Chapter 68 The Lucky Draw: The Eleventh Anniversary Gastroenteritis Incident
"You guys eat first, I'll wait and see," Ah Yu said to the baker.
By one o'clock, Lin Xingmian still hadn't arrived. Boss Xu couldn't sit still any longer; she was extremely anxious. She grabbed her phone and got up to head straight to the No. 1 Middle School campus.
In winter, classes officially start at 2 PM. Several months have passed since the last parent-teacher meeting, and Ayu couldn't remember where their class was, so she had to rely on her intuition to find it.
She stood at the door, peeking inside frequently, her eyes scanning the unfamiliar faces inside.
Although it was lunch break, the classroom was still quite full. Books were piled high on the desks, and the corridor was filled with boxes of books, making it difficult to find a place to step. The heavy atmosphere of senior year study was palpable.
The students who were quietly working inside seemed to sense someone looking out the door, and a few of them quietly raised their heads. In the last row by the window, Mr. Xu finally caught a glimpse of a familiar face!
Her face lit up with joy, and she quickly waved to the man.
There weren't many cheerful faces in the classroom, but Shang Qi was one of them. Seeing Sister Xu's figure at the door, he naturally knew who she was there for, so without thinking, he walked out—
"Sister Xu came to see Xingmian?" he asked.
“He didn’t come to the supermarket for lunch this morning or noon, and I can’t reach him by phone. I don’t know what’s wrong with him, so I came to the school to check on him,” Ayu said.
Upon hearing Sister Xu's words, Shang Qi knew that Lin Xingmian definitely hadn't told her about his illness.
“I knew it!” he said. “If I hadn’t told you, he probably would have kept it from you. He took the day off today; he had another bout of gastritis and went to the hospital.”
"Gastritis?" Her eyes widened in surprise. "He never told me he had gastritis!"
Ayu tilted her head and thought for a moment. A long time ago, when Xingmian first came to the supermarket and baked pancakes for her, it was indeed during class time. Because he never came to class time before, she had a particularly deep impression of that time.
"Oh my god, that time he came out to buy something to eat during class, I thought he just had a stomachache because he hadn't eaten and his stomach was empty. I never expected he would have gastritis!" Ah Yu exclaimed in panic.
Shang Qi said, "He's always had a bad stomach. Anyway, from what I know, he only ever takes leave for two things: the first is anything related to you, and the second is when his stomach is upset. I don't know what's wrong with him lately, but he's taken leave to go to the hospital several times."
“He used to only take one or two days off a semester to go to the hospital for stomach pain. I don’t know if it’s because Gao San is under too much pressure from sleeping, but these past few weeks he’s been going to the hospital almost every week.” Shang Qi rubbed the back of his head.
"It's unfair to say he's under a lot of pressure. Although he has the best grades in our grade, I always feel that he studies quite easily. He doesn't seem like the kind of person who would get sick from stress, does he?"
He asked Xu Zhiyu, "Did you two have a fight recently? I remember Xingmian was in a pretty good mood after we dealt with that little Japanese guy last time."
"No, no..." Ah Yu murmured, her eyes vacant.
Oh no! Oh no!
This silly girl! She didn't even tell me she had a health problem!
Now it's all good!
She's caused him so much suffering again!
She was heartbroken to see him in the hospital every week.
Is it suicidal for someone with a sensitive stomach to eat ice cream every day in the dead of winter?
If he doesn't go to the hospital, who will?
Shang Qi told Xu Zhiyu the hospital address and ward information for Xingmian, and said, "If he doesn't come back to class all afternoon, I'll skip evening self-study to go see him tonight."
Upon hearing this, Ah Yu realized that he had skipped class again.
It seems like this kind of thing is commonplace for them.
She said, "You're in your final year of high school, so you should focus on your studies. I'll stay with Xingmian. Don't skip classes all the time... I'm not saying anything more, I'm coming over now! This brat is driving me crazy!"
.
She took a taxi to Xicheng Chaohua Hospital.
This hospital is a newly built private hospital, and seeing a doctor here is several times more expensive than in other major public hospitals. However, Xu Zhiyu is already used to it. She roughly guessed that Xingmian's family background must be far beyond that of ordinary people, probably similar to that of a rich second-generation like Li Jiajing.
I sat from the first floor of the hospital all the way to the top floor.
It wasn't until she reached the top floor that her eyes were truly opened.
The moment the elevator doors opened, a young woman in a nurse's uniform was standing there to greet her. She gently smiled and asked with her hands on her abdomen:
"Are you here to visit Young Master Lin?"
She paused for a moment, then nodded blankly.
The medical guide gracefully extended a hand and said, "Please follow me, miss."
The floor was brightly decorated, and most importantly, it was so quiet that you could hear everyone's footsteps. Xu Zhiyu deliberately slowed her breathing, and felt a strong sense of shame if she stepped too hard.
After exiting the elevator, there is an oval-shaped information desk in the middle, where nurses in uniforms are all standing. They walk to the right, into a long corridor, but there are no wards on either side.
Only when you walk to the end of the corridor, at the T-junction, does a room appear.
Ah Yu frowned slightly, suppressing the fear in her heart.
Two rows of men in black suits stood in a line along the T-shaped corridor outside the ward. They were tall and imposing, each wearing a black earphone. When they saw a stranger approaching, their cold, piercing eyes all stared at her.
She shivered, her heart pounding with nervousness.
What does this mean?
Did you come to the wrong place?
Did they find some kind of illegal place?
What are these people doing standing here?
Bodyguards?
She took out her phone and double-checked the hospital location and ward floor that Shang Qi had sent her.
It's displaying correctly...
Before entering, she worried that she might accidentally wander into some strange place and not be able to get out, so Ayu approached the guide and whispered, "Excuse me, I might have made a mistake. I'm looking for 'Lin-Xing-Mian,' a 17-year-old high school boy. He should have acute gastroenteritis. Is his ward in this area?"
The receptionist smiled and said, "I know that Mr. Lin is the only patient on this floor. He is in this room. Ms. Xu, you have come to the right place. Please come in."
On the way here, the guide asked Ah Yu about her surname.
She hadn't gone to the wrong place. With hesitant steps, she walked to the door of the ward. The bodyguard at the door actually took out a scanner and scanned her from head to toe, registering her name, contact information, home address, identity, and occupation.
Only after completing this series of steps did they open the door and let her in.
The door opened, and everyone in the ward stopped what they were doing and turned their attention to her.
There were about five people inside, dressed in the same clothes, three men and two women. Two of them were busy with their own things, while the other three stood respectfully against the wall.
Looking further inside, this was the largest ward Xu Zhiyu had ever seen in her life. If Xingmian hadn't been sleeping in a hospital gown, she wouldn't have even thought it was a ward.
The room had many large green potted plants, and there were numerous electronic instruments around the hospital bed. The only ones she recognized were the oxygen concentrator and the humidifier. There were also partitions in the ward, and people in uniform stood in the lobby. In the lobby, there was a refrigerator and a long table with several kinds of fresh fruit on it.
The partition leaves a narrow passageway for two people, inside which is a spacious hospital bed, three gray sofas against the wall, and a television.
"Is that Shang Qi?"
The antiques displayed on the partition blocked Lin Xingmian's view. He was pale, sweating, and glancing sideways at the doorway.
A familiar voice suddenly interrupted the unfamiliar environment, and Xu Zhiyu froze in her tracks. Looking at everything in front of her, she didn't know how to go in.
"I'll go check on him, young master." The speaker was the butler, Uncle Qin.
He walked past the partition and immediately saw Miss Xu standing awkwardly behind it.
Uncle Qin's heart sank suddenly. He glanced back at Xingmian inside and said to Xu Zhiyu with mixed feelings, "Miss Xu, please come in."
Miss Xu?
Chen Ma jumped up from the sofa and hurriedly walked out.
Lin Xingmian was looking at a message from his sister on his phone when he heard the address "Uncle Qin." He immediately braced himself against the edge of the bed and struggled to sit up. He glanced instinctively at the security camera in the corner of the wall, hesitated for a second, and finally, disregarding everything, pulled out the IV needle from his hand, threw back the covers, and got out of bed.
Ah Yu hesitated and had only taken one step forward when Lin Xingmian rushed out from inside, frowning.
"My God!" Chen Ma felt a gust of wind beside her. "My little darling, why did you get out of bed?!"
She turned around in alarm to check the empty bed, then looked at Lin Xingmian's hand.
Before anyone could react, Xingmian took two or three steps to Ayu, grabbed her hand, and pulled her away without looking back.
"Young Master!!" Uncle Qin hurriedly called out to him.
"My little darling, don't be impulsive!" Chen Ma was also very anxious.
However, Xingmian simply held her sister's hand, said nothing, her face was pale, and she walked forward with her head down.
He gave him a single glance, and even the bodyguards at the door didn't dare stop him.
Seeing this, Chen Ma called out to Xu Zhiyu from behind, "Miss Xu, the young master is still sick, please don't let him leave!"
Upon hearing this, Ah Yu released her hand without hesitation.
Feeling his palm empty, the boy clenched his fist and angrily turned away.
Why did you let go of my hand again?
He couldn't bring himself to say the words he was about to say, because he saw his sister's eyes were red.
Lin Xingmian's heart suddenly sank, his ears burned, and he took a step forward, trying to take her hand again.
However, the girl put her hands behind her back and took a step back.
He froze, his gaze fixed on her retreating feet. A tremendous fear rose from the soles of his feet; he felt cold all over, yet sweat poured down his body.
Xu Zhiyu swallowed and said, "Go back to bed."
Lin Xingmian shook her head.
Xu Zhiyu said, "Young Master Lin, so many people are worried about you. Since you are sick, please don't run around. Please go back to your hospital bed."
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Author's Note: Pre-order for this column: "Wild Grass" - A story of a gloomy little beggar × a celibate male bodhisattva.
Can you give me some support? The ambiguous tension is palpable!
Maybe I'm just pathetic, but even though you've hurt me so badly, I can't help but hug you back.
Welcome to witness our Beggar Queen's "crematorium" of chasing after her husband!
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