Pastel Colors

Day0815:15

Just in case, Song Ran checked online and found out that the incubation period of chickenpox was at least ten days, and he immediately relaxed.

Ten days is long enough.

Even if he is unfortunately infected, he will have to wait for Mr. He to return to China before showing symptoms.At that time, he has successfully completed the task, and returned the lively little Bubu to Mr. He. At most, he can lie at home for a few days, exercise his lazy immune system, and strengthen his survival skills by the way—single for 23 years, no father, no mother, no mother. Boyfriend, every time Songran gets sick, he relies on his good health, and bears it to the end by himself, never caring about his own shadow.

As long as it is not a serious illness, you can always get over it if you carry it, and it will be uncomfortable for a few days if you hold it to death.

This is the experience he summed up over the years.

However, maybe the inserted flag was too powerful, and the effect was immediate, driving away the legendary ten-day incubation period.That afternoon, Songran suddenly developed a high fever.

At that time, Bubu was about to take a nap, and Songran told him a bedtime story.Originally, he planned to go back to catch up on the manuscript after the lecture, but as he talked, his eyelids became heavier and heavier, and he felt drowsy. He let go of his hand, leaned on the head of the bed and fell into a lethargic sleep. , The picture book also slipped out of his arms.

As soon as he fell asleep, his body temperature was as if the door of the stable had been knocked down. Dozens of iron hooves rushed forward frantically with the swaying reins, rushing into the danger zone in a very short time.

The lungs were hot, like a hundred catties of Chaotian peppers were crushed and poured into the throat, and the bright red pepper juice soaked every alveoli.The air was billowing with hot waves, sweat drenched the back, and drops of soybean-sized water dripped down one by one along the neck, as if being in the sweltering and humid summer heat of S City.

Song Ran was tortured by the heat, but he was unconscious, thinking that Bubu had a fever again, and wanted to get up to take his temperature, but his tired limbs were like a puddle of melted wax, spread on the bed, and even a shovel could not be shoveled stand up.

When he barely sat up, there was a burst of blue light flashing in front of his eyes, phantoms flickering frequently, his stomach began to churn violently, and the filth rushed to his throat.He hurriedly walked towards the bathroom while leaning on the wall, taking a step to the left and a step to the right, staggering as if he was stepping on a field of cotton.After finally trudging to the bathroom, his calf suddenly softened, and he knelt on the ground, hugging the toilet and vomited, almost submerging his head in the water.

He vomited piecemeal for 2 minutes, almost vomited half his life. In a trance, he remembered something again, tried his best to stand up by grabbing the armrest, supported the washstand, and looked at the face mirror.

His vision was blurred by the high fever. He squinted his eyes repeatedly, approached the mirror, and saw—a red rash grew on his right cheek.

Stretch out your hand and touch it, it's a little itchy.

Song Ran stood there for a while, turned on the faucet, scooped up a handful of cold water and splashed it on his face.

In the bedroom, the phone with the vibration mode turned on buzzed, vibrating anxiously under the pillow.Song Ran was in the bathroom and couldn't hear anything. Bu Bu on the other side of the bed was sleeping soundly with the little rabbit in his arms, and didn't notice the phone vibrating.

After repeating this three times, the screen of the phone went dark—the other party gave up the call.

He Zhiyuan put his mobile phone in his pocket, and got into the co-pilot of the taxi.

The idea of ​​calling Songran came out of the blue, and he didn't know the reason. After all, he had never contacted Songran in the afternoon of domestic time before.

Today there is no reason.

His schedule for the past two days was extremely busy, and he couldn't find any leisure time.I worked non-stop from 09:30 a.m. to [-]:[-] p.m., attended four meetings, drove to San Jose after get off work, had a quick dinner at the airport, and immediately took the [-]:[-] flight to Los Angeles.Tomorrow he was going to attend an authoritative data security conference in the industry. The conference lasted for three days, and he could only schedule one morning to give a speech on behalf of the SwordArc R&D team.This was followed by three technical interviews, aimed at PhD students who also came to the conference, lest they fly to Silicon Valley.After the interview, he will catch the nearest flight back to Palo Alto and leave the remaining two and a half days of meetings to his colleagues.

With work going on and on, his mind was preoccupied with his career, and he shouldn't have thought of Song Ran, whom he had never met before.

However, when the plane landed slowly on the lighted runway at midnight and docked with the bridge, he walked out of the boarding gate with his briefcase in hand, took out his mobile phone, and turned off the flight mode. The first thing he did was to open the address book and press the Song Ran's name.

There was an uneasiness in his heart that he didn't know why, and he urged him to talk to Songran as soon as possible, listen to the young man's voice, and confirm that he is safe today.

But there is always no one on the other side to answer.

By the time he left the airport, He Zhiyuan had dialed three times in a row, but Song Ran still hadn't answered.He convinced himself that it was lunch break time, Songran might be taking a nap with Bubu, and it would not be too late to contact him again tomorrow morning, so he temporarily put it aside.It was past midnight when he arrived at the venue hotel. He was physically and mentally exhausted. He took off his shirt and tie, hung it in the closet casually, took a hot shower in the bathroom, took half a glass of red wine as usual, and undressed to sleep.

At three o'clock in the morning, the dream was suddenly cut off in the middle.

He Zhiyuan opened his eyes, the night outside the window was dark, the gray shadows of several high-rise buildings overlapped, gradually imprinted on the ceiling, appearing cramped and deserted.Uneasy, he instinctively took out his cell phone and called Songran again.

Got through this time.

There was a light and muffled cough first, and then Songran's hoarse voice: "Mr. He? You... are you looking for me?"

He Zhiyuan knew something was wrong as soon as he heard it, turned over and sat up, and asked: "Songran, what's wrong with you?"

After about five seconds, Songran replied slowly: "I, I'm fine, I'm fine, and Boo Boo is also fine, today... I'm taking care of him, and he... Well, he sent a few more The acne, it’s not serious, and he doesn’t have a fever anymore...I applied topical medicine on him, that, the one prescribed by the doctor..."

Song Ran's tone was very weak, the kind of weakness that couldn't be concealed even if he tried his best: slow speech, loose articulation, simple word choice, confused speech, completely missing the point... These signs told He Zhiyuan that Song Ran's current situation The mental state is quite bad, and the thinking is also very chaotic.

There was a loud background sound coming from the phone all the time, loud and continuous.

He Zhiyuan felt suspicious, so he asked, "Where are you from?"

"Well... yes, in the hospital." Song Ran obviously hesitated for a moment, the volume weakened to the point where he couldn't hear clearly, "the one next to my house... the affiliated hospital of F University."

At this moment, the hospital radio rang in due course.He Zhiyuan listened carefully, and caught the word "emergency" from it - why is Songran in the emergency department?

The doubts in his heart became more and more dense: "Are you alone, or are you with Boo Boo?"

Song Ran thought about such a simple question for three seconds: "One person."

"Why go to the hospital?"

"Uh, I..." Song Ran stammered for a while, then said in a low voice, "I'll help Bubu...get the medicine."

He Zhiyuan stopped talking.

He could hear that Songran had lied.

The silence fell too abruptly, Song Ran leaned against the armrest of the cold chair in the waiting room, resting his forehead on the back of his hands, thinking drowsily that Mr. He must have noticed something was wrong.

Why lie again and again and again?

With his current mental state, he couldn't make up a decent lie at all, but he just didn't hit the south wall and didn't look back, stubbornly holding on to that small hope, and wanted to continue to hide it from Mr. He.

So childish.

So childish that I want to laugh too.

Song Ran supported his hot forehead, his mind was full of distracting thoughts, and he began to dwell on those insignificant details: How did Mr. He find out?Is it because the pharmacy of this hospital is closed at night, or is his tone not natural enough?

That sentence just now... how did he say it?

I can't remember anything.

He had a fever of 39 degrees, his thoughts were as cloudy as mud, and he forgot what he said as soon as he uttered it. He recalled it in such a muddle for a long time, and was suddenly woken up by He Zhiyuan: "It's your turn."

"what?"

Song Ran shook her painful head.

He Zhiyuan said: "The radio called you just now, you go to get a fever-reducing injection first, and call me back later."

"Oh, okay... I'll get an injection..."

Having been exposed to this point, Song Ran has no face to cover up anymore, anyway, there is no room for cover up.The nurse opened the door, stretched out half of her body and called his name. He stood up and said before going in: "Mr. He, Bubu is not at home alone. I asked Lin Hui before I came out...she said she would take my place." Take care of Boob..."

He Zhiyuan interrupted him: "Go get an injection first."

"……Um."

Song Ran wiped her face indiscriminately, there were warm tears between her fingers.He was too embarrassed and embarrassed, his negative emotions multiplied the pain in his body, and he couldn't help but wet his eyes.

An injection in the ass, a matter of a few minutes, is over in a blink of an eye.

Songran was leaning on the corridor with his down jacket clutched, his body was hot and cold, his joints trembled when he was cold, and his temples were full of sweat when he was hot.He didn't dare to call He Zhiyuan back, and gripped the phone with such force that he seemed to crush the screen.But in the eyes of others, he is so weak that he can't even hold the phone, and he is tucked between his fingers, as if he will slip down at any time.

After wavering for a long time, it was He Zhiyuan who took the initiative to call.

Apart from the usual loving greeting every night, this was the third private phone call He Zhiyuan made to Songran. He should have been ecstatic, opened the small ledger, and put the last tick on it.But now, he doesn't even dare to connect.

He was afraid of being questioned by He Zhiyuan, why he still got chickenpox even though he had asked his parents.

How to answer?

Let's just say that he has been lying until now. In fact, is he a child that no one wants?

He never wanted to experience such an embarrassing scene of being exposed face to face.

In elementary school, Songran had no one to pick him up from school, and the older children in his class always liked to bully him, making fun of him for having no father or mother, so he bravely said that his parents were both doing business far away, and made up the cause and effect in an orderly manner.In order to maintain this lie, he dared not go directly back to the orphanage after school, but walked in the opposite direction, making a big and intricate circle, wandering around until dark before returning.The little bully in the class was bluffed, and he escaped from the bullying.

One day later, he was called to the podium by the teacher and received a flower and a miniature cake.

The teacher said in a warm tone that Song Ran is the most special child in our class. He is an orphan and lives in the "Home of Hope", but he is strong and optimistic and never complains about his fate.Today is his birthday, and the students came to sing the happy birthday song together and gave him a sincere blessing.

So, in the happy birthday song with jagged tunes, Song Ran's long detour for several months became a waste of energy, and the poor dignity he carefully maintained... was caught off guard.

From then on, Songran never wanted to celebrate her birthday again.

He couldn't understand why the status of an orphan would be like a stain that was not considered a stain. Everyone knew that being abandoned by their parents was not the child's fault, but this status still seemed "disgraceful".He tries to avoid talking about the past with others, and even if he does, he deliberately blurs the details, making up a "big family" and saying that there are a large group of younger brothers and sisters in the family.

Half-truth, half-false, one's own peace of mind, and avoiding the pity of others.

He used the same rhetoric to Mr. He. He should have lived in peace, but unexpectedly, Bubu suddenly suffered from chickenpox, which caused a chain effect and exposed his lie.

Song Ran felt at a loss, as if he was standing in front of the podium in a daze, and heard the teacher's gentle and watery tone, revealing the secret he had kept tightly in his heart in public.

The phone buzzed continuously, numb the burning fingertips.Songran knew that she couldn't hide, so she had no choice but to bite the bullet and pick it up.

"Are you done with the injection?"

He Zhiyuan stood leaning against the table in a bathrobe, with one hand propped behind his back, frowning, his tone was no longer gentle as before.

Song Ran felt a little anger, and shrank her neck: "It's over."

"What's your body temperature?"

"39."

"You still refuse to tell the truth when you have a fever of 39 degrees, and treat me as an outsider?"

He Zhiyuan was mixed with anger and worry, and an indescribable sense of boredom welled up in his heart, and he couldn't help but raise his volume.Song Ran shrunk so much that her neck was almost lost, her whole face was buried in the down jacket, and she whispered: "No, I didn't treat you as an outsider, I just... dare not tell you."

"Don't dare?" He Zhiyuan raised his eyebrows, "I'm thousands of miles away from you, what can I do with you?"

Song Ran hurriedly shook her head, accidentally too much, staring at her eyes, almost rushed to the toilet to vomit again, managed to suppress it, panting and said: "I... I seem to have been infected with chicken pox by Boo Boo."

He Zhiyuan frowned: "Didn't you have chickenpox before?"

"Yes, yes, I'm sorry, I lied to you." Song Ran's voice was low, "Yesterday... I didn't call to ask at all."

He Zhiyuan was so angry that he knocked on the table: "Why don't you ask?"

Song Ran shrinks her neck again: "There is no place to ask."

"Your parents go to bed at ten o'clock?"

"I don't have parents!" Song Ran gripped the hem of the sweater uncomfortably, gritted her teeth, and confessed rather self-defeatingly, "All those brothers and sisters lied to you before! No one wanted me since I was a child. In the orphanage, when I first met you, I was afraid of being looked down upon, so I made up a lie. Yesterday you asked me to call home, and I was afraid of being exposed, so I lied again. Who knows that today I have a fever and acne Come on, get caught."

He Zhiyuan's eyes sank, and he stood up straight with his forearm propped on the table.

He thought that Songran was born in a wealthy and harmonious family, and he lived a carefree life because he didn't eat the sufferings of the world. With a pen and a piece of paper, he preserved his childhood fantasy and imagination to this day.

But she didn't expect that Songran's real past would be like this.

Songran has a high fever, lacks reason, and has a childish nature. Once he releases his emotions, he can't get them back. He babbles indignantly and angrily: "I didn't take chicken pox seriously. I even called the orphanage this morning. I got a call and asked them to check it out. The orphanage said I had to pass, so I thought the matter was over. Who knew that I would be recruited again... What should I do now? I have a fever, so I definitely can’t bring Boo Yes, it's only been two days since I got it back, and I haven't brought enough, and I haven't told many stories... It's too much, even God is jealous of me, trying to trip me up..."

What's all this upside down?

He Zhiyuan felt that Songran's character was really confusing—how cheerful he was on the outside, he was so sensitive on the inside, and occasionally his logic would break down, and he would blame himself for being sick. Scold twice.

He Zhiyuan held his breath and asked, "Have you been diagnosed?"

"Not yet." Song Ran muffled, "The dermatology department is off work, and we can only register tomorrow."

"That means you haven't been diagnosed yet, so don't feel burdened. I don't blame you for lying. You don't have to think too much. The most important thing is to rest assured." He Zhiyuan told him, "The injection is over, right? You Sit still and wait for 5 minutes, I will find someone to take you home."

Song Ran was willful and ungrateful: "No, I'll walk back by myself. It takes only 10 minutes to walk two streets."

"You dare to move." He Zhiyuan suppressed him in a non-negotiable tone, "Stick your butt to the chair honestly. If the person who picks you up doesn't come, you won't be allowed to leave."