Chapter 61

She struggled to open her eyelids, only to see a blinding white light—the ceiling of the ward, blurred into a hazy mass, like paper soaked in water, making her feel dizzy and disoriented.

The smell of disinfectant acted like an invisible net, pulling Li Jia's consciousness out of its daze.

"system……"

When the two words rolled out of his throat, his voice was hoarse and dry, and it was unclear how long he had been asleep.

Li Jia subconsciously tried to sit up, but as soon as she exerted force with her arms, a stiff and heavy feeling came from her lower body. Looking down, she saw that the off-white plaster cast wrapped from her knees to her ankles, like two cold sculptures, locking her legs firmly to the hospital bed.

As she struggled, the hospital bed creaked slightly, footsteps sounded at the door, and a nurse pushed a treatment cart in. She suddenly stopped what she was doing, which was checking the medications.

She looked up, her gaze falling on Li Jia's shifting eyes, and the medicine tray in her hand slammed against the metal armrest with a clang.

"Doctor! Quick! The patient in ward 403 who's in a vegetative state!"

"She's awake!"

The nurse's voice suddenly rose, trembling with disbelief, and she turned and ran towards the end of the corridor.

Li Jia lay there, listening to the footsteps grow fainter and fainter, and then reached out and pinched her arm hard.

pain.

It will hurt.

She's still alive...

The skin beneath the plaster cast seemed to still linger with a sharp pain, but the familiar mechanical voice in my mind did not ring out for a long time.

Li Jia was sick for a few more days, and during those days, she was in a daze and rarely had any lucid moments.

She managed to glean information from her limited waking hours by communicating with the nurses who cared for her, confirming that she had indeed returned to modern society.

But it wasn't her original body. After her original body died suddenly, the hospital couldn't contact her family no matter what they tried.

The only person who could contact his father replied curtly, "Dead? Then bury him. What a waste of money."

After hanging up the phone, the body couldn't stay in the morgue for long. Fortunately, Li Jia had bought a burial plot and insurance for herself. She couldn't afford a house while she was alive, but being able to have a one-bedroom burial plot after death was a kind of final resting place.

Li Jia had this illness since birth, and not wanting to trouble anyone, she prepared everything for herself well in advance.

Humans are born naked, so everything they do is a bonus.

The body in this body isn't much better off than mine, except that its economic conditions are much better.

She was the daughter of a nouveau riche family. The reason she was called a nouveau riche was a very old-fashioned plot: the original couple became rich, the man had money and then had an affair, had a son, and the mother felt that her husband was disappointed because she was a daughter, so she divorced her and went abroad, never to be heard from again.

She couldn't please either side. Her parents didn't love her, and she was spoiled and willful. To win the meager love from her parents, smoking, drinking, fighting, and brawling were commonplace for her. She was definitely a delinquent girl.

He sped at 250 km/h and went straight up the mountain road; he really became a fool.

He lost both legs, barely survived, and became a vegetable. Doctors declared him brain dead. Out of humanitarian considerations and the court's ruling, since he was under 18, his guardian still had to take responsibility.

They're paying for her medicine from both sides, keeping her alive.

She spent six months in the hospital recovering before her life returned to normal.

Her parents left her an apartment and a card with monthly allowance deposited into it, and Li Jia went back to living alone.

It was as if the world in the book was just a fleeting dream for her.

Today is New Year's Day, and families gather together to celebrate the reunion.

Li Jia suddenly had a craving for osmanthus-flavored rice wine, so she put on a mask, rode her electric scooter to the nearest convenience store to buy it.

Small glutinous rice balls and fermented rice wine are easy to buy, but osmanthus flowers are not. This is not a city of fragrance and springs, and it is not the season for osmanthus flowers to bloom, so dried osmanthus flowers and osmanthus sauce are not available.

Li Jia is someone who hates trouble, so she thought that if she couldn't buy it, so be it, sweet rice balls in fermented rice wine are quite delicious too.

But my legs wouldn't obey me. I went to every shopping mall and supermarket in L city, but still couldn't find it.

Finally, she came up with a compromise and bought two boxes of long-shelf-life osmanthus cake.

Back home, Li Jia turned on the heater, took off her coat, and exhaled a long breath, white smoke billowing out. She wondered if she had a mental problem, why was she not at home in the middle of the night when the temperature was below zero, but instead searching for osmanthus flowers all over the streets.

Light the stove and wait for the water to boil. Add the rice wine dumplings one by one, then add both boxes of osmanthus cakes, until it becomes a thick, sticky soup in a large pot.

Li Jia brought a porcelain bowl to the living room, turned on the TV and tuned it to CCTV1, just in time for the evening weather forecast to be rebroadcast.

"L City is about to experience a severe snowstorm, with the heaviest snowfall expected. Localized snowfall amounts may be extreme and could break historical records for this time of year. Please take precautions..."

She scooped a spoonful of the soup-like liquid into her mouth. She couldn't describe the taste; the osmanthus flavor was mixed with a lethal dose of sweetness, making it somewhat unpalatable.

It wasn't even a tenth as good as Winslow's.

The porcelain spoon made a soft sound as it struck the bowl. Li Jia pushed the empty bowl away and got up to close the window. A cold wind carrying fine snowflakes rushed in, landing on the back of her hand, making her fingertips numb with cold.

Just like the bowl of hot noodle soup she ate in the perpetually snowy North, the warmth emanating from the bowl.

The weather forecast on TV continued, but the host's voice was muffled by the wind and snow, so Li Jia reached out and pressed the mute button.

The only sound in the living room was the low hum of the heating. As she gazed at the increasingly dense snow outside the window, she suddenly realized that her hands were trembling.

It wasn't that she had a mental problem, nor that her legs wouldn't obey her commands. She was searching all over the streets for osmanthus flowers, simply wanting to grasp some trace of that world in this unfamiliar winter.

The moment I think of you again, it's like an old illness recurring.

The snow was falling heavier and heavier, and the streetlights downstairs were already shrouded in a dim yellow haze of snow and mist.

Li Jia added another half bowl to the pot, scooped up a spoonful, and slowly swallowed it. It was still hard to eat; it was sweet to the point of being bitter, but she felt uncomfortable if she didn't eat it.

Born and die, die and be born again.

Whenever Li Jia felt utterly weary of this world, she would think of Hera, and the thought of her living somewhere in some unknown world, and she would be willing to accept it all.

She placed the empty bowl on the coffee table, feeling stuffy, and walked to the window, watching the snowflakes fall one by one onto the glass and slowly melt.

As the first large snowflake landed on the windowsill, Li Jia said softly, "It's snowing."

The sound was very soft, swallowed by the wind and snow, yet it was like a greeting that transcended time and space.

A warm, itchy sensation suddenly rose in Li Jia's nasal cavity. She raised her hand to wipe it, and her fingertip was instantly stained with a patch of bright red blood.

She paused, looking down at the red stain spreading on the back of her fair hand. Without delay, Li Jia wrapped her coat tighter and rushed into the snowstorm.

The taxi's heater made it feel stuffy. She stared at the frost flowers that had formed on the window, her fingertips repeatedly rubbing the remaining bloodstains on the back of her hand.

The driver, seeing a young girl going to the hospital late at night, kindly asked, "Are you going alone? Don't you have any family with you?"

"My family is quite busy, I'm fine on my own," Li Jia replied with a smile to the kind-hearted uncle.

"Do you have a boyfriend? It's not safe to be alone late at night. It's safer to have your boyfriend with you."

"I'm in a relationship, but he's not my boyfriend."

Li Jia lowered her head and murmured.

"Oh, I know, that's good too. It's not easy to meet someone you care about and like in this lifetime. Isn't your partner coming with you?"

"She's quite busy, handling matters all over the country."

"I see."

...

The taxi stopped in front of the hospital. Li Jia paid the fare, and the driver told her to take good care of herself. Li Jia smiled and replied, "Okay."

As soon as she opened the car door, a cold wind rushed into her collar, causing the warmth in her nasal cavity to rise again. She raised her hand to press her nose, and blood seeped through her fingers. The footprints she left in the snow were tinged with dark red.

The emergency room lights were blindingly bright. As the nurse handed her a tissue, she glanced at her and asked, "How long have you been having nosebleeds? Have you had this before?"

Li Jia shook her head, her voice a little muffled: "It was my first time, and it just started flowing suddenly."

The doctor gave her a prescription to have her blood drawn first. There weren't many people queuing at the blood drawing window. Li Jia stood at the end of the line, clutching the prescription, watching the people in front of her holding their family members' hands, and suddenly remembered what the driver had said.

She looked down and touched her phone in her pocket, scrolling through her contacts, but there wasn't a single person she could call at this moment.

The body's father had not been in contact for many years, and the mother was far away abroad, while the person she really wanted to contact was in another time and space.

Will Hera, on some snowy night, suddenly think of her but be unable to send a single greeting?

When it was her turn to have her blood drawn, the nurse rubbed her arm and said with a touch of concern, "You're such a thin girl, you should eat more."

Li Jia nodded obediently and said okay.

While waiting for the report, Li Jia sat on a bench in the emergency room, watching the snow outside the window fall heavier and heavier.

"Li Jia?"

The nurse came over with the report, speaking softly, and called her to a small room.

"Acute myeloid leukemia, the condition is quite serious. With aggressive treatment, he probably has about two years left."

Li Jia took the report, her fingertips turning white from gripping it so tightly. The words on the paper seemed to crawl into her eyes like ants, but they didn't make her cry.

She just remembered that in her previous life, she was lying in a hospital like this before she died. But back then, she thought, "Finally, I'm free." Now, she was thinking, "I can actually live for another two years."

When I walked out of the emergency room, the snow had lessened a bit, and a faint light appeared on the horizon.

Li Jia walked slowly along the roadside, the snow crunching under her feet. She took out her phone and typed to the empty recipient, "Hera, I have two more years."

Deleted again.

She knew Hera wouldn't receive it, but she still whispered to the wind and snow, "When the snow stops, I'll come find you."