After nightfall, the hospital ward building seemed to be muted.
The colossal object, soaring almost into the clouds, stood silently under the moonlight, making every sound it uttered exceptionally clear.
The girl's soft voice, filled with lukewarm warmth, brushed against Lu Shizhen's ear, suddenly burning her.
Whether it was out of embarrassment or for some other reason, Lu Shizhen clearly felt her heart skip a beat.
She blinked and asked, "Is it really something to be happy about?"
Xu Shiyue held her hand and nodded, saying, "Of course."
Lu Shizhen felt inexplicably happy after being told twice that she was very happy to see her.
It was as if a glass candy bead had rolled across her heart, its crisp, clear sound echoing from east to west, spreading sweetness all the way.
She is not just someone who needs others.
She is also someone who is needed.
Thinking this, Lu Shizhen then said to Xu Shiyue, "After this surgery, you'll be fully recovered soon, right?"
The little girl's voice was filled with anticipation and joy, completely unaware that recovery meant separation.
Yet, Xu Shiyue, so precocious, was exceptionally perceptive in capturing it.
She watched Lu Shizhen, who was guarding her bedside, and caught a glimpse of the edge of the passageway in her peripheral vision.
If she leaves, will Lu Shizhen get to know other people living in this house through this passage?
Will she also stay by that person's bedside after the surgery, waiting for her to wake up?
Will she become friends with that person and have them draw for her?
The sound of medical equipment running echoed in the dimly lit ward, and Xu Shiyue lowered her gaze.
This was the first time the precocious girl hadn't planned for the future, instead procrastinating by saying, "It'll be a long time, at least a month from now."
Because of her desire for good health, Lu Shizhen didn't understand the hidden meaning in Xu Shiyue's words. Instead, she took Xu Shiyue's hand and urged her, "You have to recover quickly so that you can get better."
Children's eyes are always so big, and all their emotions can be magnified and amplified within them.
The moonlight fell into Lu Shizhen's eyes, dark yet bright, filled with earnestness and hope, without a trace of impurity.
Upon hearing this, Xu Shiyue paused slightly, then said gently, "You too."
Then she looked up at the clock on the wall and said, "It's getting late, you should go back and rest. See you tomorrow morning."
“Okay.” Lu Shizhen nodded and placed the apple and painting she had brought on her lap on Xu Shiyue’s bedside table. “Now that you’re awake, I’ll give you the painting as promised.”
"You can only take it apart after I leave!" With that, Lu Shizhen shyly turned her wheelchair around quickly.
She waved to Xu Shiyue again, then deftly disappeared into the dark corridor.
She didn't even notice the gaze that was fixed on her from behind, a gaze that lingered on the little girl for a long time.
Actually, Lu Shizhen's paintings don't depict anything ambiguous; they're just simple depictions of summer.
There was a large patch of wisteria in the small square outside the hospital, which looked particularly beautiful from Xu Shiyue's ward.
Naturally gifted, Lu Shizhen's paintings, while realistic, also possess a dreamlike, ethereal beauty. Wisteria blossoms cascade down like a waterfall, with several white doves flying or perching, interspersed with large swaths of purple, bathed in a golden sunlight—truly beautiful.
Xu Shiyue liked it, and her liking wasn't just talk.
She framed the painting and placed it in the most prominent position by her bedside so she could see it every day.
Xu Shiyue's parents noticed it once and even asked her where the painting came from.
Xu Shiyue just smiled, carefully took her back from her mother's hands, and proudly said that she was created by her.
This is a secret between her and Lu Shizhen; she won't share it with anyone.
Adults often find children's words bizarre and illogical, and besides, the painting on the bedside table was beautiful and full of warmth, so Mr. and Mrs. Xu didn't think too much about it.
For this reason, Xu Shiyue's ward became Lu Shizhen's safe haven.
Xu Shiyue used the excuse that she also wanted to draw a beautiful picture like the one on the bedside table, and asked her parents to bring her a lot of paintbrushes and paper. She used these to build a free world for Lu Shizhen and add color to her pale world.
Xu Shiyue thought she didn't need to paint the same kind of picture as Lu Shizhen as she had told her parents; it was enough for her to have her own...
The book stopped on one page and remained there for a long time.
Then Xu Shiyue felt her hand go empty. The book she was holding was snatched away by Lu Shizhen, and in return, she heard the other person complaining: "Shiyue, always holding a book will make you nearsighted and a bookworm."
Xu Shiyue looked at Lu Shizhen, who was puffing up in anger, without any annoyance on her face. She said to her softly and helplessly, "But I have nothing to do."
“How could there be nothing to do?” Lu Shizhen retorted, sticking a bookmark into the book she was holding and placing it on the bedside table. “Didn’t the doctor and nurses tell you to get out of bed and walk around more? It will help your body recover.”
"I have nowhere to go and I don't want to get out of bed," Xu Shiyue replied, lazily and deliberately lying back on the hospital bed that was raised behind her. Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced at the doorway that only she and Lu Shizhen could see.
A seed was planted.
At that moment, an arm crossed Xu Shiyue's line of sight.
Lu Shizhen, puffing out her cheeks, handed her hand to Xu Shiyue.
Xu Shiyue was somewhat confused: "What are you doing?"
Lu Shizhen then asked in a serious tone, "May I invite you to get out of bed and dance with me, Miss Xu Shiyue?"
Xu Shiyue paused for a moment, then noticed the anime that was still playing on the side.
The female lead seems to have disguised herself as a man and infiltrated a ball in order to steal information. In the spinning scene, she is dancing with another lady on the dance floor.
Xu Shiyue possessed a maturity beyond her years, and was not very interested in such whimsical things, even finding them somewhat noisy.
But Lu Shizhen liked it, and would bring her tablet over to watch it with him.
Whether it was because she was influenced by it or for some other reason, over time she stopped finding it so childish.
She would even take the initiative to read comics and often discuss them with Lu Shizhen.
From watching anime to reading manga.
Now Lu Shizhen has invited Xu Shiyue to imitate the protagonist's dance.
childish.
But she was originally a six or seven-year-old child.
Without hesitation, Xu Shiyue placed her hand in Lu Shizhen's hand and nodded happily, "Okay."
Although Lu Shizhen couldn't do many things related to her legs, she had always been eager to dance.
It seems that all children have a longing and desire to dance. Lu Shizhen has also seen dancers dancing in wheelchairs on the Internet and is not willing to give up because she cannot stand up.
But the people around her only saw her as someone who couldn't do anything, forbidding her from doing this or that.
And Xu Shiyue was the only one who didn't treat her as a complete cripple.
Lu Shizhen only dared to extend her hand to Xu Shiyue.
Sunlight streamed into the room at an angle, falling on the bedside and the little girl's slender wrist.
As Lu Shizhen looked at the hand that landed in her palm, her tense heart immediately relaxed, followed by a surge of even more emotions.
It pleased her, delighted her, and its gentle warmth passed through her palm, bringing layer upon layer of radiant smiles to her face.
October will never disappoint her.
Melodious music emanated from the tablet, and the anime was coming to an end.
Xu Shiyue had some dance background, so she tiptoed and slowly started moving with Lu Shizhen.
A gentle breeze stirred the heat outside the window, scattering large swaths of air onto the glass.
The children weren't that far apart in height, so they slowly moved through the swaying shadows of the trees. The sunlight was dazzling and intense, melting and blurring Xu Shiyue's hospital gown, turning it into the hem of her skirt and reflecting in Lu Shizhen's vision.
In fact, due to the limitations of her unprofessional wheelchair, Lu Shizhen and Xu Shiyue's dance steps were only simple forward, backward, left and right movements.
Even so, Lu Shizhen still felt as if she had really stood up and danced with Xu Shiyue.
She held hands with Xu Shiyue, her long, loose hair swaying gently, the breeze carrying a faint fragrance.
The taste of freedom is something you only experience when you're with Xu Shiyue.
I really, really love being with October...
Lu Shizhen thought to herself, raising her eyes to stare at Xu Shiyue's face and the black doorway that suddenly flashed by behind her.
Suddenly, a feeling that was sometimes near and sometimes far enveloped her heart. Reluctance and regret, along with a little fear, were embedded in her heart piece by piece, and there were no specific adjectives to describe it.
A question suddenly popped into Lu Shizhen's mind.
—I wonder what Xu Shiyue will be like when she grows up.
"You're not paying attention."
Lu Shizhen was enveloped by this eerie feeling when Xu Shiyue's voice brought her back to reality.
She looked down and saw that Xu Shiyue's foot was stuck under the wheel that she hadn't had time to turn.
Lu Shizhen immediately retreated in a panic: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."
"I didn't say you did it on purpose," Xu Shiyue said calmly, her voice gentle without a hint of reproach.
Upon hearing Xu Shiyue's words, Lu Shizhen smiled shyly and said, "Thank you for teaching me to dance. I'm very happy."
“Me too,” Xu Shiyue said.
She just looked at Lu Shizhen like that, her lips slightly pursed as if she had something else to say.
But before she could speak, a slender shadow appeared before her eyes.
Lu Shizhen stared intently at the single hair on Xu Shiyue's eyelashes, and then reached out her hand towards Xu Shiyue.
As a result, his body tilted as he sat in the wheelchair.
The already small space was further compressed by half.
The sunlight shone brightly on one side of the two little girls' faces, their different eyes met, and the distance between their noses was barely perceptible.
Thump, thump...
It was the sound of a heartbeat, and the sound of the earth trembling, as the tender seed broke through the barrier and stretched its roots into the soil.
Lu Shizhen then realized that she seemed to be too close to Xu Shiyue. She quickly removed the fuzz from Xu Shiyue's eyes and handed it to Xu Shiyue as if to prove her innocence: "That... fuzz."
But the little girl didn't understand that if she wasn't feeling guilty, why would she need to prove her innocence?
"Thank you." Xu Shiyue nodded and reached out to take the plush toy that Lu Shizhen handed her.
The tiny hairs couldn't avoid touching, and their fingers intertwined for a moment, the coolness brushing against the warmth, spreading like stars on Lu Shizhen's fingertips.
Just then, Lu Shizhen's watch beeped.
Whether it was because of this or because of what happened earlier, her heart skipped a beat, and she stammered to Xu Shiyue, "That time is up, I should go now, I'll come find you again tomorrow."
"Okay." Xu Shiyue nodded and waved to Lu Shizhen as she left. "See you tomorrow."
Along the same long corridor, Lu Shizhen leisurely pushed her wheelchair back to the ward, calmly planning what to do tomorrow.
Just as the wheels of her wheelchair rolled over the protrusion where the floor tiles met the corridor, she suddenly felt a surge of heat in her chest.
It was as if something that had been suppressed for a long time suddenly broke free and began to surge restlessly.
Lu Shizhen stopped pushing the wheelchair, a surge of heat mixed with a familiar, sharp pain rising up her throat.
Crimson like a rose pierced by a bullet, shattered and splattered on the pure white floor.
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