On the twentieth day since Qin Yize arrived at Yan Jun’s house, the medicine previously obtained from the hospital finally ran out.
This kid still showed no signs of recovering his memories. He hung out with Xiao Hui every day, called Sijia “Older Sister,” and was as at ease as if he had grown up natively on this street, getting along even better than Yan Jun!
Everyone said, Xiaojun, you should learn from Xiaoshu, smile more, and visit people more! You know?
Yan Jun perfunctorily twitched the corners of his lips: “Right, right, I know.”
“Yeah!” Qin Yize smiled. “My medicine is all finished.”
Fumbling around his head and flipping through his hair to check, the doctor looked, listened, questioned, and felt his pulse for a bit before writing him a CT requisition slip: “Go get a CT scan to see how well the edema has been absorbed.”
Yan Jun led him to pay the fees, went to the CT room to get the scan done, and then brought the films back to the consultation room. After looking at them, the doctor nodded and said, “Yeah! Recovering pretty well, the edema has all subsided. I’ll prescribe a little more medicine to consolidate it. But recently, still avoid strenuous exercise, take care to protect your head, and prevent secondary collisions…”
Carrying the doctor’s prescription slip toward the payment counter, Uncle Wu glanced over and said, “This medicine is quite expensive! Will his parents reimburse you?”
Yan Jun gave a bitter smile internally: “…They probably will.”
Seeing the extremely long queue at the counter, Yan Jun told Qin Yize to sit and wait in the resting area while he went with Uncle Wu to pay. The fake child obediently uttered an “Okay,” found a seat to sit down, and leisurely looked this way and that.
The hospital at noon was quite busy; people seeking medical treatment came and went, and various sounds buzzed like the wings of bees.
Suddenly, a crisp call broke out from the hazy din, accurately reaching the fake child’s ears: “Qin Yize!”
Qin Yize? The fake child was startled and blankly looked toward the direction of the voice: This sounds like my old name?
A middle-aged woman with curly hair stood not far away, wearing a white lab coat, and walked over with a pleasant smile. Qin Yize stood up involuntarily, thinking this was probably someone who had known him before, so he responded with a smile: “Hello, Auntie!”
“Ah!” The other party looked him up and down with fondness: “Still so handsome!… Why did you come to the hospital today?”
“I came with my older brother; he’s over there paying the fees!” Qin Yize was extremely polite, a smile consistently hanging on his face. That female lady peeked over and said knowingly, “Oh, you’re accompanying your older brother!”
She then asked, “Have you finished your summer homework yet?”
Summer homework? The fake child blankly blinked, his smile unchanged: “Haven’t finished it!”
“You still haven’t finished it?!” The female doctor showed shock on her face, “Xinyao has already finished hers!… But then again, you write fast, the remaining six days will be enough!”
As she spoke, someone beside her called out: “Director Wang!”
The female doctor had no choice but to bid him farewell: “I have matters to attend to, so I’m leaving! If you have free time, you can go find Xinyao to play.”
“Ah, okay.” Guessing that “Xinyao” should be a little kid like Xiao Hui, Qin Yize answered without a second thought, his smile poised and friendly. Before long, Yan Jun finished paying and walked over. Seeing him turn his head and stare blankly somewhere, Yan Jun couldn’t help waving his hand: “What are you dazing for, time to get the medicine!”
Get the medicine?! The fake child instantly became vigilant, trailing closely behind him: “Is there still that bitter medicine?”
Yan Jun glanced at the prescription slip: “…Still is.”
“Ah!” The fake child wailed, “I don’t want to eat that anymore…”
Interrupted like this, he completely threw the small episode just now to the back of his mind.
On the way home, the group stopped by to haul twelve bags of flour back. Passing by the location where the incident originally happened, Yan Jun looked at the spot where the black umbrella used to be, and couldn’t help pointing at the roadside to ask Qin Yize: “Do you still remember this place?”
The fake child was holding a popsicle, chewing on it blissfully, glanced at it absentmindedly, and shook his head: “Don’t remember.”
Looking at his carefree face, Yan Jun couldn’t tell what kind of emotion was in his heart either, letting out a helpless, lingering sigh.
That night, he took out that long-idle Apple phone from the drawer.
The phone had automatically shut down at some point and could only be charged again. After taking a shower and wiping his hair, Yan Jun walked back to the bedside and saw that the battery level was already at 50%.
After powering on, this time contrary to usual, several notification messages popped up with “ding ding ding” sounds, giving him a scare!
Picking up the phone with trepidation, the screen showed a few WeChat messages. He wanted to click in to check, but Qin Yize was watching cartoons at the grocery store next door at the moment, and no one was there to help him unlock it. Yan Jun couldn’t help letting out a “Fuck,” poked his head out the window, and roared: “Xuan Su, get your ass back here!”
The voice echoed through the pitch-black street like an exploding thunderclap; it was hard not to hear it.
Yan Jun scanned the phone in front of him, then pushed him away disdainfully: “Go on!”
The fake child rubbed against his palm, pattered back over, and bolted right back.
Tapping open WeChat, Ren Yandong and You Xinyao had sent messages. Ren Yandong said: “Boss, you couldn’t have already set foot on the North American continent, not a single sound? My summer homework hasn’t finished yet!”
“Reply to a message!”
“You go if you want to go, but shouldn’t you at least have a meal with us first? Are you coming back or not?”
“Regardless of what, see the message and reply to me.”
You Xinyao asked: “My mom said you didn’t write your summer homework?… Did you really transfer schools?”
Yan Jun was shocked: ??? How did she know Qin Yize didn’t do his summer homework!
Frightened, Yan Jun threw the phone back down, sat cross-legged on the bed, his mind in complete turmoil.
There were only six days left before school started, Qin Yize’s head hadn’t recovered, and his parents hadn’t called either… Fuck, how on earth is this accident going to end!
“Xiaojun, I have a half-day off tomorrow, coming back to eat dinner. Remember to deposit all the money from selling buns during this period into the bank card, then transfer it to me. I need to pay back the debt in August.”
Yan Jun let out a “Damn” in his heart, frightened so much that he instantly bounced off the bed: “Tom-tom-tomorrow? Tomorrow afternoon, is it?”
“Tomorrow evening, isn’t it always this time before? What, do you have something to do?”
“No, nothing… I know, I’ll go buy some groceries.”
Slowly putting down the phone, Yan Jun felt struck by a thunderbolt, sat blankly on the bed, a desperate expression of wanting to commit suicide appearing on his face: It seems the only thing to do is hide Qin Yize away.
The next morning while making breakfast, looking at the fake child bracing himself to wrap buns nearby, Yan Jun suddenly didn’t know how to explain it to him.
Before the words fell, Qin Yize looked over in pleasant surprise: “Your mom! That’s my older aunt, right?”
“Uh, right…” Yan Jun looked life-weary, “However, she… she doesn’t really like you. Therefore, tomorrow you have to stay upstairs and not make a sound.”
The fake child’s hands pinching the bun folds instantly paused, his brows and eyes drooping down, revealing an aggrieved, pitiful expression: “Why doesn’t Aunt like me? I’m so well-behaved, Sijia’s dad and Xiao Hui’s mom both praise me as good!”
“Then I’ll win Aunt’s favor myself.” The fake child was very confident, “Everyone loves me, Aunt will definitely like me.”
“No! She’s only coming back for a little while, no matter how much you try to show off, it’s impossible to reverse the impression in a short time…”
“How would you know if you don’t try?”
“I said no means no!”
“Brother, just let me try~”
Grievance bubbled up like bubbles, bursting with “pop-pop” sounds, and his heart felt sour and astringent. The fake child stood there dumbly with his head down for a while, threw the half-finished bun onto the counter, and turned around to bolt out. The pattering footsteps extended along the stairs to the far end of the attic, looking like he had thrown himself onto the bed.
Yan Jun stood rigidly in front of the counter, his expression harboring faint annoyance. After a moment, his feet moved, but he didn’t chase after him to comfort Qin Yize. Instead, he picked up that semi-finished bun and silently continued working.
In the afternoon, the fake child unusually didn’t go find Xiao Hui to play.
He didn’t make a peep, and Yan Jun felt stuffed inside, sticking his neck out without responding either. After heading downstairs, Xiao Hui’s mother was still asking across the street: “Where’s Xiaoshu? I cooked green bean soup, call him over to eat!”
Yan Jun smiled stiffly, gave a light cough, and rubbed the bridge of his nose: “He… is still sleeping.”
Tossing and turning without pause for over two hours, Yan Jun finally cleared away Qin Yize’s traces before his mom came back. When the sky began to reveal fatigue, Yan Huifang, who worked outside, returned to this street.
This was precisely the time for making dinner; the neighbors were all busy in their kitchens, and no one paid attention to her, naturally leaving no way for “Xiaoshu’s” existence to be leaked. She carried large and small bags back to that 3.6-meter-wide old, dilapidated building, and her son’s old bicycle was still parked at the entrance. However… a blue hooded sweatshirt was placed in the bicycle basket, which didn’t look like his.
“…Mom!” Yan Jun darted out like a panicked cat, stiffly snatching the clothes into his hands, and blurted out disjointed words: “Th-this is mine!”