Qi Min woke up early in the morning, a faint pain throbbing in his left leg.
Glancing at the clock, he saw it was only 5 a.m. Closing his eyes, he tried to go back to sleep but couldn’t. Reaching for the kettle on the bedside table, he poured himself a glass of water and swallowed a pill given to him by Doctor Wei. Just as he was about to lie back down, he heard the sound of hurried footsteps echoing through the quiet hallway.
Curious, Qi Min leaned on his crutches and made his way outside.
He saw Doctor Wei Wenhua and another doctor in a white coat, flanked by several nurses, rushing from the far end of the corridor. As they neared one of the patient rooms, they turned and disappeared into the skybridge connecting the buildings.
Puzzled, Qi Min returned to his room and looked out the window. He caught a glimpse of a piece of a doctor’s coat disappearing into the entrance of the corridor opposite.
…If he remembered correctly, that wing housed the oncology ward.
As the day broke, the ward began to stir with activity. Footsteps, conversations, and the occasional cough created a growing hum of noise.
Around 8 a.m., a nurse wheeled in a new patient wrapped so tightly in bandages that he looked like a mummy. As the nurse helped him onto a bed separated from Qi Min’s by just one, she explained the hospital’s rules, meal ordering times, and how to use the call button dangling by the bedside.
“If you need anything, just press this button here.”
The nurse looked a bit worn out but maintained a warm and patient demeanor. After pouring the new patient a glass of water, she left the room. The bandaged man took his medication and lay there motionless.
It was as if a switch had been flipped. Throughout the morning, more patients arrived, one after another. A middle-aged man who had just undergone hemorrhoid surgery and a young man preparing for an appendectomy the next day were wheeled in, making the once-quiet ward bustling with life.
The middle-aged man, initially full of energy, surveyed the ward with great interest and even struck up a conversation with the younger man across from him. However, within thirty minutes, his face turned pale, and he was lying on his stomach, wailing in pain.
The young man, on the other hand, was engrossed in a book. But soon, a nurse called him out of the room to prepare for his surgery, leaving the ward filled with the middle-aged man’s incessant groans.
Qi Min’s bed was by the window, furthest from the door. The hemorrhoid patient’s bed was the closest to the door, with the young man and the mummy occupying the two middle beds in between.
The middle-aged man, lying next to the mummy, found himself growing increasingly uneasy. Despite his loud cries, the mummy didn’t stir at all—not even a twitch.
…Could he be dead?
The middle-aged man scrutinized the bandaged patient closely. Even his chest seemed to have stopped rising and falling. Instantly, a cold sweat broke out on his forehead.
Qi Min opened his eyes just in time to see the man frantically pressing the call button by his bed, his face pale with horror.
Moments later, a middle-aged nurse entered, her expression serious, as she reached for the mummy’s neck.
Just then, the mummy stirred, groggily opened his eyes, and mumbled, “What’s going on?”
The nurse, unfazed, replied calmly, “Oh, nothing. Your blanket fell off—I was just putting it back for you.”
She even adjusted the blanket for good measure.
“Oh…”
The bandaged man, sensing something amiss, hesitated for a moment. But under the effects of his medication, drowsiness quickly overtook him. He muttered incoherently and fell back asleep.
Qi Min: “…”
The middle-aged man: “…”
The nurse glanced at them, her expression unreadable, as if she had said nothing and everything all at once. Without another word, she left the room, leaving behind an air of awkwardness.
Qi Min got up, leaned on his crutches, and took a stroll past the middle-aged man’s bed, as if to prove he was alive and well. Then, he followed the nurse out of the ward.
Out on the skybridge, Qi Min stood for a while, letting the wind cool him and the sun warm his face. From the corner of his eye, he spotted Doctor Wei Wenhua at the other end of the bridge, talking to an elderly woman in a hospital gown.
Even from several meters away, Qi Min could see the heavy dark circles beneath the doctor’s eyes. He can’t still be on the night shift, can he? It’s already afternoon.
The elderly woman’s speech was slurred, likely due to some throat condition, yet Doctor Wei listened patiently. Qi Min, standing nearby, strained his ears to catch snippets of their conversation.
The woman’s mind seemed muddled with age, as she repeated herself over and over. After listening for a while, Qi Min couldn’t help but feel restless, yet Doctor Wei maintained a gentle smile throughout.
Noticing Qi Min lingering nearby, Doctor Wei even nodded politely at him, the curve of his lips never wavering.
A gust of wind swept across the skybridge, sending a chill through Qi Min. He tightened his coat and hobbled back to his room. Before climbing into bed, he made a point of strolling past the hemorrhoid patient’s bed again.
The middle-aged man: “…”
At dinnertime, the mummy’s mother arrived, carrying a thermal food container. From their conversation, Qi Min learned that the man sold breakfast from a street stall, specializing in bamboo-tube rice.
A few days ago, just after 4 or 5 a.m., he had pedaled his food cart to a street corner and noticed a group of men surrounding a young woman in the distance. Sensing trouble, he rushed over to intervene.
The men, clearly drunk, lashed out at him, and the situation quickly devolved into a one-sided beating. Eventually, the woman called the police. While the men were taken away, the street vendor was admitted to the nearby Eastern City Hospital.
As his mother fed him, she scolded him, “Do you even know how to fight back? I went to the police station—those thugs were acting like nothing happened! Meanwhile, look at you. You weren’t much to look at before, and now you’re beaten up so bad you’re practically unrecognizable! You’re an eyesore!”
“If I’d fought back, it would’ve been considered mutual assault. I wouldn’t be in a hospital right now—I’d be sitting in a cell with those thugs. Then you’d have to bail me out!”
“You’ve still got the nerve to argue? Why didn’t they just beat you to death and save me the trouble of worrying about you all day?”
She gave him a light punch, making him wince in pain.
Later that evening, a young woman in her twenties entered the room, carrying a basket of flowers and some fruit, accompanied by her parents. They thanked the man profusely and even handed over a thick red envelope as a token of gratitude.
His mother, who had been berating him nonstop earlier, suddenly turned gracious. She waved off the envelope, saying, “Oh, there’s no need! It’s enough that you’re so thoughtful! This is just what Yuezi should’ve done—he’s a man, after all. How could he just stand by in a situation like that?”
“…The police officer already explained everything to me! Those thugs were caught on camera assaulting him unprovoked. They’re the ones covering all his medical expenses—how could we possibly let you pay for anything?”
Even after several polite refusals, the young woman and her parents insisted on leaving the envelope. They thanked the man profusely once again. As it was getting late and they didn’t want to disturb his rest any further, they left to buy some snacks and daily necessities for him before finally departing.
Once the ward learned the man’s story of standing up for justice, the atmosphere became lively.
The young man and the hemorrhoid patient showered him with praise, almost as if they themselves had been the ones to save the day. They eagerly encouraged him to recount the details of his heroic act of rescuing the young woman.
At first, the man’s mother, still upset about her son being beaten to such a state, had remained quiet. But now, with all the praise being heaped on him, she seemed a bit embarrassed and even slightly proud. By the time the lights-out announcement approached, she finally said her goodbyes and left the ward. The room gradually quieted down.
Lying in his bed, Qi Min felt restless and uneasy. Bored and unable to stay still, he decided to get up and walk around.
Crossing the skybridge once again, he slowly made his way to the opposite ward. From the other patients’ chatter, Qi Min had learned that the ward across the bridge primarily housed cancer patients, many in the late stages of their illness. It was common to see patients from that ward coming to the skybridge for fresh air.
Stepping into the hallway, Qi Min was surprised by how crowded it was. Every room he passed seemed full to capacity, with IV bags hanging at the head of almost every bed. Family members and nurses bustled back and forth, attending to the patients. Yet, despite all the activity, the air felt heavy and suffocating, carrying a sense of quiet despair.
As he passed one room, he noticed an old man turning his head to look toward the door. The man was thin and frail, almost skeletal, lying there as though barely alive. When he saw Qi Min walking past, his clouded eyes fixated on him unblinkingly, staring straight through him.
Qi Min frowned but continued walking. Reaching the end of the hallway, he found that no beds were empty. Deep in thought, he turned around and retraced his steps.
An elderly woman sat in a chair along the hallway, staring blankly ahead. As Qi Min passed by her again, she suddenly spoke.
“Who are you looking for?”
Startled, Qi Min stopped in his tracks but quickly composed himself and struck up a conversation with her.
Her speech was slurred and hard to understand. Qi Min had to listen twice before he made sense of her words. Her indistinct way of speaking reminded him of the elderly woman he had seen on the skybridge a few days ago, the one who had cornered Doctor Wei Wenhua with endless chatter.
Keeping a calm face, Qi Min fabricated a story. “Oh, a few days ago, I ran into an elderly man on the skybridge. He said he wanted me to help him call his grandson, but I haven’t seen him since. I thought something might have happened, so I came here to look for him.”
As he spoke, he even pulled out an old Motorola phone from his pocket and waved it around for effect.
The elderly woman stared at the phone for a moment, then nodded. “Oh, you’re talking about Lin Yezhen. She wasn’t here for long. She was in the ICU before being transferred back here just a few days ago.”
She sighed, her voice growing softer. “Her second son used to visit her, but he hasn’t come by in a long time… hasn’t come back at all. Young man, are you her grandson?”
“No, grandma, I’m not her grandson,” Qi Min replied politely.
The woman nodded but continued muttering to herself. “A couple of days ago, she seemed a little better, said she wanted to see you. Your grandma missed you… but in the end, she couldn’t hold on. This morning, when I woke up, I saw her lying there… her face was all purple…”
Qi Min frowned as he listened intently. He didn’t bother correcting her mistaken assumption that he was Lin Yezhen’s grandson. Though her words were disjointed and her speech muddled, he managed to piece together the story. He raised his voice slightly to ask, “Do you know why Lin Yezhen passed away?”
The old woman’s eyes wandered, darting to the ceiling and then around the room. When she finally spoke again, her words were repetitive. “Oh, Lin Yezhen… you’re looking for Lin Yezhen? You’re her grandson. I know you…”
Qi Min patiently engaged in the circular conversation for quite a while before finally extracting the information he wanted.
“Heart failure,” the old woman said slowly. “The doctor said the cancer cells had spread to her lungs. Late-stage lung cancer… very common… Doctor Wei said it was organ failure. No saving her…”
“Doctor Wei? Doctor Wei Wenhua?” Hearing the familiar name, Qi Min couldn’t help but lean closer.
Just then, a voice spoke behind him.
“What are you doing here?”
Qi Min straightened up and turned around. Standing there was Doctor Wei Wenhua, hands in his pockets, his sharp, slightly narrowed eyes fixed on him.
The Author has something to say:
Shang Jingshui: “Uh-oh, caught red-handed.”
Qi Ming: “…”
