Nurse Hong woke in the middle of the night, as she often did.
After spending so long with a patient like Luo Yuandao, who muttered strange things and kept his days and nights reversed, she had picked up a few of his habits. If she did not get up once or twice during the night, she felt uneasy.
The summer nights in Xia City were humid, but the temperature was pleasant enough. She threw on a layer of clothing, made sure to put on her shoes, and stepped into the corridor... She would not dare shuffle around in slippers.
Luo Yuandao's sensitivity to sound went without saying. The patient surnamed Xiu, who had moved in across the hall late last year, had keen senses too, and perhaps a touch of neurasthenia. However good-tempered he was, she still had to be considerate.
She reached Luo Yuandao's door but did not go in. Instead, she looked through the observation window.
As expected, Old Luo was not asleep. He was not in bed. A closer look showed him on the enclosed balcony, his back to the window, doing something she could not make out.
Nurse Hong switched to the Smart Butler's camera. Sure enough, the old man was playing with his building blocks. He had not laid out any large pieces, either. He just turned two or three small parts over in his hands, trying them this way and that without satisfaction, muttering all the while.
She could not understand what he was saying, nor did she care.
Moonlight fell from the southeastern sky and streamed through the window, lighting up his thin white hair.
Nurse Hong shook her head. At his age, how could he still stay up so late?
The trouble was, the old man was wholly absorbed in his own