Chapter 27

Chapter 27

Xu Lei, the Motorcycle Man, Wen Miao’s death scene…

The images flashed incessantly through Nan Mu’s mind, everything feeling like a massive enigma wrapping around him. The more he tried to pull a single thread from the mystery, the tighter the threads bound him.

Whether it was from overthinking or the concussion, Nan Mu felt an overwhelming wave of nausea.

“What’s wrong?”

His pained expression caught Wen Miao’s attention.

Nan Mu opened his mouth, but before he could ask Wen Miao to bring over the trash can, he retched and vomited all over the floor.

“Nan Mu!”

Startled, Wen Miao rushed to the door to call for a nurse, then hurried back to support Nan Mu, patting his back repeatedly.

The doctor arrived quickly and performed an examination. Fortunately, it was just discomfort caused by the concussion, and they started Nan Mu on an IV drip. Before leaving, the doctor emphasized again that he needed bed rest, no staying up late, and no excessive worrying.

Only then did Wen Miao realize that the things they had been contemplating were such a heavy physical burden for Nan Mu.

“Stop thinking about it! Just lie down and get some rest!”

Wen Miao cleaned up the vomit on the floor and helped wipe away the splatter on Nan Mu’s clothes.

But no matter how well she wiped, stains remained. Seeing Nan Mu’s furrowed brow, she suggested, “How about I go out and buy you some new clothes?”

“No need.” Nan Mu covered his clothes with a towel, trying to keep the mess out of sight.

“Don’t worry, I won’t go far. I’ll just go to the supermarket by the entrance,” Wen Miao tried to persuade him. “You need to change your pants anyway, so I might as well buy a whole set. That way, you’ll be more comfortable when you sleep tonight.”

“I really don’t need them. So what if they’re a bit dirty? I’m fine.” Nan Mu opened his eyes weakly and said with zero intimidation, “You are absolutely not allowed to leave my sight. If you dare step out that door, I’ll crawl out after you.”

Wen Miao froze for a moment, then felt a mix of irritation and amusement. It was only today that she discovered Nan Mu could be so stubborn and unreasonable.

But honestly, she was genuinely afraid Nan Mu would actually give her a live performance of a military crawl.

The ward fell into a temporary silence. Although Wen Miao intended to buy the clothes, Nan Mu’s ultimatum left her in a dilemma. Fearing she would leave, Nan Mu kept his eyes fixed on her, staring without blinking as if she might vanish in an instant.

Wen Miao sat on the edge of the opposite bed. The concussion must have affected his vision, as everything Nan Mu looked at had a bit of a double image. So, even though he was staring straight at Wen Miao, he was actually only seeing a blurry silhouette.

Then, less than a minute later, he watched as a head slowly emerged from behind Wen Miao. Due to his double vision, the outline was fuzzy; even with his eyes wide open, he couldn’t make out the features. But then, the head rose higher, and a figure in blood-red clothes appeared before his eyes.

He jolted, wanting to scream but unable to find his voice.

Wen Miao also noticed a sound behind her. She turned around curiously, only to see an old man in red clothes appearing out of nowhere, causing her to shriek in fright.

“Who are you?” Wen Miao clutched her chest. “How did you get in here?”

The old man smiled at the two of them. “Mah wife went out for tests. I was sleepin’ under the bed. Just now, I heard ya sayin’ ya needed to buy clothes?”

Wen Miao couldn’t understand him at first. It took several repetitions before she finally pieced together what was going on.
As it turned out, the old man was the family member of the patient in the innermost bed of the ward. His wife was the one hospitalized; usually, their daughter looked after her during the day, and he would take over at night.

Today, the old lady needed some tests. Fearing he wouldn’t understand the doctor’s explanations even if he went along, he had his daughter accompany her instead.

Feeling drowsy, he had decided to take a nap.

Since the old man was from the countryside and spent his days tilling the soil, he was worried he might be dirty. Fearing the nurses would scold him for soiling the hospital bed, he had somehow come up with the idea to crawl under his wife’s bed for a nap.

At first, the two of them had spoken quietly and the old man was a deep sleeper, so they had coexisted in peace. That lasted until Nan Mu’s vomiting frightened Wen Miao into calling for a nurse, and the frantic pitter-patter of doctors running back and forth woke him up completely.

But with doctors and nurses coming and going, he didn’t dare come out for a while. He waited and waited, and by the time the doctors left, he felt it might be a bit awkward to reveal himself then.

So he kept waiting and waiting, never coming out until he heard them mention buying clothes just now.

Wen Miao looked at him blankly. “What about buying clothes?”

The old man gave a fawning smile. “Mah wife, she sells ’em at a street stall. Cheap clothes. Want some?”

Wen Miao blinked. “Huh?”

Thinking she hadn’t understood, the old man pointed to himself. “Me.”

He pointed to his clothes. “Clothes.”

Then he pointed at the two of them and made a gesture of handing something over. “Cheap!”

Wen Miao: “…”

Nan Mu: “…”

===

Wen Miao bought two sets of clothes from the old man so Nan Mu would have something to change into.

Given the current situation, Nan Mu wouldn’t be able to leave the hospital for the time being.

Although the old man’s wares were just street-stall goods, they were cheap, so she couldn’t ask for much.

However, the selection of styles was truly limited. After searching through a pile of floral-patterned clothes for a long time, Wen Miao finally found a dark gray cotton T-shirt. There were no solid-colored pants, so she had to settle for a pair of camouflage trousers-the only ones that weren’t an eyesore. Worried the weather might turn cold later, she also picked out a black cardigan sweater and a baseball cap.

Nan Mu lay on the bed and fumbled under the covers to change his clothes and pants, kicking the dirty set to the foot of the bed for the moment.

Wen Miao had originally intended to help him throw them away, but Nan Mu was too embarrassed and stopped her firmly.

Seeing that his eyes seemed to be getting hazy again, Wen Miao quickly urged him to sleep.

“I’m not going out now,” Wen Miao said helplessly, even making a vow to him. “I swear, I definitely won’t leave. I’m just going to the bathroom. You have to let me wash my face, right?”

Only after her repeated assurances did Nan Mu finally drift off, half-doubting. Indeed, he was still uneasy, but his consciousness simply couldn’t win against his body.

Seeing this, Wen Miao went to the bathroom to wash her face first.

When she returned to the ward and saw the blood-stained shirt and tattered pants on the floor, she felt they were in the way. Since Nan Mu was already asleep, she figured she might as well take the opportunity to throw them out.

As Wen Miao bent down to pick them up, a small booklet fell out of the pants pocket.

Wen Miao looked closely and realized it was the same one Nan Mu had been flipping through while leaning against the tree at the school gate.

She picked up the booklet and flipped through it curiously.

There, she saw several familiar names written inside: Gu Zhishu, Gu Zhiyu, Zhaodi, and Su Yu.