Captain Lu was aloof again today.

Chapter 95 Dream
The private room was quiet, except for Qin Danping's gentle voice and Yin Zhijie's heavy breathing.

In this almost suffocating and oppressive silence, Lu Jingming and Wei Qingsong listened as she recounted all the misfortunes that had befallen a young girl in the prime of her life.

Some say that luck and misfortune are like strange-tasting sugars sprinkled on earth by God; whether they are sour or sweet, bitter or salty, you have to experience them for yourself.

Yin Zhijie and his family originally lived a happy and fulfilling life.

He is a senior executive in the company and has achieved great success in his career. Qin Danping is a primary school teacher who is cultured, insightful, well-educated, reasonable, and understanding.

The two hit it off immediately, feeling like they had known each other for a long time, and quickly fell in love. They got married and had a lovely daughter named Yin Hailan.

Yin Hailan was well-behaved, sensible, sweet and charming from a young age, and was praised by relatives and neighbors alike.

She loves to dance. She started learning to dance at the age of six, and whenever she steps onto the stage, she radiates a dazzling light.

On New Year's Eve, when watching the Spring Festival Gala with her family, she would always point to the exquisite and gorgeous stage on the screen and say confidently, "One day, I will also stand on such a big stage and have all the audience applaud and cheer for me."

Yin Zhijie and Qin Danping have always firmly believed that their daughter will realize her dream.

Her dance teacher also praised her for her exceptional talent, saying that she would definitely be able to perform on a big stage and secure a place in the dance world in the future.

She is talented and hardworking; there's no reason why she shouldn't shine.

With her talent in dance, she was admitted to an arts high school and is moving step by step toward her dream.

But the unexpected happened overnight.

On the second semester of her first year of high school, which was also Yin Hailan's sixteenth birthday, she was practicing dance in the school's dance studio, planning to finish her last dance and then go home to celebrate her birthday.

No matter how busy Yin Zhijie and Qin Danping are, they will always make time to witness her growth on her birthday.

However, before the dance was over, she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her back and fell to the ground, unable to get up again.

Her teachers and classmates from the dance studio rushed her to the hospital, and her parents and Jiang Yinian also arrived after hearing the news.

Everyone initially thought that she had simply made a mistake while dancing, which caused her to twist her back and fall.

After a series of examinations, the doctor told them that Yin Hailan had ankylosing spondylitis.

This is a chronic inflammatory disease, also known as "the cancer that doesn't kill," because it cannot be completely cured and can only be managed with long-term medication.

Since it is called "the cancer that doesn't kill," it means that this disease does not endanger life, but it will cause suffering.

This pain comes not only from the torment of physical pain, but also from the immense mental anguish.

Yin Hailan was a girl who loved to dance. She longed for the most glamorous stage in the world and dreamed of dazzling spotlights. However, on her sixteenth birthday, she was told that she could never dance again before she was unable to finish her last dance.

Because she was young when she fell ill and was in a critical period of growth, if she continued to choose the path of dancing, she would inevitably face a lot of training every day, which would be very detrimental to controlling her condition.

She practices dancing diligently, and minor injuries and pains are commonplace. She often feels back pain, but she only thinks it is due to long-term training. She also never takes early symptoms such as fatigue, low-grade fever, and poor appetite seriously.

Therefore, by the time the patient sought medical attention, there were already subtle signs of a disease developing.

Although this chronic disease is not life-threatening, if it is not controlled in time and allowed to progress without attention to daily rest and recuperation, it may lead to disability in severe cases.

Yin Hailan also knows that between dreams and health, the latter is of course more important.

It took time to accept this devastating news. She was depressed for a long time before she began to actively cooperate with the treatment and calmly face this cruel reality.

From the age of six, her birthday wish has been the same every year.

She hopes that one day she can become a world-renowned dancer.

It is clear that birthday wishes are meaningless; so-called wishes are just people seeking solace for their unfulfilled dreams.

She dropped out of art school and transferred to a regular high school to study academic subjects.

Although her dream could no longer be realized, life had to go on. Yin Hailan did not give up on herself; she wanted to find a new life.

However, she devoted a lot of time and energy to dance practice, and her academic studies were severely lacking. She could only work twice as hard to catch up with her peers.

She was often tormented by illness, and in order to suppress the pain and be able to concentrate on her studies, she had to use medication to control it.

One of the medications she was taking was methylprednisolone tablets, which was a symptomatic treatment, but it is a glucocorticoid and long-term use can lead to obesity.

Girls who learn to dance are often beautiful, and even if they can never stand on the stage again, they hope to maintain their elegant posture.

However, the obesity caused by hormones and stress made her the fattest girl in her high school graduation photo.

When she entered the school, she weighed less than 80 pounds, but by the time she graduated, her weight had soared to 130 pounds.

She lost her body for dancing, and she also lost the demeanor of a dancer.

She could never wear the beautiful dance dress in the closet again.

When buying new clothes, I've gone from blindly choosing the smallest size to blindly choosing the largest size.

From that moment on, she was completely awakened from her dream, bid farewell to her glamorous past life, and began to doubt herself.

After the condition improved and the hormone medication was stopped, I still couldn't lose weight no matter what I did.

The sudden weight gain and the irretrievable loss of her beautiful past plunged Yin Hailan into depression.

She no longer wanted to go out because she was afraid of attracting strange looks from others.

Being the center of attention was once her most burning ideal, but that's not the kind of attention she wanted.

Fortunately, with the careful guidance of Yin Zhijie and Qin Danping, and the unwavering companionship of Jiang Yinian, she was able to avoid getting stuck in a rut.

Her hard work in her academic studies was perfectly reflected in her college entrance examination results; she was admitted to a good university and studied a major that she quite liked.

Although it is no longer the original dream, sometimes, settling for second best is not necessarily the right choice in life.

After starting university, Yin Hailan did not make any new friends, and she lost contact with her former dance partners. Only Jiang Yinian was by her side.

But it's enough.

Jiang Yinian has always been very good to her, whether she weighs 80 pounds or 130 pounds, he always seems to be enthusiastic.

He would gently tell her, "You're just sick."

He would look into her eyes as if they were precious treasures, and say earnestly and firmly, "Don't listen to those who only look at appearances, that's called superficiality. I'm different. I grew up with you and have seen you at your most beautiful. What I admire is your beautiful soul."

Jiang Yinian's companionship and comfort gave Yin Hailan confidence, and she gradually emerged from depression and low self-esteem, jokingly referring to herself as a "plus-size girl".

Thank you to Just Want to Be a Salty Fish, Clear Burning, Seni, Strolling Through the Forest, and Do Not Disturb for your monthly tickets.
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(End of this chapter)