342. Memories
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County Hospital.
This county hospital is the best in the area, but for reasons unknown, it hasn’t been renovated in at least twenty years. Even back when Lin Nan broke her leg as a kid, it looked like this.
A car struggled to squeeze into the hospital’s narrow two-lane entrance. The cobblestone road made for a bumpy ride, jolting the drowsy Lin Nan awake.
“Where are we?” She groggily opened her eyes and looked out the window, spotting the familiar low bungalows.
“Almost there, it’s already past ten,” Wu Guodong yawned.
Chen Yao helped Lin Nan up from his lap, chuckling, “It’s so late; your grandfather’s probably fast asleep by now.”
“Hard to say, he used to play mahjong until dawn.”
After about ten more minutes, the car finally stopped.
Lin Nan got out, realizing they were parked right in front of the inpatient department of the county hospital.
She looked up at the seven or eight-story inpatient building, already late, and noticed there weren’t many people milling about.
Once Wu Guodong parked, he guided the trio toward the inpatient department.
Chen Yao had met Lin Nan’s grandfather several times, so he didn’t feel awkward. While Wu Guodong was parking, he dashed to the convenience store outside and came back with a case of milk.
Though Lin Nan and Wu Guodong could opt out of bringing gifts, Chen Yao felt he had to; otherwise, it would seem rude.
Grandpa was in a single room on the third floor.
When Lin Nan opened the door, she found Grandma sitting inside, watching TV with Grandpa.
“Why’re you here so late?” Grandpa, half-lying on the bed, turned to see Lin Nan and the others. Spotting the milk in Chen Yao’s hands, his brows furrowed even more. “Didn’t I say no gifts?”
“I didn’t know,” Chen Yao grinned sheepishly as he placed the milk down, only to glance at the corner of the room, which was already stacked high with various fruit drinks.
Lin Nan felt a bit unsure of what to say or do when visiting a patient, so she simply trailed behind Wu Guodong, keenly observing her rather listless grandfather in the hospital bed.
“Mom, I’ll send you home to sleep shortly; I’ll stay here with Dad,” Wu Guodong said, perching himself on a small stool beside the bed, concern etching his features. “Dad, how’s the illness? Are you feeling any better?”
Grandpa seemed pleasantly surprised to see Lin Nan and the others. His eyes twinkled with joy, but he put on a serious face, trying to look stern: “I’m fine; the doctor said I can go home after a few more days of observation.”
“Maybe you should just go for the surgery? This kind of illness tends to come back,” Wu Guodong suggested. “The next time it flares up, you’ll be in pain and back in the hospital.”
Grandpa entirely ignored him, turning his gaze to Lin Nan standing at the bedside, a hint of a smile on his face: “You should go home and sleep. It’s past ten; let Guodong keep me company, and you can come back tomorrow morning.”
“I like your hair; it looks much better than before.”
He always believed men should look like men and women should look like women—a belief he was adamant about.
This mindset also meant Lin Nan’s cousin didn’t earn his favor.
“I just got it done a couple of days ago,” Lin Nan felt a bit awkward standing there and awkwardly asked, “Can I leave now?”
“Go get some sleep already! Look at your uncle; it’s no wonder he’s single—staying up so late.”
Wu Guodong, taken aback, realized the conversation had shifted to him. He protested indignantly, “I stay up late for work—and I have a girlfriend now.”
“Next time, bring her here for me to see.”
“In a few months, in a few months.” Wu Guodong scratched his head. He and Liu Xuefei had just confirmed their relationship, and bringing her home would almost imply he was ready to tie the knot!
He wanted to take his time and observe a bit more.
Lin Nan, respecting her grandfather’s wishes, hadn’t been in the hospital for even ten minutes when she motioned for Chen Yao to leave.
The hospital was practically at the city center, only a short walk from Lin Nan’s home, but just the thought of her father living there made her lose all desire to return.
Maybe he had already moved out.
Just picturing him left Lin Nan feeling inexplicably heavy in her heart.
Chen Yao followed Lin Nan out of the hospital, pretending not to notice her emotions. While waiting for a motorcycle taxi at the entrance, he teased her about what just happened: “Looks like your grandpa really likes you. Your uncle got roasted.”
“Yeah.”
Lin Nan paused, standing on the sidewalk as she gazed at the outpatient building across the street.
“I remember that time in middle school when I brought you here to have your bone set after you broke it?” As Chen Yao reminisced, he tried to distract Lin Nan. “I secretly followed you and even peeked at you getting your bone reset, crying my eyes out.”
She recalled that incident and felt furious: “If you hadn’t pushed me, I wouldn’t have broken anything! My mom still thinks it was my fault, scolded me for two days, and I couldn’t even leave the house! You didn’t even come to check on me!”
“I was a coward back then.” Chen Yao had no idea why he was such a chicken as a kid. He awkwardly explained, “I really wanted to visit, but when I got to your building, I chickened out.”
A motorcycle taxi suddenly passed by, prompting Chen Yao to quickly drop the topic and flag it down.
As night deepened, the hospital remained brightly lit. The two of them hopped on, clutching the handlebars as the vehicle jostled along.
Chen Yao used to bargain for these rides, but after several years of studying elsewhere, he wasn’t sure what the going rates were anymore, so he pretended to be generous and let Lin Nan take the lead on pricing.
Once a manually pedaled rickshaw, it was now electric, but the price hadn’t dropped—if anything, it seemed to get pricier each year.
Lin Nan gazed at the night scenery beside her. She had lived in the county for quite some time, and although not much had changed, some streets still felt foreign to her.
The rickshaw’s speed was slower than a normal person’s sprint, leisurely bumping along the streets until they left the hospital’s bumpy cobblestones behind and hit smooth asphalt.
After about twenty minutes, they arrived at a bar, just across from Chen Yao’s apartment complex.
After paying with a QR code, Chen Yao curiously glanced at the bar and asked Lin Nan, “Have you ever been inside? It’s been open for years, and I’ve never dared to go in. I heard a few high school classmates work there.”
“I’ve never been to a bar,” Lin Nan bent down to tie her shoelaces.
“Turns out the prettiest girl from our class is working there as a ‘princess’. She’s making pretty good money too,” Chen Yao started mentioning classmates from high school.
Their high school wasn’t particularly exceptional; only half the class went on to college, and just about ten made it to university. The rest either went straight to work after graduation or went off into the wild world outside, losing touch.
Lin Nan had always been a wallflower, not having many friends in high school. The names Chen Yao mentioned felt a little unfamiliar, and she had to think long and hard to connect the names with faces in her memory.
Soon, they took the elevator up to Chen Yao’s apartment door. Before they could knock, the door swung open, and Auntie, who had been tipped off beforehand, greeted Lin Nan with a warm smile.
But the next moment, she turned into a tiger mom, glaring at Chen Yao: “Why are you coming back so late? The supper I prepared for Nan Nan is cold!”
