Chapter 43: Untitled
Leng Qing Qiu arrived at the hospital with Lu Zhiyin by ambulance. Although she felt a strange restlessness in her heart, she did not do anything out of line, only stared blankly at Lu Zhiyin’s face.
Upon arriving at the hospital, Lu Zhiyin was rushed into the operating room for emergency treatment. Leng Qing Qiu went to handle the registration and other trivial matters.
After finishing the payment and other related tasks, she went straight to the operating room.
Looking at the red light above the operating room, Leng Qing Qiu’s grip on her wallet tightened.
The hospital was unusually quiet, as it was late at night, and there were no idle people in the corridor other than medical staff.
She waited impatiently on the long bench for a long time. During this time, someone handed her a document that resembled a disclaimer for her to sign. It was at this moment that she realized there was a high probability that the person in the operating room would leave her forever.
Sitting stiffly on the bench, Leng Qing Qiu did not try to relieve her stress in various ways like a normal person.
She just sat there blankly.
The girl’s every smile and frown, her cries of pain due to the pain, and her troubled expressions because of herself flashed through her mind again and again.
A faint emotion called sadness gradually filled her heart.
Leng Qing Qiu had witnessed death countless times, but she rarely felt sadness.
The last time she felt this emotion was probably when her parents passed away.
“…”
No matter what, Lu Zhiyin had been with her for many, many years. Since childhood, the distance between her and Lu Zhiyin had never been far. Even the most hardened person would feel regret and discomfort when facing the prospect of someone who had accompanied them for years leaving, right?
Leng Qing Qiu was a little confused. She dared not to carefully confirm her feelings for Lu Zhiyin and could only try to blur her perception in various ways.
She sat vacantly for a long, long time. Time passed second by second, and Leng Qing Qiu did not know how much time had passed.
With a ding, the light above the operating room door turned from red to green, and a doctor in a light blue surgical gown walked out.
Leng Qing Qiu looked up, her gaze fixed on the doctor’s hands.
The white latex gloves still had some bloodstains on them.
Noticing Leng Qing Qiu’s gaze, the doctor took off his gloves and then his mask.
“The patient’s injuries are very serious, with multiple fractures throughout her body and a fractured sternum. However, with our efforts, we managed to save her.”
As he spoke, the doctor rubbed his right thumb, index finger, and middle finger back and forth.
Leng Qing Qiu seemed to understand his meaning. Was he asking for a bribe?
After a brief consideration, Leng Qing Qiu paid out of her own pocket and handed the doctor one thousand yuan in cash.
“Thank you for your trouble.”
She bent down and thanked the doctor in front of her.
The doctor then began counting the banknotes on the spot. After confirming the amount, he let a nurse push Lu Zhiyin out of the operating room.
Leng Qing Qiu followed the nurse to the ward.
Hmm… it was a double room, but only Lu Zhiyin was admitted at the moment.
Leng Qing Qiu followed the nurse to handle a lot of trivial matters. She didn’t dare to look at Lu Zhiyin too much, threw Lu Zhiyin’s compensation money on the bedside table, and left on her own.
“…”
She walked silently in the corridor and slowly arrived outside the hospital. The sky had turned a fish belly white, and it would not be long before daybreak.
“…Is it going to dawn already?”
Standing at the hospital entrance, Leng Qing Qiu looked at the slightly pale sky, feeling a sense of daze.
From the time she forcibly dragged Lu Zhiyin out, to her being hit by a car, sent to the hospital by ambulance, and then the surgery ending, had so much time passed without her realizing it?
Not knowing how to face Lu Zhiyin yet, Leng Qing Qiu felt ashamed for the first time in a long time.
She sat down on the steps at the hospital entrance and watched the gradually increasing number of pedestrians on the street outside.
It was already Monday. If Lu Zhiyin hadn’t been hit by a car, it would have been time to go to school again.
Lu Zhiyin in the hospital would not have to go to school, would not have met Long Qinxin, and would not have been entangled with that person.
Logically, Leng Qing Qiu should have been happy, but she couldn’t be happy at all.
She sat in thought outside the hospital for a long time until it was completely light, and then Leng Qing Qiu stood up again.
She had not slept all night, and she felt mentally exhausted.
“I need to get money…”
She had run out of cash. To deal with the situation later, Leng Qing Qiu had to go to the bank to withdraw more cash.
Thinking this, Leng Qing Qiu bought two fried dough sticks and a cup of soy milk at a breakfast shop she passed, and then hailed a taxi, planning to go home to get her bank card.
In the taxi, she thought about what she should do next.
Should she go to school as usual, or should she stay at the hospital to accompany Lu Zhiyin during this period?
This question was indeed difficult for Leng Qing Qiu.
She had taken very few leaves of absence since childhood. If she were to accompany Lu Zhiyin all the time, she would probably have to take one or two months of long leave at once, which was not an easy thing for her, who had always studied diligently.
Closing her eyes, she quickly made a decision in her heart.
She decided to ask for a long leave. Anyway, with her ability, even if she didn’t go to school for a long time, it wouldn’t affect her final exam results.
As for why… she didn’t know herself.
It wasn’t because she was worried about Lu Zhiyin’s injuries… no, it wasn’t…
She leaned on the car window for a while. When the taxi reached its destination, Leng Qing Qiu got out of the car in a daze.
She returned home, took out her bank card, changed into a slightly long red coat, and hurried out again.
After withdrawing ten thousand yuan from the bank, she walked to school to ask the class teacher for a long leave for herself and Lu Zhiyin.
When she asked for her own leave, the class teacher approved it readily. However, when it came to Lu Zhiyin, the class teacher asked for detailed explanations. Even though he knew that Lu Zhiyin had been in a car accident and had to take leave, he still looked furious.
This differential treatment made Leng Qing Qiu feel inexplicably uncomfortable.
In fact, Lu Zhiyin had always been the target of such discrimination. Leng Qing Qiu should have known this, but she had not paid much attention to it before.
“…”
Leng Qing Qiu opened her mouth, wanting to say something for Lu Zhiyin. After a brief silence, she said nothing and turned to leave.
She left school in a daze. By the time she walked back to the hospital, it was almost noon.
She returned to Lu Zhiyin’s ward and saw the girl who had not yet woken up.
The girl’s legs and right hand were in casts, and she was wearing a blue and white striped hospital gown.
Under the hospital gown, if nothing unexpected, there would be layers of white bandages wrapped around the girl like a silkworm cocoon.
Leng Qing Qiu looked at Lu Zhiyin’s left hand. An IV drip was inserted into the back of her hand, and she didn’t know what was being infused.
Overwhelmed by fatigue, Leng Qing Qiu dragged a small folding stool from under the bed.
She sat on the stool, leaning her upper body on the bedside, and soon fell into a deep sleep.
