Chapter 71: Lu Yuanqiu Hospitalized, the Uncle Appears [Third Update]
A hard brick struck his head with brutal force.
Lu Yuanqiu felt his entire skull tremble, his mind reeling as his body toppled sideways. He lay on the ground, barely conscious, warm liquid streaming down from his scalp. Raising his hand to touch it, he found his palm stained crimson.
A searing pain radiated from his head. Before he could recover, someone viciously kicked him in the stomach.
He curled up instantly, writhing in agony.
“Speak! Are you Lu Yuanqiu or not?!”
Standing before him was a youth in a black leather jacket, tight pants, golden leather shoes, and dyed yellow hair. Lu Yuanqiu’s vision was blurry, unable to make out his face.
Through the pain, he managed to ask, “Who are you?”
The youth crouched beside him. “Me? I’m Sun Ruofei’s brother! Go ask around Ningguo Road about the name Sun Qiangsheng! The very mention will scare you out of your wits!”
At last, Lu Yuanqiu realized the source of the unease he’d felt since leaving the school gate. He’d sensed he was being followed, but whenever he turned, no one was there.
The youth arrogantly patted Lu Yuanqiu’s face. “What’s wrong, kid? Weren’t you tough before? Why can’t you stand now?”
“You dared to block my sister? You dared to hit her?”
“Didn’t you tell me to find you? Here I am!”
He burst out laughing, wild and brazen. “You’re just a brat, and you think you can drive me out of Lucheng? I’d laugh myself to death! I really want to see how you plan to do it!”
As he spoke, he kept slapping Lu Yuanqiu’s face, his expression growing ever more insolent. “I’m waiting for you to make me leave, little brother.”
“Seriously, you’re overestimating yourself. You think hiring a few thugs means you’re somebody now?”
“Spare me!”
With that, Sun Qiangsheng stood up and drove his gleaming shoe hard into Lu Yuanqiu’s abdomen once more.
Lu Yuanqiu doubled over again, utterly spent, his mind hazy, head throbbing, warm blood still trickling down his cheek.
For a long time, all was silent—Sun Qiangsheng must have left.
Lu Yuanqiu gasped for breath, rolling onto his back, vision swimming. He gazed at the azure sky, thinking it looked as beautiful as an oil painting in that moment.
Perhaps it was the blurriness that lent it a dreamlike beauty.
In that instant, Lu Yuanqiu thought of Bai Qingxia.
It was as if her smiling face appeared in the blue sky above him.
She looked so lovely when she smiled, delicate dimples at the corners of her eyes.
Lu Yuanqiu lifted his hand, as if to touch the sky, but it felt impossibly distant.
He was afraid he might never wake.
Or perhaps, upon waking, he’d find that the past month had been nothing but a dream—a meaningless, insubstantial dream.
That Bai Qingxia was just a figment, that Zheng Yifeng, Zhong Jincheng, Liu Wei—they were all just illusions…
He’d be back in that old café, listening in shock as Gao Qiang told him, “Yuanqiu, did you know? The person who voted for you all those years ago wasn’t Hu Caiwei—it was Bai Qingxia.”
And Lu Yuanqiu wept.
He forced his eyes to stay open, unwilling to let them close, terrified that if he did, all he’d fought so hard to change would revert to how it was before.
The girl would once again be the lifeless body lying beneath the truck in his memories.
And the man he’d become in his thirties would still be unable to recall her face—only that she had once existed.
No…
No…
This time, he truly didn’t want to forget what she looked like…
Lu Yuanqiu felt his eyelids grow heavy, his raised right hand about to fall.
Just then—
A strong hand seized his own!
Lu Yuanqiu forced his eyes open.
“Little Monk! Little Monk! Little Monk!”
Through the haze, an anxious, handsome face appeared. The man in overalls knelt at Lu Yuanqiu’s side, gripping his hand tightly and calling his name again and again.
Lu Yuanqiu frowned in surprise. “Uncle?”
The man in overalls was strong, hastily propping Lu Yuanqiu up before bending down to carry him on his back.
Spinning in anxious circles, he muttered breathlessly, “Little Monk! Little Monk! Little Monk, don’t die!”
“Blood! Blood! There’s blood! Little Monk!”
After a moment of frantic pacing, the uncle seemed to find his direction and began to run.
On the man’s back, his face smeared with blood, Lu Yuanqiu murmured, “Uncle, I never expected you’d be the one to save me…”
“Little Monk, don’t die! Little Monk, don’t die!” the man wailed, running as fast as he could.
Lu Yuanqiu, weak on his back, managed to lift his head. “Uncle, do you know the way to the hospital? You’re not… you’re not taking me straight to the crematorium, are you?”
“Uncle?”
“Uncle… say something, I don’t feel safe if you’re silent…”
“Uncle… you don’t remember the way to the crematorium, do you…”
“Huh?”
“I remember your wife and son, they…”
This brief exchange sapped all of Lu Yuanqiu’s remaining strength. He slipped into unconsciousness.
The man in overalls looked back in alarm, seeing Lu Yuanqiu’s head lolling and silent, and wailed all the louder, “Don’t die! Little Monk, don’t die!”
“Hospital! Hospital! Hospital!”
“I hate hospitals!”
“I hate hospitals!”
“Ranran, don’t die!”
“An’an, don’t die!”
“Little Monk, don’t die!”
“No one should die!”
“No one should die!”
“Hospital! Hospital!”
“Ranran’s hair is falling out! Her hair is falling out! Hospital! Hospital!”
“I hate hospitals!”
“Xiaxia, don’t cry! Xiaxia, don’t cry!”
“Xiaxia! Xiaxia, please don’t cry anymore!”
“Daddy’s heart hurts!”
“Mama is in heaven!”
“Mama is in heaven!”
“Hospital! Hospital!”
“Little Monk must go to the hospital!”
On the roadside, passersby turned in terror, watching a middle-aged man weep and shout as he carried a bloodied teenager sprinting wildly down the street.
The scene was as astonishing as a painting.
…
Dusk, the sun setting in the west.
First People’s Hospital of Lucheng.
Lu Yuanqiu lay in his hospital bed, slowly opening his eyes, the first thing he felt a stabbing pain from his head.
“Ah…”
He grimaced, baring his teeth at the pain, but gradually his vision cleared.
Sitting at his bedside was a portly, middle-aged man with a kindly face, wearing glasses and an expensive tailored suit, his expression now full of worry.
Seeing Lu Yuanqiu awake, the man immediately leaned in with concern. “Qiu’er, Qiu’er, you’re awake?”
“Uncle?” Lu Yuanqiu frowned in confusion. He turned his head and saw, standing beside his uncle, a tall, lean, middle-aged man with a briefcase under his arm and sharp eyes, who now softened his expression and asked, “Qiu’er, does your head still hurt?”
“Uncle Two?!” Lu Yuanqiu called out, then asked in surprise, “Where’s my father?”
At these words, both his uncles turned with displeasure to look at the corner of the room.
Standing in the corner, Lu Tian was being punished.
ps.
Asking for monthly votes.
Recommending a friend’s book, a campus story.
(End of this chapter)