Hospital 444
Chapter 354 - 7: The Taboo of Tears

Chapter 354: Chapter 7: The Taboo of Tears

In the afternoon, Lin Sunzhu took a nap.

When she woke up, she finally felt a bit rejuvenated.

At this moment, she slowly walked to the door, wanting to go out for a stroll.

As she reached the downstairs, she saw Xiaoju.

"Ms. Lin," Xiaoju quickly approached and said, "where are you going?"

"I want to take a walk in the outdoor courtyard."

"Oh, okay. But please don’t go too far and don’t go near the other villas."

"Mmm, I understand. By the way, when I looked out the window earlier, it seemed like a servant had fainted? Is he alright now?"

Hearing this, Xiaoju paused for a moment and said, "Is that so? I’m not really sure. But Ms. Lin, don’t worry, we have excellent doctors on site, so there shouldn’t be any problems."

"That’s good then."

Without giving it much further thought, Lin Sunzhu left the villa and walked into the garden of the estate.

Looking at the lawn and the plethora of flowers in front of her, Lin Sunzhu grew increasingly fond of this courtyard, which was evidently maintained by professional gardeners.

At this time, she had gradually moved towards the place where the servant had collapsed earlier.

And just then, she suddenly noticed a young boy lying under a distant tree, reading a book.

That child was...

Qin Bosheng.

In previous classes, Qin Bosheng had been extremely unremarkable, hardly ever speaking up, always giving her the impression that the child might be anemic.

By now, Lin Sunzhu was quite close to Qin Bosheng, so she walked over.

Although the butler, Qin, said that they should not have private contact with the students, acting as if she hadn’t seen him and just walking past would not seem polite, now that they were so close.

Approaching Qin Bosheng, Lin Sunzhu could clearly see the cover of the book, but she couldn’t understand it; it seemed to be a foreign language book.

"Um, Qin Bosheng, hello, um, what is this book?"

At this moment, she could clearly see the dense foreign words on the pages. Her vision was excellent, so she immediately deduced—this definitely wasn’t English.

"Cien años de soledad," Qin Bosheng uttered a string of words that Lin Sunzhu completely couldn’t understand, "if translated into Chinese, it would be ’One Hundred Years of Solitude.’"

"It’s ’One Hundred Years of Solitude’!" Lin Sunzhu instantly became interested, "Wow, you’re so impressive to comprehend the original book completely!"

She immediately recalled, yes, the author Gabriel García Márquez was Colombian, and indeed many countries in South America speak Spanish.

"This is one of the homework assignments my teacher set." Qin Bosheng turned another page, seemingly unaffected by his exchange with Lin Sunzhu in his reading, "completing a Spanish work is the very least."

Lin Sunzhu had been very fond of Gabriel García Márquez’s books when she was in university, especially ’One Hundred Years of Solitude.’ For the average reader, this book was rather opaque, with hard-to-remember names and it involved a seven-generation family.

"I’ve already read this book once, and now I’m reading it for the second time."

"I finished this book in my sophomore year of college. I cried at the ending," Lin Sunzhu crouched down. She had only intended to greet Qin Bosheng briefly, but she loved ’One Hundred Years of Solitude’ so much that she couldn’t help but engage in further conversation with him.

"I didn’t cry. And it’s impossible that I would cry," Qin Bosheng continued to flap his exceedingly pale lips, "this book is just homework to me. Ms. Lin, you may go."

"Oh... okay..."

Clearly, Qin Bosheng had no intention of sharing his feelings about the book.

Having no other option, she could only leave first.

"Well then, I’ll go now."

Lin Sunzhu found that these children had personalities that were very different from their peers, lacking any sense of liveliness or openness. Even their reading was entirely for the purpose of completing homework. Moreover, considering their schedules packed as per the course table, they probably didn’t have any time for leisure at all.

Just then, she suddenly recalled Qin Bosheng’s words.

"I didn’t cry. I can’t possibly cry."

These words were actually quite normal in themselves, especially coming from a boy. But they made her think of something the butler, Qin, had listed on that sheet: If he found any of the seven students crying, he was to be notified immediately.

Initially, she thought this was out of concern for the students’ mental well-being. However, now it seemed... could it be that they were being monitored, forbidden from crying? Was Qin Bosheng’s line "I can’t possibly cry" a reflection of their parents’ education?

Wasn’t this a bit excessive? There’s a saying that too much is as bad as not enough. Such spoon-fed, high-pressure education could be detrimental to the children’s physical and mental health.

Lin Sunzhu was studying at a normal university, and she had always decided to become a teacher in the future. She had determined long ago to be the kind of teacher her students would fondly remember years after graduating.

At that moment, she entered a flower garden within the courtyard. The grass here was taller than a person, so she weaved her way through it.

Suddenly, she heard voices coming from the other side.

The grass obscured her view, but judging by the voices, they seemed to be two servants.

"Has Anan woken up yet?"

"No, he hasn’t. I heard it happened when Master Qi Ji passed by him..."

"Don’t talk nonsense like that!"

"But, but, this is already the third person..."

"Shh! I’ve told you, stop talking about that!"

"Oh, alright... alright... I was just saying it..."

"That’s the problem with you, you can’t keep your mouth shut! Remember, when working here, ask fewer questions and do more work!"

The third... person?

Had something similar happened before?

Lin Sunzhu held her breath and dared not make a sound, continuing to listen to the conversation of the two servants on the other side.

"Listen up, just act as if nothing happened. Master Qi Ji walks his dog every day along a set route and at a fixed time in the courtyard. As long as you keep your distance, you’ll be fine. Just focus on your work!"

From their words, it seemed... the servant’s coma was related to Qin Qingji?

What was going on? Could the child have some sort of acute contagious disease?

This immediately made Lin Sunzhu anxious.

But then she thought about it and it didn’t seem right. The other children had also been in contact with Qin Qingji, as well as the many other family tutors, and they seemed to be fine.

Of course, if she went to ask now, she figured these two servants wouldn’t tell her anything, and neither would the housekeeper.

Just as she thought she wouldn’t be able to hear any more valuable information, another piece of conversation came from the other side.

"Don’t worry, even if you really do come into close contact with Master Qi Ji, in all likelihood there won’t be any trouble. Just remember one thing, as long as you haven’t seen him cry, then... there won’t be any major problem."

Haven’t seen him cry...

Then there won’t be problems?

What did that mean?

Lin Sunzhu was completely stunned, and then, the two servants left.

Her mind was now a whirlwind of confusion.

She couldn’t understand a thing they had said.

What situation was this? Could it be that crying was a serious symptom of this contagious disease? Although she wasn’t medically trained, surely... there couldn’t be such a strange illness, could there?

"Could this be the reason they can’t go to school and have to hire family tutors at home?"

Lin Sunzhu wasn’t in the mood to stroll in the courtyard anymore and could only return to the villa.

Along the way, numerous speculations flashed through her mind, but none of them resolved her current doubts.

What on earth was this all about???

Alright, she admitted, she couldn’t suppress her curiosity!

Just as she reached the door of her room, she suddenly saw the housekeeper.

"Teacher Lin, I heard that Miss Lan Ting felt unwell during the history class; is that correct?"

"Yes, she..."

"Did you get close to her, pay attention to her face?"

"Her face, it did look quite pale..."

"I mainly want to ask..." the housekeeper moved closer to Lin Sunzhu and asked, "Can you be certain that at that time... she didn’t cry? Even a hint of teardrop in her eyes, was there any?"

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