After that day, Jiang Que's hospital life changed quietly.
In addition to the treatment program that continues in the morning, his afternoon schedule is no longer as monotonous and closed as before. He will go for a walk in the garden, watch Song Yecheng's live broadcast on time, intentionally receive various news from the outside world, and also have a fixed evening time to quietly write his new book.
As time goes by, the noise of cicadas gradually becomes inaudible, and the heat of midsummer also dissipates little by little with the rising autumn wind.
After a period of smooth and regular treatment, Jiang Que welcomed the first visitor since his hospitalization.
Although he had contacted this visitor himself, the sudden visit still caught him off guard.
After the treatment ended that morning, Jiang Que returned to his ward after lunch. He was stunned when he opened the door.
There was a person standing in front of the window in the ward, looking out the window with his back to him.
Before Jiang Que could react with surprise, the man turned around upon hearing the sound of the door. A surprised smile appeared on his familiar face: "Hey, you're back?"
Jiang Que was slightly surprised and asked, "Why are you here?"
He Jingsheng raised his eyebrows: "Didn't you say you wanted to meet?"
Jiang Que was speechless for a moment.
Yes, that's exactly what he said.
But that's not actually what he meant.
As his only friend in recent years, He Jingsheng was naturally within the scope of his isolation and protection. Therefore, when he was first hospitalized, he specifically instructed Zuo Jianqing not to accept any visits or visits during his treatment, in order to ensure that safe distance.
However, He Jingsheng was a lively person. Although he understood Jiang Que's decision to refuse to visit after Zuo Jianqing's explanation, he would still send messages to Jiang Que from time to time, asking him how he was doing in the hospital, how his treatment was progressing, and even forwarding him some interesting gossip and jokes.
Of course, all this information was blocked outside the barrier during the period when Jiang Que's Internet was cut off.
So when Jiang Que turned on his phone again and received messages from the outside world, the number of messages from He Jingsheng had piled up to 99+.
At that time, Jiang Que was flipping through the extremely long message log, looking at the various caring inquiries and link sharing that were sent every now and then, which never received any reply but were still persisting. His heart was filled with warmth, but also mixed with complex sourness and bitterness.
So after some consideration, he replied to He Jingsheng, telling him that he was fine and not to worry, and also told him that he would like to meet him after he was discharged from the hospital.
He had something he wanted to say to him in person.
But not now.
At least until he recovers and can fully trust his mental state.
So when he saw He Jingsheng suddenly appear in the ward, he was really caught off guard.
However, at the same time, this unexpected situation inexplicably brought back a memory from his past -
That was shortly after he graduated from college and had just bought the apartment. He called He Jingsheng to tell him that he had moved into his new home.
His original intention was to invite He Jingsheng to his home after the house was decorated in a few days, but he didn't expect that He Jingsheng only received his call in the morning, and appeared at his door in the afternoon with large and small bags of "house warming packages".
At that time, his surprise was exactly the same as it is now.
He Jingsheng's positive and enthusiastic attitude over the years made him seem to have regained the old days and feel the familiar and friendly relaxation.
Thinking of this, the surprise in Jiang Que's eyes finally faded, gradually turning into a helpless smile: "I mean, wait until I recover from my illness..."
"Tsk," He Jingsheng interrupted him dissatisfiedly, "Can you stop treating yourself like such a monster? Expert Zuo said you're too hard on yourself and there's no need to be so defensive. Besides, doesn't Song Yecheng also—"
At this point, he suddenly got stuck.
Jiang Que asked sharply, "...What's Tiantian?"
He Jingsheng knew he had spoken out of turn. He raised his hand and scratched his neck awkwardly, his eyes wandering as he said, "Everyday... every day, live broadcast!"
This answer was clearly irrelevant. Jiang Que was about to ask more questions suspiciously, but he forced the subject to change: "Hey, hey, hey, I'm here, and you're just going to let me just stand there?"
Being blocked by him, Jiang Que actually subconsciously looked around the ward.
This ward originally only had a bed and a bedside table. Later, in order to facilitate his writing, Zuo Jianqing added a simple set of tables and chairs for him.
Apart from this, there is no other decoration.
Jiang Que sneered helplessly, walked to the table, personally dragged the only chair over to him, and placed it neatly behind him: "Please sit down."
He Jingsheng chuckled, bent down and sat down with satisfaction, then asked curiously: "By the way, don't you have something to tell me? What is it?"
The message Jiang Que sent him did mention that he had something to say to him. Although he had originally intended to say those words in person after he was discharged from the hospital, since he was already here, there was naturally no need to choose another time.
Jiang Que paused to ponder for a moment, then walked to the bedside, bent down, and sat down. He breathed a sigh of relief as if brewing something, then looked at He Jingsheng seriously and said solemnly and sincerely: "I want to say that I have always owed you a thank you, and... an apology."
In the gray memories of that entire year that had been sealed away, He Jingsheng was the only friend who accompanied him through Jiang Di's death, Ye Ying's torture, and finally the reappearance of the past that ended in suicide.
It can be said that he went through the most painful and heavy time with the help of He Jingsheng. In any case, this should be worth his careful remembrance and gratitude.
However, during the six months when he was immersed in the delusion of rebirth, he not only completely forgot the experience of He Jingsheng accompanying him, but his other personality also used He Jingsheng's connections to enter the crew and used his relationship with Tang Yao to create the "prophecy."
In Jiang Que's opinion, this was really unworthy of the word "friend", so much so that when he woke up in the hospital, he didn't know how to face He Jingsheng for a while.
He Jingsheng has never been a sensitive and delicate person, but when he heard Jiang Que's words and saw his serious expression, he instantly understood what he meant.
However, after understanding, he suddenly laughed: "That's it?"
He glared at Jiang Que in disapproval: "I thought you were going to say something serious."
Immediately, he sighed with a smile, leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, and said calmly and seriously, "I say you're the kind of person who remembers kindness but not giving. You only remember that I was good to you, but why don't you think about why I was good to you?"
Jiang Que was stunned by the question for a moment, then he counted on his fingers, "During those years in college, you stayed up late to help me study for every exam, and you guided me through every paper. I didn't have enough credits, so you stayed up all night to help me with my competition entry. I was sick, and you went out to buy me medicine in the middle of the night. That time I had gastroenteritis and was vomiting so much that the other two of us were so irritated that we had to sleep in another dormitory. But when I came back from the bathroom after throwing up, I saw you carrying hot water and medicine. You even changed the sheets on the bed next to me that I had vomited all over. How come you don't remember all this?"
"If you really want to settle this with me, then we'll have a lot to settle. I'll have to explain every detail to you. Do you believe me, I can tell you everything until tomorrow morning?"
He kept saying these things one after another, which made Jiang Que a little overwhelmed. He really didn't take those things to heart, and they didn't even leave much impression on him. But the reason was that in his opinion those were trivial matters and didn't matter at all.
However, before he could respond, He Jingsheng continued, "Let's talk about that 'apology' again. You mean those prophecies, right?"
"You know you were sick at the time. Why did you take on yourself for something that was beyond your control? Besides, it didn't cost me anything. If it weren't for that trending search that woke me up, if it weren't for you teaching me to be more careful, I might still not understand how to pursue someone and still be rejected by others. How could I have the understanding I have today? So tell me, isn't this like giving me a free tip? What do you have to be sorry about? Hmm?"
Jiang Que only knew that he had many twists and turns in his reasoning, but he didn't know that he also had such a skillful tongue. After hearing his series of questions, he was actually speechless.
After a moment of silence, he suddenly couldn't help but let out a laugh from his nose.
His lips were originally slightly pursed, but as the laughter came out, the corners of his mouth curved slightly, and then the smile spread into his eyes, and there was a touch of emotion in his eyes when he looked at He Jingsheng.
Once again, he truly felt that he was indeed lucky.
His luck was not just in meeting Song Yecheng.
In his more than twenty years of colorful life, it is a blessing to have made a friend like him.
Seeing him finally smile, He Jingsheng knew that his eloquence had achieved a temporary victory. He was relieved and even a little proud. "Hey, that's right - people who are recovering from illness should be happy and optimistic. Why think about so many trivial things all day long?"
As he spoke, as if reminded by his own words, he said, "Oh, by the way, have you read all those jokes I forwarded to you before?"
Those were the gossips and funny stories that almost made him laugh out loud after reading them. In his opinion, they were the best mood regulators.
Jiang Que said truthfully, "I saw it, but only a little bit."
He had almost no interest in gossip, but it was not that he didn't read it at all. When he was looking through the news, he at least read the headlines based on the shared links.
"Tsk," He Jingsheng glanced at him sideways, and then his eyes lit up, and he became interested. "Then let me tell you about it?"
Jiang Que saw his excitement and found it both amusing and familiar, just like the countless times he had heard him bring back all kinds of gossip in the dormitory. He suppressed a smile and indulged him, "Well, go ahead."
He Jingsheng immediately crossed his legs, raised his hands to straighten his sleeves, and even moved his chair forward a little. He excitedly put on a posture as if he was about to start a storytelling performance. "Let me tell you, last month my company signed a newcomer. They said his acting was amazing, and he could easily outperform all the other professionals. I thought, why not go and check him out? But wow, his acting was really amazing. As soon as we got into the elevator, he acted like a Mary Sue heroine, twisting her ankle with high heels and spilling coffee all over my head and face, and even ruining my limited edition shirt..."
As soon as he opened his mouth, he automatically turned on the function of a human-shaped self-propelled gossip machine. After talking about his own family, he talked about other families, after talking about the circle, he talked about things outside the circle, as if he had been holding back a lot of explosive stuff for a long time. He chattered non-stop from the afternoon to the evening, which made Jiang Que sometimes puzzled and sometimes couldn't help laughing. He almost didn't notice the passage of time at all.
It was not until dusk that the nurse knocked on the door and came in to remind Jiang Que that it was time to eat and take medicine. He Jingsheng smacked his lips with satisfaction and finally stood up.
Before leaving, he patted Jiang Que's shoulder seriously and said, "You better get better soon. This chair is too hard. When you are discharged from the hospital, we can chat somewhere more comfortable."
Jiang Que smiled glumly and nodded in agreement, then stood up and walked him out of the ward and to the elevator.
After he left, Jiang Que stood there staring at the reflective elevator door for a while, then turned around and walked back the way he came.
The hospital's evening hours are more orderly than its daytime hours.
Because patients need to maintain a good routine, the inpatient building has always had fixed power outage times.
As the night deepened, the lights in the ward went out.
A large amount of bright moonlight came in through the window, dividing the ward and the bed into two distinct areas of light and dark.
On the hospital bed, Jiang Que sat at the junction of light and darkness, hugging his knees lightly, and looking down at the clear dividing line drawn by the moonlight in front of his toes.
His hair was slightly damp, stained with water from washing up just now. He was wearing a thin white pajamas, and there was still a slight bitter taste of the pills in his mouth.
It is an auxiliary medicine with a calming and sleeping effect.
It was to relieve the symptoms such as insomnia and night terrors that he often experienced after being admitted to the hospital.
The dosage was initially two tablets, but later it was reduced to one tablet as the decompression treatment became more effective. Later, Zuo Jianqing told him that if the symptoms of insomnia were not severe, he could stop taking the medicine on his own depending on the situation.
For safety reasons, Jiang Que did not choose to stop taking the medicine immediately, but maintained the habit of taking one tablet before going to bed. After taking the medicine every night, he was used to sitting quietly in the moonlight, waiting for the effect of the medicine to come.
But tonight, he only took half a pill.
This was his first attempt, and he gained some courage from He Jingsheng's visit in the afternoon.
Although He Jingsheng's sudden appearance surprised him for a moment, he was mostly relaxed and happy throughout the whole process. He was not nervous due to self-defense, nor did he feel uneasy about communicating with people at close range. He even forgot that he was a patient for a while.
He thought that today's performance should be pretty good.
So maybe he could try to make some attempts to increase his confidence in himself a little bit.
So when he turned off the lights and took the medicine, he finally broke the small white pill into two halves, put one half into his mouth, and gently put the other half back into the medicine box.
Outside the window, the moon moves quietly in the night sky.
The bright moonlight it cast also pulled the dividing line between light and dark, causing it to shift slightly without leaving any trace.
Jiang Que chased the deviation and moved his exposed toes hidden in the dark forward a few inches. Then he was like a small fish, quietly diving into a clear stream. Then he gently lifted his toes, creating ripples on the moonlight like playing in the water.
At this time every night, Jiang Que's thoughts are always the freest. He can let his mind run wild and travel in the moonlight without any constraints.
He would think about the universe, the starry sky, fallen leaves and rain, why water droplets merged with each other, and why ants gathered in groups.
Break away from the definitions of physics and biology, give them soul and poetry, make them rebellious, make them unrestrained and uninhibited, and let them become demons and spirits in the bizarre world.
Wandering in that realm, the mountains can be without edges, the sky and the earth can be united, the rivers and the sea can be exhausted, the years can stop, the living can die, and the dead can be reborn, and nothing will naturally become a shackle.
Jiang Que stretched out his hand, and the moonlight flowed like a veil. He gently closed his fingertips, and the crushed light particles leaked out from between his fingers, and the radical of the word "veil" was quietly changed.
As the hazy light and shadows floated, the belated sleepiness finally crept up on him little by little, so Jiang Que yawned, stretched out his legs obediently, lay on his back, and gently pulled the thin blanket to his chest.
The sleepiness gradually becomes stronger, making one feel drunk as if being tipsy.
Between sleep and wakefulness, his thoughts were pulled away from that fantastical world for a moment, and for no reason, confused and bewildered, he recalled a sentence:
"Besides, doesn't Song Yecheng also..."
oh.
That seemed to be something He Jingsheng accidentally let slip in the afternoon, and he actually forgot to ask about it later.
Song Yecheng also...
What do you do every day?
Before he could twist the thread out of his sea of consciousness, sleepiness slowly sank down on him, gently pulling away his remaining thoughts, and finally sending him into a deep sleep.
The ward was silent.
Only the second hand was ticking slowly, bringing the minute hand and hour hand closer to midnight.
All the light and shadow seemed to come to a standstill, freezing the ward into an oblique still painting that was half moonlight and half shadow.
And just as the picture was frozen for a long time, a thin ray of light was quietly embedded in the corner of the picture.
——Click.
The door opened a crack almost silently.
As the gap slowly opened, a tall figure walked in, gently closed the door with one hand, and walked silently in the moonlight to the bedside.
Song Yecheng bent down and squatted beside the bed. He first looked at the quilt carefully, straightened the corner that was leaking air, and then turned his head to look at the peaceful sleeping face on the soft pillow.
That sleeping face was truly beautiful, her long, dark eyelashes lightly covering the arc of her still, thin lips adorning her porcelain-white complexion with a soft sheen. She seemed to be sleeping soundly, even her breathing was slow and steady, causing one's heartbeat to slow unconsciously.
As he looked at her, Song Yecheng couldn't help but curl the corners of his lips. He reached out to stroke the soft hair, then leaned forward and kissed the warm brow.
This is the goodnight kiss he gives every night.
It’s like a knight arriving every midnight with the sound of the bells, picking up a fluttering butterfly from the moonlight, and letting it quietly land between the brows of the person in front of him, guarding that distant dream.
Fill him with tender comfort in exchange for a good night's sleep.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
