After completing the necessary procedures at the hospital, Zhou Jiuzhen carried Zhou Shuyao, whose remains had already been prepared, back to Wantan Island to fulfill his last wish and bury him next to Wang Guihua's grave.
Song Yaoyao stood to the side holding a black umbrella, looking like a puppet whose spirit had been drained.
On the dock.
When the fishermen heard that they were to transport a dead body, they all waved their hands and refused, saying that no matter how much money they were offered, they would not take the job.
Two living people stood on the dock, staring blankly at the shimmering sea.
Suddenly, a light drizzle began to fall from the sky.
As if the rain had triggered a switch, Song Yaoyao's tears flowed again.
She took off her coat and draped it over Zhou Shuyao, who was on Zhou Jiuzhen's back. She stroked his pale, bloodless face and gently called to him, "Honey, let's go home. We can't let the rain get us wet!"
Zhou Jiuzhen's eyes were vacant as he was thinking about how to rent a boat to return to the island when they saw Zhao Jingxiang directing people to move supplies.
With just one glance, Zhao Jingxiang seemed to sense something and turned to look at him.
"Er Gou!"
Zhao Jingxiang was overjoyed and quickly jumped from the boat onto the dock. "I went to the hospital but couldn't find you. I didn't expect to find you here. I have some good news to tell you!"
He almost blurted out to Zhou Jiuzhen, "Your wife is pregnant, you're going to be a father!"
But when his gaze fell on Zhou Shuyao, who was motionless on his back, his words of surprise came to an abrupt halt.
Zhao Jingxiang suppressed the rare, natural smile on his face and tentatively asked, "Your brother... what happened to him? Wasn't he supposed to have surgery today? Why isn't he being discharged after the surgery without staying in the hospital for a few more days?"
The workers who had finished unloading the goods came ashore, and the boatman shouted that the boat could set sail.
But Zhao Jingxiang waited anxiously for his answer.
Zhou Jiuzhen opened his mouth, but a hoarse, strained sound came out, "Shuyao... he's dead!"
"Could we take your boat back? I want to bury him next to my mother..."
Seagulls swept overhead, letting out a mournful cry, carrying away unspoken sorrow to the opposite shore.
Zhao Jingxiang froze on the spot, as if struck by lightning, the joyful news he was about to hear was swallowed back down by the news of his death.
He spent money to buy a fishing boat to transport goods, which allowed him to successfully send Zhou Shuyao back to Wantan Island.
The group remained silent the entire way.
Because on the boat, Song Yaoyao looked at a piece of paper over and over again, laughing and crying, crying and laughing again.
Zhao Jingxiang walked around behind Song Yaoyao and then saw clearly that the paper was Zhou Shuyao's suicide note.
The contents of the paper completely overturned his understanding of things that he had held for over twenty years since birth.
He couldn't imagine that a man who had previously seemed so positive and optimistic would choose to end his own life simply because he had become an obstacle to Ling Huanwu's release from prison.
In the end, he was still trying to find ways to make Ling Huanwu not feel guilty.
The waves lapped against the lone boat that drifted silently on the sea.
The previously quiet atmosphere was completely shattered by the sudden surge of waves on the sea.
A wave crashed in, rushing straight into the cabin. Zhou Jiuzhen quickly shielded Zhou Shuyao, but the seawater still soaked him.
Song Yaoyao pounced on him like a madwoman, shoved him aside, and roared at Zhou Jiuzhen, "What kind of older brother are you? You couldn't even protect your younger brother from a drop of seawater!"
"Your wife killed my husband, and now you deliberately let him go underground soaking wet! Waaah, you're so cruel!"
She scolded him as she picked up Zhou Shuyao, who was lying on the small bed, and carefully wiped the seawater off his face with a towel.
The fishing boat was rocking violently, and wave after wave of water poured in, instantly soaking the people in the cabin.
Zhou Jiuzhen ignored the somewhat deranged Song Yaoyao and rushed out of the cabin with Zhao Jingxiang.
The boatman, his face drenched in sweat as he pulled on the sail, muttered to himself, "This year is really strange. It's only March, how come the weather is already so hot?"
Zhao Jingxiang and Zhou Jiuzhen also took off their coats in turn, and together they pulled hard on the rope to stabilize the boat.
After the small boat passed through the eye of the storm, the two men slumped onto the edge of the boat, breathing heavily and remaining silent.
After a long silence, Zhao Jingxiang took a deep breath and broke the silence with a face full of guilt, "I'm sorry..."
Zhou Jiuzhen stared blankly at Zhao Jingxiang, recalling how he used to cling to Zhou Shuyao when he was a child, and how he loved to stick to this older brother.
Although he cried and complained about Chu Mei's repeated favoritism when he was a child, he never resented his older brother.
He knew his older brother was sick and couldn't laugh or cry like him.
So he always thought about healing his older brother, fantasizing that he could smile at him.
But in the end, he accomplished nothing.
His sincere heart was met with his elder brother pushing him into the lake.
Therefore, they cannot bear the blow and automatically forget the painful memories of the past.
Returning to his senses, Zhou Jiuzhen coughed lightly, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and turned his head away. "Why did you buy so many tents? And what are all those boxes of stuff?"
He pointed to a pile of cargo fixed on the deck, his eyes full of doubt.
Zhao Jingxiang shrugged, looking helpless. "I don't know why I bought it. Your wife just told me to!"
Hearing these somewhat ambiguous words, Zhou Jiuzhen's face instantly darkened, his mouth filled with sourness, "Why would she ask you to buy these things..."
As he spoke, he suddenly realized something and sprang to his feet on the deck. "Are you serious? Did you see Huanwu? Was she released?"
A barrage of questions rained down on Zhao Jingxiang, who had just stood up to answer when a wave over five meters high crashed over him, instantly capsizing the swaying little fishing boat...
*
In the space.
When Ling Huanwu woke up, she found that the sun had already set in the west, and a bright moon was hanging in the sky.
She was holding a gourd ladle in her hand, and a green-feathered parrot was perched on the gourd ladle.
She had rested under the big locust tree for a while, originally intending to go to the dock to see if Zhao Jingxiang could buy tents and other supplies.
Once the tents and blankets arrived at the shore, she stored them away and took them to the mountain camp for the villagers to stay at.
To her surprise, as soon as she stood up, she was struck by a throbbing pain in her lower abdomen.
Ling Huanwu quickly rolled over and entered the space, intending to drink some spiritual spring water to stabilize the pain in her body.
Unexpectedly, as soon as she arrived in the space, her hands trembling as she picked up the gourd ladle, before she could even drink the spiritual spring water, her vision went black and she fainted.
When she woke up again, she saw the green parrot tilting its head and looking at her. The little bird spat out a mouthful of water from its curved beak and proudly showed off its achievement, "I saved you, I'm a hero! A hero!"
Ling Huanwu smiled wryly, got up and patted the parrot's head, "Little Green Hero, I'll take you out after the storm surge passes!"
"But... could you please stop pooping everywhere!"
Little Green spread its wings and covered its face, looking ashamed to face the other birds. "It wasn't me, it wasn't!"
Ling Huanwu couldn't help but laugh.
She got up and touched her stomach. Finding no discomfort in her lower abdomen, she drank several more mouthfuls of spiritual spring water to conserve her strength before turning around and leaving the space.
Little did she know that while she was out of the space, Little Green secretly clung to her back and slipped out as well.
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