Free Web Novel"Where are we going?"
Jiang Hao looked down at Lu Yibei's hand suddenly gripping her wrist, then looked towards the main entrance of the hospital. "To the pier for some fries," Lu Yibei said seriously.
Jiang Hao tilted her head.
What's wrong with this guy now?
Understanding Jiang Hao's gaze, Lu Yibei sighed silently, raised a finger and pointed to the small supermarket not far away, explaining, "Just buying something. How can you visit someone empty-handed?"
As she spoke, she tapped her work ID badge on her chest twice with her finger. "Even with this thing, which can make people recognize us as volunteers from a public welfare organization, if we go empty-handed, who would pay attention to us?"
"We're not here to interrogate urban legend, so many methods can't be used. We can only try to get close to them."
Jiang Hao thought about it and felt that Lu Yibei made sense, so she nodded and turned to follow Lu Yibei towards the small supermarket. However, after only a few steps, she frowned again. freёwebnovel.com
Her gaze shifted down to her right hand. Lu Yibei's hand hadn't loosened; instead, she had slightly adjusted her position and held Jiang Hao's small hand. Jiang Hao tried to pull her hand back, attempting to break free, but found that Lu Yibei held her even tighter, even going so far as to scratch her palm with her fingers. This was not an unconscious act; it was premeditated!
Catching a hint of slyness in Lu Yibei's eyes from her profile, Jiang Li took a deep breath, adjusted her gradually accelerating heartbeat, lifted her chin slightly, and then suddenly exerted force with her wrist, breaking free from Lu Yibei's mischievous small hand.
Caught off guard, Lu Yibei's palm felt empty, and she was stunned for a moment. Before she could recover from the sudden sense of loss, Jiang Ge's small hand, which had already broken free, unexpectedly gripped hers again.
Fingers intertwined, taking the initiative!
She widened her eyes and looked sharply to her side, seeing Jiang Ge's slightly raised chin and a hint of triumph in her eyes. This level of teasing, like a primary school student's, was useless against Jiang Hao.
Moreover, when two people like each other, teasing isn't called teasing; it should be called flirtation! —
After buying some milk, fruit, and flowers at the small supermarket, and using the convenience of their volunteer work permits to pay some deposit and borrow two trolleys, Jiang Hao and Lu Yibei entered Shancheng Central Hospital and headed straight for the oncology inpatient department.
Modern hospitals have barrier-free access, so the two pushing trolleys moved unimpeded. Along the way, Jiang Ge highlighted the key points to Lu Yibei, explaining the purpose of her visit.
What does "highlight the key points" mean?
Almost all buyers who purchased paintings from Tan Qiuming suffered from malignant tumors, and several had been hospitalized for long-term treatment at Shancheng Central Hospital. This was the key point.
However, finding someone with the same name, surname, and age as her mother on the buyer list was irrelevant.
"I think I understand," Lu Yibei said, pondering for a moment before asking, "Could this be something Tan Qiuming promised them? Patients suffering from malignant tumors, if their condition is severe, are basically waiting to die, and when a person is in this state, their will is at its most fragile."
Cancer may not necessarily destroy their body's immune system, but it will definitely destroy their mind's immune system, making them susceptible to being deluded.
Before the night grew long, various con artists targeting these patients were already emerging in endless numbers, and now with the gradually rampant Spiritual Energy, those con artists could probably make their old tricks even more elaborate.
Upon hearing Lu Yibei's words, Jiang Hao's eyes lit up slightly, then her expression became solemn. "You think so too?"
If she alone held this view, she would still think there might be a deviation, but hearing Lu Yibei also think so, she felt that it was more likely that Tan Qiuming had deceived those patients into doing something.
"Yes," Lu Yibei nodded, her expression unreadable. "Previously, I encountered a patient who had been deceived."
While collecting ingredients for cooking Human Fireworks, she encountered a memory segment of a cancer patient who had been tragically swindled.
The source of that memory was a string of prayer beads made from unknown plant seeds, simply engraved with some refreshing and pain-relieving incantations. It could indeed alleviate the pain of cancer in the short term, so the owner of that memory treasured it, bought it at a high price, and always kept it with them.
Initially, Lu Yibei even thought that the swindler who sold the prayer beads had some conscience, as at least the prayer beads genuinely helped the patient alleviate pain.
But when she came to her senses, she realized that if it weren't for the swindler's sweet talk and the prayer beads' palliative effect, the owner of that memory would not have delayed the optimal treatment time.
That string of prayer beads was one of the few lost items whose owner could not be found.
The inpatient department of Shancheng Central Hospital consists of four buildings arranged in an "E" shape. The oncology inpatient wards are located on the second floor of the fourth building, which is horizontally situated at the deepest part, with a large park behind it.
Walking towards the fourth inpatient building, Lu Yibei, who had briefly observed the environment of the inpatient department, couldn't help but murmur, "Don't tell me, this hospital's arrangement for the oncology wards is quite interesting."
Hearing this, Jiang Hao looked around. "Hmm, arranging it on the second floor should be for convenience in emergency rescues, and at the same time, environmental conditions like humidity and temperature are slightly better than on the first floor. As for placing it in the innermost corner, it's probably out of concern that other patients might be emotionally affected by those oncology patients, after all, not all oncology patients can actively and optimistically fight the disease; on the contrary, many patients' temperaments will gradually become strange, or violent, or solitary, or depressed under the torment of illness. In short, they won't give others a good face."
Passing through the small gardens between several inpatient buildings and entering the fourth inpatient building, they ascended the stairs and officially entered the oncology ward area.
As soon as they passed through the door with the sign "Oncology Inpatient Department," Jiang Li and Lu Yibei exchanged a tacit glance.
Unlike the serene and elegant feeling in the small garden, the long corridor felt cold, and a strange smell hung in the air.
It was a mixture of various medicines, sweat, food, vomit, blood, and other things, which, after long periods of brewing and settling, formed a difficult-to-describe odor.
Walking down the corridor, one inexplicably felt a hidden and oppressive strangeness, as if approaching someone covering their face with their hands, desperately trying to suppress their pain and prevent themselves from crying out.
Before Jiang Hao set out for Shancheng Central Hospital, Zhong Huai had already gone through the procedures and made preliminary arrangements with the hospital. When the two arrived at the ward's duty room, showed their work permits to the Doctor on duty, and explained their purpose, they were immediately warmly welcomed by the Doctor on duty.
"That's great, it's really great that you can come and care for those patients. For their kind of illness, giving them more care and keeping them in a happy mood is very helpful for their condition, but..."
"But?"
The young Doctor who received them, a slightly chubby man, had his smile stiffen slightly as he adjusted his black-rimmed glasses.
"You should also know that those patients are tormented by illness almost every moment, which leads to their tempers not being very good. Volunteers who came before were often made terribly angry by them, and after a few times, no one came for a long time."
"Haha, I didn't expect two of you to come at once today, and both are great—"
Seeing the two young Misses in front of him looking at him with cold expressions, the young Doctor felt a bit awkward for a moment, then composed his smile and said seriously, "What I want to say is, if a patient gets angry at you later, please be as accommodating as possible. They, they actually don't have any bad intentions, it's just that their bodies are too uncomfortable."
"Don't worry, we won't take it to heart. If it can make them feel better, they can swing their arms and give me two punches," Lu Yibei nodded in understanding.
Although, just as Mr. Shan Xun wrote, "Human joys and sorrows are not interconnected; I only find them noisy." There is no true empathy in this world.
If you haven't suffered from their illness, if you haven't had similar experiences to theirs, you will never know how they feel.
However, while collecting ingredients for Human Fireworks, she had witnessed too many similar situations: elderly people confined to bed taking out their pain on their children, critically ill women driving away their loved ones in a nearly cruel manner. She felt that she could at least understand one-tenth of their feelings.
"Miss is joking, how could they hit you?"
"I mean, what if! And even if they really want to hit me, I won't go back on my word."
Jiang Hao glanced at Lu Yibei and found that what she said was actually true.
She watched Lu Yibei talking to the Doctor quietly from the side. She didn't know if it was an illusion, but she suddenly felt that Lu Yibei was a little different from before.
How to put it? Even while maintaining her urban legend state, she seemed more like a living person than ever before?
"Oh, Doctor!" Lu Yibei said, "Recently, has anything interesting happened in our inpatient department? Uh,"
“Things that make you feel strange, warm, or touching also count.”
Hearing this, Jiang Hao, whose thoughts had been interrupted, turned to look at Lu Yibei, her eyes filled with surprise.
Although the purpose of this trip was to investigate the connection between Tan Qiuming, the X Heavenly God's offspring, and those patients with swollen spasms, wouldn't asking so directly be a bit inappropriate?
Jiang Hao thought, and then heard Lu Yibei say, “It's like this: after our activities today, we plan to go back and write an article about what we saw today and publish it online to call on more people to join us in caring for cancer patients.”
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“Don't worry, no real names will appear in any articles, so it won't affect you.”
“This is a good thing!” The Doctor slapped his thigh excitedly, but then he frowned, “But there doesn't seem to be anything recently... Wait, there is, there is!”
“Does the recent surge in patients with respiratory tumors count? Our situation here is slightly better. My classmate works at the military hospital, and he said their inpatient department is almost full; there aren't even empty beds in the corridors.”
“Respiratory? Why is that? Do you have any clues?” Lu Yibei pressed.
“I don't have any, that's why it's a Strange Tale!”
Lu Yibei took out her phone and diligently recorded the Doctor's words in her memo, then asked, “Anything else? For ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) example, a patient who left a deep impression on you?”
“A patient?” The young Doctor thought for a moment and said, “There is one, but that person didn't leave a good impression on me. I always feel like it's strange, I can't quite explain it. Are you sure you want to hear?”
Logically speaking, a Doctor shouldn't casually reveal patient information to others, but the moment his gaze met the young Miss in front of him, his heart inexplicably sped up, and he subconsciously felt that he could tell this young Miss anything.
It was as if he was possessed.
“Mm-hmm.” Lu Yibei nodded.
Jiang Li glanced at Lu Yibei, noticing the faint crimson glow in her eyes. She opened her mouth but said nothing, merely sighing silently and shaking her head.
Although using Power on ordinary people is not allowed by the Night Watch, Lu Yibei's current identity is a Strange Tale. As long as she doesn't use her abilities for improper purposes, it's fine.
The only thing that concerned her was that using Charm on the Doctor would leave some after-effects.
Fortunately, the after-effects only made the Doctor unable to tolerate any other living beings in his eyes for a short period, which was still tolerable.
“In our inpatient department, there used to be a patient named Tan Qiuming. He said he was a painter, but I've seen his paintings, and it's hard to describe...”
Hearing this, Lu Yibei and Jiang Li simultaneously froze and looked at each other.
Lu Yibei: 【I didn't expect that guy to also be a cancer patient. Is this an unexpected discovery?】
Jiang Hao: 【Hmm, coming here was the right choice. We might even get a crucial clue.】
After exchanging glances, both of them refocused their attention on the young Doctor's words.
“When he was hospitalized, for a period, he often visited other wards, but unlike other patients, he didn't interact with fellow patients. Instead, he frequently had close contact with the patients' family members. You could always see him whispering something with the patients' family members.”
“What happened then?” Lu Yibei asked.
“Then his illness suddenly got better.” The young Doctor marveled, “Honestly, he already had stage three liver cancer, and for him to recover completely without any after-effects, it was simply a miracle.”
Upon hearing the word “miracle,” Fang Ji's figure inexplicably flashed through Lu Yibei's mind, but she quickly shook her head, casting off the thought that had quietly arisen in her mind.
With the X Heavenly God and the Eclipse Society involved, this matter was already very complicated. If the Miracle Order were also involved, what then?
Moreover, if Tan Qiuming were truly a member of the Miracle Order, he probably wouldn't have come to the hospital for treatment; instead, he would have waited at home for his body to miraculously overcome the illness, right?
“Can you tell us which patient families he had contact with before? Is it convenient?” Jiang Li interjected.
Hearing this, the Doctor glanced at Jiang Hao, his eyes undisguisedly showing disdain.
Jiang Li
Shifting his gaze from Jiang Li to Lu Yibei, the young Doctor's expression suddenly became somewhat strange. After a few seconds of silence, he said, “Although I still remember some of the patient families he contacted, to be honest, many of those patients whose families he contacted have already been discharged.”
“Discharged?” Lu Yibei asked, puzzled, “Why? Could it be that they all recovered?”
“Some recovered, and some passed away. Perhaps it was a coincidence?”
“Are there none left?” Lu Yibei pressed.
“There are two left. One is in 202 Ward, a five-year-old Little Girl. She went for chemotherapy and should be back soon. The other is in 227 Ward, a middle-aged businessman. When he's not doing chemotherapy, he only comes to the hospital for a short while every afternoon, and he won't listen to persuasion.”
Hearing this, Jiang Li gave Lu Yibei a look.
【So, if we want to know anything, we can only start with that Little Girl and her family.】
Lu Yibei nodded. 【Okay, let's go check later.】
“Oh, by the way, there's one more thing. After Tan Qiuming was discharged, he almost became a legend among patients. Even now, patient families occasionally ask us for his contact information, saying they want to buy his paintings, as if his paintings can cure illnesses.”
The young Doctor said.
“I really don't understand, if a few paintings can cure illnesses, what do we Doctors do?”
Lu Yibei, “...”
That's right, if those paintings can cure illnesses, what do Doctors do?
Unless those paintings are problematic and can truly “cure illnesses”!
Lu Yibei thought, then turned to look at Jiang Hao, finding a similar guess in her eyes.
After exchanging glances with Jiang Hao, Lu Yibei put away her phone, stood up, and bowed to the young Doctor, “Thank you, Doctor. We'll go visit the patients in the ward now.”
Seeing this, the young Doctor stood up, seemingly wanting to go with them, but then saw Lu Yibei suddenly wink at him and say, “See you later!”
After hearing this, he sat back down in his chair obediently, as if under a spell again.
“Jiang Li raised her hand to her forehead, rubbing her slightly throbbing temples.
She only suddenly realized today that her boyfriend being more beautiful and charming than herself was truly enough!
After leaving the duty room, Lu Yibei and Jiang Hao pushed the borrowed trolley and delivered the purchased Solace, one by one, to the patients with swollen legs.
And as they stopped and went, they realized that the scenes in movies rarely truly appear in actual oncology wards.
It's not that there aren't patients who face their illness positively and optimistically like in movies, but such patients are actually rare; at least, they didn't see any today.
What they saw were patients lying on hospital beds with dull eyes and sallow faces.
There were indwelling needles and dense needle marks on the patients' hands.
There were children who suppressed their sadness to ask about their parents' well-being but couldn't say more than three sentences before fleeing in disarray, hiding in the restroom to cry.
“Did you hear that?” Pushing the half-empty trolley down the corridor, Jiang Hao suddenly asked Lu Yibei, “That old man just told his son, 'I'm a burden to you. When I get better, I'll repay you well.' How...
What kind of mindset must a mother, who gave life to her child and painstakingly raised them, have to say the word “repay” to her child? freēwebnovel.com
“I heard it,” Lu Yibei replied briefly.
Jiang Hao secretly observed her, finding her very calm, not the calm disguised by a poker face, but as if she had seen many similar things and her heart no longer rippled.
At this moment, she suddenly felt that Lu Yibei, who had just seemed like a living person, had become a “god” who did not partake in Human Fireworks.
Just as she was slightly lost in thought, looking at Lu Yibei's profile, a stretcher was pushed out of the elevator at the end of the corridor and turned into 202 Ward.
The two exchanged glances and quickly followed.
