There is another one (repair)
Perhaps we should trace back to the roots of everything twenty years ago.
As the slightly bumpy van drove onto a dirt road in the suburbs, with lush fields on both sides, Zhang Tianyi and Sanyi told me a story, adding many details provided by my mother Zhang Can.
Because this story had such a huge impact on me, I lost my composure at one point while listening to it. The complexity, twists and turns, ups and downs of my emotions are beyond words.
After listening to it, I opened the car window to let the wind blow for a while, and stared outside in silence. It was not yet time for the fields to fill with grain in February, and everything was silent.
I stood there in a daze, then became exhausted both physically and mentally in the silence, and for some reason I collapsed directly into a high fever.
And in the nightmare, I subconsciously forgot everything I had just heard, tried to escape, and shamefully deceived myself.
But at the same time, the stories that Zhang Tianyi and Sanyi told me kept replaying in my dreams, reminding me never to forget.
Therefore, in order to avoid me often losing my voice while telling the story, and for the sake of the completeness of all the truth, I will start from this moment in the nightmare.
…
Twenty years ago, on May 9, 1987, at 14:28 in the afternoon, Huaian County First Affiliated Hospital.
Zhang Can, who was only 27 years old, was sitting on a bench in the hospital corridor. His elbows and arms had burns that had just been treated not long ago. He was holding his child and looking at me with absent-minded eyes.
In the dream, I looked into the eyes of my young mother, and saw her holding my young self in her arms from a strange perspective. The feeling was undoubtedly wonderful.
In the trance, I didn't realize that everything in front of me was the integration of all the detailed information I got in my dream, and I was possessing some kind of magical God's perspective. So I just met her gaze in confusion.
At first I thought she was looking at me, but then I realized she was staring at the ground.
Because the place where her eyes fell was extremely low, basically level with the ground.
If the "I" in the dream has a physical body, it would probably be a washbasin standing in the corner, or a mushroom, sticking its head out from the floor tiles.
Looking at the direction of me, the mushroom in the corner, she was lost in thought, with an unconcealable hint of confusion on her face.
"Do you need help?" A young woman who had just passed by in the corridor turned around and looked at her twice, then came over to ask, "Your injuries look unusual. Did someone hurt you?"
Zhang Can came back to his senses, somewhat surprised by the other party's kindness and straightforwardness, and smiled gently: "It's okay."
The young woman did not move when she heard this. She opened her eyes wide and looked at her seriously, as if she insisted on confirming Zhang Can's safety.
"Hello, my name is Broker, I'm not a bad person."
After introducing himself in an overly suspicious way, the stranger's attitude was so frank that it was almost honest:
"This hospital is actually our private one and is not usually open to the public. I don't know how you got here by mistake, but if you have any difficulties, you can tell me directly. At least no one here will make things difficult for you."
After thinking for a moment, the young woman added, "If you need to intervene and protect me, I will pay for the other party's medical expenses and stretcher."
Zhang Can was slightly startled, and his originally heavy mood became a little funny. He thought to himself that this girl was really a wonderful person.
But how to introduce yourself and use the online name, it sounds a bit out of place, like a silly goose lady living in the modern world. Maybe she has just entered the society not long ago.
She couldn't bear to dampen the other party's goodwill, so she patiently explained that her family had just moved to this county town not long ago to settle down and find jobs. A few days ago, there was a small accident and a fire broke out in the room.
Fortunately, the disease was discovered in time, and neither the adult nor the child was seriously injured. The worst case was that the couple's arms were burned and blistered to some extent, which looked a bit exaggerated and scary. They need to change the dressings frequently in the next few days to avoid wound infection.
Seeing that Zhang Can was talking in an orderly manner and his emotions were stable and gentle, he did not seem to be compromising. The young broker nodded and felt relieved:
"So you're here for a follow-up check?"
"No, I'm a class teacher, and I'm here to do a home visit."
The broker was stunned with an exclamation. Zhang Can couldn't help but laugh, "Everyone in your hospital is too busy. It's impossible to set a time. So I just came here by myself."
"However, I do have some conditions that I would like to check up on. I just didn't expect your hospital is not open to the public."
The "some situations" that Zhang Can mentioned were the mild hallucinations that suddenly appeared in her in the past few days.
She showed the broker the baby sleeping peacefully in her arms and tried to express herself rationally, "Maybe it's a manifestation of postpartum depression and separation anxiety. Sometimes I get dizzy and think Lanlan appears in another corner."
The broker frowned immediately: "Teleport?"
"No, it's probably a little more ridiculous than what you said."
Zhang Can shook his head and thought about it carefully, as if he was looking for an example to describe it. But for a moment he fell into deep thought.
I became curious and thought, what could be more mysterious than teleportation? Is it so difficult to describe?
The next second, she looked over.
When our eyes met, I was completely stunned and instantly got goose bumps all over my body.
"Look, there's another blue one on the ground," she whispered. "It's right there."
It turns out that she was really looking at 'me' just now.
I shuddered and subconsciously looked down at my hands and body at this moment, trying to confirm my identity.
Young Zhang Can sighed, walked over, leaned over and held me in his arms.
I moved and made a sound for the first time, "Wow", a baby crying.
"...Are you sure that's your child?" The broker also looked at me, but her eyes didn't meet mine. She frowned and tried to reach out, "I don't see anything."
As these words were spoken, I and the infant Xu Ranxing, who was so close to me, huddled together in my mother's arms, struggling in discomfort and crying loudly.
Zhang Canteng didn't make a move, so he leaned me on his shoulder and let me lie down. Only then was he able to walk two steps and sit down. He gently patted my back and also felt it was ridiculous:
"Yeah, I asked my husband if he saw it, and he said the same thing. So, I guess there must be something wrong with my brain. I'm sick. A crazy woman who fantasizes that she has non-existent children sounds very sad."
The broker was silent.
Seeing her like this, Zhang Can couldn't help laughing.
Although he was only two or three years older than the girl in front of him, Zhang Can still treated her like a child, pinched her face with a smile and told her not to be sad.
"It's not a big deal, you see. So I just came to see the doctor honestly, didn't I?"
The broker shook his head: "But what about your husband? What about the rest of your family? Is there no one accompanying you?"
At this time, a familiar but much younger figure came running over, with sweat on his forehead, and said in a good-tempered manner: "I bought it, and there are only a few left."
He handed over a bag of steaming roasted sweet potatoes, helped peel half of it, and skillfully carried the baby Xu Ranxing over.
Then he greeted everyone present one by one, and even waved at me. Unfortunately, because he couldn't see me, he went in the wrong direction.
After doing all this, he finally had time to ask with concern: "What's wrong?"
I recognize this face, this is my father Xu Feng.
But when I looked at Xu Feng, who was still very young at that time, my eyelids couldn't help but jump again.
From my perspective at the moment, I can clearly see that the inside of his arm also has burn marks, which are much more serious than my mother's. Large areas have scabs, which is quite shocking.
...Is this the little accident that my mother mentioned a few days ago? Are the two of them being too relaxed?
Fortunately, according to my mother, these injuries are only scary on the surface and do not hurt any bones or muscles. My father Xu Feng's movements do seem to be still agile and natural.
I just don’t know why, the location of the burns seems weird and awkward.
What is it? I didn’t have an answer for a moment.
The broker was still chatting with my parents. I was thinking hard and inevitably missed a few sentences. When I came to my senses, I heard them saying goodbye. The broker had some important things to do.
"The patients we receive in this hospital are quite special. It's not a good idea for you to come here often. It's best not to have any contact with you. Change to another hospital."
The broker said, leaving a number, "But if your delusions change in any unusual way, feel free to contact me."
Before leaving, she hesitated for a moment and pointed at Xu Feng's terrifying arm: "Next time you encounter a fire, safety is your first priority. Don't risk snatching property, and don't try to put it out by force."
He said it unintentionally, and the listener didn't care.
But even though I was confused, I suddenly understood what she meant and it suddenly became clear.
That's it. The burns on Xu Feng's arm seemed to have exploded from the bottom and inside to the top and outside.
How to put it, it was as if he was hugging a boiling pressure cooker that was about to explode, or a blazing fireball.
And for some reason, he seemed to have lost his mind and did not throw it out immediately. Instead, he held it tightly and refused to let go.
If we have to explain this inexplicable situation, we can probably only imagine that he was rescuing the safe during the fire, which was filled with the unknown treasure of One Piece.
I almost laughed at my own ridiculous assumption, and thought to myself, "Dear father, Mr. Xu, please don't blame me. It's not that I'm a bad kid or unfilial to you. I just can't imagine anything that's worth risking my life for."
And that thing couldn't be too big, too heavy, too sharp or hard, so that it could just create the strange distribution of injuries on his arm.
To sum up, that precious small unknown spherical burning object should be like... like...
Just like the baby Xu Ranxing he is holding now.
I suddenly felt numb as if I had been electrocuted, and my head was buzzing.
It's not like, there was a voice in my heart saying that the thing that caused the couple to get hurt was not anything else but myself who spontaneously combusted at some moment.
Only with this explanation could my father and mother be injured one after another, but I could still downplay it as an accident and instead focus all my attention on another "illusion" trouble.
But, if that’s the case, then what about my injury?
As the source of the burning, I should have been completely unrecognizable, and would never be the peaceful person sleeping in the cradle now.
The next moment, I seemed to realize something, and I lowered my head stiffly, finally completing the action that was interrupted before, and looked at my body in detail. I saw a large area of horrifying dark red.
The injury is here with me, with the other Lan Lan who is crawling on the ground and crying for some unknown reason, and who does not exist.
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