Gray Patient Prison 1
The surging crowds flowed freely on the busy streets, and Yin Sui blended in with them.
Wearing a woven blue jacket with tassels, she flowed from the tide into the magnificent shopping mall channel to buy needles and thread for the hat she had promised.
The light luxury brand's sewing shop is on the third floor of the mall.
She went upstream, took two escalators in a winding manner, came out with bags in her hands, and went downstream again, stopping halfway - outside the gymnasium on the second floor, a man she knew was sitting with his legs crossed, talking to another man and talking to his parents, with tea for the guests from the gym placed next to him.
Qin Yun's biological father was different from the imagined breeding business owner. He had a slicked-back hair and shiny white skin.
What puzzled her even more than the image was that the gymnasium sign clearly stated that it only accepted people over the age of twelve. Qin Yun was expelled, and if Qin Xiao had married early, he might have had children of his own. So who was he waiting for?
"You're so lucky to have a child in your old age. They say it's easier for a couple to have children if they have a good relationship. I didn't believe it before, but seeing how sweet you and your wife are, it seems to be true."
"Don't say that. It's just luck. At our age, we should exercise more and take better care of ourselves. Luck will come naturally."
The two middle-aged men smiled at each other. The man who was talking eloquently with Qin's father caught a glimpse of a beautiful young woman walking straight towards the person next to him. She winked at him and said: It's time to take care of yourself. Isn't this another group of energetic good luck?
The girl walked two steps away, stopped, and asked gently, "Excuse me, are you Mr. Song?"
Father Qin nodded slightly and secretly adjusted his sitting posture to a more elegant one.
After receiving the confirmation, her eyes lit up noticeably, and she bent her waist a little more. She continued with great gratitude and admiration, "More than a decade ago, the two young men in my family were working outside, and we were all so grateful for your support. Now that conditions are better and we live far away, I didn't expect to meet you today. How are Aunt Qin and Brother Qin Xiao doing recently?"
Qin Yun was completely erased from reality, but Aunt Qin was only given an "early death" ending because of Qin Xiao. After all, people can't just pop out from the cracks of stones, and there must be a biological mother's name on the birth certificate.
Hearing the words of thanks, Qin's father felt proud, especially since his business partner was sitting next to him. Regardless of whether the visitor was a liar or not, he felt proud and nodded in acknowledgement of the good words with a smile until the three words "Aunt Qin" were uttered.
Everyone in the village calls his ex-wife Aunt Qin. The nickname proves that the girl is really an acquaintance, but he just wants to bring up something irrelevant and mention someone who died early. When "Qin Xiao" comes out again, the originally bright old face immediately becomes so gloomy that water can drip out of it.
The contrast between light and dark is quite obvious.
Despite the bad luck, the glow on his face remained undimmed. He wore his sorrowful face like a mask and said in a deep voice, "Our marriage broke down a few years ago. She ran away from home with Xiao'er in a fit of anger and refused to let me see the child. So, I don't really know."
As if she knew she had touched his sore spot, the girl apologized repeatedly, and his expression turned from sunny to cloudy.
Seeing that Qin's father was very secretive, Yin Sui estimated that she could not pry anything out of him, so she began to flatter the man's hair, which was of worrying volume. Only when the hat was high enough did her request climb up like stairs.
"Uncle Song, the two old people at home talk about their old friend every day. It would be nice to let them reminisce about the past." After a few visits, he got the address of Qin Xiao's grandparents.
The door of the gymnasium was pushed open, and half-grown children filed out. One of them, a boy about fourteen or fifteen years old, walked up to Qin's father with a cocky look on his face and called him "Dad".
The word "Dad" drastically changed the situation. The friendly gathering to remember past grudges was officially over, and it was time to settle personal scores.
The vanity of the greasy old man is as fragile as a layer of blown-up paper. He breaks down when his ex-wife is mentioned, and he also breaks down when his eldest son is mentioned. He is really hard to please.
They are morally corrupt but still like to put on a good-looking facade to cover themselves up.
Yinsui straightened up in disgust: "Abandoning your wife and children, so that means you're cheating. The illegitimate child was born much earlier than the breakdown of your marriage." He raised his voice deliberately to attract attention, then turned around and walked away in a hurry.
She left behind the man's stammering explanation of "she's a liar" and the surprised and curious looks of the onlookers, like a cat jumping onto a platform in full view of everyone and unexpectedly breaking a vase.
Only crystal clear sharp fragments were left on the ground for onlookers to pick up, attracting them to come closer to carefully distinguish them.
Because of the unexpected surprise of meeting an old friend, she put her needlework on hold. In order to avoid Qin's father complaining, although she estimated that the probability of him revealing her humiliation was low given his arrogant character, to be on the safe side, she changed into clothes that the old man liked and rushed to the address she had just obtained that day.
I knocked on the door gently, and immediately I heard a small noise from inside. After a while, the noise became louder. It was the sound of slippers dragging on the tile floor.
There was a rustling sound, and the person inside stopped at the door.
"Who is it?"
"Grandma, I'm Yin Sui from Songshui Village."
Her brain, which sometimes froze, struggled to transport the memories that had been stored for a long time to her eyes, and she suddenly realized: "Ah, Sui Sui." After sighing for a while, she still couldn't match the face with a specific person.
I know there is such a person, but I can't remember when he appeared and what his relationship with them is.
"Hello, is Qin Xiao here?"
Xiaoer...yes, there are children of the same age as Xiaoer. I have heard that my grandson gets along well with the neighbor's little sister.
Year after year, the old man chewed on the same name over and over again, and finally tasted a bit of the old days. Thinking that the child’s good friend still remembered to play with the child when he grew up, he opened the door with relief.
The guest was wearing a simple long coat and trousers. The cotton and linen fabric made her look like she was immersed in the blue sky and white clouds. She smiled softly and lightly, "Hello, grandma."
"Come in quickly. You've been waiting for a long time. As we age, our reactions aren't as good as they used to be. We're a little slower."
Yinsui helped her, whose legs were not very agile due to her age, to cross the threshold and asked casually, "Are you the only one home?"
"My husband passed away, and my son found several aunties for me, but I didn't like any of them. They weren't half as nimble as they were when I was young, and I felt annoyed when they were around. So I lived alone. From time to time, a few people came to help sweep the floor, and sometimes strangers came to cook for me."
"Yes, my grandmother said that you were a skilled worker in the whole area."
"I don't deserve it. Who didn't work in the fields every day? Back in my day, in the hot summer, everyone was working hard in the fields. We chatted while working and didn't feel tired all day. Now I take three breaths after every step - oh, I was so busy chatting that I forgot about you. Why are you talking to me? You came to see Xiao'er, right?"
"Yes."
Before she could say anything, the light in the old lady's eyes dimmed rapidly, and she waved her hands repeatedly: "Sorry for wasting your time. Xiao'er is not here."
Shadows slowly crawled across the old face and fell under the swollen eyelids. The hanging basket behind her was startled by her backward movement, and the shadow fell from the wall and jumped straight over.
"Where did he go?"
"I don't know. No one can find it. Oh, it's all my fault. I took on a job I didn't have the skills to do, and ended up losing someone while I was taking care of them."
I originally wanted to stop here, as there was no point in bringing up the past again. But then I thought, I am old, and his father had long forgotten about his eldest grandson. When she dies, who in the world will remember her poor eldest grandson?
It's rare to have a child you still miss, and it would be great if you could still think of Xiao'er in the future.
"If you don't mind me being a bit long-winded, and you're willing to know what happened a long time ago, then we can talk."
Eleven years ago, Qin Xiao fell seriously ill and was unable to recover. After a long period of treatment, his condition did not improve and instead worsened. Later, the hospital advised him to take him home for hospice care.
His father was hanging out with other people at the time and was not at home all day. His romantic scandal was exposed by someone he had provoked outside, and he hid in a corner and did not get involved in his affairs at all.
Aunt Qin couldn't take care of the child alone. While she cared about her grandson, she also wanted to make up for her son's kindness, so she rushed to help while she was still nimble.
Qin Xiao wanted to go back to his home in the city, which was where he rested on weekends after being released from boarding school. They thought that since he didn't have much time left, they let him do whatever he wanted.
Two adults and a high school student squeezed into a one-bedroom apartment.
The cramped space, the smell of various medicines, and her son's unconscious moans made Aunt Qin miserable. She wanted to escape but couldn't bring herself to do so, so she went to buy vegetables every day, which would take more than an hour. She would walk through the bustling vegetable market with a basket, greedily sniffing the turbid smell of fish, raw meat, vegetables, and soil, and taking it as comfort.
During this period, the old lady was taking care of the patient alone. Qin Xiao was unconscious most of the time, so the burden was not heavy.
That day, Aunt Qin went out to buy vegetables again. She carried a dark brown woven basket on her back, walked downstairs slowly, rode her bike, got off the bike, and went shopping in the vegetable market.
There was a bird vendor at the entrance of the vegetable market. The fluffy balls, all in clusters of flowers, were crammed into small cages, looking at passersby with their heads tilted.
Aunt Qin stopped and the vendor mistakenly thought she had taken a fancy to one of the animals. He held it up and tried to sell it to her, even forcing the cage into her hands so she could take a closer look.
She looked at it and couldn't bear to blink.
The light blue fluffy feathers and the orange-yellow beak opened and closed, and a series of melodious chirps came out and circled around her ears. More importantly, there was a strong scent of life on it, the body odor of a small animal that had not been corroded by any stomach acid, bad breath, or medicine. It not only showed that it was still alive, but also made her feel alive.
It was as if a tangible feeling of being alive penetrated her nostrils, and she absorbed it greedily.
On the other side, Qin Xiao, who was so sick that he couldn't open his eyes, was persistently emitting a completely opposite smell, which was getting stronger and stronger.
The elderly caregivers are too old and instinctively immune to its erosion, making it difficult for them to respond in a timely manner.
She stroked her eldest grandson's bony hand one by one, from the finger bones to the wrist bones, and then the many lines that should have ups and downs.
But it was still now.
The old man seemed to be awakened suddenly and fumbled carefully, as if trying to catch it back, but he couldn't find it no matter what.
The body temperature is still maintained, but there is no pulse.
I tried again, but there was no breath.
She was horrified and rushed to the living room to get the old phone there.
Pushing open the door, Qin Xiao, who had difficulty even turning over, suddenly sat up straight, laughing wildly with joy, then stopped laughing hysterically and started muttering "pavilion", "recovery" and other words she could not understand.
People say this is called the last flicker of life, which means that the last breath of life is about to end.
Without even looking back, she rushed to make the call with even greater effort. Aunt Qin had worked so hard to take care of her son for so long, and the mother and son must meet to justify their fate in this life.
As a result, when I turned around, the person disappeared.
The police came, and relatives and friends came. They turned the whole house upside down but couldn't find the young man.
Aunt Qin was exhausted by this and passed away in her hometown, Songshui Village, not long after.
"You are kind--"
The old woman became more and more excited as she spoke. She suddenly stood up and pushed open the inner bedroom door at lightning speed. As she looked in confusion, she saw a black and white photo of the original owner placed in the middle of a simple but neatly laid single bed.
"Like fallen leaves, they return to their roots. I know nothing I do can make up for it, but I have to do something. I hope Xiao'er can find a way back."
The bright smile of the person who died young was framed in the black and white world by a wooden frame. The nails at the four corners seemed to have hammered his vitality into the thin coffin. He could not break free and could only smile forever on the hospital bed.
"He's much closer here than the pile of dirt and stone slabs in the cemetery. If you want to see him, you can do it here. I don't know if he's actually gone home, but if you talk to him, he might hear you and come back. I've been shouting every day until I've become hoarse, but there's no response."
The old man gave him an encouraging look, as if he was entrusting him with a task as heavy as Mount Tai.
ah?
Me?
In the room where a stranger lived when he was alive, are you commemorating him by looking at his portrait placed on the bed where he slept?
It is even possible that Qin Xiao has been in the room all along, but he cannot be observed with living eyes. Perhaps he is lying on the bed, sitting upright and laughing wildly with his mouth wide open.
Since you are here.
Yinsui slowly moved to the front of the portrait and looked at the strange boy inside in bewilderment. They were speechless. He really couldn't think of any good eulogy to communicate with the soul. He simply said a few words on behalf of Qin Yun and said in his heart: "Your sister misses you very much. I'm sorry that I came here empty-handed today."
Your sister said you like to joke. If you can really laugh out loud at such a ridiculous scene here, my pretense will be meaningful.
"If you really want to see him, you can go to Xingfuchun Community opposite the Sixth Provincial Hospital." I guess my Xiaoer is still left there alone.
"Xingfuchun Community." She looked at the old lady who spoke in surprise and repeated it in disbelief.
"When Xiao'er was sick, it was inconvenient to move. His mother and I didn't want to give up completely, so we rented a house across from the hospital. We lived there for two or three years, and it has become my second home."
"...Okay." It was my fault for making the mistake of having preconceived ideas. I took it for granted that returning to the old man's house was this home, and the bed in the bedroom was Qin Xiao's deathbed.
"How can a hard wooden table be as comfortable to sleep on as a bed, don't you think, Xiao'er?" The old man walked to the portrait with his hands behind his back, muttering to his eldest grandson with tenderness in his eyes.
The eldest grandson smiled happily.
Yinsui left silently, leaving behind a private space for the grandparents and grandchildren to interact. It took him a while to realize that the next stop was Xingfuchun Community.
Although Qin Xiao had an accident outside, according to the organization's conclusion, there were commonalities between the abnormal spaces. What if they were useful? Crossing the river by feeling the stones, each one you touched was a piece.
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