Manhattan Reborn 1978

Northeastern United States, Massachusetts (referred to as Massachusetts).

It's almost nine o'clock in the morning.

Cardiology Ward, Massachusetts General Hospital, 55 Fruit Street, Boston.

Last night, the old professor who was doing cardiac care for Professor Armstrong Bartley led his students who came from San Francisco, California, to the postoperative care unit.

Bloomer and Giles, who had barely rested all night, saw the two people approaching, quickly stood up and said hello, followed the doctors to the door of the ward, and looked at the old man silently with expectant expressions. The professor and his students performed some post-operative examinations on Professor Bartley.

"Hmm... not bad!"

"Giles, did he wake up this morning?"

"Not yet~" the nurse who had been in the ward replied from the side.

"Well.."

The old professor lowered his head and glanced at his watch, then frowned and stared at the instruments next to the hospital bed for a while, then swept Professor Bartley's hand back and forth with his fingertips.

"..cough~um~"

The old professor's fingers seemed to have some "magic power". Professor Bartlet, who was lying on the hospital bed with a bloodless face just now, seemed to feel the touch of his hand and slowly woke up.

The old professor turned back with a smile on his face, and after whispering a few words to his students, he waved to Giles and Bloomer, who were standing at the door and looking around, and said with a smile.

"You guys should come over and see him too~"

"..OK!"

. . .

Hospital bed.

Professor Bartlet, who felt as if he had wandered out of chaos and returned to the human world, opened his eyes slightly, and his vision gradually became clearer.

The old professor leaned down with a smile on his face, flashed a small flashlight back and forth in front of Professor Bartley's eyes for a few times, carefully observed the physiological reaction of his eyes for a while, and then said softly.

"Hey~ man!"

"Welcome to the world!"

"Ha~hu~"

Professor Bartlet, who gradually recovered his hearing, raised his right hand slightly and held it in the air twice, with a "charming" smile on his lips.

The old professor noticed his little movement, smiled brighter and whispered: "Haha~"

"Do not worry!"

"I know you are afraid of pain. I will ask the nurse to give you a painkiller injection later."

"But, as we said before the surgery last night~"

"For such a major surgery like yours, the wound will be a little painful after the operation. It is also a necessary process for your body to recover!"

"Too much anesthetic drugs and postoperative painkillers will only put more burden on your body and will not speed up your recovery!"

"So old man, I will only prescribe painkillers for three days. After three days, you'd better endure it."

"..."

Professor Bartlet's eyes widened slightly, and his eyes quickly turned to the old professor's side, looking at his students and Giles and Bloomer standing not far away.

Giles and Bloomer, who were standing at the back of the crowd and looking towards the hospital bed, both saw Professor Bartley's awakening state and couldn't help but feel that their eyes were a little moist~

Professor Bartley raised his right hand with great effort, and after the old professor and others moved away, he gave a thumbs up to the two young boys. .

Giles took a few deep breaths happily, nodded vigorously with a smile, pulled Bloomer, who was also a little excited, and slowly exited the ward.

. . .

10 minutes later, at the door of the ward.

Old Morgan and Neriyah, who happened to be leading their families over, saw the old professor leading the students out of the ward. They rushed to greet him and asked with concern.

"Armstrong, how is he...?"

"Hehe~"

"Judging from his current condition, the operation was very successful!"

"Oh...okay!"

"Thank you! Thank you!"

The old professor smiled and waved his hand, asking the students behind him to leave first. After thinking for a while, he whispered to the old Morgan family.

"His operation has been delayed for too long!"

"Judging from our past statistics on the recovery period of postoperative patients, most patients who have undergone heart bypass surgery can extend their average life span by at least six years."

"The recurrence rate of heart disease in about ten years is about 60%."

"The incidence rate between 12 and 15 years is about 90% or more!"

"These do not include the statistics of patients with more serious underlying conditions~"

"Armstrong's preoperative lipid profile was very high..."

"What this will do to the speed and quality of his recovery..."

"Hyperlipidemia?"

Old Morgan frowned and asked: "Are you saying that he will have coronary heart disease again because of high blood lipids?"

"That's right!"

The old professor pursed his lips, adjusted his glasses with his hand, and whispered: "High blood lipids are very harmful to his body!"

"It may lead to plaque deposition in blood vessels, forming vascular embolism; atherosclerosis, which in turn causes the recurrence of coronary heart disease, etc."

"...I understand!" Old Morgan nodded slightly with a low voice.

His wife Neria held his hands tightly and asked the old professor in a low voice.

"High blood lipids and high cholesterol...are they the same thing?"

The old professor blinked a few times, glanced back and forth at the old Morgan couple, and asked, "Did you also have a physical examination in our hospital yesterday?"

"Yes!"

"Where are the test results? Is your cholesterol high?"

"Oh...the list is here!"

Neriya took out the test sheet she had just received from her small bag and handed it to the old professor.

"Um.."

"Cholesterol is indeed a lot higher~"

“Cholesterol is not the same as blood lipids!”

"Blood lipids include cholesterol, triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, etc."

The old professor pointed to the test sheet in his hand and said to Old Morgan: "In these test data of yours, in addition to higher cholesterol, triglycerides and..."

. . .

In the corridor in front of the ward, the old professor patiently and in detail talked about his physical condition with old Morgan and his family, and gave a lot of suggestions.

Finally, the old professor handed the test sheet to Nariya and said with a smile: "I heard that you plan to go to Houston every winter?"

"Yes!"

"This is good!"

"In a few days, after Armstrong has recovered a bit, I can contact my old friends in Houston and transfer him to him for post-operative recovery."

Old Morgan quickly smiled and thanked him, and sent the old professor out of the ward with his family.

----

Pennsylvania.

Philadelphia.

In a restaurant on a small street in the north of the city center.

With a glass of milk in front of him, David looked at Ruby sitting opposite with a smile, and launched the final attack on the breakfast on the plate. .

2 minute later.

Feeling satisfied, Ruby drank the coffee in the cup without any image, gently rubbed her belly with her hands, and smiled at David.

"Tell me~ You came here to see me...what do you want to do?"

"...Nothing~"

"I just miss you and want to see you!"

"Oh?"

"You don't want to get back together with me, do you?"

"..."

"Hahaha~"

There seemed to be a lot of ridicule in Ruby's laughter~

Her eyes swept past David's side and behind, and she leaned forward, lying on the table and smiled.

"The big black guy behind you...is he the guy named Mike from the Wildfire Bar?"

"..right!"

"Did he come here with you?"

"Yes!"

"Hmm~"

"I'm just coming to Philadelphia from New York~ Do you still need someone to accompany you?"

"..."

David licked his lips unnaturally and touched his nose with his hand.

Ruby saw these two habitual and subconscious actions of his, and couldn't help but smile more happily and asked in a low voice.

"Let me guess!"

"After I left,... did Martha become your new girlfriend?"

"Uh... no!"

"Then...wow!!"

"It can't be Erica, right?"

"You...you are too...!"

David's face turned red, and he quickly waved his hands and explained: "No! You...I..."

"I do have a new girlfriend, but she's not Erica..."

"Oh?"

"Who is that?"

"...It's Susan!"

"Um...is it her?"

Ruby held her chin with her right hand, raised her head slightly and recalled the Susan who worked in the Wildfire Bar, and asked with a curious expression.

"Didn't you tell me before, she..."

"That's right!"

"Yes...but I..."

"Hahahaha~"

"Well, thank you for answering a question that I have been thinking about for a long time."

David was breathing heavily and clenched the milk cup, raised his neck halfway, then took a deep breath, suppressed his inner emotions, lowered his head and said.

"My new girlfriend...and Polly..."

"what??"

Ruby opened her arms in great surprise, lay down on the table, put her head in front of David, stared at David closely, and asked in a gossipy manner.

"She's married!"

"How can you..?"

"...She's divorced!"

"Wow~!!"

"Did she get divorced because of you?"

"No!"

"Her husband has been cheating on her all the time, so she..."

"...Oh~"

Ruby showed a "surprised" gossip look on her face, stared at David strangely for a few seconds, shook her head, and asked with a sigh.

"Two new girlfriends!?"

"You really surprised me!"

"...Not two, but three!"

"Three...cough~"

"What's her name?"

"Cui Yingying..."

"However, we have only just contacted each other for a short time..."

"I didn't have sex, let alone have sex!"

Feeling completely speechless, Ruby rolled her eyes and asked feebly: "Then you came to me this time just to tell me... Did you have three new girlfriends after we broke up?"

"No!"

David threw the milk glass away and looked into Ruby's eyes excitedly, but for a moment he didn't know what to say. .

Ruby's eyes widened, and after waiting for a few seconds, she pursed her lips and smiled bitterly.

"Okay~ You did say just now that you miss me..."

"That...Ruby!" David anxiously grabbed Ruby's left hand and said quickly.

"I suddenly feel a stomachache and need to go to the bathroom!"

"Wait for me! Wait for me for a few minutes... okay?"

"Um...ok~"

"Go ahead."

"Ok!"

Ruby watched David stand up and hurried to the bathroom, feeling a complex emotion of loss and weirdness welling up in her heart. .

. . .

In the small bathroom of the restaurant.

David lowered his head and walked to the sink, turned on the faucet, and rubbed his cheeks vigorously again and again with the cold water that flowed out. .

After his face felt cold, he raised his head, looked directly into the mirror, and made no further movements~

. . .

At this moment.

In David's mind, in the boundless darkness, there was a strong circular light, illuminating a small circular area from above.

"Dumb" David Coleman, standing under the light, frowned and looked at David Jiang standing outside the light area. After being silent for a long time, he asked.

"Am I crazy?"

"No!"

David Jiang, who was standing outside the lighting area, took two steps forward and stood at the edge of the lighting area, smiling frankly.

"You and I have two completely different memories and lives."

"I'm pretty sure that they... all really existed and happened in history~"

"But for some reason, I came to your world from my world and entered your body..."

"This is what we have now..."

"..."

"Dumb" David Coleman's figure looks more "voluptuous" under the light.

He pursed his lips and looked into David Jiang's eyes, and asked in a muffled voice.

"Then what should we do now?"

"Forehead.."

David Jiang glanced around, shrugged, spread his hands and said, "Maybe, we can try to fuse..."

"Or, we can take turns being the masters of our bodies~"

"These are easy to handle, we can discuss it~"

"..."

When David Jiang saw David Coleman fell into silence, he simply looked around again, patted his head and said with a smile.

"Have you been feeling all my experiences in this environment?"

"..Um!"

"Tsk~"

David Jiang curled his lips helplessly, turned around and walked into the depths of darkness, closed his eyes and felt it, and tried to snap his fingers~

"Clap~"

After the sound of snapping fingers, the whole space became as fresh and bright as a sunny spring~

The scene in the space has also been replaced by David Coleman's familiar backyard of Morrison Town.

"Dumb" looked around in surprise as he was very familiar with the yard, and asked David Jiang, who was walking towards him with two bottles of beer in his hand.

"how did you do it?"

"Hahaha~imagination!"

"This is our own body, our own territory!"

“As long as we dare to think and do, anything can be achieved!”

"..oh!"

"Dumb" David Coleman took the bottle of beer that was handed to him, and David Jiang walked to the small table specially set up in the backyard in the summer and sat down.

David Jiang took a very comfortable sip of beer, feeling the cold beer entering his stomach, and laughed.

"It's so weird here..."

"Drinking, you can still have real physical sensations??"

"..Yes!"

"Forehead.."

David Jiang suddenly stopped laughing, weighed the beer bottle a few times with his hands, and asked with a frown.

"Then I'm with Susan, Polly and the others..."

"I didn't peek!"

"..Haha~"

"I believe you didn't peek ~ but you can feel the same as me... right?"

"..."

"...Okay~"

David Jiang raised his neck and drank most of the bottle of beer, wiped his mouth with his hand, and sighed.

"Thank you so much for sharing all your memories with me~"

"But now you and I, without the presence of God, the possibility of separation is almost non-existent~"

"Now, I also want to share all my memories with you ~ David!"

"are you ready?"

"Dumb" David Coleman stared at the beer bottle silently for a while, shook his head slightly and said.

"You don't have to do this!"

"Hehe~"

"You and I have become one..."

"I don't lie to others, let alone myself!"

"Trust me, David!"

David Jiang extended his right hand to Ah-Dai, waiting for his decision frankly.

Dumb raised his head, looked into David Jiang's eyes hesitantly, and slowly stretched out his right hand.

When the two people's hands touched together, Ah-Dai seemed to enter a strange perspective, and quickly experienced his short life as David Jiang. .

In a fleeting glimpse, Ah-Dai saw David Jiang’s parents, relatives, classmates, friends, best friend, first girlfriend, ex-girlfriend, ex-girlfriend, current girlfriend, etc. .

Dui felt in a trance, as if he had no concept of time.

But he also truly felt that David Jiang let go of everything to him. .

soon~

Maybe, just a trillionth of a second.

Duan let go of David Jiang in a daze, closed his eyes, and thought about everything in his memory~

After a long time.

Dui opened his eyes and asked in a voice mixed with surprise and disbelief.

"The polar bear... actually disintegrated??!!"

"Um...that's right!"

"..."

"I didn't expect you to be so concerned about the international political situation?"

"..."

"Hahaha~ Then you must have seen all the relevant memories I have learned, right?"

"how do you feel?"

Duan raised his head, looked at the real sun in the sky, narrowed his eyes slightly, and whispered.

"Your world is more exciting than mine!"

"...Haha~ Indeed!"

"However, on the contrary..."

"My life is not as lucky and pure as yours!"

David Jiang also raised his head, looked at the sun shining on the world, and said, "David!"

"I haven't told you yet...thank you, right?"

"Thank you! You have given me a more exciting life!"

"..No!"

"It's our life!"

Ah-Dai suddenly stood up, threw away the beer bottle, walked up to David Jiang, opened his arms to him, and said with a smile for the first time.

"I'm younger than you..."

"I should call you brother!"

"Hahaha~"

David Jiang also stood up, opened his arms and smiled: "I am an only child like you...brother!"

Dumb nodded with a smile, took a step forward, hugged David Jiang, and whispered in his ear: "Help me...find happiness for Ruby! Okay?"

"no problem!"

"What about you? Have you figured it out yet?"

"Ok!"

Ah-Dai let go of David Jiang, looked around again, and said with nostalgia in his eyes.

"You can do better than me!"

"...No, these are what we should do~"

"..ok!"

"I'm ready!"

"Didn't you just say, let's merge together?"

"bring it on!"

"Forehead.."

David Jiang tilted his head and said with an embarrassed smile: "That's just an unverified proposal..."

"I don't know what to do either!"

"..."

"Ahem~that..."

"How about we first try to make ourselves...a part of each other, imagine??"

"Ok!"

Ah-Dai nodded cheerfully and stretched out his hands to David Jiang.

David Jiang also smiled, stretched out his hands, and grabbed Ah-Dai's arms.

The two of them closed their eyes at the same time, imagining. .Become one. .

. . .

In the restroom of the restaurant.

David felt as if his whole body had lost weight, his vision went dark, and he slowly sat against the wall.

After a few minutes.

He rubbed his forehead with his hands, a wry smile appeared on his lips, and said to himself: "Is the headache that has been bothering me because our bodies carry two souls?"

"..."

"Hehe~"

"how do you feel?"

"..."

"Wow~ We... succeeded!??"

"..."

After David felt his headache disappear quickly, he stood up from the ground, glanced at the time on his watch, wiped the water droplets on his cheeks a few times, and smiled at himself in the mirror.

"Little brother, my brother will take you to see something different!?"

"Hahaha~"

. . .

in the restaurant.

Ruby held her chin with one hand, staring at the milk glass in front of her in a daze. .

David walked out of the bathroom with a smile on his face, nodded to Black Mike and others who looked at him with concern, walked to sit down opposite Ruby, and said.

"Hi~ I'm back!"

"..oh!"

"Where were we talking?"

Ruby's eyes quickly focused, she looked at David without changing her posture, and chuckled: "Your three new girlfriends!"

"Ah...ok!"

David seemed to be influenced by his "little brother" Dumb. He felt a little embarrassed and touched his nose with his hand. After thinking about it, he stood up and walked to Black Mike and the others, made a money gesture to him, and whispered.

"Which of you has cash in your pocket?"

"Uh... I have it here!"

Giovanni quickly took out a small roll of money from his pocket and put it into David's hand.

"Haha~ Thanks, man!"

David gave a thumbs-up sign to the four bodyguards who were still a little confused. He turned to the waiter in the restaurant and whispered a few words to her.

The waiter lowered his head in surprise, accepted a small roll of cash, glanced at Ruby who was also confused, smiled, and handed David the small notebook and pen in his hand.

After David got the small notebook and pen, he happily walked back to sit opposite Ruby and said.

"Ruby!"

"I know I came to see you very suddenly today. It may cause you some misunderstandings~"

"But I also want you to know..."

David slowly put away his smile, looked into Ruby's eyes seriously, and said.

"When you left me, I was lost!"

"Those days, sometimes I don't know what I'm thinking."

"It seems that if I lose you, I will lose...everything!!"

"One night later, when I was staring at the ceiling in a daze, I recalled every moment of our time together..."

"Where have we been? What have we done together..."

"I...started to reflect on myself!"

“What’s the culprit of my confusion?”

"What exactly do I want!?"

David turned the small book in his hand to a blank page and kept writing while talking to Ruby.

"Ruby, during the period after you left, I thought and did a lot..."

"While I was trying to sort out my relationship and career, I slowly realized... I am always moving forward!"

"I...never imagined that I would be so...strong!"

"There were even brief moments when I felt so much pressure on my body that I couldn't breathe..."

"The shadow you left in my life gave me the faith to move on!"

"Ruby!"

"We are all writing our own history!"

"Our lives are full of applause and helplessness~"

"But we can't hesitate or stand still!"

"We... can only move forward, and further forward!"

"The confusion and fear about the future... will only be defeated by our strength and optimism!"

David raised his head, looked directly into Ruby's eyes, and smiled amid the "shocked" look on her face.

"What I know tells me it's a wonderful world!"

"My eyes are full of sincerity!"

"Will there be forgiveness for me in your eyes?"

"Ruby!"

"When the shooting stars at night streak across the starry sky..."

"promise me!"

"Let's look at them and shine for you and me!"

“Let us move forward together and appreciate all the wonders of this beautiful world!”

"Okay?"

. . .

Ruby patted her cheeks with both hands, opening her mouth wide as if her world view had been "subverted", and asked hesitantly.

"David??"

"Hmm! It's me!"

"But... how did you... become...?"

"Hahaha~"

David wrote a few words quickly on his hand, tilted his head to Ruby and said with a smile: "Do you like me like this?"

"Forehead.."

Ruby inserted all the fingers of her hands into her hair, blinked her eyes several times quickly, and asked still hesitantly.

"What you just said...do you want to get back together with me?"

"Well... would you like to?"

"Of course...I don't want to!"

"Hey! You bastard!"

"Back then I just liked watching that rock band perform, but you were unhappy all day long..."

"Wow~Wow~"

David raised his hands to Ruby and smiled.

"I did it... just to be jealous!"

"Can you blame me?"

"If I don't love you, how could I..."

"you love me??"

Ruby reached out and grabbed David's arm even more "frightened" and asked in disbelief.

David smiled, shrugged, raised his eyebrows and said, "Okay~"

"During the time we were together, I thought about you every day and wanted to be with you all the time."

"I like to see you smile~I always want to be by your side and share all the joy with you."

"You are happy, so am I!"

"If you are troubled, I will accompany you..."

"If... this is not love..."

"I don't know, what is love~"

"..ah!?"

Ruby felt like she was about to "collapse", so she let go of David's arm, covered her face with her hands, and tried hard not to lose her composure. .

David, who was sitting opposite her, suddenly felt an indescribable emotion in his heart. .

This is. . "Little Brother" was also used. .

hehe~

. . .

the other side.

The four bodyguards who had been keeping their ears open and paying attention to David and the two of them. .

Mike Bai smiled and extended his right hand to the three of them, and whispered: "I won, give me the money quickly!"

"fxxx!"

"Forehead.."

Black Mike, Lavis and Giovanni all rolled their eyes helplessly and reached for their wallets. .

Giovanni fumbled in his pocket a few times, opened his mouth and whispered to the three of them.

"My money... was all given to David just now!"

"Tch~ go borrow it!"

"Do you still want to default on your debt?"

"...Um...Lavis, can you lend it to me first...?"

Lavis glanced at his third brother Giovanni with "contempt", took out a few coins from the change in his hand, threw them in front of him, and whispered.

"Interest doubled!"

"...What?"

"Are you taking advantage of the situation!?"

"Haha~ Then you don't want to borrow it?"

"Forehead.."

Giovanni chirped a few times, held down the pieces of change with his hand, and pushed them in front of the proud Mike Bai.

"Hey hey hey~"

Mike Bai smiled and picked up the change on the table, put it in front of his nose, smelled it, and whispered.

"Is this... what money smells like?"

"Hahaha~"

"..."

Black Mike, who also lost money in the bet, turned back and glanced at Ruby, who was still immersed in the huge shock and had not responded. He scratched his cheek a few times with his hand and asked the three of them in a low voice.

"This Ruby...if I agree to get back together..."

"Then David has four girlfriends??"

"..."

"What's wrong? Are you envious or jealous?"

"What the hell...!!"

"Hahahaha~"