NOS Chapter 23
by VolareChapter 23 Huangsha Ridge (10)
Jiang Min, the neighbor living opposite Guan Yao, the “crazy woman” who sings loudly every night, no one in the Linchang Staff Family Compound doesn’t know her.
When Jiang Min was young, she was an actress in an art troupe and had a good voice. Later, it was rumored that she was fired from the art troupe due to lifestyle issues. After that, she became crazy and foolish.
People who knew her earlier were clear that Jiang Min, thirty years ago, was incredibly beautiful. The young men from all around Za Mu Er liked her, and the people chasing her could line up all the way from here to the border marker. But Jiang Min didn’t like any of them. Her ambition was to become an actress in the grand theater of Songlan, the provincial capital.
However, more than thirty years have passed, and the Songlan actress dream was shattered. Jiang Min became a “crazy woman” who could only sing loudly at night. She rarely goes out, rarely sees people, and even less often steps into this noodle restaurant.
Therefore, the proprietress said to her gently: “Why are you here? Where did your son go?”
Jiang Min smoothed her hair, which was still relatively smooth but no longer black, releasing a strong scent of perfume.
“My son ran away,” she said.
“Where did he run to?” the proprietress asked kindly.
Jiang Min didn’t speak. She picked a seat and sat down, then casually pointed to the menu on the wall: “I want… meat sauce noodles, and then give me two liang of wine.”
The proprietress had no objection, and the noodles and wine were quickly brought up. But Jiang Min didn’t eat. She just sat there smoking, one cigarette after another. The smell of cheap cigarettes filled the entire noodle restaurant, causing the child who had just entered to cough non-stop.
“Auntie Jiang, smoke less,” Guan Yao kindly advised.
Jiang Min, of course, paid no attention. She glanced coldly at Guan Yao and the person opposite Guan Yao, said nothing, and hummed a ditty to herself.
——It sounded like a lullaby to lull a child to sleep.
At this moment, Yu Chunming suddenly stood up and strode towards the door.
“Hey, no…” Guan Yao hurriedly put down his chopsticks and swept the money to the boss. He hurriedly chased after him, muttering, “I didn’t say I wouldn’t treat you.”
Yu Chunming walked extremely fast and didn’t turn his head. When he reached the street corner, he turned into the alley next to him, leaned against the wall, and bent over to vomit.
Guan Yao “hissed” and went up to pat his back: “Why are you feeling sick?”
The bowl of noodles that Yu Chunming had just swallowed hadn’t had time to digest before he threw it up whole.
Seeing him holding his stomach, Guan Yao couldn’t help but say: “Is it because you took painkillers on an empty stomach? I told you that you can’t take that stuff on an empty stomach, but you wouldn’t listen.”
Yu Chunming vomited so much that he was dizzy, and even when there was nothing left in his stomach, he still wanted to vomit. Guan Yao quickly helped him to the side, so as not to make him feel sick again from his own vomit.
After calming down for about fifteen minutes, Yu Chunming finally recovered.
Guan Yao grabbed a bottle of water from a small store next door and held it to his mouth to rinse his mouth. When he finally stopped vomiting, Yu Chunming squatted down again, holding his stomach.
“Or… come to my house and sit for a while?” Guan Yao had to ask.
Yu Chunming squatted without speaking.
“It’s cold outside, and you’ll get sick if you get blown by the wind.” Guan Yao went up and tugged at his arm, “Let’s go, come on, I’ll help you.”
Guan Yao is a tall man, and Yu Chunming is also a tall man. Two people who have to lower their heads to enter the low door are awkward no matter how they help each other. Yu Chunming was so uncomfortable that he couldn’t straighten his back, so Guan Yao had to free up his injured hand to support his shoulder, and only then did he barely get the man into his house.
“There’s no hot water yet.” After putting the man on the sofa, Guan Yao sighed, “That girl didn’t even think to boil some water before going out.”
Yu Chunming curled up into a ball, in so much pain that he couldn’t say a word.
After the water was boiled, he half-squatted by the sofa and asked: “Are you still uncomfortable? I don’t have any common medicines in my house. If you’re still uncomfortable, I’ll go to the hospital to get you some.”
Yu Chunming slowly shook his head.
Okay, Guan Yao understood, that meant he was still uncomfortable.
He sighed, turned around and found a few hand warmers that he used when he was on duty in winter, tore them open and stuffed them into Yu Chunming’s arms, then took off his coat and covered him with a blanket.
After finishing all this, Guan Yao dared to go out with peace of mind.
Tonight, Guan Ning is on duty. At this time, she is sitting with her colleagues in the cafeteria in the corner of the first floor of the hospital, eating a midnight snack. Seeing Guan Yao coming, the little girl was startled.
“Uncle, are you injured?” she exclaimed.
“What injury? You don’t wish me well.” Guan Yao waved his hand, “Go get me two boxes of stomach medicine.”
“Does your stomach hurt?” Guan Ning looked concerned.
“Not me,” Guan Yao didn’t know what he thought of, and said in a bad mood, “It’s your Uncle Yu, hurry up.”
Guan Ning immediately hurried away.
When Guan Yao hurried back home, he pushed the door open and saw that Yu Chunming on the sofa was gone. His heart tightened, and he intuitively thought that this person had left. He turned his head and was about to go downstairs to look for him, but he caught a glimpse of the half-open door of the bathroom.
“Yu Chunming?” Guan Yao called out.
The person who was lying well on the sofa just now was now curled up next to the toilet in the bathroom. He vomited again, but this time there wasn’t much that could be vomited.
Guan Yao took three deep breaths and decided to pick Yu Chunming up from the ground. Fortunately, Yu Chunming was very obedient in his illness, letting Guan Yao do whatever he wanted without making a sound. It was precisely because he was too quiet that sometimes people felt that he was not asleep, but dead.
This sudden thought startled Guan Yao. He couldn’t help but use the back of his hand to test the temperature of Yu Chunming’s forehead, and he couldn’t help but lean closer to listen to his shallow breathing.
After tossing back and forth like this, Guan Yao didn’t close his eyes all night. Then, when dawn broke, Yu Chunming, as expected, developed a low fever.
“Go to the hospital,” Guan Yao stared at the person sitting on the sofa looking at the thermometer, and sincerely advised, “You’re so young, don’t be afraid to see a doctor.”
Yu Chunming said decisively: “I’m not going.”
Guan Yao was helpless: “Then you can’t just stay here all the time.”
Yu Chunming put down the thermometer and sat there silently.
“You… don’t want your elder to know, afraid to trouble her?” Guan Yao immediately understood what Yu Chunming meant.
Yu Chunming looked at him, which was considered a default.
Guan Yao nodded: “You mean, it’s not okay to trouble her, but it’s okay to trouble me.”
“I don’t want to trouble you,” Yu Chunming said, holding the thermometer and lowering his head.
Guan Yao sighed, stood up: “Since that’s the case, then you can stay here, it’s getting late, I have to go to work.”
He was really too lazy to care about Yu Chunming. After all, people’s energy is limited. Officer Guan is busy in the task force every day, where does he have the leisure to kindly persuade someone who doesn’t want to listen to him at all?
However, Guan Yao didn’t expect that although Yu Chunming didn’t listen to his advice to go to the hospital, he seemed to have listened to his words that he was a burden. When Guan Yao rushed home during his half-hour lunch break to see him, the person had already disappeared.
Guan Yao was still carrying the boxed lunch packed from the city branch’s cafeteria, but the house was empty, and even the blanket that had been draped over the man last night was folded neatly.
Intuition told Guan Yao that the stubborn mule would never go to the hospital.
Therefore, Meng Changqing, who was just lying on the reclining chair preparing to sleep, received a life-threatening call from his master just before closing his eyes.
Guan Yao, who couldn’t get through to Yu Chunming’s phone, asked loudly on the other end: “Are you at the station?”
Meng Changqing yawned: “…Probably, Master, you…”
“Is Yu Chunming there?” Guan Yao was not in the mood to exchange greetings with his apprentice.
Meng Changqing widened his eyes and looked around: “Isn’t he there?”
“Not there?” Guan Yao looked downstairs through the window, and looked at his own carport especially carefully, “Then where did he go?”
Meng Changqing replied confusedly: “I don’t know…”
“Okay, okay, you don’t know anything, what’s the use of having you.” Guan Yao hung up the phone impatiently. He stood in the living room, looking at the blanket placed on the armrest of the sofa, and suddenly felt a burst of panic in his heart.
Why panic? Guan Yao didn’t have the brain to delve into the cause and effect. He thought that he was just simply worried about Yu Chunming as a good policeman, a good colleague, and a good leader. After all, that person still had a fever, and the sky outside was so gloomy that it looked like it was going to snow.
So, Guan Yao asked again in his heart, where does Yu Chunming live? Is it in the Police Family Building, or somewhere else? Did he go home? Or… does he have a home?
All the questions could not be answered, and Guan Yao suddenly wanted to go back to the Linchang Police Station to check Yu Chunming’s work registration information.
Of course, Yu Chunming, who was sitting in the milk tea shop next to Beichen Square at this time, did not know that someone was scratching his liver and lungs for himself. He was a little sleepy from the warm wind above his head, and even the joints on his body, which were already sore, seemed to be rusty.
“Brother?” Just before falling asleep, a loud voice came from his ear.
Yu Chunming opened his red-streaked eyes and saw a young girl wrapped tightly appearing beside him.
This girl is Yu Huan, the “sister” who had begged him bitterly on the phone to come to Za Mu Er to see him.
“It’s all because the train was delayed, which made you wait here for an extra half an hour.” Yu Huan took off her hat and gloves, and also untied her scarf, “Za Mu Er isn’t very cold.”
Yu Chunming sat up a little straighter: “Do your parents know you’re coming here?”
Yu Huan’s movements froze, and then she smiled and said: “I came here without telling them.”
Yu Chunming asked again: “Then do you know that Vice Governor Yu is here these few days?”
Yu Huan opened her big eyes and innocently replied: “Brother, don’t you lie to me.”
“Go to the City Bureau and take a look?” Yu Chunming invited.
Yu Huan immediately changed her face. She “yelled” and pretended to be annoyed: “A few days ago, Dad said he was going on a business trip. I was thinking that no one would be able to control me, so I said I would come to Za Mu Er to find you.”
Yu Chunming raised his eyebrows, not knowing if there was any schadenfreude: “Za Mu Er is not a big city. If you run into him on the street, it’s not my business.”
“Brother!” Yu Huan shouted.
Yu Chunming didn’t have the energy to mess around with her, so he raised his hand and pushed the ordering code on the table over: “What do you want to drink, scan it yourself.”
Yu Huan pursed her lips, sizing up Yu Chunming’s face: “Brother, are you sick again?”
Yu Chunming didn’t answer: “When are you going back to Songlan?”
Yu Huan was a little unhappy: “Why are you chasing me away as soon as I arrive?”
Yu Chunming stretched out his hand: “Give me your phone.”
Yu Huan was puzzled: “What do you want my phone for?”
“Send a message to your mom, my phone is dead.” Yu Chunming said, “It just so happens that she’s going back to Songlan in two days. If you don’t have money to buy a ticket, let her take you with her.”
Yu Huan immediately clutched her handbag tightly with a serious expression: “I won’t give it to you.”
Yu Chunming looked at her: “Then where are you staying in Za Mu Er? What are you eating every day?”
“I’m staying with you!” Yu Huan shouted.
Yu Chunming was a little speechless: “I don’t have any room there.”
“Then you can’t let me sleep on the street, right?” Yu Huan started to act shamelessly.
Yu Chunming rubbed his forehead: “I didn’t let you sleep on the street, I told you not to come.”
“But I miss you.” This girl, Yu Huan, who has always been sassy and straightforward, suddenly said in a clingy voice.
These words made Yu Chunming’s stomach, which was not hurting much, suddenly churn.
Yu Huan is his sister, yes, that’s right, Yu Chunming always thought so. At the same time, he also knew very well that Yu Huan also thought the same way.
However, because of some fragmented trivial matters, the two of them had become subtle from who knows when.
“Just kidding, just kidding,” seeing that Yu Chunming’s face was not right, Yu Huan quickly changed the subject, “Actually, I came to you this time just to relax… I broke up with Li Jing.”
Yu Chunming couldn’t smoke in the milk tea shop, so he gradually became irritable, especially when he heard Yu Huan say these words.
“What should I do? I feel like he really doesn’t want me this time.” Yu Huan said with a pout.
Yu Chunming currently doesn’t have any emotional problems—at least he thinks so, so he can’t really understand Yu Huan’s emotional problems right now.
“If he doesn’t want you, then he doesn’t want you. There are plenty of men, but replacing them with a new one is the same.” Yu Chunming replied casually.
Hearing these words, Yu Huan tilted her head and scrutinized Yu Chunming: “Is this the conclusion you came to after breaking up with Han Chen?”
Yu Chunming glanced at her: “This is the conclusion I came to as a man.”
Yu Huan raised her eyebrows: “Then after you broke up with Han Chen, weren’t you a little sad at all? Especially since he also…”
“I’m not sad.” Yu Chunming didn’t hesitate.
However, after he answered, he felt that he was a little silly from the fever. Otherwise, when Yu Huan mentioned that matter, why didn’t he really feel any sadness in his heart?
That’s really strange.
“Brother,” Yu Huan also felt strange. She leaned closer to look at Yu Chunming, “Did you meet any new people?”
“What new people?” Yu Chunming became vigilant.
Yu Huan smiled: “A new love interest.”
As these words fell, a person pushed open the door of the milk tea shop and strode in. This person went straight to Yu Chunming’s side and asked: “What are you doing here?”
Yu Chunming was sluggish due to his illness and didn’t realize who was talking for a while, but in the next moment, a big hand directly stuck to his forehead, almost pressing his whole person back against the back of the chair.
“Guan, Guan Yao?” Yu Chunming finally saw clearly who the person was.
Relying on his excellent interpersonal relationships in the small town of Za Mu Er and the assistance of “a little bit” of monitoring equipment, Guan Yao only used a mere hour to find Yu Chunming’s whereabouts.
He didn’t notice that there was still a girl sitting opposite him at all. He went up and asked: “What did you run here for?”
Yu Huan’s eyeballs had already rolled around three times. She waved her hand at Guan Yao with a smile: “Hello, I’m Officer Yu’s sister.”
“Sister?” Only then did Guan Yao realize that there was still someone sitting at the end of the table. He touched his nose and asked in surprise, “You have a sister?”
“Am I popped out of a rock?” Yu Chunming said unhappily.
Guan Yao was embarrassed and looked at Yu Huan without speaking.
Yu Huan smiled instead. She said to Yu Chunming with interest: “This is… that new person?”