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墨書 Inktalez
The little nurse conveyed Lin Xi's words and then frowned at her companions, looking troubled and helpless.
The other two nurses also furrowed their brows in thought.
"Why don't we let her go over to the registration desk and ask? She knows the patient's name, right? They have a computer there where they can search it up."
"But that place is so busy," the little nurse replied with a scrunched nose.
"How about this?" Another nurse leaned toward Lin Xi and said, "Write the patient's name down for me." She handed Lin Xi a pen and a piece of paper. "I'll find someone to help you check."
Lin Xi wrote down Su Hailu's name and smiled gratefully, repeatedly saying thank you.
"If there isn't a patient named Su Hailu, please check for any patients with the surname Su. Or could you help check if any family members visiting patients have the name Su Hailu?" Although she felt it was difficult to make such requests of the nurses, Lin Xi still voiced her thoughts. The knot in her heart wouldn't loosen, making her feel quite uncomfortable.
"Ah." The helpful nurse widened her eyes at Lin Xi, but when she saw the pleading look in Lin Xi's eyes, she smiled and said politely, "We'll try our best to help you check. Generally, hospitals don't keep records of family visits unless it's under specific circumstances."
"I know that..." Lin Xi understood that her request was burdensome for them, so she expressed her understanding: "Next time I come, I'll bring a photo for you. Please keep an eye out for her. If she appears in the hospital, whether as a patient or a visitor, just give her my number so she can contact me. We were college classmates, but she went abroad later, and we lost touch. However, I think I saw her once in your hospital; she was pushing a patient in a wheelchair."
"A patient in a wheelchair?" The three nurses exchanged glances.
"Yes." Lin Xi then realized how important that detail was that she had overlooked.
"There are many patients in wheelchairs at the hospital." Although narrowing down the search area helped, the nurses still emphasized the difficulty of finding someone.
"Younger, not an old patient; it should be a young boy, no more than thirty," Lin Xi recalled the upright figure that only a young boy would possess.
"Oh, okay, we'll keep an eye out for you." The nurses enthusiastically accepted the name and phone number that Lin Xi had written down.
After checking her watch and seeing that Qingmei's examination time was almost over, Lin Xi thanked them again and went to pick up Qingmei.
The sunlight on the winter afternoon was somewhat lazy. After Qingmei got out of Xu Wen's car, she did not hurry to enter the school but stood in place watching his car disappear into the traffic. Only after that did she turn around and walk briskly towards the back wall of the school.
The wall was a shade of blue, covered with intertwined brown vines of Virginia Creeper that were dry and withered. Sunlight cascaded down the wall like a waterfall, and outside the wall stood a row of bare Metasequoia trees, their needles carpeting the ground in red. An Shaojie, dressed in a deep blue suit with a black long coat and a gray cashmere scarf, leaned casually against the corner of the wall, resembling an old black-and-white photograph, evoking a sense of nostalgia as if time had flowed backward.
As soon as Qingmei took a few steps forward, An Shaojie spotted her and hurriedly dropped the cigarette butt he had pinched between his fingers, rushing over to her.
Qingmei smiled at him and said, "You smoked again."
An Shaojie pinched his nose tip and smiled sheepishly, saying, "I just took it out; I haven't even had a puff yet."
Qingmei snorted through her nose and rolled her eyes at him in dissatisfaction, saying, "If you smoked, you smoked. No need to make excuses; even one puff counts as smoking."
An Shaojie was momentarily at a loss for words, only able to pout at her. He felt unconvinced but still replied, "Yeah, yeah, it won't happen again."
After sitting down on a bench next to a Metasequoia tree, Qingmei let out a light sigh.
"What's wrong? Are you unhappy?" An Shaojie asked, placing his hands on his knees while his gaze drifted over the low buildings across from them towards the endless sky, his brows furrowed.
Qingmei looked down at the cement ground. "I'm a bit busy and also somewhat troubled."
After saying this, she lifted her head, propped her hands on the chair, raised her frail shoulders slightly, and tucked her small head into her neck while gazing up at the sky. Her eyes squinted as she focused on a certain point in the sky, reflecting an adult-like sorrow and deep contemplation that seemed hard to shake off.
An Shaojie withdrew his distant gaze and followed Qingmei's line of sight upwards.
"What's wrong? What could a child possibly be busy with? It's just homework; what is there to be troubled about?"
He turned his face to look at her.
She did not answer him. With her toes off the ground, she swung her legs slowly while staring into the distance. After quite some time, she spoke in a voice as light as a whisper: "My mama is getting married."
An Shaojie's heart jolted, and he almost stood up from his chair.
Qingmei glanced at him sideways, "It's not like you're getting married, why are you so excited?"
"Oh." Realizing he had lost his composure, An Shaojie steadied himself and calmed his emotions.
"Who is it?" An Shaojie asked knowingly, aware that the answer would stab at his heart, yet he couldn't help but ask. Deep down, he understood that such a question was meaningless; the answer was undoubtedly certain. Even if the answer was uncertain to him, what difference did it make? The outcome was the same, the pain was the same; it was merely his own heart expecting another person's waiting to be in vain, just so that his aching heart could have a companion.
"Xu Wen." Since coming to Beijing, Qingmei rarely referred to Xu Wen as Uncle Xu in person anymore; behind his back, she even called him by his name directly.
The answer did not surprise him; it didn't leave another person's waiting in vain but rather left his own expectations unfulfilled.
He forced a light laugh, realizing how she never fulfilled his wishes. Hadn't she always let his expectations fall short? So many years had passed, and he was still indulging in hope and fantasy.
No one else's heart accompanied him in pain. He felt an even sharper ache and subtly pressed against his chest.
"Why are you getting close to me? You visited me every day in the hospital? Now you chat with me every day?" Qingmei suddenly stopped shaking her legs, her expression turning serious and heavy, like a troubled adult.
"Because we are fated." An Shaojie's eyes reddened, and his voice nearly choked. The term "fated" felt too superficial to encapsulate the feelings he had when he first saw her and the heavy emotions that weighed on his heart during their time together.
He shouldn't have used such a light and indifferent term as "fated" to brush her off. However, he couldn't find words that were more fitting or deeper to express his feelings for her; he didn't dare to use them either. He could only stare blankly at her, as if gazing at his past self through time. Oh no, what about her past self?
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