Miscellaneous Records of Ning Tai’s Strange Talks

Zhou You died, but it was also reasonable.

On the day of his funeral, many people came, all of them his students, doctors, and nurses in the hospital. As for his relatives, only Fu Jue attended the funeral.

Fu Jue was the adopted son of Zhou You, and people around him were talking about his life experience. Some people say that he was Zhou You’s illegitimate son; some people say that he was the child of Zhou You’s deceased friend; and some people say that he was the child of Zhou You’s first love.

In short, Fu Jue’s surname was not Zhou, so he could say what he wanted.

On the day of the funeral, people came and went, but only a few really knew Fu Jue. No one noticed Fu Jue until Mr. Zhou’s beloved disciple Jiang Yuqin came over to greet him.

“You are Fu Jue, right? The teacher left some things with me before he was alive, and he told me to give them to you. I will go to the hospital to bring them to you when the funeral is over.”

“Are you Mr. Jiang Yuqin?”

Jiang Yuqin was a little surprised; he didn’t expect this kid to recognise him, “Yes, I am.”

Fu Jue smiled and said, “I just heard my father mention you once; he said that you are a quick learner and smart; you are a good seedling.”

Jiang Yuqin raised his eyebrows and said, “I’m overwhelmed; the teacher is dead now, and I didn’t hear anyone say these words again.”

The two exchanged pleasantries like this for a while, and when the funeral was over, Fu Jue grabbed Jiang Yuqin and asked, “Are you going back to Ning Tai Hospital? I just happened to be on the way; let’s go back together.”

When Fu Jue said so, Jiang Yuqin couldn’t refuse, so he followed him into the car.

The scenery outside the window was constantly changing, reflecting on Jiang Yuqin’s light brown pupils through the window glass.

He was a very strange person. As soon as he got close to him, he knew that he worked in a hospital. The clothes on his body emitted a faint smell of alcohol, and his speech and behaviour had the demeanour of a literati. His whole body looked like he was made of jade.

Thinking this way, Fu Jue no longer knew how many times he had secretly glanced at Jiang Yuqin along the way.

Fu Jue drove fast and arrived at Ning Tai Hospital in a short while.

“Strange to say, my father warned me not to go to this hospital since I was a child unless he died, and now it has been almost twenty years, and he has also passed away.” Fu Jue said this out of nowhere.

Before Jiang Yuqin could find a chance to reply, he realised that the lights in the whole hospital were not turned on, “Why is there no electricity? Are there no doctors on duty here?”

Fu Jue was in the dark, and he couldn’t see his face clearly.

Jiang Yuqin turned on the phone but found that it was dead.

The air was suddenly quiet, and Fu Jue realised that something was wrong. He dragged Jiang Yuqin and ran upstairs, asking while running, “What is the thing my father left for you?”

“It’s a notebook and a key. He told me not to look at it. What’s wrong?”

“Where did you put those things?”

“They are in my office.”

“Take me to your office; there is something very important.”

Jiang Yuqin led Fu Jue around and brought him to his office.

Fu Jue went in and locked the door, saying, “This place is safe for the time being; take the things out quickly.”

Jiang Yuqin was out of breath. He rummaged in the cabinet for a while and took out an old iron box that dessert shops often use to hold cookies.

There was a lot of noise when it was opened; it seemed so weird in this dark environment.

“Is there a flashlight? Let me see what’s written in it.” Fu Jue said.

After Jiang Yuqin heard this, he silently handed the flashlight in the drawer that was often used for night shift to Fu Jue.

Fu Jue turned on the flashlight to check the notebook and said slowly, “We are not in the place where the living people are. This place is called the door, where lost souls are reincarnated. This place is usually in crematoriums, funeral homes, and hospitals. We just broke in accidentally; if we want to get out, we have to find the door of life. Correspondingly, there is also the door of death. Remember not to approach the door of death; otherwise, you will never be able to get out.”

“Then where are the doors of life you mentioned?”

Fu Jue shook his head, “There are very few doors of life, so you can only rely on luck.”

Jiang Yuqin said half-jokingly, “Then we have to walk out of here together; you have to protect me.”

Fu Jue promised while opening the notebook and reading from the first page. Jiang Yuqin felt inexplicably relieved by his deep voice.

[Work notes

Record time: 2004.12.3

Recorder: Guan Jieyu

I grew up with Zhang Wanyu and Zhang Zekai. After graduation, Wanyu and I worked as nurses in Ning Tai Hospital, and Zekai worked as a dentist on the first floor. Usually we couldn’t meet with each other, but we always had dinner together after work. Sometimes my mother made dumplings and told me not to forget them.

It all started many years ago, when one day Wanyu secretly told me that she liked Zekai. I didn’t take it seriously; I just listened to it as a joke. Wanyu has been a cycad tree since she was a child; it never bloomed. Many boys chased her when she was in school, but she couldn’t be shaken, so I didn’t really believe it.

Later, Wan Yu and Zekai were really together. I was a little surprised. Maybe I will be a bridesmaid at their wedding in the future. In the future, there will be a cute baby who will call me Aunt.

But this wish could not be fulfilled after all. Four years later, when they were about to plan their marriage, Zekai suddenly disappeared. The news was like a bolt from the blue, which caught Wanyu by surprise. After learning about this, Wan Yu seemed to have lost her soul.

Later, someone came to investigate the disappearance of Zekai, but there was no result.

Wanyu is a stubborn person; if she decides on someone, it will be a matter of her life. I know she may not be able to get out of it in this life, so I persuaded her to look forward.

In the winter two years after Zekai disappeared, Wan Yu said that she saw Zekai when she was on the night shift and insisted on taking me to find him together, and I agreed.

The next night, we took advantage of the night shift to search the building. We even went to the underground mortuary, but we didn’t see Zekai. I asked Wanyu where she saw Zekai, and she said it was next to the operating room on the fifth floor.

But there’s no operating room on the fifth floor!

I was a little scared and pulled Wanyu to leave, but Wanyu insisted on going to the fifth floor once. I couldn’t hold her back, so I had to go with her.

The fifth floor was even darker than the last time I came here, but Wanyu still pulled me forward. Walking to a wall, she stopped, smiled, and said to me, “Isn’t this the operating room? Look, Zekai is there.”

It was so dark, I couldn’t see anything; only Wanyu’s face and the wall became clearer. I felt hairy and wanted to leave, so I pulled Wanyu away and told her that we would come back tomorrow. After listening to my words, I didn’t know whether she wanted to go back or not, but her laughter kept getting farther and farther away from me, and the echo in the corridor is still clearly visible every night.

When I went downstairs that day, the laughter disappeared, and I felt the surroundings become quieter and quieter, but I didn’t realise that Wanyu was gone. I talked to Wanyu, but Wanyu didn’t respond to me once. The darkness swallowed my calmness. I looked back, confused, and no one was there.

I started to call Wanyu’s name, but the only response I got was silence.

I was terrified. I thought Wanyu was still on the fifth floor, so I went upstairs to look for her, but I ran into Sister Xiafeng. Sister Xiafeng said that she had just come down from the fifth floor and didn’t see Wanyu.

I went upstairs to look again later, but I didn’t see Wanyu.

Since then, I have never seen Wan Yu again.]

Fu Jue’s voice stopped.

Jiang Yuqin was afraid that Fu Jue would disappear suddenly like in the record, so he called his name softly, “Fu Jue, are you still there?”

“I am here.”

Fu Jue smiled, “Why? Are you afraid that I will disappear?”

In the dark, they can’t see each other’s faces clearly.

Fu Jue suddenly said seriously: “Zhang Wanyu and Zhang Zekai should have entered the operating room on the fifth floor, as she said in her notes. The fifth-floor operating room is the door of death. We’d better avoid it when we look for the door of life; otherwise, we won’t be able to come out again.”

“Where will you go next?” Jiang Yuqin asked.

“Let’s go to the dentistry on the first floor; maybe there would be some clues about the gate of life and death, if one could be avoided.”

Fu Jue and Jiang Yuqin left the office, took the notebook and the key, and went to the dental clinic on the first floor.

Fu Jue: “Hasn’t this hospital been renovated?

“No, but the teacher had it redecorated. The teacher took over the hospital in 1987. No one knows what the previous hospital was like.” Speaking of this, Jiang Yuqin’s voice paused: “Perhaps Sister Xiafeng knows, but Sister Xiaofeng has resigned for many years, so we probably can’t find anything from her.”

Fu Jue sighed and opened the dental office on the first floor.

“Is there anything?” Jiang Yuqin lit the surroundings with the flashlight.

“Let’s go in and have a look.” Fu Jue pulled Jiang Yuqin into the room.

There was a layer of dust on the old machine, and the solid wood tables and chairs were “creaking”.

Jiang Yuqin flipped through the iron cabinet and said, “The record time is in 2004. Zhang Zekai disappeared six years ago, that is, in 1998. Now it is 2025. Almost thirty years have passed, and there is nothing left behind.”

Jiang Yuqin recalled, “I heard from Sister Xiafeng that the police came to investigate and took away all his personal belongings. It is probably impossible to find notes or something.”

“Who is this Sister Xiafeng?” Fu Jue asked.

Jiang Yuqin: “Sister Xiafeng? She is in her 60s this year. She has been working as a cleaner in the hospital since she reached retirement age. My office is close to her tool room, and we can often chat with her. She said that she used to work as a nurse in the hospital and worked several years earlier than the teacher. Later, the teacher performed an operation, but the patient died before getting off the operating table. The teacher was depressed for a while. Later, the teacher bought the hospital and redecorated it. But nothing inside was moved, only the fifth floor…”

Speaking of this, Jiang Yuqin stopped, recalling what Sister Xiafeng had said to him.

“Now that I think about it, he renovated the fifth floor and changed it a lot.”

The fifth floor? Why is it the fifth floor?

Fu Jue took up the conversation: “Because that operation was held in the operating room on the fifth floor. It was refurbished because he didn’t want to face the past. The patient in that operation must be very important to my dad. Do you know who that patient is?”

Jiang Yuqin shook his head and said, “Sister Xiafeng never mentioned it, and the teacher rarely told me about his past.”

That was difficult, and it was hard to find records after so many years. Jiang Yuqin didn’t know what Fu Jue found and was called to come over and look, “Look what this is.”

Jiang Yuqin hurried over, “Notes? What’s written in it?”

Fu Jue was looking at the diary and was just about to read it when there was a loud knock on the door.

Fu Jue subconsciously protected Jiang Yuqin behind him.

Boom, boom, boom.