Chapter 25 - Vegetable Dong Ci (1/2)

Chapter 25: Vegetable Dong Ci

Translator: Jacquelin

“Why am I here?” Dong Ci became a ghost. She looked at her own body lying on the bed with her head swathed in bandages, her eyes bulging and her muscles stiff. Luo Nan, looking drawn and wan, pressed his cheek against the back of her hand. Just then, the door opened and a doctor came in with a bottle of colorless transparent liquid in his hand. He walked to the bedside, handed the bottle to Luo Nan and said, “You are her husband, right? The patient is unable to blink, so her eyes will be dry. Remember to moisten her eyes with the cotton swabs every half an hour. Anyway, you’d better hire a special nurse to take care of her at night.”

Luo Nan, who had stayed awake all night, asked in a low, hoarse voice, “Doctor, is it possible for her to survive?”

“Wait, maybe miracles will happen to her. We will give her infusions to sustain her life in the following days.” The doctor tapped Luo Nan on the shoulder and comforted, “I wish she will wake up. You can try to speak about her past to arouse her desire to live.”

With that the doctor left. There were only Luo Nan and Dong Ci in the ward. She had been vivacious and lively before, but now she lay very quietly in bed looking particularly frail as if she was going to die at any time.

Luo Nan picked up a cotton swab and immersed it in the liquid in the bottle, and then gently dabbed at Dong Ci’s bulging eyes. The artificial tears immediately filled her eyes and rolled down her face.

“I should have been the one to die. I should have gone to pick you up, then you wouldn’t have involved in the car accident…” Luo Nan burst into tears, and bright, shiny droplets rolled down his cheeks like pearls from a broken string. He quietly cried for his lover as his heart ached. But crying was useless. He had no power to bring the dying back to life.

The rays of the setting sun shone slantwise through the window onto the floor. As darkness fell outside, the yellow leaves on the ground were picked up by the autumn wind and whirling in the air. Dong Ci’s ghost quietly drifted out of the ward and was blown away by the wind like the fallen leaves.

“I have to go. I know you don’t want to stay alone in the hospital…” Luo Nan murmured choking on his tears, staring at Dong Ci with loving eyes. “Do you know how important you are to me? Without you by my side, I can’t sleep… Please wake up and go home with me. Honey, do you hear me?”

Dong Ci was still motionless.

She was now in what was described as a vegetative state, without being able to react to anything at all.

A nurse walked into the ward and said, “Mr. Luo, you can go home for a rest. I’ll take care of her.”

“All right, thank you. I’ll come back tomorrow afternoon.”

Luo Nan reluctantly let go of Dong Ci’s hand, which was warm because he had wrapped her hand in his warm palms for a long time. But soon after he left, her hand became cold again.

Dong Ci floated towards the temple in which she had burned incense and prayed to Buddhas before. The Buddhist abbot stood at the temple gate and waved at her.

“Am I dead? Can you see me?’ Dong Ci shouted, “Tell me where I should go.”

The abbot put his palms together and said, “You gave me a pair of shoes in your previous life. In return for your kindness, I will show you the way.”