Chapter 71 Too Late In short, she was still a step too late. ...
Upon hearing the sudden news of Xie Jingzhi's passing, Gu Chunling felt a pang of sorrow and regret. She clasped her hands together and repeatedly murmured "Amitabha" before carefully speaking, "Xiaoshuang, I'm also very saddened to hear of Dr. Xie's passing. But right now, you still have a high fever. Can we wait until it subsides before we go?"
In Gu Chunling's heart, mourning Xie Jingzhi was naturally not as important as her daughter's safety.
"Mom—" Zhu Liushuang felt a bitter taste in her mouth. When her gaze fell on her mother's unwavering face, she helplessly swallowed the words that were about to come out.
Her hands, hidden under the thin blanket, were clenched into a knot, and her face was flushed with an unnatural redness.
"Sweetie—the funeral feast will last at least three days. Mom will go with you the day after tomorrow." Gu Chunling sat on the edge of the bed, touched her daughter's face, and comforted her.
"Okay." Zhu Liushuang closed her eyes and obediently lay back down in bed. "Mom, I want to sleep a little longer. You don't look too well, you should go and rest too."
Gu Chunling hesitated, then gently tucked the blanket around her daughter as if to reassure her, and continued to sit by the bedside. Seeing her daughter turn over and fall asleep peacefully, she quietly got up and left the second bedroom. Knowing her daughter wasn't asleep, she gently instructed before closing the door, "Xiaoshuang, there's millet porridge in the rice cooker in the kitchen. If you're hungry, go get some. The salted duck egg and stir-fried vegetables are on the table."
As the last stitch of the door was sewn shut, Gu Chunling staggered back to the master bedroom. She still had a low-grade fever, her back was constantly sweating, her stomach was churning, and her finger joints were aching in waves.
I was just putting on a brave face in front of my daughter, pretending that nothing was wrong.
Zhu Liushuang kept her eyes tightly closed, as if she had fallen into a deep sleep. But if you got closer, you could hear her increasingly rapid breathing and see her long eyelashes trembling from time to time.
She remained motionless in the same sleeping position her mother had left in, her ears carefully listening for any sounds outside the door. Only when the wooden door to the master bedroom creaked open again did she slowly open her eyes.
The lights were off, and the room was dim. A faint ray of sunlight pierced through the gap in the curtains, illuminating a corner of the wooden floor.
The high fever made her double eyelids even deeper, and her bloodshot eyes, instead of being sleepy, were clearer than when she had just been awakened by a nightmare.
The fever reducer had only been taken a short time ago and wasn't very effective yet. Zhu Liu Shuang couldn't manage that much; if he went now, he might still make it to Xie Jingzhi's memorial service.
She slowly sat up, supporting herself on the bed frame, having already made up her mind.
Her forehead was burning hot, but her hands and feet were freezing. She put on a black quilted baseball jacket, which finally made her feel a little warmer. After getting dressed, she stuffed a large pillow into the blanket, trying to fool her mother.
Time was of the essence, so Zhu Liushuang didn't bother to wash up or dress up. She grabbed a baseball cap to cover her wet, messy hair and tiptoed out the door. The large iron gate at home always made a loud clanging sound when it opened and closed. To avoid disturbing her mother, she gritted her teeth, held her breath, and moved the gate inch by inch as she closed it.
By the time the door was completely closed, my undershirt was soaked with sweat.
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The only funeral home in Gucheng is located in the east of the city, nestled on a hillside.
Zhu Liushuang took a taxi. When the taxi reached the foot of the mountain, the driver suddenly said, "Young lady, my next customer is already waiting. Could I just drop you off here and you walk the remaining hundred meters or so yourself?"
The uphill path, about a hundred meters long, takes only a few minutes to drive by car, but it would take at least ten minutes for a person to hike up. Given Zhu Liu's current physical condition, it's hard to say whether he could even complete the entire journey.
She leaned weakly against the back seat, her voice low and hoarse: "Uncle, could you please drive me up? It won't take another two or three minutes..."
The driver glanced in the rearview mirror and saw that the girl in the back seat had pulled her hat brim down so low that he couldn't see her face at all. He said helplessly, "Okay, but it'll cost an extra five yuan."
There's no reason for someone to suddenly raise the price. Normally, Zhu Liushuang would definitely argue with the driver and make a complaint call.
But she was in a hurry, and although she was angry, she didn't want to waste time getting into a conflict, so she could only swallow her anger and say, "Fine, Uncle, hurry up and drive!"
Three minutes later, the taxi came to a steady stop in front of the Gucheng Funeral Home.
Zhu Liushuang scanned the code to pay, opened the door, and got out of the car. No sooner had she stepped out than the taxi driver hurriedly turned around and drove away from the funeral home.
Whether it was to pick up a long-waiting passenger or to avoid the bad luck associated with the mountainside, Zhu Liushuang stared blankly in the direction the taxi had driven away, somewhat regretting that she hadn't taken a picture of the license plate.
This brief interlude did not stop her from moving forward. After many years, she stepped into this place that once made her feel heavy-hearted again, and her heart was filled with mixed emotions.
She was young when her father passed away. After the bodies of the car accident victims were recovered by the search and rescue team, they were transported to the funeral home under the arrangement of the public security department. That year, her mother was afraid that it would leave her with psychological trauma, so she was unable to see her father one last time before his cremation.
At that moment, she longed to tell her mother, "I'm not afraid. Even if Dad gets swollen from being soaked and his face is unrecognizable, he's still my dad!"
But she never had the chance to speak again. All she remembered was the day her father was cremated; she squatted outside the crematorium door and cried loudly.
Later, when her maternal grandparents passed away, she also came here. She always felt that the mountainside was particularly cold and oppressive, with a suffocating feeling that made it hard to breathe.
Zhu Liushuang took a deep breath and stepped into the funeral home.
A long path lined with holly trees came into view, leading to the main hall at its end. The hall was dimly lit, with faint, hazy light casting blurry shadows on the marble floor.
It was extremely quiet all around. Her hurried footsteps echoed on the marble floor, each step heavy and anxious, like treading on an empty heart.
Following the signs, she arrived at the connecting corridor at the back of the hall. Several wooden doors on either side of the corridor were tightly closed. She looked them over one by one: "Family Rest Room," "Funeral Consultation Room," "Farewell Hall," "Memorial Hall," and so on.
The memorial service should be held in the "memorial hall." She glanced at the wooden plaque hanging on the door and walked straight over. As she approached the door, a faint sob escaped through the crack, and Zhu Liushuang's heart suddenly raced.
She composed herself and gently pushed open the door. As the wooden door opened, the suppressed sobs amplified and filled her ears.
Zhu Liushuang walked inside with her head down. After taking only a few steps, the crying suddenly stopped. Those who were immersed in grief seemed to be disturbed by her, and they all turned to look at her.
As if sensing something, she looked up blankly, only to be met with a series of unfamiliar faces. The astonishment in her eyes grew clearer, and Zhu Liushuang stood frozen in place, unable to move forward or backward.
Unlike the dim lighting of the main hall, the memorial hall was brightly lit in a stark white. Several rows of symmetrical black benches filled the spacious hall, each packed tightly with people. At the front of the hall stood a tall platform covered in white silk, behind which hung photographs of the deceased…
It wasn't until she looked up that Zhu Liushuang realized she had gone to the wrong place.
The old woman in that huge black-and-white photograph was a kind-smiling old lady with a full head of white hair; she was not Xie Jingzhi.
Under everyone's scrutiny, she whispered "sorry," immediately lowered her hat brim, and awkwardly retreated.
After closing the wooden door of the "memorial hall," Zhu Liushuang took out her mobile phone and called Ye Xingzhi.
"Hey, Senior Ye, it's me, Liu Shuang."
"I'm at the funeral home now, where are you?"
"Beep beep—" The piercing sound of the car horn accompanied Ye Xingzhi's voice, "Liu Shuang, the memorial service is over. We're on our way back to the city... Brother He Ming hasn't slept for two days. I'm taking him home to get some sleep. The body is to be cremated tomorrow, so we have to get up early."
So, she was still a step too late.
"Okay, I got it." Zhu Liushuang leaned resignedly against the door. The fever reducer finally worked; her head, covered by the baseball cap, was steaming hot, and beads of sweat were dripping more and more from her scalp.
"It's alright. Even if you missed the memorial service, Elder Xie can see your sentiments from heaven," Ye Xingzhi comforted her softly.
"How is Senior He? He must be very sad, right?" she asked, squatting down.
"Sigh..." Ye Xingzhi responded with a helpless sigh, "It'll probably take him a while to get over it. Once things settle down, let's get together with him a few more times and spend some time with him; that should help..."
"Then..." Zhu Liushuang had just uttered a word when Ye Xingzhi interrupted her.
"Liu Shuang, I'm getting off the train now. Message me if you need anything, I'll reply when I'm free."
After hanging up the phone, Zhu Liushuang stood up, leaning against the wall. A rustling sound came from inside the wooden doors of the memorial hall, followed by a group of people pouring out.
Talks and soft laughter filled the crowd. The faces of the deceased's relatives and friends who filed out were no longer etched with sorrow, but instead with calm and smiles. It was as if they had just attended not someone's funeral but an ordinary gathering.
No one noticed the girl swaying precariously in the corner. She was wearing a quilted baseball jacket that looked out of place among those around her, and her delicate oval face was deathly pale.
Zhu Liushuang felt she had probably jumped too hard, causing her blood to rush to her head and her vision to go black. Before she fainted, she was still conscious; she heard screams beside her, followed by the sound of herself falling to the ground.
"Someone has fainted! Quick, scatter!" Screams erupted from the crowd.
The people crowded in the aisle scattered in a flurry of footsteps.
"Yue Lin, come and take a look quickly."
The man called Yue Lin quickly walked to the corner of the wall. He squatted down and carefully checked the girl's breathing and pulse. He said with a sigh of relief, "She probably fainted due to low blood sugar. Her body temperature is a little high. Uncle, whose family is this?"
The middle-aged man shook his head: "I don't know her. Why don't we carry her to the lobby? Leaving her here isn't a solution."
In a hazy state, Zhu Liushuang felt her body being lifted into the air. She tried to open her eyes to see what was happening, but no matter how hard she tried, all she could see was darkness.
She struggled against this darkness for a long time, so long that she was about to give up, when the darkness gradually dissipated. What followed was the high, sloping ceiling of the funeral home lobby.
"Great, you're finally awake." A voice suddenly rang out, and Zhu Liushuang turned her head slowly and confusedly.
"Here, eat the chocolate first, so you don't faint again." A young man's smiling face filled her vision.
Seeing her hesitation, the man took the initiative to explain, "I just finished a family elder's memorial service here, and I saw you collapsed outside the door as soon as I came out. Hello, my name is Yue Lin, and I am a respiratory physician."
Zhu Liushuang lay on the cold, hard bench. She subconsciously raised her hand to touch the bald lower half of her face, and stammered, "Thank you, Dr. Yue. My...mask?"
"I've taken it off for you; wearing a mask affects your breathing."
"Then... do you have any new masks?" Zhu Liushuang asked, frowning.
Yue Lin was taken aback by the question, but remembering that the girl in front of him had a fever, he quickly realized: "The flu?"
"Hmm, it's probably H1N1." As she spoke, Zhu Liushuang turned her head awkwardly, separating herself from the young man beside her. "I'm fine now, Dr. Yue, you should leave now, lest you get infected."
Seeing such a self-aware patient for the first time, Yue Lin couldn't help but chuckle: "Wait a minute."
He left those words and walked toward the consultation room on the side of the hall.
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Author's Note: [Shrug] A new character has appeared!
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