Chapter 465: Ice Is Sleeping Water

The lights deeper down the corridor had dimmed. As time crept by, the passing nurses and patients dwindled. Many cast sympathetic glances at Yun Chuan, but he just sat stubbornly on the bench, barely shifting his posture.

I stopped trying to console him and sat with him in silence.

Daoist Priest Xianqing had done me a great kindness. When we first met during the Route 14 Spirit Bus broadcast, we were complete strangers, yet he had handed me a yellow talisman and warned me about the hidden dangers on the bus.

Later, when I was wanted by the whole city, Daoist Priest Xianqing used a secret technique to invite his founder's spirit just to help me, holding off the possessed Ye Bing and buying me a chance to escape.

A drop of kindness should be repaid with a fountain. So, when Daoist Priest Xianqing asked me to take care of Yun Chuan, I agreed without hesitation. I just hadn't realized what he meant at the time. Thinking back on his words now, he likely already knew his own condition. He had been getting his final affairs in order.

"The injuries he suffered were far more severe than we imagined."

Midnight passed. The tolling of the early morning bells echoed over the city, as if seeing him off.

The sky tonight was exceptionally dark, without a single sliver of light shining through.

Around one in the morning, the emergency room doors opened. The attending physician and the nurses walked out one after another.

"I'm sorry, we did everything we could..."

The surgical gurney was rolled out of the room. The old man resting on it wore a peaceful expression, as if he were only sleeping, but everyone present knew he had lost all signs of life and would never wake up again.

The boxed meal in Yun Chuan's hands fell to the floor, splashing vegetable juice over his faded Daoist robe. His eyes remained fixed unblinkingly on the old man. Standing up, he followed the gurney without a word.

In a daze, he seemed to want to follow that gurney forever.

My vision blurred slightly. Yun Chuan was finally stopped outside the morgue by the orderlies. Separated by a single door lay two worlds that could never touch again.

I wanted to say something, but Tie Ningxiang pulled me away. Seeing Yun Chuan's devastated appearance, I knew in my heart that anything we said right now would be useless.

That kind of grief pierced straight to the bone. Only those who have experienced it could understand.

"Let him have some quiet time alone," Tie Ningxiang said, pulling me out of the corridor. Only after we were far away did I hear the muffled sound of crying.

A man does not shed tears lightly; it only means his heart has not yet been truly broken.

"I didn't expect it to end up like this." My mood sank as well. I took a deep breath, rubbed my eyes, and slowly recovered. While we live, we are destined to look forward; there are no hurdles in this world that cannot be crossed. "Senior, you mentioned earlier that there were two things you needed to tell me. The first was about Daoist Priest Xianqing. What's the second?"

Tie Ningxiang hesitated. She paused for a few seconds before speaking. "There is someone in Ye Bing's room who wants to see you."

"Ye Bing?" During the eighth broadcast, she had been possessed by the peerless monstrosity suppressed beneath Bridge No. 3 Crematorium. She had fallen into a deep coma afterward and hadn't woken up since.

"It would be best if you went to see her. Honestly, her current state is quite pitiful," Tie Ningxiang said earnestly. Then she grabbed my hand. "Let's go. I'll go with you."

Eighth floor, VIP ward.

Even though Ye Bing and Jiang Chen had already fallen out, she was still nominally a daughter-in-law of the Jiang family. If only to put on a show for the media, they wouldn't mistreat her.

"It's so late. It wouldn't be right to go in and disturb them, would it?" I stopped outside the ward.

"That person said he absolutely had to see you, and that he would wait no matter how late it got." Tie Ningxiang pushed the door open and dragged me inside.

The VIP ward was spacious. Aside from Ye Bing, who was still lying comatose on the bed, there were two other people in the room. One was Jiang Fei, who was taking a nap on the sofa wrapped in a coat. Hearing the door open, she woke up, her groggy eyes widening in surprise at the sight of Tie Ningxiang and me.

The other person was a man around sixty-five years old, with salt-and-pepper hair and a hale figure. He sat by the window taking in the night view of Jiangcheng, holding a copy of a prose collection—Walden.

"Elder Chen, Gao Jian is here," Tie Ningxiang said softly. I could hear a heartfelt respect in her tone.

Seeing me, the old man slowly stood up from his chair. He set down his book with a smile. "I've heard Ye Bing mention you many times in the past. Today, I finally get to meet you in person."

"Ye Bing mentioned me? What is your relationship with her?" Ye Bing was twenty-five, while the old man before me was in his sixties. He didn't look like her father, nor did he seem like her grandfather.

"Gao Jian, be polite. This is Teacher Chen, the director of the largest private orphanage in South China. He has sponsored hundreds of out-of-school children and self-funded the construction of multiple rehabilitation schools for disabled children. He is a renowned philanthropist." Tie Ningxiang tugged gently on my hand, signaling me to watch my manners and not be too casual.

"There's no need for all that. I'm just here today to have a chat with this young friend." The old man seemed extremely amiable, putting on no airs at all. "Come, have a seat."

He naturally invited Tie Ningxiang and me over to the sofa. Jiang Fei, who had been lying there, had already gotten up and moved aside, watching everyone in the room with confusion.

"Old sir, forgive my bluntness, but Ye Bing and I no longer have anything to do with each other. I'm afraid I can't be of any help to you." Ever since learning about Daoist Priest Xianqing's accident, my mind had been in a mess. I had a mountain of things to deal with myself, and there would be another broadcast in just a few days. Constantly walking the line between life and death made me indifferent to hollow fame and so-called social status.

"Gao Jian..." Tie Ningxiang kept nudging me from behind, but I remained unmoved.

"Whether you help me or not isn't actually that important, but there are some things I need to tell you about her." Elder Chen turned to look at the comatose Ye Bing on the bed, his gaze tinged with heartache and pity. "I am not her father, nor do I share any blood relation with her, but I raised her."

The old man's gaze grew somewhat distant. "Twenty years ago, I resigned from my position as a college professor and founded Heaven's Gate. Ye Bing was among the very first batch of orphans we took in."

"Heaven's Gate?"

"Yes, it's just a name." Teacher Chen straightened his clothes, a warm and gentle smile on his face. "I assume you dated Ye Bing for all that time, yet she never told you any of this?"

"She never did." When I dated Ye Bing five years ago, I never heard her mention her family. Only today did I understand that she had grown up in an orphanage. But on second thought, it made sense. Ye Bing was born during the time of the mourning apparel, condolence visitor, and funeral door. Her Fate Pattern was treacherous; her childhood was bound to be plagued by disaster.

Teacher Chen seemed to be reminiscing, his voice trailing slightly. "Speaking of which, I'm the one who gave her her name. When I first met her, she was only four or five years old. All the other children had playmates, but she sat all alone in a corner, covered in dirt. I have no idea what she had been through, but her eyes were dull and filled with panic."

"I had the female teachers take her for a bath and change her into new clothes. She possessed a beauty far beyond the children her age, yet she had absolutely no confidence in herself. After she was washed and changed, she shrank back into the corner all by herself."

"Later, an administrator brought a few children without formal names into my office and asked me to name them. She was among them."

"I still remember my first conversation with her. I asked her what she liked most."

"She said she liked water, because water was pure and transparent, and it could wash away all filth and carry off dirty things. I thought this little girl was very interesting, so I told her that there was actually something in this world even purer than water, and that was ice."

"A bucket of water will eventually go bad if left out too long, but once water freezes into ice, it can remain pure and sweet forever." Teacher Chen pulled himself out of his memories and looked toward the hospital bed, murmuring, "Ice is simply sleeping water."

"Old sir, why are you telling me all this? Speak plainly. Stop beating around the bush." At any other time, I might have used a more tactful tone, but right now was different. Daoist Priest Xianqing had just passed away, and it felt like a ball of fire was pressing against my chest.

"I asked this child's attending physician. They said the only way to wake her up is to find the person etched most deeply into her memory, to touch her heart and rouse her. That person clearly isn't me, so I want to ask you to save her." There was a hint of pleading in Teacher Chen's tone. It had been many years since he had spoken so softly.