Stimulate him
When Zuo Xiao woke up the next day, Zhuang Yu'an and his suitcase were gone.
I checked my phone and found out that he was on his way back to Beijing on the high-speed train early this morning. He also said he would come back tonight.
Another week passed like this. Besides going to and from the hospital every day, Zuo Xiao also had a video call with Lao Zuo as usual.
His complexion gradually recovered, and the relationship between father and daughter improved considerably. The main reason wasn't that he had changed, but rather her unwavering adherence to the "three no's" principle: no retorts to his criticisms, no response to his questions, and no proactive criticism of him. She tolerated whatever he said about her not focusing on her job and posting shameless comments online, never arguing. After repeating this countless times, he grew tired of it, and realizing that despite her improved attitude, she wouldn't change her ways, he gradually spoke less.
Later on, he mostly talked about who was visiting the house that day, occasionally complaining about the caregiver's meddling and fussiness when no one was around. But he didn't ask for a replacement, which gave Zuo Xiao a good impression of the caregiver. Sometimes, he'd even ask about Luffy's situation and whether Zuo Xiao was getting used to living away from home.
That day, Zuo Xiao and Zhuang Yu'an came to the hospital together.
Yesterday afternoon, they received encouraging news: although Luffy has not yet regained consciousness, his vital signs are stable and he no longer requires ICU-level life support. Today, he will be transferred from the ICU to the High Dependency Unit (HDU), a transitional unit between the ICU and a regular ward. The HDU supports extended family care, and doctors encourage frequent communication with patients to promote neurological recovery.
As Lu Ziqiang led the two toward the HDU, he diligently relayed, "The doctor said that the sooner the patient wakes up, the better for subsequent recovery. The longer the coma, the greater the risk of complications and the greater the difficulty of treatment. The first month after a coma is the golden period for awakening the patient, and family support and assistance are crucial."
"Wake him up?" Zuo Xiao asked, "So we need to talk to him more, right?"
"Yes," Lu Ziqiang explained. "The doctor said that familiar voices can stimulate the auditory cortex and emotional areas of the brain, potentially promoting neurological recovery. Also, talking about things the patient cares about, shared fond memories, and so on, can increase the chance of recovery. A nurse told me about a young man who had been in a coma for six months. His mother called in his first love, who spoke to him by his bedside every day. Guess what? She actually woke him up!"
The two completed the registration and hand disinfection. The nurse explained some precautions. Then they took off their coats, put on masks and shoe covers, and entered the HDU ward.
Zuo Xiao's heart tightened. Even through the mask, he could smell the strong scent of medicine, clearly something other than disinfectant. Approaching, he saw that Luffy's condition didn't seem much different from the day he was wheeled out of the operating room. He was still wearing an oxygen mask, receiving fluids, and receiving 24-hour vital sign monitoring.
She felt her throat tighten and her eyes warm again. Suddenly, her hand was held and gently squeezed.
She turned her head and met Zhuang Yu'an's gaze. His eyes were extremely gentle, yet contained strength.
"Don't worry, it will be fine." He said in a deep voice.
The two sat down beside the bed. Zhuang Yu'an gave him an encouraging look. Zuo Xiao cleared his dry throat and called out, "Luffy."
The person she called didn't respond. She calmed herself down and continued, "Luffy, I'm Zuo Xiao. I'm here to see you... You can't wake up. Open your eyes and look at me. Chat with me..."
She choked up at the end of her voice, and after a pause she continued, "You've lost a lot of weight. The muscles I worked so hard to build have all gone back..."
She spoke several words, but none of the reactions the nurse had instructed the patient to expect—eye movement, frowning, mouth twitching, finger movements—happened. Luffy lay quietly on the bed. Aside from the breath exhaled from the oxygen mask and the graphics and numbers jumping on the instrument, there was almost no sign that he was still alive.
Zuo Xiao gradually ran out of words. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and stopped talking.
"Luffy, I'm here too." Zhuang Yu'an suddenly said. Zuo Xiao turned to look at him, her vision hazy, and her face was unclear.
Zhuang Yu'an paused for a moment, then continued, "Last time at Blue Lemon, I said we should find a place to have a good fight, but you were so scared that you didn't dare to come to the company. More than a month has passed. When are you going to fight me?"
Zuo Xiao burst into laughter, wanting to ask why he was still thinking about fighting at this time, but then he heard him continue, "If you beat me, I will consider letting you meet Zuo Xiao."
The person he named was startled and looked at him blankly. Zhuang Yu'an nodded at her and continued to speak to Luffy slowly.
"However, with your skills, it might be difficult to defeat me. However, my right hand is slightly injured and cannot be moved for the time being. It is expected to take another month or so to fully recover. This may be one of your few chances to defeat me."
"Actually, you're quite competitive. I knew that when I was in college. Back then, Teacher Zhang came up with that charitable project on a whim, allowing university students to exchange environmental protection and carbon reduction activities with businesses for supplies to donate to rural primary schools. I told you the underlying design was so lame that even a god couldn't pull it off. So, you took the bait, saying you could run it. But after a year, it was truly stagnant. In the end, you paid out of your own pocket for a ton of stationery and clothes, and even lied to me that you used platform user points to redeem them. I knew everything, but I didn't expose you. That's pretty considerate, isn't it?"
"And then there's that corporate executive research project of mine. You initially thought it was too much trouble and didn't want to help me. I told you it was beyond the scope of the project, and even if our professors were to do it themselves, we wouldn't be able to collect that many valid questionnaires. Then you took it on. You actually did a fantastic job on it, and I really meant it when I said you were capable."
Zuo Xiao looked at Zhuang Yu'an with complicated eyes. He had never expected that Zhuang Yu'an was so sinister and cunning. He actually calculated others without making a sound, and played people in the palm of his hand with sweet words and flattery...
"Frankly, I doubt you like Zuo Xiao." Zhuang Yu'an glanced at her. "Is it possible that you saw from the beginning that I had a crush on her, so you deliberately chased her before me? I remember not long after she joined the company, you asked me if I had a crush on her. Later, at Aranya, you confirmed with me whether you were interested in Zuo Xiao and told me not to blame you for not giving her a chance. You see, you act like you're playing a game, and you've had more girlfriends than I can count on both hands. Who could believe how serious you are?"
"Even if you're serious," he paused, "I'm a thousand times, ten thousand times more serious than you are. Even if we fight to the death, you can't beat me."
"That's enough." Zuo Xiao couldn't help but question softly, "Why are you saying this?"
Zhuang Yu'an held her hand and signaled with his eyes: Trust me. Then, he turned his gaze back to the person on the bed and said, "I have proposed to Zuo Xiao. Twice."
Zuo Xiao couldn't help but gasp. When he said, "But she rejected me," his heart finally settled down. He couldn't help but give him a resentful look. Was this guy deliberately provoking Luffy, hoping to piss him off to death?
"So theoretically speaking..." Zhuang Yu'an's eyes dimmed for a moment, "She still has the possibility of making a new choice, which makes me feel very uneasy... As the saying goes, things never happen more than three times. I only have one chance left. If she still rejects me, then I really don't know what to do..."
Zuo Xiao felt a pang of pain in her heart at his words, and then she became very annoyed that he chose to express his true feelings to her in such an occasion.
"That's right." She glanced at him, then turned to the person sleeping on the bed and said, "Luffy, as long as you wake up, I'm willing to give you a fair chance to compete."
Zhuang Yu'an was stunned when he heard this and looked over in panic.
Zuo Xiao glanced at him and continued, "Anyway, as long as I'm not married, I'm free. Hey, think about it, what's the point of getting married? You're being controlled all day long, and looking at handsome guys a few more times feels like a crime. And if you have children in the future, you'll be busy all day long. Helping with homework will drive you crazy! Being single is still good. Everyone can fall in love and live freely. Life is full of possibilities."
These words made Zhuang Yu'an's face change again and again. He said, "But even if you get married, you can still maintain your own independent space. And you don't have to have children. Having children has never been a must in marriage. If both parties feel that it is not necessary, then don't have children."
"That's easy to say now..." Zuo Xiao sneered. "When the time comes and the elders at home keep urging you to give birth, will you be able to handle it?"
"There are always only two people involved in a marriage. Once the two parties have made up their minds, no one else can change their minds. If others have opinions, you can only ask them to retract them."
"Tsk, you can take it back just like that? What if you run into someone who's stubborn and won't change? What if you throw a tantrum or have a heart attack if they don't listen to your advice?"
The two of them started arguing with each other, and the argument became more and more heated. For a moment, no one noticed that the person on the hospital bed moved his fingers slightly.
After leaving the ward, Zuo Xiao took off his mask and shoe covers and scolded, "Why are you arguing with me about that? Is this the time to say those things? I'm really impressed by you. You're begging me in front of everyone—"
Seeing that Chen Quan and Lu Ziqiang were listening attentively, Zuo Xiao immediately shut up, glanced at Zhuang Yu'an, and walked away with big strides.
Zhuang Yu'an hurriedly followed, and before leaving, he waved to the two people behind him, signaling them not to follow him.
He followed her all the way into the elevator, out of the hospital, and onto the street.
The sun was setting, stretching out two shadows, one in front and one behind. Suddenly, the shadow behind caught up and merged with the one in front.
Zhuang Yu'an put his arm around Zuo Xiao's shoulders and said as they walked, "I was just trying to provoke Luffy. The nurse said we should talk more about things that the patients care about."
"The nurse also said that we should talk more about good things." Zuo Xiao refuted him, "Is your proposal to me a good thing for him?"
"Beautiful things and things that matter to us are not A and B, but A or B." He said firmly, "I think Luffy will care about the status of our relationship. He should be happy to hear that my proposal failed. Besides..."
He gritted his teeth, paused for a moment, and then said, "Then you said you would give him another chance. This is a wonderful thing for him."
"Don't confuse the two." Zuo Xiao declared sternly, "What you said is what you said, and what I said is what I said. Don't use what I said to make up for your own mistakes, okay? If you hadn't said a lot of nonsense before, I wouldn't have tried to save the situation and said all that to him."
Zhuang Yu'an was stunned for a moment, then said happily, "I knew it!" He squeezed her arm happily, "You deliberately said you would give him a chance just to make him happy and give him hope, right? I knew it..."
Zuo Xiao snorted: "Who said that?"
Zhuang Yu'an was a little uncertain at the moment and asked nervously, "Isn't it?"
"Humph!" Zuo Xiao shook his head. "Think about it yourself."
She was upset for a while, but soon calmed down. The man didn't do anything, just quickly bought her a bunch of flowers when they passed by a flower shop. When they passed by a fruit shop, he shamelessly dragged her in to pick some fruit.
He stood before a pile of oranges, carefully selecting them with one hand, occasionally twisting them. The ones he'd chosen were set aside. After he'd gathered six, he grabbed two at a time, bending over to place them in the shopping basket on the floor. Then he grabbed a box of strawberries and a pineapple, which the clerk had cut up on the spot and sealed in plastic.
The streets of Taiyuan were still cold in February. Zuo Xiao wore the down jacket Zhuang Yu'an had brought her, while he wore a blue parka, looking much younger than usual. He held a bag of fruit in his left hand, and she held a bouquet of flowers in her right, as they walked side by side.
At that moment, Zuo Xiao spotted a pair of gray-haired elderly people stumbling ahead. The old man, also walking on the left side of the motorway, clutched a bag of golden Taigu pancakes in his left hand and held the old woman's hand with his right. The woman's legs were clearly failing, and she walked extremely slowly. The old man grumbled, "Oh, please hurry up," but he didn't let go, not even quickening his pace. The sun slanted behind them, just as time never spared them. Yet, something transcended time, standing firm as a rock amidst the ever-changing currents.
Suddenly, Zuo Xiao's heart was touched, and she turned to look at the person beside her. His shoulders, the back of his neck, the back of his head, and the tip of his right ear were painted a golden-orange hue by the setting sun. His face, a dark orange hue amidst the stark contrast of light and dark, appeared remarkably deep and serene. His black eyes, now distracted by hers, were as silent and resolute as black meteorites, faintly radiating a deep luster. In that moment, Zuo Xiao perceived a certain power in them, a power that she felt might be able to carry her through time.
She lowered her head and accurately took his right hand.
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