Chapter 86
Chapter 86
-Damn it, the Ghost Heartthrob is radiating his charm again.
-Calling it now: next stream, the streamer’s getting another little fangirl.
-Too bad the young lady is blind.
-Sadako: Blind is fine. I’ll help her join the fan club.
-Painted Skin: The dad-fan army grows ever stronger. Tossing flowers~
-Li Xiaoqin: …Every time this happens, I want to quit the fan club.
-Sister Li, be grateful. I want in and can’t even get in.
-Please, stop gaslighting Sister Li. Let her go…
At nine o’clock in the evening, the streamers had all finished dinner. A nurse pushed a medical cart down the empty corridor, then knocked on the door of Ward 602 and went inside.
A short while later, the nurse pushed the cart out again and left.
The streamer in Ward 602 was a Blue-Name Streamer. His ID was Fan Jianqiang.
His most glorious achievement to date was once cursing out a vicious ghost for three straight minutes until it left, successfully saving his own life.
Because of that, whenever he ran into something scary, he would start by shouting a few lines to pump himself up.
It truly fit the saying: his mouth charged ahead spraying insults while his brain sprinted along behind it.
The medicine at night was not a bitter decoction, but pills. They seemed to have some painkilling effect.
After he took them, the swollen lump on his leg stopped hurting.
Fan Jianqiang glanced at the nursing label by the head of the bed-terminal bone cancer.
At this point, even an idiot would understand. Whatever department they had registered for in their dreams would evolve into a terminal illness in that field.
If he had known, he never would have run his mouth and registered for orthopedics.
Sigh…
Just as he was about to sleep, the door creaked open, and a gust of cold wind blew in.
Fan Jianqiang shuddered and looked toward the door. Beyond the crack was pitch-black; he could not see anything.
He swallowed, cursed under his breath, then forced himself to go close the door.
He had only made it halfway when, outside the door, there was suddenly a loud clang.
In the silent surroundings, the sound was especially piercing. Cold sweat instantly rolled from Fan Jianqiang’s forehead to his eyelids, the salty sting making him blink nonstop.
He leaned toward the crack in the door and struggled to take a look. Not far outside, the trash can had been knocked over by who knew what, and its metal lid was spinning in circles on the floor…
He was still wondering about it when a song suddenly drifted from deep in the corridor.
It was a very, very old song.
The southern breeze brings coolness,
The nightingales sing as one,
The flowers beneath the moon have all entered dreams,
Only Ye Lai Xiang releases its fragrance…
The singing was mournful and melodious, as if it held a deep sorrow.
But in the empty corridor, it was unbearably creepy. The key point was that not a single streamer came out to watch the commotion.
It was as if… he was the only person in the entire hospital!
The moment he thought that, Fan Jianqiang’s back felt as though it had been hollowed out by a pair of hands, going numb and stiff.
Instinctively, he craned his neck and started cursing. “Which dumbass is out there singing instead of sleeping in the middle of the night? If you don’t want to sleep, other people still do!”
But it had little effect. The singing continued to croon beside his ears.
I love this boundless night, and I love the nightingales’ song,
Even more, I love those flowerlike dreams,
Embracing Ye Lai Xiang, kissing Ye Lai Xiang…
Fan Jianqiang slammed the door shut with a bang and cursed through it at the top of his lungs. “Fuck, you bastard! If you try to scare me again, I’ll throw you into a dog kennel and let them bite you to death…”
At some point, the singing disappeared.
He could not help letting out a long breath, his whole body looking as if it had just been fished out of water.
Just as he braced himself and tried to return to the hospital bed, the door creaked open again.
“Ahhh- You son of a bitch! Don’t you come any closer!”
Fan Jianqiang dropped to his knees with a thud, shaking so hard he was practically falling apart.
He couldn’t understand it. Why had the method that had always worked without fail suddenly stopped working?
The instant he got up and prepared to run, an icy hand landed on his shoulder, crushing the tiny bit of courage he’d just managed to scrape together and sending him right back into his shell.
“That singing…”
Unexpectedly, a young, pleasant voice sounded beside his ear.
“It’s actually the hospital’s shift-change bell.”
What??
Fan Jianqiang’s body tilted sideways. He braced one hand against the floor and looked pitifully up at the newcomer.
The other person stood in front of him wearing a janitor’s uniform, with hair that was neither quite white nor quite yellow. As for that complexion… no matter how Fan Jianqiang looked at it, it did not seem like the complexion of a living person.
Fan Jianqiang shrank back and asked cautiously, “Are you… human or ghost?”
Qiao Yu rolled his eyes. “I’m Your Dad!”
Fan Jianqiang froze. Before he could process that, the other man continued, “Nice to meet you. That was my ID just now. I’m a streamer too.”
Fan Jianqiang: ??
It took him a long moment to realize he’d been taken advantage of. He snapped irritably, “You dog-ass bastard, don’t you know people can die from being scared like that?!”
Qiao Yu raised an eyebrow, curious. “You’re pretty interesting. Every other word out of your mouth is ‘dog.’ If I didn’t know better, I’d think you spent every day living in some dog-world family drama.”
Fan Jianqiang: “……”
-Hahahahaha, streamer wins hands down!
-I’m dying. I told you the streamer was on another level. With that brain circuit of his, no amount of dirty insults can compete.
-666. Why didn’t I think of clapping back like that when I got cursed out? What a mistake!
Still…
“Why are you wearing a janitor’s uniform?” Fan Jianqiang asked, baffled.
Qiao Yu shrugged. “I saw the registration fee was too expensive, so I chose to apply for a janitor position instead.”
Fan Jianqiang: ??
“No, wait, you can choose that? That’s not what they told me back then!”
Qiao Yu curled his lip. “You have to fight for your own job opportunities. What, did you expect someone to feed the position right into your mouth? I’m speechless. One look at you and I can tell you’ve never entered society. You’re either a college student or a shut-in.”
Fan Jianqiang: ……. (Black guy question mark face)
Qiao Yu didn’t continue that topic. Instead, with rare kindness, he reminded him, “If there’s nothing wrong, don’t shout and scream. This is a hospital. If I hadn’t stopped her just now, the nurse on rounds would’ve injected you with a sedative.”
Fan Jianqiang hurriedly covered his mouth and nodded.
“I’m leaving. Hurry up and sleep.”
“Where are you going?” Fan Jianqiang asked instinctively.
Qiao Yu lifted the broom in his hand. “I’ve got the night shift!”
Then, under Fan Jianqiang’s gaze full of awe, he left Ward 602.
Qiao Yu carried the broom to the stairwell, bent down, and began sweeping.
When he swept his way to Room 601, he suddenly heard a faint rustling voice.
He stopped and, curious, leaned closer to the door of Room 601.
“My name is Lu Shanshan. I’m twenty-five years old. I like the color white. I’m a piano teacher…”
Qiao Yu: ??
Wasn’t Room 601 the patient who had just finished surgery this morning?!
No wonder all her hair had been shaved off. Was there something wrong with her brain?
But had the girl’s surgery gone badly, causing her condition to relapse?
Otherwise, why was she doing a self-introduction in the middle of the night?!
“What are you doing?”
Suddenly, a chill approached. Qiao Yu glanced sideways and saw the nurse on rounds staring at him expressionlessly, with a nursing cart behind her.