"Oh, I see. You stay seated right here, don’t go anywhere, and I’ll get you a hot towel to wipe down."
"Okay, thank you Brother Liangliang."
Once Xue Liangliang left, Li Zhiyuan caught a glimpse of a familiar figure from the corner of his eye; it was Sister Yingzi.
She’s at this hospital too? Did her grandparents get transferred here from the town’s health clinic?
That might mean that Grandmaster is also here, right?
However, Li Zhiyuan did not leave his seat to follow her, worried that Xue Liangliang would come back and not find him, becoming anxious.
Xue Liangliang came back with a new towel, carefully wiping Li Zhiyuan’s face and gesturing for Li Zhiyuan to raise his hands so he could extend the towel under the short sleeves to wipe down his body and prevent catching a cold.
"Xiao Yuan, you’re not from around here, right?" Xue Liangliang asked with a smile, "Yesterday when I asked, you said you were local, but when you had your blood drawn, you were speaking with the nurse in the Nantong dialect. I could tell."
"Yeah, I was in Beijing when I was little, just recently returned to my hometown."
"Beijing, huh? I’ve been there, for an intercollegiate academic exchange. Went to Weiming Lake."
Li Zhiyuan thought to himself: What a coincidence, we didn’t bump into each other.
"I envy the kids from the big cities," Xue Liangliang exclaimed.
"Where is Brother Liang from?"
"Me? I’m from the countryside of Anhui. My family’s house is beautiful but a bit poor."
Li Zhiyuan nodded; he too thought that many of the old houses around Si Yuan Village were beautiful, especially the rooftops of the bungalows and the designs of the flying eaves. Very pretty.
"It’s a pity, after many in the village improved their living conditions, they tore down the old houses to build new ones."
"That’s for better living though."
"I know, but I feel like once ordinary people’s lives improve, they’ll be like those in developed countries and start enjoying travel. If the old houses remain intact, they could become tourist attractions."
Li Zhiyuan looked at Xue Liangliang; he thought that this big brother’s way of thinking had a kind of insightful depth that made him impressed.
He was not someone who knew everything by birth, nor was he like those talented classmates of his, but he seemed to be extremely adept at discovering objective laws and getting to the heart of a problem, that is, having a far-sighted vision.
Maybe, this was a form of genius too.
"Haha, do you think I’m just spouting nonsense? Who would actually pay to queue up and visit old houses and old towns in the future?"
Li Zhiyuan shook his head: "I think what Brother Liangliang said is probably right."
"You’re quite smart too, really, I can tell. How are your grades?"
"Not bad, there aren’t many kids in my class who can beat me."
"That’s because you’re still young. In the lower grades, there’s not much to learn, so the gap isn’t big, and neither is the competition. Wait till you get to middle school, high school, and then university, you’ll understand. Don’t be complacent now."
Li Zhiyuan then pointed towards the staircase: "Brother Liangliang, I just saw my cousin going up. Her grandparents are hospitalized here, she and my aunt should be accompanying them. I want to go see her."
"Alright, I’ll go with you."
"There’s no need to trouble you, I can go myself."
"No way, after we get the report this afternoon and make sure everything is okay, I have to take you home myself."
"Okay, Brother Liangliang."
The fourth and fifth floors are the inpatient levels. Li Zhiyuan didn’t know the names of the patients, so naturally, he couldn’t check the room numbers and had to sweep through each ward one by one.
It didn’t take long for him to hear a loud and familiar voice: "Damn it, what the hell is going on?"
It was Grandmaster’s voice.
Li Zhiyuan immediately ran over with Xue Liangliang following behind.
At the same time, some patients and their families appeared in the hallway, drawn out by the commotion to see what was happening.
Upon arriving at the door of the ward and pushing it open.
Li Zhiyuan saw Li Sanjiang holding a Peach Wood Sword, protecting Yingzi and his third aunt along with two other middle-aged men and women behind him. On both beds lay an old person, presumably Yingzi’s grandparents.
At this moment, the two elderly were convulsing fiercely, with blood oozing from their eyes, ears, mouth, and nose, especially from their mouths where blood was gushing out, not only staining the bed red but also pooling rapidly into two large puddles on the floor.
Yet even so, they were still trying desperately to voice out, intermittently:
"Spare us... Spare us... Bai Family’s Lady!"