Chapter 126
Chapter 126
Tu Nan held Little Red Riding Hood’s hand as they strolled along the paths of the Garden.
The afternoon sun wasn’t particularly intense, but it felt warm against their skin, inducing a pleasant sense of drowsiness.
As if tired from walking, the two of them found a bench and sat down.
Tu Nan lowered her head to speak a few words to Little Red Riding Hood, her peripheral vision sweeping toward a nearby corner.
A nurse had been standing there for quite some time.
She didn’t have a patient with her, nor did she seem to have any other business. Her gaze kept drifting toward Tu Nan and Little Red Riding Hood with feigned nonchalance.
Tu Nan deliberately led Little Red Riding Hood into a blind spot in the nurse’s line of sight, and as expected, the nurse moved to follow them.
Was Daisy suspicious of something?
Otherwise, why would someone be sent to watch them the moment they stepped out?
However, even if she was suspicious and had sent someone to monitor them, she wouldn’t gain anything from it.
“Do you see that Tree at the ten o’clock position?” Tu Nan whispered to Little Red Riding Hood. “Someone is watching us. Don’t act out of the ordinary.”
Little Red Riding Hood nodded. She glanced over with her peripheral vision and, pretending to be attracted by the flowers nearby, pulled Tu Nan down to squat beside the flowerbeds.
“Why is that sister staring at us?” Little Red Riding Hood asked worriedly. “Did they find something out?”
“Don’t worry,” Tu Nan said softly. “It’s probably just because you haven’t been out in so long. Going out so close to your surgery likely made her a bit suspicious.”
Little Red Riding Hood’s brow furrowed. At such a young age, she was already tasting the bitterness of anxiety.
Even though the sunlight was bathing her, she still felt as if the world was gray.
Tu Nan picked her up and raised her voice intentionally. “Are you tired of walking? Let me carry you.”
Little Red Riding Hood obediently wrapped her arms around Tu Nan’s neck.
“Little Red Riding Hood, listen carefully to what I’m about to say,” Tu Nan whispered in her ear.
Little Red Riding Hood gave a nearly imperceptible nod.
The nurse didn’t dare follow them too openly and was keeping her distance. As long as Tu Nan kept her voice low, the woman wouldn’t be able to hear.
“Do you see that large Tree by the pond?” Tu Nan turned, shielding their faces from the observer so the nurse could only see her back.
Little Red Riding Hood looked in the direction she indicated, but she didn’t dare look for long, pulling her gaze back after a quick glance.
“I see it,” she said.
The Head Nurse had told Tu Nan that there was a very well-hidden gap in the fence there, concealed behind dense bushes that few people knew about.
Little Red Riding Hood’s parents had used that very spot to sneak into the hospital.
“There’s a hole there you can use to get out. As long as you crawl through it, you can leave the hospital,” Tu Nan said, stroking the girl’s head. “You need to follow the route we just walked and run here by yourself.
“Being alone at night might be scary, but this is your only chance to escape.”
The Garden might look pleasant during the day, but at night, the thick undergrowth and lush trees would become far more terrifying.
Not to mention that Little Red Riding Hood was just a little girl; asking her to navigate the vast hospital alone in the middle of the night was indeed a heavy burden.
But this was the only way Tu Nan could think of.
“Little Red Riding Hood needs to be a brave girl, okay?” she whispered.
Little Red Riding Hood blinked and nodded vigorously, flashing a big smile at Tu Nan.
“Little Red Riding Hood is a brave girl,” she said firmly. “When Mommy asked me to bring cake to Grandmother, I had to go through the forest all by myself, and I wasn’t scared at all.”
Tu Nan couldn’t help but let the corners of her mouth curl up.
*
After taking Little Red Riding Hood back to her ward, Tu Nan went to see the Head Nurse and described the nurse who had been monitoring them.
“A nurse with red hair and freckles?”
The Head Nurse thought for a moment and nodded. “I remember her. Her name is Wendy. She’s quite close with Daisy.”
“As for the person on duty with me, why don’t we arrange for her?” Tu Nan suggested. “If it’s her, it will be much more convincing. That way, I’ll be safer.”
“Are you sure?” the Head Nurse asked, her tone laced with skepticism. “Even if you can fool her, Little Red Riding Hood is just a child, after all.”
“Please, trust me.” Tu Nan’s expression was sincere. “And trust Little Red Riding Hood, too. She can definitely do it.”
The Head Nurse sighed.
At this point, she really couldn’t do much else besides trust her.
*
Little Red Riding Hood’s surgery was scheduled even sooner than she had anticipated.
Tu Nan also got her wish and was assigned to the night shift on that day. Working alongside her was Nurse Wendy.
“That’s strange,” He Ling said, unable to make sense of it. “Why did the Head Nurse assign you to the night shift again? Didn’t you just finish one?”
To prevent any possibility of the plan leaking, Tu Nan hadn’t told anyone about the arrangement.
Wendy sat behind them, surreptitiously pricking up her ears.
“What else could it be?” Tu Nan sighed, her voice weary and listless. “I probably offended her earlier.”
He Ling’s eyes widened in surprise. “When did you offend her?”
“The last time I was chatting with someone, I said a few bad things about her. I don’t know how it got back to her, but this is most likely her way of getting revenge,” Tu Nan said, her tone full of frustration.
No one liked the night shift.
“The Head Nurse is going too far,” He Ling whispered.
“I think she’s just a petty person using her public office to settle a private grudge!” Tu Nan seemed genuinely enraged, her voice rising involuntarily.
Quite a few people disliked the Head Nurse, but very few dared to speak out so publicly like she did.
Everyone knew the Head Nurse was a friend of the Sea Witch. Although no one had ever actually seen the Sea Witch, rumors persisted throughout the hospital that the Head Nurse practiced sorcery.
When it came to such mysterious and supernatural things, people feared they might end up dead without even knowing how it happened.
A few people cast admiring glances her way.
“Tu Nan, come with me for a moment.” The Head Nurse appeared at the Nurse’s Station at some unknown point. Her tone was grim, and her already frightening face was clouded with a dark, menacing look, making her appear quite like a god of death.
Tu Nan’s face instantly turned pale.
The others kept their eyes on their noses and their noses toward their hearts, lowering their heads in silence. Only He Ling looked at Tu Nan with concern. She was about to speak when Tu Nan grabbed her sleeve.
Tu Nan shook her head at her.
She stood up, her voice trembling slightly with uncontrollable fear.
“Yes, Head Nurse.”
Tu Nan followed the Head Nurse away from the Nurse Station.
As soon as she left, the surrounding nurses immediately put their heads together and began whispering, mostly speculating on how the Head Nurse would punish her.
No one noticed that Wendy, who had been sitting nearby, stood up silently and quickly left the Nurse Station.
*
Tu Nan followed the Head Nurse into the office.
The moment she stepped inside, her expression shifted entirely. She was a completely different person from the fearful and stifled girl she had been outside.
“Your acting is quite good,” the Head Nurse said, turning around with a playful tone. “However, are you sure this will be useful?”
“Whether it’s useful isn’t up to me,” Tu Nan smiled. “That depends on how cautious Daisy is.”
“I suspect she might end up being too clever for her own good.” A hint of admiration crept into the Head Nurse’s voice.
She hadn’t liked Tu Nan much originally-an Octopus is very prone to holding grudges-but Tu Nan was indeed a clever person, and she enjoyed dealing with clever people.
“Just this probably won’t be enough,” Tu Nan said. “We need to make it even more realistic.”
From within the Head Nurse’s office, the sound of her angry rebukes could be heard clearly, faintly accompanied by low sobbing. Those passing by the door couldn’t help but offer a silent prayer for the person inside who had provoked the Head Nurse’s wrath.