Xiao Xian’s first thought upon waking was to stare blankly at the hospital’s stark white ceiling; the second was to smack her lips together.
Her lips were a bit swollen. When she looked around, puzzling over why she was still in the hospital, her gaze swept to Zhuo Feng, who was sprawled on the bed.
Stirred by the noise on the sickbed, Zhuo Feng jerked awake.
"Xiao Xian? Xiao Xian! You scared me to death, how come you were just fine in the emergency room and ended up sleeping on the hospital lawn?" Zhuo Feng was nearly scared to death by Xiao Xian’s bizarre incident, and when the firefighters pried the emergency room door open to find it completely empty, Zhuo Feng fainted from shock.
By the time Zhuo Feng came to, it was already the next morning. She heard from Feng Xing, who was keeping watch at the bedside, that Xiao Xian had been found on the hospital lawn, her high fever already subsided.
"Auntie, have I been here the whole time?" Xiao Xian twisted her neck, feeling no discomfort in her body, a new energy infused within her, an indescribable sense of ease all around.
Hesitating, Zhuo Feng thought about the fact that the emergency room was on the second floor—not terribly high, but the attending doctor said that when Xiao Xian was brought in, she was in a semi-comatose state. In such a state, one might do things that are beyond human imagination, and just so happened that the lawn was right below the emergency room.
"Always been," to keep Xiao Xian from getting the wrong idea, Zhuo Feng could only hide the brief disappearance.
This time, Xiao Xian wasn’t discharged after just two days like before; instead, under Zhuo Feng’s threats and temptations, she stayed in the hospital until school started and left only after a thorough checkup.
During this period, Xiao Xian also went to find Zhou Ziang, only to hear that he was discharged the evening she first left the hospital.
Were his injuries already healed? With this question, Xiao Xian returned home.
During her second hospitalization, quite a few things happened. Two of those things surprised and delighted Xiao Xian.
The Narcissus grown by Bai Juyi and Mei Xiang was ultimately selected as the top ten flowers in this winter’s International Flower Exhibition. As a participant, Zhuo Feng received a prize of ten thousand yuan, as well as forty-eight hours of gardening courses taught by expert gardeners.
During those days in the hospital, Xiao Xian was adjusting the Spiritual Energy within her body, only realizing the space advancement after entering the space again. When she stepped into the space once more, she almost thought she had entered the wrong one.
After much effort adjusting the Cloud Ascension Technique, Xiao Xian finally managed to stand steadily on what appeared to be an endless expanse of water.
"White Flood Dragon, come out," Xiao Xian looked around for Little White Jiao and the sugarcane seedling.
During the time she was seriously ill and unconscious, the conditions inside the space had changed much more than her own. With a few splashes, the White Flood Dragon frolicked unabashedly in the water, one flick of its Jiao Long tail followed by a leap over the dragon gate, playing merrily.
"If you don’t stop, I’ll peel off your dragon sinews," Xiao Xian had never read Journey to the West, but she had heard the story of Ne Zha. Mysteriously, a lake had appeared in the space; with the White Flood Dragon’s splashing, she was drenched from head to toe. The water on her skin felt icy cold and showed no signs of dissipating.
"Little master, you’re awake. They say one dreams ceaselessly in spring, I thought you were going to sleep until daylight," Today, Xiao Xian realized for the first time that Little White Jiao was a lecherous creature; the way it spoke was as sleazy as could be.
"What fortunes you speak of, how did this space turn ? Hope this pond water wasn’t made by you," After Little White Jiao arrived in Beijing City, it became pitiful, trapped in artificial ponds everywhere. Several times, it had tried to perform the Cloud Formation and Rainfall in the space, but no matter how much "space rain" it made, the soil in the space didn’t seem to become moist or soft.
Things were still manageable before Xiao Xian went on break; Sacred Heart Middle School had an artificial lake where Little White Jiao could enjoy a tumble in the water at night and catch a few snails or carp to eat.
But once Xiao Xian started her winter break, and Little White Jiao had accidentally bathed in the open waters of a well-known university’s "Lake of Woes," it was spotted by college sweethearts on a midnight date and made the early news the next day, and Xiao Xian had grounded it.
Now it was great; unexpectedly, the benefits of upgrading the space from copper to Silver-grade were so tremendous, the entire space had become a network of lakes, stretching as far as the eye could see.
"Are you saying, after the space upgraded, it turned into this vast lake, but what about the sugarcane seedling? Hope it wasn’t washed away by the water," Xiao Xian hurriedly scanned the water surface for it.