My grandpa had been in the ICU for so long, relying on life - support systems all the time.
Not only were his muscles weak, but his spleen and stomach couldn't even digest normal food.
However, he was extremely dissatisfied with the patient meals sent by the caregiver before, saying that those porridge - like things were not even fit for pigs.
In the end, I had no choice but to rush to a nutrition restaurant outside and buy him some Hong Kong - style nutritious congee.
It was a pity that Grandpa Du was so picky. He only took a few mouthfuls and said it was only marginally better than pig food, shouting that he wanted to eat mutton hot - pot.
I rolled my eyes so hard that I thought they would pop out. Not to mention that he was sick now, even when he was in good health before, I wouldn't allow him to eat such things in the middle of summer!
Amidst Grandpa's continuous scolding of me for being "unfilial and rebellious", I took the lunch box to the water room at the end of the hospital corridor to wash it.
The neurology inpatient department was on the fourth floor of the inpatient building, which wasn't very high.
The circular floor nurse station was diagonally opposite the elevator, while the water room and the restroom were at the innermost part of the floor.
The sound of water gurgling, the wife of the uncle in the first bed had already finished washing her lunch box. She smiled at me and said, "Little Du, you have such a good temper. Do you have a boyfriend? How about I introduce one to you?"
"… Uh, thank you, auntie. I… I already have one."
The moment I heard the word "boyfriend", Si Jiangchen's face instantly popped up in my mind.
The uncle's wife shrugged with a look of regret on her face. "Alas, good girls always get taken early. I wonder which lucky guy managed to win your heart."
It should be me who's unlucky...
I thought gloomily to myself.
The uncle's wife chattered away and left. I was almost done washing the lunch box. As I was rinsing the detergent foam off the lid, I hung my head. I felt someone walk to the sink next to me, seemingly also wanting to wash something.
However, he stood there for a long time without turning on the tap.
I couldn't help but look up.
There was a young man standing with his back to me. He was wearing a pair of thin jeans, and his white T - shirt had some brown patterns on it.
"…"
I felt a chill run down my spine.
This was a hospital, and one could see more strange things here than usual. I decided not to meddle and quickly wash the lunch box and leave.
"… Can't wash it clean... Can't wash it clean..."
As the water from the faucet gurgled, the man with his back to me began to sob softly.
I reached out to turn off the faucet when suddenly the man's hand hanging by his side reached out towards mine in a strange posture.
"Don't turn it off..."
There was no way I would let a stranger grab my arm. I quickly took a step back and moved away from the sink.
"… Let me wash... Wash with this..."
The man slowly turned his head. His face was sallow, his eyes were drooping, and dark - brown liquid kept dripping from his nose and mouth.
The so - called "patterns" on his T - shirt were actually stains soaked by the liquid.
"You can wash!"
I roughly knew who this man was... He should be the one who was rushed to the hospital by ambulance in the afternoon after drinking paraquat pesticide!!
Paraquat was a great pesticide for getting rid of weeds. It was inexpensive and had no pollution to the environment, only affecting the weeds in the fields.
However, this excellent product had been turned into a banned item by people who wanted to commit suicide. Even though the producers made the pesticide look scarier and smell more disgusting, they still couldn't stop those who wanted to end their lives.
This pesticide had a special effect. It only targeted the human lungs, turning a person's lungs into inelastic fibers within a week and suffocating the person to death.
A week was long enough for people to regret, but it didn't give them a chance!!
Those dying people would vomit this dark - brown liquid.
My grandpa and I had fled to some remote villages before and had seen one or two such people. Without exception, they all died in regret...
The young man put his head under the faucet, filling his mouth with water while muttering, "No, I don't want to die... I want to live. I... I just wanted to scare her..."
The black water mixed with tap water rushed into the sink. I felt nauseous and wanted to turn around and leave.
"Don't go! Save me!"
A shrill scream came from behind me. Before I could dodge, he pounced on my back.
A bone - chilling cold instantly invaded my body.
This ghost who had already lost his soul actually wanted to possess me?! I had long intended to reach out and form a sword finger to poke his glabella. Unexpectedly, my vision blurred, and two figures, one black and one white, suddenly appeared in front of me.
"I wondered who it was," White Impermanence dragged his long tongue, flicked his mourning stick in his left hand, and with his right arm dangling, he grinned at me. "So it's the little girlfriend of the old zombie! No wonder you're casually hijacking ghosts. Do you want to feed them to Si Jiangchen?"
This guy was really annoying. As soon as he showed up, he started making up false accusations against me.
"Old ghost, you're so slow when you come out to capture souls. No wonder there are so many wandering souls in the world. I bet you deliberately let them go?"
I didn't have time to deal with the suicidal man behind me, so I started to retort to White Impermanence.
"Do we need to capture ordinary ghosts?"
Black Impermanence behind White Impermanence said coldly, "It's not our fault."
Indeed, ordinary human souls were captured by low - level ghost messengers from the Underworld. Only the evil souls who had committed great crimes would be dealt with by Black and White Impermanence.
Like Wang Yingxiu in red clothes, Lu Dayong, the hundred - year - old zombie... And A Jian. I wondered who would receive A Jian in the Underworld in the future!
Seeing me silent, White Impermanence laughed again. "This soul doesn't taste good. He drank pesticide. It smells terrible!"
"… I never said I wanted to capture him."
This White Impermanence was simply being unreasonable. I reached out to pull the man lying on my shoulder, but unexpectedly, half of his soul had embedded itself into my neck. It was like a parasitic tumor and I couldn't pull it off.
"You guys!! Aren't you here to capture souls? Hurry up and get him out of me!"
I was a bit anxious. Having this thing on me, although others couldn't see it, I was already disgusted with myself.
"Hehe, this is really interesting!"
White Impermanence didn't wave his chain to capture the soul. Instead, he walked around me in a circle. "This is a bit troublesome now!"
"What trouble?"
I tried to use the ghost - expelling spell to drive the man's soul away. Unexpectedly, the moment his soul left my body, it tore at my soul and almost made my soul leave my body.
My forehead hit the edge of the plastic trash can hard. Then I was supported from behind. I only heard Dr. Lu's voice ringing in my ear, "Du Xinghe, what's wrong with you? Do you have low blood sugar?"
I rubbed my aching forehead and turned to look. I saw that the male ghost had half of his body embedded in my shoulder, and his face, with the brown liquid flowing, actually showed a hint of wildness as if his scheme had succeeded!