Chapter 67 If You Only Gave Me Three Days of Light

A week later, Yu Di called Wen Jing.

"Wenjing, are you okay?"

"Um."

"Then...where is Doctor Gu?"

"He has a head injury and is in a coma. He is being treated in Paris." She spat out these words as if she were spitting out a few stones.

Yu Di was silent for a moment before getting to the point. "The documents you gave me were mostly medical records he handled in Africa. You told me to pay special attention to whether there were any related to Philip's people. I checked that person out. He's running for a seat in parliament recently, right?"

Li Wenjing pressed the phone tightly to her ear, her knuckles turning white.

"What are you going to do?"

"You tell me first whether you have it or not."

"I don't know how to say it..." Yu Di paused, "I'm sorry, no."

"How could he not have one! Because of this, he is now lying in the hospital, and I don't know if he can wake up!" Wen Jing's voice echoed in the simple wooden house.

"Calm down."

Li Wenjing took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the surging emotions, and said in a trembling voice: "There must be one. Can you please take another look? Maybe he didn't write Philip's name, but it must be there. Otherwise, he would look like a joke now!"

"Okay, I'll take a look. Don't worry."

How could she not be anxious? She wanted justice, the truth. It seemed that only by grasping this could she pull him back from his downward spiral, prove that his sacrifice was not in vain.

But when she was with Yu Di, she had to suppress all the turbulent thoughts in her heart and regain her composure. In front of friends like Yu Di and Xiao Qiao, no matter how they asked, even if she knew it was out of concern, she tried to remain calm and not let them worry.

"Excuse me, please contact me immediately if you have any questions."

While waiting for Yu Di to check again and reply, an uninvited guest came to the board house.

Li Wenjing was staring at a blueprint on her computer screen when a colleague came in to say a beautiful black woman was looking for her. She quickly left. Nika stood there, her tall, thin figure a bit out of place against the yellow sand. She glanced around, a hint of unease in her expression. Li Wenjing asked if she wanted a cigarette. She nodded, then pulled out a cigarette case and offered it to her. Nika took it, placed it between her lips, and lit it, but didn't inhale, letting the smoke rise between them.

She walked aimlessly along the ravine in the valley to the end and then turned back. When her cigarette was finished, she took out the cigarette box from her breast pocket and handed a cigarette to Wen Jing.

"Your cigarettes are not good, smoke mine."

Li Wenjing waved her hand and refused, "He said smoking is harmful to your health."

"One every now and then, it's better to relieve the pressure."

She took Nika's cigarette and took two puffs. The smoke immediately coated her throat like cream, and she started coughing, which made her lungs ache. Nika took the unfinished cigarette and smoked it, then started coughing along with her. She simply stamped out the cigarette, and the two of them laughed at the cigarette butt on the ground.

“It feels like we’re on a date,” Nika said.

"Actually, I've never understood the word 'date'. I think not only romantic relationships, but also hanging out with friends and having fun can be considered a date, right?"

"Well," she asked, one hand absentmindedly fiddling with the dry branches of a nearby bush, "how are you?"

"I'm ready to quit."

"Well, let's leave this sad place."

"I'm not really sad. The three years I spent in Africa were better than the past thirty-plus years. My heart was empty at first, but slowly it filled and became more fulfilled. I believe in myself. No matter what happens, I can get through it. It's no big deal."

"Even if something happens to the person you love the most? If you're really upset, just speak out."

"I don't have time to feel bad, at least not now," Li Wenjing took a breath, blowing the air towards her bangs, her eyes fixed on the sky. "I still have to work. The people here need water and shelter, and I need to feed myself, too. These come before feeling bad. Only at night, when I'm alone, do I have time to feel bad."

"You've done very well."

Li Wenjing lowered her head and her voice softened. "I didn't do anything. I clearly said I would help him and that he wouldn't allow Philip to hurt anyone else. But he couldn't do anything in the past. He didn't have the courage. Now I understand why. It's my fault. I have to help him to the end, even if he never wakes up again..."

She paused for a long time before speaking again, her voice hazy with reminiscence: "In the end, he was the one who stood in front of me. I only recently remembered..." She took out the cross necklace from her pocket and said, "This is his. When I was unconscious, he carried me out. I told him to 'go', but he didn't abandon me, even though he was so badly injured."

Li Wenjing continued to sigh, "Do you believe that someone loves you more than you love yourself?"

"Basically, it doesn't exist, unless you're a fool."

"Yeah, idiot."

The two smiled at each other, and tears began to well up in Nika's eyes. "I should go now. I won't disturb you from working."

As she spoke, she took out a brown paper document bag from her bag and stuffed it into Li Wenjing's hand. "This is for you to donate to charity."

Li Wenjing took one look at the letter, and her arm suddenly sank, as if it weren't just a few pages, but a massive rock. Her heart, like a runaway motor, pounded furiously against her chest—the crucial piece, the one they'd wanted so much but couldn't find, now lay quietly in her hand.

"But...you...are you okay?" Li Wenjing asked her stutteringly.

"Don't worry about me. If you can survive, so can I. I'm going to America. I'm not that little girl selling fruit anymore. I've figured it out. Even if I leave Philip, I can survive. I'm just... I'm used to relying on him too much, thinking it's love. You're right, he's a disgusting jerk. At worst, I can go back to selling fruit. I'm sure I'll sell more now than before. After all, the people chasing me can line up from Nairobi to Mombasa."

"I wish you success, beautiful lady."

They hugged each other tightly, Wenjing only reaching her chest. Nika joked that she had to leave quickly, otherwise she would fall in love with her if she hugged her any longer. They could go to the United States together. Li Wenjing shook her head.

"Goodbye, Nika."

"Goodbye, Wenjing."

Li Wenjing called Gu Weiyi's hospital. Even though he couldn't wake up, she would call him from time to time. The doctor there said that some people in a coma actually have some residual consciousness, and the sounds from the outside world may help him recover.

"Are you still sleeping?"

There was no response, only the regular sound of instruments coming from the receiver.

She continued, "I'm planning to go back to Mombasa. My injuries are healed. I've rented a motorcycle and often ride out, to the mountains and to the market in town. I've discovered that I can go to many places without you. But without you, I'm still staying in my cabin and won't want to go out. Now I hear the sounds of Africa, beating in sync with my heartbeat, and I'm thinking of you."

"If you miss me too, don't sleep anymore! Or do you want me to come see you? Are you Sleeping Beauty? You need true love to kiss you, true love's kiss to wake you up?" Li Wenjing paused, as if waiting for his answer. After a while, she spoke again, "I will come see you, I promise. It's not the right time yet. Wait until everything is settled..."

"Honestly, I won't wait for you too long. I won't remain a virgin for you or anything. I just..." Li Wenjing wiped her tears, but her tone slowed down and became more relaxed. "Please wake up soon. If I really end up lying in bed for the rest of my life, I will be with someone else, kissing and hugging, dating, and sleeping. I will wait for you for a while because I don't want any regrets between us. I've been very busy with work lately and can't even make money - in addition to the refugee camps, there's also the railway from Mombasa to Kenya, which is another major national project. Don't worry about your little matter, it's just something I can handle. Nika gave me her sister's medical records, and Claire and I email each other every day. It seems that Philip really won't run for parliament and may even be sued in court."

"Oh, I really should think about whether I should choose someone else. Captain Lu is pretty good. He's handsome, tall, full of hormones, and he likes me very much. Of course, I'm such an outstanding and charming woman, it's easy for me to charm a few men."

Li Wenjing laughed again, but the laughter quickly turned into sobs. "No—I don't want this. Before I met you, I had never truly loved anyone. I didn't even know what happiness was. Who could I be with? If you only gave me three days of sight, how could a blind person who had never seen the sun know what the sun was, even if she was with someone else?"

"But I've seen the sun... I still want the warmth you give me. I believe we will be happy. I may like many people when I grow up, but you..." Her voice trembled, but she spoke clearly, each word emphasized, "I only love you. I love you, do you hear me?"