It was Friday night, and Yinan No. 1 High School didn’t have evening self-study. After following Jiang Shi home, Shen Ying stood in front of the bathroom mirror, looking at himself from left to right.
He furrowed his brow, deep in thought. If he told Elder Shen that the marks on his face today were from accidentally bumping into something, would he believe it?
The ointment Jiang Shi bought him was actually quite effective. Aside from the bruise on his cheek that hadn’t completely faded away, the rest was basically healed and didn’t hurt when pressed.
He stared at his reflection in the mirror, hesitating for a long time.
It wasn’t until Jiang Shi came to the bathroom door to call him that he finally made up his decision. As he opened the door and walked out, he told Jiang Shi that he was going to the hospital to see his grandfather tonight.
When Jiang Shi heard this, his expression darkened for a split second, but he quickly nodded. “Alright, then I’ll have Uncle Zhang come pick you up.”
With that, he pulled his phone out of his pocket.
“No need.” Shen Ying reached out to stop Jiang Shi from unlocking his screen. “The hospital isn’t particularly far from your house anyway. I remember there seem to be quite a few shared bikes on the roadside right outside your community. I’ll just bike there. Cycling is definitely more convenient than driving, so we don’t need to trouble Uncle Zhang.”
Jiang Shi lowered his gaze, looking at the knuckle prominent hand pressing down on his wrist, before looking back up a moment later. “Alright, I’ll go downstairs with you. I’ll take a walk to digest my food.”
Before Shen Ying could say anything, Jiang Shi timely added a phrase that made it impossible for Shen Ying to refuse.
Sure enough, hearing that Jiang Shi wanted to go downstairs for a walk to digest, Shen Ying immediately smiled and said, “Great! Let’s go down together then!”
Coming out of the elevator, the two walked side by side toward the community entrance.
Shen Ying glanced at Jiang Shi walking beside him, and finally voiced the request he had been hesitating over in his heart ever since they left Jiang Shi’s house.
“Jiang Shi, if you don’t mind wasting time, would you like to go to the hospital with me?”
This was the second time he had asked Jiang Shi, and this time it was face to face, so his tone carried a hint of cautiousness.
However, rather than giving a polite brush-off about another time as before, Jiang Shi shook his head without the slightest hesitation, refusing Shen Ying.
Seeing this, Shen Ying figured it wouldn’t work after all. He twitched the corners of his mouth, just about to say it was no big deal, when he heard Jiang Shi take the initiative to explain. “Sorry, I’m not really used to chatting with elders. I’m afraid that you… I’m afraid your grandfather won’t like me.”
The three sentences Jiang Shi spoke each carried immense weight, landing heavily right on Shen Ying’s fragile heart.
“You don’t need to apologize to me!” Hearing Jiang Shi’s apology, Shen Ying instantly grew frantic. “Jiang Shi, it’s really okay. Everyone has things they aren’t good at… No, wait, what I meant to say is, there’s no way my grandfather wouldn’t like you! You’re his life-saving benefactor, how could he possibly dare not like you? Wait, no, that’s not right either, what am I even saying…”
Shen Ying was so flustered by Jiang Shi’s three sentences that he scrambled blindly, completely tangling up his words.
“Anyway, my grandfather couldn’t possibly dislike you! Even without the premise of you being his savior, he would definitely like you anyway, because my grandfather loves kids who study hard and look good like you the most. Really!”
Listening to his flustered, hurried explanation, Jiang Shi’s gaze darkened slightly as he said, “Shen Ying, wait until I’ve mentally prepared myself next time, and then I’ll go with you to see your grandfather, okay?”
“Of course! As long as it doesn’t waste your time, I’ll listen to whatever you say.” Shen Ying immediately replied upon hearing this.
The disappointment he had felt just moments earlier, sensing that Jiang Shi seemed averse to visiting his grandfather, vanished into thin air instantly.
Listening to Jiang Shi’s sincere confession now, Shen Ying secretly scolded himself, thinking it was a grave sin to have even had such a misunderstanding.
Though it really was strange. While he knew he could sometimes be a bit single minded, whenever he faced Jiang Shi, he always seemed much more prone to misinterpreting all of Jiang Shi’s outward expressions.
Could my brain be acting dull? Or is my sensory system malfunctioning? Carrying this puzzlement, Shen Ying parted ways with Jiang Shi and rode his bike to the hospital alone.
Even though it had only been five days since he was last at the hospital, returning here once more gave Shen Ying a sense of a lifetime having passed.
He found a spot to park his shared bike and walked for quite a while before finally reaching his grandfather’s single occupancy room.
Perhaps because his frame of mind was different, his first thought upon arriving at the hospital tonight was simply: Hospitals are truly huge, walking really wears out your feet.
As he approached the doorway of the single ward, right before getting close, Shen Ying heard the booming, spirited laughter of Shen Yizhi coming from inside.
Infected by the laughter, Shen Ying knocked on the door with a raised smile.
“Aiyo, Xiao Ying!” Seeing him, Shen Yizhi stopped chatting with the other person in the room, stood right up, and quickly walked over to Shen Ying’s side. “Why did you suddenly come over? You didn’t even tell Grandpa in advance.”
Seeing him make such a large movement, Shen Ying immediately went to support him. “Grandpa, you still shouldn’t be making such big…”
Shen Yizhi: “Xiao Ying, what happened to your face? Were you hurt? Did you get into a fight or fall?”
Noticing Shen Ying’s face, the joy on Shen Yizhi’s face instantly turned into anxiety.
“Hold on, hold on.” Shen Ying pressed down on Shen Yizhi’s flustered hands. “Grandpa, I’m fine. Calm down first. I know your spirits are great right now, but you still shouldn’t get overly excited, it’s scary. This bruise on my face is just from accidentally bumping into a desk the other days. You have no idea, the curriculum at Yinan No. 1 High School is so difficult, I always want to doze off while studying. Look, I bumped it into such a big bruise, it hurt like crazy.”
Facing the elder, he adopted a spoiled, whining tone to garner sympathy.
“Bumped, you bumped it?” After listening, Shen Yizhi peered closely at his face, then said, “How even did you manage that? You can bump yourself up like that just from studying? You need to balance work and rest. How does that saying go? A person can’t get fat from a single bite, you shouldn’t put too much pressure on yourself.”
“Got it, got it.” Shen Ying smiled and replied.
Alright, test passed.
After finishing the verbal sparring match with Elder Shen at the doorway, Shen Ying finally looked at the second person in the room besides his grandfather. He had thought it would be the care worker, but instead, it was an elderly stranger.
“Oh right, Xiao Ying, you should greet Grandpa Lin here. He’s had some minor health issues recently and needed to come in for observation. He’s staying right next door, and whenever he has free time, he comes over to my room to chat.” Shen Yizhi pulled his hand and made the introduction.
Understanding immediately, Shen Ying obediently greeted the man.
Grandpa Lin turned out to be an extremely chatty senior. He first praised Shen Ying from head to toe and then, after casually exchanging a few words, proactively announced that he needed to go back to his room to rest and sleep.
Clearly, he wanted to leave some private space for the grandfather and grandson to talk.
“Elder Shen, you finally made a new friend, and when Grandpa Lin wanted to leave, you didn’t even put up a polite token effort to make him stay. That’s not very nice.” Shen Ying teased Shen Yizhi with a smile after Grandpa Lin left.
“Aiyo, we’re just a couple of old folks at our age, what’s the use of standing on ceremony? Besides, we two just click, we don’t need those superficial pleasantries. Even if he hadn’t initiated leaving just now, I would have chased him out.”
Hearing the last sentence, Shen Ying couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
Once he finished laughing, Shen Yizhi pulled him down to sit by the bedside. Perhaps feeling that WeChat hadn’t covered enough, he peppered Shen Ying with a bunch of similar questions face to face.
Shen Ying patiently and thoroughly answered every single one of them again without showing any annoyance. It wasn’t until half an hour had passed and he saw his grandfather still hunting for things to ask that he hurriedly steered the topic back to his grandfather’s own health.
Yet whenever the conversation shifted to his health, Shen Yizhi always gave the same few lines: I’m fine, my health is great, the doctor is professional, the caregiver is attentive, you don’t need to worry about me, and so on.
The caregiver wasn’t around right now, Shen Yizhi said he had gone out to run an errand and would be back in two hours.
“I actually told that fellow Xiao Lin that the caregiver didn’t need to look after me, I’m not used to it and it wastes money. But he said it’s already been paid for and can’t be refunded. Xiao Ying, is what he said true or false?” Shen Yizhi looked quite troubled by this matter.
“Of course it’s true.” Shen Ying said right away upon hearing it. “Like you said, this caregiver is very attentive. Such professional caregivers are extremely sought after outside, and usually require advance booking, you can’t just casually say you want a refund. Grandpa, doing that shows a lack of respect for people’s professions.”
Shen Yizhi half-understood, but hearing that last sentence, he quickly said, “Well, I certainly didn’t say any of that to his face, I’ve been praising him nonstop.”
“Mhm, just rest easy and take care of your health, don’t overthink these things. I’ve got them handled.” Shen Ying smiled and pacified him.
Hearing this, Shen Yizhi stared at Shen Ying’s face for a long time, his eyes gradually growing a bit moist.
“Stop, stop.” Knowing that the dreaded emotional moment was about to stage a comeback, Shen Ying promptly cut off his emotions. “Elder Shen, if you do that again, I really won’t be able to chat with you face to face anymore. Should I stand outside the door and chat with you over WeChat instead?”
The slight stir of emotion that had just risen in Shen Yizhi’s heart vanished instantly, leaving him at a loss for how to react.
This grandson of his was simply too “sensible,” never letting him finish his heartfelt words.
Denied the chance to speak from the heart, Shen Yizhi shifted gears and began telling Shen Ying how Peng Sheng’s family had been coming over in turns to see him these past few days, leaving him with no time to even feel bored. He added that Peng Sheng came to visit every single day after school, and even when told not to bother, it went in one ear and out the other as if he hadn’t heard a thing.
Tonight was the sole exception, Shen Ying had come, but Peng Sheng hadn’t.
After talking about Peng Sheng, Shen Yizhi brought up Jiang Shi, asking if he was doing well, though he no longer mentioned wanting to contact him to thank him face to face or visit his home upon discharge.
“Oh right, Xiao Ying, there’s something… I didn’t know how to bring up on WeChat.” Once he finished asking about Jiang Shi’s well-being, Shen Yizhi’s tone suddenly grew cautious.
Shen Ying looked at Shen Yizhi earnestly and asked, “What is it? What’s wrong?”
“Those two days when I collapsed and was hospitalized, did you use my phone to call Xiao Xue?” Shen Yizhi’s tone remained cautious.
Shen Ying’s face filled with confusion because he didn’t immediately process who “Xiao Xue” referred to.
By the time he connected the dots, Shen Yizhi had already continued speaking.
“It’s the contact listed on my phone as… your mother.”
Hearing that term, Shen Ying subconsciously avoided the gaze his grandfather cast toward him, remaining silent for a moment before speaking up, “Ah, I think I did make one call. Didn’t I fail to raise the money for your surgery that day? I thought I’d give it a try and see. But she must have been very busy, that call didn’t get through. Grandpa, I didn’t ask her for money, you can rest easy.”
“Xiao Ying, Grandpa isn’t trying to confirm that with you.” Shen Yizhi’s tone grew somewhat anxious. “It’s just that Xiao Xue suddenly called me a couple of days ago, asking if I had called her the week before last. She said she was away on a business trip out of town at the time, and her phone had a glitch for those couple of days. It wasn’t until she finished her work on the trip and got the phone fixed that she saw I had called, so she hurriedly called back to ask if something urgent had come up. Since I was already fine… I just told her it was probably an accidental dial.”
Listening to this long winded explanation, Shen Ying simply nodded with a calm expression. Aside from indicating that he understood, he didn’t proactively ask any more questions.
“Xiao Ying, if you hold any resentment in your heart, you can blame Grandpa. Just please don’t blame your mother.” Shen Yizhi gently patted his hand.
Hearing this, Shen Ying smiled helplessly. “Grandpa, why would I blame either of you? If you’re talking about blaming you, then sure, I blame you. How many times have I reminded you to rest early after getting off work instead of doing free labor for other people? I told you long ago, those coworkers at the factory who love taking advantage won’t remember you doing overtime for them. Look at that, now that you’ve overworked yourself into a collapse, none of them are anywhere to be seen. As for… what could I possibly blame her for? Blame her phone for malfunctioning? Or blame her for not getting scammed by me right away? This isn’t anything she owes me.”
“Xiao Ying, you mustn’t talk like that.” Shen Yizhi seemed unable to bear hearing him speak this way, looking deeply anxious. “Xiao Xue could never feel like you were trying to scam her. She’s actually had a really hard time all these years…”
“Alright Grandpa, I understand everything you’re saying. Let’s not talk about this anymore, okay?” Shen Ying subconsciously wanted to stop listening.
Anyway, this matter had already passed along with that failed phone call.
As for the excuse of a phone malfunction, Shen Ying was actually willing to believe it.
He simply had never imagined that the bond between himself and his biological mother could truly be this faint.
From now on, he would probably never have any other opportunity to forge any emotional connection with his mother.