She is a very ordinary woman with an ordinary birth, ordinary background, ordinary ability, and ordinary job. Even her appearance and figure are the most ordinary among the crowd. Therefore, Xie Qiu, her boyfriend as a university professor, is all her pride and dependence.
Just like on normal days, she would listen to him, and he would make all the decisions, big and small. Under this sudden situation, Zhang Xianxian couldn't think of any way to solve it, so he could only subconsciously continue to look for Xie Qiu.
"Hey, Teacher Wang? Is Teacher Xie in the lab? I just called him for a long time and no one answered. I have something urgent to call him!" Without thinking too much, she called her boyfriend's assistant Wang Li. cell phone.
Xie Qiu is a young professor at the Environmental School of a 985 University in this city. Wang Li is his teaching assistant and his most capable assistant on weekdays. Xie Qiu is a very nerdy science guy. He doesn't talk much and doesn't like to socialize. Apart from his girlfriend Zhang Xianxian, the person he has the closest relationship with and the most is Wang Li, a man who just stayed in school as a counselor.
"Hey, are you Xianxian? Teacher Xie went to the supermarket, about half an hour ago. Well, he just left the laboratory at 12:05 when this experiment first started running. He said he would go to the supermarket tonight I went home to make sweet and sour pork ribs, and went to Maoyuan Supermarket to buy your favorite pork ribs. Is it because the signal in the supermarket is not good, so I can’t get through?" Wang Li is as rigorous as Xie Qiu in dealing with people, and he is also organized when talking and doing things. clear.
"Oh, I'll contact you again, thank you, Teacher Wang! Maybe, the signal in that supermarket is indeed not good, and the phone may be out of battery now. When he returns to the laboratory, please let me know and ask him to call me back as soon as possible. , it’s urgent, thank you!”
After hanging up the phone, Zhang Xianxian remembered that Xie Qiu had said in the morning that he would make her favorite sweet and sour pork ribs tonight. In fact, Xie Qiu's cooking skills are not very good, but the sweet and sour pork ribs he makes are extremely delicious, and it is also Zhang Xianxian's favorite dish.
Xie Qiu's family, appearance and figure are all as ordinary as Zhang Xianxian, but his IQ and hard work are particularly outstanding. He is a very serious and rigorous boy majoring in science and engineering. He never breaks his promise to his girlfriend. In the more than three years that they have known each other, Xie Qiuzhan's down-to-earth, warm and patient appearance has made her never feel like this. There had been internal strife or grievances in this relationship, so she believed in him so much.
Therefore, at that time, Zhang Xianxian chose to continue waiting for Xie Qiu's call, and she returned to her work station anxiously. When his colleagues around him were not paying attention, he secretly stuffed the strange little wooden coffin and the film into his handbag. All this, she was as careful as a thief, lest she arouse any attention or curiosity from others.
Because for her, it was an inexplicable pressure and burden. Zhang Xianxian's ordinary childhood made it impossible for Zhang Xianxian to adapt to the dazzling spotlight. She has become accustomed to work that is as colorless and odorless as boiled water. As the most ordinary clerk in the company, a job that has no sense of existence but can go to and from get off work on time makes her practical and at ease.
She has a real and warm dream, that is, to have a happy family and have two lovely babies with Xie Qiu. She is willing to live a life of washing and cooking with her husband and raising her children, she is willing to be the woman who takes care of the family behind Xie Qiu, and she is also willing to live her life around her husband and children.
However, until three o'clock that afternoon, Zhang Xianxian still had not received any news from Xie Qiu, and Wang Li's reply was the same. Xie Qiu still had not returned to school. So, she hid in the corridor to call Xie Qiu over and over again. Unsurprisingly, her phone was still turned off, and the WeChat messages she left for him also received no reply.
According to common sense, Xie Qiu goes from school to Maoyuan Supermarket not far away to buy things, and the round trip takes at most an hour. At this time, it had been almost three hours since he went to the supermarket. Where had Xie Qiu gone?
Thinking of the small wooden coffin she received at noon and the sudden discovery of the crow, Zhang Xianxian's inner fear and anxiety had reached its peak. She had no way of staying in the office for another minute. Just when she was about to go to the department leader to ask for leave and go to Maoyuan Supermarket to find Xie Qiu, the cell phone at her hand suddenly rang.
"Hey, Xie Qiu, where are you? Why is the phone turned off?" She grabbed the phone suddenly, rushed to the corridor outside the office, and shouted hurriedly.
Zhang Xianxian was so anxious at that time that he didn't even look at the caller's number. He never thought that the caller was actually his mother.
On the phone, her mother cried and said, "Xianxian, this is terrible. Your father has just been diagnosed with late-stage gastric cancer. You, please come to the hospital quickly!"
"Ah? How could this happen? Didn't dad just take the physical examination report today?" Zhang Xianxian was confused again.
The bad luck that day seemed to have started from the moment she received the small red wooden coffin, which was like an endless five-fingered mountain, weighing her down and suffocating her.
"Come on, come on. I don't know what to do. The report says it's late-stage gastric cancer! How will I live from now on? You, your dad is only sixty-five years old, he shouldn't die so early!" The mother said in tears.
"Mom, don't be anxious, don't be anxious, maybe it's a misdiagnosis, I'll be there soon!" She swallowed hard and said.
His mother hung up the phone in tears. Zhang Xianxian quickly found the supervisor, asked for a half-day personal leave, and then rushed to the top-level hospital where his father received the physical examination report without stopping. Many years later, when Zhang Xianxian recalled the experience of that day, there was only one word that came to mind, and that was fragmented.
She remembered that she was in the hospital and saw her father, who had been diagnosed with terminal gastric cancer, being as quiet as a statue for the first time amidst the noise. He lowered his head slightly and stared blankly at the ground. He sat motionless on the chair in the corridor, and the mouth that was always talking suddenly closed.
"Dad, it's okay. Maybe it was a misdiagnosis. Let's go to a few more hospitals to check!" She forced a smile and said calmly.
The daughter's appearance interrupted the father's silence. His expression was obviously hesitant, and then he squeezed out a smile and said, "Well, okay, I also think it was a misdiagnosis!"
"Daughter, daughter, I, I..." The mother who had always been pampered and pampered had begun to sob. She could not bear any pressure at all, and her emotions had collapsed in advance.
"It's okay, Mom, Dad must be okay. I'm here, and you still have me. Let's check out a few more hospitals. It must be a misdiagnosis!" Zhang Xianxian said with a smile as hard as he could.
At this time, she neither dared nor could cry. As the only child in the family and still an adult, Zhang Xianxian had no choice but to start taking her father to see a doctor. And her boyfriend Xie Qiu also disappeared inexplicably starting that afternoon.
