Chapter 96 Untitled 1
The weather was fine the day I went to the hospital for the last time.
As Sizhui walked out of the school gate, backpack on his back, the sun was warm and the wind carried the scent of early summer flowers. Lan Jingyi and Jin Ling walked side by side with him, accompanying him all the way to the hospital entrance.
"Really, we don't need to accompany you in?" Lan Jingyi was still worried, "What if you faint from the needle?"
"I don't get sick from needles." Si Zhui smiled helplessly, "It's just an IV drip, it will be fine soon."
Jin Ling took out a piece of fruit candy from his pocket: "Here, it will help you relax."
Si Zhui took it and held it in his hand: "Thank you, I'm going in."
Watching him walk into the hospital gate, Lan Jingyi poked Jin Ling: "Do you think he's actually very nervous?"
Jin Ling looked at the hospital entrance and said softly, "Of course he will, but he wants to try it himself."
The two teenagers did not leave, but leaned against the sycamore tree opposite the hospital, like two guardian gods, silently waiting for the people inside to come out.
In the infusion room, Sizhui sat by the window, his schoolbag resting on his lap. When the nurse approached, he offered his arm. His face was expressionless, but sweat was quietly forming on his palms.
"It's you again, coming here by yourself today?" The nurse recognized him and joked with a smile, "You've grown up a lot."
Si Zhui's face flushed slightly, and he nodded: "Yeah."
When the needle pierced his skin, he closed his eyes out of habit, but he didn't tense up like he had the last few times. When he opened his eyes, the medicine was already dripping slowly down the IV tube. It wasn't as scary as he had imagined.
He took out the drawing sent by Qin Shuyan from his schoolbag. It was a landscape painting of the suburbs. There were children flying kites, a running dog, and two figures walking side by side in the distance. It looked very much like the scene he and Qin Shuyan saw when they went sketching last time.
The corners of Si Zhui's mouth slowly lifted up - it turns out that courage is not the absence of fear, but the willingness to try to move forward even when afraid.
When the infusion ended, the setting sun was dyeing half the sky red. Si Zhui walked out of the hospital gate and saw Lan Jingyi and Jin Ling leaning against a tree. They were fighting over the last biscuit and ran over when they saw him come out.
"How was it? Did it go well?"
"Did the nurse compliment you?"
Si Zhui smiled and nodded, throwing the empty candy wrapper in his hand into the trash can: "It went smoothly, and he even praised me for being braver than last time."
The three teenagers walked home side by side, their shadows stretched long by the setting sun. Lan Jingyi excitedly recounted the amusing incidents from afternoon gym class, while Jin Ling occasionally chimed in with a few quips. Sizhui walked in the middle, listening to their laughter and suddenly realizing that this was what growing up looked like—with friends by his side and family waiting for him. Even when he overcame difficulties alone, he could always look back and find warm gazes following him.
When Sizhui reached the gate of the old house, he saw Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji standing by the courtyard wall. Wei Wuxian was holding a camera, taking pictures of them. Lan Wangji stood beside him, his eyes fixed on Sizhui. Although he didn't say anything, his eyes were much softer than usual.
"We're back!" Lan Jingyi shouted and rushed in.
Si Zhui walked up to the two of them and was about to speak when Wei Wuxian hugged him, "Our Si Zhui is amazing! He's completely healed and even unlocked the achievement of going to the hospital alone!"
Si Zhui was a little breathless from being held, but he couldn't help but smile: "Daddy, I'm not a child anymore."
"You'll always be a child to me." Wei Wuxian let go of him and ruffled his hair again. "What do you want to eat tonight? To celebrate?"
"I want to eat the sweet and sour pork ribs you make!"
"no problem!"
Lan Wangji looked at them, then suddenly reached out and gently patted Sizhui on the back, a gesture more natural than the last time he had patted his shoulder. Sizhui looked up at him and met the smile in his eyes. It was a faint smile, but like a pebble dropped into a lake, it spread warm ripples throughout his heart.
At dinner, the table was filled with delicious food, with sweet and sour pork ribs taking center stage. Wei Wuxian raised his juice glass: "Come, let's drink to Si Zhui's complete recovery and this brave step forward!"
"Cheers!" The three children raised their glasses, and the juice collided with each other, making a crisp sound.
Although Lan Wangji didn't raise his glass, he picked up the largest piece of pork ribs and put it in Sizhui's bowl.
Si Zhui looked at the spareribs in the bowl, then looked at the people around him who were laughing and making noises, and suddenly felt that traveling through time and space to come to this strange world, meeting these people, and experiencing these things might be the best arrangement.
The hospitals he once feared, the needles he once resisted, the dietary restrictions he once endured, all transformed into medals on his path to growth thanks to the companionship of his family and the encouragement of his friends. These medals will accompany him as he continues his courageous journey into a brighter future.
The moonlight outside the window was as bright as daylight, and the leaves of the sycamore trees in the yard rustled, as if singing a gentle song for the recovered boy.
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