Chapter 102: Monster
The second day, Su Yu woke up early. He washed all the messy bowls and chopsticks from last night in the sink, and they shone with a bright and clear luster under the cold and clear sunlight. He also washed the clothes that had been piled up for two days and hung them on the balcony. The bedding, which had not been sunned for a long time, was also carried to the roof early to get a good spot to sun…
The entire house was so clean that there was almost no dust to be found. It was as if the shadows that had been accumulating in his life had also been swept away. He was even in high spirits and had borrowed tools from the landlady to take down all the curtains in the house and had washed them thoroughly.
The weather in the long winter was damp and cold, and the fabric was not easy to dry after it was wet. Without the curtains, large handfuls of sunlight shone directly into the house without any obstruction, like a rising tide, filling the entire house.
He stood in the center of the living room and squinted his eyes to feel the warmth of the sun. He felt that he was not lonely at all.
After a whole morning of being busy, he was so tired that he couldn’t even eat much. When Su Yu was preparing lunch by himself, he suddenly remembered that Wu Yong seemed to be being discharged from the hospital early these few days. He had wanted to call and ask, but when he had dialed the number, he had found that his phone had run out of credit and was suspended.
So he had to change his clothes and go out. When he opened the shoe cabinet to change his shoes, a wine-red parasol with lace fell out. He picked it up and looked at it for a while. His fingertips tentatively touched the end of the handle, and then he put the umbrella back into the cabinet.
Su Yu first went to the supermarket. The owner of the supermarket downstairs had complained last time that it was almost the end of the year, and he was so busy every day that he was very short of staff. He and the owner quickly agreed to come and work part-time. He roughly explained the situation, and the other party gave him a box of milk. He was concerned about his face and even joked that it was a deposit for hiring him.
He took this box of milk and rushed to the hospital by bus. This was his third time coming to the hospital to see Wu Yong. The second time he had come, he had just been transferred from the intensive care unit to a regular ward. He was also awake and out of danger. His body was covered in bandages, and he could barely see his appearance. If it wasn’t for his hoarse voice, he could hardly imagine that this was the old man who had held up half the sky at the construction site.
The third time he had stepped into the cold and desolate corridor of the hospital, this place and the lively and bustling, festive scene behind him did not belong to the same world. He had stepped into the cold and large door, as if he had walked into the real reality.
Su Yu still remembered the room number. He stood at the door and breathed out a white mist. He pushed open the door, and he was stunned for a few seconds. The private room was empty. The blanket was neatly folded and placed at the head of the bed. The quiet and gray-white room did not have a single trace of anyone having lived there.
He didn’t believe it and took a few steps back, looking at the doorplate deeply. He was sure that it was not his own state that was wrong and he had seen it wrong. He stopped a nurse in the corridor and asked her where the patient in the room at the end of the corridor had gone. The nurse looked up and glanced at him, flipped through the form in her hand, and told him that the person had already been picked up by his family, just yesterday.
Su Yu turned around and went back to the counter to borrow the phone. He dialed the number on his phone, and it was answered after a long while.
“Foreman…”
“Oh? Is that Su Yu? Are you at the hospital? I was thinking of calling you, but I was afraid you would be worried, so I thought I would come back and settle down first before I told you.”
“Yeah, it’s me.” Su Yu answered in a muffled voice. He bit his dry and chapped lips. “Um, are you okay? Why were you discharged so quickly?”
“I’m fine. I’m just a tough old bird. This time, I’m really lucky to have survived. Guess what? The lawsuit we filed was won. The money they owed us was paid back in full, and they even paid compensation. I’ve had them pay for all my remaining medical expenses. This time, I’ve really made those bastards bleed. When the money comes in in a few days, I’ll pay you back the part you paid for me.”
Wu Yong on the other end of the phone did not mention why he, who could not even go home, would suddenly have so much money. It was he who had lied first. The cornerstone had collapsed… and the floors that had been built on it had also fallen. No amount of teasing and joking could be swallowed at this moment. It was like a fishbone stuck in his throat, and it was so prickly that it made him want to vomit, and he was spitting out gushing blood.
“Alright then. Don’t worry about paying me back. I still have something to do here. I’ll hang up now.”
“Alright, alright. You should be careful when you’re alone outside during the New Year. By the way… Old San asked me to say hello to you. He’ll come and find you for a drink next time he has a chance.”
The sound of the phone being hung up came from the receiver. Su Yu pressed the heavy phone into the cradle, as if he had used up all the strength in his body.
…
Without a planned itinerary, Su Yu went to the supermarket in the afternoon to help sort out the goods in the back warehouse. This job made him, who had not worked for a long time, feel tired again. The joy of getting the money was not as strong as he had imagined. Instead, he was inexplicably glad that he might be able to get a good night’s sleep tonight.
But in fact, he seemed to have not had insomnia for many days.
Six forty-four.
He opened the door with his key on time. He stood at the door and patted the mud and dust on his body, and at the same time, he shook off the dirt on the soles of his shoes. He lifted his foot and walked into the entryway.
He turned on the light above his head and supported himself with the shoe cabinet. He had just bent down and opened the cabinet door to change his shoes when his gaze searched in the dark shoe cabinet for a while. He only then just happened to remember that the slippers had been taken by him to be washed and were still drying on the balcony and had not been collected.
He let out a breath and was about to get up. The gap in his upward gaze was as if it had been attracted by a magnetic force and had moved to the wine-red parasol that he had stuffed into the deep part of the shoe cabinet. His hand, which had been on his chest because of a short and sharp cramping pain, left his heart. He grabbed the empty shoebox next to the parasol and completely covered the umbrella.
Seven oh five.
He opened the refrigerator and looked at the ingredients inside. He excitedly envisioned many dishes to reward himself for his hard work today. To avoid forgetting, he even specially used a pen to make a note on a piece of paper.
Seven twenty.
He returned to the living room from the floor-to-ceiling window of the bedroom. He suddenly remembered that his bedding and curtains were still drying upstairs. He should watch the weather forecast after the news. He had to go to the supermarket for a part-time job tomorrow, and he didn’t have time to come back to collect his clothes. His life was so full that he could barely stop.
Seven thirty-one.
The news ended on time.
…
Seven fifty-two.
The bottle of red wine in the refrigerator, which was more than half full, was half-poured on the coffee table… and it was empty. The white rice had been soaked in water for too long and had become soft. The large pieces of pork ribs were lying on the cutting board, and the dirty blood was flowing along the cracks of the bones and was all over the cutting board…
Seven fifty-nine.
There was not a single sound in the darkness. A dazed gaze slowly crawled to the entryway. The door was standing there, and the doorbell had never rung.
A faint and dim light came from the TV, illuminating the expressionless face. He raised his head and fell back, staring at the swaying shadow on the ceiling in silence.
The monster of loneliness suddenly pounced on him.
He thought, this time… he had nowhere to run.
