Life in siheyuan era

The next morning, Zhou Zhiyuan rushed to the military hospital. Entering the ward, Mo Youji took out his pocket watch, glanced at it, and said calmly, "I guessed you'd show up before eight o'clock. Judging from your performance yesterday, you're not one to be late for work."

Mo Youji's words had a deeper meaning, implying that he was a trustworthy person.

Zhou Zhiyuan smiled and said, "Are you blaming me for leaving early yesterday, or for arriving late today?"

He responded with an implication, "You're overthinking it."

They were speaking in code, and Old Liu and Liu Dasuan didn't understand, so they wouldn't pay attention.

At this moment, Old Liu was sitting on the bed eating breakfast, enjoying milk with his rice box and eating cake, which must have been quite a treat.

Liu Dasuan was sitting by the bed, he must have already eaten breakfast.

This ward had four beds, but only Mo Youji and Old Liu were patients. Mo Youji's bed was near the door, and Old Liu's was the one inside. The two beds further inside were empty.

Mo Youji was good at socializing and had an excellent relationship with Old Liu, built on a few spoonfuls of milk powder and a few pieces of cake.

This was an atmosphere that Mo Youji deliberately created. He had no relatives, while Old Liu had a son, Liu Dasuan, to take care of him.

The ward was quite spacious, but Mo Youji still wanted to leave it, saying, "Not too early, not too late, the timing is just right. Come, take a walk with me."

Zhou Zhiyuan accompanied him out of the ward to the stairwell, where Mo Youji stopped and looked out the window.

Zhou Zhiyuan stood beside him, looking down the hallway. A group of doctors in white coats were walking towards an office, Hao Zhiwen among them.

It wasn't time for the morning meeting on a Saturday. "They must be going to sign in," Zhou Zhiyuan deduced, hearing Mo Youji say in a low voice, "Hao Zhiwen's parents are both university lecturers. He's an only child."

"He has good grades and is highly valued by the hospital leaders. Because of his handsome appearance, he has many admirers, Yang Dan being just one of them."

"Last September, Doctor Shen came to the hospital. Hao Zhiwen has been pursuing her, but there's also a son of a high-ranking official who often comes to the hospital to see her, and seems to be pursuing her as well."

"As it stands, Doctor Shen hasn't decided on either of them yet, so you still have a chance."

Mo Youji revealed some information, and Zhou Zhiyuan replied indifferently, "I'm not interested in that. What's Hao Zhiwen's character like?"

"Character?" Mo Youji asked, then immediately said, "Didn't I say yesterday? He's an upwardly mobile person."

"Being upwardly mobile isn't a big problem, what I'm asking is..." As Zhou Zhiyuan spoke, he heard footsteps approaching. He turned and saw Shen Lanyin walking up the stairs.

Seeing her, Zhou Zhiyuan's first reaction was to raise his hand and check his watch. It was 8:05, Shen Lanyin was late for work.

But the labor discipline of the military hospital was none of his business; what mattered was those pair of clear, cold phoenix eyes.

He didn't know what Shen Lanyin had heard. Walking up the stairs, she stared coldly at him.

There was a grudge of "I'm your brother" between them. She didn't speak, and Zhou Zhiyuan, determined to make peace, decided to speak first: "Have you eaten?"

This was a standard greeting.

But Shen Lanyin asked coldly, "Being upwardly mobile isn't a problem? Are you a snob?"

Hearing this, Zhou Zhiyuan was relieved. Shen Lanyin had heard the last sentence.

He didn't explain, but asked seriously, "Why are you late?"

Shen Lanyin also didn't explain, but asked coldly, "You can say such snobbish words so calmly?"

He still wouldn't explain, warning sternly, "Don't be late again."

The two spoke their own minds, neither answering the other. Shen Lanyin lacked patience, snorted coldly, and walked upstairs.

Zhou Zhiyuan breathed a sigh of relief, then suddenly remembered something and called out to her back, "Where's my deposit money?"

But Shen Lanyin ignored him, turned the corner of the stairs, and disappeared.

So Zhou Zhiyuan knew that the one yuan was completely unrelated to him, and turned to Mo Youji, saying in a deep voice, "You're digging a trap for me."

"What a coincidence," Mo Youji said lightly, but Zhou Zhiyuan absolutely didn't believe him. Now he knew why Mo Youji was standing here looking out.

Mo Youji smiled and said in a low voice, "Doctor Shen doesn't have a very good impression of you."

But Zhou Zhiyuan didn't care about that, replying indifferently, "Whatever."

He spoke passively, and Mo Youji looked at his right hand, asking curiously, "Because of this right hand?"

Zhou Zhiyuan raised his right hand and looked at it, still replying indifferently, "I guess so."

He didn't want to explain too much, and using this right hand as a shield wasn't a bad thing.

Thinking of the shield, an idea suddenly came to him, "Go home and tell Auntie that she should spread the word for me, 'Zhou Zhiyuan's right hand is crippled'."

He needed sympathy. With a disabled right hand, he shouldn't be envied. His mentality at this time was different from when he went home.

The night he returned home, Zhou Zhiyuan didn't want Qin Huairu to know about his right-hand injury, but now he wanted to proactively announce it.

Disability has its advantages, it just depends on how you use it.

But no matter how you use it, you can't just raise your right hand and say sadly, "Look at my right hand..." as soon as you meet someone.

When Mo Youji introduced him to Yang Dan, he couldn't do that.

At 8:30, Yang Dan walked into the ward with a medical tray, smiling at Mo Youji, "This is the last set of IVs, we'll stop the medication tomorrow, and you can be discharged this afternoon."

Yang Dan's words were like a death sentence to him. Mo Youji said mournfully, "Doctor Hao has no sympathy."

"It has nothing to do with sympathy..." Yang Dan replied cheerfully as she inserted the needle into the back of his hand, "You've had IVs for ten days, you can't have any more."

"Sigh..." Mo Youji sighed deeply, then said, "Little Yang, let me introduce you, this is Zhou Zhiyuan, the strongest border soldier in the plateau, a younger friend of mine."

In front of Yang Dan, Zhou Dehou once again became Mo Youji's younger friend.

Hearing his introduction, Yang Dan turned to look at Zhou Zhiyuan, who was standing at the foot of the bed.

They exchanged greetings, and Yang Dan asked curiously, "Did you participate in the plateau counterattack?"

Zhou Zhiyuan replied indifferently, "Not every border soldier has the opportunity to participate in the counterattack."

He didn't want to say more, shutting down the conversation with one sentence.

Yang Dan glanced at him in surprise and walked to Old Liu's bed to give him an injection.

After she walked out of the ward with the medical tray, Mo Youji sighed and said, "You won't find a beautiful wife doing that."

Zhou Zhiyuan smiled and said, "With my right hand crippled, wanting to find a beautiful wife is just wishful thinking."

Now he could raise his right hand.

Old Liu, in the next bed, exclaimed in surprise, "Your right hand is crippled?"

Liu Dasuan also looked at him in surprise.

Zhou Zhiyuan smiled and said, "It's an injury I sustained in the plateau counterattack. The military doctor assessed it as a level four disability."

He had earned a certain honor for his right hand, but Old Liu still sighed, "What a pity!"

Liu Dasuan nodded heavily, affirming his father's sentiment.

But Mo Youji said coldly, "You won't find a wife doing that."

He even removed the word "beautiful."

Zhou Zhiyuan chuckled, still not caring.

His words and actions made Mo Youji not want to speak anymore. He closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep. Zhou Zhiyuan sat on the wooden stool by the bed, his eyes slightly closed and in a daze. After ten o'clock, he raised his eyes to look at the IV bottle, got up, and walked out of the ward to the nurse's station to find Yang Dan.

After the second bottle of IV was hung up, Mo Youji asked Zhou Zhiyuan to hold the IV bottle and go to the toilet. On the way back, he asked in a low voice, "Do you practice Taoism?"

Zhou Zhiyuan asked curiously, "Why not Buddhism?"

Mo Youji replied in a deep voice, "Taoism seeks self, not heaven. Buddhism seeks Buddha, not self. It's more reliable to rely on oneself."

Zhou Zhiyuan agreed with the principles of Taoism, but he wasn't a Taoist, replying softly, "I haven't practiced Taoism."

"Taoism doesn't require practice. Tranquility and seeking self is the Way."

These words resonated with him, as if a certain chord in his heart had been gently plucked. "Tranquility and seeking self" wasn't that him?

The two returned to the ward. Mo Youji lay down, and Zhou Zhiyuan sat back on the wooden stool by the bed, his eyes slightly closed. The star map had completely stabilized, and with a thought, it rose up.

As the star map rose, his consciousness transformed into eyes, staring at the Greed Wolf Star in the star map.

He was familiar with the Big Dipper. As a border soldier, mastering the skill of using the Big Dipper for navigation was essential.

When he led teams out on patrol, the Big Dipper had helped him a lot in three to five days, and the Greed Wolf Star, located at the tip of the ladle, was that guiding star.

In reality, he had observed the Greed Wolf Star quite a bit, and he could easily find it in this star map, staring at it for a while before entering a daze.

This was the state he wanted, his whole body seemingly turning into air, until a tremor came and his ethereal body solidified.

Opening his eyes, he stared at his right hand. It lay flat on his thigh, and four fingers twitched a few times before stopping. There seemed to be a breath of life flowing in his fingers, like grass sprouting.

As that feeling passed, Zhou Zhiyuan raised his eyes and saw Mo Youji's deep eyes, a smile appearing on his wrinkled face.

What did Mo Youji see?

He wanted to ask, but he heard Mo Youji say, "You should go buy wontons and meat pies."

This voice reminded Zhou Zhiyuan that there were other people in the room. He raised his wrist to check his watch, realizing that nearly an hour had passed. The hands on the watch pointed to half-past eleven.

So he got up and said to Liu Dasuan, "Brother Dasuan, I'm going to buy food. Can you keep an eye on things? Don't go out to eat, Uncle Liu and you, I'll buy it all back."

He was going to buy food for Old Liu and Liu Dasuan, and Liu Dasuan quickly replied, "No need, I'll go buy food after my dad finishes his IV."

Zhou Zhiyuan smiled and said, "Brother Dasuan, no need to be polite, it's fate that we met."

Saying a word of "fate," he walked out, hearing Mo Youji's voice behind him, "Zhiyuan is benevolent, you two don't need to be polite to him."

Mo Youji knew how to curry favor, but Zhou Zhiyuan liked hearing that he was benevolent. He came to the stairwell cheerfully, walking down with the flow of people.

Arriving in the hall on the first floor, he saw several figures standing in the courtyard through the window. He stopped and looked out the window, thinking, "That little girl is in trouble."