After My Rebirth, My Husband Pampers Me Everyday!

Chapter 229: WE CAN REVERSE A GREAT DEAL

Yanchen didn’t answer immediately.

Instead, he adjusted the image before studying the screen from another angle, his brows gradually drawing together.

The nurse standing beside him quietly looked toward the monitor as well.

The small smile on her face slowly vanished.

The room became noticeably quieter.

Yanchen remained focused on the screen for several more moments before finally withdrawing the instrument and handing it back to the assisting nurse.

"Thank you."

His voice stayed calm.

The nurse nodded before beginning the post-examination routine.

Liuxian slowly sat upright.

He immediately looked toward Yanchen.

"...It’s not good, is it?"

Yanchen didn’t reply straight away.

He removed his gloves before washing his hands, remaining unusually quiet throughout.

Only after drying his hands did he walk back toward the monitor.

He opened several of the captured images before enlarging one of them.

Then another.

Then a third.

Guiying looked toward the screen.

Even without any medical knowledge, he could immediately tell that what he was looking at wasn’t normal.

Yanchen rested one hand lightly against the edge of the desk.

His gaze never left the images.

"...Let’s go back to my office."

His tone remained even.

"I’ll explain everything there."

The walk back to Yanchen’s office passed in complete silence.

Neither Liuxian nor Guiying spoke. The examination had already told them more than enough, and the expression Yanchen had worn while looking at the monitor lingered heavily in both of their minds.

Yanchen closed the office door before returning to his desk.

He opened the examination images on the monitor and rotated the screen so both of them could see it clearly. Without saying a word, he opened two reference images beside Liuxian’s scan before folding his arms across his chest.

"Look carefully."

His finger rested on the first image.

"This is a healthy gastric mucosa. The lining is smooth, the folds are well preserved and the protective mucus layer is intact. Even though the stomach constantly produces hydrochloric acid, this lining is designed to protect itself from that environment."

He moved to the second image.

"This belongs to a patient with uncomplicated gastritis. The mucosa is inflamed and congested, but the inflammation remains relatively localized. With proper treatment and lifestyle modification, this stage is usually reversible."

Finally, he enlarged Liuxian’s examination until it occupied the entire screen.

"Now look at yours."

The difference was immediately obvious.

Even Guiying, who had never studied medicine, could see that the stomach lining looked remarkably different from the other two images. The redness covered a much wider area, the surface appeared uneven, and several portions looked noticeably more irritated than the surrounding tissue.

Yanchen rested one hand lightly against the desk.

"The inflammation is no longer confined to one region."

His voice remained calm, though noticeably firmer than before.

"The gastric mucosa is becoming increasingly fragile, and the protective barrier that shields the stomach from its own acid is beginning to deteriorate. Every time gastric acid comes into direct contact with tissue like this, the inflammation worsens instead of healing."

Liuxian remained quietly looking at the monitor.

Yanchen continued.

"Gastritis isn’t dangerous because of a single bad day. It’s dangerous because repeated irritation prevents the mucosa from repairing itself. When healing can no longer keep pace with injury, the damage gradually accumulates."

He finally turned toward Liuxian.

"I’ve spent years explaining your condition."

"Adjusted your medication whenever necessary because I wanted to give your stomach every opportunity to recover."

His expression became completely serious.

"But medicine cannot compensate for habits that repeatedly injure the gastric lining."

The office became silent.

Yanchen looked directly into Liuxian’s eyes.

"If this continues, the inflammation won’t remain an acute process."

His voice remained steady.

"It will become chronic."

"Once chronic gastritis develops, you’re no longer treating temporary inflammation. You’re managing long-term structural changes to the stomach lining, and recovery becomes significantly more difficult."

Liuxian slowly lowered his gaze.

"I understand."

Yanchen gave a small shake of his head.

"I don’t need you to tell me you understand."

He gently tapped the image displayed on the monitor.

"I need you to decide whether you’re going to protect your stomach or continue damaging it."

No one spoke for several moments.

Guiying quietly looked from the monitor to Liuxian before lowering his eyes again. For the first time, he truly understood why Old Li had always insisted on preparing balanced meals and why Liuxian never complained whenever healthier food appeared on the table.

Yanchen eventually closed the examination images before returning to his chair.

"We caught this before irreversible changes developed."

He rested the medical file neatly on the desk.

"That means you still have the opportunity to reverse a great deal of what we’re seeing today."

His gaze settled on Liuxian once again.

"What you do from this point onward will determine whether your stomach heals..."

He paused only long enough for the words to settle.

"...or whether the next set of images I show you will be far worse than these."

Liuxian lowered his gaze to the examination images still displayed on the monitor.

He had expected Yanchen to lecture him, yet seeing the damage with his own eyes made every explanation unnecessary.

There was nothing left to deny, and certainly nothing left to argue about.

Yanchen quietly closed the images before looking at his cousin once more. "I’ve known you for most of your life, Liuxian, so believe me when I say I’m not trying to frighten you. I’m trying to stop you from becoming one of those patients who sits across from me years later wishing he had listened while there was still time."

The office fell into a comfortable silence.

Liuxian rested his forearms on his knees before letting out a slow breath. "I’ll cooperate this time." His voice wasn’t loud, nor did it carry the confidence of someone making a promise.

Instead, it sounded like someone who had finally accepted that he couldn’t continue pretending everything would simply fix itself.

Yanchen studied him for a moment before giving a small nod. "Good. Because despite what you’ve just seen, you still have an opportunity to reverse much of the damage. The gastric mucosa has an excellent capacity to heal, but only if you stop exposing it to the same sources of irritation day after day. Medication will reduce the inflammation, but it cannot rebuild tissue that’s constantly being injured."

He reached for his prescription pad and began writing with practiced ease.

The quiet scratching of his pen filled the office before he tore the sheet free and placed it together with another document.

"I’ve adjusted your medication, and I want to review you again in four weeks. If your symptoms worsen before then, don’t wait for the appointment. Call me immediately so we can reassess you before the inflammation progresses any further."