"Where’s my brother?" He Zhilan was most concerned about He Da, who was so thin and had been hit so hard yesterday. She was afraid that something had happened to He Da.
"Your brother is in the next ward, and the doctor is checking his leg. The doctor has suggested that your brother get a prosthetic leg, but he refused. Once the doctor leaves, he should come to see you," Bono said, then handed his phone to He Zhilan. "Do you need to call your family?"
"Thank you." He Zhilan took the call and expressed her gratitude.
Bono kept He Zhilan in the dark about the incidents from last night. He needed the embassy staff to intervene, then he left He Zhilan’s room with Lihua and Peter, leaving her alone to make a call.
As soon as Bono left, He Da began limping towards He Zhilan’s ward. Upon sighting him, Bono came to his aid and assisted him to get to He Zhilan’s bedside, and then retreated once again.
"Second brother!" He Zhilan, in the process of dialing He Teng’s number, saw He Da come in, and her brows arched in a knowing smile, "I’m relieved to see you’re okay! Come sit beside me, I’m about to call our big brother! Shall we give him a great surprise?"
He Zhilan held Bono’s mobile phone and patted the space next to her. After hearing He Teng’s deep voice from the phone, she said excitedly to He Teng on the line, "Brother, I have a surprise for you!"
Then, He Zhilan handed the phone to He Da, urging him to take the call.
He Da was stunned for a few seconds and then clumsily took the phone, pressed it to his ear like He Zhilan, and stuttered with a tremble in his voice, "Brother, it’s me, He Da."
Silence fell on both ends of the line.
On the other end, He Teng thought He Zhilan was playing a joke on him when she said she had a surprise for him. But he didn’t expect that, after a few seconds of silence, someone else would speak, hailing him as ’brother’ and introducing himself as He Da.
He Da repeated, "Brother, it’s me, He Da..." and then broke down in tears, "Brother, it’s me, He Da...It’s me, He Da."
He Da repeated his name incomprehensibly, "I miss you all! Father, you, Zhilan, Dongxue...I miss everyone and every day I think of you, but I can’t return."
He Da’s cries resounded in He Teng’s ears, even though he didn’t know what exactly He Da had gone through all these years. But listening to a grown man weep uncontrollably about missing his family was already enough to bring tears to He Teng’s eyes.
"Are you all still in C Province?" After a pause, He Teng asked, "I’ll take leave tomorrow and come to C Province to find you."
"Big Brother, Zhilan got injured trying to save me. We’re in the hospital now," He Da reported.
"Where was she injured? Is it serious?" He Teng flinched, his eyebrows furrowing. She was injured again?
"She has severe wounds on her back and some internal injuries. Bro, she was saving me, she shielded me, taking all the punches and kicks from those people," He Da confessed with immense guilt. After revealing He Zhilan’s condition, he handed the phone back to her.
Upon receiving the phone, He Zhilan giggled into the phone, "Brother, aren’t you surprised? Aren’t I so brave?"
Listening to her cheerful tone, it was as if the injuries on her body had no impact on her at all.