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墨書 Inktalez
The National Day holiday was not yet over. That day, I was on duty, sitting in the Unit conference room reading a newspaper while Old Tang had gone out to buy something. Many people in the Unit were also absent, having taken leave to go out, and the entire Camp was quiet, lacking the usual noise, resembling a park.
I felt quite good; the warm sunlight streamed through the glass, illuminating the bright conference room. I couldn't help but hum a little tune. "It's been a while since everyone gathered," I thought to myself. Old Bi had taken a few days off for National Day to travel with his girlfriend, and Ah Huang was probably still busy.
I figured I might as well enjoy these few days of leisure. After the eleventh, we would have Training Commencement again, and soon we would need to prepare for the selection of non-commissioned officers. The training assessments would require our full attention. Time really flies; just like that, another year was coming to an end.
Just as I was comfortably sipping my tea, the phone rang. I picked it up casually. "Hello, this is Unit One, who is it?" I asked.
"Company Commander, come to my office right away," said the voice of the Instructor, sounding rather unfriendly.
The Instructor and I usually didn't interact much; I rarely sought him out, and he didn't come to my Unit unless there was a reason. I wondered what he wanted at this moment.
I could speculate all I wanted, but I had no choice but to go. I hung up the phone, adjusted my Uniform, and walked out of the Unit. The Instructor's office was on the second floor of the Battalion. After climbing the stairs, as I reached the door of the Instructor's office, I heard someone inside banging on a desk.
"What time is it? Why are you still dawdling? Something serious has happened!" The Instructor's voice sounded like he was talking about me.
My heart tightened as I quickly stepped inside.
"Report, Instructor, what are your orders?" I said, looking at the frowning and seemingly irritated Instructor.
"Take a look for yourself," he tossed a fax towards me.
I glanced at him in confusion before picking it up and quickly reading through it. What the hell! It turned out to be a letter of complaint written by Fu Yuehua's family.
The content indicated that Fu Yuehua was still in a coma and might very well be in a vegetative state. The family claimed that improper care at school had led to this situation and demanded that the school cover medical expenses and compensation. The key point was that our unit had also been implicated; it stated that during the period of Military Training, Fu Yuehua’s behavior and mental state had not received timely attention from the Instructors. The incident occurred right after our unit left, implying that we bore some responsibility and should also contribute to compensation.
"Just what I was afraid of," the Instructor said angrily, "I sent you for Military Training, and now you've caused this mess. Now the battalion has to deal with it. What are you going to do about it?"
I patiently explained the situation from start to finish. The Instructor's expression softened slightly, but he still frowned. "Wang Wei, I don't care what your reasons are. You need to handle this yourself and not drag the unit into it, causing any impact on the troops." I understood clearly; with the Company Commander absent, the Instructor wouldn't represent the unit in this matter. There was no choice but to rely on myself.
"Why are you still standing there? You won't be taking any time off these days. Go handle this issue. I'll take responsibility and grant you leave. I'll call Instructor Tang back to cover for you. If you don't resolve this matter and the family comes looking for us, we'll have to report it to the battalion for disciplinary action against you. That's it; go now," the Instructor said firmly, leaving no room for argument.
I took a deep breath and turned to leave the Battalion. Once outside, I stood at the entrance for a moment. Honestly, I had never encountered such a troublesome situation before. It would be a lie to say I wasn't anxious, but I forced myself to think that panicking wouldn't help. After some contemplation, I realized that if I wanted to untie this knot, I had to find Fu Yuehua's family.
With that decision made, I quickly prepared to take action. I called Old Tang, who said I could leave first and he would return shortly after. I briefed him on everything regarding the Unit, changed into civilian clothes, and exited through the military gate.
I knew where the hospital was; it wasn't my first time there. As the taxi drove halfway, I suddenly remembered that after Fu Yuehua's incident, no one from our unit had visited her—not even Jinghe or myself. It seemed a bit unreasonable; no wonder her family might think poorly of us for not showing up.
I wondered what I would say when I met Fu Yuehua's family. Lost in thought, I arrived at the hospital but didn't let the taxi stop; instead, I asked it to drive a little further ahead. I planned to stop by Yingluo's fruit shop since it had been a while and also check on Dandan.
After getting out of the car and turning into the Alley, I spotted Dandan lounging in front of the fruit shop like a pile of white cloth soaking up the sun. Before I could approach, Dandan suddenly lifted its head and greeted me with a low bark.
"Long time no see," I replied with a smile, unable to suppress my amusement at how much I treated a dog like a person.
As I reached the shop, Dandan merely shifted slightly to let me in. I patted its head, but it irritably dodged away and shot me an annoyed glance, which didn't bother me at all. "Oh, big brother!" Yingluo exclaimed in surprise as she looked up from her book inside the shop. "What brings you here?"
"I came to buy some fruit and see friends," I said while ruffling her hair. As we chatted and picked out some fruit together in the shop, my anxiety about meeting Fu Yuehua's family grew stronger. The more I thought about facing them, the more nervous I became; what if they held me accountable?
Yingluo's grandfather was nowhere to be found as we chatted aimlessly for a while. Noticing that time was passing quickly, I finally said to Yingluo, "Pack up a fruit basket." No matter how scared I felt, I had to face this situation head-on; if things didn't get resolved properly, I'd be in trouble myself. With no other option left, I steeled myself and carried the basket toward the Inpatient Department.
After confirming which room she was in, I lingered at the door for quite some time before finally gathering enough courage to push it open. Inside was a single room—likely an intensive care unit—where several people were gathered around a hospital bed looking at me as soon as I entered; they were probably her relatives. "Who are you?" asked a middle-aged man with a sorrowful expression on his face—could he be Fu Yuehua's father?
"Oh, um... I'm Fu Yuehua's instructor," I stammered out awkwardly. "I heard she had an accident and came to see her." As Jinghe's Company Commander, that was all I could say; there was no way I'd throw Jinghe under the bus—I had to take responsibility myself.
"You are the instructor of the unit," a middle-aged woman suddenly stood up and shouted at me, "I was just about to find you. Your unit is responsible for what happened to my child!"
I sighed inwardly. "Auntie, please listen to me. Fu Yuehua fell from the building due to some unforeseen circumstances. The Public Security Bureau has already provided relevant opinions."
"What nonsense! Who would just fall from a building unless someone harmed her?" The middle-aged woman appeared very agitated.
"Of course, of course, it wasn't a case of someone harming her. I meant it could have been an accident, perhaps she fell by herself." I quickly explained, but unfortunately, Ah Huang had taken away the footage; otherwise, showing them the surveillance would have resolved everything.
I swallowed hard, my mind racing to find the right words to organize my thoughts. "Maybe, maybe Fu Yuehua has somnambulism or something like that. She fell when it was early morning."
"Don't talk nonsense! I know my child. She has never had somnambulism since she was little. Besides, even if she did, why would it happen now? After just one week at school, you and the school are both responsible!"
I was momentarily speechless, and several people in the room looked at me with hostility. I didn't know how to continue, so I changed the subject and asked, "What did the doctor say about Fu Yuehua?"
No one answered me. The middle-aged woman glared at the middle-aged man who was wiping his tears and said bitterly, "You better pray to heaven for my child to wake up; otherwise, I will make your life miserable forever."
Hearing this made me feel frustrated. I stood there helplessly for a moment, looking at Fu Yuehua lying quietly on the hospital bed before awkwardly turning and leaving the room.
As luck would have it, as I stepped out of the room, I bumped into a doctor coming in. Judging by his appearance, he seemed to be the attending physician on rounds. Just as I was about to step aside, I suddenly realized—oh, I know this doctor! He was the one from the television station during that supernatural incident involving a college student called Little Demon who had also fallen into a coma; he was the supervising doctor.
"Hey, doctor! Doctor! Do you remember me?"
"You are..." The doctor adjusted his glasses and looked at me with confusion.
"Uh, earlier this year, there was a college student brought in by the police who was in a vegetative state. Do you remember? There were two of them; one later woke up. They are both my friends."
The optometrist looked at me for a long moment before finally realizing, "Oh, it's you." He then furrowed his brow and asked, "What are you doing here?"
"That one inside," I pointed, about to say more.
"What? The college student who is unconscious in there is also your friend?" The optometrist looked at me with disbelief.
A college student friend everywhere—this was probably the doctor's first reaction.
I ignored his opinion and pulled him aside a few steps. "Doctor, what do you think about the situation inside? Or how does it compare to the college student who hasn't woken up?"
The doctor stared at me for a while before responding, "It's hard to say. The last time you mentioned that one who hasn't woken up, their vital signs were stable but at a low level, somewhat like hibernation. Even the brain waves were slow and inactive. This one, however, has stable vital signs too, but many indicators are active, even the brain waves are quite lively, almost like dreaming. How should I put it? To make an analogy, that one seems to have lost its soul. This one is better off—it's like losing half of it." After saying this, the doctor shrugged as if he had made a joke.
His words struck me like a bolt from the blue, echoing in my mind. How did I not think of it this way? I couldn't bother to thank the doctor; I turned and rushed downstairs. I needed to bring Little Farmer over.
To be continued; tomorrow will be even more exciting.
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