Another winter, another year.
Before the new year, Qin Fang would always visit and talk to his grandfather. This rule has never changed.
"Why is it so warm this winter? I'm almost out of winter atmosphere." Qin Fang breathed on his hands and rubbed them together.
Qin Fang took out a small towel from his pocket, as usual, wipe the stele first.
"This year, the roads are not icy. It snowed at night and it melted in the morning. A few days ago, a few seniors came from the south and said they came to see the snow. I drove around and didn't look at it. There's no snow at all, it's too boring." Qin Fang laughed while talking, his hand holding the towel was blown red by the wind.
"It's said that warm winter is easy to get sick, it's true. I've caught cold three times this year, and I haven't had a cold in a year, and I've been staying here." Qin Fang sneezed after speaking, with a strong nasal voice, and a good nose It has been blocked for several days, and my brain hurts from holding it before going to bed at night.
This winter is indeed too warm compared to the past, so warm that it is unreal. People who are used to the cold are actually not used to warm winters. Every winter they complain about being cold, but once the temperature rises, they all feel something is wrong.
There hasn't been much snow this year, and the air is so dirty after heating, it's always gray when I look up, and it even chokes my nose at night. It is impossible not to get sick in this state, and the flu comes and goes, and many people are hospitalized because of pneumonia.
It's been a rough winter. Qin Fang would occasionally think of those southerners who lived here for four years, especially Si Tu. If he was here this year, he would have to cough all winter.
Qin Fang chatted with him on WeChat last month and asked him how he was doing. Si Tu sent him a voice message and said he was doing well. Si Tu also asked him how to spend the New Year and whether he should go there. Qin Fang can't say, he will leave soon this year, and stay at home with his brother.
Si Tu let him go to play when he had time.
After wiping the stele, Qin Fang stood there and chatted with his grandfather for a long time, and it was all his own side. Later, I got a little tired from standing, so I squatted in front of the stele to talk to his grandfather, rubbing my ears and touching the tip of my nose from time to time. The warm winter is more than usual. It is impossible to stay outside like this without being cold. Qin Fang's ears were frozen hard.
He came here alone for the past two years. After Grandma Hua Tong passed away, Qin Fang never asked Hua Tong to accompany him again. It hurts the scene. It is a mood to go to the cemetery when no relatives have passed away. That's another taste. So no one came with him.
"I don't plan to go anywhere this year. I'm a bit lazy this year." Qin Fang smiled and said, "I'll come back to talk to you in two days. I miss you very much recently. They say that children don't have a deep memory, but you have been away for more than ten years. It’s been years, how can I remember more and more deeply.”
Before Qin Fang left, he put his hands in his pockets, sniffed and said, "Let's go, it's too cold."
Qin Fang sneezed all the way from the cemetery to the parking lot, one after another.
He suddenly remembered that someone had sneezed like this on this road, his nose was so red, and he frowned a little helplessly when he was bothered by sneezing. Qin Fang's heart was sore and soft at the time, and he was swollen.
The man had an allergic nose, so he accompanied him to see his grandfather. He took off his mask when he entered the cemetery and asked him to put it on, but he stubbornly refused.
Qin Fang said to his grandfather at the time: "I picked up a star. I really like it, I really like it."
Qin Fang shook his head and smiled, the time was too late. How long ago.
The boy with the red nose at the beginning has become too good now, he is always shining.
They have an occasional phone call, very infrequently. He seems very tired, very hard. Extraordinary people always work hard, and excellent people often have to pay more.
He hadn't slept in fifty hours when they talked on the phone once, and he could hear the tiredness in his voice. Two hours later he will continue to another laboratory. At such a time, he didn't go to bed as soon as possible to catch up on sleep, but made a phone call.
Then they chat lightly for a few minutes.
Qin Fang said to him on the phone: "Brother Yan, come on... You are the best and the most shining. The hard work is worth it, come on."
The other party was silent for a long time, and when he spoke again, he became hoarse to the breaking point. He called a title, but the broken voice failed to convey the two voices. There was only a vague breathy sound on the phone. .
Qin Fang said quietly, "Huh?"
They cleared their throats and did not repeat themselves. They have always had a tacit understanding, and every call is like old friends. Don't say anything that is too strict, and don't step on the line. If you step on it, you may step on nothing.
So after being silent, he just said in his broken voice: "It's okay, I'm dizzy."
Qin Fang scratched the back of the phone unconsciously with his index finger, and said softly, "Sleep, sleep for an hour and a half, wake up for ten minutes, and walk for ten minutes."
The other party said: "Okay."
"Well," Qin Fang smiled softly, "Go to sleep."
That was Xing Yan's most unconscious time, and he was almost about to say something. He should have been thinking during the time of silence, and finally swallowed it back.
Some things cannot be said on the phone.
And I don't know if I can still say it, after all, if something is missed, it is missed. No one knows.
This makes even proud people become cautious.
This winter is indeed too bad, even Qin Fang's physique is sick and then heals, and he gets sick again. That is to say, I have a good body, so I have been sick for several waves but not too heavy.
But seeing that winter was coming to an end and spring was about to begin, Qin Fang caught up with the last wave of severe flu. He suffered from pneumonia for several days and still had a low-grade fever.
The low-grade fever did not affect his life, so Qin Fang still went to class as usual to do what he should do.
The tutor is a young associate professor. Sometimes she is too busy and Qin Fang has to help pick up a child or something. Qin Fang has a very good relationship with the tutor. There was still some work I wanted him to do, but when he went to the office, the instructor sent him back when he saw his face.
"Hurry up, whether you want to sleep or get an injection, I don't care about you," the tutor repeatedly waved his hands to push him out, "Don't stick around here, I can ask anyone to do this job."
Qin Fang then went back.
In fact, it was still a bit uncomfortable, and my muscles ached all over.
His phone rang in the early morning of the next day, and Qin Fang was about to have a fever in the middle of the night, so Hua Tong patted an antipyretic patch on his head. The phone rang for a long time before Qin Fang was woken up. At that moment, Qin Fang thought it was Xing Yan.
He picked it up and said "Hi" softly.
It turned out that there was a girl on the phone, her voice was a little hoarse, as if she had been crying: "Is it Qin Fang? I'm Gong Qi."
The name confused Qin Fang for a moment, he blinked, said "ah", and said "it's me".
Gong Qi's phone call was absolutely unexpected by Qin Fang, since Qin Fang deleted her contact information, they have never contacted in private again. She called suddenly, and Qin Fang quickly turned around in his mind for several times, but he couldn't think of a reason for her to call.
Qin Fang listened to her talking, and after finishing a sentence, Qin Fang was stunned for a moment, his mind seemed to be stuck. Immediately afterwards, he took off the antipyretic patch on his head and sat up straight.
Gong Qi didn't say much to him, and she didn't say a few words together.
Qin Fang kept saying "Okay" on the phone, and finally said, "Okay, I know, I'll go today, don't worry."
After hanging up the phone, Qin Fang booked the nearest flight to fly at 8 o'clock in the morning.
Hua Tong didn't wake up too much, and squinted his eyes on the sofa bed and asked, "What's wrong?"
Qin Fang's expression turned ugly, and Hua Tong also sat up: "Who's calling?"
"Gong Qi called, help me go to the courtyard to ask for a leave in the morning."
Qin Fang had already got off the ground, quickly changed his clothes, put on a pair of black jeans, and a hoodie. Hua Tong said, "Where are you going?"
Qin Fang looked at him, remained silent for a moment, and then said, "Si Tu..."
The two looked at each other, Hua Tong's eyes slowly widened, and then slowly raised his eyebrows, as if he couldn't believe it. Qin Fang nodded slightly, then turned and went to the bathroom to wash up.
It all happened suddenly, like a joke.
When Qin Fang sat on the plane, he felt that all this was like a ridiculous dream because he had a fever and was confused.
The breath he sniffed was hot on his skin, and Qin Fang hoped that when he woke up, he would find that these things were indeed not true.
But it happens to be true.
Gong Qi said on the phone that she had just received the third critical illness notification, and she said that Si Tu was leaving—
Qin Fang couldn't answer the phone during the flight, and the waking up he was expecting in a trance didn't happen. When the plane landed and was still taxiing, Qin Fang turned on the plane. He called Gong Qi, but Gong Qi didn't answer. He made another call to Si Tu's cell phone, and this time he answered, and it was Gong Qi who answered.
She reported the address and ward number to Qin Fang.
Qin Fang found the question he wanted to ask, but now he couldn't find a suitable way to ask it.
But Gong Qi understood, she said: "Not yet...with a ventilator."
Qin Fang said: "Okay, I'll go right away, don't panic."
Gong Qi's voice was trembling, and she said "um".
Qin Fang ran all the way from the airport, his chest was about to explode. When he got into the car, his cell phone rang, and he received a call from Xing Yan.
Qin Fang was still panting when he picked it up, he took a deep breath first, and then said, "Hello?"
Xing Yan called him.
Hearing that sound, Qin Fang immediately closed his eyes and frowned tightly.
Xing Yan's voice was a little trembling, he should have just received a call, and his voice was even a little uncertain.
Qin Fang didn't need him to speak again, and quickly said to him: "Brother Yan, I'm here, I'm already in the car."
On the phone, they no longer greeted lightly, and Qin Fang said: "Gong Qi should be the only one in the hospital, but I'll be there soon, I just asked, and I didn't have time. I don't know what the situation is like , I'll call you as soon as I get there. You... don't be afraid. "
Xing Yan said: "... good."
Xing Yan's voice is very hoarse, Qin Fang can't hold his voice, no matter how long their relationship has stopped, he still feels distressed to hear such a voice.
Xing Yan is too far away, he is really too far away.
He couldn't reach out, and Qin Fang didn't dare to think about Xing Yan's mood at this moment, so he could only repeat to Xing Yan, "I'm here".
Gong Qi's phone call was too sudden for anyone, and no one was prepared for it. It sounded too much like a joke, even absurd.
Their voices were all hoarse, and Xing Yan said "thank you" to Qin Fang. Slow and solemn, but trembling in the voice.
Qin Fang looked at everything passing by outside the car window, his eyes were still swollen due to the fever, he squeezed the phone, and said to Xing Yan: "Don't thank me, don't say thank you."