nucmednet Chapter 404, Chapter 1: The Power of Attention
Chapter 404, Chapter 1: The Power of Attention
Jiang Zhouzhou returned to the living room, and the cold night wind could not dispel the lingering warmth on her face.
Under the guise of a game punishment, someone openly confessed his feelings and even forced her to repeat those words.
The playing cards on the round table hadn't been tidied up yet, scattered everywhere. Jiang Zhouzhou went over to tidy up the cards first, only to find a card placed where Gu Nanfeng was sitting.
She bent down and picked up the card.
A red heart 10.
Sometime during the middle, someone secretly wrote down two names with a pen.
粥粥
南风
Hearts represent love, and 10 symbolizes completeness. At first glance, the two names are surrounded by a circle of small red hearts.
A subtle, hidden thought is revealed in this card.
"How childish."
Jiang Zhouzhou smiled and finally took out the card separately and put it in a book.
How to do?
She's become so greedy, so incredibly greedy.
After tidying up the living room, Jiang Zhouzhou went back to her bedroom and took a shower.
Tangyuan is in the novelty of its new environment, exploring its new territory and trying to leave its fur everywhere.
Jiang Zhouzhou looked through the photos she had taken that day on her phone: Yin Yue with cockroaches painted on his face, Gu Nanfeng with a cat-like face, Lin Chen being bullied, the quiet Ji Yu'an, Xiao Dian causing trouble everywhere, and Zhou Xian who noticed her taking pictures and deliberately raised his eyebrows and made a peace sign...
Today is her happiest day.
As I swiped my finger across the screen, a phone number from Beijing called.
Jiang Zhouzhou's finger, which was swiping the screen, subconsciously pressed the answer button.
"Hello, is this Zhouzhou?"
A voice, both unfamiliar and familiar, came from the phone.
"Zhouzhou, is that you?"
"I'm the father!"
"Hello? Why aren't you talking?"
"Strange, is there a problem with the signal?"
The man's voice as he muttered to himself revealed a hint of irritability and anxiety.
Just as his patience was about to run out, Jiang Zhouzhou asked in a cold voice, "What is it?"
As if oblivious to her cold tone, the man who claimed to be her father chuckled and said, "You haven't contacted your family for so many years, your grandmother and I are very worried about you."
"You've never cared about me before, so why are you suddenly showing concern now?"
A faint sneer flashed in her eyes. She could roughly guess that the other party had seen her online fame and thought she had value, which was why he had taken the initiative to contact the daughter he had abandoned.
Meanwhile, the man continued to play the emotional card, complaining into his phone: "Zhouzhou, don't blame Dad. It was really, really hard for Dad back then. Everyone said I married a rich wife, but behind my back they all called me a gigolo. And her whole family watched me like a thief, demanding an explanation for every penny I spent..."
Jiang Zhouzhou: "I'm hanging up now, goodbye."
Not in the mood to listen to his complaints, Jiang Zhouzhou was about to hang up the unpleasant call when the other party quickly stopped her.
"No, your grandma is sick."
"If you have time, please come and see her!"
“I know I am not worthy of being a father, but your grandmother has never mistreated you. She raised you with great care and hardship.”
"She talks about you every day now, wanting to see you one last time."
Jiang Zhouzhou remained silent as the man's voice on the phone kept babbling, but she could no longer understand what he was saying.
"I'll send you the address. Whether you come or not is up to you. I won't force you."
"Zhouzhou, Dad is sorry."
"But I still want to ask you to see your grandmother one last time, so that she doesn't have any regrets before she passes away."
"You're the one she's most worried about right now."
The call finally ended, and the screen gradually went dark.
Then a buzzing vibration sounded, and a text message was sent to her phone.
Jiang Zhouzhou didn't read the text message; her eyes were fixed blankly on the window.
The heavy curtains completely blocked out everything outside, but they couldn't stop the howling of the cold wind.
Happiness, it was so fleeting!
I lay in bed all night without sleeping, and some almost forgotten childhood memories became exceptionally clear in the quiet of the night.
Summer nights are noisy, with the chirping of various insects filling the ears and making it difficult to fall asleep.
Young Jiang Zhouzhou slept alone in the room, tossing and turning.
As soon as I close my eyes, the scene I witnessed during the day comes to mind.
An elderly woman in the village passed away, and according to custom, she should be buried with her deceased husband.
She happened to pass by on her way to school and saw a group of people gathered there. Curious, she went over to see what was going on.
The crudely made coffin was rotten, and the rotten planks were soaked in bodily fluids and crawling with maggots. A group of disgusting worms, startled, scurried about, including two long worms with brightly colored patterns. Their long bodies twisted together, and they quickly burrowed into the rotting corpse, bloating its belly.
Jiang Zhouzhou glanced at the corpse's face and ran away in fright.
That was when she had her first truly direct experience of death.
Death is foul, rotten, and terrifying.
She was in a daze all day, and all she could see when she opened and closed her eyes was that disfigured face.
Originally, it had faded from memory, but that face reappeared so clearly.
The flesh on the corpse's face had completely rotted away, and its eyes were closed, but in full view of everyone, one eye suddenly opened.
The people who opened the coffin thought it was a corpse that had risen from the dead, but it turned out to be a millipede crawling out of its eye socket.
Little Zhouzhou lay on the wooden bed, and amidst the noisy chirping of insects, she heard a rustling sound, much like the sound of millipedes crawling on the ground.
She suddenly sat up in bed and ran to her grandmother's room in the dark.
"Grandma, can I sleep with you?"
"I am afraid."
The old lady, who always had a stern face, surprisingly didn't tell her to get lost.
The bamboo mat bed was moved a little so that she could lie down on it.
The electric fan, running at its lowest setting, whirred and blew away much of the fear.
Zhouzhou: "Grandma, do people all die?"
Grandma: "Do you want me to die?"
Zhouzhou: "I don't want my mom and dad to abandon me. If grandma dies, I'll be all alone."