Zeng Lingxiao (Part 2)
The hospital corridor was filled with the pungent smell of disinfectant. The metal carts pushed by nurses made a screeching sound as they slid across the floor. The clock slowly pointed to twelve; it was late at night.
Solkov sat on a chair in the corridor, the coolness of the ironwork extending into his body through his skin. He shifted slightly, as if to add some warmth, and changed his position to continue sleeping.
On his ninth turn, the nurse finally gently woke him up. He opened his eyes abruptly, said apologetically that he was fine, stood up hesitantly, and looked inside through the glass of the ward door.
Zhou Zeyu lay there quietly, probably exhausted from crying, fast asleep with her eyes closed.
Sorkov blinked, trying to relieve the dryness in his eyes from overwork, but to no avail. He sighed, paid the medical bills, zipped up his pants, and sat back down on the bench.
He closed his eyes, but he was no longer sleepy. The words Professor Elberlint had once said kept replaying in his mind.
The long-accumulated anxiety and burden, the pessimism that could not be effectively expressed, and the inexplicable contradictions in my mind—it seems that the breaking point of all these emotions was the loss in that game, but it also seems that it was more than that.
"Her emotions aren't as stable as she thinks they are," the professor's deep words still echoed in my ears, like a soft sigh. "Being too eager for quick results might not be a bad thing, but it is risky, and who can bear that risk?"
He sighed, unable to stop himself from recalling her appearance during the afternoon match, the way she looked at the eastern sky with tears in her eyes after Anna and Eric rushed up to her hand in ecstasy when the final whistle blew.
A silent emotion arose within me, like a simple reluctance to part, or a deep sorrow of mutual sympathy.
He turned on his phone, hesitated for a moment, glanced at the direction of the ward, and finally made the call.
...
Zhou Zeyu was woken up by her phone alarm.
She instinctively turned off the alarm clock, then closed her eyes again, vaguely remembering that it should be her usual physical training time. So she opened her eyes again, staring at the ceiling, waiting for her vision to slowly focus.
The moment she saw the ceiling, she jolted awake, realizing amidst the strong smell of disinfectant that she was in a hospital, with an IV drip in her right hand.
She looked around, trying to sit up. The bed creaked, and the door was quickly opened.
Mrs. Elberlint walked in with a worried look on her face, smiled gently at her, and tucked a cushion behind her back. "Darling, are you feeling unwell?"
He felt dizzy and weak, and most importantly, he was incredibly hungry, but otherwise, he seemed fine. Zhou Zeyu shook his head, indicating that he was alright.
Suddenly, as if by magic, the lady produced a box containing all sorts of pastries and bread rolls. Zhou Zeyu's eyes lit up immediately, and he wished he could eat and take the box with him. On the surface, he had to hesitate and pretend to be polite, saying that he was too grateful and that he couldn't possibly accept such a gift.
"My stomach is growling like it's singing, so let's skip the formalities and start eating."
Zhou Zeyu was taken aback. She lifted the curtain beside her and saw that the expressionless Sorkov was sitting in the chair closest to the window, with a bunch of messy documents slumped on his lap. He glanced at her indifferently.
"Is my stomach growling?" she asked with a strange expression.
Solkov looked away, a thoughtful smile playing on his lips. After a moment's thought, he said, "It called out." He added, "While you were sleeping."
Zhou Zeyu didn't stand on ceremony. After thanking her, she picked up the box and started eating. After devouring the food in a whirlwind, she sighed contentedly, "Thank you for your trouble, Madam."
“It’s no trouble at all,” the lady said with a kind smile as she packed up the box. “Your coach entrusted you to our care before he left, so it’s the least we can do.”
Zhou Zeyu thought of Coach Xu, paused for a moment, picked up his phone and checked the messages. Perhaps due to the time difference, Coach Xu had not yet replied.
Somewhat disappointed, she put down her phone. Suddenly, she met Solkov's gaze. Whether she was seeing things or not, Solkov's eyes were darting around, and he looked guilty no matter how she looked at him.
Zhou Zeyu thought for a while and felt that he shouldn't have done anything wrong to her. After all, he had stayed here all night without complaint. It would be too unreasonable to accuse him without reason. After thinking it over, Zhou Zeyu could only give up and continue to sleep.
The lady was in a hurry to go to work, so only she and Sorkov were left in the ward. The air instantly became quiet. Zhou Zeyu heard the sound of pens scratching and pages turning, and he could vaguely hear his even breathing.
She sat up and quickly pulled the curtains shut again.
The rustling and page-turning sounds stopped abruptly, followed by Sorkov's somewhat unnatural voice, "Did I disturb you? Sorry."
Zhou Zeyu exclaimed "Ah!" and quickly shook her head. Realizing that the other person couldn't see her, she belatedly spoke up, "No, it didn't bother me. I... I'm just not used to having someone sitting next to me when I'm sleeping. I'm sorry."
They were both silent for a moment, then she heard the rustling sound of things being packed. Sorkov took his things and walked out, passing by her bed without looking at her, and said in a gentle tone, "Okay, then you should get some rest."
Well, she was actually a bit at a loss for words; she didn't know how to clearly explain her feelings. Was she really going to say, "I didn't want to get rid of you, it's just that your breathing was too loud next to me, and I started having inappropriate thoughts when I closed my eyes?"
She would be seen as a pervert.
"No, I have to go first, you should get some more sleep."
Zhou Zeyu gave an "oh," watched him leave, and slumped onto her pillow in despair.
Feeling lost and powerless.
She lay idly on the bed, scrolling through her phone half-heartedly. Whenever she wanted to look at something, she felt awkward trying to use it.
I remember now. That day, he and Sorkov were fighting over the phone, and it turned out the screen wasn't locked. They accidentally touched the screen, which messed up a bunch of apps and deleted a lot of things unintentionally.
"People really can't be too idle," Zhou Zeyu thought to herself. Now she had to restore her phone to its original state. After fiddling with it for a while, she remembered that she had forgotten to tell Fang Xiaocan about this, so she quickly opened WeChat to share it with her.
The message had barely been sent when Fang Xiaocan called. His usual loud voice came through the phone, but this time it was unusually excited, almost a roar, making Zhou Zeyu's ears ache. "Zhou Zeyu, well done! I knew you could crush her!"
"What do you think?" Zhou Zeyu asked casually.
Fang Xiaocan suddenly fell silent for a moment, then said in a somewhat strange tone, "I think Angelica is better than you."
She then added cautiously, "Actually, you shouldn't take it too seriously. Just rest well in Belgrade, and when we have time, we can relax and have fun. Don't worry about those other miscellaneous things."
Zhou Zeyi was amused by her worried, mature tone. "Why are you acting so old-fashioned? Has life worn you down?"
To her surprise, Fang Xiaocan didn't argue with her anymore, or even utter a rebuttal. A faint sigh came from the phone. Zhou Zeyu waited to hear what she would say next, but Fang Xiaocan remained strangely silent.
"By the way, where's Lao Xu?" Zhou Zeyu asked. "I sent him a message but he didn't reply. Where did he go?"
"Old Xu?" Fang Xiaocan repeated, then said succinctly, "He went to Nanjing."
"Nanjing?" Zhou Zeyu asked, puzzled. "Going to the training base? Why is he going with the team?"
Before she could press further, Fang Xiaocan brushed it off, saying, "He's probably in closed training with the team lately, so it's normal that we can't contact him. He'll see you in a while, so don't worry."
Zhou Zeyu was puzzled. Coach Xu had been specifically in charge of her and Fang Xiaocan's training. Now that she was abroad and Fang Xiaocan was recuperating from an injury, it shouldn't have been his business to go to Nanjing for closed training with the team.
Thinking that Coach Huang might have dragged her there, she didn't investigate further. She checked the message interface again, but there was still no reply, so she gave up.
It started raining outside the window sometime earlier, making a loud pattering sound. The rainwater blurred the thin glass of the window, clinging to it before quickly falling off.
Zhou Zeyu stared blankly out the window, not even noticing when Sorkov walked in.
Sorkov walked very quietly, his gaze lingering on Zhou Zeyu's phone on the bedside table, a hint of unease flashing across his face, but it was quickly concealed.
When his eyes met Zhou Zeyu's, Solkov paused, stopped what he was about to say, and looked at her thoughtful expression.
“Sorkov,” she said very softly, “what would you do if you discovered that someone might be hiding something from you?”
He lowered his eyes. "I won't do anything until I know what he's hiding from me."
"Will you go and ask him to clarify things?"
Sorkov pursed his lips, seemingly deep in thought, but his answer was crisp and decisive: "I will."
Zhou Zeyu nodded, somewhat surprised by his honesty. She picked up a milk candy from the box and put it in her mouth. The overly sweet milky aroma momentarily diluted her doubts, and she decided to wait a little longer.
At the same moment she was filled with worry, Solkov also lowered his head in silence. He once again recalled what Professor Elberlint had told him, repeating it over and over in his mind, weighing the matter, but in the end he still couldn't make a decision and sighed in frustration.
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