CH 149

Chapter 149: Wooden Box

At the end of June and the beginning of July, the weather had not yet fully heated up. It wasn’t considered the hottest period of the summer, but after rushing along such a long way, they could feel some sweat on their bodies.

The hospital in the small county town was different from the large hospitals in the major cities.

Both the patients and doctors seemed to be a bit more relaxed, unlike the one that Zhou Mushi frequently visited before, which gave people the feeling of fighting against the clock every moment.

It was somewhat ridiculous that he had hurried to the hospital to treat some insignificant illness, but now he came to this leisurely hospital, feeling like a headless fly that wanted to split every second into two.

However, he dared not rush too far ahead. After all, he was not ready to face Jin Yang yet.

People always need a little courage, and for this matter, he needed an extraordinary amount of courage.

Zhou Mushi was not a saint, nor did he consider himself a coward before. But after experiencing and facing the painful reality, a person’s true nature will be fully exposed.

The two of them hurried to the hospital. Wang Jiexi rushed into the hospital building to find someone, while Zhou Mushi sat on a bench outside, looking up at the lush green leaves.

When the wind hit his face, carrying a hint of warmth, it reminded him of the mature wheat fields.

Zhou Mushi’s heart suddenly calmed down, and he felt like he had been alive for a very, very long time, like an old man in his declining years.

The children playing and frolicking around, the adults coming and going, everything had slowed down.

Even his young body began to feel an inexplicable heaviness.

What kind of feeling was that?

His stomach suddenly felt like it couldn’t contain the food and water he had consumed before, his lungs began to feel a little difficult to breathe, his heart was beating slowly and irregularly, and his limbs were weak with no strength at all.

On such an afternoon, the person who used to complain about having too little free time would definitely pick up a book and sit on a chair to study if he had three or two moments of free time.

Jin Yang was a science major, but surprisingly, he loved literature. He had a small bookshelf with not many books, a total of thirty-one, which Zhou Mushi had carefully counted.

Every single page of every single book was carefully and thoroughly flipped through, just like every year, every month, and every day of a life that was lived steadily and earnestly.

The sunshine was so pleasant, warm and mild, but now it felt like a needle, pricking every inch of his skin, stabbing into every crevice of his bones, rubbing and stirring fiercely.

Removing his black-framed glasses, hat, and mask, Zhou Mushi sank into his memories. A person’s entire lifetime of memories gathered together, and in the end, they would become a small, shining golden cluster that slowly scattered in his mind.

On the day Jin Yang left, he wore a plain white shirt, which looked like an ordinary style. However, when Zhou Mushi picked out that shirt, he actually put a lot of thought into it.

The shirt had a good cut, the fabric was stiff and straight, and there was a small hand-embroidered flower-shaped “Mu” under the collar. When he purchased it at the store, Zhou Mushi had the master embroider the letter with extremely light silk thread. If you didn’t look carefully, you really wouldn’t find it.

He remembered the winter day when he sat in a private room wearing a sophisticated coat and saw the expression of the person he loved.

Why are there such wonderful things in this world?

No matter how wrapped or disguised, at a glance, just a glance, one can tell that it is their own possession.

He remembered the scent on Jin Yang, not a perfume smell, but the smell of wind, frost, rain and snow that soaked into him year-round.

Wind, frost, rain and snow shouldn’t have a scent, but Zhou Mushi knew what kind of freshness it was.

The road of life has always been more bitter than sweet. If there is someone you love holding your hand, walking with you side by side, then you have nothing to fear.

It was as if he had returned home and was busy at the stove. The beef stew in the kitchen seemed to still be simmering, with a low flame and the thick soup constantly boiling in the pot.

The clay pot contained delicious and fragrant chicken soup. On the far right of the stove was a white rice cooker, cooking two servings of fragrant rice. The tempting aroma of rice wafted through the rice cooker’s vents.

Jin Yang walked in from outside, deftly rolled up his sleeves, walked around him, and went to the sink to help him wash the vegetables. When he smiled, his eyebrows and eyes formed a beautiful arc, his lips slightly upturned, freezing the moment.

It made him want to kiss him…

Weeks went by and he didn’t know how long he had been sitting there, as if it had been several decades, yet it seemed like just a blink of an eye.

When he opened his eyes, everything around him was slowly losing color and warmth.

When a person dies, all the muscles in their body go through a long process, but when the heart dies, it often happens in just an instant.

The wind picked up, blowing around light objects on the ground.

White paper slapped against Zhou Mushi’s body, but he remained still like a statue, as if his eyes wouldn’t even move.

When the paper stuck to his chest and face, Zhou Mushi could finally see the sketch on it.

It was a character sketch, not of a particularly high level, but clear enough to recognize who it was supposed to be.

Hot tears slid down his cheeks and wet the white paper.

A man in a white coat walked toward him, carefully taking the paper off of Zhou Mushi and laying it flat on a shelf, along with a notebook he held in his hand, arranging them neatly.

His movements were meticulous, reflecting the strict and serious demeanor he usually had.

Tears streaming out of Zhou Mushi’s eyes blurred his vision and left an indelible mark on his life, haunting him constantly.

The young man on the bench had cried so much that he couldn’t see clearly, but he felt his vision was incredibly sharp.

Before Zhou Mushi could throw himself into the person’s arms in front of him, the stranger suddenly spoke.

“Excuse me, sir. Do we know each other?”

A little girl, twelve or thirteen years old, called out “Daddy” to the man standing beside Zhou Mushi and ran over.

In her arms was a small wooden box with two large characters written on it – Jin Yang.

Tears continued to fall as Zhou Mushi took in everything before him. In just a moment, he lost all his light and plunged into a long darkness.

One side of his body basked in the scorching sun, while the other was immersed in icy water and could never be pulled out again…

End of Chapter 149