Seeking Truth with a Sword-Chapter 488 - 439: Terminal Illness

Chapter 488: Chapter 439: Terminal Illness
"Lung cancer, is it?"
In the room, Jin Wusuan fell silent, flanked by his most trusted guard and housekeeper.
Due to Li Ang’s tireless efforts in publishing articles in various publications over the years, the citizens of Yu Country had become familiar with the concept of cancer. "Just a few days ago, I happened to see an article you wrote, Mr. Li," Jin Wusuan took a deep breath and said slowly. "Many diseases previously thought to be incurable are cancers. For instance, what traditional medicine identified as ’esophageal cancer’ is indeed cancer of the esophagus. What it identified as ’gastric cancer’ is stomach cancer. ’Accumulation’ refers to internal organ tumors, ’abdominal tumor’ to abdominal tumors, and ’uterine bleeding’ to cervical cancer. In the past, the average lifespan wasn’t high, and many people would die from diseases like Blood Sores or malaria before cancer could take them, which is why cancer could be considered a kind of ’disease of affluence’."
He paused for a moment, then suddenly laughed. "Being jokingly called the richest man in Yu Country, getting a disease of affluence seems rather fitting. I just thought that with my usual gluttony, it would be something like stomach cancer."
"SOB SOB SOB..."
Beside him, Manager Jin’s face was streaming with tears, unable to hold back his sobs.
"What are you crying for? I’m not dead yet." Jin Wusuan slapped the table, took another deep breath, and asked Li Ang solemnly, "Mr. Li, is this disease curable?"
"It’s already in the mid to late stages of peripheral lung cancer with lymphatic metastasis," Li Ang answered earnestly. "Cancer cells have invaded the adjacent lung segments, the lymph nodes around the lobar bronchi, and are affecting the parietal pleura. At this stage, there’s not much that can be done."
Even in the medically advanced Otherworld, the treatment of mid to late-stage lung cancer is very difficult, with a five-year survival rate of only 10-30%. And this is on top of using radiotherapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and other means. Currently, there are no radiation therapy machines, no chemotherapeutic drugs, and no molecular genetic testing or targeted drugs. A capable woman can’t cook without rice; they didn’t even have a pot or firewood here.
"..."
Jin Wusuan fell silent once more. Li Ang was the best physician in Yu Country, perhaps even in the world. Even the haughty Imperial Physicians from the Imperial Medical Bureau, who usually held their heads high, acknowledged his expertise and treated his books as invaluable as gold and jade. If he said there was no cure, then it truly was an incurable disease.
"How long do I have left?"
"Not very long." Li Ang was frank. "At this stage, the cancerous tissue has already spread. I can perform a medium-risk surgery for you, trying to remove part of the tumor. But you’ve read my articles; cancer cells spread. Even if just a tiny part is missed, they’ll return with a vengeance. If it’s not completely removed—or to put it another way, completely removing it equates to immediate death. Besides surgery, some drugs could be used to slow the progression of the disease. In the best-case scenario, you could live another three to five years. In the worst-case scenario, without surgery, you’re looking at an anticipated lifespan of only three to six months."
"Three to six months..." Jin Wusuan opened his mouth, about to say something, but was seized by a violent coughing fit. The manager, with tears flowing down his face, quickly handed over a jade bowl for Jin Wusuan to cough his phlegm, streaked with blood, into it.
Li Ang sighed. Jin Wusuan had risen from commoner status, amassing incomparable wealth from scratch and enjoying luxuries not inferior to those of the royal family, yet he couldn’t escape sickness.
After Jin Wusuan finished coughing up the blood-tinged phlegm, his eyes were bloodshot. He asked in a hoarse voice, "This disease, will it be very painful before death?"
"Yes." Li Ang nodded. "The cancer can metastasize throughout the body via blood and lymphatic pathways, spreading to surrounding areas. If it metastasizes to the trachea, it can compress the esophagus, leading to difficulty breathing and swallowing. If it metastasizes to the kidneys, it can cause back pain and kidney failure. If it metastasizes to the digestive tract, it can lead to a loss of appetite, pain in the liver region, and jaundice. If it metastasizes to the bones, it can cause localized pain; if it presses on a joint, it can also lead to joint effusion. The brain and heart are also at risk of cancerous transformation. Strong painkillers will be needed to alleviate the severe pain that spreads throughout the body."
Jin Wusuan slowly nodded. "...I understand."
"Think it over, and let me know whether you want to proceed with treatment. Give me your answer tomorrow." Li Ang got up. "If you decide to undergo treatment, surgery must be arranged as soon as possible. Also, have your people collect red pine bark from trees older than a hundred years; I need the bark to make medicine. By the way, regarding your illness, I’ll keep it confidential for you."
He refused Jin Wusuan’s attempt to get up and see him out, and left the Gold Mansion with Li Leqing and the others.
The wooden door closed, and the room returned to silence.
Sitting behind the desk, Jin Wusuan looked at the strands of blood floating in the water inside the jade bowl—a bowl worth a fortune—and suddenly asked, "Old Nine, how many years have you been with me?"
Manager Jin wiped the tears and mucus from his face and replied, "Replying, Eldest Son, it has been thirty-three years and four months. Back when the Southern Border of Yu Country suffered a demon catastrophe, demons and monsters broke out of the Ten Thousand Desolate Mountains, causing widespread destruction, slaughtering one village after another. That included my home. I was only six years old at the time, hidden by my parents beneath a pile of corpses, nearly suffocated to death, until you, Eldest Son, passed by, heard my crying, and pulled me from underneath the bodies."
"Yes, that’s right." Jin Wusuan muttered, "That demon catastrophe... even now when I think back, it still makes me shiver all over. Within two days, sixty to seventy thousand people were killed by demons. Two Vice Commanders of the Town Patrol Office and six Academic Palace Doctors also died. If it hadn’t been for Lu Qingya and Jianquan Monk intervening, stemming the tide and luring the demons away, preventing them from breaching Kunzhou City, the death toll would have been much higher."
"Eldest Son..." Manager Jin looked at Jin Wusuan with some concern. He knew that Jin Wusuan had always been grateful for the life-saving grace of Lu Qingya and Jianquan Monk during those years, actively donating money and materials, building several buildings for the Lu Li Academy, and many temples on Tiantai Mountain. But now Jianquan was labeled an Evil Demon, someone everyone avoided, and people took extra care when speaking of him.
"I’m a man close to death. Do I still need to be concerned about misfortune stemming from loose talk?" Jin Wusuan waved his hand, gasped for breath for a while, and then said hoarsely, "First, prepare the carriage for me. I need to go to the Imperial Palace and explain the situation to the Emperor and Empress. Then, call together the stewards of Liu Guang Bank and the other businesses to meet tonight. I have instructions to give."
He was going to the Imperial Palace because he had been amassing wealth for the Li Yu Royal Family for many years. Many channels for delivering benefits were solely in his hands, and he had to explain them clearly to the Emperor and Empress before he died and recommend a successor. As for calling together the business stewards, it was more about securing a future for his offspring. He had children late in life, and his oldest was only ten. He didn’t expect his children to take over all the businesses before his death; he only hoped to leave them some family wealth so they wouldn’t be completely stripped clean by others.
The manager went out to prepare the carriage, and the two guards also left the room under Jin Wusuan’s orders.
Now alone in the room, the wealthiest man of Yu Country slowly reached into his chest and took out a jade pendant that had lost all its moisture and had petrified.
Closing his eyes, childhood memories surged into his mind like a tide. The kindly grandparents, the stern father, the gentle mother, the siblings who always followed behind him, his childhood sweetheart with pigtails... Thirty years was far too long; the faces of those closest to him had become blurred in his memory. Some debts, after all, must be repaid.
Jin Wusuan opened his eyes, silently put away the jade pendant, and stood up.
He was prepared to kill someone before he died.
A Candle Cloud Cultivator.