Volume One, Chapter Fourteen: Good News and Bad News
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His heart gave an involuntary jolt.
He suddenly realized that he had made a terribly serious mistake.
It was like telling one lie and then needing countless more to cover it up.
Once he had claimed to have a girlfriend, it would set off a whole chain of consequences...
He knew his mother’s personality all too well. She was extremely controlling.
When it came to him finding a girlfriend, she was even more invested than usual.
Now that he had said such a thing, there would probably be no end to the trouble in the future...
“Uh, Mom, don’t rush over just yet. Listen to me first.”
Worried that Xu Mi might hear something she shouldn’t, Lin Chen covered the mouthpiece with his hand and hurried outside.
......
After half an hour of exhausting effort, Lin Chen finally managed to calm his mother down and persuade her not to come over for the time being.
The reason was simple enough.
He had only recently met the girl, and their relationship was still unstable. If his mother came rushing over in such a frantic state, she might scare the girl away.
His mother thought that made sense and agreed.
Once the matter was settled, Lin Chen let out a long sigh of relief.
But he knew this was only a temporary solution.
His mother was not only stubborn, but also prone to overthinking.
What would he do if, after some time had passed, she decided she wanted to meet the girl again?
Could he really let her meet Xu Mi?
That would be nothing short of a comet colliding with Earth...
He did not even dare imagine the scene.
“Whatever. I’ll deal with things one step at a time.”
After sighing, Lin Chen hailed a taxi and headed back to the school dormitory.
......
The next day was the weekend.
There was no work.
Lin Chen slept until eleven in the morning before getting up.
After leisurely eating breakfast in the cafeteria, he went with Jiang Yao to look for a place to rent near the company.
The school was too far from the office. Just commuting back and forth every day took more than an hour.
So the two of them planned to rent two small apartments near the company.
One for Jiang Yao, and one for himself.
As for why they needed two separate apartments...
That was because the shameless bastard Jiang Yao was planning to move in with his doctoral-student girlfriend.
The company was located in the central business district, an especially prosperous area.
Finding an apartment there was therefore relatively easy.
They had everything settled within just three hours.
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A chain-style serviced apartment hotel... Each room was thirty square meters.
The rent was 1,300 a month, with one month’s deposit and one month’s rent paid in advance.
For Jicheng, that price was neither particularly high nor particularly low.
After paying and signing the contract, Jiang Yao went to find his girlfriend, while Lin Chen prepared to head to the hospital.
......
On the way there, Lin Chen was in an exceptionally good mood.
Now that he had rented a place off campus, he would no longer have to return to school every day.
Even if he wanted to stay at the hospital all night to keep Xu Mi company...
He could do that now.
However, when he cheerfully pushed open the door to the hospital room that had originally belonged to Xu Mi, the person sitting beside the bed was an elderly woman with completely white hair.
Thinking he had entered the wrong room, Lin Chen stepped back out and checked the room number.
“I didn’t get it wrong.”
He opened his mouth to ask the old woman what was going on.
At that moment, a nurse pushed a cart into the room.
When she saw Lin Chen, she looked puzzled.
“Lin Chen, why are you here again? Your wife has already been discharged.”
“D-Discharged?”
Lin Chen’s eyes widened.
To him, the news was no different from a nuclear bomb exploding in his mind.
It was completely beyond his expectations.
“You didn’t know?” the young nurse asked, looking bewildered.
This couple was truly strange.
They were clearly so close that they seemed like one person, yet they were always doing things no one could have anticipated.
“I didn’t know. Wait, that doesn’t make sense. My wife had been lying in that bed for so long. How could she have been discharged so quickly?”
“She woke up four days ago—the night you stayed here.”
“Uh... She really woke up?” Lin Chen did not know whether to laugh or cry.
“Yes. But she told us not to tell you, so...”
“I understand. When was she discharged?”
“This morning. I think her cousin came to handle the paperwork.”
“Isn’t that reckless? Even if she’s awake, she hasn’t fully recovered yet, has she? How could she be discharged? Why didn’t you stop her?” Lin Chen was genuinely angry.
Partly, he was angry that she had not told him.
Partly, he was angry that she had failed to take care of her own health.
“We did try to stop her, but she was extremely determined. When she left, she still couldn’t walk. Her family had to wheel her out in a wheelchair.”
After saying this, the young nurse muttered, “That was the first time I’d ever seen anything like it. She didn’t look as though she was being discharged—she looked as if she were escaping. It’s not as though our hospital has some man-eating tiger inside.”
The nurse’s remark made everything click for Lin Chen.
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It must have been because he had answered his mother’s call in front of Xu Mi the previous night.
During the call, he had said that he had a girlfriend, and his mother had even said she was coming to meet her...
Xu Mi must have taken him seriously. So, despite not having fully recovered, she had fled during the night.
Once he understood the whole chain of events, Lin Chen was left laughing and crying at the same time.
That day, he had received two extremely important pieces of news—one good and one bad.
The good news was that Xu Mi had truly awakened. She could even communicate normally with other people now.
It was a momentous blessing!
The bad news was that he had frightened her away. She had escaped in the middle of the night without even leaving behind any means of contacting her.
In this vast sea of humanity, where was he supposed to find her?
After shaking his head helplessly, Lin Chen asked the nurse, “Miss, with my wife in her current condition, would it be all right for her to recuperate at home?”
“That shouldn’t be a problem. Her bodily functions have more or less recovered, and a full recovery is only a matter of time.”
“Oh, that’s good. By the way, do you have my wife’s contact information?”
The young nurse froze for a moment, then rolled her eyes at him speechlessly.
“You’re unbelievable. She’s your wife, and you’re asking me for her contact information?”
Lin Chen gave an awkward laugh and said nothing more.
......
After leaving the hospital, Lin Chen stood at the intersection, uncertain where to go.
He called the old woman several times, but no one answered.
He walked through the crowded streets, yet his heart felt utterly empty.
It was the weekend.
He had originally made a full day of plans.
First, he had intended to return to the hospital and share the good news about moving out with her...
Then he would have helped her relax her muscles, cleaned her body, sung her a song, and talked with her about work...
But after her sudden discharge, Lin Chen found himself with no idea what to do.
Only then did he realize that all his plans now revolved around her.
Once she was gone, his heart seemed to leave with her, hollow and desolate, with nothing to rely on.
And the only person who could connect him with Xu Mi—the old woman—was temporarily unreachable.
He truly had no idea what to do.
He simply wandered aimlessly through the streets, not knowing where to go or what to do next...
Just then, the old woman he had been unable to reach, Li Xiulan, suddenly called him.
“Hello, is this Lin Chen? This is Li Xiulan.”
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