Noche Eterna

Capítulo 13

I slowly unbuttoned the last button with my fingers, like peeling open a clam shell to reveal a body of snow-white and pink skin. A cool breeze seeped in through the window crack, and a layer of rice-like particles instantly rose on my smooth skin.

"Close the window," I said to Thunder, somewhat annoyed.

Lightning smiled gently, walked over and checked the windows, then used heavy curtains to block the sunlight from entering the studio.

Lei Dian said he could tell at a glance that I was the kind of woman who could dedicate herself to art. I told him I was after the money; as long as there was enough money, art would become noble.

He mixed several paints with his brush, his eyes roaming over my shapely and sensual body. But when the first stroke of paint touched the canvas, another glimmer appeared in his eyes.

As the brushstrokes delicately traced sensitive areas of my body, a unique blush rose to my cheeks.

An uncontrollable longing arose in my heart, a longing that what was moving across my body at this moment was not a lifeless paintbrush, but the slender, delicate hand of lightning.

Thunder said, "You have to be patient. I only paid the model's fee."

That damn man, I wanted to strangle him for a second.

Lightning said, "Turn around." Lightning said, "A little bit. Go too far. Turn back."

I have to have professional ethics, right? For the sake of two thousand yuan, I didn't strangle him. I just let him do whatever he wanted like a robot.

Throughout the entire encounter, Raiden kept his promise and didn't make any physical contact with me, not even touching a hair on my head. Pinky exclaimed in admiration that Raiden was a true gentleman.

I said, "Gentleman my ass, you're shameless."

Fen Su covered her mouth and laughed. "Are you in such a hurry to have someone else deal with you?"

7. The snail's shell

The 46-square-meter space is like a snail's shell.

The snail told me he was so sad he was going to die. I said, "Go die already! Staying in that shell all day, swaying in and out, you're going to tire me out!"

The world is already so chaotic that prostitutes and homeless people fill the excess space in the city, and their shadows can be seen in any dirty, dark corner.

The market was littered with corpses, and I bought a chicken.

Don't expect any pity from me, don't even think about it.

I chopped the chicken's neck hard with a cleaver, leaving the cutting board covered in minced meat and bone fragments.

The snail groaned in pain, with an eleventh cool towel on its forehead.

"Zhanzhan, let's get married." The coolness of the twelfth towel made the snail suddenly utter a human word.

My movements suddenly stopped, and the chicken's snarling, broken bones cut my finger.

The soup was ready, and its aroma was irresistible. The snail sat up abruptly, grabbed the bowl of soup, and gulped it down.

Do you know what? This chicken was bought for you with the money I earned from selling myself. I sucked the blood gushing from my fingers and chuckled.

The snail paused for a moment, slowed its chewing, and stared blankly at the soup bowl.

"Let's get married," he said.

8. A simple wedding

Pink is getting married, and the groom is none other than Raiden. Raiden has become a very famous artist in the city because of body painting.

On the phone, Fen Su called Zhan Zhan affectionately, saying that Lei Dian had bought a villa, and that all the people living around it were celebrities. Her tone made it sound as if she herself had become a celebrity.

I said, "Snail, let's go home."

How could this be! The snail's eyes widened, and the postgraduate entrance exam book in its hand fell to the ground.

"Sir, your book!" The nurse, who had just entered the room, picked up the book.

She wanted to go home, nurse, she said. The snail looked very angry.

How could you go home? Look how pale you are. The nurse struggled to find words to dissuade me.

But, Fen Su is getting married, and I have to attend her wedding.

Fen Su held the most luxurious wedding banquet in the city's most luxurious hotel.

The woman in the mirror had a thick layer of makeup on her face, a kind of packaging trick I've always despised, but this time I had to use it to cover up my unsightly, sickly appearance.

Raiden, dressed in a black tuxedo, greeted each guest with a beaming smile. As I walked past him, I jokingly tossed him a comment: "You should wear a white tuxedo. It might look like a funeral procession, but it would make you look more like a human being."

I pinned the roses worn by VIPs to my lapel and greeted familiar faces with a broad smile.

Thunder said, "You absolutely must drink this wine; you're the great matchmaker, after all. Without you, I wouldn't be where I am today!"

Many people looked at me strangely, whispering among themselves. Occasionally, someone would point and say, "Look, that's the nude model for the figure painting..."

"Zhanzhan, are you still in the snail's shell?!" Fensu laughed loudly, forgetting to cover her mouthful of black, broken teeth with her hand as she laughed.

I said, "Fensu, what's that grime on your face?"

"No, no." Pinky twirled in her white gauze dress, holding her pink face up to the lightning.

I struggled down the hotel steps and saw a snail pacing anxiously outside.

Snail, let's get married.

But the snail mumbled that it had sold its shell.

What did you say? You sold the shell? I looked at the snail with amusement. Is a snail still a snail if it doesn't have a shell?

Because I need to treat your illness, I have no money, only this shell. The snail lowered its head and kicked hard at the firecracker scraps floating on the ground.

Go home.

9. The night breeze is cool.

"Zhanzhan, how did you get leukemia?" Fen Su rushed into the ward carrying a flower basket.

After sighing and lamenting for a while, Fen Su flicked two tears off her fingertips. Bathed in sunlight, her nails were even studded with diamonds, sparkling so brightly that I closed my eyes.

Zhanzhan, I was so blind! Leidian was flirting with his student right in front of me. Fensu's eyes started to redden again; I knew this time she really wanted to cry.

"Love on the Twenty-Four Bridges, marriage on a single bridge," I said softly. In that moment, I seemed to understand something. Isn't love as beautiful as the legend of the Twenty-Four Bridges? And marriage? It's just a real bridge, good or bad, nothing more than ordinary.

What did you say? Pinky put her ear to my mouth.

Love is a beautiful legend, marriage is a practical bridge, and didn't you say that thunder and lightning are true gentlemen? I laughed while coughing violently.

Under the moonlight, the night breeze was cool. I lay in the snail's embrace and fell asleep peacefully. In my dream, I was still dreaming about the legend of the Twenty-Four Bridges...

[Modern Chapter: 003 Left Atrium and Right Atrium (1)]

1. Joey Yung:

My mother said that a person has two chambers in their heart. Happiness lives on the left and sadness lives on the right. If there is too much happiness on one side, it will wake up the sadness on the other side.

On my 18th birthday, my dad gave me a red sports car. Shortly after, my parents went on a trip to Dalian, but on their return journey, they were involved in a shipwreck and perished at sea.

Beside their portraits was a framed newspaper article about their tragic death:

On November 24, 1999, at 7 p.m., the "Da Shun" roll-on/roll-off ship, belonging to the Shandong Yantai-Dalian Company, caught fire and sank at midnight. Of the 304 people on board, 282 died, and only 22 survived.

The nightmarish shadow of the shipwreck is forever etched in the hearts of the survivors, and also in the hearts of their surviving relatives. It causes me a constant, dull ache, so much so that I had to be hospitalized for treatment.

By the time I met Xiao Lie, I had already become a regular at this hospital.

That morning, the sun was shining brightly, and I was in an unusually good mood. I lay quietly in bed, watching a few sparrows chirping and hopping around on the branches outside the window.

"Hello, my name is Xiao Lie. From today onwards, I will be responsible for your treatment." A deep, resonant baritone voice suddenly rang in my ears. I slowly withdrew my gaze and followed the voice to the speaker. When my eyes finally landed on the handsome doctor, my eyes lit up. He was the most handsome doctor I had ever seen, wearing a crisp, crisp white coat, with bright, sparkling black eyes. Golden sunlight slanted down from one of his shoulders, making him seem like a god descended from heaven. Everything that followed proved that he was indeed the guardian angel sent to me by the heavens.

"I need to do a basic check-up for you, please cooperate, okay?" Xiao Lie said gently, while holding the stethoscope probe in his palm.

I nodded obediently. He gently lifted a corner of the blanket and looked at me with a questioning gaze. I smiled slightly at him and then looked out the window. This examination was slightly awkward for both of us, so young. Even though we were wearing close-fitting underwear and his hands were extremely careful to limit the range of the stethoscope, he still inevitably touched my full breasts. Normally, I would have screamed and kicked him out of the room, but this time, I seemed not to feel anything.

Fine beads of sweat had appeared on his forehead. He coughed lightly and said to me, "It's alright. Be careful not to catch a cold."

"Thank you," I said to him naturally.

I saw him and the nurse next to him pause slightly.

2. Xiao Lie:

As soon as I was transferred to this department, someone told me that the patient in bed 28 was the most troublesome, and that several doctors had already received reprimands because of her. Unfortunately, that ward was assigned to me.

I was surprised to find her so young and beautiful. Her slightly pale face had a sickly rosy glow, like pear blossoms after the rain—fresh, elegant, and alluring. When I went in, she was looking out the window, her expression serene and focused, making me reluctant to disturb her.

She turned her head, and beneath her long eyelashes were a pair of beautiful, large eyes, shimmering with a deep, dark light, like a still pool that made my heart feel as if it were sinking. Heart patients possess a unique, almost morbid beauty, and hers was dazzlingly beautiful.

I warmed the stethoscope probe in my palm; in winter, this metal thing is especially cold and can easily annoy patients.

She remained quiet until I finished my nerve-wracking examination; her face remained as calm as still water. I secretly breathed a sigh of relief; I'd heard that previous doctors had all failed during physical examinations.

She actually smiled and thanked me. Did people have a prejudice against her before?

"With such a handsome guy on the job, he's worth two of us!" Doukou, the nurse who was making rounds with me, exclaimed as soon as she entered the office, attracting a lot of attention from everyone who came over to ask her what was going on.

"Hehe, looks like my plan was right!" The director walked over and patted me on the shoulder. "However, we can't be careless. Who knows when she might cause trouble again? We'd better be careful, haha." My colleagues' eyes were strange, revealing a hint of schadenfreude.

In my spare time, I asked Doukou what exactly happened to that female patient.

Doukou told me that she was a rich girl with a strange temper. She had been suffering from heart disease for five years and had to stay in the hospital here for several months every year. Because she came so often, she had become a seasoned veteran and was very difficult to manage. Several doctors and nurses had been reprimanded because of her. She was very troublesome. After telling me this, Doukou worriedly told me to be careful, since I was new and not to fall into her hands.

Doukou is very lively. Some say that women are beautiful because they are cute, but Doukou is even more beautiful because she is cute. Her beauty belongs to the sunshine, exuding the fragrance of grass under the sun. On the other hand, the female patient named Zuer belongs to the moon, like a red plum blossom in a snowy field at the end of the month, dazzling and beautiful, yet giving people a feeling of coldness and unapproachability.

3. Joey:

I am beautiful, and I saw the admiration in his eyes. But that admiration was just a distant observation, polite and indifferent. I am lonely, without friends or family. I heard the nurse Doukou's cheerful laughter, like a flowing stream, and I envied her so much. I would gladly exchange my vast fortune for her happiness.

I've grown accustomed to solitude. Getting used to something is a process of acceptance and assimilation. It's like walking down a path you don't like; after a while, you're too lazy to turn back. So I maintain my solitude, like protecting a castle, preventing others from getting close or invading.

I hate those lecherous eyes, I hate those stinky men who always try to take advantage of me, but Xiao Lie is not like that. He is masculine and clean, just like his white coat, which always maintains a cleanliness that is different from others.

I love hearing his captivatingly masculine voice; my ears can always find it among a multitude of sounds. I love seeing his gentle eyes, filled with concern, tenderness, and a depth of meaning I can't quite fathom. I long for a boyfriend like him, though I know it's wishful thinking—one a heart patient, the other a young and promising doctor—it's simply impossible. But, how many things in this world are both possible and impossible?

The melodious piano music filled every corner of the ward. I don't like listening to music with earphones; I prefer to immerse myself in the music.

He walked in and coughed softly. I smiled. Every time he spoke to me, he would cough like that, as if it were the prelude to his performance on stage.

"This music is really beautiful," he said with a smile.

"Really?" I gently clasped his hands together in front of his chest, hoping he would notice them; they were so beautiful and slender, and this beautiful melody was their masterpiece.

"But, can we turn the volume down a bit? The patient in the next room just had surgery and needs to rest."

My heart sank instantly. He hadn't come to appreciate the music, but to stop me. I suddenly turned the tape recorder up high; the sound was abrupt and violent, shaking the entire room. Xiao Lie's expression changed, and he was about to say something when Doukou called him out.

I saw many doctors and nurses in white coats rushing to the next ward, completely ignoring my loud speakers. The patient in the next ward had died.

For many days afterward, Xiao Lie wore a gloomy expression. I didn't know that was his first surgery at this hospital, nor did I know if the patient's death was related to me.