Old man Bai Juyi is in ward 203 of the internal dicine departnt at Ditan Hospital. Counting the ti when Zhu Shijun was hospitalized, this was Xiao Xian’s second visit to the hospital. She was now familiar with the place, though such familiarity wasn’t necessarily a good thing.
On the way there, Feng Xing ntioned that Zhuo Feng was still in the hospital. Right before Xiao Xian left her ho, she saw the callia plant that she had rescued from Mr. Bai’s good-for-nothing nephew. Thinking that one should bring flowers when visiting the sick, she ended up bringing the plant to the hospital on a whim.
Ditan Hospital is a top-tier hospital, where nurses and doctors are all very friendly. When they learned that Xiao Xian was there to visit soone, they directed her to the right place.
Upon seeing the callia in Xiao Xian’s hand, the young nurse at the reception desk couldn’t help but brighten up and praise, "Miss, that callia you have is quite beautiful, although there aren’t many blooms."
Prompted by their comnts, Xiao Xian took a closer look at the pink callia in her hand. The plant itself was not tall, just about sixty to seventy centiters. Its leaves were as green as jade, without a speck of dust. There were only three blossoms and buds in total on the plant.
The first flower was blooming splendidly, evenly pink. The other two were just buds, with their petals still wrapped in calyxes, looking endearing.
"A sixty-year-old dwarf callia propagated from cuttings. Its lower branches and leaves are often pruned, making the crown much smaller than its counterparts of the sa age. It blooms a maximum of three flowers a year and is also known as ’Red Powder Eighteen Scholars.’ ’Eighteen’ does not refer to callias of eighteen different colors as ntioned in novels, but signifies that a single callia has eighteen neat and symtrical petals, clean and beautiful, like eighteen graceful young maidens standing poised."
Red Powder Eighteen Scholars? What a poetic na. It’s a sha that it almost fell into the hands of those who can’t appreciate its beauty, Xiao Xian thought to herself.
However, just by its literal aning, this sixty-year-old "Pink Eighteen Scholar" must be highly valued in the market.
Earlier, those rogues only gave up on taking the plant because it had too few blooms, even though they grew pretty well. Had they known that this callia was the rare Eighteen Scholars, who knows how furious they would have been.
The ward was a two-person room and the environnt was quite decent. The patient who had been in the bed next to Bai Juyi passed away last night due to a sudden heart attack.
When Xiao Xian entered, a nurse was in the process of changing the bedsheets.
Hospitals are places filled with hope yet also replete with despair; every day, they welco new lives and bid farewell to those who pass away.
Bai Juyi’s bed was near the window. Looking down through the spotless window, one could see a red maple tree planted within the hospital grounds, its fiery red leaves fluttering down whenever the wind blew.
"Mr. Bai, I’m here to see you," said Xiao Xian as she carefully placed the flower pot on the bedside table, adding a touch of vibrant color to the overly sterile ward.
"Cough cough," Bai Juyi turned his head and began to cough as soon as he spoke. He, too, noticed the pink callia, which seed like rain after a long drought to him, squeezing a smile onto his desolate, aged face.
Xiao Xian’s heart skipped a beat; the old man had lost a lot of weight. She didn’t have the ability to discern life and death, but looking at the old man’s dried-up eyes, his hunched back, and his skin clinging to his bones, she could guess that his days were numbered.
Despite the kind care of the couple Zhuo Feng and Feng Xing over the past few days, Bai Juyi was still, like autumn leaves, gradually moving towards the end of his life.
Unlike the case with Zhu Shijun, Bai Juyi hadn’t even attempted to fight against his illness. Heart disease and its complications were eroding both his body and will.
"Mr. Bai, don’t talk, have so water first," Xiao Xian said, intending to pour water for him; Zhuo Feng was not in the ward. On the cabinet beside the bed, there was a jar of warm porridge and a few apples.
"Girl, are you on a break?" Bai Juyi had given Xiao Xian a Hami lon and then waited at ho for a few days, hoping she would co by to borrow so onions or pick a lon, craving more human presence at his place.
After waiting for more than two weeks without seeing that lively and clever young girl, it was Zhuo Feng who brought him to the hospital and told him that the girl was attending a boarding middle school and would only co ho once a month.
"Yeah, my school is having a sports festival. Mr. Bai, let tell you about so fun things at school. You see, on our school’s comrcial street, there’s a really good Sichuan food stall; the couple that runs it makes amazingly delicious chili sauce," Xiao Xian said, eager to share so joyful stories. Zhu Shijun used to love hearing about her school’s daily events; one would talk, and the other would listen.
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