The Scorching Sun - 51
After leaving the operating room, Ye Yuncheng remained in the recovery room for a while under observation. By the time they took him back to the ward, the anesthesia still hadn't fully worn off. He could open his eyes and look around, and could manage simple exchanges, but he wasn't completely conscious yet. He kept mumbling all sorts of disconnected nonsense, his words so illogical that it was hard to make out what he was saying.
Fang Zhuo sat beside him and managed to catch one sentence: "Did you close up the stall? Where did I park it again? Don't buy anything if it's not fresh."
She felt a pang of sympathy, yet couldn't help finding it absurdly funny. She pulled the blanket back up over him after he'd kicked it loose.
When he got no answer, Ye Yuncheng came out with another sentence that had absolutely nothing to do with the last. "The people who want double chili, did you say you were gonna charge… charge them extra?"
"Yeah." Fang Zhuo asked, "Anything besides money? Do we need to send some to your relatives?"
Ye Yuncheng struggled to think, but still couldn't come up with an answer. Frowning, he muttered, "I'm dreaming."
Fang Zhuo carefully wiped his face and hands. When enough time had passed, she asked them to keep watch for a while and went out herself.
None of them had eaten lunch. Liu Qiaohong had even put down his work and made the trip in from the countryside specifically to help her deal with the medical expenses.
Fang Zhuo bought a serving of liquid food, then ordered five bowls of fried noodles and five bottles of breakfast milk.
She wasn't particularly hungry herself, but if she didn't eat, the others would probably feel too awkward to eat either.
After paying, Fang Zhuo crouched beside the counter and copied the bill into her records in the same format Ye Yuncheng used.
Fortunately, the thousand-plus yuan in loose cash she'd brought from home had all been tucked into another compartment of her backpack. The thief had probably been in too much of a hurry to search it carefully. In the end, they had only taken the conspicuous ten thousand yuan, leaving Fang Zhuo with at least some money in hand.
Now that she'd calmed down and thought about it carefully, Fang Zhuo found herself wondering if perhaps losing that ten thousand yuan had simply been fate's way of forcing her to sever things completely with Fang Yiming. That way, she didn't have to think about what she was supposed to do with the money anymore.
Besides, people said money could be spent to ward off disaster. As long as Ye Yuncheng came safely out of the hospital, she could just think of it as Fang Yiming doing a good deed on her behalf.
After reassuring herself with that line of thought, her chest felt considerably lighter. At least the mere thought of the word "money" no longer made her feel like she was having a heart attack.
Fang Zhuo rolled up her sleeves and carried the two heavy bags of lunch back to the ward. When she stepped inside, she found only Yan Lie sitting beside the bed.
She set the bags down on the bedside table and asked quietly, "Where is everyone?"
Yan Lie put down his phone. "There are too many people in here. There's nowhere to stand. Uncle Liu took Xiao Mu outside to watch cartoons. The homeroom teacher stepped out a little while ago. Didn't say what for."
"Eat first." Fang Zhuo handed him a meal box. "I'll take the noodles to Uncle Liu."
With Liu Qiaohong there, Xiao Mu seemed much more at ease. His eyes no longer wandered aimlessly, and he had stopped shuffling around in tiny, purposeless circles.
The two of them sat in front of the television in the lounge, watching an episode of Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf with the sound turned off. Xiao Mu was completely absorbed, staring without blinking, his expression entranced, already forgetting all the unhappy things that had happened.
They hadn't been watching for long when a young patient's family member took the remote from the metal rack and switched the television over to a sports channel.
Xiao Mu hadn't seen the ending. He opened his mouth in disappointment, but didn't dare say anything, only looking at Liu Qiaohong with wounded eyes.
"Never mind." Liu Qiaohong patted his head. "Be good, Xiao Mu."
Fang Zhuo smiled and walked over to hand them their meal boxes.
Xiao Mu hadn't eaten anything since last night. He'd originally planned to set up the stall first, then make himself a rice ball for breakfast. He'd even already decided what fillings to put inside. But Ye Yuncheng's accident had frightened him so badly that he'd forgotten he was hungry.
Now that he had finally let himself relax, he was afraid everyone would think he ate too much and had been holding himself back, too embarrassed to say anything. The moment Fang Zhuo handed him the boxed meal, his whole face brightened, happiness written all over it.
His simple delight rubbed off on Fang Zhuo, lightening her mood as well. She left the braised-food meal box with them, said a quick goodbye, and returned to the ward to eat.
Not long after, the homeroom teacher appeared at the doorway and beckoned Fang Zhuo outside.
They moved to a quiet stairwell. The homeroom teacher pulled a thick wad of cash from her bag and immediately pressed it into Fang Zhuo's hands.
"Take this ten thousand yuan for now. There are plenty of things at the hospital that cost money. You're a girl, and you're still in your senior year. If you really can't manage taking care of him yourself, hire a caregiver."
Fang Zhuo refused without hesitation. "No."
"Listen to your teacher. Give me an IOU and pay me back once you're earning money!" Her expression turned stern. "You don't understand how things work out in the real world. Taking care of a patient isn't as simple as you think. Take it."
Fang Zhuo shook her head. "I really don't need that much money. After Uncle Liu used the major-illness subsidy to pay the medical bills, there was still some left. My uncle has a bank card with the money he earned before in it. Once he wakes up, we can ask him for the password and withdraw it."
"You child, why do you have to be so stubborn?" the homeroom teacher snapped. "Some things can be left to the adults..."
She was about to continue lecturing her when her phone rang inside her bag. She bent over to rummage through it, still continuing to scold her. "You're a student. Your job is to study. Do you know how important senior year is for you? Hang on a second... Hello? Aren't you supposed to be in class right now? You have the nerve to call me? Have you forgotten who I am?"
The person on the other end was speaking loudly, but Fang Zhuo was standing too far away to make out much.
After listening, the homeroom teacher's left eyebrow rose as she glanced at Fang Zhuo. She answered with a couple of absent-minded hums, then said expressionlessly, "Mm. Mm. I'll put you on speaker. Tell Fang Zhuo yourself."
Fang Zhuo stepped closer and heard Wei Xi's familiar, hearty voice blasting from the speaker.
"We found the money, Fang Zhuo! We really found it! Not a single cent is missing!"
"Really?" Fang Zhuo stared in disbelief. "That fast?"
"Yeah! Apparently the guy's a repeat offender. He stole the money and hid it in a suitcase, planning to use it to pay off a debt this afternoon. But before he could do anything, a bunch of guys jumped him and pinned him down. He's been taken to the police station for questioning now." Wei Xi was so excited that the words came pouring out in a rush. "I wasn't there myself, so I can't tell you exactly what happened, but apparently it was absolutely chaotic and insanely intense! Even the police officers were so worked up when they came out, their faces were red!"
Fang Zhuo and the homeroom teacher both felt there had to be more to the story than that. They almost felt an obligatory little thump of foreboding.
"Anyway, they've sent representatives to bring you the money. Let them tell you themselves." Wei Xi called out, "We'll be waiting for you to come back, Fang Zhuo! We've saved all your notes for you!"
The two words "wait" and "back" coming together were enough to make the simple promise feel warm and beautiful.
Fang Zhuo had barely ever heard those words in the first eighteen years of her life. They were a luxury that had appeared only rarely, if at all, on the list of things she'd ever been given as a reward. Touched, she nodded.
Then, realizing that nodding wasn't exactly an answer, she hurriedly spoke up. "Okay."
The homeroom teacher took the phone back and said sternly, "All right, that's enough. Hang up and get to class! I'll have all your subject teachers record the truancy, and every one of you will have to handwrite an entire exam paper as punishment."
Wei Xi was already too flooded with dopamine to care about the consequences. She launched straight into boasting. "One exam paper? That's nothing, homeroom teacher! I'm telling you, right now I'd even dare write ten! I..."
Before she could finish, someone clapped a hand over her mouth, and the rest of her sentence vanished with the abruptly severed call.
The homeroom teacher laughed despite herself. "Honestly. That girl just loves making a fuss."
Another person who loved making a fuss came charging out of the ward with a meal box in his hands. The moment he saw Fang Zhuo, he shouted, "Fang Zhuo! We got the money back!"
The homeroom teacher shot him a glare.
Seeing that the two of them already knew, Yan Lie grinned and added, "Well? Didn't I tell you I'm your lucky star?"
If Fang Zhuo believed in superstition, she'd have to believe in Yan Lie's good luck, because every single time, things turned out exactly as he'd said they would.
And she selfishly wished this lucky star could shine on her for just a little longer.
After all, compared with the eighteen years of her life, the time she'd spent being lucky had been painfully short. She'd become addicted to the feeling of having good fortune, of being cared for.
Fang Zhuo's eyes curved as she smiled brightly. "Thank you."
The smile was dazzling, almost painfully bright.
Yan Lie had seen all her different smiles, from restrained ones to perfunctory ones, but this was the first time he'd seen her smile with such complete, unguarded sincerity. His breathing caught for a moment. He looked away and stared at the slogan on the wall for a second, then quickly raised a hand to wipe the grease from the corner of his mouth before turning back. He couldn't quite suppress the upward curve of his lips. "Why are you taking it so seriously? If you keep this up... I might get carried away."
He smiled again. "Though being serious is one of your good qualities. I'm not saying that's a bad thing."
Fang Zhuo slowly lifted her gaze and looked past him.
Yan Lie didn't have time to turn around when the homeroom teacher's bag came down on the back of his head with a solid but not particularly hard thump.
This brat!
Did he have to act like she wasn't even there?
Yan Lie clutched his head and let out an exaggerated cry of pain. The homeroom teacher turned on her heel and walked away with her chin held high.
---
Comments
Post a Comment