After a long night's work, the sound of the rain finally faded down. The dripping sound emitted by the medical device was smooth and regular, and in the dark, Ling Shucheng slowly opened his eyes.

Five o'clock in the morning. Without any external disturbances, his biological clock is as accurate as ever.

Even if there was nothing to do, he never had the habit of grinding in bed. Skillfully pulling out the needle on the back of his hand, Ling Shucheng wrapped the infusion set around and around it neatly, and then turned over and sat up.

It's just the beginning of a new day, but my eyes are already starting to get wet. Ling Shucheng pressed his eyebrows with one hand, and put the futon back on the bed with the other hand, and the first two steps were a little swaying, but he quickly stabilized.

His sleep quality has not been good lately. If it weren't for the fact that the injury had evaporated too much energy, it might have been even worse. Therefore, even if I lie in bed for at least 20 hours a day, the sleepiness that penetrates deep into the bone marrow is still with me.

When washing, the wound on the shoulder seemed to break open again. Ling Shucheng watched as the red blood stains stained his light-colored clothes little by little, and after a while, the pain was received by his dull brain.

Pain was a constant visitor in his life. But watching how the skin reconnects layer by layer is a rather unusual experience for him. The healing ability that once amazed countless people has been tested too many times in half a year, and now it is like an old man lying in the middle. Although he was conscientious as always, he was trapped by the huge amount of work, so he could only try to make up for the most critical parts first. As a result, minor problems that affect operations but do not affect survival are put on hold for the time being.

Ling Shucheng himself doesn't care much about these issues. But Zhai Yiwen's recent attitude towards doctors can indeed be said to be getting worse and worse at a speed that is visible to the naked eye.

"Don't tell me anything about 'a dead horse is a live horse doctor.'" Zhai Yiwen was once so angry that he directly pulled up the white collar of a young doctor, "You show me clearly, he is not a 'dead horse'!" ”

Actually, it's not too much. Ling Shucheng thought silently on the side.

Physical weakness and sluggishness are not the problem. Anyway, life is as calm as a pool of stagnant water. Even if he has no more pursuits, he will live in a mess, and he will no longer worry about losing anything.

Because he had nothing left to lose.

Midnight dreams, a surreal sense of absurdity always lingers in Ling Shucheng's mind. The "water city", which has struggled for decades in countless lies, has finally come to an end, and its "miracle" born in order to maintain its order has lost its meaning and value.

In the past twenty-five years, Ling Shucheng has never thought about how to break away from the life that others have planned for him and live a lonely life after all the efforts he has made have been denied one by one.

Now that I think about it, many of the Yuan Sui's seemingly unpolite evaluations of himself are really a prophecy.

The tea soup in his hand took on an overly rich brown color. With his current physical condition, he was not suitable for drinking tea. Ling Shucheng silently watched the tea stalk in the cup float up and down, but still poured it with his head held high.

When footsteps sounded from outside the door, he was looking down to wipe the already new furniture cleaner. Ling Shucheng was slightly stunned, after all, according to Zhai Yiwen's arrangement yesterday, it seems that there should be no new doctor coming to the door today.

The sound of his heels clattering on the floor made him even more confused. The other party didn't seem to mean to knock on the door, which means that the person who came over couldn't be the nurse who was always a little afraid of him before. The key made a few soft noises in the doorway, and Ling Shucheng habitually held his breath and cautiously straightened up.

Perhaps less than a second later, a heavy women's satchel passed through the doorway that had just been opened a third of the way and landed on the sofa with unmistakable accuracy.

"I didn't expect it to take so much effort all the way here." A cold voice sounded from the hallway, and Ling Shucheng's whole person tensed up in an instant.

A middle-aged woman with long hair and a shawl casually wiped her wet face with her arm, glanced around the room, and commented lightly: "It's okay, you do love cleanliness." ”

"You ......" Ling Shucheng opened his mouth several times, but he couldn't organize any suitable opening remarks in this atmosphere.

"Alright, don't struggle. Anyway, I'm not used to you screaming, and I'm not used to listening to it. Bai Ji then set his eyes on him, and after carefully looking up and down, he suddenly laughed very lightly.

“…… What's wrong? Ling Shucheng felt that he could barely stand.

"They all told me that you are very much like me." Bai Ji sat down slowly on the sofa and poured himself a cup of cold tea by the way, "I don't think so." ”

Perhaps noticing that Ling Shucheng stiffened for too long, the woman's eyes darkened, and when she spoke again, her voice became much more severe.

"Sit down." She frowned slightly at a similar glance to the young man opposite, who was both familiar and strange, "Aren't you a patient?" ”

After being silent for a long time, Ling Shucheng sat down heavily, covered his eyes with one hand, and said in a suppressed voice: "This...... I think it's the first time we've spoken, right? ”

"Hmm." Bai Ji leaned back slightly and let out a long breath, "Seriously, I'm actually a little nervous before entering the door. ”

"I thought...... You won't come. Ling Shucheng said very hard, "Because-"

"Because I used to avoid you?" Bai Ji took it without hesitation, and even nodded, "I did hesitate for a while." After all, I don't know how I should deal with your son. ”

There was a crisp sound from the bottom of the cup against the table. Bai Ji clasped his hands in front of his knees and explained calmly: "In the past, it was because I really couldn't accept you. And now......" she paused and re-lowered her tone, "maybe it's because I'm old, maybe it's because I've received a lot of advice, and occasionally, I'll start to reflect on myself, whether I'm too angry with you." ”

Feeling that the heart in his chest was beating at an extremely unhealthy rate, Ling Shucheng took a few deep breaths and replied in a trembling voice, "You didn't do anything wrong. ”

"It's kind of interesting." The woman sitting directly across from him laughed again, but this time her facial expression was indeed much kinder, "I told you before the age of Yuan that if I said that to you, you would definitely answer like this." ”

"You...... Do you know her well? Ling Shucheng couldn't help but ask.

"You don't need to use honorifics for your mother. Are you really still a little afraid of me, or have you been infected by that little girl at the age of Yuan? Bai Ji spoke very bluntly, "Isn't it strange that I know the stepdaughter that my right-hand man is obliged to raise after marriage?" ”

"You've known each other for a long time?" Attention was somewhat distracted, and Ling Shucheng calmed down a little.

"Well, after all, she and I had a birthday and noticed it intentionally or unintentionally. I used to joke about Lu Da, saying that because of his impulsiveness, he accidentally got a wife who was not easy to discipline and a daughter who was the most difficult to discipline. Bai Ji didn't seem surprised at all that Ling Shucheng would ask, "As a result, I've seen it more often, and I'm quite optimistic about Yuan Sui." Assertive, responsible, and tenacious at a young age, I was going to see if she had a chance to take over the class of the third team after graduation...... As a result, you cut off your beard. ”

With a delicate atmosphere, Ling Shucheng replied seriously: "She helped me a lot. ”

"yes, I know." Bai Ji observed his expression, and suddenly dropped a bombshell coldly, "At the beginning, I asked her to write about her observations of you in her free time. ”

Ling Shucheng's hand holding the cup shook obviously.

At first, she fished for three days and dried her nets for two days – an errand she wasn't happy to do. But for a while, she reported very diligently, and she also wrote vividly, and even my deputy watched it with relish. But it wasn't long before she wasn't happy to write again. Bai Ji took a sip of tea and added, "It's when she's in a hurry to get out of you." ”

"I never found out ......," Ling Shucheng could only say.

"She said that she usually writes in bed when she just gets up, so the words are always crooked." Bai Ji looked at him for a long time, "The work you gave to Yuan Sui is generally not too much, and you haven't been particularly cautious about her, she said that she is still free most of the time." ”

"And she-"

"Got it." Bai Ji nodded decisively when he only said two words, "She also apologized to me for this, saying that she didn't know how to make the relationship between the two of you like this." ”

Choking on a sigh of relief, Ling Shucheng replied dryly, "It's my problem." ”

"After you make it clear to her, she doesn't like to tell me about you anymore. It's strange to say, she is obviously a person who is very sensitive to interpersonal relationships on weekdays, and even I can see the signs of many things, but she still refuses to believe it. Bai Ji rarely spoke to him like this, "It's a pity that now, I can only watch you by myself." ”

As soon as her words fell, the trace of vitality that had finally gathered on Ling Shucheng's face disappeared without a trace again.

"No wonder." Bai Ji sighed leisurely, "Zhai Yiwen told me, your current physical condition is not so much because the external injury is too serious, but because the heart disease is too deep. ”

"What else did he say?"

"Although there is more than one thing that makes you depressed, talking to you about things before the first year can make you a little more lively. However, there will be side effects, after all, this person still doesn't know whether he is dead or alive. Bai Ji replied very happily.

Ling Shucheng raised his eyes, and finally mustered up the courage to dare to look at the stunning beautiful woman in front of him, although her age was exposed by the fine lines at the corners of her eyes, but still did not let anyone doubt her youth.

A long, long time ago, when he just truly understood the truth of his birth and confronted his father uncontrollably, the man jokingly told him that his mother was from a very good background, and she was very outstanding in terms of external conditions and work ability, and she originally grew up as a lonely and proud daughter of the sky.

"You...... You're not what I thought you were. Ling Shu said matter-of-factly.

"You're very different from what I imagined." Bai Ji actually understood what he meant very smoothly, "I have always been not very polite in my daily life, and sometimes it is easy to do bad things because of this, so I must have a talking adjutant by my side." ”

"Did you come here to talk to me about this this time?" The smile in Ling Shucheng's eyes disappeared suddenly, "Thank you." ”

"I guess that's my duty, even if I'm a little late." Bai Ji also bent the corners of his mouth, and then suddenly became cold and stiff again, and solemnly admonished, "However, Su Cheng, you are an adult in your twenties, and you shouldn't have been defeated by a little thing. I'll stay around here for a while, and don't wait for me to come back and see you sickly. If there are any difficulties, we will overcome them by ourselves, and if there are any opportunities, we will grasp them by ourselves, and what are the ...... Forget it, I'm too lazy to compare. All in all, in short, squatting at home every day to hurt spring and autumn is not only meaningless, but also strange and annoying to watch. When you're a little better, you'll go out on the streets yourself. ”

"Okay, I will." Ling Shucheng also nodded solemnly.

"Everyone knows that you must be having a hard time now, but the situation of others is not much better than you at this time." Seeing that Ling Shucheng had a good attitude, Bai Ji simply let go and said a few words, "I know that you are still relatively smart and sensible, so I will stop at the point." I'm going to think about it myself...... It's not for you to reminisce about the past that can't be changed, but to make you think about what to do in the future. ”

"I've thought about it...... I've been thinking about both of them for a long time lately, but," Ling Shucheng suddenly stood up, and he was a little out of breath because he was moving too quickly, "The more I think about it, the more I realize that many things in the past have had the opportunity to change, but I missed the opportunity because of my temporary soft-heartedness or laissez-faire." At the beginning of many things, I didn't fail to see the clues, but I didn't intervene in time. When Han Yue and I first met, I had heard about him and his master, but it wasn't until so many years later that I took the opportunity to investigate the case to find out. When Min Shu's experience was exposed to me, I should have thought that there must be some shady things to do in the laboratory, but I continued to shamelessly pour out my moral ideas to the enemy. Even Kong Zhongsi! He's in such a special position that he's shared too many shady tasks for me, and if I had had been in private contact with him earlier, I might not have been unaware of the undercurrents in the ship, I-"

"Alright, okay, you sit down first." Bai Ji frowned, stepped forward and forcefully pressed him back, "If that's the case, you should complain that you were born too late, and you should have stopped everything that followed at the beginning of the formation of the ship's system...... But is it possible? Don't be carried away by the name of 'miracle' imposed on you by others, neither you nor I are just mortals at the mercy of fate, or materialism, at the mercy of the current situation. Worried that her words were not strong enough, she thought about it and specially moved out the remote rescuers, "No wonder Yuan Sui said, every time I look at your look of taking any responsibility on your head, I get anxious." ”

"Listen to me first." Ling Shucheng gasped hard, "But despite being aware of this, I still can't persuade myself to change in the direction I hated in my childhood. That's the real reason why I'm so helpless right now. He covered his mouth and coughed several times in a row, and then said, "It's ridiculous, I feel like I'm really going back as I live......"

Bai Ji's brows furrowed, and after being silent for a long time, he turned around and sat back on the sofa.

"I don't dare to say how right I have lived for most of my life. So it's up to you to figure out such a difficult question. She pointed to the bag she had thrown on the couch when she walked in the door, "I have other things to do, so I'll have to leave you alone." There's something in here, which I worked hard to find out for you, so take it to relieve your boredom when you're fine. ”

"What is it?" Ling Shucheng stabilized his voice.

"A few of the gifts I actually prepared for you when I was younger, but I didn't give them to you. Your father wrote me a 3,000-word apology letter back then, as well as a report on the first year of his life...... Something. Bai Ji hung his head, "Yuan Sui said that you live a transparent life, and you are her role model." I won't say anything nice, you ...... Come on. ”