Hospital 444
Chapter 245 - 36 Grandfather

Chapter 245: Chapter 36 Grandfather

"Jian Shi, it’s your turn, I trust you."

Old Mr. Li handed a large bow and an arrow to Hai Jian Shi, saying, "On our island, when it comes to archery skills, if you claim second place, no one dares to claim they’re first."

"Okay, I got it."

Hai Jian Shi took the bow and arrow, and then, he notched the arrow and drew the bow.

At that moment, a large crowd gathered around to watch the island’s customary sea burial ceremony.

Archery, too, is a technical skill.

If the archer misses, the hovercraft will gradually drift farther and farther away, until it finally exceeds the shooting range. If the arrow hits, but by mistake hits the body, it would be as embarrassing as it could get, leaving without dignity.

For this reason, families on the island working in the funeral industry must have top-notch archery skills. If Hai Jian Shi hadn’t returned in time, the task would definitely have fallen to the sharpshooter Ji Danyang. But with Hai Jian Shi present, Old Mr. Li trusted him more.

Hai Jian Shi couldn’t help but glance at his eldest brother-in-law Ji Danyang behind him. The latter smiled and said, "It’s fine, Jian Shi, you go ahead."

"All right, then I’ll give it a try."

Thus, Hai Jian Shi took the bow and arrow, and after that, he pulled the bow fully, aiming at the slowly drifting hovercraft.

Then... the arrow shot out swiftly, drawing a parabola, and struck precisely on the boat.

These types of hovercraft are designed with weaker buoyancy on the outer walls, and without propellers, so a puncture would cause the body to sink quickly into the sea.

As he watched Old Mrs. Li’s body plunge into the sea, Hai Han couldn’t help but sigh, then turned his head and prepared to leave.

"Huh?" Hai Yin didn’t expect her brother to leave just like that and quickly grabbed him, saying, "Don’t go. We’re still going to have a meal together later."

"I can’t eat."

Hai Han shook off Hai Yin’s hand and left quickly.

Right now, he only wanted to find one person.

Hai Han walked along the coastline of the island, keeping as far away from the beach as possible.

The sea always made him uneasy.

Now, Old Mrs. Li’s body had plummeted directly into the sea, right? The tides had been relatively calm these past few days; her body probably wouldn’t be carried too far away.

Finally, Hai Han reached a small house.

The door of the wooden house was open, and a youth came out.

"Hai Han!"

"Um... hi..."

The youth approached Hai Han and said, "I just made some noodles, finished not long ago, and saw you from the window. Do you want to try some?"

"Sure, thank you."

Hai Han was quite reserved in front of the youth.

Entering the wooden house, Hai Han immediately felt the warmth, with the fervent fire blazing in the fireplace.

"So warm."

"In this season, a bowl of piping hot noodles is just perfect," said the youth as if he had anticipated Hai Han’s arrival, having cooked a large pot of noodles. He picked up a spoon and began to serve Hai Han.

"Here, try my cooking. It’s guaranteed to be even better than what your mom makes."

"Thank you."

Although he said so, Hai Han didn’t start eating immediately after receiving the bowl, but instead said, "About Old Mrs. Li..."

"I know," the youth sighed and said: "But, there’s nothing we can do about it, birth, aging, sickness, and death, are the norms of life, right?"

"Old Li said he doesn’t want to live anymore," the youth said. "He plans to join Grandma Li next year, and he mentioned..."

"Did he really say that?"

"He even told my uncle to take care of his funeral arrangements."

"That kid..." The teenager thought for a moment before saying to Hai Han, "You haven’t told your parents about my situation, have you?"

"No, I haven’t. They don’t know that I already know the island’s secret."

After a while, he suddenly asked a question, "So, you... no, you... don’t plan on telling my parents..."

"Let’s leave it to fate. I don’t think there’s any need to tell them. Right now, the only people who know about this on the island are you, your uncle, and me. If you hadn’t overheard your uncle and me talking, I wouldn’t have planned on telling you either."

Hai Han picked up his chopsticks and started sipping his soup.

"You have the same habits as your uncle did when he was a kid," the teenager observed, looking at Hai Han. "You really do resemble your uncle in so many ways."

"My mom says that all the time." After sipping the soup, Hai Han took a few bites of his noodles and remarked, "This noodles... they’re really delicious!"

"Tasty, aren’t they? I added some shiitake mushrooms for flavor," the teenager said as he ruffled Hai Han’s hair. "I’ll make a bowl for you on your birthday, too."

"Okay, got it."

Hai Han thought the soup was indeed very delicious and commented, "This soup is really good."

"Well, it’s based on fish soup. I’ve been simmering it all morning, so most of the fish flavor has infused into it."

"No wonder. The fish soup my mom makes isn’t this good."

"When your mom was little, she often liked to follow the other fishermen, saying she would go out to sea when she grew up. I scolded her once, told her that children shouldn’t always think about such things. In truth, I felt fishing was just too hard. There was once a fisherman who got his hand pricked by a shrimp and didn’t take it seriously. Ended up with a parasitic infection and nearly had to have his limb amputated."

"Is it that serious?" Hai Han exclaimed, shocked.

"Yes, it is."

The teenager continued, "Back then, your mom was just like a boy, wild and untamed, caring little for things other girls found interesting. At that time, she only got along with Leng Mu."

Leng Mu?

Hearing this name, Hai Han froze.

He often heard his parents mention this person, who used to be his mother’s good friend, but she had disappeared many years ago. To this day, her whereabouts were unknown.

"My mom still gets very upset when she mentions Auntie Leng," Hai Han sighed. "She told me Auntie Leng was a genius at painting. It’s just that she always painted very strange and scary pictures, so people didn’t want to play with her when she was little."

"Yes, that’s right. Back then, your mom often brought her good friend home to play. I was quite relieved at the time, happy that she finally had a friend her age."

Looking at the teenager, who seemed even younger than himself, probably barely over ten years old, Hai Han felt a weird sensation.

"Did Auntie Leng later teach my mom to paint?"

"Yes, it was strange to see your mom, with her personality, sitting down quietly to paint. And she did indeed..."

"My mom also told me that..."

"Told you what?"

"I once said I wanted to see the paintings she and Auntie Leng made, but she wouldn’t let me. She said the things Leng Mu taught her to paint were all very scary."

"Hmm..." For a moment, the teenager seemed lost in memories. "I think I remember... but it’s been too long, I can’t recall clearly."

Hearing such fantastic talk, Hai Han nodded and said, "The more she said that, the more curious I became. Finally, she could only tell me they were painting the sea monsters the sailors talked about. At the time, I didn’t believe her at all, thinking I was too old to be scared with tales of sea monsters."

"Heh, is that so?"

Hai Han suddenly asked such a question.

"Grandpa... when you died and fell into the sea, did you encounter... a sea monster?"

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