Shen Le stood silently beside the hospital bed, watching the child's father tug on the strings and do his best to put on a show for his child. His singing voice was hoarse; he could no longer manage the falsetto for a female role, and even the male-role melodies were completely off-key.
Yet amid all the fumbling, there was a kind of focus:
"With my life, I'll fulfill my duty..."
Son, Dad hasn't been a good father. I failed to fulfill my responsibilities and drove you to the point of jumping off a building.
But believe me, from now on, I'll do my best to be a good father!
"Not an inch of land shall fall into another's hands!"
Son, get better. You have to get better.
Your legs, your lumbar vertebrae, your spine, your nerves—they all have to recover, okay? You can't end up paralyzed, okay?
"What are petty vassal kings to me? With one sword, I can hold back a million soldiers—"
Those aches and injuries are nothing!
We'll work hard, we'll keep at it, and we'll get better!
He sang, his voice choked with sobs. Tears welled up in his eyes before he knew it, streaming down his face.
On the hospital bed, Zhang Zihan stared wide-eyed at his father, whose face was streaked with tears. He looked surprised and a little flustered.
"Dad, Dad, don't cry... I'm not in pain. It doesn't hurt anymore..."
Shen Le stood silently to the side, watching the man clumsily move the puppet and sing the lyrics completely off-key to cheer up his child.
In his eyes, the strings suspended from the puppet weren't even taut. Little Puppet was moving itself, dancing all on its own.
As it danced, a faint halo lit up around Little Puppet. It expanded and contracted with each breath.
Wherever the halo passed, the gloomy, dark qi in the hospital room was drawn in thread by thread, then silently ground into nothingness.
With each pulse, the child's expression grew a little brighter. Even the other patient in the room, along with the patients and their families who had crowded in to watch, seemed to relax a little more...
Huh?
Xiao Ling had some real tricks!
What kind of ability was this?
Shen Le turned to look. Before he could figure it out, a voice rang out from far down the corridor:
"The child can feel his legs?! Make way, make way!"
The crowd reluctantly parted, opening a narrow path.
A doctor in a white coat followed the child's mother, squeezing his way in. As soon as he turned around, he glared furiously at the crowd of onlookers filling half the room.
"Move along, move along! What are you all doing crowding in here? You're not family? And you're not, either? Out, out! Everybody out!"
After driving the onlookers out, closing the door, and drawing the bed curtain, he turned around and immediately changed his expression. Smiling kindly, he leaned over the bed.
"Little one, where does it hurt?"
"My legs hurt..."
"Okay, the doctor understands. Now, bear with me a little while as we check. Is the foot I'm touching your left foot or your right?"
"My left foot!"
"Can you wiggle the toes on your left foot? Good, very good! Now try curling all five toes on your left foot together. What about your right foot? Can you move the sole of your left foot? Your right?"
After a thorough examination, the doctor straightened up and gave his verdict with confidence:
"The patient has sensation in the nerves of his lower limbs and can move them. It appears his temporary loss of sensation was likely caused by a spinal hematoma compressing the nerves. There's hope for recovery."
In an instant, the child's parents embraced, tears streaming down their faces.
Shen Le put the puppet away and tiptoed out, leaving the doctor and the family some space.
By the time he left the hospital and returned to the street, it was already completely dark. Shen Le made his way back to Nanhua Street. For some reason, his stomach suddenly started growling, the hunger gnawing at him.
He looked around. Only a third of the houses on the old street had their lights on, and most of those belonged to residents.
At the far end of the street, though, a restaurant faced Yuantong Zen Temple across the water. Its sign read "Heavenly Fragrance Restaurant," and its neon lights shone brightly, warm light spilling from inside.
Without a second thought, Shen Le headed over.
The restaurant was famous for its lamb. It was a little pricey, and Shen Le usually couldn't bring himself to eat there, but today, he wanted to treat himself!
He had fixed Little Puppet!
The Copper Fragment had grown!
He had helped that child—at the very least, the boy wouldn't be paralyzed!
And maybe, just maybe, the rift between the child and his father had begun to heal, too?
After doing so many good deeds, he'd earned himself a big meal! It was only lamb, after all. He could afford it!
Zhuxi Town's lamb was the best around. Every summer, starting with the first days of the hottest period, every household ate lamb. People praised it as "a bowl of lamb soup during the dog days, and you won't need a divine doctor's prescription."
The lamb at Heavenly Fragrance Restaurant was even more famous. People often drove sixty kilometers from Binhai City just to eat there.
Even at 120 yuan per jin for cold-cut lamb and 150 yuan per jin for braised lamb, the prices couldn't deter the steady stream of diners.
They started selling at nine in the morning, and by noon a long line had formed outside. By three or four in the afternoon, every last scrap of meat and drop of broth was gone. There wouldn't even be a plate left to lick.
Fortunately, they hadn't sold out yet today. Shen Le dashed into the restaurant and called out:
"Boss, one bowl of braised lamb noodles! Add an extra portion of meat!"
"Huh?"
Several surprised voices rang out at once—from the counter, the kitchen doorway, and the dining room.
Shen Le looked up and saw three or four diners in the main room all turning to stare at him as if he were something unbelievable.
"How did you get in?"
"I..." Shen Le looked around in confusion. The room was filled with the rich aroma of food. Broth bubbled in a huge pot by the door, and the lights shone through the glass onto the curb. Everything he saw seemed perfectly normal...
"I just walked in?"
"Kid, we're sold out for today. You should go," the proprietress said with a smile, emerging from the kitchen with a large tray. Before she'd even finished speaking, one of the diners in the corner suddenly chimed in:
"Meeting by chance is fate. Since he managed to get in, why not serve him a bowl, proprietress?"
Shen Le paused, looked at the proprietress, then turned to the diner who had spoken.
The diner was seated in the most secluded corner of the restaurant. He wore the simplest white undershirt, a pair of beach shorts, and plastic slippers—about as casual as you could get.
He looked to be twenty-five or twenty-six, but dressed like that, he wouldn't have looked out of place among the old men playing chess on a street corner.
Shen Le looked him over carefully but couldn't spot anything unusual.
The only thing that seemed out of place was the beautiful young woman sitting across from him. Her satin-smooth hair was tied back in a single bundle, falling all the way down her back.
Five or six plates and bowls in front of them had already been wiped clean. The young woman was holding a colorful ice cream and eating it with a smile.
The man said nothing more. He turned his gaze back to the girl across from him and watched her quietly, joy shining in his eyes.
Shen Le: ...I think I just got force-fed a mouthful of PDA...
Wait, why did they need his permission to sell me lamb noodles?