Hospital 444
Chapter 315 - 3: Wishes and Prices

Chapter 315: Chapter 3: Wishes and Prices

"Hey, why are you holding a balloon?"

The neighbor lady, who had come out to throw out the trash, couldn’t help but smile at Yueyin holding the red balloon.

"Umm..." Yueyin didn’t know how to explain, so she said, "Someone sent it."

"Boyfriend?"

"No... I don’t have a boyfriend..."

Yueyin quickened her pace, returned home, and closed the door.

She looked at the balloon in front of her, and her heart was still pounding.

"What kind of prank is this? A reality show?"

Then, her gaze shifted to the package that she had placed aside that morning. Next, she walked over, step by step, and picked up the package.

"This... shouldn’t... could it be?"

She quickly opened the package and unfolded the wrapping.

Inside the box was the lipstick brand from yesterday’s live stream.

"Oh my goodness..."

So many lipsticks... Even with a discount, that must be over ten thousand, right?

I really shouldn’t accept this!

"The person will come looking for me in three days, and then I can give the items back to him."

Yueyin even considered calling the police, but... would this count as a crime?

"Who is this person?"

Targeting me with this balloon so precisely, could he have been watching me all along?

"If it were some kind of reality show, someone should have come out and talked to me by now, right? If they’re offering an appearance fee, it’s not that I can’t discuss it. But..."

She was somewhat worried, knowing nothing about the identity of the person who had sent the balloon. What if he was some kind of psychopath who might mean her harm?

Yueyin walked to the door and peered through the peephole.

Outside in the hallway, it was utterly silent, no sign of any movement.

"What am I thinking..."

She sat back down at the table, looking at the open package.

"However..."

Remembering last night’s livestream, the way the beautiful anchor had applied lipstick, she looked really pretty. In the past, due to her parents’ strict home discipline, she didn’t dare to wear makeup in high school.

"If I really could keep these lipsticks..."

To make a... child cry?

You could get a lipstick set worth over ten thousand just for that?

"A human nature experiment? That seems possible."

She had seen online that abroad they often conduct such social experiments to analyze human nature.

"Could this be possible? If I don’t make a child cry within three days, the person who sent the balloon will come to find me, show me the receipt for the lipsticks, and ask me to pay, right?"

"If it really is some kind of show... or an experiment conducted by someone studying sociology? It seems very profitable for me?"

The more Yueyin thought about it, the more she felt she had nothing to lose.

"Sigh... But to make a child cry for no reason, I can’t bring myself to do such a thing!"

At that moment, she turned on the TV, wanting to watch a program for a while.

They were broadcasting a soccer game from the World Cup qualifiers live on the television.

Yueyin had never been interested in sports programs before, especially soccer. Watching over twenty people run around on a green field for half an hour with possibly no goals scored was utterly boring. Besides, everyone knew the standards of Chinese soccer, so whenever she saw a soccer match on TV, she would switch channels immediately, not hesitant even for a second.

But now, it was different.

Many of the photos she had secretly taken were of that person’s athletic figure on the soccer field.

For the first time, she realized that soccer players could actually look so handsome.

She prepared to sit in front of the TV and really watch the game. The more she watched, the more topics she would have to discuss with him as a "friend."

"It’s in! It’s in!"

Just then, she saw a ball shoot out at high speed, grazed the goalkeeper’s cheek, and flew straight into the net!

"Eh?"

Although she didn’t understand soccer, she had seen a jersey of the same style as the goalkeeper’s before!

"This... this is the team he supports!"

The score turned to 1:0.

"The referee announces, seven minutes of injury time for the first half!"

"That’s okay, it’s only the first half; there’s still a chance to make a comeback in the second half, right?"

This year is the year of the World Cup, which for anyone who plays soccer, is the top-tier global event that can’t be missed. Even in the qualifiers, the significant gap between domestic and international football levels is evident at a glance.

After the first half ended, she picked up her phone, opened her contact list, and gazed at the name "Lan Ying."

"I, I’m a member of the school soccer cheerleading squad, so it’s normal for me to contact him about the World Cup qualifiers, right?"

But in the end, she still didn’t dare to click on it.

Finally, she moved her finger to another contact and dialed out.

"Hello... Xishi?"

"Zhaojun, what’s up?"

"Um, did you watch the game? The World Cup qualifiers..."

"I’m not a soccer fan, I don’t even watch the World Cup finals, let alone the qualifiers."

"But... aren’t we part of the cheerleading squad?"

"It was you who dragged me into this. I joined you because I saw you liked soccer. The only sports competition I would watch is esports."

"Of course, otherwise we wouldn’t call each other by the character names we often use in ’Honor of Kings,’ right?"

"If you really like it, I can watch some TV later and chat with you about it after. But you have to play a round with me tonight."

"Yeah, it’s halftime now. The score is 1:0."

"Is it a Chinese team playing?"

"No, it’s international teams."

"Eh?" Clearly, "Xishi" on the other end was quite surprised, "Then what’s the point of watching? I’d cheer for our national team if they were playing. I’m not interested in international team matches, not interested at all."

"Alright then, we’ll talk another time."

At that moment, she looked at the balloons beside her and suddenly asked, "Xishi, if someone told you that you could make any wish come true, what would you wish for?"

"A wish? Is this some sort of psychological test?"

"No, just a random question."

After hesitating, the reply came from the other side, "I don’t have any particular wishes that I want to come true. I pretty much lack nothing."

"Are you sure? For example, finding a boyfriend or something?"

"I haven’t thought about that... I guess I’ll consider it after I finish graduate school."

If indeed any wish could come true... then Yueyin would have too many wishes she wanted to fulfill.

She really didn’t want to pursue a master’s degree, but working right away seemed too stressful, and she was so shy about her crush that she couldn’t even bring herself to call him, let alone find common topics to talk about.

It was too hard.

"Alright, well, I’m going to continue watching the game."

The halftime break wasn’t long, and soon the game resumed.

The team that scored first played even more fiercely, and their attacks became increasingly aggressive.

In the 10th and 17th minutes of the second half, they scored two more goals.

"Is this what they call a hat-trick? Ah no, a hat-trick is supposed to be when the same player scores three goals, right?"

In the end, the score was fixed at 3:0.

As the referee blew the final whistle, the frame froze on the 3.

Looking at that close-up "3," Yueyin couldn’t help but think, if his favorite team lost, he wouldn’t be in a good mood, would he?

Tomorrow’s Saturday, she didn’t have to go to her internship, and the school soccer team just happened to have a game, reportedly against a team with members aspiring to become professional players. She could go to school tomorrow to cheer him on.

But then, the "3" on the TV screen was constant, always accompanied by the sportscaster’s voice saying, "After losing this game, if they want to make it to the World Cup, the next game will be a do-or-die battle!"

For a full three minutes, the sportscaster spoke, with the frame continuously fixed on that "3."

The next moment, the TV screen switched to a shot of a fan from the losing team.

It was a child who looked no older than ten, with a national flag painted on his face, but tears had already streamed down.

"Poor little fan, he’s actually crying."

Then, the frame switched back to that "3" again.

"It seems that this score has brought tears to such young fans at the sports stadium!"

Yueyin always felt something was off...

3... three days from now...

The child who cried...

This... such a strange coincidence...