Lu Shengxun's Illness and Hospitalization is a turning-point episode in which Lu Xun's carefully controlled public strength gives way to visible bodily vulnerability. What first appears to be an ordinary breathing problem proves more serious than asthma: the illness recurs while he is caring for a feverish Su Xiangwan, forces him into a private ward, and exposes the extent to which concern for his wife overrides his instinct for self-preservation. The episode therefore binds medical danger to emotional revelation, while also placing both spouses inside a wider pattern of fever, respiratory distress, surgery, and hospitalization that repeatedly reorganizes their relationships.

Causes and Medical Crisis

Su Qingrou first reports that Lu Xun has been suffering from a serious breathing problem and that it does not seem to be merely asthma. Su Xiangwan has already heard her mother-in-law mention his shortness of breath, but she has deliberately refused to take the matter seriously because she does not want to fall in love with him. Her indifference is not simply medical ignorance; it is a defensive position. To care for Lu Xun would mean accepting emotional dependence, and she treats that possibility as a danger greater than the illness itself.

The crisis becomes immediate when Lu Xun visits Su Xiangwan while she is ill. Wearing a hat and mask, he sits beside her bed and watches over her as she raves in a fever. His own condition suddenly returns. He takes a pill from his pocket, removes his mask, sprays the medicine into his mouth, and takes several deep breaths before the episode eases. The treatment gives him only temporary control. Covered in sweat, he collapses to the floor beside the bed, converting the image of the vigilant protector into that of a patient who can no longer remain standing.

Hospitalization and the Caregiving Reversal

Even while experiencing the attack, Lu Xun's priority remains Su Xiangwan's fever. From the floor, he calls Hua Shuo and orders him to come to the house to examine her. Hua Shuo is furious that Lu Xun has left the ward and endangered himself, but Lu Xun cuts through the reprimand by insisting that Su Xiangwan has a fever. Hua Shuo eventually arrives, bringing Lin Yanche with him. The two men freeze when they see Lu Xun sitting on the ground and guarding Su Xiangwan, a tableau that makes the contradiction unmistakable: the man who should be under medical supervision has appointed himself caretaker.

Lu Xun is subsequently sent to his private ward. Jin Zhengnan later tells Su Xiangwan that Lu Xun came to see her the night before, became ill, and was taken to the ward. The report changes the meaning of his visit. He had not merely appeared as a husband fulfilling an obligation; he had placed himself in danger by coming to her bedside while she was sick. Jin Zhengnan therefore urges Su Xiangwan to visit him once she has recovered, observing that Lu Xun is clearly worried about her.

The event also creates a reciprocal chain of care among the surrounding characters. Su Qingrou remains so worried about Su Xiangwan's high fever that she has not slept for two days, while Jin Zhengnan brings porridge and carries Su Qingrou away to rest. Su Xiangwan, hearing that Lu Xun is hospitalized, forces herself to respond lightly even as her heart is thrown into turmoil. Illness thus travels through the household not only as a bodily condition but as an affective current: fever produces vigilance, vigilance produces exhaustion, and exhaustion reveals bonds that the characters otherwise try to deny.

Illness as Emotional Disclosure

Lu Xun's hospitalization makes his attachment legible before he is prepared to name it. Su Xiangwan has insisted that she does not want to fall in love with him, imagining love as a loss of control and a difficult future. Yet Lu Xun's actions contradict the emotional distance she attempts to maintain. He comes to see her despite his respiratory condition, remains beside her during the fever, calls for medical help, and continues to orient himself toward her safety even after his own body fails.

The reversal becomes especially stark when Lu Xun later confronts danger while trying to protect Su Xiangwan. With blood still at the corner of his mouth, he crouches down, embraces her, reassures her that she is safe, and kisses her after she notices his injury. His wounded body does not diminish the protective role he assumes; instead, it reveals the cost of maintaining it. The hospitalization and the later injury belong to the same emotional pattern: Lu Xun's body repeatedly becomes the evidence of a devotion that Su Xiangwan is reluctant to acknowledge.

The episode also gives bodily symptoms a narrative force beyond diagnosis. Breathing difficulty, fever, sweat, collapse, and blood on the lips translate concealed feeling into physical signs. Lu Xun can control his speech and conceal his face behind a mask, but he cannot entirely conceal the body that betrays fear, exhaustion, and attachment. The medical crisis therefore functions as a disclosure mechanism: it strips away composure without requiring a formal confession.

Wider Medical and Narrative Consequences

Hospitalization becomes a recurring structure around Lu Xun and the people closest to him. Su Qingrou is hospitalized for acute appendicitis and undergoes surgery to remove her appendix, threatening to delay her approaching engagement ceremony. Lin Yanche is also hospitalized, though his condition is accompanied by manic behavior severe enough that objects can be heard falling inside the ward. These parallel cases prevent Lu Xun's illness from standing alone. The narrative repeatedly places love, engagement, rivalry, and family conflict inside medical spaces where physical weakness alters who can act and who must be protected.

Lu Xun's breathing problem also establishes a contrast with later revelations about Lin Yanche. Lin Yanche's hospitalization is eventually connected to liver cancer: he is waiting for a suitable donor or replacement source, and without one he can only wait for death. Lu Xun's crisis is acute and managed through medication, breathing, and temporary admission to a private ward, whereas Lin Yanche's illness is presented as a terminal threat with a narrowing future. The contrast broadens the story's medical register from recoverable respiratory collapse to irreversible mortality.

The strongest consequence of Lu Xun's hospitalization is relational rather than clinical. Su Xiangwan begins from refusal, treating concern for Lu Xun as something she should avoid, but the news that he became ill while visiting her leaves her emotionally unsettled. His sickness does not resolve the marriage's conflicts or erase the coercive pressures surrounding it. It does, however, make mutual vulnerability impossible to ignore. Lu Xun's attempt to protect Su Xiangwan while sick turns the hospital ward into a measure of attachment: the man who cannot breathe freely still chooses to go where she is, and the woman who claims not to care is forced to reckon with the consequences.