上海安全生产监督局

Chapter 5

She didn\'t know how long she had been looking before she came back to her senses and exited the photo gallery.

Her phone was very empty, with only the few undeletable default apps.

She tapped on Messages again. It was just as clean inside, with only one text message from someone named [Lu Lingrui], sent four years ago.

Looking at the message she had read countless times, so familiar that every word, every punctuation mark had been etched into her bones, Shen Nian was transported back to that day four years ago.

It was Lu Lingrui\'s birthday. She and Lu Lingrui had gone together to Lu Lingchuan\'s university to get him to come out for a meal.

Lu Lingchuan was Lu Lingrui\'s older brother and also Shen Nian\'s boyfriend at the time.

Traffic around A University was always congested; traffic jams were common.

She and Lu Lingrui often went to A University, and they had discovered a small road by chance. Walking through a deserted alley could save quite a bit of time.

That day, as usual, they took the alley, but they were blocked by two burly drunkards who had malicious intentions from drinking too much.

Lu Lingrui stopped those drunkards to let her escape.

Then, she ran away.

When she came back with help, the two drunkards had already fled. Lu Lingrui lay sloppily on the ground, her expression dazed, the light already gone from her eyes.

After that day, Lu Lingrui changed into a different person. She no longer liked to laugh or talk, spending all day shut up in her room.

One month later, Lu Lingrui committed suicide by jumping off a building. Before jumping, she sent Shen Nian one last text message.

[Nian Nian, I\'ve been thinking a lot these past few days. I don\'t regret letting you run away first. In that kind of situation, neither of us could have escaped if you didn\'t go. But I also can\'t accept myself now... I want liberation. You and my brother be happy together, you must be happy.]

"... " Shen Nian\'s eyelashes trembled fiercely, her brows tightly knitted, unable to relax.

Since Lu Lingrui\'s passing, she didn\'t know how many times she had dreams like this, rewinding to that day over and over like a movie.

In the dream, Lu Lingrui would still stretch out her arms to block those drunkards, turning her head and shouting loudly at her.

[Nian Nian, hurry and run!]

"Little Rui..." Shen Nian murmured anxiously in her sleep: "I\'m sorry, I\'m sorry..."

Feeling someone touching her hand, Shen Nian opened her eyes wide.

"Little Rui!"

The nurse who had been carefully tucking her hand back into the quilt was startled. Seeing Shen Nian staring at her, the nurse quickly explained, "The first IV bag is empty, so I came to change your IV. I saw your hand kept moving so I was afraid the needle would get dislodged...that\'s why..."

Awakened from her nightmare, Shen Nian\'s breathing was a little rushed. Hearing the nurse\'s words, she slowly came back from the dream to reality.

Only then did Shen Nian react that she was in the hospital.

Next to her was the IV stand, and the nurse was holding an empty bottle.

"I\'m sorry, I had a nightmare." Shen Nian calmed her breathing.

"It\'s okay, you rest first. I\'ll come back to change the bottle once this one is done."

The nurse took the empty bottle and left the room after speaking.

Shen Nian placed her other hand, the one without the IV, on her forehead, calming her emotions.

She had drunk too much alcohol at a business dinner and fallen asleep in a daze.

She picked up her phone and glanced at the time after opening her eyes. She had only slept for twenty-some minutes.

Unlocking the screen, it was still the text message page from before. Shen Nian read it over and over, then impulsively tapped the call button at the top corner.

"The number you dialed is unavailable."

Shen Nian hung up and redialed.

"The number you dialed is unavailable."

"I\'m sorry..."

Staring at the familiar number, Shen Nian\'s eyes turned red.

A scalding teardrop fell onto the screen. In a daze, she looked at that text message, dialing that number over and over, no longer feeling sleepy at all.

After several IV bags had dripped through, the nurse who had removed her IV came in to help pull out the needle.

"The doctor said for you to stay one night at the hospital. They\'ve scheduled an examination for you tomorrow morning. It\'s already past midnight, you should rest early."

Looking at the nurse tidying up the IV equipment, Shen Nian spoke up, "Is the doctor from before still here? The one on duty?"

"The doctor on duty? You mean Dr. Kong?"

Shen Nian nodded, "Yes."

"Dr. Kong is in his office right now. Are you not feeling well? I\'ll go get Dr. Kong right-"

"No," Shen Nian interrupted. "I just have something to discuss."

Feeling the back of her hand had stopped bleeding, Shen Nian tore off the medical tape and threw it in the trash can nearby before getting up and leaving the room.

Dr. Kong was busy when he heard a knock at the door. Looking up, he saw Shen Nian standing there in patient garb, her complexion still very pale.

"Shen Nian? What\'s the matter?"

Shen Nian walked in, one hand on her own abdomen, her steps slightly unsteady.

"Dr. Kong, can you prescribe some sleeping pills for me?"

Hearing this request, Dr. Kong immediately looked at Shen Nian warily.

Shen Nian\'s brows furrowed. "It\'s nothing suspicious. I haven\'t been able to sleep for two days now. I just dozed off for twenty minutes earlier before being startled awake, and now I can\'t fall back asleep."

Ever since seeing the two lines on the pregnancy test, Shen Nian had been in shock. She sat in the bathroom all night, struggling with hesitation and indecision.

Although she really didn\'t want to admit it, the facts were the facts. This child would not be the fruit of love, but the evil result of an ill-fated relationship. It was an existence that should not exist.

After Lu Lingrui\'s suicide, Lu Lingchuan hated her. Between them there was only unpayable debt and unavengeable hatred.

Between them lay Lu Lingrui, an uncrossable chasm. He could not cross over, nor could she.

Seeing her face pale and dark circles under her eyes, clearly very haggard, Dr. Kong let out a reluctant sigh. "Alright, I understand. Go back first, I\'ll have someone bring them to you later."

Shen Nian nodded slightly. "Thank you."

Not long after returning to the patient room, the nurse who had removed her IV came in with medication and water.

"This is the medicine Dr. Kong brought for you—"

"Thank you." Shen Nian took it and swallowed the sleeping pills.

She lay down calmly, then closed her eyes.

Outside, the nurse went back to the nurses\' station and immediately started talking to her coworker.

"I noticed something strange about the patient in bed 23."

Smelling the scent of gossip, her coworker hurriedly asked, "You mean that young girl who was brought in?"

"Yes!"

"What happened, tell me quick!"

The nurse whispered, "Just now when I went to change her IV bag, it seemed like she was having a nightmare. She kept saying \'I\'m sorry,\' then suddenly woke up frightened, scaring me too. Afterward when I went back in, I saw her looking at her phone screen and crying, and she kept making phone calls."

"Making calls?"

"Right, I could even hear the other end saying the number was disconnected, but it was like she didn\'t hear it and just kept dialing over and over..."

It was late at night, and this was a hospital. Hearing the nurse\'s account, her coworker shivered and rubbed her shoulders. "What you\'re saying sounds so creepy..."

"Just now I even heard her ask Dr. Kong for sleeping pills. She looks quite pretty, but in that condition..."

The nurse pointed at her own head and whispered, "She doesn\'t have mental issues, right?"