After nightfall, the hospital ward building seemed to have pressed the mute button.
The huge monster that was about to reach the sky stood quietly under the moonlight, and any sound it made became particularly obvious.
The little girl's gentle voice was filled with warm heat, and it just fell into Lu Shizhen's ears, suddenly burning her.
Not sure if it was because she was embarrassed or for some other reason, but Lu Shizhen clearly felt her heart skip a beat.
She just blinked her eyes and asked, "Is it really worth your happiness?"
Xu Shiyue held her hand and nodded, "Of course."
Lu Shizhen felt indescribably happy after being told twice that people were happy to see her.
It was like a glass candy bead rolled across her heart, with a clear and crisp sound as it rolled from east to west, spreading sweetness all the way.
She’s not just someone who needs others.
She is also someone who is needed.
Thinking of this, Lu Shizhen said to Xu Shiyue: "After this operation, you will be almost cured."
The little girl's voice was full of anticipation and joy, she had no idea that recovery meant separation.
But Shiyue, who was so precocious, was able to capture it very sensitively.
She just looked at Lu Shizhen who was guarding her bed, and a glimpse of the edge of the passage appeared in her peripheral vision.
If she left, would Lu Shizhen get to know other people living in this house through this passage
Will she also stay by that person's bed after the operation and wait for her to wake up
Will she also become friends with that person and draw pictures for her
The sound of instruments operating was repeated in the dim ward, and Xu Shiyue lowered his eyes.
This was the first time that the precocious girl did not plan for the future, but instead procrastinated, saying, "It will take a long time, at least a month."
Because of his yearning for health, Lu Shizhen did not understand the hidden meaning of Xu Shiyue's words. Instead, he turned around and held Xu Shiyue's hand, admonishing her: "You have to recover quickly, so that your body can get better."
Children's eyes are always so big that all emotions can be magnified and doubled in them.
The moonlight fell into Lu Shizhen's eyes, dark and bright, filled with seriousness and hope, without a trace of impurities.
Xu Shiyue paused for a moment when she heard this, and said in a gentle tone: "You too."
Then she looked up at the clock on the wall and said, "It's getting late. You should go back and rest. We'll see you tomorrow morning."
"Okay." Lu Shizhen nodded, and put the apple and painting he had brought on his lap on Xu Shiyue's bedside table, "Since you're awake, I'll give you the painting as agreed."
"You can only take it down after I leave!" Lu Shizhen said this, and quickly turned his wheelchair shyly.
She waved to Xu Shiyue again, and then easily disappeared into the dark corridor.
She also didn't notice the beam of light coming from behind her, which the little girl kept looking at for a long time.
In fact, Lu Shizhen’s paintings don’t depict anything ambiguous, they are just simple summer scenes.
There is a large patch of wisteria in the small square outside the hospital, which looks particularly beautiful from Xu Shiyue's ward.
Due to his talent, Lu Shizhen's paintings are realistic yet have a dreamlike illusory beauty. Wisteria flowers cascade down like waterfalls, and a few white doves are either flying or stopping, interspersed with large areas of purple, and a layer of golden sunlight is lingering, which is very beautiful.
Xu Shiyue likes it, but she doesn’t even bother to express her love for it.
She framed the painting and placed it in the most conspicuous place at the head of her bed so that she could see it every day.
Xu Shiyue's parents once noticed this and asked her where the painting came from.
Xu Shiyue just smiled, took her back from her mother's hands like a baby, and said proudly that she was the one who transformed her.
This is a secret between her and Lu Shizhen, and she will not share it with anyone.
Adults always felt that children's words were bizarre and illogical. Moreover, the painting placed on the bedside was beautiful and full of warmth, so Mr. and Mrs. Xu did not think too much about it.
Because of this, Xu Shiyue’s ward became Lu Shizhen’s safe haven.
Xu Shiyue used the excuse that she also wanted to draw beautiful paintings like the one on the bedside table, and asked her father and mother to bring her a lot of paintbrushes and drawing paper. She used these to build a free world for Lu Shizhen and painted her pale world with color.
Xu Shiyue thought that she didn’t have to draw the same picture as Lu Shizhen as she told her parents, she just needed to have it...
The page stopped at one page for a long time.
Then Xu Shiyue felt her hands were empty. The book she had put in her hands was taken away by Lu Shizhen. In return, the person opposite complained: "Shiyue, you will become nearsighted and a nerd if you always hold a book in your arms."
Xu Shiyue looked at the angry Lu Shizhen, without any annoyance on her face, and said to her softly and helplessly: "But I have nothing to do."
"How can there be nothing to do?" Lu Shizhen retorted, inserting a bookmark into the book in her hand and placing it on the bedside table. "Didn't the doctor and the nurse tell you to get out of bed and walk around more often? This will help your body recover."
"I have nowhere to go and I don't want to get out of bed." Xu Shiyue replied, and she lay down lazily and deliberately on the hospital bed that was raised behind her. She caught a glimpse of the doorway that only she and Lu Shizhen could see from the corner of her eye.
A seed was planted.
At this moment, an arm crossed Xu Shiyue's sight.
Lu Shizhen was angry and handed his hand to Xu Shiyue.
Xu Shiyue was a little confused: "What are you doing?"
Lu Shizhen asked in a serious tone, "Can I invite you to get out of bed and dance with me, Miss Xu Shiyue?"
Xu Shiyue paused for a moment, then noticed the anime still playing nearby.
The heroine in the film seemed to have disguised herself as a man and sneaked into a dance party in order to steal information. In the spinning picture, she was dancing with another lady on the dance floor.
Xu Shiyue is more mature than his peers. He is not very interested in such whimsical things and even finds them a bit noisy.
But Lu Shizhen likes it and will come over with her tablet to watch it with him.
She didn't know if it was because she was influenced by it or for some other reason, but over time she no longer thought it was so childish.
He would even take the initiative to catch up on the comics and would often discuss them with Lu Shizhen.
From watching anime to reading comics.
childish.
But she was originally a child of six or seven years old.
Without hesitation, Xu Shiyue placed her hand on Lu Shizhen's and nodded happily: "Okay."
Although Lu Shizhen couldn't do many things related to legs, he had always been eager to dance.
It seems that all children have a yearning and desire to dance. Lu Shizhen has also seen dancers dancing in wheelchairs on the Internet, and they are unwilling to give up just because they cannot stand up.
But the people around her just treated her as a person who could do nothing, and wouldn't let her do this or that.
And Xu Shiyue, only Xu Shiyue did not regard her as a complete cripple.
Lu Shizhen only dared to extend her hand to Xu Shiyue.
The sunlight shone obliquely into the room, falling on the bed and the little girl's slender wrist.
Lu Shizhen just looked at the hand in her palm, and her nervous heart suddenly relaxed, and then she was filled with more emotions.
It made her happy and joyful, and it passed through her palms with great tenderness, bringing layer upon layer of brilliant smiles to her face.
October would never let her down.
Melodious music came from the tablet, and the animation was played to the end at this time.
Xu Shiyue had some dancing skills, so she stood on tiptoe and led Lu Shizhen, and slowly started moving.
The tepid wind carried the heat outside the window, and large flakes of it fell on the glass.
The children were not that different in size, so they slowly moved among the swaying shadows of the trees. The sunlight was scorching and hot, melting the hospital gown on Xu Shiyue's body and blurring it into the hem of her skirt, which was reflected in Lu Shizhen's sight.
In fact, due to the limitations of the unprofessional wheelchairs, Lu Shizhen and Xu Shiyue’s dance steps were just simple forward, backward, left and right movements.
But even so, Lu Shizhen still felt as if he really stood up and danced with Xu Shiyue.
She clasped hands with Xu Shiyue's, her long hair floating slightly, and the light breeze brought a layer of faint fragrance.
This is the feeling that can only be felt when being with Xu Shiyue, the feeling of freedom.
I really, really like being with October...
Lu Shizhen thought secretly in his heart, raising his eyes to stare at Xu Shiyue's face and the black doorway that suddenly passed by behind him.
Suddenly, a feeling of being near and far suddenly enveloped her heart. Reluctance and regret, with a little panic, were embedded in her heart piece by piece. There were no specific adjectives to describe it.
A question suddenly popped up in Lu Shizhen's mind.
—I wonder what Xu Shiyue will look like when he grows up.
"Not paying attention."
Lu Shizhen was just being enveloped by this mysterious feeling when Xu Shiyue's voice brought her back.
She looked down and found that Xu Shiyue's feet were under the wheel that she had not had time to control.
Lu Shizhen immediately stepped back in panic: "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it."
"I didn't say you did it on purpose." Xu Shiyue's voice was flat, gentle without a trace of blame.
When Lu Shizhen heard what Xu Shiyue said, she smiled shyly, "Thank you for taking me to dance. I'm very happy."
"Me too." Xu Shiyue said.
She just looked at Lu Shizhen, pursing her lips slightly as if she had something else to say.
But before she could open her mouth, a slender shadow fell in front of her.
Lu Shizhen stared intently at the hair on Xu Shiyue's eyelashes and reached out his hand towards Xu Shiyue.
As a result, his body, which was sitting in the wheelchair, also tilted.
The space, which was originally very small, was compressed by half.
The scorching sunlight fell on one side of the two little girls' faces, their two pairs of eyes intertwined, and the distance between their nose tips was barely audible.
Plop, plop…
It was the sound of heartbeats and the sound of the earth shaking. The tender seeds broke through the barriers and extended their roots into the soil.
Lu Shizhen then realized that she seemed to be too close to Xu Shiyue, and quickly took the hair off Xu Shiyue's eyes, and handed it to Xu Shiyue as if to prove her innocence: "That... hair."
But the little girl didn't understand, if she wasn't guilty, why would she have to prove her innocence
"Thank you." Xu Shiyue nodded and raised her hand to take the Maomao that Lu Shizhen handed to her.
The tiny hairs could not avoid contact, and their fingers overlapped in an instant. The coolness rubbed against the warmth, spreading dottedly on Lu Shizhen's fingertips.
At this moment, the watch on Lu Shizhen's wrist rang.
Not sure if it was because of this or because of what happened before, her heart skipped a beat. She hesitantly said to Xu Shiyue, "It's time. I have to go. I'll come see you tomorrow."
"Okay." Xu Shiyue nodded and waved to Lu Shizhen who was leaving. "See you tomorrow."
It was still the same long corridor. Lu Shizhen slowly pushed the wheelchair back to the ward, leisurely planning what to do tomorrow.
Just as the wheels of the wheelchair rolled over the bump where the floor tiles met the corridor, she suddenly felt a surge of heat in her chest.
It was as if something had been suppressed for a long time, and suddenly the suppression was lost and it began to surge restlessly.
Lu Shizhen stopped pushing the wheelchair, and the heat, accompanied by a familiar sharp pain, surged up her throat.
Scarlet like a rose shot through by a bullet, shattered and splashed on the pure white floor.
(End of this chapter)