The white rose I picked up cried and said she liked me.

"Brother, what did the doctor say?"

Outside the hospital, the girl gently tugged at the collar of the boy who was carrying her on his back.

Am I about to recover?

Her relaxed tone was full of joy.

Xu Nian's hands, which were supporting the girl, trembled slightly.

He couldn't understand the professional academic terms used by Director Huang.

But he understood four words.

incurable disease.

But how could he bear to tell the truth?

"It'll be soon. You need to be good and take good care of yourself."

"Hehe~ Brother, don't forget, once I get better, you have to be my boyfriend!"

This is what this girl has been thinking about all the time.

Xu Nian remained silent for a while.

"Xiaoxi, I want to talk to you about something."

"What is it?"

He walked to a bench and gently put the girl on his back down.

"How about we become boyfriend and girlfriend right now, before you even recover?"

The girl's beautiful eyes curved slightly at the corners.

She reached out and gently stroked the boy's cheek.

"Brother, can't you wait any longer?"

Xu Nian held her soft little hand tightly and nodded slightly.

"Xiaoxi, I like you, I want to be with you forever, and be your boyfriend."

The girl's smile grew even brighter, like a blooming rose.

Then, a resolute glint appeared in her soft voice.

"I'm sorry, brother."

"Love is a very solemn thing. I want to wait until I'm fully recovered and be in the best possible condition to become my brother's lover."

"So, please be patient, brother, until then."

"I don't want our anniversary to be tinged with the bitterness of illness ten, twenty, or thirty years from now."

Xu Nian's heart skipped a beat, as if she had been electrocuted.

If this girl knew she would never be fully cured, she probably wouldn't have said such a thing.

Seeing her brother's stunned expression, Xu Xi gently covered her mouth and smiled sweetly.

"Brother, I have one more small request."

"What request?"

The girl waved her hand, gesturing for the boy to lean closer.

She whispered in the boy's ear.

"Brother, last time, I was the one who confessed my feelings to you."

"But my brother abandoned me, leaving me heartbroken for so many days."

"Every day, I feel like I'm in an ice cave, and the world has lost its color."

"So, when I recover from my illness, I want to hear my brother confess his love to me."

After saying that, she winked playfully.

"Don't worry, I won't refuse."

Xu Nian turned her head away, forcing herself not to let her tears fall.

He's willing, even if it's ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times, he's willing.

But can they really wait until that day?

......

In March, the school season begins, and the ice and snow melt.

As college students return to campus from all over the country, this land is once again vibrant with life and everything is reviving.

Having spent half of the winter break lying at home, being forbidden from going out and doing this and that, Xu Xi's little face was clearly a bit sullen.

Moreover, her brother arranged for her to take a leave of absence from school without her consent, claiming that he wanted her to rest more and recover her health so that she could truly be his girlfriend.

She pretended to be angry for two hours before haughtily agreeing.

Wen Yao handled all the affairs, big and small, of Xiaoxi's canteen. When Xu Xi offered to help, she politely declined with some excuse.

Building on the foundation laid by Xu Xi last semester, she successfully expanded the meal delivery business to four campuses in the first month.

In this way, a monthly income of 100,000 for eight months a year is guaranteed.

Zhao Lin's online store and Qi Yu's tutoring business are also going very well, both reaching the expected income levels.

Xu Nian also returned to her old job, going back to the restaurant's kitchen.

Thanks to having the best recommended spot on the campus food delivery platform, as well as his excellent skills and high-quality ingredients, his business was extremely popular, with monthly net profit once exceeding 20,000 yuan.

The cost, however, is that everyone is working beyond their capacity.

Wen Yao lost all her free time, her feet were always on the ground, and she would disappear from everyone's sight as soon as get out of class ended. Occasionally, she was so busy that she would skip class altogether.

Zhao Lin single-handedly manages online stores on multiple platforms, taking on multiple roles including sales, operations, after-sales service, shipping, and packaging. She spends the entire day with her computer in hand.

As a teacher-training student, Qi Yu already had an exceptionally heavy course load. In order to complete more tutoring orders, he would often rush out of the school as soon as get out of class ended and then rush back to the classroom at the last second before class started.

The most exhausted of them all was Xu Nian.

I get up at three in the morning to prepare meals. In the morning, I make steamed buns, wontons and porridge for breakfast. At noon, I make dumplings and hand-pulled noodles. In the evening, I stir-fry several large bowls of vegetables and sell boxed lunches and fast food.

Each time we close for the day, it's close to midnight.

I don't get more than three or four hours of sleep before I have to get up to the alarm clock that's like a death knell.

His white hair has gone from a few strands to a handful.

Fortunately, everything is moving in a positive direction.

At this rate, it won't be a problem for the four of them to earn 120 million in a year.

Xu Xi, hoping to recover soon and become her brother's girlfriend in the true sense, rests and recuperates at the shop every day.

In the first ten days of each month, her condition improves slightly; she can walk normally, eat and drink on her own, and occasionally help her brother make a few dumplings.

In the middle of the month, her sleep time began to get longer and longer, and she would not wake up until noon.

In the latter part of the month, she began to cough uncontrollably, and sometimes she would wake up in the middle of the night because she couldn't breathe.

After receiving another IV drip at the end of the month, the next cycle began.

Fortunately, thanks to everyone's cover-up, she seemed unaware that she had an incurable disease and maintained a good mood every day.

These days continued until June 15th.

That day, after packing up her stall, Xu Nian dragged her tired body upstairs to rest.

Halfway down the stairs, he heard a violent coughing sound.

This cough was more severe than before, continuous, and it seemed as if I was only exhaling and not inhaling.

He hurriedly ran up the stairs, pushed open the door, and saw the girl on the bed barely alive. Her pretty face had lost all color, as if someone was strangling her. Her chest was rising and falling weaker and weaker, and her eyes were beginning to turn white.

......

"Doctor, how is it?"

"Director Huang! How is my sister?"

Outside the operating room, four people with panda eyes anxiously surrounded Huang Jianjun, who had just walked out of the operating room.

Upon learning that Xu Xi had suddenly fallen seriously ill, Wen Yao and Zhao Lin rushed to the hospital without even changing their clothes, still wearing their pajamas.

Qi Yu was slightly better off; he had just finished a tutoring job and hadn't had time to rest in bed yet, so he was the most normally dressed among them.

Huang Jianjun took off his mask, his face looking very serious.

"The condition has stabilized for now, but there is bad news."

"Director Huang, didn't you say that as long as my sister undergoes this enzyme treatment every month, she won't be in danger?"

"This is the bad news I wanted to tell you."

"Your sister's body is starting to develop drug resistance."

"From now on, I will need to undergo enzyme replacement therapy twice a month."