At three o’clock in the afternoon, Dr. Lin knocked on the door of room 306 of the V ward, on time.

To his surprise, the ward was very quiet, only a middle-aged man who looked very healthy was looking after the patient.

Dr. Lin had worked in this hospital for 3 years. At the beginning of this year, he was transferred to the V area of ​​the inpatient department because of a personnel transfer.

At first, he was a little nervous during the rounds. The V area was also called the VIP area. The patients who could be arranged there were either rich or of extreme value. Either way, their status was always overwhelming.

For the first few days, he was holding his breath when he entered any room.

Later, he slowly discovered that in the face of birth, old age, sickness, and death, everyone was the same.

Death would never be delayed because of how rich you were.

The V district was quieter than all the other districts. In addition to the smaller number of patients, the patients and their families were more refined and did not yell in places like hospitals.

Dr. Lin remembered that after the patient in Room 306 was sent in yesterday, many relatives came intermittently. Everyone had anxious expressions on their faces, but they were very well restrained.

When they learned that the patient was out of danger, most of them were relieved and thanked the doctor very politely.

During the rounds, Dr. Lin thought he would see many more relatives, but he didn’t expect that only Uncle Zhong would stay in the room.

He took a pen to write the patient’s name on the room plate and asked, “Are you alone?”

Uncle Zhong nodded: “He said he wants to rest, so all the people who came to visit were stopped, leaving only me here to take care of him.”

Doctor Lin smiled at him: “Thanks for your hard work.”

“It’s not hard.” Uncle Zhong shook his head, “I also asked for nursing help, there is not much that I can really do.”

Dr. Lin asked Uncle Zhong a few words about the patient’s condition and wrote them down one by one.

It was so quiet in the ward that Dr. Lin even closed the door lightly when he left.

There was a corner in the corridor just before the elevator area. When turning the corner, Dr. Lin ran into a young man.

He walked in a hurry, carrying a suitcase in one hand and a cell phone in the other as if calling someone.

When Dr. Lin approached, he could see the side of his face clearly. Although half of it was covered by his elbow, it did not dull the amazingness of the part that was exposed.

“Well, I’m in the hospital, weren’t you the one nagging telling me to be safe? I didn’t disturb you…”

The rest of the words were incoherent. He smiled inconspicuously when he saw Dr. Lin, but the worries in his eyes still did not disappear.

He seemed to be a little out of control. When he passed Dr. Lin, the pole of the suitcase hit Dr. Lin’s arm.

After a few seconds, he hurriedly turned to apologize to Dr. Lin.

Dr. Lin waved his hand to indicate that he didn’t mind, and then watched him drag the suitcase again, explaining to the person on the other end of the phone as he walked: “I was fine, I just ran into someone in the corridor…”

The voice was getting softer and lighter, he stopped when he reached a certain place, reached out, and pushed open the door of Ward 306.

Xie Ning froze for a long time after pushing the door open.

He carefully put the suitcase aside, as if Father Xie was just sleeping and he would wake up at the slightest sound. 

Then he slowly walked to the hospital bed, squatted down, and held Father Xie’s hand.

Father Xie’s face was very pale, his cheeks sunken in, his eyebrows and eyebrows were full of wrinkles, his eyes were closed tightly, and he was lying quietly on the bed with various medical catheters inserted in his body.

Xie Ning blinked, holding back the tears welling up.

Father Xie had an infusion on one hand, and the other was held by Xie Ning. The old man’s hand was cold. In the past, Father Xie was afraid that Xie Ning would get cold, so he always asked him to hold it for a while before finding an excuse to loosen it.

Now Xie Ning had held it for a long time, and yet the old man still had no response.

Xie Ning suddenly found that Father Xie’s hair was silvery white.

Uncle Zhong poured him a glass of warm water and saw him squatting in front of the hospital bed and moving a chair.

Xie Ning sat down silently, turned his head to look at Uncle Zhong, and asked, “What did the doctor say? What’s the situation with Grandpa right now?”

In fact, Uncle Zhong had spoken to him several times on the phone and told Zhuang Yan about his illness, but Xie Ning didn’t remember any of those words. The only thing that was imprinted in his heart was the phrase “Old man Xie is fine.”

Or maybe he just needed someone to tell him this repeatedly, to dilute the initial horror that washed over him when he learned that Father Xie was sent to the hospital.

“It was sudden cerebral hemorrhage.”

Xie Ning’s heart jumped, and the empty hand clenched involuntarily.

Uncle Zhong went on to say: “The craniotomy has already been done. The doctor said that the operation was very successful, and the specific situation just needs to be observed for a while.”

Xie Ning digested Uncle Zhong’s words with difficulty for a while, and when he finally opened his mouth, his voice quivered slightly: “Why… so suddenly?”

“I didn’t take good care of the old man.” Uncle Zhong’s voice lowered, “When going down the stairs, I should’ve supported him every step of the way.”

Xie Ning moved his lips but said nothing.

He knew that he should give a few words to comfort Uncle Zhong. After all, he couldn’t be blamed for this. Even if he was the old man’s son, he couldn’t guarantee that he could take care of people well.

But it was his grandfather who was lying on the hospital bed now.

“When will he wake up?” Xie Ning looked at him for a while before asking about Father Xie again.

“I don’t know.” Uncle Zhong shook his head, “It depends on his post-operation recovery.”

Xie Ning thought with trepidation, would he never wake up?

Obviously knowing that the possibility was very small, but as long as there was such a slight possibility, Xie Ning can’t help but fear.

He thought again. When was the last time he saw Father Xie?

It seemed to be his birthday party. The old man was very happy and looked very energetic. He was very different from the appearance lying on the bed at this time.

Xie Ning said in a daze: “Although Grandpa’s body has never been good, I never thought that he would fall down so suddenly, there was no sign of it… How could it be like this…”

Uncle Zhong hesitated for a moment as if he was organizing his words. The room was quiet for a few seconds, and his sigh sounded.

“In fact, the old man… his body has not been very well. He was lethargic before, often had headaches, and occasionally vomited. He was in a coma twice last month and only called his family doctor.”

Xie Ning suddenly looked up at him: “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I’m afraid you’d be worried.” Uncle Zhong lowered his head deeply, “Every time you go to the compound, the old man has to prepare long in advance, try to make himself look more energetic so that you don’t notice the clues.”

Xie Ning’s eyes suddenly became sore. He turned his head slowly and looked at the face of Old Man Xie. After a while, his vision slowly became blurred, and tears floated in front of his eyes.

He moved his wrist, wanting to say something, but didn’t know what to say. It took him a long time before he finally moved his head onto his arm.

Uncle Zhong suddenly remembered that before, he had asked Father Xie if it would be worse for Xie Ning if he hid it from him.

At that time, Father Xie sighed and said, “Ningning has grown up, and he has his own life to live. I can’t be his burden and restrain him here.”

Uncle Zhong only felt that if Xie Ning learned about it later, he would definitely not be happy.

But now he realized that Xie Ning blamed himself more.

Self-blame of why he only found out so late.

Blaming himself for not being able to stay by Father Xie’s side at the most critical moment.

The grandfather and grandson always used their own way to express their love for each other.

After that, no matter how Uncle Zhong persuaded, Xie Ning seemed to have taken root, sitting in front of the hospital bed without moving.

When supper came, Uncle Zhong took him to dinner: “You have to eat a little bit at least.”

Xie Ning said nothing but shook his head.

“The old man wouldn’t want you to be like this.” Uncle Zhong said.

But Xie Ning still didn’t speak. He seemed to have isolated himself and Father Xie into a space, not allowing anyone to break in. He could clearly sense the outside voices, but it seemed that he didn’t hear them.

He didn’t dare to leave Father Xie, for fear that he would be sad if he woke up and didn’t see him.

He was also afraid that Father Xie would never wake up.

He didn’t sleep well last night, he closed his eyes on the plane and had several intermittent dreams.

He dreamed that Uncle Zhong said painfully, “You are too late.”

You failed to see the old man one last time.

He woke up suddenly, the cold sweat fell, and when he turned his head, he saw a blank space outside the window.

Later, he dared not close his eyes again, for fear that he would start to descend into that chaos once again as soon as he plunged into darkness.

The phone shook suddenly.

Xie Ning was startled, he was stunned for a while before he slowly took out his phone.

It was a message from Zhuang Yan.

Zhuang Yan: I have finished work here, did you remember to have dinner?

Xie Ning looked down, looked at the phone screen for a while, then turned to look at Uncle Zhong: “Where is my dinner?”

Uncle Zhong was a little confused for a while and did not want to understand why he suddenly wanted to eat.

But since he was willing to eat, Uncle Zhong hurriedly took out the food box and set it up for him.

When he ate, he swallowed slowly, even though Uncle Zhong asked people to buy all his favorite dishes, he still had no appetite at all.

Uncle Zhong thought he had finally returned to normal, and watched him slowly finish the dinner little by little.

After the box was empty, he took a photo of the empty lunch box with his mobile phone and sent it to Zhuang Yan.

Xie Ning: I’m done.

Zhuang Yan returned with a smile, and then made a call.

“I was afraid that it would be inconvenient for you to answer, so I only sent a text message.” Zhuang Yan’s voice came from a distance.

At the moment when he heard his voice, Xie Ning somehow suddenly wanted to cry again.

“Just finished eating.” He responded in a low voice.

Zhuang Yan asked, “How is Grandpa?”

“He’s okay.” Xie Ning said in a daze. After he said this, he suddenly felt a little safe, so he repeated it several times, “He’s okay.”

His voice was a little dumb, and he choked a little while speaking. Zhuang Yan judged that he might have cried again, or was still crying.

He felt a little powerless at the moment.

After the two were so far apart, he realized that language was the most useless.

He couldn’t hold Xie Ning, couldn’t wipe away the tears from his face, nor could he kiss him and comfort him with his head down.

He could only say some boundless words, hoping that Xie Ning will be happy and relaxed after hearing them.

But he couldn’t even see  Xie Ning’s expression when he heard his voice.

The two chatted for a while, and finally, Xie Ning hung up the phone first.

After listening to the busy tone on the phone, Zhuang Yan slowly retracted the phone after several seconds.

He walked back to the set again, gestured to the staff, and said, “The rest is over and I am ready for the next one. I have worked hard these days and put up the rest of the scene to finish filming first.”

On the other side, Xie Ning’s hand was against his stomach, and he only felt that something was churning in his stomach, very uncomfortable.

Then in Uncle Zhong’s worried eyes, he ran to the bathroom and vomited up the dinner he had just eaten.

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