Chapter 45#
Two Years’ Worth#
After repeated confirmation, the shop owner finally gave the Spongebob and Patrick Star masks to Mo Xuzhi.
The DSLR successfully remained behind, and Mo Xuzhi, carrying a small bag with his prizes, wandered off elsewhere.
The cameraman didn’t initially understand this choice, but seeing Mo Xuzhi’s relaxed smile, he seemed to gain some understanding.
Just as the cameraman and Mo Xuzhi reached the edge of a flower bed, they happened to see a group of people coming out of the game hall.
The people over there also saw the two of them, and then a figure ran over quickly.
It was Li Jing. She was carrying large and small bags of things, interspersed with two oversized plush toys, running quickly toward them.
Li Jing’s approaching figure gradually blurred from clarity.
Mo Xuzhi closed his eyes.
When he opened them again, the world was a blur.
“Mo Xuzhi, quickly… help carry these for a bit. I can’t hold them anymore. Lele seems to be having an attack; we have to go to the infirmary.”
“Inside are the glass marbles he finally managed to win; handle them carefully.”
Mo Xuzhi’s brow twitched, and he said: “I currently…”
Li Jing was in a hurry and didn’t listen to him, stuffing everything over at once.
She stuffed them hastily and with quite a bit of force. The sharp corner of some box happened to press against his chest, and the fluff of the plush toys kept brushing against his nose, blocking his airway.
He felt like he couldn’t breathe.
The sound of Li Jing’s footsteps grew distant.
Crash—
The sound of glass shattering echoed behind him, the sharp noise causing a pain in his eardrums.
The cameraman saw there were too many bags and boxes. Just as he was about to lend a hand, he saw everything scatter, and Mo Xuzhi collapsed straight down.
The glass marble that Li Jing said was very important leaked out of a pocket and fell directly to the ground, shattering into pieces.
The fragments scattered, falling randomly around Mo Xuzhi.
“Mo Xuzhi!”
The cameraman was startled. Regardless of filming, he put the camera on the ground and immediately ran to help him.
Mo Xuzhi was still conscious.
His eyes were half-open. In just this brief moment, cold sweat had soaked the hair on his forehead, and there were obvious sweat stains on his white shirt.
His pale lips parted slightly, as if he wanted to say something, but he couldn’t make a sound.
“Don’t worry about speaking first.”
The cameraman brushed away the things pressing on him, helped him up, and then looked around.
The previously vast crowd was nowhere to be seen now. Even the shooting shop owner, who had been sitting in his shop playing on his phone with nothing to do, had run off to join the excitement upon hearing a guest had fallen ill.
The surroundings were empty and silent.
“Teacher Mo, wait a bit. I’ll call the others. Just endure it; someone will be here soon.”
The cameraman took out his phone, his hand still trembling as he scrolled through his contacts.
He was too nervous now.
This was the first time he had encountered such a situation since becoming a cameraman.
Words are pale and weak; only truly seeing a living person who was just enthusiastically shooting a moment ago suddenly collapse, giving no reaction or time to think, is truly terrifying.
“…”
Pale and slender fingers rested on the cameraman’s hand as he flipped through contacts.
The cameraman looked down and saw Mo Xuzhi give him a smile. “No… need.”
After saying one sentence, his throat seemed to be briefly cleared, and speaking was relatively less difficult for Mo Xuzhi.
“I’m fine, just low blood sugar.”
Although he could speak now, his voice was very low. The cameraman leaned his ear closer.
He asked, “Do you have any sugar on you?”
“Yes, yes.”
The cameraman hurriedly handed over the sugar he usually kept in his pocket.
Mo Xuzhi ate the sugar. After a while, he propped himself up and stood.
When the full weight of his body pressed onto his arms, his movements gave a nearly imperceptible pause, and then he stood up as if nothing were wrong.
The cameraman said: “Better go to the infirmary and take a look. If there’s any problem, it’s better to go to the hospital in time.”
Mo Xuzhi shook his head: “Just low blood sugar; I forgot to eat breakfast today.”
Afterward, the two of them wiped the dust from their clothes. The cameraman and Mo Xuzhi put the large glass fragments on the ground into a bag together, leaving the small ones to be handled later.
“I’ll do the rest myself.”
The cameraman then shouldered his camera once more.
Mo Xuzhi bent over to pick up the various bags and boxes that had fallen, then took out the handkerchief he always kept on him, wrapped it around his palm, and then patted away the dust clinging to the plush toys.
Having finished patting one teddy bear, just as he was preparing to handle the other, noisy sounds came from the end of the small path.
Mo Xuzhi and the cameraman turned their heads to see Li Jing’s group, who had just left not long ago, returning.
They seemed to be talking and laughing; presumably, Shen Le had no major problems.
Upon approaching, they saw the various bags piled by the side of the road.
The small glass fragments on the ground reflected the sunlight, which was a bit dazzling.
The smile on Li Jing’s face paused: “This is…”
The cameraman was about to speak, but Mo Xuzhi took the lead: “I didn’t have a firm grip on the things, and they accidentally fell.”
“Accidentally fell, all of them?”
Mo Xuzhi nodded: “Mhm.”
Li Jing pointed to the glass fragments on the ground and asked again: “This…”
“It’s Shen Le’s,” Mo Xuzhi said. “I’m not targeting him; the thing fell by itself.”
The expressions of the others suddenly became strange.
This… “the lady doth protest too much” was a bit too obvious.
In an instant, various previous rumors about Mo Xuzhi and Luo Wenyun resurfaced in everyone’s minds.
Li Jing said: “There was only this one in the entire game hall. How could you… Eh, thank you for helping carry the things.”
After speaking, she called the others standing to one side to help carry the items together. After packing up the things in a few moves, they intended to leave.
Afterward, Zhang Xuanxuan was the one to turn back and say: “Goodbye.”
Mo Xuzhi seemed completely unaware of the strange atmosphere. He was about to raise his hand, then lowered it again and said with a smile: “Goodbye.”
The goal was achieved.
He had originally been looking for an entry point to create conflict. Although today’s event was unexpected, it came at the perfect time.
The program crew knew very well how to perform malicious editing. Since this incident happened, he didn’t need to worry about what the crew would do.
The cameraman stood to one side and was silent for a long time, finally saying: “Go back to the room and change clothes first. It’s just about to be noon; you can just rest in the room for a bit.”
Mo Xuzhi nodded.
Afterward, he handled the broken glass on the ground, returned to the room to take a shower, swallowed a handful of pills, and lay on the bed scrolling through his phone.
He asked the staff for the WeChat of the game hall partition personnel at the amusement park, and then through him, obtained the WeChat of the owner of the ring toss.
He bought a glass marble from the owner. After sending the money, the owner readily agreed.
“The last one in the house” is a common trick used by merchants. Something said to be the only one might have an entire warehouse full of them stacked in the back—it’s just that no one has noticed.
The subsequent events followed naturally.
After Shen Le, who had suffered from low blood sugar because he didn’t eat breakfast, returned from the infirmary and learned that his glass marble had been “accidentally” broken by Mo Xuzhi, he said it didn’t matter with reddened eyes.
Although the owner of the ring toss later sent an identical glass marble, saying it was a “buy one get one free” deal and he had forgotten to give it to him earlier, whenever Shen Le encountered Mo Xuzhi, the atmosphere was visibly strange.
Time passed quickly. With two days left until the end of filming, Mo Xuzhi applied for leave on the penultimate day.
He went out early in the morning.
The amusement park was empty in the early morning. The staff were still having a meeting in the temporary conference room near the villa, and the other guests hadn’t gotten up yet. Only the original staff of the amusement park were starting their shifts with yawns.
the old woman who collected trash had also already started recycling.
Mo Xuzhi saw her take several trash bags from a trash can, looked at them in turn, and then opened one bag of trash covered in a black bag.
A pile of broken glass of fantastic colors sat atop crumpled balls of paper.
Mo Xuzhi withdrew his gaze and exited the amusement park gate.
He had already arranged with Song Zhenrui to film the character interview this morning. The place wasn’t far, in a studio near the amusement park.
The interview went quickly. Perhaps because it was the last time he would accept an interview, the staff asked him many questions, and he answered as seriously as he could. Before he knew it, an entire morning had passed.
After randomly finding a home-style restaurant for a meal, Mo Xuzhi called a taxi.
He sat inside and said: “To Jingda Affiliated Hospital.”
“Alright,” the driver was very talkative and said, “Speaking of Jingda Affiliated Hospital, the best department is indeed Psychology. No lie, a friend of my eldest aunt’s son works there; you wouldn’t believe how respectable it is.”
Mo Xuzhi smiled but didn’t respond.
This was a passenger who didn’t much like to talk.
The driver didn’t continue speaking, put on a song, and focused on driving his car.
Mo Xuzhi got out of the car.
The three large blue characters for [Psychology Department] stood at the entrance of the building.
Mo Xuzhi took out his medical record and handed it to the front desk nurse.
He didn’t show his face, but the nurse at the front desk had perhaps become familiar with him and pointed in a direction, saying, “Dr. Zhang is waiting for you in his office.”
Mo Xuzhi familiarly entered the office.
Dr. Zhang was sitting at his desk.
His appearance was not prominent, but he had a very gentle aura that would make people relax unconsciously.
He said: “According to the course of treatment, you should have been here three weeks ago.”
“Delayed by some matters.”
Mo Xuzhi consciously sat in the chair opposite the desk and said, “I’m here to get medicine.”
Dr. Zhang asked: “Are the pills finished?”
“Mhm.”
Dr. Zhang looked up at Mo Xuzhi, and then his features gave a nearly imperceptible twitch. He asked: “Did you stop the medication?”
Mo Xuzhi nodded honestly: “Mhm.”
“How long has it been?”
Dr. Zhang sat up straight. He had clearly become serious, but his attitude remained gentle, and his speaking speed was neither hurried nor slow.
Antidepressants cannot be stopped at will, especially for patients at Mo Xuzhi’s very pessimistic level. Stopping medication at will can cause significant impact or even irreversible damage.
“About three days.”
“There have been no adverse reactions so far. I’ve come to get medication today.”
“For how many cycles?”
Mo Xuzhi raised his eyes, “At least two years’ worth.”