Chapter 19: Finally Discharged from the Hospital

The aunt's son wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, terror unmaskable in his eyes.

"You went to the restroom, and you were the only one there?" Tang Lin sat up in bed.

The patient and family member in the bed closest to the door also sat up; clearly, curiosity had piqued regarding this matter.

The aunt's son nodded. "I didn't think much of it at the time. Seeing that no one was in the restroom, I actually felt a secret sense of relief for a moment. But when I finished my shower and came out of the restroom, I ran into someone in the hallway."

"Is that bruise from that person hitting you?" The aunt couldn't keep her composure.

"I was in a hurry to get back to sleep, fearing that if I took too long, you all would fall asleep and I would wake you up when I returned, so I didn't pay much attention to him. But as we brushed past each other, he tapped me. When I turned around to ask what he wanted, I found no one in the hallway."

"Hiss!"

The aunt sucked in a breath of cold air, feeling a chill rise from the soles of her feet.

She shuddered, trembling all over. "I know which hallway you're talking about. Two days ago, when I was coming back from the canteen, I took a detour this way. I was in that hallway and saw a hospital staff member pushing a gurney toward the back. I didn't think much of it then, but hearing you say this today, I remember—the person lying on that gurney was covered with a white cloth."

At this, it wasn't just the aunt's son; even the aunt and her niece wore expressions of terror.

At that moment, the lights in the ward flickered a few times. While this was a normal phenomenon on ordinary days, it undoubtedly became the final straw that broke their psychological defenses.

Everyone reached a consensus: the aunt's son had encountered a ghost today, and because he had blocked the way, someone had given him a slap.

Listening to them reach their conclusion, Tang Lin and Leng Hui exchanged glances.

They had merely transmigrated into a book; why did it feel like they had transmigrated into a supernatural world?

It was truly ghostly.

Wasn't this era supposed to emphasize science? Leng Hui discovered that these locals believed in ghosts and gods even more than they did.

That night, some people's hearts raced with fear, unable to sleep.

But this did not include the mother and daughter, Tang Lin and Leng Hui. They had seen plenty of dead bodies in the apocalypse, and during those times of chaos, they had personally slain many criminals who tried to harm them.

The other two sets of family members in the ward, listening to the steady breathing coming from the innermost bed, didn't know whether to say the mother and daughter were incredibly thick-skinned or just very sleepy.

The next day, as expected, the aunt's son fell ill.

He had a fever of 39 degrees Celsius—a high fever, but not excessively severe.

When the doctor came for rounds, he found it strange that the man had fallen ill; a grown man had collapsed after looking after a patient for just one night.

Upon questioning, he learned about the previous night's events and teased, "You're really scaring yourselves. There are no ghosts in this world; it's just that you have ghosts in your hearts."

Hearing his words, Tang Lin and Leng Hui breathed a sigh of relief. As long as it wasn't a supernatural world, it was fine.

However, the doctor misunderstood their sudden look of relaxation and spent a bit more time comforting them before moving on to other wards.

In truth, the doctor's comfort didn't do much for the others, because the doctor also couldn't explain where the bruise on the man's shoulder had come from.

The aunt's son suffered from a recurring fever for three days before it finally broke.

After the fever subsided, he had lost a significant amount of weight. Furthermore, since that day, he no longer dared to wander around the hospital at night, relying on his "yang energy."

As soon as darkness fell, he basically wouldn't leave the ward.

As for the bruise on his shoulder, even by the time Tang Lin was discharged, it had only faded slightly; there was no telling how long it would take to disappear completely.

The day before discharge, Leng Hui went home to tell Leng Yongkang to pick them up from the hospital by bicycle the next day.

She also brought back half a basket of Qingming vegetables, instructing Sun Xiaojuan to make a meal of dumpling cakes the next day to welcome Tang Lin back and dispel any lingering impurities.

In short, Tang Lin required the same ceremony that Leng Mei had upon her discharge.

Leng Yongkang took a half-day leave from the factory and arrived at the hospital around nine or ten in the morning.

"Is everything packed?" Leng Yongkang asked as soon as he entered the ward.

Tang Lin pointed to the washbasins and toiletries placed on the bed and the nightstand. "They're all out in the open. Are you blind?"

Leng Hui also grew annoyed with Leng Yongkang's lack of tact. "He's just a tool to pick you up for discharge; if you need something, just tell him to do it."

Being able to be discharged was a cause for celebration, so Leng Yongkang didn't get angry at being rebuked by the mother and daughter. He gathered their personal belongings, greeted the others in the ward, and led the mother and daughter out.

Once they were out of the inpatient building, Leng Yongkang voiced his confusion: "Why do I feel like the patients in your ward didn't want you to leave?"

"Of course they didn't. My mother and I are their mascots for exorcism and warding off evil."

Every night, the mother and daughter slept with absolute peace of mind, and the people in the other two beds felt at ease listening to their steady breathing.

They truly were mascots for exorcism and warding off evil.

Leng Yongkang wondered what kind of nonsense they were talking about.

Leng Hui then told him about what happened that night.

"There was such a thing?" Leng Yongkang was stunned.

Leng Hui was unhappy at his skepticism. "Could I lie to you about something like that?"

Leng Yongkang hung the belongings on both sides of the bicycle and nodded. "The words of the older generation always have some truth to them. When I was a child, my grandmother always warned me: if someone calls your name at night, don't answer casually; and don't pick up money on the roadside during the Ghost Festival."

Leng Hui was curious about the reasoning behind such sayings.

Leng Yongkang explained patiently and warned her to be careful in the future.

The father and daughter got along quite harmoniously on the way.

Leng Yongkang rode the bicycle with Tang Lin on the back seat and Leng Hui sitting on the front crossbar.

With the wife and daughter one in front and one behind, any passerby would believe they were a loving family.

However, this relatively beautiful scene underwent a sudden shift in tone once they arrived home.

"Comrade Leng Yongkang, where is the pomelo leaf water I asked you to prepare?"

Upon reaching the doorstep, Leng Hui realized no one had prepared the pomelo leaf water to cleanse Tang Lin of impurities, and her expression instantly changed.

Leng Yongkang glanced at Tang Lin's face and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "I'll check the kitchen; the water should be in the pot."

No one was in the house. Leng Yongkang didn't have time to check the inner rooms; he turned into the cramped little kitchen. There was a pot on the stove specifically for heating water, but the water inside was not the so-called pomelo leaf water.

Facing Leng Hui's fury and Tang Lin's cold stare, Leng Yongkang gave a sheepish smile. "Maybe they forgot. Should I go downstairs and pick some leaves now?"

Most of the neighbors in the Leng family building had gone to work. The housewives who didn't work had mostly gone to the vegetable market or gathered somewhere downstairs to gossip.

Only Chen Shumei was upstairs tending to her stove. Having overheard the family's conversation, she threw a few pomelo leaves—which her son had picked for play—from the windowsill into the stove.

"Tang Lin, Xiao Hui, if you don't mind, you can use my stove to set up a small brazier; it will cleanse the impurities just the same."

Smelling the scent of pomelo leaves in the air, Leng Hui nodded gratefully. "Thank you, Auntie Chen."

Seeing Chen Shumei preparing to move the stove, Tang Lin nudged Leng Yongkang. "Use your eyes and help her."