He looked once again toward the corner he had previously stood in,
"The matriarch sent me here today because she wants me to relay a message to the Bai family: the Qin family has not yet been wiped out!"
After speaking, Uncle Qin pressed his right thumb against his brow. When he moved it away, a blood streak remained, marking the completion of the final stroke of the rune.
All of a sudden, a wind started blowing in the hospital room.
The wind was not strong, but very slight and quite cold; Li Zhiyuan shivered involuntarily, and Luo Tingrui opposite him did the same, wrapping his arms around himself.
This wind was not just in this room, but throughout this whole floor, even several floors above and below, all converging here.
Li Zhiyuan saw somewhat blurrily what seemed like numerous shadows entering Uncle Qin’s body along with the wind, including a red shadow from this very room.
Was this, gathering all those impurities into his body?
Uncle Qin stood still for quite a while before stepping forward, walking back to the bedside, reaching for his tank top, and slipping it back on.
Li Zhiyuan noticed that Uncle Qin’s steps were somewhat stiff at first, and even his facial expression seemed somewhat wooden, but once he had his clothes on, he seemed to regain... or perhaps had adjusted to it.
And the lighting in this hospital room also seemed to become much brighter and clearer; in fact, it wasn’t just here—half of the building became significantly fresher.
Actually, sometimes the lighting in hospitals at night seems dimmer and more foggy, not because of the lights themselves, but because places like hospitals have more of certain things.
And the earlier appearance of the female driver and the paper vehicle also meant that the dreadful impurity had long covered this hospital room, even placing Luo Tingrui’s actions under its scrutiny.
Uncle Qin said to Luo Tingrui: "I need to go somewhere, I need a vehicle."
Luo Tingrui said, "The car that was sent to pick you up should still be at the hospital entrance."
"The car isn’t there," said Li Zhiyuan.
"How did you guys get here so quickly?"
Li Zhiyuan replied, "We came by rickshaw."
"Well... I’ll arrange a motorbike then, do you know how to ride one?" Luo Tingrui looked at Uncle Qin.
Uncle Qin nodded: "I do."
"Okay, I’ll have someone arrange it immediately." Luo Tingrui walked out of the hospital room with Uncle Qin, called over the woman comrade, gave instructions, then gestured for Uncle Qin to follow her down to get the bike.
As they left, the one remaining in the room, Li Zhiyuan heard Xue Liangliang’s nonsensical words:
"No way, I won’t marry you, there’s no love between us, we just met for the first time, I am not casual about marriage, stop dreaming!"
Li Zhiyuan couldn’t help wondering if Brother Liangliang was playing out a Qiong Yao drama in his dream?
Nowadays, the fever of Qiong Yao dramas had emerged, and college students on campus were among the audience; Li Zhiyuan often saw discussions about the dramas and people holding novels around campus.
At this moment, Uncle Qin walked back to the door of the hospital room: "Xiao Yuan, let’s go."
Li Zhiyuan followed Uncle Qin down the stairs, got on the motorcycle, started it, and twisted the throttle, the roar of the engine sounding.
Uncle Qin drove fast, swiftly navigating through the city and heading towards the suburbs.
Sitting in the back, Li Zhiyuan, without a helmet to shield from the wind, could only press his face against Uncle Qin’s back, holding onto his waist with both hands.
He felt amazed; Uncle Qin who had been planting in the fields in the afternoon and had just been facing off with the red-dressed woman in the hospital room, was now speeding on a motorcycle.
Li Zhiyuan felt the madness coming from this world.
Meanwhile, back in the hospital room, Luo Tingrui heard Xue Liangliang’s absurd words again:
"No, coming back once a month is impossible, my future work won’t allow me to leave the construction site, which represents the heart and effort of many people; I can’t be so irresponsible.
Not even half a year, future major projects won’t have such short deadlines, and not even the slightest errors can occur.
My future isn’t in Nantong, not in Jiangsu, I’m going to the Southwest, that’s where my dreams and future lie.
So, stop dreaming, really, I’m not going to marry you, and don’t think about tying me down here."
Luo Tingrui removed his glasses, breathed on the lenses, then wiped them with his clothing.
He felt both moved and sad, yet also slightly amused: Silly boy, even in this ghostly state, still dreaming about building the Southwest.
Putting his glasses back on, Luo Tingrui sighed.
Middle-aged people often habitually disdain the idealistic aura around young people, considering it their naivety and immaturity, but they seldom reflect on whether the ones who are truly degenerate and lost might be themselves?
"Liangliang, if you can recover this time, I’ll personally take you to the Southwest."
When the bike reached the riverside, Li Zhiyuan got off, Uncle Qin propped the bike up, clapped his hands, and gazed at the river, his eyes filled with deep emotion.
Li Zhiyuan remembered Liu Yumei mentioning that her ancestral home was on the river.
From ancient times, rivers have always been cradles of civilizations.
The sands on both banks are made up of countless emotions and even unknowable stories and mysteries, all settling at the bottom of this river over the ages.
It seemed like Brother Liangliang had once said that the local records had the location of the Bai family town wrong... Li Zhiyuan faced the direction of Chongming Island, roughly estimating the position and distance.
Gradually, a speculation arose in his mind:
Could it be that the Bai family town really lies beneath the river right in front of us?
Uncle Qin began to strip off his clothes, unlike in the hospital where he had only removed his tank top, this time he took everything off, neatly folding his clothes and placing them on the bank, weighted down with a cobblestone.