Chapter 3: First Hexagram

June 9th, 2023

When Lin Xuan calmed down again and took her phone back from the nurse’s hand, she suffered another blow.

“We originally wanted to help you contact your family, but your phone was broken and couldn’t even be turned on. The head nurse even thought of calling the police. Later, the doctor examined you and said you were probably fine, so we didn’t rush to find your family. Oh, by the way, your teacher came yesterday, but when they found out you were fine, they stayed for a while and then left.” The nurse handed the scattered and broken phone, with internal components visible through the screen, back to Lin Xuan.

Holding her own savings of half a year and a new phone she had bought less than three months ago, Lin Xuan felt like crying once again.

Being cried into poverty, how many times would she need to seek divination to earn back a phone? Others could manage with their old phones for a while, but her old phone was gone when she exchanged it for a new one.

“If you want to make a phone call, you can use the phone at the service desk,” the caring nurse suggested.

“Thank you.” If only she had prepared a hundred yuan in cash in her bag, she wouldn’t even be unable to afford a taxi back to school now.

Who could she ask for help? Lin Xuan pondered for a while, about to make a call, but then realized she couldn’t remember any phone numbers. Normally, everyone communicated through WeChat, and no one bothered to remember phone numbers. Now that she suddenly needed one, she couldn’t recall any. Lin Xuan felt frustrated for a while, realizing that the only number she seemed to remember was the phone number of the part-time cake shop, memorized for the convenience of sales.

Since she didn’t go there yesterday, the shop manager must be angry. She needed to explain.

Just as Lin Xuan was about to call the cake shop, a figure rushed over like the wind and leaned on the nurse’s desk, asking the nurse, “Nurse, do you have a patient named Lin Xuan here? She’s a student at Lu Ye University and was brought here yesterday around one o’clock after being hit by a car.”

Lin Xuan’s hand holding the receiver froze. “Ranran?”

The person was none other than Lin Xuan’s best friend, Song Ranran.

“Xuan’er?!” Song Ranran saw her friend wearing a patient’s gown and immediately pounced on her, looking her up and down. “Are you okay? Where are you injured? Are your arms and legs okay? Did you get disfigured…”

“I’m fine, really. No worries, I guess you can say I got disfigured,” Lin Xuan replied one by one.

“What? Where did you get disfigured?”

Lin Xuan pouted and pointed to the “bald spot” on her head.

Song Ranran first froze, but as she saw it clearly, her expression gradually turned strange, and her hand holding Lin Xuan’s shoulder started to tremble.

“If you want to laugh, go ahead,” Lin Xuan said helplessly.

“Hahaha!” Song Ranran laughed for a while and then remembered to salvage their friendship. “It’s okay, the bald spot is temporary. Your hair will grow back soon. Before it does, I can sponsor you a few hairpieces as a friendly gesture. The quality of hairpieces these days is really good; you can’t tell at all.”

“Hahaha!” Song Ranran laughed for a while and then remembered to salvage their friendship. “It’s okay, the bald spot is temporary. Your hair will grow back soon. Before it does, I can sponsor you a few hairpieces as a friendly gesture. The quality of hairpieces these days is really good; you can’t tell at all.”

“Well, thank you.” Lin Xuan didn’t want to continue discussing her “bald head” and changed the topic, asking, “Weren’t you on vacation with your brother in the countryside? Why did you come back?”

“You had an accident, how could I still have the mood for a vacation?” Song Ranran blamed herself. “I’m sorry, I didn’t come right away. Yesterday afternoon, we went to the mountains to play, and the signal there was bad. I only saw the news of your accident in the university group chat in the evening. My brother said it wasn’t safe to drive at night, so he could only bring me here in the morning.”

“Ranran, thank you.” Lin Xuan felt touched as she listened. The vacation spot where Song Ranran was staying was not close to here, and now it was only 9:30, which meant she had left the resort at around 6 in the morning.

“I’m just glad you’re okay. But what about you? Why didn’t you call me when you woke up? I was so worried,” Song Ranran asked.

“My phone got broken.” Lin Xuan showed her devastated phone to Song Ranran.

“How did it end up like this? You worked so hard to save up that money.” Song Ranran had accompanied Lin Xuan to buy that phone, so she knew very well how long Lin Xuan had saved up for it.

“Forget it, I’ll buy a new one when I get discharged from the hospital. I’ll manage with an old-age smartphone; I can probably get one for five hundred. I’m so broke, what do I need a bicycle for? Oh, by the way, Ranran, can you lend me some money?”

As soon as Lin Xuan finished speaking, she felt someone looking at her. She turned her head and saw the familiar face, unable to help but let out a cry of despair.

How did he see her again!

The person looking at her was Song Wei, Song Ranran’s brother, a paranoid who believed that she and Song Ranran were only friends to swindle money from his sister.

Song Ranran came from a well-off family and was a good person. Sometimes when Lin Xuan urgently needed money, she would borrow some from Song Ranran, but she would quickly repay it, and it didn’t happen often. However, for some reason, every time she asked Song Ranran for money, she would be caught by Song Wei, as if triggering some magical mechanism. As a result, Song Wei’s gaze towards her became more and more like he was looking at trash.

Sure enough, Song Wei’s expression began to change as he stared at her—three parts mockery, two parts scorn, and five parts disdain.

“Sure, how much do you need?” Song Ranran, upon hearing her friend needed to borrow money, readily took out her phone. “Wait a moment, your phone is broken. How can I give you the money? How about I go out and buy you a phone first?”

“No… no need. I’ll buy the phone myself later.” Lin Xuan quickly stopped Song Ranran.

“But you said you don’t have any money, how will you buy it?”

“Then let’s go buy it together.” She couldn’t let this young lady help her pick a phone. What if she picked an expensive one? It would be enough to cover her living expenses for a year.

“Okay.” Song Ranran agreed happily.

Lin Xuan glanced at Song Wei and added, “Once I buy the phone, I’ll immediately repay you.”

“Hmph,” Song Wei sneered as he walked over.

“Brother?” Song Ranran happily called out when she saw Song Wei. “Lin Xuan is fine, just bald.”

The latter sentence doesn’t need to be said.

“Brother Song,” Lin Xuan greeted reluctantly. She didn’t actually like Song Wei, but in front of Song Ranran, they both maintained basic social etiquette.

“I already told you, she’s fine,” Song Wei said. Last night, he couldn’t resist his sister’s pleas and called the hospital to inquire. He knew that Lin Xuan was not seriously injured in such a severe car accident. “It’s just a bald head, lucky.”

“Temporarily bald,” Lin Xuan insisted stubbornly.

Song Wei didn’t care whether Lin Xuan was truly bald or not. He just wanted to take his sister away. “You’ve seen her. Can she come with me now?”

“No, I have to accompany Lin Xuan to buy a phone later,” Song Ranran said, linking her arm with Lin Xuan’s.

“You haven’t had breakfast,” Song Wei frowned.

Song Ranran pouted and turned to Lin Xuan, asking, “Have you had breakfast?”

“No,” Lin Xuan replied. After waking up, she had been busy familiarizing herself with the system and hadn’t thought about eating. But now, reminded by Song Ranran, she felt her stomach growling.

If she calculated seriously, she hadn’t eaten three meals.

“Brother, we’ll have breakfast together later,” Song Ranran said to Song Wei.

“Why can’t you come home and eat with me?” He hadn’t eaten either.

“Oh, Lin Xuan is a patient, and I have to accompany her to buy a phone,” Song Ranran coquettishly explained.

Song Wei’s eyes behind his glasses cast a look of disgust at Lin Xuan, then he said, “Have lunch at home.”

Lin Xuan felt a sense of schadenfreude. You’re just jealous of your sister’s attachment to me.

Once Song Wei left, Lin Xuan felt much more relaxed.

“Let’s go, let’s have a meal first and then buy the phone,” Lin Xuan said, leading Song Ranran downstairs.

Lin Xuan was really hungry and didn’t want to leave the hospital premises, so they decided to buy some food from the 24-hour convenience store on the first floor. The hospital was always crowded, and there was only one convenience store in the entire building, so there was a long queue in the small shop. Since Lin Xuan didn’t have any money, she left the task of queuing to wealthy Song Ranran.

With her hungry stomach covered, Lin Xuan waited at the entrance of the convenience store, casually looking around. She happened to see a child running into the hospital gate. The child looked about four or five years old, adorable with a tiger-shaped hat and holding a string, with a yellow helium balloon tied to the other end. The child’s cheerful smiling face gave off a vibrant and energetic vibe.

Lin Xuan smiled to herself and turned her head back to the convenience store. Song Ranran was still two people away from the counter. Almost there.

“Splash!” Without any warning, a large divination tube appeared before Lin Xuan’s eyes. It swayed slowly twice and dropped a bamboo stick, which automatically revealed a fortune.

[An Rui Ci, five years old, followed by hooligans into the children’s ward and was injured.]

Lin Xuan raised her head, and a yellow hydrogen balloon drifted right in front of her eyes. Behind the balloon, a middle-aged man wearing a dark coat was staring intently at the back of a child, following closely behind. His right hand was hidden in his coat, seemingly holding something.

This middle-aged man had been following the child since they entered the building, and at that time, Lin Xuan thought he was the child’s parent. It was clear now that he wasn’t.

Stalker, following, children’s ward.

Lin Xuan followed the direction in which the child was running. It led to the third floor of the hospital, where the children’s ward was located. The walls were adorned with colorful cartoon patterns, and there was a direct escalator from the central hall to the ward.

No, she couldn’t let him go up there.

Without hesitation, Lin Xuan rushed over and grabbed the child’s arm. The child looked up curiously, staring at this unfamiliar sister who held him.

“Um, little friend, where did you buy that balloon? It’s so pretty. I want to buy one too,” Lin Xuan forced herself to remain calm and prevent her voice from trembling. She didn’t look at the stalker, but she could feel his gaze lingering on her. A chill ran down her spine.

“Xiao Rui!” a young man ran up and pulled the child into his arms. He looked at Lin Xuan warily and spoke with an unfriendly tone, “What are you doing?”

This was the child’s father. He had received a work call, so he was a bit slower, but he always kept an eye on his child. When he saw someone grabbing his son, he immediately rushed over.

“I just wanted to ask where you bought this balloon. I want to buy one too,” Lin Xuan repeated her reason.

The young man lowered his head and looked at his son, seeing the child nod. Only then did his expression soften a bit. “At the hospital entrance, they sell them outside.”

The young father pointed outside.

The stalker took a slight step back after seeing the child’s father, hesitated for a moment, and then walked around, continuing on his own path.

“Ding, congratulations to the host for successfully helping An Rui escape misfortune, earning ten merit points.”

Lin Xuan breathed a sigh of relief. Luckily, she managed to change it.

“Thank you,” Lin Xuan expressed her gratitude, then turned and ran towards the hospital exit. She didn’t really intend to buy a wishing balloon but because the stalker hadn’t left yet.

“Xuan’er, where are you going?” Song Ranran happened to come out of the convenience store and saw her friend rushing out. She reached out and pulled her back.

“I’m going to the entrance to find the security guard.”

Song Ranran became even more confused. “Why do you want to find the security guard?”

“I just saw a man carrying a knife and heading to the children’s ward on the third floor.” There wasn’t enough time to call the police or shout it out, and she was afraid the stalker might suddenly go crazy and start attacking people in the lobby. So, she could only go find the security guard, hoping that the stalker wouldn’t immediately start attacking people in the ward, giving them more time.

“What?” Song Ranran’s face turned pale with fright.

“Ranran, come with me.” They didn’t know if the conflict would spread to the first floor, so Lin Xuan pulled Song Ranran along as they ran outside.

The two girls ran swiftly, unaware that right behind them, a young man who had just bought water from the convenience store and was about to leave the hospital paused his steps and turned to look towards the center of the lobby.

In the midst of the summer heat, there was only one man wearing a coat, walking through the crowd towards the elevator.

The young man’s steps turned, and he followed after him. As he passed the nurse’s station, he casually placed the water on the counter. “Hold this for a moment.”

The voice was clear and refreshing, like a summer spring.

The nurse looked up and only saw the tall and slender figure with a hood on their head.