The huge floor-to-ceiling windows reflected the room's lights, suddenly dispelling the gloom in Xu Shiyue's eyes.
Lu Shizhen grasped her wrist, and the blurry arm in her vision felt like a smear of melting cream, warmly smeared on her arm.
Xu Shiyue felt as if she had been abandoned and then found again.
The scent of roses, freshly baked, reached her nose, and with a thud, she heard her heart skip a beat.
Can……
Why is it Lu Shizhen again?
Lu Shizhen, of course, could not know what Xu Shiyue was thinking. She only knew that Xu Shiyue wanted to go with them.
Others might think that her being blind and going along would be a nuisance, and that taking care of her would be extremely inconvenient.
But Lu Shizhen understood that a third person's account was never as reassuring as seeing it with her own eyes and hearing it with her own ears. Even if she just stood there like a block of wood, as long as she could go along, it would be good.
+1
As soon as Lu Shizhen finished speaking, a few crisp system voices rang in her ears.
The girl paused for a moment as she held Xu Shiyue's hand. Lu Shizhen, who had just experienced a major deduction in her score, could hardly believe her ears.
Does that add points?
She just did what she felt she should do.
"Host! I got points! I got points!" Qiuqiu was extremely excited, circling around Lu Shizhen's head and cheering in a four-dimensional way.
Before Lu Shizhen and Qiuqiu could confirm that it was really a bonus, Aunt Sun quickly stood at the door: "Miss, Yuanzi has been settled in the carriage. It just vomited once. Let's hurry over there."
“Okay.” Lu Shizhen nodded immediately upon hearing this, and without even having time to verify the authenticity of her part, she led Xu Shiyue out of the villa.
As night deepened, a deep, inky blackness was splashed across the sky.
The long street was pitch black, except for a bright spot that illuminated the plane trees in front of the door and the patterned sidewalk tiles, like a painting standing quietly.
A doctor in a white coat pushed open the door to the inner room and came out, saying to the people waiting outside, "It's acute gastroenteritis. He vomited once when they were drawing blood for tests, but he hasn't vomited since the IV drip started. The condition isn't too serious."
"Miss Lu brought Yuanzi to the hospital in time, so she should be fine. She'll be under observation overnight, and if everything is alright by tomorrow morning, she can be discharged."
"Okay, thank you for your help tonight." Lu Shizhen nodded politely to the doctor, finally putting her mind at ease.
Aunt Sun remained tense, even showing some guilt on her face: "Doctor, how could Yuanzi be like this? The food at home is always the cleanest... I only gave it a few pieces of meat when I was making bone broth for Miss Xu at noon today, because it was so hungry. Is that the reason? Is it because the meat wasn't fully cooked? Could it have parasites?"
Caught off guard by Aunt Sun's barrage of questions, the vet quickly said, "Don't be nervous. Normally, there shouldn't be any problems feeding properly prepared meat to dogs."
The doctor paused for a moment at this point.
He handed the test results to Lu Shizhen and continued, "However, the test results show that Yuanzi's antibody levels are a bit lower than those of normal adult dogs of the same type."
"Considering that it is a purebred Labrador Retriever, we recommend that it be tested for genetic diseases."
Upon hearing the word "illness," Aunt Sun's heart, which had just settled, jumped again. Her voice was filled with sorrow: "But Yuanzi is someone I brought back from the organization. She's the best purebred guide dog. How could this happen..."
The tense atmosphere that had just dissipated in the room suddenly turned heavy again.
Lu Shizhen seemed to understand something from the doctor's words, and Xu Shiyue's voice seemed to confirm her idea, calmly ringing in her ear: "Are you worried that Yuanzi is a purebred dog that was bred through inbreeding, which may cause problems with its physical development?"
"Yes," the doctor nodded. "With current testing technology, the results can be available within a week, very quickly."
The lights in the hospital lobby shone quietly in the night outside the window, and Lu Shizhen remained silent.
She has seen many children in the hospital who suffer greatly because of genetic defects.
Because she was that kind of child too.
Illness, surgery, premature death.
She always watched her friends being wheeled into the operating room before her, and never coming back.
Death is actually very simple; what's difficult is for the living.
Lu Shizhen turned her head slightly to look at the wall separated by one-way glass.
Yuanzi was lying obediently inside receiving an IV drip, and Qiuqiu slipped inside to keep it company.
The shiny little ball grinned and made a funny face at Yuanzi, trying to make it happy.
The next second, I was covered in drool from the big dog's wet tongue.
What a pair of clowns!
Looking through the glass at Yuanzi, who seemed much better than before, Lu Shizhen couldn't help but smile with relief.
She smiled and said to Yuanzi, and also to those of them waiting outside, "It's alright, Yuanzi will surely be blessed by heaven."
As soon as Lu Shizhen finished speaking, Aunt Sun and the doctor nodded in agreement.
Xu Shiyue remained silent as always.
But it's different from the past.
For some reason, she seemed to sense her own gloom from Lu Shizhen's laughing words just now.
The girl's tall figure was imprinted in her line of sight, and her profile showed that she was staring intently at the dog in the ward.
This wanton and licentious perpetrator is actually worried about a dog.
Besides, no one else knows the subtle things she can see, so she shouldn't need to pretend to know that...
The darkness outside the window eroded the lights in the hall, casting a shadow of gloom over Xu Shiyue's wary eyes.
She really can't understand this person anymore.
After the examination, there were still some precautions to be taken, so Lu Shizhen went to the doctor's office with him.
Besides getting a prescription from the pharmacy, she also wanted to learn more about the effects of inbreeding in dogs.
The hospital quieted down again, and Xu Shiyue, who had quickly become familiar with the layout of the hospital, sat back down on the long sofa in the lobby.
Aunt Sun glanced at the message on her phone and walked over to her side: "Miss Xu, Yuanzi's IV drip will continue until tomorrow morning. Since Yuanzi is alright for now, I'll help you into the car now, and we'll head back after Miss comes out of the director's office."
As soon as she finished speaking, Aunt Sun was about to help Xu Shiyue up.
But Xu Shiyue remained seated, showing no intention of getting back into the car.
This world, which had been so kind to her, suddenly turned cruel overnight. Her ties were no longer in her hands, and what she wanted to take back could not be achieved overnight.
She thought she should never have any more desires for anything, but animals are the purest things in the world.
The warmth left by Lu Shizhen when she held her wrist earlier burned back up on her wrist.
She originally intended to ignore it if Lu Shizhen hadn't brought her here.
Xu Shiyue shook her head: "You take Lu Shizhen back, I'll wait for Yuanzi here."
"Miss Xu..."
"Crackling sounds".
Aunt Sun wanted to persuade Xu Shiyue, but she was interrupted by the sound of an apple being bitten.
Lu Shizhen somehow produced two bright red apples, and while munching on one, she walked over and asked, "What's wrong?"
Having spent a long time by Lu Shizhen's side, Aunt Sun knew that she would definitely go home and could persuade Xu Shiyue, so she said, "Miss, Miss Xu said she wants to stay."
Unexpectedly, Lu Shizhen did not intend to persuade Xu Shiyue. She said, "If she wants to stay, let her stay," and then sat down in the empty seat next to Xu Shiyue.
Aunt Sun was taken aback for a moment, then asked, puzzled, "But Miss..."
“Don’t worry, I’ll stay too.” Lu Shizhen glanced at the wall clock. “Anyway, it’s almost dawn. We’ll go home together after Yuanzi finishes her IV drip.”
Aunt Sun had no idea that Lu Shizhen agreed to Xu Shiyue's request because she wasn't going home either, and hurriedly advised, "Miss, you have to go to school tomorrow. You already asked for leave yesterday, and if you ask for leave again today, Madam will be angry..."
Lu Shizhen, however, disagreed.
She glanced at Xu Shiyue beside her and said meaningfully, "I don't think Mom will be angry if she finds out."
Aunt Sun immediately fell silent.
Cheng Meiyan is not a traditional parent; her children were raised in a free-range manner, without following any conventional methods.
It's truly a miracle that Lu Shize has grown into such an outstanding person; it's as if the Lu family's ancestral graves are emitting auspicious smoke.
It's important to know that Lu Shizhen's father, who died young, was a foolish and incompetent rich kid who couldn't learn anything. After investigating and learning that his grandson, Lu Shize, was a promising talent capable of shouldering the responsibilities of the Lu family, Old Master Lu passed away peacefully the next day.
And it was precisely because of Lu Shize's miracle that Cheng Meiyan was able to raise her child more freely.
Aunt Sun simply couldn't use the parents as an excuse to get Lu Shizhen to go home obediently.
Lu Shizhen knew that Aunt Sun was like this because of what happened last time. She was worried about her and Xu Shiyue being alone here. She calmed her down and said, "It's okay, Aunt Sun. Look, you two have to start taking care of Yuanzi when you get back. Check if Yuanzi had diarrhea at home yesterday, and you also have to prepare a sickroom for it. How are we supposed to sleep with all this noise?"
“And look,” Lu Shizhen said, pointing to the bodyguards standing at the hospital entrance, “with these guys here, nothing will happen.”
Looking at the burly men forming a human wall, Aunt Sun was somewhat persuaded by Lu Shizhen: "Well... alright, Miss. Please be careful."
"Don't worry." Lu Shizhen nodded deeply to Aunt Sun twice and waved her hand, saying, "Go back now."
In the early morning, even the slightest sound on the long street was exceptionally clear. Xu Shiyue heard the sound of the car door closing.
And the person who had just said he wanted to stay actually sat down next to her.
In Xu Shiyue's mind, someone like Lu Shizhen should put herself first in everything.
They are extremely self-serving, as if going back to rest would always put them ahead of a dog that is already alright.
Could it be that the nap she secretly took while tutoring physics was enough for her to switch places with Yuanzi's sleep?
Xu Shiyue glanced at the person out of the corner of her eye and felt that Lu Shizhen was not as cold-hearted as she seemed.
Or perhaps, this only applies to how they treat their pets.
"Sizzle, sizzle..."
Two figures stood side by side in the quiet hospital lobby. The crisp, clear sound of Lu Shizhen eating an apple reached Xu Shiyue's ears.
For some reason, she suddenly remembered the apple that had slowly rolled into her dream the day before yesterday.
And there's that little girl in a wheelchair, all alone, looking at the fake landscape painting.
Perhaps because the doctor had just mentioned the issue of genetic defects, a guess inexplicably popped into Xu Shiyue's head.
Is that little girl also suffering from a health problem, which is why she's staying in that square-shaped hospital room?
There were no windows, and no companions.
It blocked out bacteria, and it also blocked out the light coming in from the real windows.
who is she……
Xu Shiyue didn't know why she cared so much about a dream.
Indeed, it is absurd to seek the truth from a bizarre dream, but Xu Shiyue kept the dream in her heart for no reason, as if it were a real event that had happened in reality.
Why……
Xu Shiyue frowned slightly.
The image of the little girl pushing a wheelchair at the end of the corridor slowly entered her mind.
She stared at her like that, and as if by some strange twist of fate, she saw the girl's lips slightly part, as if she wanted to say something to her.
"Xu Shiyue".
It was Lu Shizhen's voice.
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