As time went by, Lin Yifan grew weaker and his complexion worsened compared to before; moreover, his heart rate also gradually slowed down.

Knowing that his end was near, Lin Yifan called over Zhou Jiajia and An Qi to discuss some matters.

"If I continue like this, will you still love me?" Lin Yifan asked weakly.

Gazing at the increasingly pallid elderly man on the bed, Zhou Jiajia and An Qi were deeply saddened; they were terrified that Lin Yifan would silently pass away, leaving them to rely on each other in solitude until the end of their days.

"Yes! No matter what you become, I will still love you," Zhou Jiajia responded with tears in her eyes and a broken heart.

"Me too. As long as you don't drive me away or despise me, I will always be by your side to take care of you, accompany you, and protect you," An Qi replied promptly.

Lin Yifan had saved her life; if she were to abandon a man like him, she was doomed never to find happiness.

"Your words are enough for me," Lin Yifan said, feeling comforted.

In these days, his love had not been in vain.

"I can't hold on much longer, and what worries me the most is the two of you; both of you have been hurt by evil people. If I am truly gone, and you find yourselves in danger again, you may try to seek help from my friends Zhao Dabing and Yi Chen. Both of them have some ability and should be able to solve some of the basic dangers for you," Lin Yifan instructed.

"No! Yifan, I don't want to hear this; I don't want anything to happen to you; I don't need their protection, I only need yours because I am your woman," Zhou Jiajia cried out in fear, her heart aching deeply.

It had been so hard for her to find a man she loved and who could spend a lifetime with her; she didn't want to lose him now and live with regret.

"Exactly! Jiajia and I only need your protection, we don't want anyone else's," An Qi chimed in with agreement.

She too had just gotten together with Lin Yifan, not wanting to live alone for the rest of her life without having tasted the sweetness of love.

"I want to protect you both too, but I am powerless now!" Lin Yifan replied, and after speaking, he coughed twice breathlessly, looking very strained and not at all well.

"Yifan, nothing will happen to you, I will definitely find the best doctors in the world to treat you, don't worry," An Qi said encouragingly.

She wanted to give Lin Yifan hope, to spur his fighting spirit; but even she had no certainty in her heart, because Lin Yifan's problem now was the aging and failure of various organs and tissues, it's not like they could just replace every single organ and tissue in his body.

"I know my own condition, there's no need for you to comfort me," Lin Yifan replied. "Anyway, you must remember what I just said, don't make me worry about you from the Netherworld."

"I don't want that! I don't want anything to happen to you!" An Qi threw herself onto Lin Yifan, weeping loudly.

She had never felt such profound sorrow before; this was truly the first time. The feeling was like losing a loved one, excruciating and unbearable deep within her heart.

"An Qi, you still have a marriage engagement; if you truly can't repay your debt, you can ask Boss Su for it; because the Dou Tian TV company is mine," Lin Yifan reminded her.

"The Dou Tian TV company is yours? Yifan, when did you own a company? How do I not know about this?" An Qi asked in surprise.

It was inconceivable that a company owner would willingly be her bodyguard; and moreover, that this owner's company lent her money to keep her company running—utterly incomprehensible.

"I've had it for a long time; the reason I didn't tell you is that I didn't want you to feel too much pressure; also, I wanted to help you through this tough time together with Jiajia, and incidentally repay the kindness you once showed me," Lin Yifan answered.

If An Qi knew he was a company owner, she would definitely be worried about losing him, and then she wouldn't speak to him so uninhibitedly; that was not the outcome he wanted. What he wanted was for An Qi to be happy and live freely.

Moreover, at that time, Zhou Jiajia had decided to stay by An Qi's side to help her through this difficult period. Therefore, as Jiajia's boyfriend, he would definitely need to stay with her. Plus, An Qi owed him a favor, which was another reason that prompted him to stay.

"So that was it. I thought you stayed to protect me because you had taken a liking to me, to let me bully you," said An Qi somewhat disappointedly, realizing she had guessed wrong.

"Those were the reasons I stayed initially; but now you are my treasure. I want to guard you at every moment, and my Jiajia as well," Lin Yifan explained.

"Really?" An Qi's spirits lifted, and she smiled brightly again.

"Really!" Lin Yifan replied before his expression fell, "However, given my condition now, I'm afraid I won't be able to continue staying by your side and protecting you both."

Having said that, he coughed violently again; this time, he finally coughed up blood.

Looking at the fresh blood on the tissue, Lin Yifan bitter-smiled and said, "Heh! It seems I'm really done for!"

"Yifan! Don't talk, I'll go call the doctor right now," Zhou Jiajia urged, about to leave.

But just then, Lin Yifan grabbed the hem of her clothes and pleaded, "Don't bother! It's no use! I still want to chat with you more."

Seeing Lin Yifan's earnest, pleading eyes, Zhou Jiajia couldn't bring herself to leave; perhaps Lin Yifan really only had a few seconds, or minutes, left. Therefore, she didn't want to miss the last moments with Lin Yifan.

"Yifan..." A thousand words turned into sorrow; at that moment, Zhou Jiajia's heart was filled with nothing but pain and grief.

"Jiajia! Don't be coerced by your parents. Your happiness must... it must be... in your own... hands, you know?" Lin Yifan struggled for breath, barely managing to say these words.

"I know!" Zhou Jiajia responded, then urged, "Yifan, stop talking, please rest!"

She really didn't want to see Lin Yifan in such pain.

"No! I'm afraid if I... close my eyes... I... I may never wake up again," Lin Yifan shook his head and continued, "Jiajia, An Qi, you both must... must... cough! cough!"

While speaking, his breath wouldn't come, and he was seized by another bout of violent coughs; this time, even more blood came up.

"Yifan!"

At that moment, An Qi and Zhou Jiajia both cried out in alarm, both clearly frightened at the prospect of something happening to Yifan.

"Huff, huff!" After gasping for breath to calm his racing heart, and with his last breath, Lin Yifan continued, "You two... you must... take good care of yourselves and live on well; I... I need to... go... first..."

Before he could finish, his breath stopped; then he never woke up again.

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