Chapter 73 The illness struck like a collapsing mountain. She told herself not to care. ...
Zhu Liushuang, who hadn't caught a cold in years, experienced firsthand what it meant for illness to strike like a landslide.
On Monday morning, she woke up with a splitting headache and nervously asked her supervisor for sick leave. With the end of the month approaching, a mountain of work awaited her: account reconciliation, tax filing… and she also had to finish the month's financial analysis before the National Day holiday.
Zhu Liushuang stared at the long list of tasks in her phone's memo app and couldn't help but sigh. As a modern-day workhorse, her awareness was still quite "high"; even if she took leave, she still had to make the most of her time to finish the tasks.
After all, your colleagues won't do your work for free.
Clutching her sweaty hair, she struggled to get out of bed, groggily went to her desk, and then opened her laptop.
Counting on her fingers, this is the fourth day since Zhu Liushuang contracted influenza A. The high fever doesn't seem to be getting better, tormenting her repeatedly. Nasal congestion, runny nose, cough, and severe vomiting followed one after another.
The cold light from the laptop screen shone on her face. She had barely opened the accounts when a wave of acidity surged up in her stomach. Zhu Liushuang covered her mouth and gagged a few times. Realizing the acidity was still rising, she quickly ran to the bathroom.
I haven't had much of an appetite these past two days, so all I've vomited up is liquid food like plain porridge.
She vomited into the toilet until only yellowish-green gastric juice remained. Her mouth tasted bitter and astringent. She blinked her eyes, which were burning from the exertion, and her vision blurred.
"Does it feel any better after throwing up? Rinse your mouth quickly." Gu Chunling appeared silently behind her, and at the same time, a glass of warm water was handed to her.
Zhu Liushuang took the water from his hand and silently tilted his head back to gulp down a large mouthful.
"Glug, glug—" After clearing the lingering taste from her mouth, she shakily stood up, holding onto the toilet bowl.
"Knowing full well that H1N1 is no small matter, you still keep going out every day. If you had rested properly for the past two days like I have, your symptoms should be lessening by now!" Gu Chunling said coldly.
Zhu Liushuang was speechless, her chin almost touching her chest.
Two days ago, she secretly ran away from home despite her mother's advice, which worsened her condition, and she can be said to have brought it upon herself.
"You pretend to be mute whenever I nag you..." Gu Chunling was furious. "Isn't there groceries at home? Why did you have to run out to buy groceries so early in the morning? You don't even know how to wear more clothes..."
"Mom—I was wrong!" Zhu Liushuang glanced at her mother with a mournful expression and sincerely admitted her mistake.
Yesterday, on her way home from the funeral home, she asked Ye Xingzhi to stop by a nearby market to buy some vegetables and meat. She did this to appease her mother's questions.
The effect was... obvious. Gu Chunling believed her excuse about going out to buy groceries.
Thinking back on everything that happened yesterday, Zhu Liushuang couldn't help but feel a mix of emotions.
Because she suddenly felt unwell, she did not accompany He Ming and the others to the cemetery to bury Xie Jingzhi's ashes. She only said a brief goodbye to him outside the crematorium.
The man's cold and indifferent gaze sent shivers down her spine; she could find no trace of reluctance on his expressionless face.
She pulled her baseball cap down, lowering the brim to hide her forlorn expression, and walked out of the funeral home alone.
It's understandable that he wouldn't have time to pay attention to her at a time like this.
She told herself not to care.
Therefore, when Ye Xingzhi caught up with her, she was so surprised that her mouth dropped open.
What shocked her even more was what came next.
“Brother He Ming said it wasn’t safe for a girl like you to go home with a fever, so he made sure I got you home.”
How did he know she had a fever?
Zhu Liushuang was completely baffled. She had clearly been standing far away from him the whole time.
"Be careful and stand firm, don't fall!" Her mother's stern reminder yanked her back from her reverie.
"Cough cough cough... I can stand firm." After a violent coughing fit, Zhu Liushuang said weakly. She unconsciously tightened her grip on her mother's arm.
"Look at how distracted you are, sigh..." Gu Chunling said sternly, "You're coughing so badly, you should go to the hospital for an X-ray. If it's pneumonia, you'll need an IV! Baidu says that H1N1 can easily lead to encephalitis, myocarditis..."
"Mom! Why do you believe everything you hear? Baidu says the average cancer rate starts at one point!" Zhu Liushuang puffed out her cheeks and muttered, "I have work to do, and besides, going to the hospital might lead to cross-infection..."
"Why are you working overtime even though you've taken leave? Is it that urgent?"
"It's urgent, very urgent!" Zhu Liushuang mustered his spirits and half-pushed his mother out. "I know my own body. Viral infections always take time to recover, so don't worry about it."
"If your symptoms haven't improved by tomorrow, I'll tie you up and take you to the hospital." Gu Chunling issued her final ultimatum.
The mother and daughter stared at each other for a long while. Finally, Zhu Liushuang nodded in compromise.
————
On the fifth day after contracting influenza A, Zhu Liushuang's fever subsided as she had hoped.
Despite her weakened health, she hurriedly returned to work after her leave.
After only one day of absence, major news has arrived.
"Liu Shuang, it's a pity you didn't come yesterday! Wang Yizheng from the technical department went to General Manager Guo's office to submit his resignation." Zhuang Xiaoqian said, sitting on the sofa with her legs crossed. "I thought General Manager Guo would try to persuade him to stay, but he agreed without saying a word."
"So... he found someone else?" Zhu Liushuang coughed twice, her voice muffled by her mask.
"No way..." Zhuang Xiaoqian said uncertainly, "I think he couldn't take it anymore, so he resigned. He'd been working overtime for a month straight; I'd break down too. Do you think... Mr. Guo did it on purpose?"
Zhuang Xiaoqian muttered to herself, figuring out a bit of the trick.
Zhu Liushuang was completely confused: "What do you mean by 'intentionally'? Weren't we supposed to be hacking the firewall bug?"
"Then why are you only criticizing Wang Yizheng? He's just a deputy group leader. Apart from criticizing two people at the first meeting... he's been the one getting scolded every time since!"
"Perhaps... that part was exactly what he was in charge of?" Zhu Liushuang replied absentmindedly.
"Who cares! It's good that Wang Yizheng resigned; it'll save you some trouble." Zhuang Xiaoqian glanced towards the door, then suddenly lowered her voice and said, "Before, there were rumors circulating in the company about you, but I didn't dare tell you because I was afraid it would upset you! Now that he's gone, I can finally speak freely! That scumbag, when he couldn't get you, he went around spreading bad things about you..."
As for what bad things she said, Zhuang Xiaoqian didn't say it explicitly, but Zhu Liushuang could vaguely guess some of it.
Indeed, there was a period when some male colleagues in the company looked at her strangely, and whenever she walked past the entrance of the technical department, the people inside would whisper among themselves.
At the time, Zhu Liushuang naively thought that they were only paying excessive attention to her because of Wang Yizheng's "bet." Now, looking back, things were not as simple as she thought.
"It's all in the past, and the innocent will clear themselves." Zhu Liushuang shrugged indifferently and continued writing her financial analysis report.
"Cough, cough—" Loud coughing could be heard from time to time in the small finance office.
As it was almost time to leave work, Zhuang Xiaoqian couldn't take it anymore. She put on her mask and advised Zhu Liushuang, "Liushuang, why don't you go to the emergency room after work? You're coughing up your lungs, this won't do!"
Zhu Liu kept working, his eyes glancing at Zhuang Xiaoqian's half-covered face: "Sister Zhuang, I'll move to the conference room to work tomorrow, and then move back when I'm completely healed."
"Moving around is too much trouble, we can both just wear masks. I've already taken some special medicine for prevention..." Zhuang Xiaoqian said shyly, "Liu Shuang, it's not that I mind you, I'm just worried about you! Work may be busy, but your health is your own responsibility..."
"Okay, I'll be there in a bit." The typing stopped abruptly, and Zhu Liushuang said earnestly, "Thank you."
Although Zhuang Xiaoqian didn't mind her illness, Zhu Liushuang still voluntarily moved to the small conference room. That evening after work, she rode her electric scooter to the People's Hospital.
The measures implemented to benefit the people of Gucheng are commendable; the People's Hospital recently launched night clinics. Therefore, when she arrived at the hospital's registration hall at 6:30, she was able to easily register for a regular outpatient appointment in the Department of Respiratory Medicine.
After picking up the registration slip, I sat in the waiting area. The bustling lobby was filled with the sound of coughing.
Zhu Liushuang stared blankly at the call number display screen; there were more than a dozen patients ahead of her. It would be at least half an hour before it was her turn to see a doctor.
Just as she was feeling bored, her phone screen suddenly lit up.
[Shuangshuang, are you feeling better? And... how is Senior He doing now?]
The person who sent her the message of concern was Tian Xingyu, who was far away in Beijing.
"I'm much better now," she typed the first part of the sentence, then her fingers hesitated on the screen, unsure how to reply with the second part.
How is he?
She didn't know either!
During their brief meeting at the funeral home, he was as calm as a pre-programmed machine, handling Xie Jingzhi's funeral arrangements with meticulous care. But she knew that beneath the surface lay deep-seated grief and endless darkness.
Some people openly express their grief and longing for the deceased, venting their emotions through hysterical weeping. Others seem to have calmly accepted the death of a loved one, yet suffer day and night from torment, unable to escape their pain.
Zhu Liushuang thought that He Ming was probably the latter.
The calmer and more rational he became, the more panicked she felt. He was no different from her many years ago.
When she first heard the news of her father's death, she didn't cry or make a scene. When her family was maliciously retaliated against by the passengers' families, she was able to hold back her tears and comfort her mother, saying that it was good that everyone was alright. When her mother took her away from the home they had lived in for many years, she dared not show even the slightest bit of reluctance.
But only she herself knew best that for many days and nights afterward, she was tormented by endless nightmares. It was as if she had entered a maze full of dead ends, and no matter where she ran, she could not find a light-filled exit.
After making numerous revisions, Zhu Liushuang sent a message back to Tian Xingyu.
I only have a slight cough left, don't worry. As for He Ming... he probably doesn't want to be disturbed right now.
【Yeah, it takes time to get over it. Although Senior He is still immersed in sadness, I think Shuangshuang, you can send him messages from time to time. That way, he can feel your care!】 Tian Xingyu replied quickly, offering her advice.
【Okay, I will.】 Zhu Liushuang replied with a slight smile.
Encouraged by her friend, she silently clicked on He Ming's WeChat profile picture, pondered for a long time, and then sent a heartfelt message.
[Senior, I know you must be very sad right now. But no matter what, please eat well and sleep well. Separation by death is an especially cruel thing for us. Although Dr. Xie is gone, every little thing about him will remain in your memory forever. I know it's hard to "move on," so you don't need to rush. Accepting the departure of a loved one may take countless seasons to come.]
"Please have Dr. Zhu Liushuang, number 65 in the evening general outpatient clinic, come to consultation room 2." Not long after the message was sent out, the call for numbers rang out again in the lobby.
Upon hearing her name called, Zhu Liushuang got up and quickly walked towards consultation room number two.
The white consultation room door was ajar. She knocked symbolically, and a voice inside said, "Come in."
Accompanied by a cough, she pushed open the door and quietly walked to the consultation table to sit down.
"Where does it hurt?" The young doctor, wearing a mask, turned his gaze to her face, and the two of them were stunned for a moment when their eyes met.
"It's you?"
"Dr. Yue."
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