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墨書 Inktalez
The recent earthquake caused significant damage to the school. Fortunately, there weren't many people attending classes in our building at the time, which greatly reduced the number of casualties.
However, this disaster turned Lin Xiuyu into a hero in everyone's eyes. After rescuing the last student, he finally collapsed.
Zhang Mengdi came to find me, and I quickly asked Chen Siyuan to return to my house and take care of my parents. I also told her to notify me as soon as Su Anrong returned.
"Wheat, hurry up! Come with me to the hospital!" Without a second thought, Zhang Mengdi grabbed my hand and jumped into the ambulance carrying Lin Xiuyu.
Once inside, I witnessed her various dramatic displays of crying. Lin Xiuyu lay quietly on the stretcher with his eyes tightly shut, while Zhang Mengdi alternated between sobbing, whimpering, and wailing.
Her crying was so intense that it felt like my brain was about to explode.
In the midst of her emotional outburst, she suddenly looked up at me. "Wheat, why aren't you crying?"
"Why should I cry?"
"Egg Brother risked his life to save you, and you can't even spare a tear for him."
Fortunately, Lin Xiuyu was already unconscious; otherwise, I couldn't imagine how he would feel hearing the title "Egg Brother."
"First of all, even if he saved me, he didn't die. Why should I cry? Second, will my crying wake him up?"
"You..." Zhang Mengdi was so angry that she stopped talking to me.
After arriving at the hospital, Lin Xiuyu was quickly taken into the emergency room. Zhang Mengdi insisted on waiting outside without leaving for a moment. I, however, was less inclined to stay; I needed to find out why Lin Xiuyu had been at our school.
"Zhang Mengdi, do you know which hospital Teacher Wang is in?"
"I won't tell you even if I do."
"Then I'll tell Teacher Lin that you used to like Qiao."
Zhang Mengdi immediately covered my mouth. "She's in this hospital too. You want to see her? Room 3101."
"Of course! After all, she taught me for over a year. Thanks!" Without another word, I left her behind and headed straight for Room 3101.
"With your stupidity, you don't wait for Egg Brother who is so handsome, but instead go to see Aunt Wang."
I was also impressed by Zhang Mengdi's intelligence; clearly, her academic performance was better than mine, yet she could say such disgusting things. No matter how handsome Lin Xiuyu was, he had never taught us a single class, while Teacher Wang had taught us for over a year. What was wrong with checking on her? She deserved at least that much recognition for her efforts.
I ignored her and walked to Teacher Wang's hospital room.
The room was very quiet, devoid of family or friends. She lay there alone, and if it weren't for the movement of her eyes, I might have thought she was already gone.
“Teacher Wang,” I called out softly, and her eyes turned toward me.
She could hear me.
I quickly grasped her hand. “Teacher Wang, you can hear me, right?”
She opened her mouth but couldn't say anything, only managing a faint, raspy breath. I leaned in closer to her mouth but still heard nothing.
“Who are you?” A clear female voice suddenly rang out from the doorway, startling me.
A young nurse walked in with a tray and asked me unhappily, “What are you doing? Hurry up and get out; the patient needs an injection.”
“I’m the patient’s student; I came to see her,” I explained politely because I still had questions to ask later.
To my surprise, the nurse showed no signs of being accommodating. “You’ve seen enough; you can leave now.”
“I haven’t finished.” Since she wasn’t giving me any face, I decided not to be polite anymore. I pulled a chair over and sat down beside her. “You do your thing; I’ll wait until you’re done.”
Though the nurse remained displeased, she saw that I wasn’t someone easy to push around and didn’t insist on kicking me out. As she prepared the injection, she remarked, “Is the patient a teacher? How come no one has come to see her in days?”
“Because everyone has classes; they probably don’t have time,” I replied. Her words made me feel somewhat ashamed and made me realize how unworthy Teacher Wang was of such neglect. Although her classes could be dull at times, after teaching for so long and suffering a stroke without any students visiting her—it was a failure of education and our failure as well.
The nurse scoffed. “What excuses! If it weren’t for today’s earthquake shaking your school, you wouldn’t even have come to see her. Sister Wang is quite pitiful—teaching a bunch of ingrates who don’t understand that once a teacher, always a father.”
I initially thought the nurse disliked me for some other reason, but it turned out to be this. Suddenly feeling embarrassed, my head dropped low in shame.
"You’re right, it’s our fault. Don’t worry, I will come to see her often and I’ll bring other classmates along. Nurse, is her condition very serious? Is there any chance she could recover?"
"Any illness can potentially improve; the key lies in the patient's mindset and the support from family. Sister Wang's situation is not very optimistic. She has lost control of her bladder and bowels and can no longer speak, but she can still hear us when we talk." The nurse pulled out the needle and turned Teacher Wang onto her side, tidying up the medical equipment. "You should talk to her more often, help her hold onto some hope for the world, and prevent her from having thoughts of giving up."
"Okay."
"Part of her medical expenses has been covered by insurance, but there’s still a portion that hasn’t been paid. You should take care of that."
"I..." Where would a student like me get that kind of money? Why do I have to pay for Teacher Wang's medical expenses?
"Of course it’s you. No one else has come to see her. You’re the only one I can ask."
So, am I just a convenient wallet?
If it were any other time, I might have refused without hesitation, but seeing Teacher Wang lying on the hospital bed, so lonely and helpless, made my heart ache. Tears nearly spilled from my eyes.
Su Anrong, I’ll just borrow your wallet for now.
"Alright, I’ll go pay it later," I told the nurse while glancing at Teacher Wang. I noticed shiny tears streaming down from the corners of her eyes; she must have heard my words. Those tears were probably a silent expression of gratitude towards me.
In that moment, my heart felt tightly gripped by an indescribable pain, and I couldn’t hold back my tears any longer.
Rice came over and looked up at me with concern. "Mommy, why are you crying? Are you crying because we’re poor?"
"Rice, I don’t have any money right now. I need to ask your daddy for some, but I can’t find him anywhere. He isn’t answering his phone, and I don’t know what to do." I've never felt this desperate to help someone before.
Thinking back on Teacher Wang’s past, she was always serious in class, quite rigid at times, even inexplicably snapping at students. Yet she diligently made us memorize vocabulary and carefully graded every essay we wrote, providing comments on every single mistake.
She might not truly be a good teacher; many students disliked her. Even after she had a stroke, no one wanted to visit her. Some even mocked her behind her back, saying it was fortunate she had a stroke so Lin Xiuyu could take over as our teacher.
Reflecting on this filled me with a deep sense of sorrow.
Suddenly, Rice looked up and smiled brightly at something behind me. "Mommy, speak of the devil—he’s here!"
"Dear, I heard you missed me."
I turned around and saw the unscathed Su Anrong, along with his annoyingly smug smile. He hadn’t shown up during the earthquake when it was so dangerous, but now he appeared so quickly—it was clear he did it on purpose.
"I missed your wallet."
"Talking about money right after we meet is really hurtful." Su Anrong pulled me tightly into his embrace. "Wife, I'm so glad you're okay. I was really worried you wouldn't get through this."
"What do you mean?" I lifted my head from his chest and asked sullenly, "So you knew about the earthquake?"
"Just a little bit," Su Anrong started to say, but before he could finish, Rice bit down on his ear. Instantly, a row of teeth marks appeared on his ear, and red blood slowly seeped out.
"Daddy, I hate you! You knew there was an earthquake and still didn't come to save Mommy! You're a bad spirit!"
I was also a bit angry. He often vanished without a trace, and I had no idea where he went. My heart raced with worry while he seemed carefree and at ease, which was indeed quite frustrating.
"Su Anrong, I won't ask you to explain yourself. Just put down the wallet and get lost."
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