a moment to adapt before he could clearly see the scene before him.
White walls, white bedsheets and covers, some monitoring instruments working beside him, and the very familiar smell of disinfectant wafting into his nose – Lin Jie suddenly realized that he was in a hospital.
"I'm not dead?"
A flicker of relief crossed Lin Jie's mind, followed by a wave of disappointment, "Why am I not dead?"
"Brother, you're awake? That's wonderful!"
A voice full of joy rushed into his ears, and Lin Jie turned to look to his left side. A skinny, delicate girl was looking at him with wide eyes.
She wore a blue antiseptic gown; she must have been sleeping on the hospital bed, as her cheeks were a bit flushed, with a few streaks of sheet creases imprinted on the left side of her face, and dozens of long hairs stuck to her forehead.
At that moment, Lin Jie also felt his left hand being tightly held by this girl, as if she was afraid that if she let go, he would leave.
He showed a deep reluctance on his face, looking at the girl's large, vacant, unfocused eyes, and softly said, "Miaomiao, brother woke up, sorry for worrying you!"
"But didn't I tell you before, if this ever happens again, don't call 120?"
Lin Jie on the hospital bed, and the girl called Lin Miao standing by the bedside, were a pair of twin siblings, not even nineteen years old.
All the neighbors who knew their situation could only sigh when mentioning the two of them.
Their fate was truly too cruel.
Their mother was an unwed mother who abandoned them with her parents a few months after they were born to run away with a new boyfriend, never to be heard from again.
At five years old, Lin Jie was diagnosed with a rare congenital heart disease, and the only curative treatment was a heart transplant.
But their grandparents were just ordinary workers, barely managing to raise two children, let alone affording such a high-risk, costly surgery for Lin Jie, and besides, a suitable heart donor was not so easy to find.
They had to strictly follow medical advice, carefully controlling Lin Jie's diet, activity, and emotions, occasionally giving him traditional Chinese medicine, just to help him live a little longer.
To make matters worse, when Lin Miao was ten, their grandmother took her to the market and was hit by a car. The grandmother died instantly, and Lin Miao was severely injured.
Although Lin Miao survived, a blood clot formed in her brain pressing against her optic nerve, leaving her with only vague eyesight.
The doctor said that surgically removing the blood clot was extremely risky, and the situation could only improve over time. However, until today, Lin Miao's vision hadn't improved at all.
After the accident, the burden on the family fell entirely on their grandfather, but years of hard labor quickly broke down his health, and he passed away from illness when Lin Jie was sixteen.
The community, pitying the siblings, rented a small shop to them at a low price, allowing them to open a small grocery store to make a living.
But as Lin Jie grew, his heart condition worsened. Before this hospitalization, he had already fainted three or four times.
Lin Jie squeezed Lin Miao's thin hand and spoke again, "Miaomiao, you've graduated from massage school and can support yourself now. Didn't we seriously talk before? If this happens again, I don't need to be resuscitated!"
"You know I'll ultimately leave you, and you're just wasting money on this."
What surprised Lin Jie was that this time, Lin Miao didn't tear up or plead with him like before. Instead, she blossomed into a beautiful smile like a flower.
"Brother, brother, you won't faint like before anymore. I won't have to quietly check your breathing first thing in the morning like before, either."
Lin Miao exclaimed excitedly, "You've got a new, healthy heart, brother. You're all healed, and now you'll be a healthy person."
A new heart?
Lin Jie was a bit stupefied, possibly due to the interference of anesthetics. It took him a while to accurately understand what Lin Miao was saying.
He felt his body.
Unlike waking from previous episodes, feeling weak and aching all over, this time his chest felt numb, tingling, and painful.
At the same time, he felt strength!
This was a very peculiar feeling, as Lin Jie genuinely felt his body brimming with strength.
Such strength could allow him to do many things he couldn't do before, like lifting Lin Miao and twirling her around.
"Miaomiao, did I really have a heart transplant?"
Lin Jie felt incredulous, hard to believe, even though he often daydreamed about this, he knew it was just a dream, never to come true!
"Yes, it's true!"
Lin Miao nodded forcefully, wiped the tears from her eyes with her palm, and smiled, "I was so afraid I'd lose you forever this time, but Heaven finally opened its eyes and helped us once!"
Through her excited recount, Lin Jie finally understood the situation!
The Binhai Tongren Hospital he was in, was one of the best large comprehensive hospitals in Binhai City. When the ambulance brought him in, the hospital was preparing for another heart transplant surgery.
But unfortunately, the patient needing a heart transplant suddenly developed complications and died.
To avoid wasting the heart, the hospital urgently searched for other suitable patients in need of a heart transplant.
Coincidentally, Lin Jie's HLA match with the heart was a perfect match, and the hospital immediately decided to perform the heart transplant surgery on Lin Jie.
Lin Miao said joyfully, "Brother, the doctors have already done a detailed check on you, and they say your new heart is working well. As long as you stay in the hospital for a month and everything checks out, you can be discharged!"
While rejoicing, Lin Jie suddenly realized a problem and urgently said, "Miaomiao, such a major operation isn't something that can be settled with just a hundred or two hundred thousand. We don't have that kind of money!"
Lin Miao's expression turned a bit unnatural, lowering her head, she softly said, "Brother, I asked Xiaoxiao to help list the house for sale!"
Lin Jie suddenly understood!
The old two-bedroom house over sixty square meters was left to them by their grandparents. With real estate prices soaring and the location being good, it was worth quite a bit.
Grandpa had transferred the house to Lin Miao's name before he passed away.
At the time, grandpa had specially discussed the house transfer with him, and Lin Jie knew his exact condition, so he had no other thoughts.
No doubt the hospital kindly performed the surgery only after ensuring the surgery costs were covered.
Thinking of this, Lin Jie felt gloomy.
With their and Miaomiao's circumstances, selling the house and trying to buy another would be incredibly difficult!
Seeing Lin Miao's uneasiness, Lin Jie felt deeply guilty, "Miaomiao, it's me who's dragging you down. That house was left to you by grandpa to ensure your future life."
Lin Miao's smile reappeared, "Even if the house is gone, we can still rent a place to live. As long as you're healthy, that's all that matters!"
At this moment, the door to the ward opened, and several doctors walked in.
Leading them was an elderly foreigner with gray-white hair and a tall stature. Looking at Lin Jie who had awoken, he smiled and said, "Hallo, Junge, Wie fühlt es sich an?"
Seeing him, Lin Jie responded with a smile, naturally saying, "Fühlt sich nicht schlecht!"
Following this, under the elderly foreigner's inquiry, Lin Jie detailed his subtle feelings.
The foreign elder finally gave him some precautions before leaving the ward.
A middle-aged doctor with glasses stayed behind and whispered to Lin Jie, "You can speak German so fluently, could you help me with something?"
"What? German?"
After a moment of confusion, Lin Jie suddenly realized that during the exchange with the foreign elder, they had been conversing in a strange language the entire time instead of Chinese.
But he only knew some English words and simple conversations. How could he speak such fluent German?
For a moment, Lin Jie was full of surprise and curiosity.