Chapter 16: Hospital
The damp wind was filled with a cold air, and it was seeping into the skin without any pores. The sunlight was brushing over the surface of the sea, and the tide was surging with a thunderous roar.
The boy was leaning on her thin back, and he had closed his eyes. His slow and heavy breathing was hot. The reef was standing on the coast, and the splashing water was flying in the wind. The surroundings were all wet and soft and misty. The water was slowly wrapping around their embracing bodies, as if they were stepping on a cloud.
Xia Qiange was sitting on the shore, and she had lowered her eyes. She was looking at the dark black seawater, which was slowly fading, and it had turned into a pure and clear, deep blue, and it had awakened her eyes.
The water was hitting the reef, and it had wet her tender white toes. Her fair instep was wet, and the water droplets were winding down the slightly upturned arc of her arch. The fragmented reality was getting farther and farther away from them, as if there were only the two of them left.
A certain nerve was suddenly plucked. She was staring at the surging and deep sea under her feet, and the lush and messy water plants were drifting with the waves at the bottom of the sea. They were blocking the sunlight from penetrating, and in the darkness, there was something that seemed to be enough to swallow everything, including… her unhappiness.
She was wavering, and she was in a struggle. It was as if her porcelain-white ankle had been entangled by the seaweed, and it was dragging her down.
The opposite of strength was cowardice. Life had created a deformed and dark her, who was greedy and selfish. Her life was only left with a long night. For a little bit of light, she had gone her own way and had pulled the entire sun into a cage, and she had raised her own light.
She had deluded herself into being the master, but in essence, she was just a despicable and cowardly thief, who had stolen the light to be a medicine, to cure her incurable illness.
The hand that was on the small reef on the shore had suddenly moved, and then it had let go. She was hanging on the edge of the cliff without any support, and the sea wind was howling fiercely, and it had messed up her long hair, which was over her waist.
The moment her consciousness had wavered, she had been disturbed. In a panic, she had turned her head. Xia Qiange had seen that the girl was standing behind him, and she was looking at him in her arms. Her face was weak and pale, and in the end, she had stared at her.
She could hardly describe what kind of look it was. It was not hatred, and it was even sympathy. It was also mixed with jealousy. A lot of emotions were mixed together, and it was not with an aggressive edge. Instead, it was scrutinizing her in the silence.
Xia Qiange was a little dazed. She slowly lowered her head and saw the blood on her half-body. The blood was seeping down from the corner of her clothes, and it had defiled her pure white skin. Her calves were all covered in blood. She seemed to have smelled the fishy and stinking smell of the mud on her body.
She suddenly understood that it was like seeing the look of an executioner. The girl’s purity was not enough to understand her existence. The other party was always standing in the sun, and she could not see the monster that was baring its fangs and brandishing its claws in the darkness.
“You’re so pitiful…”
When the girl had come over, she had looked down at her and had said.
Another round of a tide was surging on the reef, and it was like a thunderclap, and it had covered the crisp sound in her ear. The pain was climbing in her dull nerves.
Xia Qiange slightly turned her head, and she was in a daze and had reached out to touch the burning pain on her cheek. She was looking at the girl in front of her with some trance. The other party had instead had red-rimmed eyes before her, and the depths of her watery eyes were filled with an indescribable sadness.
She lowered her eyes and did not make a sound. It was just that the arm that was holding the boy in her arms had subconsciously tightened. Her chin was gently on the top of his head, and she was holding him tightly without a gap. She was like a wild cat that was protecting its food, and only her thin back was exposed. She just wanted to greedily and exclusively possess her things, and she did not care at all about the pain that her body might encounter next.
“If you don’t want him to die, then get out of the way. I’ll take him to the hospital.”
The atmosphere was in a silence in the sound of the waves.
He Mu Qing’s clenched fist had suddenly loosened. She had been so worn out by the other party’s stubbornness that she had no temper. She had raised her head, and the sea breeze had brushed over her wet eyes. She had secretly cursed herself for being so weak, and she had tried her best to swallow her tears.
The hard outer shell that was exposed had suddenly loosened. Xia Qiange had slowly raised her head and had looked at He Mu Qing. Something in her eyes had melted. She was biting her pale and chapped lips, and blood was seeping out. Her voice was hoarse and tired.
“Thank you…”
…
The light was on, and it was as red as blood.
The long and narrow, cold and gloomy corridor of the hospital had a smell of disinfectant that was making one’s mind uneasy. Her eyes were already red and swollen and dry from crying. The scene that she had secretly seen at the seaside was always haunting her mind, and her chest was stuffy.
It turned out that their relationship was not as bad as she had imagined. The little bit of baseness and schadenfreude she had had was suddenly and mercilessly killed, along with the young seedling that had sprouted in her heart. He had not pushed the woman away even when he had been stabbed in the heart. Then what if it were her?
He Mu Qing couldn’t help but compare everything. It was the same as before. The chances of winning were as slim as a grain of sand.
She was sitting on the cold and long bench, and her hair was messy. Her teeth were biting her lower lip until it was bloodless. Her whole person was a dejected gray and white.
The woman’s voice was chattering in her ear, and she was so annoyed that she was almost exhausted.
“Doctor, is he in danger now?”
“Oh… girl, you’ve already asked so many times. The patient was sent here too late, and he has lost too much blood. But he’s not in any danger of his life now. He needs to rest. I see that you don’t look very well either. You should go and rest quickly.”
The doctor had come out of the consultation room. He had endured his impatience and had settled the girl in front of him, who was holding on to him and would not let go. Only then had he taken the opportunity to leave.
Xia Qiange had reached out to the direction the doctor had left, and she had watched as the other party had walked away, and then she had fallen down.
She couldn’t calm down at all. An unease was crawling in her blood. The wind was blowing outside the window, and the leaves were rustling and falling. Her gaze was at a loss. It was on the tips of her feet, and then it was on the pale wall. In the end, she had looked at the girl who was sitting on the long bench.
He Mu Qing had turned her gaze sideways and had moved to one side, and she had made room for Xia Qiange to sit down. The voice, which was frail and had a hint of an innocent sound, was in her ear again. She was really angry. She thought that if it were the her of the past, she would definitely not have let the other party go. But even the her of now was not so generous. She could clearly distinguish between good and evil in her heart, so she just couldn’t figure it out.
Clearly, the other party was the culprit, and it was she who was putting on a show here.
She remembered Su Yu’s pale face when he had been sent into the consultation room. Her fingertips were white from being pinched, and she had swallowed this breath again. She had suppressed her temper and had said, “Find an empty hospital room and go and rest for a while. It’s useless to be anxious.”
“It’s okay. I’ll just wait for him here. I’ll wait for him to wake up…”
Xia Qiange shook her head, and her smile was a little pale.
A fire was burning in her heart. He Mu Qing suddenly turned around and stared at Xia Qiange. She asked very seriously.
“Do you like him?”
“I only have him. I love him…”, there was no hesitation. Xia Qiange had almost subconsciously answered.
“So you’re doing this to him?”, He Mu Qing’s anger was as if it had been ignited by this sentence, and it was deeper and thicker. She was gritting her teeth. “You almost killed him!”
“I…”
Xia Qiange opened her mouth, and she was speechless. The self-blame had become a soft spot. She had been hit by such a direct word, and her throat was as if it had been stuffed with a ball of wet cotton, and her heart was cramping with pain.
“Forget it. He’s fine. The wound is not deep, and it’s not a vital part. You listen to the doctor. Don’t worry.”
He Mu Qing suddenly didn’t want to listen to her anymore. She just felt that it was meaningless. This kind of anger was not pure. It was the emotion of jealousy that was fueling it.
“Oh, oh. That’s good…”
A short reply came from her ear. He Mu Qing had turned her head, and the girl had already been leaning on the cold and uncomfortable long bench and had fallen asleep.
It was only then that she had quietly looked at her and had found something wrong with Xia Qiange’s body. Her beautiful face was completely bloodless, and there was almost no flesh on the side of her cheeks. Her collarbone was prominent under her neck, and it was wrapped in a thin layer of flesh. Her bones were also thin, and it was as if only her skeleton were supporting this frail body to live.
She had seen the emaciated appearance of patients who had been on a diet for several days in the hospital, and it was almost no different from the person in front of her.
Her clenched fist had suddenly loosened, and her anger had slowly dissipated. But there was no new emotion to supplement it. Her whole heart was suddenly empty, and it was not on the ground.
