I owe her
The lights in the hospital corridor were a cold white that was on 24 hours a day, making people's faces look pale.
The sound of footsteps, the wheels of carts, and the occasional low groans coming from the ward constitute the eternal background sound here.
Zhou Shufen and Zhou Jianjun almost ran out of the elevator. The old couple's faces were exactly the same, pale and panicked after being overwhelmed by the huge shock.
Their eyes frantically scanned the corridor, finally settling on the only young woman who looked like she was waiting.
She stood alone outside the intensive care unit, leaning against the cold wall, her head slightly lowered, her profile looking thin and tired.
Zhou Shufen didn't even have time to see the other person's face clearly, nor did she think about who this person was. It was just a vague intuition and the instinct to grab a life-saving straw that made her rush over and hug Wen Lingyi.
A warm, trembling, soft body instantly wrapped around Wen Lingyi, accompanied by uncontrollable, broken sobs.
"Thank you... Thank you for informing us... Thank you..." Zhou Shufen spoke incoherently, and her tears quickly soaked the fabric on Wen Lingyi's shoulders.
Zhou Jianjun stood aside, rubbing his hands helplessly. He looked at Wen Lingyi, his lips moved, and finally just repeated: "Thank you, thank you so much, girl."
Wen Lingyi's body stiffened for a moment during the initial hug.
She was unfamiliar with such direct and intense emotional expression; Zhou Shufen was a complete stranger to her.
But the warmth and trembling in the embrace are real, and the anxiety and gratitude in the tears are also real.
She hesitated for a moment, raised her hand, and patted Zhou Shufen on the back lightly and somewhat clumsily.
"It's okay, Auntie, the operation was successful." Her voice was a little dry.
The heart that had been hanging in the air, torn repeatedly by fear and anxiety, strangely found a sense of reality in the embrace of this strange mother.
She finally had someone to share the emotions that were about to overwhelm her.
Chu Wei, Ajie and Xiaomin followed behind with different expressions.
Chu Wei looked at Wen Lingyi with complicated eyes.
Ajie and Xiaomin looked completely confused and exchanged puzzled glances with each other. They obviously didn't understand what the relationship was between this extremely beautiful woman and Zhou Jianxing.
On the way here, Zhou Jianjun and Zhou Shufen asked Chu Wei, but Chu Wei was vague and did not give a clear answer.
"Miss, what's your name?" Zhou Shufen cried for a while, and when she calmed down a little, she let go of Wen Lingyi, wiped her tears with her sleeve, and looked at her with gratitude, "Look at me, I was so busy crying that I forgot to ask my benefactor's name."
"Auntie, my name is Wen Lingyi." Wen Lingyi lowered her eyes and pursed her lips slightly, "I'm Zhou Jianxing's... friend."
The last two words were spoken a little slowly.
·
The group stood silently outside the huge glass window of the intensive care unit, all looking inside.
Zhou Jianxing was lying on the hospital bed, surrounded by various instruments and tubes. Only a vague outline and faint movements under the quilt could be seen.
The ECG monitor screen next to it is the most active existence in this silence. The green numbers jump regularly and the broken lines meander and rise and fall, proving the continuation of life.
Occasionally, a doctor or nurse in sterile clothing would come in and out, their steps quick and light, checking the data, changing the IV bottle, and then leaving quietly.
"It must be very late." Wen Lingyi subconsciously looked down at her watch.
Then she realized that she was in such a hurry to go out that she didn't even think about wearing a watch. So she took out her cell phone and took a look. It was already early in the morning.
"You must be very tired after rushing all the way here. I have booked a room in the hotel opposite the hospital. Why don't you go and have a rest first?" She looked at the haggard faces and the red bloodshot eyes of Zhou's parents, and worried about their health.
"The doctor said the operation was successful. She's in stable condition now, so there shouldn't be any unexpected complications." She paused, then added, "If Xingxing wakes up and sees you guys looking so haggard because of her, she'll definitely be upset."
"If all goes well, she might wake up tomorrow morning."
Zhou Shufen and Zhou Jianjun immediately shook their heads with an extremely firm attitude.
"No, we won't leave," Zhou Shufen's voice was still tearful, but her tone left no room for negotiation. "We want to stay with her and watch her wake up with our own eyes."
Zhou Jianjun nodded heavily on the side. Even though they could do nothing standing here, this physical proximity seemed to give them some insignificant strength.
"Miss, we must give you the money for the hotel." Zhou Jianjun looked at Wen Lingyi, his eyes full of gratitude, mixed with a stubborn reluctance to trouble others. "Thank you so much for your thoughtful consideration. We can't let you spend any more money."
"Really, there's no need." Wen Lingyi's eyes fell on the quiet figure in the glass window, and her voice lowered a little, "I owe her."
This sentence made Zhou Jianjun and Zhou Shufen stunned for a moment, and a look of confusion appeared on their faces.
When did their daughter become someone else's creditor?
Huang Haifu was also among the six people in the group. He came to visit Zhou Jianxing on behalf of the company. As he was old, he was not as energetic as the young people. He comforted Zhou's parents with a few words, repeatedly reminded them to tell him if they needed money, and then left first.
Chu Wei, Ajie and Xiaomin gathered together and discussed in a low voice for a while.
Considering that we may need to take turns to accompany the patient in the future, it is really unnecessary for everyone to waste time here now.
In the end, they decided that the three of them would go back to the hotel booked by Wen Lingyi to rest and get enough energy, and then come to replace Zhou's parents after Zhou Jianxing woke up tomorrow.
·
"Girl, you should go back to sleep too." Zhou Shufen felt bad when she saw the obvious fatigue in Wen Lingyi's eyes.
"Thanks for your hard work, I've kept you busy all over for the stars."
"It's okay, Auntie." Wen Lingyi raised her hand to rub her sore eyes and gave her a faint smile. "I'll stay here with you. If anything happens, it'll be easier to have more people to take care of you."
"How can this be possible? It's too hard for you." Zhou Shufen wondered.
My daughter is popular, but it was a little surprising to her that a friend would be so devoted to her.
She guessed that this was probably the friend her daughter had mentioned, the one she made in City B.
"It's really okay, don't be polite with me." Wen Lingyi tilted her head slightly, blinked, and tried to lighten the atmosphere. "I've already said that I owe her a big favor."
Considering that she had to stay on duty all night, Wen Lingyi went to the nurses' station to negotiate and rented three camp beds, which she placed against the wall in the corridor so as not to affect passage.
Zhou Jianxing was lying inside, and the three of them were lying outside.
Zhou Shufen looked at the three narrow beds placed side by side and suddenly whispered, "The family is now complete."
After she finished speaking, she realized that she had said something out of turn and looked at Wen Lingyi embarrassedly.
Wen Lingyi just curled the corners of her mouth and said nothing.
"You know what?" Zhou Shufen lay awake on the cot. She turned her head and whispered to Wen Lingyi beside her. The corridor was silent, and her voice was particularly clear. "I gave birth to her in the middle of the night."
"That night the weather was exceptionally good, with few clouds." Zhou Shufen's voice softened as she lost herself in memory. "When the nurse brought the baby out to show her father, he happened to look up and saw the sky outside the window was filled with stars. They were incredibly bright and numerous."
"So, her name is Zhou Jianxing."
"Although the air in the city is bad now, it's always gray and hazy, so you can't see as many stars. But honestly, even in the past, it was rare to see a starry sky as beautiful as that night."
As Zhou Shufen spoke, the corners of her mouth unconsciously curled up.
This small family has become more complete and stable with the arrival of Zhou Jianxing, like a firmly standing triangle.
"The stars are so beautiful," Zhou Jianjun, who was also awake in the other bed, couldn't help but join in the conversation, his voice tinged with nostalgia. "They're like broken diamonds, sparkling and twinkling. Once you see them, you can't forget them."
Wen Lingyi closed her eyes and pictured the sky full of bright stars in her mind.
"Actually, it's because we're both uneducated," Zhou Shufen said with a somewhat embarrassed smile. "Naming people is just a joke. We just call them whatever we see."
"Auntie," Wen Lingyi opened her eyes, turned sideways, and looked at Zhou Shufen. Her eyes looked very serious in the dim light. "The name Zhou Jianxing is very nice and beautiful."
"You guys did really well."
They gave Zhou Jianxing a very nice name and they raised a very good daughter.
"We don't really have any big expectations of her," Zhou Jianjun said with a hint of melancholy. "We've never thought of her being like the sun, shining brightly, illuminating everyone."
They don't want their daughter to be a hero, they just want her to be safe and healthy.
"It's nice to be a star. Just stay in your own corner, quietly and conscientiously shining your light. That's enough."
These words reminded Wen Lingyi of the astronomy notes he had read.
From the time a star is born to the time it starts to shine, it needs to go through millions of years of dormancy.
Stars that can silently emit their own light are already very remarkable.
The stars never have to know that when people look up and say "there is no moon tonight", it is actually the light of the stars that fills all the gaps in their gaze.
The light of that star traveled for twenty-four years and finally reached her eyes.
"I think Zhou Jianxing did it." Wen Lingyi turned her gaze towards the heavy door of the intensive care unit. "You and Auntie have truly raised a very, very good daughter."
·
In the second half of the night, the hospital corridor became completely quiet, with only the low sound of the central air-conditioning system and the occasional very light footsteps coming from the nurses' station.
Zhou Jianjun and Zhou Shufen were used to going to bed early, and coupled with the long journey and the huge mental ups and downs, they had already exhausted their physical strength.
After chatting with Wen Lingyi intermittently for a while, their breathing gradually became even and long, and they fell into a deep sleep.
Wen Lingyi quietly got up from the bed and walked to the huge glass window.
Her fingertips gently touched the cold glass, and her blurry reflection appeared on the glass.
On the life monitor screen, the green waveform line representing the heartbeat rises and falls regularly, extending like an infinitely stretched, silent star trail.
Every tiny peak and trough is quietly proving that this star is still stubbornly moving its light years in the boundless darkness.
·
It was Zhou Jianxing. It was the same Zhou Jianxing who had once told Wen Lingyi that he should revolve around her like the planets in the solar system revolve around the sun.
Wen Lingyi stared at the quiet, fragile figure inside, and a heavy and bitter feeling of relief that she had never felt before slowly filled her chest.
Fortunately, her baby finally managed to save his life from the hands of death.
Fortunately, no matter what happened before or how far she had come, fate was willing to give her the opportunity to make amends and start over.
This time, she won't let go.
The loss in the past was a loss that required knowing that if you wanted to meet again or want to get back together, there was still a chance.
And today, or to be exact, yesterday, the crisis that Wen Lingyi felt was an irreversible loss that would never come back.
It turns out that the more we see each other in this world, the less we see each other.
It turns out that life is not as long as she thought. Life is like a still hourglass, a silent countdown.
Every ordinary "goodbye" may be fate's gentle foreshadowing of a final farewell.
Today, she really almost lost her baby.
Yes, today.
The moment your eyelashes fall is the paper knife that cuts apart tonight and tomorrow morning.
Today is still not over for Wen Lingyi.
And a story will not be over until both people have moved on.
There must be unfinished chapters and unspoken lines between them.
All the unresolved stays become folds in the new chapter, which are hidden deep in the story.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
