Dean Li handed Lu Jia a thick stack of medical records, patiently explained various precautions to him, and then asked him to sign the discharge notice.
Lu Jia listened silently, jotting down key points on her phone's memo app, then quickly signed her name and handed it to Dean Li.
"Okay, come with me." Dean Li put away the documents, led Lu Jia through the long corridor, turned a corner, and entered Shen Zhi Qiu's grandmother's ward.
As soon as Lu Jia stepped inside, he smelled a faint fragrance wafting from the room. He saw an elderly woman with white hair, slightly bent over, arranging fresh gardenias in a vase on the table. In her right hand, she held a small pair of scissors, carefully trimming the overly long branches of the gardenias before inserting them one by one into the narrow mouth of the vase. Every now and then, she would turn the vase around and step back to admire whether the arrangement was beautiful enough.
Lu Jia was stunned for a moment. The old man in front of her was wearing a dark blue cheongsam. His short hair, which reached his ears, was neatly combed. A gardenia was pinned to his temple with a small clip. Moreover, the petals of the gardenia looked like they had been lightly tinted with pink rouge. From a distance, it looked like a light pink flower.
He originally thought that Shen Zhi Qiu's grandmother had been ill and hospitalized for many years and should look frail and old, but he did not expect her to look very energetic. Moreover, she was very skillful in handling the flowers and plants, and did not look like a sick person at all.
She seemed to hear Lu Jia unlock the door and come in. She turned her head, looked at him with a kind expression, and then showed a somewhat surprised look. "It's you?"
Lu Jia was stunned. "You know me?"
“Mrs. Zhao has some dementia; sometimes she mistakes people for others and talks nonsense,” Dean Li said in a low voice from behind. “Just agree with whatever she says and don’t upset her.”
Lu Jia nodded gently, stepped forward, stood in front of her grandmother, and said with a smile, "Grandma, I've come to greet you on behalf of Zhi Qiu."
"Zhi Qiu? Who is Zhi Qiu? Do I know him?" she asked in confusion.
Lu Jia quickly took out her phone and showed her a close-up photo of Shen Zhi Qiu. She looked at it carefully and then smiled with affection, "So you mean my precious granddaughter! Such a beautiful girl must be my granddaughter. She looks just like me."
Lu Jia couldn't help but laugh; he had finally found the root of Shen Zhi Qiu's narcissism.
"Grandma, Zhi Qiu is waiting for you. Would you like to come with me to find her?" Lu Jia bowed slightly and coaxed patiently.
"Okay, okay, wait for me a moment." Grandma said, turning around and going into the bathroom. She took out a wooden comb, carefully combed her hair again in front of the living room mirror, and then gently straightened the pink flower. She smiled and said, "Let's go then."
She strode to the door and saw Dean Li and Si Mingyu standing there. She frowned slightly, as if frantically searching her memory, and tentatively asked, "Mingyu?"
Then she suddenly grabbed his hand. "Is this Mingyu? Are you here to pick me up to see Zhi Qiu too?"
Just as Lu Jia was about to say no, she heard Si Mingyu speak softly, "Yes, Grandma, it's me. I'm with you, and I'll be with Mr. Lu to deliver it to Zhi Qiu."
Si Mingyu originally wanted to secretly follow Lu Jia to Shen Zhi Qiu's place, but as a gentleman, he felt that such behavior was inappropriate, but he had no other choice for the time being.
Seeing that his grandmother recognized him, he was overjoyed and quickly continued the conversation, completely ignoring Lu Jia's increasingly dark face.
On the return flight, Grandma sat with Si Mingyu, while Lu Jia sat alone to the side. Si Mingyu's face was beaming with sunshine, while Lu Jia's was shrouded in gloom.
"Mingyu, when are you graduating from university? Get married to Zhiqiu as soon as you graduate, and Grandma can help you take care of the kids." Grandma held Si Mingyu's hand the whole way, looking at him with loving eyes as she spoke.
Si Mingyu smiled gently and subtly changed the subject, "Soon, Grandma. Would you like some orange juice?"
When Lu Jia heard her grandmother urging Si Mingyu and Shen Zhi Qiu to get married, her face immediately fell, and she glared at him with unfriendly eyes.
Si Mingyu pretended not to see, helped his grandmother put away the orange juice cup, put a pillow under her head and coaxed her to sleep for a while so she could see Shen Zhi Qiu.
Grandma was old and tired, and soon fell into a deep sleep.
Seeing that her grandmother was already asleep, Lu Jia curled the corners of her mouth, leaned closer, and lowered her voice to mock, "I didn't expect Mr. Si to be so good to the elderly. If Grandma knew that you had already graduated, abandoned Zhi Qiu, and even married and divorced someone abroad, would she treat you differently?"
“But you won’t tell.” Si Mingyu looked at him calmly and said quietly.
Lu Jia snorted coldly, sat back down, and kept a straight face without saying another word.
After getting off the plane, Lu Jia immediately took out his phone and called Shen Zhi Qiu.
"Hey." Shen Zhi Qiu's voice was somewhat cheerful.
"What are you doing? You seem so happy." Lu Jia's mood improved, and her tone became lighter.
"Xiaoyu and I are having tea in the yard. Xiaoyu took me to pick grapes at the vineyard today. It's such a big orchard, I'm so envious!"
“If you’re envious, then stay here. The whole mountain is yours,” Lu Jia said with a smile. Then, after hesitating, he added, “Zhi Qiu, there’s something I need to tell you. Be prepared.”
"What's wrong?" Sensing something was off about Lu Jia's tone, Shen Zhi Qiu frowned.
"Well, Si Mingyu came back with me. You'll see him in a little while."
"What?" Shen Zhi Qiu asked in surprise. "What happened?"
Lu Jia briefly explained the situation to her, then turned to look at how much her grandmother depended on Si Mingyu, and added softly, "Although I don't like him, I can tell that my grandmother depends on him a lot. She needs him to take care of her and accompany her the whole way."
“Alright.” Shen Zhi Qiu sighed. “Before Grandma lost her memory, she really liked Si Ming Yu.”
"Well, I believe Si Mingyu won't tell Gu Qingyan your location. Let's go back now, we'll arrive in about three hours."
After hanging up the phone, Shen Zhi Qiu was somewhat uneasy and even accidentally knocked over her teacup.
"Sister Zhi Qiu, what's wrong?" Lu Xiaoyu noticed that she was in a bad mood and asked worriedly.
"It's nothing. It's just that I'll be meeting someone I don't really want to see in a bit, which is a little unexpected," Shen Zhi Qiu said with a worried expression.
"If he doesn't want to see us, we won't, or we'll just tell him to leave quickly," Lu Xiaoyu said dismissively.
It won't be easy for her to leave. Shen Zhi Qiu gazed at the distant green mountains and sighed softly, feeling that she probably wouldn't be able to have such a peaceful life again.
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