The Great Thief

"Take your time, eat slowly and don’t choke on the food." Her expression changed, and Lu Li let out a sigh of relief. The woman sat beside Lu Xin’s bed, and she was surprisingly kind and loving.

Lu Li had already guessed who the visitors were.

Their last name was Mei and they wanted to meet Lu Xin.

Lu Li did not expect to meet the family of the donor like this. He was full of mixed emotions.

They were still mourning over the imminent death of daughter, so he had to be careful with his wording. If he acted impatiently or didn’t phrase his sentences correctly, it would appear as if he was hoping for their daughter to die faster. The donor’s family could withdraw their consent at any time, so Lu Li was treading on thin ice.

Unlike other organ transplants, the heart had to be taken out while it was still beating after the death of the donor. Otherwise, it would infarct and become useless.

From a certain perspective, heart transplants were considered immoral because if the heart was still beating, then the patient had yet to be clinically deceased.

Some people considered taking out the heart to be the same as killing the patient. Therefore, for the family of heart donors, it was usually extremely difficult for them to accept this.

Lu Li had nothing but gratitude towards the family of the donor.

"I’m Mei Wu’s father and this is her mother. We heard that you guys had just arrived," the middle-aged man on the chair and finally said after a moment of silence.

"Thank you so much." Lu Li wanted to apologise, but he wasn’t sure what the right thing was to say.

"She’s only 21 years old," Mr Mei said as he wiped at his eyes, not afraid to shed tears in front of a stranger. "She was rebellious and I was stubborn, always wanting her to do things my way. I’d forgotten that she was only 21 years old and had been so strict towards her...."

He was sharing his emotions and Lu Li wasn’t sure what to say, so he listened intently.

"I never saw this coming. I raised her for more than 20 years, but everything happened so fast." Mr Mei was very well-spoken, but the pain of losing his daughter was unbearable.

Mrs Mei was slicing apples for Lu Xin, cutting them into small pieces and feeding them to her.

Her hands were soft and beautiful; it was obvious that she came from a very wealthy background.

Lu Xin was hesitant at first, but didn’t want to be rude. Her small red cheeks moved up and down as she ate the apple, like a cute doll. Her illness had not affected her cuteness and health; she was just as happy as other kids her age.

Lu Li wasn’t sure why they had visited. As he listened to Mr Mei, he kept his eyes on Lu Xin the whole time.

To be honest, Lu Li tensed up every time Mrs Mei held the knife. He was paranoid that the loss of her daughter would cause Mrs Mei to do unthinkable things.

Fortunately, after slicing the apple, she placed it down.

"I heard your family is just you and your sister?" Mr Mei asked after he finished his story.

"Yeah, my parents passed away when we were little and we’ve been dependent on each other ever since." Lu Li realised he never asked the doctor how much compensation was required to be given to the donor family. Even though it was difficult to place a price on a life, Lu Li had never researched into this area before.

Organ donation had to be free because paying for organs was illegal.

The only payment required was the cost of the surgery performed in the hospital.

"Do you have any other relatives?" Mr Mei was surprised because when Dr. Don persuaded them about the heart donation, he had only mentioned that they had lost their parents when they were young. However, he assumed that they had been adopted or taken in by relatives or foster families.

"Not that I know of." Even if they did have other relatives, Lu Li couldn’t remember any of them.

Perhaps their relatives would be too poor to take them in, even if they did find a way to contact them.

"Wow... you singled-handedly raised her up? How many years older are you compared to her?" Mr and Mrs Mei had no other ulterior motives apart from getting to know them better.

They wanted to see what their daughter’s heart would be used for in the future – whether the recipient was as beautiful as their own daughter, whether the recipient had a warm and loving family and whether the family had enough money to afford the expensive surgery procedure. They didn’t want to waste the heart of their beloved daughter.

The couple was touched and satisfied by what they saw.

The little girl was very pretty and cute; she was as pure as an angel, much like their own daughter.

Her older brother treated her very well and from observing their interactions, anyone could tell that they were very close.

They had no idea that they had been orphans since they were kids.

"My older brother raised me when I was still a kid. He was willing to do anything for me, through hardship and pain, and he managed to put food on the table. Now, he’s a professional gamer with thousands of players that follows his orders," Lu Xin said proudly.

In Lu Xin’s eyes, her older brother was the greatest person alive.

Whenever the teacher asked the class who the greatest person was in history, some would answer with kings and politicians, while other would answer scientists. However, Lu Xin’s answer would always be her older brother.

"Ok. Very good," Mr Mei said, letting out a sigh of relief.

"Um... if I may ask, is there anything I could help you with?" Lu Li asked.

Lu Li was still unsure as to why the parents of the donor was visiting them. They should have been staying by their daughter’s side because she could pass away at any moment.

They looked at each other, and Mrs Mei wiped away her tears as Mr Mei said, "I wanted to see if you guys needed any help. If you don’t have enough money, then we can lend you some first. If not, then we’re here to tell you to prepare for the operation."

Mrs Mei followed and added, "I hope the best for you both. Don’t let my daughter’s heart..."

Lu Li could sympathize with the parents losing their daughter and firmly said, "I will take care of my sister and never let her be sad.

With the consent of the parents, the operation was quickly performed.

Two months after Lu Li’s rebirth, Lu Xin entered the operation room under the care of the best heart surgeon on the planet, Helen Svalford, and a team of experts.

After hours of waiting, the surgery was successful.

"The operation was very successful. The patient will require some time to recover and I suggest to give her a period of quarantined post-op recovery. Please follow the management plan carefully and strictly."

Dr. Hellen Svalford was exhausted but explained everything to Lu Li patiently.

Other experienced doctors all agreed that the surgery went better than expected.

However, the most important phase of an organ transplant was not the operation, but the post-op management. Lu Li had to be extremely careful in taking care of his little sister to ensure that her heart was not rejected.

They also suggested that Lu Li move to Nanjing for a while so that the hospital would be more accessible and convenient.