Chapter 340: Drunken Butterfly

After pondering for a while, she spoke. “Old Man, do you feel like it is a bit quiet here?”

Just as she finished speaking, the mobile phone of the Old Man’s roommate rang.

[How can I ever fly out, from this flowery world~]

The particularly loud sound instantly made the entire ward lively.

Upon hearing the sound, the roommate hurriedly turned over in bed searching for his mobile phone, lifting and lowering the blanket as he followed the source of the sound.

[It turns out I am a, drunken butterfly~]

Then he found the mobile phone in the pocket of his hospital gown.

Next, he turned down the volume and answered the call.

Yet even with the volume turned down, that one shout of “Old man!” still sounded exceptionally loud.

The roommate glanced at the Dean and Liu Xie.

Liu Xie and the Dean naturally could not say anything, and simply let him do as he pleased.

Afterward, Liu Xie heard a voice from the phone saying, “Old man, I heard you were hospitalized, so I am setting off two strings of firecrackers to drive away the bad luck for you.”

Then came the continuous crackling sound of firecrackers.

Liu Xie rubbed the waist-length golden hair beside her hand, and for a moment, she truly did not know what to say.

Now, forget about it being quiet, it even felt like Chinese New Year.

Seeing that the firecrackers on the other end seemed to have slightly subsided, Liu Xie was just about to speak.

Then she heard another voice from the other end. “What do you do for a living? Don’t you know it is forbidden to set off fireworks and firecrackers within the city limits?”

Then came a rather panicked shout. “Holy crap, cops!”

Finally the call was hung up, and before it was hung up, one last line was left behind. “It’s fine, old man, tomorrow I will find a more remote place to continue driving away the bad luck for you.”

This time the entire ward truly seemed a bit quiet, after all, a ceremony to drive away the New Year beast had just taken place here.

Now Liu Xie truly did not know how to steer the topic in the direction she wanted.

But the Old Man had always been understanding.

He even knew what Liu Xie had mainly come to talk to him about and knew that she came seeking knowledge.

“Speaking of which, I really do miss the children from before.”

With a kind smile, he looked toward Liu Xie.

Although he did not know what his grandson’s wife needed this for, he figured it was like when Liu Anran had asked him for contact information before.

She probably wanted to do something, but it seemed that so far there had been no results.

So he handed it over without hesitation.

However, he had not found something to record those things on.

He only remembered everyone’s names and did not remember how many of them said where they were going or what they were going to do.

There was one who said he was going to become a lawyer, one who said she was going to become a teacher, and another who said he was going to establish his own kingdom, and was beaten on the spot by the Old Man.

Rather than the whereabouts of those children, it was more like the various strange dreams held by little children.

It was worth mentioning that what Liu Anran had said at the time was that he wanted to find a place where he could muddle through life without letting anyone down.

And then the current little Liu Cang appeared, which was truly cause for celebration.

And of the names of those children, all he could remember were the last two characters, because the surnames were left to follow the families who adopted the children.

During Liu Xie’s visits these past few days, she had also been helping the Old Man recall those things, but what the Old Man could remember seemed rather limited.

He always had to struggle quite hard to utter a name without a surname, and then another rather vague range would emerge.

Liu Xie did not know what use such bits of information could be. It felt a bit like searching nationwide for a lawyer named Zhang Wei.

But she did not plan to give up, so she wrote down every name and everything that could be remembered.

She recorded it all in the memo app on her mobile phone.

It felt like more than all the notes she had taken during class combined.

Because after a semester had passed, her textbook did not even have a name written on it.

Fortunately, aside from Ye Qingchang, none of the others had written their names either, and all three of them upheld the principle of using whichever book they grabbed.

“Let me think, there is also Zihan. When he was little, when going out in a line, he always had to be first in line. If he wasn’t first, he would be unhappy.”

The Old Dean did not simply report names to Liu Xie as if handing over intelligence.

He always loved to first recall a certain event before he could remember the child corresponding to that event.

Liu Xie also listened beside him very patiently, and when necessary would nod in agreement or ask a few questions.

She had not suddenly learned the art of language. She had immersed herself in the Old Dean’s stories, as if she too had become one of those not-very-well-behaved children within those bits and pieces.

The Old Man also enjoyed telling them, and naturally the roommate beside him would occasionally cast envious glances.

At such times, Liu Xie would notice, and when the roommate was also listening intently, she would slip a question to him.

Something like, “Children just love this kind of thing, right?”

Then that roommate, who also counted as an old man, would grin and say that his child had been terribly afraid of this kind of thing when little.

It was not like the collection of information, but like a kind of pleasant chat, and Liu Xie was the one leading it.

She did not seem to understand the art of speaking very well, but instinctively she could become that little sun who passed warmth on to others.

Perhaps this could also count as a uniquely gifted talent.

At the very least, the Old Dean knew how fortunate Liu Anran, whom he had raised as his own grandson, was to have met Liu Xie.

After a burst of laughter and cheerful voices, the Old Dean again fell into thought.

Liu Xie also changed lines in the memo, preparing to start recording. Based on her contact with him during this period, when the Old Man assumed this posture, it meant something was about to be recalled.

After a moment, the Old Man said, “I remember now.”

Liu Xie’s fingers rested on the phone keyboard, ready at any moment to pick out key points to record, like a scribe beside General Kim during an inspection.

Then the Old Man spoke. “I remember now, I think I was supposed to be discharged from the hospital today.”

“Huh?” Liu Xie’s hand holding the phone trembled, and she nearly dropped the phone on the floor.

At that moment, the door of the ward was opened.

Liu Anran, wearing a black overcoat, pushed open the door, and at a glance saw that touch of gold that seemed especially dazzling and eye-catching amid the monotone black and white.

That was Liu Xie.

His eyes seemed to hold doubt, as if asking why Liu Xie had appeared here.

But Liu Xie had just learned why Liu Anran had appeared here, most likely to handle the Old Man’s discharge from the hospital.

“I came here to see the Old Man. Fulfilling filial piety, you know?”

Liu Anran said nothing, and merely leaned close to the side of Liu Xie’s face, staring fixedly at her like that.