Pastel Colours

Chapter 20

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Day 08 15:15

Just in case, Song Ran checked the Internet and found that the incubation period of chickenpox was at least ten days, and his mood suddenly relaxed.

Ten days is long enough.

Even if he is unfortunately infected, he will not develop symptoms until Mr. He returns to China. By that time, he had successfully completed the task and handed back the lively little Bubu to Mr. He. At most, he could lie at home for a few days, exercise his lazy immune system, and strengthen his survival skills by the way—being single for 23 years, without a father or mother Without a boyfriend, every time Song Ran fell ill, she relied on her good health, and she took it to the end alone, never caring about herself.

As long as it's not a serious illness, you can always get through it if you carry it, and it will be uncomfortable for a few days if you die.

This is his experience summed up over the years.

However, perhaps the inserted flag was too powerful, and the effect was immediate, eliminating the legendary ten-day incubation period. That afternoon, Songran suddenly developed a high fever.

At that time, Bubu was about to take a nap, and Songran told him a little bedtime story. Originally, he planned to go back to catch the draft after he finished speaking, but as he spoke, his eyelids became heavier and heavier, his sleepiness surged up, his hands loosened, and the person crooked, leaning on the head of the bed in a daze , the picture book also slipped out of his arms.

As soon as he slept, his body temperature was like the door of a stable being demolished. Dozens of iron hooves rushed forward frantically with the fluttering reins, and rushed into the danger zone in a very short period of time.

The lungs were hot, like a hundred kilograms of chili peppers smashed into the throat, and the bright red pepper juice soaked every alveolus. The air swelled with heat waves, sweat soaked the back, and water droplets the size of soybeans dripped down one by one along the neck, as if being in the sultry and humid summer heat of S City.

Song Ran was uncomfortably roasted by the heat, but his consciousness was unclear. He thought that Boo Bo had a fever again, and wanted to get up to take his temperature, but his tired limbs were like a pool of melted wax oil, which was spread on the bed, and even a shovel could not shovel it out. stand up.

When he sat up reluctantly, a flash of blue light flashed in front of his eyes, and phantoms swayed frequently, his stomach began to churn violently, and filth rushed to his throat. He hurriedly walked to the bathroom leaning against the wall, slumping one step to the left and one step to the right, swaying as if stepping on cotton. When I finally trudged to the bathroom, my calves suddenly became soft, I knelt on the ground, hugged the toilet and spit out the sea and turned the river, and my head almost immersed in the water.

He vomited in bits and pieces for two minutes, almost vomiting half his life. In a trance, he remembered something again, and tried to stand up with the handrail, propped up on the washstand, and looked at the face mirror.

His vision was blurred by the high fever, and he squinted repeatedly, leaned closer to the mirror, and saw a red rash on his right cheek.

Reaching out to touch it, it's a little itchy.

Song Ran stood for a while, turned on the faucet, and poured a handful of cold water on his face.

In the bedroom, the phone with vibrating mode turned on buzzed and vibrated anxiously under the pillow. Song Ran was in the bathroom and couldn't hear any movement. On the other side of the bed, Bo Bu was hugging the bunny and falling asleep, and he didn't notice the phone vibrating.

After repeating this three times, the phone screen went dark - the other side gave up the call.

He Zhiyuan put his mobile phone in his pocket and got into the co-pilot of the taxi.

The idea of calling Songran came suddenly, and he didn't know the reason. After all, he had never contacted Songran in the afternoon of domestic time before.

No reason today.

He had a very busy schedule these two days, and he could hardly find any leisure time. Worked non-stop from 8am to 8pm, attended four conferences before and after, drove to San Jose after get off work, had a quick dinner at the airport, and immediately took a 9:30 flight to Los Angeles. Tomorrow he will attend an authoritative data security conference in the industry. The conference will last for three days, and he can only arrange one morning to give a speech on behalf of the SwordArc R&D team. This was followed by three technical interviews with doctoral students who also came to the conference, lest they make a special trip to Silicon Valley. After the interview, he would catch the nearest flight back to Palo Alto and hand over the remaining two-and-a-half days of meetings to colleagues.

With the work going on and on, his mind was occupied by his career, and he should not have thought of Song Ran, who had never met before.

However, when the plane slowly landed on the lighted runway at midnight and docked with the covered bridge, he walked out of the boarding gate with his briefcase, took out his mobile phone, and turned off the airplane mode. The first thing he did was to open the address book and press Songran's name.

There was an uneasy feeling in his heart, urging him to speak to Song Ran as soon as possible, listen to the young man's voice, and confirm that he is safe today.

But there is always no one answering the other side.

When he left the airport, He Zhiyuan had made three consecutive calls, but Song Ran still didn't answer. He convinced himself that it was lunch break now, Song Ran might be taking a nap with Boob, and it would not be too late to contact him tomorrow morning, so he put the matter aside for the time being. It was past midnight when he arrived at the hotel. He was physically and mentally exhausted. He took off his shirt and tie and hung it in the closet. He went to the bathroom to take a hot shower.

At three o'clock in the morning, the dream suddenly stopped halfway through.

He Zhiyuan opened his eyes, the night outside the window was dark, the gray shadows of several high-rise buildings overlapped, and were gradually printed on the ceiling, looking cramped and deserted. Uneasy, he instinctively took out his mobile phone and made another call to Song Ran.

Got through this time.

There was a light and muffled cough, followed by Song Ran's hoarse voice: "Mr. He? You... are you looking for me?"

He Zhiyuan knew something was wrong as soon as he heard it, turned over and sat up and asked, "Songran, what's the matter with you?"

After about five seconds, Song Ran replied slowly: "I, I'm fine, I'm fine, Boo Boo is fine too, today... I'm taking care of him, he... um, got a few pimples again, It's not serious, and there's no more fever... I put him on topical medicine, that, the one the doctor prescribed... "

Song Ran's tone was very weak, the kind of weakness that couldn't be concealed even if she tried her best: she spoke slowly, her words were loose, her word choice was simple, her speech was out of order, and she couldn't grasp the point at all... These signs told He Zhiyuan that Song Ran's spirit at the moment The state is quite poor, and the thinking is very chaotic.

There was a loud background noise coming from the phone all the time, raucous and continuous.

He Zhiyuan was suspicious and asked, "Where are you?"

"Well... at the hospital." Song Ran hesitated for a moment, and the volume was reduced to the point where he couldn't hear clearly, "The one next to the house... F University Affiliated Hospital."

Just then, the hospital broadcast sounded at the right time. He Zhiyuan listened carefully and caught the word "emergency" - why is Songran in the emergency department

The doubts in his heart grew stronger and stronger: "Are you alone, or with Boob?"

Song Ran actually thought about such a simple question for three seconds: "One person."

"Why go to the hospital?"

"Uh, I..." Song Ran stammered for a while, then said, "I'll help Bobu... get the medicine."

He Zhiyuan stopped talking.

He could hear that Song Ran was lying.

The silence came too abruptly, Song Ran leaned against the cold armrest of the chair in the waiting room, resting his forehead on the back of his hands, thinking drowsily, Mr. He probably realized something was wrong.

Why lie again and again

With his current state of mind, he couldn't make up a decent lie at all, but he just didn't hit the south wall and didn't look back. He stubbornly held onto that tiny hope, and wanted to continue to hide from Mr. He.

So childish.

Childish enough to want to laugh.

Song Ran held his hot forehead, his mind was full of scattered thoughts, and he began to entangle those irrelevant details: How did Mr. He find out? Is this hospital's pharmacy closed at night, or is his tone unnatural

That sentence just now... what did he say

Can't remember at all.

He burned to 39 degrees, his thinking was muddy, and he forgot what he had said as soon as he said it.

"what?"

Song Ran shook his aching head.

He Zhiyuan said, "The radio called you just now. You should go get a fever-reducing injection first, and call me back later."

"Oh, well... I'll go get an injection..."

Having been exposed to this point, Song Ran has no face to cover up anymore, and there is no room for cover up anyway. The nurse opened the door, stretched out half of her body and called out his name. He stood up and said before entering, "Mr. He, Boob is not at home alone. Before I came out, I asked Lin Hui... She said she would take care of me on my behalf. boob…”

He Zhiyuan interrupted him: "Go for an injection first."

"… Um."

Song Ran wiped his face indiscriminately, and there were warm tears in his fingers. He was too embarrassed and embarrassed, and his negative emotions multiplied the pain in his body, and he couldn't help but wet his eyes.

A needle in the buttocks, a few minutes, and it's over in a blink of an eye.

Song Ran was leaning on the corridor with her down jacket in her hands, her body felt cold and hot, her joints trembled when she got cold, and her temples were all sweaty when she got hot. He didn't dare to call He Zhiyuan back, and held the phone with such force that he seemed to crush the screen. But in the eyes of others, he was so weak that he couldn't even hold the phone, and he was holding it between his fingers, as if he would slide down at any time.

After swaying for a long time, He Zhiyuan took the initiative to call in the end.

Apart from the usual loving greetings every night, this is the third personal phone call from He Zhiyuan to Song Ran. He should have been ecstatic, opened the small ledger, and put the last tick. But now, he doesn't dare to connect.

He was afraid of being questioned by He Zhiyuan, why he still got chickenpox even though he had asked his parents.

How to answer

Just saying that he has been lying so far, in fact, is he a child who doesn't want anyone

He never wanted to experience such an embarrassing scene of being exposed in person.

In elementary school, Song Ran had no one to pick him up from school. The older kids in the same class always bullied him, laughing at him that he had no father or mother. In order to defend this lie, he didn't dare to go back to the orphanage directly after school, but went in the opposite direction, going around in a big and complicated circle, wandering around until it was dark before going back. The bully in the class was frightened, and he escaped from the bullying.

One day later, he was called to the podium by the teacher and received a flower and a mini cake.

The teacher said in a warm tone that Songran is the most special child in our class. He is an orphan and lives in the "House of Hope", but he is strong and optimistic, and never complains about his fate. Today, on his birthday, the classmates came to sing a happy birthday song and gave him a sincere blessing.

So, in that happy birthday song with uneven tunes, Song Ran's long detour for several months was in vain, and the poor dignity he carefully maintained... also came to nothing.

From then on, Song Ran refused to celebrate her birthday again.

He couldn't understand why the identity of an orphan was like a smudge that wasn't a smear. Everyone knew that it was not the child's fault to be abandoned by their parents, yet this identity still seemed "disgraceful". He tried to avoid talking about the past with others, and even if he did, he would deliberately obscure the details, making up a "big family", saying that there were a large group of younger brothers and sisters in the family.

Half-truths are half-truths, and you can feel at ease and avoid the pity of others.

He used the same rhetoric to Mr. He. He should have been at peace with each other, but unexpectedly Bobu suffered from chickenpox, which caused a chain effect and pierced his lie.

Song Ran felt at a loss, as if he stood in front of the podium in a daze, and heard the teacher's gentle tone like water, piercing the secret that he was holding tightly in his heart in public.

The phone buzzed, numbing the hot fingertips. Song Ran knew that she couldn't escape, so she had to pick it up.

"Finished with needles?"

He Zhiyuan stood leaning against the table in his bathrobe, with one hand behind him, frowning, his tone no longer gentle.

Song Ran heard a little anger, and shrank his neck: "It's over."

"What's the temperature?"

"39."

"It burns to 39 degrees and still refuses to tell the truth. Treat me as an outsider?"

He Zhiyuan was mixed with anger and worry, an indescribable feeling of annoyance welled up in his heart, and he couldn't help raising the volume. Song Ran was so shrunk that he almost lost his neck, buried his whole face in the down jacket, and whispered, "No, I didn't treat you as an outsider, I just... I didn't dare to tell you."

"Don't you dare?" He Zhiyuan raised his eyebrows, "I'm 100,000 miles away from you, how can I take you?"

Song Ran hurriedly shook his head, the amplitude was too large, his eyes were staring straight into the stars, and he almost rushed to the toilet to vomit again, barely able to suppress it, and panted, "I... I seem to have contracted chickenpox from Boob."

He Zhiyuan frowned: "Didn't you have chickenpox before?"

"Yes, yes, I'm sorry, I lied to you." Song Ran's voice was low, "Yesterday... I didn't call to ask at all."

He Zhiyuan was so annoyed by him that he knocked on the table hard: "Why don't you ask?"

Song Ran shrank his neck again: "There is no place to ask."

"Your parents went to bed at ten o'clock?"

"I don't have parents!" Song Ran squeezed the hem of the sweater in discomfort, gritted her teeth, and confessed somewhat self-sacrificingly, "Those brothers and sisters all lied to you before! In the orphanage, when I first met you, I was afraid of being looked down upon, so I made up a lie. Yesterday you asked me to call my family. I was afraid of being exposed, so I lied again. Come on, get caught."

He Zhiyuan's eyes sank, his forearm resting on the table exerted force, and he stood up straight.

He thought that Song Ran was born in a wealthy and harmonious family, and that he lived a carefree life because he did not eat the sufferings of the world. With a pen and a piece of paper, he kept the fantastic imagination of his childhood to this day.

But I didn't expect that Song Ran's real past would be like this.

Song Ran had a high fever, lacked rationality, and was very childish. Once she released her emotions, she couldn't take them back, so she kept chattering with grievances and indignation: "I didn't take chickenpox seriously, I even gave the orphanage a shot this morning. The call came and asked them to check it out. The orphanage said that I could pass it, and I thought it was over. Who knew I would be recruited like this... What should I do now? , I've only got it back for two days, I haven't brought enough, and I haven't told a few stories... It's too much, even God is jealous of me and desperately stumbles me... "

What is all this upside-down

He Zhiyuan felt that Song Ran's character was really fascinated - how cheerful she was on the outside, how sensitive she was on the inside, occasionally the logic broke down, and she did something that was sick and blamed herself, which was quite embarrassing, and just wanted to pick it up and scold him severely. Twice.

He Zhiyuan calmed down and asked, "Have you been diagnosed?"

"Not yet." Song Ran said in a sullen voice, "The dermatology department is off work, and I can't register until tomorrow."

"That is, you haven't been diagnosed yet, so don't have a psychological burden. I don't blame you for lying. You don't have to think too much, the most important thing is to recuperate from your illness." He Zhiyuan told him, "The injection is over, right? You Sit still, wait five minutes, and I'll find someone to take you home."

Song Ran, however, willfully disapprove: "No, I'll walk back by myself. Two streets, ten minutes' walk away."

"You dare to move." He Zhiyuan suppressed him in a non-negotiable tone, "stick my butt to the chair honestly. If the person who picks you up is not here, you are not allowed to take a step."