Winter Returns

Chapter 122 Yesterday Once More

Chapter 122 Yesterday Once More (Thanks to Alliance Leader algernon for the donation)
The phone is ringing.

"Sorry, I'll take a call first."

Zhang Shutong apologized.

He turned and left the ward, and one could almost hear the nurse's resentful thoughts:

—This is your fourth time running. Luckily, they didn't give you an injection.

But Zhang Shutong didn't plan to run away this time. He just answered a phone call. In fact, he could guess what Ruoping was going to say. The three of them had kept in touch. When he was getting an IV drip, the three of them would occasionally chat on QQ.

"what happened?"

Gu Qiumian also stood up, and Zhang Shutong explained:

"Have a seat for a while. My friend asked if my cold is better. I'll say a few words and come back."

He pressed the answer button as he walked towards the window in the hallway.
"Are we at the hospital?" Ruoping was also a little sleepy.

"Hmm, Lu Qinglian still left?" Zhang Shutong knew the purpose of her call.

After saying goodbye at noon, Ruoping invited Lu Qinglian to her home, and the two stayed until evening.

According to the original plan, Zhang Shutong was supposed to remove the needles around 11:00 AM, pick up Lu Qinglian, and head to the villa to stake out the murderer. Their cooperation was based on different motives, but they shared the same goal—

Zhang Shutong wants to protect Gu Qiumian, while Lu Qinglian wants to find that person.

But now the situation has changed again. Gu Qiu Mian was suddenly taken out by him, so Zhang Shutong took the opportunity in the supermarket to tell the two of them the news.

"He left, I couldn't stop him," Ruoping complained. "That's your fault. You said you had something to do tonight, and people waited for so long, but you changed your mind at the last minute."

Zhang Shutong could only apologize, saying that plans often change.

“What’s the use of apologizing to me?” Ruoping said again. “I just felt that Qinglian was a little, how should I put it, a little lonely. I originally wanted to see her off, but she said it wasn’t necessary and that she was grateful to be able to rest at home for an afternoon.”

Zhang Shutong felt a little guilty upon hearing this. He had promised to help Lu Qinglian find that person, and he had taken the initiative to cooperate. Lu Qinglian had sprained her ankle and accompanied him for two days. She had kept her promise and hadn't said anything even though she was skeptical about the "fake Lu Qinglian." In the end, he was the one who broke his promise.

His last phone call advised Lu Qinglian to leave the matter to the bodyguard, but Lu Qinglian did not agree. She did not say it explicitly to Ruoping, but Zhang Shutong knew that finding that person was a matter for the temple, and she was the temple keeper. Regardless of whether Gu Qiumian was brought out or not, she would not give up.

Just like last Saturday when Zhang Shutong was riding his bike home, he encountered Lu Qinglian traveling alone in the night, her long robes fluttering.

Therefore, around 11 o'clock, she left Ruoping's house and went to the vicinity of the villa alone.

My best friends' homes are in the north of the island, while their villas are in the south. It would take more than an hour to walk there.

Zhang Shutong couldn't take her there either; not only was his motorcycle out of gas, but he was also too busy to go himself.

"Did she confess anything?" Zhang Shutong asked again.

“What can I say? You know Qinglian’s personality. She just nodded lightly and said that she never expected anything from you in the first place, and that you would only be a hindrance if you went.”

"You added the last sentence yourself, didn't you?"

"You actually found out."

Zhang Shutong pinched the bridge of his nose:

"I'll see how it goes and try to go again."

"Let's forget about it." Ruoping's eye roll was visible even through the microphone. "Don't blame me for being rude, but what can you do if you go now? Didn't Qingyi tell you that taking on everything yourself is a sign of arrogance? Please, be realistic about your situation."

"it is good……"

"So where are you now?" Ruoping asked again.

"I'm fine now, I just found a place to rest."

"Hey, want to share your experience of eloping with a girl?"

"I don't feel anything, I'm just tired and cold. Besides, who goes to the hospital?"

Zhang Shutong said helplessly.

He turned to look down the corridor. Occasionally someone would pass by. The dark green terrazzo floor was very dark at night, and from a distance it looked as if it were swallowed by shadows, but for someone who had just returned from the freezing cold, it was already a great sense of security.

"Want me to tell you a bedtime joke?" Zhang Shutong finally found the mood to crack a joke.

"what?"

"Going to a private hospital is what you call eloping; what I did was at most a public elopement."

"Uh, not funny."

"Don't..."

Ruoping then smiled:
"It seems you're really alright now."

"Okay, go to sleep. I can handle the rest myself. It's safe in the hospital, don't stay up."

In fact, he wasn't the only one waiting that night; his best friends were too. Du Kang was waiting for Lao Song outside the island, while Ruoping and Qingyi had been waiting until now.

Everyone was so sleepy they were yawning.

"Alright, alright," Ruoping said helplessly, "I think I shouldn't have stayed up so late with you. We waited all afternoon and nothing happened. It was just a false alarm. Before Lao Song left, he said you were acting crazy and asked us to be more tolerant of you. Have we been tolerant enough now?"

"Enough, of course it's enough."

"Alright, you sound like you can barely stand," Ruoping said worriedly. "You've been going through all this since yesterday, and you've finally gotten what you wanted. Rest now. Qingyi and I will come to the hospital to see you tomorrow, but don't expect any fruit baskets."

"I dare not hope for anything, good night."

The two hung up the phone.

Zhang Shutong yawned and found Qingyi's QQ account. He originally wanted to borrow a car from him, as he had a motorcycle at home. However, it would be troublesome to return the car so late at night, and he couldn't very well ask him to walk home, so he gave up on the idea.

Zhang Shutong recalled carefully that he went back to the villa with Lao Song on Thursday and was out running around on Friday, which meant that his bicycle was still parked at the school.

He planned to rest for a while before going to school to ride his bike. The hospital wasn't too far from the school, less than a ten-minute walk.

Although bicycles are much slower than motorcycles, there's not much time to rush; all that's needed is to get Gu Qiu Mian there before dawn.

That's it.

He explained a few more words to Qingyi, who replied "Goodnight," and Zhang Shutong put away his phone and returned to his ward.

The nurse in the ward was talking to Gu Qiumian. When she saw him walk in, she waved and got up.

"This is really troublesome," Zhang Shutong thanked the other party again. "Where is there hot water?"

"Oh, there's a thermos in the dispensing room. Find a cup and fill it yourself later," the nurse said. "Come with me now. I'll take you both there while it's not too busy."

After she finished speaking, she led the way. Her low-heeled nurse shoes seemed to be tapping to a light drumbeat. It had been a long time since she had seen anything so interesting in her monotonous night shift life. Although it was a bit troublesome, it was still much better than serving those drunkards whose vomit had blocked their tracheas.

This reminded her of her student days, when every girl dreamed of being picked up by a prince charming, and every boy hoped to take the girl he liked to the ends of the earth. Of course, these dreams rarely came true.

She glanced curiously at the girl behind her out of the corner of her eye.

She was a very beautiful and bright young girl with jet-black hair and fair skin. Despite being wrapped in several layers of thick clothes, her unique temperament was still undeniable, making her stand out in the old hospital room.

This kind of girl would naturally become the focus of attention in a crowd, but now she is wearing a pair of cheap cotton slippers, bright red, which were probably just opened recently, and you can still smell a faint plastic smell.

She initially thought the girl was very well-behaved, like the little sister next door. She figured she must have been hiding it from her family by appearing here in the middle of the night, and that she must be nervous and scared being with a boy. She wanted to sit down and comfort her, but the nurse realized she was wrong.

The girl simply nodded and said softly that she had troubled her, and even took the initiative to ask for her name, saying that she would like to say hello to their dean and thank him later.

The young nurse was quite shocked, thinking to herself, "Young man, what kind of girl have you brought back?"
She had to admit that she was a rather aloof girl. She would only smile, pout, and glare when talking to the boy, behaving like a little girl. Watching the two of them talk was actually quite interesting.

So she felt a little tempted to help the two "desperate" teenagers. The nurse went to the end of the corridor and opened a room:
"This is it, the VIP room in the hospital. I sometimes come here to relax for a while."

As she spoke, she turned on the light, and a medicinal smell wafted up even faster than the light itself.

Zhang Shutong looked inside and saw that it was an observation room with a bed and two chairs. The bed was a narrow and hard single bed covered with a blue disposable medical sheet. It was quiet and simple, but it solved the immediate problem.

It's a blessing that we don't have to squeeze into a ward full of strange smells.

He really needed to find a place to rest for a while. Just as he relaxed, the nurse teased him again, "You two better not do anything naughty."

Gu Qiu Mian's ears turned a little red upon hearing this, and she glared at herself fiercely. Zhang Shutong thought to herself, "Why are you glaring at me for what I said?"

But the nurse had already waved and walked away, the sound of her heels jingling cheerfully.

"Let's go," Gu Qiumian whispered, pushing him from behind.

Zhang Shutong noticed a remote control on the window and was about to turn on the air conditioner when she noticed a small crack in the window. She closed the window and then there was nothing else to do.

Zhang Shutong is a person who is good at making plans, but his plans only go as far as "how to bring Gu Qiumian out safely", and he has never thought about what to do after bringing her out.

The door was closed, and the room was quiet except for the air conditioner blowing warm air.

Gu Qiumian also sat down on the chair, the two of them not too far apart, she stared blankly at the pair of red cotton slippers. Zhang Shutong looked over, noticed her, and then hid her feet inside.

"You go to sleep first," Zhang Shutong said, pointing to the bed. "I'll watch over you."

"Who wants you to see this..."

"How about some cookies?" He tore open the bag and handed them over.

Gu Qiumian picked up a small piece and took a small bite.

Zhang Shutong pulled out two disposable paper cups from the drawer and asked her if she wanted hot water.

But she snatched the cup away:

"I'll go get it. You sit still and don't move."

Zhang Shutong didn't try to be brave and watched Gu Qiumian leave.

This time everything is finally alright.

he thought.

The tension in my mind can finally be relieved.

Zhang Shutong's eyelids started drooping again.

He stood up and stretched around the room, looking around before he understood why the nurse called it the "VIP of VIPs" room.

There was even a color TV in this observation room.

Although it was small and a wall-mounted unit, finding a color TV in an island hospital was as rare as seeing a pampered young lady wearing cheap cotton slippers.

Okay, Zhang Shutong admitted that the slippers he bought were really ugly, and Gu Qiumian probably disliked them too, if it weren't for her original slippers getting wet.

He turned on the TV, which was showing cartoons on CCTV-14. It seemed that the little nurse had a rather childlike heart.

He idly flipped through the channels and found CCTV-6. He remembered that this channel often showed movies, and Gu Qiu Mian liked watching movies.

The TV is still showing commercials; I wonder what will be on next.

Zhang Shutong thought that spending the night watching a movie wouldn't be bad.

Just then, Gu Qiumian returned with two cups of hot water.

"Shall we go see a movie?"

"You drink some water first," she said, wrinkling her nose in dissatisfaction.

"……it is good."

Zhang Shutong took the water glass and felt that the young lady was becoming more and more imposing, while he, a lackey, was still a lackey after all this time. The water was at a suitable temperature, and as he slowly drank the water, Gu Qiumian had already pulled up a chair for him.

The television here was so small that if they sat too far apart, they would have to tilt their heads, so they sat side by side, quietly staring at the screen, waiting for the commercials to finish.

Zhang Shutong handed her a cookie, and she took one and ate it in small bites.

What kind of cookies?

"I didn't look closely, but it looks like a breakfast biscuit, date flavored?"

"I've never eaten this before."

Zhang Shutong thought to herself, "It's perfectly normal that you haven't tried it. You can buy a big bag of these breakfast biscuits for five yuan. They're plentiful, filling, and inexpensive, just like chocolate made with cocoa butter substitutes, which are kept in an area that the young lady would never touch."

Just like a young lady wouldn't watch TV in a small observation room of a small hospital. It would be a laughing stock if word got out. Was the Sony TV in the villa not big enough or the leather sofa not soft enough?

But she ate the biscuits very naturally, and her eyes were focused on watching TV. As the room gradually warmed up, Zhang Shutong saw her take off her coat, revealing a very delicate sweater, which made the contrast even more striking.

"You're not wearing that scarf?" Zhang Shutong glanced at her.

"The scarf is downstairs."

"Oh."

Gu Qiumian wore a long down jacket and a fitted vest, with a cotton coat on top. That's why Zhang Shutong said she looked like a dumpling tonight.

She felt hot in the room and took off all her clothes, but then she felt a little cold. Zhang Shutong, being very perceptive, handed her the black down jacket, which she took and put on.

"Why is it so dirty?"

"I used it to store sunflower seed shells," Zhang Shutong said weakly.

"And it smells awful."

"Really?" Zhang Shutong felt that she had already taken good care of this dress.

“Of course it does,” she sniffed the collar of the down jacket and glared at him, “It’s all your smell, it stinks.”

"Sorry, sorry, I thought I didn't smell."

“You can’t smell it yourself,” she scoffed.

"Then wear a vest?"

The girl, however, covered her lips with her finger:

"Ugh, you're so noisy, don't disturb my movie."

Zhang Shutong watched her wrapped in that down jacket, eating cookies in small bites. If she finished eating, Zhang Shutong would hand her the wrapper. She would pick up a cookie while watching TV, and would laugh when she saw a funny commercial. It was a quiet night, and the moonlight was beautiful.

After the movie's opening credits, Zhang Shutong also looked at the screen.

"So that's what it is," the two murmured simultaneously.

CCTV-6 likes to broadcast classic foreign blockbusters.

The movie is "Roman Holiday".

"What do you mean?" Zhang Shutong couldn't help but ask.

"I think I've seen this movie before."

"I've seen such a classic movie, let alone yours."

“I dreamt about it. I think I saw this movie at school, and it was at night.”

Zhang Shutong was taken aback:
"real or fake?"

"Believe it or not, you always say you're dreaming."

"Is there anyone else?"

"I can't remember," Gu Qiumian said, frowning slightly as she recalled. "And it seems I didn't finish reading it."