Following the address his classmate gave him, Zhou Yu took a taxi and after half an hour, he arrived at the lobby of a Three-A Grade General Hospital. He checked with the information desk and found Su Yan’s room number.
Zhou Yu suddenly felt uneasy. He didn’t know what kind of attitude Su Yan would have when she saw him later. He was most afraid of being chased away by her. He didn’t think he was a strong person when it came to relationships. If she really kicked him out without any courtesy, what would he do?
However, he comforted himself by thinking, “I’ve come all this way to see her, she shouldn’t be so cold-hearted, right? Although I misunderstood and hurt her brother back then, which made her very angry, that was more than three years ago. The resentment in her heart should have been diluted by time, right?”
Thinking like this, the gloom in his heart gradually dissipated, and he began to imagine the scene of them chatting happily after they met. He walked to the elevator, and suddenly thought, “It’s not good to visit her empty-handed like this. I should buy something for her. But what should I buy? Oh, right, flowers. This is both fashionable and expresses sincerity.”
So, he went to the street and searched for a long time, and finally saw a flower shop with a dazzling array of flowers displayed at the entrance and inside. He went in and selected a large bouquet of beautiful, moving, warm and quiet carnations.
With an excited heart, he returned to the hospital, took the elevator to the fourth floor of the inpatient department, and in a certain ward, on an iron bed covered with a blue and elegant bed sheet, he saw Su Yan, whose head was wrapped in medical gauze and who was in a semi-recumbent position. Her eyes were half-closed, as if she was thinking about something.
Although the gauze wrapped around her head slightly affected her image, in Zhou Yu’s eyes she was still so beautiful and refined. Compared to the slightly green Su Yan in school two years ago, she seemed to have a kind of mature and charming charm that had been nourished by the years from the inside out. It was like a jar of aged wine, intoxicating to taste and with a long aftertaste.
At this time, his heart jumped violently with nervousness, as if a sudden rain had hit a pond, splashing dense water droplets. He stood for a while, then, holding the flowers, pretended to be calm and walked in, clearing his throat and said, “Su Yan, hello, I’m here… to see you…”
Su Yan’s eyes swept over, and then her eyebrows furrowed, her eyes full of surprise: “You are… oh, I remember, you are Zhou Yu.”
[If you see this text, please exit reading mode, or go to the “source web page” for normal reading]
[Please go to the source web page to read, the following content is automatically replaced to prevent collection] You – I, big – small, more – less, up – down, left – right….
“Yes, yes, yes, I am Zhou Yu.” Zhou Yu squeezed out a stiff smile and replied, while placing the flowers on the bedside table next to her. “I heard from my classmates… that you were injured and hospitalized, so I hurried to find you, and it took me almost two hours to find this place (he deliberately exaggerated the search time, wanting to win her favor). The road is not familiar, it’s hard to find. Hey, is my injury serious?” As he spoke, he leaned over to check her injury to express his concern, but the injured area was completely covered by layers and layers of gauze, and he couldn’t see it at all.
“It’s okay.” Su Yan said indifferently, “Sit down.”
“How did you get injured?” Zhou Yu moved a stool and sat down, his face full of concern.
Su Yan replied, “I was hit by a stone thrown by someone.”
“What kind of unscrupulous person would do that!” Zhou Yu condemned, “Did you call the police?”
Su Yan shook her head and said, “The place where I was hit by the stone was an unfinished building, dark and gloomy, and there was no surveillance.”
Zhou Yu understood. She didn’t call the police because she thought the police might not find the suspect, and calling the police would be useless.
He rubbed his hands, not knowing what to say.
Silence.
Perhaps feeling uneasy because of the awkward atmosphere, Su Yan sat up and looked at Zhou Yu and asked, “When did you come to Jincheng?”
“Today.”
“Oh, looking for a job?”
“Looking for a job.”
“Since I graduated and left school, we haven’t seen each other again. It’s been more than two years.”
“Yes, time flies like a white horse passing through a crack, and two years have passed in a flash.”
“…”
The two of them chatted more and more warmly, and it could be seen that Su Yan had already let go of her past resentment towards Zhou Yu.
After chatting for a while, several young men and women suddenly came in. They were all Su Yan’s friends and had come to visit her.
Not long after these people came in, Su Yan began chatting with them enthusiastically, and Zhou Yu couldn’t get a word in at all, which made him feel like an outsider, and he couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed. So, he tactfully said to Su Yan that he had something to do and had to go back first, and then asked for her mobile phone number.
Walking out of the hospital, he saw the sparse stars and bright moon. Zhou Yu happily thought, “Su Yan’s resentment towards me has been eliminated, that’s great. Maybe it was because I came to visit her that she was moved and eliminated it, or maybe it was because her life experience has increased and she has seen many things more clearly and eliminated it long ago; I was worried that she was still angry with me for hurting her brother, it seems that my thinking was narrow.”
However, he also felt that he had such thoughts was very abnormal, because since that incident happened and she announced that she would sever contact with him, he hoped to repair the relationship with her, so he approached her many times, trying to please her. She either spoke rudely, scolding him for being reckless and brainless, and that he had made her very angry by hurting her brother, and told him not to look for her in the future; or she simply ignored him, treating him like dirt.
He felt that she was like a hedgehog with bristling quills, and if he approached her, he would be pricked and hurt, and he didn’t dare to provoke her again. Even so, the seed of his secret love for her was still deeply buried in the soil of his heart.
After she graduated and left the school, he lost contact with her. He felt that they might not have a chance to meet in this lifetime.
Unexpectedly, a week ago, he accidentally heard a university classmate say that Su Yan was now working in Jincheng. After learning this news, he, who had been unemployed at home for two months, decided to go to Jincheng, planning to find a chance to approach her and try to repair the relationship with her. He felt that he was now more thoughtful and mature in handling things than he was three years ago. As long as she was willing to give him a chance to approach her, he would carefully take care of her feelings and let her see his changes.
He remembered that he had misunderstood and hurt her brother back then, and she questioned him like this: “Why didn’t I ask clearly before hitting someone?” But he retorted righteously: “Why didn’t he say he was my brother? Is there anything wrong with what I did?”
This was the fuse that intensified their contradictions, and coupled with the fact that he later stubbornly refused to bow his head and apologize to her, their relationship became more and more rigid, until it reached a dead end.
Later, he read a book called “Squares and Circles” that talked about how to communicate effectively and get along harmoniously with people, and he realized that there was a big problem with talking like that – a lack of skills and human touch. If he hadn’t spoken so “square” at the time, but had adopted “round” handling skills, their relationship might not have become so bad.
“Good things take time.” He concluded with a smile.
He took a Didi back to the vicinity of the cheap hotel, paid the fare in cash, got out of the car, and hummed a song, reaching into his pocket to take out his mobile phone to check the time. Unexpectedly, the phone slipped from between his fingers and fell to the ground, as if a dead fish was popping and jumping, falling into the well from the gap in the manhole cover. He “ah–” exclaimed, opening his mouth wide, his heart suddenly rising to his throat. He hurriedly bent over and lay down on the ground, looking into the manhole. It was dark and he couldn’t see anything, only the sound of gurgling water, and a foul smell rushed into his nostrils.
He also saw that this was a cast iron manhole cover and it was already rusted, and it would be difficult to open. He dejectedly punched the cement ground hard with his fist, muttering to himself: “It’s over, it’s over, the phone must have been washed away by the sewage. Even if it wasn’t washed away, how can I get it up since the manhole is so deep? Even if I find a way to get it up, it’s probably been soaked in water and scrapped! Alas, I’m really unlucky! I’ll go buy a new one tomorrow.”
He got up and stared blankly at the manhole cover for a long time (because the street light was relatively far away, the light shining on it was insufficient, making it appear relatively dim), before reluctantly leaving.
Back at the entrance of the accommodation, Zhou Yu knocked on the door for a long time, but Li Fei didn’t open it. He thought, “Could this guy be asleep? That’s unlikely, he should be able to hear such loud knocking.”
In an instant, a bad premonition surged into his heart. He hurriedly went upstairs to the front desk and told the service staff about the situation of him knocking on the door but Li Fei not opening it, and asked the service staff to bring the room card down to open the door.
The service staff looked at him in surprise and said, “Your friend has already left. Didn’t he tell you?”
Zhou Yu thought, “As expected!” He asked, “How long has he been gone?”
“He’s been gone for at least half an hour. He said that the room doesn’t need to be checked out, and you’re still coming to stay.” The service staff found the room card and handed it to him.
“What a fucking ingrate!” Zhou Yu cursed angrily.
He took the room card upstairs and opened the door, and as he had guessed, the suitcase and the huge sum of money were gone! And those clothes were gone too.
He found a note placed on the bed, walked over and picked it up, and saw the following paragraph written on it: Sorry, I took all the money. I originally planned to leave some for you, but after careful consideration, if the police trace it, I will be suspected of illegally possessing other people’s property and be implicated. If I do this, you will be the one who takes the blame, and all the guilt will be borne by you alone, which has nothing to do with me. I know you will scold me for being selfish, but I am doing this entirely for your poor sister. If this matter passes peacefully, I will compensate you.
He was so angry that he kept blowing air, ripped the note with a “whoosh” and threw it hard on the ground.
He guessed that Li Fei must have come to the station, then bought a ticket and embarked on the return journey. Maybe Li Fei is still at the station now, but he doesn’t plan to come to the station to find him. He thinks, “If it’s raining, my mother wants to marry someone, let him go.”
He took a shower, and suddenly remembered that his mobile phone had fallen and he had lost Su Yan’s contact number. He also remembered that Su Yan had said that she would be discharged from the hospital tomorrow. He thought, “I should go to the hospital to ask for her number now. If I go late and she is discharged from the hospital, then it will be difficult for me to find her!”
So, he picked up his graduation certificate from the bedside table, quickly went to the first floor and checked out of the room (because it was far away and the taxi fare was expensive, he didn’t plan to go back), and then walked out of the hotel, took a taxi and headed towards his destination.