Feng Ling didn’t understand what Mrs. Feng meant. She raised her head and looked at her seriously. “What do you want to ask, Mrs. Feng?”
“Are you really a… boy?” Mrs. Feng probably thought that her question was indeed too abrupt and didn’t respect him very much, so she said somewhat apologetically and euphemistically. “Please don’t take me wrong. It’s just because you’re so pretty that I…”
Feng Ling didn’t change her expression and her eyes were calm. “You don’t have to feel sorry. I am often mistaken as a girl by the people of the base. That’s probably because I am indeed much smaller than my peers. It is common for people to have doubts about this.”
Mrs. Feng froze for a moment. “So you mean …”
“I am a man.” Feng Ling answered without hesitation.
Mrs. Feng looked at her, unable to utter a word but she wasn’t satisfied with this answer, so she could only look at her. “You …”
“Mrs. Feng, just now Miss Qin said you’re not feeling well. I have nothing to entertain you in this ward. When Miss Qin returns, let her take you home for a rest. I am still recuperating and also need to rest.” Feng Ling didn’t want to say too much and simply showed Mrs. Feng the door.
At her age, Qin Qiu was sophisticated enough to sense the indifferent and wary attitude of this boy to her and know that he was asking her to leave.
She thought that perhaps her question was too abrupt, so she smiled at Feng Ling apologetically. “Sorry.”
Feng Ling just looked at her indifferently, not laughing or frowning. “Please greet Granny. We don’t belong to the same world but are only strangers passing by each other. I think we may never see each other again.”
“Actually, my mother likes you very much. If you want, you can visit her often. My mother has no children at home. You said that you are an orphan? Maybe she can adopt you as her…”
“Mrs. Feng, thank you for your kindness. I am used to being alone.” Feng Ling interrupted her again.
Qin Qiu had to shut up awkwardly and sat on the sofa waiting for Qin Shuke to return.
During this period, Feng Ling received a call from the base. Tam asked her what she needed in the hospital and said he could help her buy them and bring them over after the training in the afternoon. Feng Ling said she didn’t need anything and hung up the phone after briefly chatting with him about what was going on in the base in the last few days.
Then neither of them said anything. Only when their eyes met, Mrs. Qin smiled faintly at her. Feng Ling still looked at her deadpan and then withdrew her gaze. She picked up the brochure about the base that Xiao Xu brought her a few days ago and sat on the bed to read it casually to kill time.
Qin Shuke didn’t know where to buy fruit and didn’t come back after twenty minutes.
Qin Qiu had just taken the meditation given to her by the doctor. After sitting on the sofa for a while, she leaned on the sofa, closed her eyes with her chin in a hand, and unconsciously fell asleep.
In her dream, the endless dark sea relentlessly swallows the crying baby girl wrapped in swaddling clothes, and, in an instant, the child disappears on the sea. The rolling waves roared like wild beasts. Although she cried on her knees like crazy on the wet deck, the baby still disappeared in the huge waves.
Feng Ling didn’t like a stranger staying in her place that would make her feel uncomfortable. She was used to being alone from childhood. She found Mrs. Feng’s existence in the ward hard to endure, although she knew that she bore her no malice and was just waiting for Qin Shuke to come back, but she still turned to look at Mrs. Qin who was sleeping on the sofa and suddenly sweating profusely.
Wondering if Mrs. Qin was unwell or had anything wrong, Feng Ling looked at her for a while, put down the brochure in her hand, lifted the quilt on the bed, and got out of bed. When she walked over, she saw that Mrs. Feng was asleep with her hands grabbing tightly on the scarf on her shoulders that looked a little old. Looking at the scarf, for some reason, Feng Ling wanted to touch it, but her reason stopped her from doing that. She just put her hand gently on Mrs. Feng’s forehead.
“My baby…” Mrs. Feng opened her eyes at the moment when Feng Ling’s hand touched her, and looked in panic at a certain spot in the room with her eyes losing focus. She stared at that spot for quite a while before her eyes slowly returned to focus. And when she saw the person standing in front of her, she looked at Feng Ling’s face in a trance.
“Mrs. Feng, are you having a nightmare?” Feng Ling asked indifferently, moving her hand away from her forehead.
Qin Qiu looked at her for a while before she seemed to come back from her dream, and she gradually calmed down. “Yeah, it’s a nightmare. I’ve been having the same nightmare over and over again over the years. I didn’t expect to fall asleep by sitting here. I’m sorry for disturbing you.”
“It’s OK.” Feng Ling said and glanced at the scarf on her shoulder again. “Although it is a little cold this season, there is no wind. Isn’t it hot for you to have been wearing a scarf all the time in the room?”
What she wanted to say was that she saw Mrs. Feng wearing this scarf the last time she met her and this time she saw her wearing it again. Although the scarf was already very old, she knew she shouldn’t say it because it was not polite, so Feng Ling didn’t say it.
Qin Qiu smiled and touched the scarf on her shoulder. “This scarf is my second daughter’s favorite. The wind was strong in the fall of the year when she was born. Every time I took her out, I would put this scarf over her face gently so as to prevent sand from entering into her eyes. Then I found that every time she cried, if I just put this scarf over her face, she would laugh, and later…”
Qin Qiu paused, stopped reminiscing about the past and only said with a smile, “Later I used to keep this scarf with me. In fact, this scarf was red before, but after so many years, it was washed far too many times and its color turned yellowish. Do you think this scarf is very old and ugly? ”
“No, everyone has something to cherish. This scarf has been with you for so many years. It can be seen that you must love your second daughter very much.” With that, Feng Ling didn’t continue to speak. She was ready to go back to her bed after making sure Mrs. Feng was all right.
“Feng Ling.” Mrs. Feng suddenly called her.
Feng Ling looked back at her.
When their eyes met, Mrs. Feng couldn’t help clenching the scarf on her shoulders and looked at her with complicated emotion. “Nothing. I just had something to ask you but suddenly forgot it.”
Feng Ling looked at her suspiciously. It wasn’t until the door of the ward suddenly opened that she retracted her gaze and turned to look at the door.