Old man Bai Juyi is in ward 203 of the internal medicine department at Ditan Hospital. Counting the time 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 mentioned that Zhuo Feng was still in the hospital. Right before Xiao Xian left her home, she saw the camellia 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 someone, they directed her to the right place.
Upon seeing the camellia in Xiao Xian’s hand, the young nurse at the reception desk couldn’t help but brighten up and praise, "Miss, that camellia you have is quite beautiful, although there aren’t many blooms."
Prompted by their ments, Xiao Xian took a closer look at the pink camellia in her hand. The plant itself was not tall, just about sixty to seventy centimeters. 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 camellia propagated from cuttings. Its lower branches and leaves are often pruned, making the crown much smaller than its counterparts of the same age. It blooms a maximum of three flowers a year and is also known as ’Red Powder Eighteen Scholars.’ ’Eighteen’ does not refer to camellias of eighteen different colors as mentioned in novels, but signifies that a single camellia has eighteen neat and symmetrical petals, clean and beautiful, like eighteen graceful young maidens standing poised."
Red Powder Eighteen Scholars? What a poetic name. It’s a shame 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 meaning, 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 camellia was the rare Eighteen Scholars, who knows how furious they would have been.
The ward was a two-person room and the environment 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 wele 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 camellia, which seemed 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 plications were eroding both his body and will.
"Mr. Bai, don’t talk, have some 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 melon and then waited at home for a few days, hoping she would e by to borrow some onions or pick a melon, 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 e home once a month.
"Yeah, my school is having a sports festival. Mr. Bai, let me tell you about some fun things at school. You see, on our school’s mercial 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 some 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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