31 The Death of Qin Shi Huang01
◎You were the best behaved child, why didn’t you write a diary later?◎
【Congratulations to everyone for successfully obtaining the fragments of civilization.】
[Due to the short interval between episodes, we have decided not to escort you back to the rest area. Please pack your belongings and proceed directly to the next episode of "A General History of the Universe" - The Death of Qin Shi Huang.]
As the system finished speaking, a bus drove silently over and slowly stopped in front of everyone.
The moment the vehicle stopped, it suddenly started to rain.
The stars were hanging low in the sky, Zhu Heng looked up, and a drop of rain fell into his eyes.
He looked calm as always.
This young man named Zhu Heng was born in the summer of a certain year during the Second Civilization Era. The exact date is debated. Some say he was actually a human from a Third Civilization tens of millions of years later, but this claim has not been definitively verified. He grew up in an unremarkable orphanage and attended Earth Star's Third Middle School as a teenager...
At that time, all human beings in the universe did not realize that the ultimate survival of human civilization, which had lasted for tens of millions of years, would depend on this young man.
All this was not without signs. From his confusing life experience, unusual body structure, and various inexplicable adventures in the civilization simulation game, we can get a glimpse of the extraordinary future destiny of this young man.
However, not all historical moments are as magnificent and full of grand omens as people imagine. In real history, when the turning point comes, this important figure in the future is just an ordinary passenger waiting for the bus to stop in the rain.
——The above content is excerpted from "General History of the Universe".
In the summer of 883, during the Secondary Civilization Era, it was a thunderstorm night.
Zhu Heng boarded the driverless bus and sat in the last row.
A dripping sound gradually became louder, and it started to rain outside. The world in front of his eyes was filled with white mist. As the roadside lights came on one by one, the scene outside the car gradually became clearer.
The car window reflected the immature face of a boy of about seventeen or eighteen years old, with cold pale skin, thick black short hair, and he did not look very energetic.
He was so sleepy that he began to doze off as soon as he leaned against the car window.
"Welcome to bus No. 1634, departing from Dixing No. 3 Middle School for Yinhexi Hospital. We're expected to arrive at our destination in half an hour. This bus you've chosen features a rainstorm-inducing sleep-inducing theme. The Yinhexixi Bus Group will create a rainstorm atmosphere throughout the ride, ensuring you won't hear anything other than the sound of rain. The bus is about to depart, so please hold on tight."
Zhu Heng raised his eyes slightly, then immediately closed them again.
There is still half an hour left, so I can take advantage of it and get some sleep.
A slight vibration came from under the seat, and with a sudden feeling of overweight, the bus took off. The driver, far away behind the Galaxy Bus control console, was remotely controlling the bus along the predetermined trajectory towards the Galaxy Hospital.
The driver glanced at the video surveillance and saw a silent boy sitting in the last row wearing the uniform of the Third Middle School of Dixing.
He's here again.
This is the third consecutive month that this student-looking boy has appeared on this bus.
Every day after school, he would take the bus to Galaxy Hospital without fail, spend the night there, and then take the same bus back to school the next morning.
There were bursts of clicking sounds in front of the center console. The driver silently took a puff of his e-cigarette, but there was no smoke or smell in the air.
Is he going to the hospital to see a doctor or to accompany his family?
If he is accompanying a family member, then is it his grandparents, his parents, or his lover?
-
Neither.
Zhu Heng was forced to wake up from his sleep and dragged his exhausted body off the bus. He landed on an asteroid suitable for human habitation, where the largest comprehensive hospital in the entire galaxy was located.
He walked into the inpatient department familiarly and came to the intensive care unit where he stayed for three consecutive months.
He took the thermos out of his bag and placed it on the bedside. Then he looked at the white-haired, skinny old man lying on the bed and said, "Director."
The old man was actually not very conscious. Only when he heard Zhu Heng's voice did he move his cloudy eyeballs. His gaze first looked at him, then fell on the thermos. His lips moved, and he raised a finger tremblingly, like a child waiting for food eagerly, with desire written all over his face.
Zhu Heng's face suddenly darkened, and he immediately sat down beside the bed, opened the thermos and fed the old man.
"Your sons and daughters didn't come today?" he asked.
"They are busy, we don't want them to come," said the old man.
She was starving and ate eagerly.
Zhu Heng patted the old woman's back and wiped the tears from her eyes.
He stared at the old dean. After a while, he turned his face away and rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand.
A silent anger suddenly rose in my heart.
Zhu Heng suddenly stood up, strode out of the ward, and went to the corridor to send a group message to the dean's children.
"Is it true that your mother starved to death in the hospital and no one cared?"
The first person to reply was the director's second daughter: "Oh, Ah Heng, the old man has a small appetite, so he doesn't need to eat so much. Don't you bring food every night? That should be enough. He still needs IV drips during the day, so eating too much is not good for him."
Zhu Heng: "Are you a doctor? Did the doctor say that?"
Perhaps because his anger was too obvious, the dean's second daughter did not dare to respond to him.
The second person to reply was the old man's eldest son: "Xiao Heng, you know I'm busy with work. I'll come take care of her after I'm done with this. I'm sorry for the trouble you've endured during this period. After all, you were adopted by my mother, so consider this your way of repaying her."
"Are you busy at work?" Zhu Heng threw a photo over.
In the photo, the dean's eldest son, dressed in travel gear, posed with a dozen other tourists on a scenic, popular tourist planet in the Milky Way. At the top of the photo, a small line read: "Group photo of the Earth tour group, July 883, during the Secondary Civilization Era." The photo had been taken just two days prior.
The dean's eldest son was embarrassed after being exposed by Zhu Heng. He immediately lowered his head and left, pretending not to see it.
The last one to respond was the old man's youngest son: "How could that be, Ah Heng? I've been arranging the funeral these days. Our mother has worked hard for most of her life, and we need her to die in glory."
Zhu Heng sneered.
Before even figuring out his life affairs, he began diligently preparing for the funeral. I don't know if it was really for the show, or if he was eyeing the considerable gift money behind the funeral.
The youngest son added, "By the way, Ah Heng, I recently discussed with my eldest brother and second sister, and we plan to take Mom out of the hospital in a few days. She should go home during her final days. Besides, staying in the hospital all the time is expensive. My Mom is old and won't live long, so it's a waste of money..."
Zhu Heng didn't even bother to listen and simply cut off the signal.
Zhu Heng hadn't really counted on them, knowing that these people were unreliable. He just wanted them to feel a little guilty towards the relatives who raised them. But now it seems that he can't even expect them to have this little conscience.
A bunch of ungrateful people.
Zhu Heng adjusted his mood and returned to the ward to accompany his patient.
The old man had finished his meal and was lying in bed in pain, curled up like a child, looking listless.
"Xiaoheng, I don't want to leave the hospital." The old dean suddenly spoke.
Zhu Heng walked to the end of the bed and checked her IV bottle. He looked so calm that he didn't look like a high school student at all. He said, "As long as you don't want me to, I won't let them take you away."
The old director said, "I don't blame them. When they were little, all my energy was devoted to the children in the orphanage. I didn't fulfill my responsibilities as a mother."
Zhu Heng didn't say anything.
Her cloudy eyes looked straight at him: "You are the only one I have now, Xiaoheng."
She used to be a person who never asked for help from others, but now she is like a child who cannot take care of herself, begging humbly, afraid that he will abandon her.
But she seemed to have forgotten that he was just a child.
A young man with no parents and no financial resources, who relied on his excellent academic performance to have the school waive all tuition fees, and who worked on weekends and during summer and winter vacations to earn a meager living expense.
Zhu Heng stopped what he was doing, sat down, and was silent for a long time before speaking: "I will apply for suspension from school tomorrow."
The old dean was stunned, turned his face away and quietly wiped away his tears.
She said, "Xiao Heng, I want to watch TV."
"I'll let you go later."
The old dean asked again: "Xiao Heng, do you still write in your diary?"
It's like I can't find a topic to talk about but I want to please him.
Zhu Heng shook his head: "I stopped writing. I stopped writing ten years ago."
The old dean pouted and muttered, "You were the best behaved child when you were little. You never asked about your parents like other children, but you loved writing in your diary. Why didn't you do that later?"
Hearing the old dean's words, Zhu Heng subconsciously clenched his fist.
Yes, he had never asked about his biological parents, but why, ten years ago, in his diary, there were several more entries in which he asked the dean about his "mother"?
He didn't tell anyone about this, not even when the old dean asked.
Just like, he has been keeping his body secret.
That night, Zhu Heng stayed in the ward with the old dean and rewatched the TV dramas he had watched as a child. The old man was in great spirits and refused to go to bed, watching all night long.
The old lady finally fell asleep the next morning. After Zhu Heng took care of her to sleep, he hurried back to school and spent several days dealing with the suspension and subsequent matters.
He planned to accompany and take care of the old dean during the last period of her life.
Before leaving, the doctor told him that as long as someone stayed with her, her condition would be much better.
Zhu Heng thought everything would be fine, but he didn't expect that it would be the last time they saw each other.
The next news he heard from the old man was from the hospital, telling him that his children had secretly completed the discharge procedures for him while Zhu Heng was away, and had taken him back to the welfare home.
The old man's health was already poor, and he couldn't withstand the long journey. Zhu Heng later heard that he cried in pain during the journey. After finally returning to the orphanage, his condition never recovered, and his condition took a sharp turn for the worse. He had endured hardships before, and wanted to wait a little longer. Everyone knew who he was waiting for.
But no one informed Zhu Heng, and he wasted an hour on the way to the hospital. When he rushed back, the old man finally couldn't hold on and passed away without seeing the above.
Her three children ignored her when she was alive, but held a grand funeral after her death.
All the children who had been raised by the old director over the past few decades rushed back to see him off for the last time. The old man's children received a lot of gifts and money. On the last day of the funeral, three of them even fought over the distribution of the gifts.
Everyone knows that the old man had no savings in his life, and apart from the gifts after his death, he could not get any money at all. Fortunately, the old dean had countless good connections during his lifetime, and countless guests came to see him off. The generous gifts alone were enough to make his three children jealous.
Amidst the noise and bustle.
Zhu Heng knelt alone in front of the mourning hall.
He just tilted his head and looked at the black and white photo of the old man smiling in the middle of the mourning hall, silently.
I have never had a single day of peace in my life, and in the end it ends up like this. Is it worth it?
【Author’s words】
Transition Chapter ~ The previous volume is a transition volume, I will try my best to write the following copies more clearly T_T
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