The first thing I did was to find out

Chapter 579 Untitled
When Luo Jun joined the [End-of-Life Care] group chat, and Chen Huihong took over the responsibility of visiting Luo Jun's home every day to offer comfort and companionship, the entire end-of-life care process went astray.

First, Luo Jun was very dissatisfied with the name "Hospice Care," and at his strong request, it was renamed "A Loving Family 2." After the name change, almost no one spoke in the group; everyone would subconsciously open "A Loving Family" to chat, completely isolating Zhou Hu.

Zhou Hu was completely unaware, and simply went to check in every day.

Secondly, the news that Luo Jun was about to die had been leaked by someone.

As a well-known elderly person living alone in Yunzhong Community, Luo Jun is someone that all the food delivery shops in the nearby business district fear and hate with a passion. He is very famous in this area.

You may not know the name of the convenience store owner across from Yunzhong Community who never taps the tea eggs when boiling them, but you definitely know the name of the customer who gave him this bad review.

Luo Jun's death has touched the hearts of many, even though he is still alive.

Many people quietly inquired with Qin Huai, asking if Luo Jun had contracted a serious illness or was simply nearing his end, and whether they needed to visit him to offer their condolences. Qin Huai honestly told the elderly people who came to inquire that Luo Jun indeed didn't have much time left, and if nothing unexpected happened, it would be within the next few days. He said there was no need for a visit to offer condolences, as Luo Jun didn't like that kind of thing.

Everyone expressed their understanding, and then quietly asked Qin Huai to bring fruit to Luo Jun.

For some reason, residents of Yunzhong Community like to give fruit as gifts. It is said that the owner of the most famous boutique fruit shop in the area has made a fortune.

Qin Huai conveyed everyone's good wishes to Luo Jun and exclaimed, "Mr. Luo, although you haven't gone out much these past few years and your relationship with everyone isn't good, the neighbors have cared about you all over the years. You haven't lived your life in vain."

Luo Jun stared expressionlessly at Chen Huihong, who was frantically cracking open her own melon seeds, then at Shi Dadan, who was engrossed in eating fruit, then at An Youyou, who was standing by the window with the window wide open, eating durian with gusto. Finally, his gaze fell on the banana with a few black spots in Qin Huai's hand, and he let out a cold laugh.

"Ah."

“They really care about me. A few years ago, they used me as a bet to open a betting pool, betting on how long I could stay indoors.”

"Chen Huihong gambled for a year and three months. When the bet was about to expire, she harassed me at my home every day under the guise of a neighborhood committee visit, trying to trick me into leaving my home."

Chen Huihong spat out the sunflower seed shells in her mouth and said, "Back then, who would have thought you could stay at home for so long without going out? When the market opened, I thought a year and three months was long enough."

"By the way, Luo Jun, I checked the weather forecast for tomorrow. It's going to be sunny and the temperature will be in the teens, which is quite pleasant. Also, Jingjing's leave will be approved starting tomorrow. You're really going to die this time, so how about we go to the amusement park one last time tomorrow? I remember you have an annual pass, and it would be a waste if we didn't go."

"I'm not going." Luo Jun refused ruthlessly. "Chen Huihong, can you please keep your sunflower seed-eating noise down? You've been eating sunflower seeds at my house since 7 a.m., and your mouth isn't dry? You're eating sunflower seeds when I'm awake, you're eating sunflower seeds when I'm sleeping, and you're still eating sunflower seeds when I wake up. You might as well grow sunflower seeds when you go back."

Chen Huihong said, "How did you know I was eating sunflower seeds while you were sleeping? I actually ate a lot of peanuts, pecans, and pistachios too."

"I really don't like those thin-shelled walnuts you bought; they have no flavor. Could you buy some with more flavor next time?"

Luo Jun: ...

After several days of end-of-life care, Luo Jun was exhausted. Many times, he no longer wanted to treat Chen Huihong's question as a mere pause. At times like these, if Qin Huai was present, he would silently throw Qin Huai a sharp, dagger-like glare, his eyes screaming, "Look what you've done, Qin!"

Luo Jun gave Qin Huai a look.

Qin Huai pretended to love eating bananas and bent down to peel one.

"Has Zhou Hu completed his side quest?" Luo Jun asked.

"No, actually I haven't seen Zhou Hu these past few days," Qin Huai said honestly.

Aside from meeting Zhou Hu at Luo Jun's house on the first day, Qin Huai didn't encounter him for the remaining days. Of course, Zhou Hu continued to diligently provide end-of-life care. According to Chen Huihong, Zhou Hu arrived at Luo Jun's house at 9 am every morning and left at 2 pm, bringing two beautiful bouquets of flowers each day.

Chen Huihong suspected that Zhou Hu was testing Luo Jun to see what kind of flowers he liked, but unfortunately the test was unsuccessful. Luo Jun disliked every single bouquet that Zhou Hu brought, from the variety to the color.

Every day, Zhou Hu would come to do chores (washing fruit, making tea, arranging nuts, and cleaning up the sunflower seed shells Chen Huihong had cracked), report the progress of the funeral planning to Luo Jun, and submit the funeral hall arrangements to Luo Jun, only to have them rejected.

Chen Huihong wasn't very interested in the progress of Luo Jun's funeral planning. She only had one request: a mahjong table. Luo Jun also wouldn't let Chen Huihong listen to Zhou Hu's reports, making it all quite mysterious. Each time, Luo Jun and Zhou Hu would go into the studio to talk privately, leaving Chen Huihong in the living room to eat sunflower seeds.

This prompted Chen Huihong to secretly send a WeChat message to Qin Huai, complaining that Luo Jun seemed to be in good spirits and didn't look like he only had a few days left to live. She wondered if Zhou Hu's fortune-telling had gone wrong.

He is indeed a nine-tailed fox, but the innate skill of a nine-tailed fox is not fortune telling.

"You won't even do such a simple side quest? Do you want to fly to the moon?" Luo Jun, in a bad mood, immediately launched a barrage of attacks.

“Mr. Luo, I’m not in the mood to make pastries,” Qin Huai said. “Although you seem perfectly normal now, and you’re in good spirits and even have the energy to scold me here, the thought that you don’t have many days left to live makes me lose my appetite for such complicated desserts.”

"Even if I finish making the noodles and complete Zhou Hu's side quest in the next few days, I won't be in the mood to look at his memories."

Luo Jun was speechless, choked by Qin Huai's bluntness. He really wanted to yell at Qin Huai, "Where's your art of language? Where's your skill in saying one thing to one person and another to another? Where's your masterful lying? Where's your silver tongue? What, you're not even putting on an act in front of me anymore, telling me such heartfelt truths, and you don't want me to die? You don't want to inherit my estate? What do you mean, Qin Huai?"

Luo Jun paused for more than ten seconds, without saying a word, and even withdrew the sarcastic expression that was about to appear.

Finally, under Chen Huihong's watchful gaze as she ate sunflower seeds, Luo Jun could only stiffen his neck and utter, "Why hasn't Qu Jing gotten off work yet?"

The next second, Luo Jun's doorbell rang.

An Youyou, who was closest to the door and had just finished eating durian, hurriedly went to open it. Outside the door stood Qu Jing, carrying a large clay pot.

Qu Jing walked into the house with a happy smile, first locking her gaze on Luo Jun, then smiling at him and saying, "Mr. Luo, I cooked a large bowl of rice cake soup today, with lots of ingredients, and it was cooked in pork rib broth!"

"Sister Hong said you didn't eat much today, so you probably wanted some rice cake soup. I didn't know exactly what you wanted, so I added all the ingredients!"

Luo Jun: "..."

"Chen! Hui! Hong! Are! You! Sick! !"
.
The joyful atmosphere of end-of-life care did not dispel Qin Huai's fear and sorrow at Luo Jun's impending death.

With Qu Jing taking leave around the clock and Chen Huihong spending more than 12 hours a day staking out Luo Jun's house, Qin Huai became increasingly aware that Zhou Hu's divination was correct, and that Luo Jun was really going to die.

He seemed to have a lot of energy, spoke with a strong voice, and yelled at Chen Huihong, but he had a very small appetite.

On the second day after Qu Jing took leave, Luo Jun only drank two bowls of tangerine peel tea all day, did not eat any of the snacks that Qin Huai had brought, and slept for longer than before.

Even though Luo Jun stubbornly claimed that it was because Chen Huihong and others were chatting and eating sunflower seeds at home during the day, making it impossible for him to concentrate on watching TV dramas, so he could only watch dramas all night and therefore had to catch up on sleep during the day, resulting in long sleep durations, everyone knew that this was just an excuse.

There is only one real reason.

His soul may be healthy, but his body has long since decayed. On the 7th day after Zhou Hu calculated that Luo Jun's life was nearing its end, which was theoretically the last day of Luo Jun's death countdown, Qin Huai was kneading dough absentmindedly in the kitchen of the Yunzhong Canteen.

At this crucial and delicate juncture, Qin Huai actually wanted to go to Luo Jun's house early in the morning, just like Chen Huihong.

But he knew that if he did this, Luo Jun would definitely be angry, and in reality, it wouldn't change anything. What use would it be for him to stay at Luo Jun's house? Would he find a side quest for Luo Jun, help Luo Jun successfully overcome his tribulation, or reward him with an elixir of immortality to make Luo Jun immortal after completing a game quest?

The reward of immortality is nothing to spirits; they can already live forever if they successfully transcend tribulation.

Failing to transcend the tribulation yet still achieving immortality... Luo Jun might choose to jump off a building on the spot.

So even though Qin Huai was absent-minded when making pastries these past few days, and everyone could see how distracted he was, even though customers like Xu Tuqiang and Grandma Ding, who were relatively familiar with Qin Huai, privately advised him not to go to work these days and to spend more time with Luo Jun, Qin Huai ignored them.

Qin Huai didn't know how to describe his feelings; he just felt that this countdown was torturous.

This inevitable separation made him lose interest in everything and feel uneasy all over.

At 10:16 a.m., Qin Huai's phone rang.

The call from Chen Huihong wasn't a WeChat call, it was a regular phone call.

Qin Huai instantly realized something, took a deep breath, hesitated for two seconds, and answered the phone.

"Hey." That's what Qin Huai said.

"Hey." These were Chen Huihong's words, her voice very calm. "Xiao Qin, come quickly, Luo Jun is dying."

Qin Huai felt his mind go blank. Even though he had prepared for all of this, he was still not ready.

Qin Huai didn't even change his clothes or wash his hands. He put down the dough and ran out of the Yunzhong Canteen, heading straight for Luo Jun's house. He didn't even forget he was tired while running. It wasn't until he stood at Luo Jun's door that his body belatedly reacted and he started panting heavily.

The door opened before Qin Huai rang the doorbell.

An Youyou opened the door.

The scene at Luo Jun's house was completely different from what Qin Huai had imagined.

Qin Huai had never experienced a true separation of life and death, nor had he ever witnessed an elder die before his eyes. His imagination of all such scenes came from movies and TV dramas. And in movies and TV dramas, such scenes usually take place at a hospital bedside.

An elderly man, on his deathbed, weakly gave his last instructions. Around him, a group of relatives were quietly sobbing or forcing smiles while holding back tears. The atmosphere was so poignant that it brought tears to one's eyes. It was a mixture of warmth and sorrow, a sorrow that could not be erased.

But the Luo family is different.

Luo Jun lay in his favorite beanbag chair, his face full of displeasure as he awaited his impending death.

Judging from his posture, if there really were ghost messengers and Black and White Impermanence in this world, the first thing they would get when they came to pick someone up would be two slaps from Bi Fang.

The spirits were all gathered around Luo Jun, while Zhou Hu was nowhere to be seen; he had probably been sent away under some pretext.

The scene was neither sad nor warm.

Chen Huihong was nagging Luo Jun, assuring him, "Don't worry, Luo Jun, after you die we will give you a grand funeral, and we will celebrate every seven-day period from the first seven days to the forty-ninth seven days."

"We always sweep your tomb during festivals, including the anniversary of your death, Qingming Festival, Lantern Festival, Chinese New Year, Qixi Festival, and even Children's Day!"

“Your tombstone will be the cleanest and most beautiful in the entire cemetery. I will hire people to clean your tombstone every day, and the offerings will be changed daily. The fruit that is taken off will be given to Youyou to eat.”

An Youyou nodded frantically in agreement: "Mr. Luo, don't worry, I'm not picky about food, especially fruit, I eat everything."

"You definitely won't be able to finish watching the shows you haven't finished yet. To prevent those shows from being taken off the air due to celebrity scandals, it will be many years before you are reincarnated and old enough to watch TV dramas again. By then, you might not be able to find any film and television resources. We'll download all the good TV dramas that have been released over the years for you, so you won't miss any good shows."

"I won't miss even bad shows."

"And those old magazines and newspapers you hoard in your room, be sure to take them out regularly to air them out and keep them from getting damp and damaged."

"If it gets damaged, it's Xiao Qin's responsibility. He's your heir, so don't come looking for trouble with me. Go after him instead."

Qin Huai: ?
"What else? It seems like there's nothing else. I think you can die in peace now."

Luo Jun remained silent.

Qu Jing quietly spoke up: "Mr. Luo, don't worry, we will definitely visit your grave regularly. Everyone will be there on the anniversary of your death, and we'll make sure everyone is there."

"Since you haven't been reincarnated, there's one thing I need to remind you: you should still pretend when you're a baby. It's best not to pretend to be a child prodigy, otherwise you'll have a hard time studying. Also, if your parents are superstitious, they might give you talisman water to drink."

The little bird is truly giving its all.

Luo Jun: "...I'm not that stupid."

An Youyou also expressed: "Mr. Luo, I am truly grateful to you for giving me that house! If I become rich during the years you were reincarnated, I will definitely make you a pure gold Bifang to worship!"

Luo Jun: ...

Luo Jun didn't give anyone else a chance to say anything more. He turned his gaze to Qin Huai on the far side and asked, "What about you? You're usually quite talkative, so why aren't you saying a word at a time like this?"

Qin Huai wanted to say something witty to lighten the mood, although it seemed the atmosphere didn't need his help anymore. But as soon as Qin Huai opened his mouth slightly, tears fell down his face.

"Tsk." Luo Jun made a disgusted sound.

"No one else cried, but you did. You're supposed to be the male lead in a system novel, what a disgrace."

"How many times do I have to explain? I've been reincarnated, not really dead. We'll meet again in a few years, and you'll still have to pay me back."

"Why are you standing so far away? Come here, I have something to tell you."

(End of this chapter)