Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Wen Miao entered the hospital ward carrying breakfast.

Sunlight streamed through the window, bathing the area nearest the glass in warmth. Only a few stray beams reached the windowsill of the middle bed, leaving Nan Mu’s bed and the spot where Wen Miao stood shrouded in shadow.

Wen Miao borrowed a small over-bed table and set out the breakfast for Nan Mu.

“Don’t you have classes this morning?” Nan Mu asked while he ate.

Wen Miao gave a casual hum of affirmation. She finished peeling a hard-boiled egg and dropped it into Nan Mu’s bowl. “Protein. Eat up.”

Nan Mu hesitated. “Then how are you getting back?”

His feelings were complicated. On one hand, he worried about Wen Miao being out of his sight-what if she ran into danger? On the other hand, he was terrified she might run into the “him” of the past at school. How would he explain that away?

“Don’t worry, Wen Tangtang and Wen Xin are on their way to pick me up. More importantly, do you need to use the restroom now? If you don’t go before I leave, there won’t be anyone to help you up.”

Nan Mu’s face flushed. “No, no need. It’s only a few steps anyway.”

Seeing that he was in much better spirits than the previous night, Wen Miao didn’t push it. “But you still need to stay in bed as much as possible. I’ll bring you lunch and dinner.”

“There’s no need; I can just order delivery.” Nan Mu naturally wanted her to come, but he feared the dangers of the road. “Don’t go off on your own after you get back. Try to stay with Wen Xin and the others as much as possible.”

Wen Miao hesitated for a moment before nodding in agreement.

“Oh, by the way.” Nan Mu knew the excuse sounded a bit strange, but he had to force himself to lie. “When you see Wen Tangtang, don’t tell her about my injury. Otherwise, she’ll probably never stop making fun of me.”

“Okay.” Wen Miao was surprisingly easy to talk to and agreed immediately.

***

After Wen Miao left, the old woman in the same ward was pushed outside by her daughter to soak up some sun.

The old woman had heard from her husband last night that Nan Mu and Wen Miao had bought five pieces of clothing and a hat from their family in one go. Because of this, her gaze toward Nan Mu had become much warmer.

As she left, she greeted Nan Mu enthusiastically. Upon learning that Wen Miao had gone back to class, the old woman’s daughter even asked Nan Mu if he needed them to bring him back some lunch when they returned.

“Sure! Thank you, Ma’am, and you too, Sister,” Nan Mu replied, going with the flow.

***

Nan Mu was the only one left in the ward.

He checked the time; it was almost ten o’clock. It was about time to try contacting Su Yu and Zhaodi.

Just as his hand reached for his trouser pocket, he jolted upright.

Looking down, he realized he had changed his pants last night. He hurriedly leaned over the edge of the bed to look around. It wasn’t until he saw his discarded pants and shirt still piled at the corner of the bed-just as they had been yesterday-that he breathed a sigh of relief.

He fished the small notebook out of the pocket of the tattered pants, flipped to the page with the numbers, and dialed Su Yu’s phone.

Ring… ring… ring…

No one answered.

Nan Mu didn’t give up and tried three more times with dogged persistence, but there was still no answer.

He had no choice but to give up for now and turned to dial Zhaodi’s number instead.

The phone rang several times. Just as Nan Mu thought this would be another unanswered call, the line connected.

“Hello, is this Zhaodi?” Nan Mu asked excitedly.

But there was no response from the other end. Nan Mu’s excitement came to a grinding halt.

“Hello? Can you hear me?” Nan Mu asked again hesitantly.

He suddenly realized that the person on the other end hadn’t said a single word since picking up. Through the receiver, he could even hear the sound of the wind whistling past.
It was only October-where could such a howling wind be coming from?

Nan Mu didn’t dare hang up. He tried probing again, “Are you Zhaodi? I’m a friend of Gu Zhishu.”

A long silence followed, so long that Nan Mu began to doubt if the person was still on the line. Finally, a hollow, ghostly female voice drifted through the phone. “Gu Zhishu?”

She was still there. Nan Mu breathed a sigh of relief at the sound. “Yes, Gu Zhishu.”

He flipped to the page in the notebook where Gu Zhishu’s itinerary was recorded. “On April 5th, Gu Zhishu contacted you. You remember that, right?”

The breathing on the other end suddenly grew heavy. Nan Mu expected her to say something, but to his surprise, the call was abruptly disconnected.

Nan Mu stared at his phone in bewilderment as the dial tone droned in his ear.

Just as he was about to call back, someone pushed open the door to his room.

Nan Mu looked up and saw it was the round-faced nurse from yesterday, Xiao Ai.

She walked in with a beaming smile, asked a few routine questions about his physical condition, and finally asked, “Where’s your girlfriend?”

Nan Mu froze for a moment, feeling a bit embarrassed. “She’s not my girlfriend… She went back to school for classes.”

“Not yet, huh? Then you’d better work harder,” Nurse Xiao Ai teased with a laugh before leaving.

Once Nurse Xiao Ai had gone, Nan Mu picked up his phone and tried calling Zhaodi again, only to be met with a prompt stating that the phone had been turned off.

What was going on? Weren’t Zhaodi and Gu Zhishu friends? Why did she seem to loathe him?

At this moment, Nan Mu finally realized how useful Qiu Ziyu was. If Qiu Ziyu were here, a single call to the telecommunications company would have been enough to find out who the registered owner of that number was.

He lay back on the bed, staring blankly as the scene of his visit to Gu Zhishu’s house flashed through his mind again.

He remembered that when he had bent down to pick up some books, he seemed to have picked up a high school workbook. On that book, it had said…

Ping High, Grade 12, Class 5?

He pulled out his phone, opened the browser, and typed in “Ping High.”

“What does Ping High mean | What is the definition of Ping High?”

“Ping High – XX Encyclopedia”

“The 80th Anniversary of Ping High: Students All Over the World…”

He clicked on the third link and found it was a post from September 2018 about Pingyang High School highlighting the social elites the school had cultivated.

He re-entered “Pingyang High School” into the browser. This time, the first entry that popped up was an introduction to Pingyang High School in City A.

It really was in City A!

Nan Mu’s confidence surged. If he could find Gu Zhishu’s homeroom teacher and then investigate the classmates or the student registry from that year, he might find clues about Zhaodi or Su Yu.

But how was he supposed to get that information from Gu Zhishu’s homeroom teacher?

While Nan Mu was deep in thought, a text message suddenly popped up on his phone.

Wen Miao: [Have you ordered lunch? Don’t eat anything too greasy.]

Nan Mu’s lips curled into a smile as he replied: [The old lady in the next bed brought me something. I know, just focus on your classes!]

Wen Miao: [The lab has something going on this afternoon, so I might not be able to make it to the hospital. I’ll come see you tonight.]

Nan Mu: [Okay~]

Nan Mu put down his phone, feeling his mood brighten significantly.

However, if Wen Miao couldn’t come to the hospital this afternoon… it was the perfect time for him to head over to Pingyang High School and look into Gu Zhishu’s past.