Hospital 444
Chapter 152 - 1 The Old Man’s Advice

Chapter 152: Chapter 1 The Old Man’s Advice

Gu Yanan remembered it clearly, that day at dusk...

At the time, sitting in her boyfriend Wei Zhengxian’s car, she looked at the sunset, rolled down the window, and breathed in the fresh air outside, suddenly shouting towards the distance.

"What are you doing?"

Wei Zhengxian, sitting in the driver’s seat, looked at his girlfriend with a doting expression and said.

"Anyway, there’s no one around here!" Gu Yanan smiled at her boyfriend and said, "TV shows do this all the time, I’ve always wanted to try it out."

"You... Haha..."

"Where are we headed next?"

Gu Yanan had always felt that a road trip was the coolest kind of travel.

Compared to the whirlwind fixed routes of group tours, often coupled with forced buying and selling, this kind of spontaneous, self-planned travel was what real tourism was all about.

Her boyfriend Wei Zhengxian shared Gu Yanan’s idea to a T. Therefore, both of them meticulously planned to embark on a road trip before getting married.

Gu Yanan and Wei Zhengxian had known each other for about a year and a half, and the two had already agreed to get their marriage certificate the following year. In the throes of passionate love, both were in the most romantic phase, so Gu Yanan came up with a bold idea: to head south without a set destination, to appreciate the countryside scenery along the way and experience the true joy of rural tourism. This plan was met with eager agreement from her boyfriend Wei Zhengxian.

At that time, Gu Yanan did not know... that this was a decision she would come to regret immensely.

Wei Zhengxian looked at the map navigation on his phone and said, "Up ahead are several large villages in Luzheng Township; I’ve heard that the apples they grow are a major specialty."

"Sounds good, let’s go there!"

"But that area is quite remote; I’m worried there may not be any guesthouses."

"There will always be some," Gu Yanan’s personality was very optimistic, "If all else fails, we can negotiate with the locals, offer some money, and ask to stay overnight."

"Hmm... Alright then."

Gu Yanan turned her body around, carefully admiring her boyfriend’s profile.

Gu Yanan still remembered, the first time she posted Wei Zhengxian’s photo to her circle of friends, a bunch of her girlfriends went crazy leaving comments, asking who the handsome guy was, and if he was a model?

When out with Wei Zhengxian, he always managed to attract the highest return rate of glances from countless women on the street, with a handsome face like a sculpture, on par with the leading men in Korean dramas. Sometimes Gu Yanan herself felt dazed, wondering how such a heartthrob could be her boyfriend?

Even just looking at Wei Zhengxian’s face, she could spend an afternoon smiling like a fool. Traveling alone with him truly felt like the happiest experience.

Just then, the phone signal started to weaken, causing the GPS navigation to become unstable.

"The signal seems to be getting worse here."

The sun was gradually sinking toward the horizon.

Without accurate phone navigation, it was uncertain whether they would reach the village’s guesthouse before nightfall.

"It doesn’t matter," Gu Yanan said with a laugh: "Anyway, I don’t mind spending the night in the car with you. Or... I wouldn’t mind us doing some... enjoyable things... in the car..."

"Cough cough..." Wei Zhengxian’s face turned red in an instant, causing Gu Yanan to laugh so hard she couldn’t close her mouth.

"Don’t joke around, Ya Nan..."

"How do you know I’m joking?"

At that moment, the phone alerted, "GPS signal weak," and the navigation completely stopped.

Although they could follow the route they saw earlier, in such a remote place, the map might not be accurate. Wei Zhengxian felt it would be better to ask a local for directions.

Just then, Wei Zhengxian saw an elderly man leading a donkey pass by in front.

He gradually slowed down the car, rolled down the window, leaned out, and asked, "Um, sir, please could you tell me how to get to the nearest village from here?"

The old man glanced at Wei Zhengxian and after noticing his face, his expression turned somewhat ugly.

"You... you’re not from around here, are you?"

"Yes, we’re not."

The old man examined Wei Zhengxian carefully before saying, "Let me draw you a map. Do you have a pen and paper?"

"It’s fine, I have GPS navigation on my phone, just take a look at this map and see if it’s accurate," Wei Zhengxian said.

Wei Zhengxian showed the map to the old man.

Then, nodding, the old man pointed to the phone screen and said, "The route is correct; if you go this way, you will get there."

"Good, thank you."

Just as Wei Zhengxian was about to start the engine again, the old man suddenly said, "Wait a minute!"

Wei Zhengxian was taken aback and asked, "What’s wrong?"

"If you come to a village... a village full of goats..."

The old man spoke hesitantly.

"Remember..."

Finally, as if making up his mind, he said, "Once you get there, leave the village immediately! The farther away, the better! Whatever you do, don’t eat the goat meat from that village!"

"Why?" Wei Zhengxian asked instinctively.

"Of course," the old man added, "under normal circumstances, you won’t end up in that village."

After that, he led his donkey away.

Wei Zhengxian watched the old man grow smaller in the distance, then continued to start the car.

"Goats..." Gu Yanan murmured, "I actually quite like goat meat."

Then, the car kept moving forward.

The sky grew gradually darker.

"Yanan..." Wei Zhengxian, gripping the steering wheel and carefully watching the road ahead, said, "It seems like the phone has completely lost its signal."

"Is that so..."

Gu Yanan suddenly felt sleepy and said, "Then... I’ll take a nap. Wake me up when we reach the village."

"Alright, you sleep first."

Gu Yanan was indeed tired.

As she closed her eyes, a strong drowsiness overtook her.

Before long, she fell asleep.

She dreamed of her first encounter with Wei Zhengxian.

Gu Yanan and Wei Zhengxian had met on a trip. At the time, they encountered each other in Lijiang. She was almost love-struck at first sight by the handsome Wei Zhengxian. He was elegant and polite, and after talking, they found out they were from the same hometown and had a lot in common. They immediately exchanged contact information.

Although they were from the same hometown, Wei Zhengxian was a civil servant in the county town, while Gu Yanan hailed from a rural area. Consequently, Wei Zhengxian’s parents didn’t especially accept her.

Wei Zhengxian had a younger brother in the past, but five years ago, just after his brother got accepted into graduate school, he suddenly disappeared. This bolt from the blue tormented the family immensely. Eventually, they came to terms with the harsh reality that they wouldn’t find the brother and placed all their hopes on Wei Zhengxian.

In their eyes, both parents were peasants who had moved to the city to work. They didn’t have the education or wages that matched their son’s, and apart from Gu Yanan’s decent looks, she had virtually nothing to offer. But only after Wei Zhengxian’s persistent insistence did his parents reluctantly agree.

A marriage not blessed by parents always casts a shadow. Even now, Wei Zhengxian’s mother still didn’t show much kindness to Gu Yanan, and even often told her, in her presence, that her son could have found a girlfriend from within the system, a fellow government worker. Gu Yanan had endured such comments.

She believed that after getting married, and especially after having children, everything would get better.

"Yanan... wake up, we’ve arrived."

Gu Yanan slowly opened her eyes, and then, she was stunned...