The hospital's main gate was a black iron gate mottled with rust. Through its bars, Lu Sheng saw elderly orderlies pushing patients one by one through the courtyard to bask in the sun.
The entire hospital was quiet, with hardly any loud noise to be heard. Even voices were faint to the point of being nearly inaudible.
All the orderlies wore wooden, even vacant expressions. Without a word, they showed none of the warmth a normal caregiver ought to have.
Lu Sheng took out his phone and called his father, Wang Zhuo.
"I'm already at the entrance."
"I'll come out and get you right away." A deep, weary middle-aged man's voice came through the phone.
Lu Sheng waited a moment. Soon, a middle-aged man in a gray suit, with weary dark circles beneath his eyes, emerged from the guard room and walked straight toward him.
"Dong Dong, let's go. We'll see your sister, then go eat."
"Okay." Lu Sheng nodded.
Wang Zhuo was an honest, dutiful office worker. He was now a supervisor at a foreign company, loyal and diligent in his work.
His superiors valued him greatly and kept promoting him and raising his salary. Everything had originally been going smoothly, but Wang Jing's situation had completely stalled his advancement. It had even turned what had once been a comfortable household into one stretched thin.
It was clear that he had been quite a handsome man in his youth.
Tall and broad-shouldered, with neat, vigorous short hair and steady, resolute eyes, he easily gave people a sense of warmth and trust.
"How was your trip this time? Was it fun?"
"It was all right. I ran into a few things, but it went fairly smoothly. How is my sister, exactly?" Lu Sheng asked.
"One of the orderlies looking after