Chapter 214: White Sail Hospital |
Morale Support: Scherzo
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When Reiner arrived at White Sail Hospital, it was already evening. She asked at the front desk and learned that the patients from yesterday’s accident were all gathered in Building 6.
Entering Building 6, Reiner saw weary people. In the corridor, uninjured individuals sat on benches, looking after their family and friends. In the wards, burn victims lay in beds while doctors and nurses conducted examinations.
“Let’s say our thanks to Granny Hedwig yesterday. She was the first to notice the fire, and ran throughout the building to notify everyone. Otherwise, we’d probably be dead in our apartments.”
People in the corridor exchanged lingering thoughts on the disaster, their eyes holding something different after experiencing life and death.
“What a pity, Granny Hedwig…”
A woman looked sorrowful, shaking her head.
The man beside her rebuked, causing the woman to lower her head, silent.
“Over the years, if it weren’t for Granny Hedwig helping us, we might have died in some dark alley long ago. She’s done so many good deeds, why is it always her who gets hurt!”
A burly man spoke indignantly, clenching his fist and slamming it against the wall. “Those drug-addicted bastards, if I catch them, I will definitely skin them alive!”
“I don’t know what the doctor says.”
An old man spoke, subconsciously reaching for his tobacco pouch but remembering he was in a hospital, refrained from it.
At this moment, a ward’s door opened, and a doctor emerged with two nurses. The people in the corridor immediately crowded around, clamoring with questions.
“How’s Granny Hedwig?”
“Is she alright?”
“Can you save her?”
“We can pay more, but please save Granny Hedwig!”
The doctor was somewhat surprised. It took him a while to quiet the crowd before speaking.
“The patient’s condition isn’t great. She inhaled too much smoke, and the toxic fumes entered her bloodstream through her lungs, causing significant damage to her organs. To be honest, you need to mentally prepare yourselves.”
A sigh of sorrow swept through the crowd, and discussions erupted again.
Reiner navigated through the crowd to the attending physician.
“Hello, I’m from the Thesis Review Committee. I’m looking for a woman named Odman. She should be one of the residents of Belen Apartments.”
Reiner showed her identification and quietly asked the attending physician. She could have asked anyone present, but Reiner felt the doctor would have the most comprehensive understanding of the situation.
Hearing Reiner’s inquiry, the attending physician’s eyes widened slightly. After hesitating for a moment, he nodded toward the ward he had just exited.
“If you’re referring to a resident of Belen Apartments, there’s only one with the surname Odman, Mrs. Hedwig Odman in this room.”
Reiner paused, then entered the ward.
It was a single patient room. In the center of the room, an elderly woman with white hair lay on the bed.
Approaching the bed, Reiner recognized her immediately. It was the old lady she had encountered on the commercial street that day.
In an instant, many things intertwined in Reiner’s mind, and she understood many things immediately.
Sirius Odman had passed away several years ago, and his mother, Granny Hedwig, persistently sought to have her son’s thesis reevaluated to fulfill his long-cherished wish.
Yesterday, Granny Hedwig was supposed to bring the thesis to Reiner for review, but she was delayed by some circumstances. In the end, she discovered the fire, which prevented her from carrying out her trip.
“Sirius?”
Granny Hedwig’s consciousness was hazy. She vaguely saw a figure approaching her and subconsciously asked.
Reiner froze.
He didn’t know how to face her. From what she saw, Granny Hedwig had suffered severe burns all over her body. According to the doctor, the harmful gases from the fire had already affected her blood and organs. Originally, these could be treated with expensive means, but Granny Hedwig’s body was too weak to withstand such operations.
Reiner sat on the chair beside Granny Hedwig’s bed, gently holding her hand.
That calloused hand was somewhat cold, but it gripped Reiner’s hand with a firm strength.
“Sirius, listen to me. I’ve received help from a kind person. He told me the address of a reviewer who can reevaluate your thesis.”
Granny Hedwig said, a hint of joy in her weak voice.
“Sirius, Mom believes in you. You’re right.”
She said, patting a metal box on the bedside table with her other hand.
“Yesterday’s fire was too serious. I couldn’t put it out alone, so I had to notify others so they could escape quickly. After I finished notifying them, I remembered your thesis was still in the house. I went back to get it. The house was really hot, and there was fire everywhere. But don’t worry, Mom protected your thesis well… cough, cough, cough, cough…”
Granny Hedwig was interrupted by a fit of coughing, her small body trembling, making it difficult to watch.
“Alas, our home burned down, but it’s okay. When your thesis is published, we can live in a better house. You always complained about the mess at home. By then, you can call Lisa over. I haven’t seen her yet. I’ll make you both your favorite pork pies…”
She kept talking, like a mother seeing her long-lost child.
Perhaps Granny Hedwig herself also realized that she was not facing Sirius, but maybe she wanted to be deceived like this, because at least in her hallucinations, she could still see her son.
“Sirius, the doctor says I have to stay in the hospital for a few more days. You go and deliver the thesis there yourself.”
Granny Hedwig picked up the metal box with trembling hands and opened it, carefully taking out a stack of parchment.
The title was “Research on Unified Equations of Curvilinear Motion,” authored by Sirius Odman.
“Look, this is your thesis. I can’t understand those complexities, but I recognize your name. What a beautiful name it is, Sirius.”
Taking the thesis from Granny Hedwig’s hands, Reiner noticed a small piece of paper had fallen from it.
He bent down and picked up the piece of paper.
It was torn from the corner of a notebook, already yellowed.
On it, in somewhat crooked but unmistakably clear handwriting, was a sentence.
—Sorry, Mom, I love you.