The indicator numbers above the elevator suddenly began to flicker: "1, 2, 3..." The numbers lighting up in a specific rhythm were like a stifled heartbeat, and then—"Ding!" The elevator arrived at this floor.

The elevator doors slid open slowly, revealing a frail, thin figure seated in the wheelchair being pushed out... "Bang—!" The operating room doors burst open! Zhen En instinctively sprang up, rushing forward in one motion! Yin Xiamo also instantly stood, a wave of dizziness washing over her from the sudden movement; tension and fear gripped her, stealing her breath. Through the dizziness and encroaching darkness, she staggered toward the scene, vaguely discerning doctors and nurses pushing a gurney, on which lay a person with tightly closed eyes, subdued by anesthesia.

"Doctor! How was the surgery!" "Is the operation going smoothly?!" "Xiao Cheng... How is Xiao Cheng!" Zhen En’s frantic cries echoed in her ears. Yin Xiamo tightly gripped the edge of the gurney, and in the dizzying blackness, she couldn't even make out the face of the person unconscious on the stretcher.

"The surgery was relatively successful, but Yin Cheng’s procedure will likely take another hour or two to finish. There’s no need for you to worry."

The doctor spoke kindly while the nurses wheeled the gurney toward the patient rooms. "As for Ou Chen, he needs to be observed in the ICU for a while, but his physical condition is very good; there shouldn’t be any major issues."

"That’s wonderful..." Zhen En wept with relief, hugging Xia Mo's shoulders as she cried, "It’s wonderful... The doctor said the surgery went well... Just now, I thought... I really thought..." The suffocating dizziness gradually receded layer by layer, and the heart that had been suspended in mid-air slowly settled, like a person who had run desperately for days and nights in the desert finally seeing an oasis ahead.

Yin Xiamo took a trembling, deep breath, and as she walked, the unconscious face on the gurney being moved down the corridor gradually became clear... It was Ou Chen.

His once aristocratic and proud features looked devastatingly pale now. He lay quietly beneath the snow-white sheets, his thin lips still pursed tightly, just as they always were, as if he had never known happiness, or perhaps that any fleeting joy had only gifted him deeper pain.

In his unconscious state, he resembled a stubborn child, clenching his lips even tighter no matter how intense the agony.

One of his kidneys... had been given to Xiao Cheng... Gripping the edge of the gurney tightly, Yin Xiamo walked along with the doctors and nurses, guiding Ou Chen's bed.

Through the white linen of the sheet, she could suddenly feel his hand lying near hers, solitary and desolate, separated from her own hand by the mere width of a blanket.

The mobile gurney rumbled loudly as it moved down the hall.

In the twilight glow of the evening.

The soft, pale red rays of the sunset gently enveloped the unconscious Ou Chen on the bed and Yin Xiamo, who was perpetually gazing down at him. Her focus was so absolute that she failed to notice the long, slanted shadow stretching across the corridor floor.

Luo Xi sat motionless in his wheelchair.

The setting sun pulled his shadow out, making it stretch incredibly long.

She guided Ou Chen’s gurney past him, her head bowed low. Her seaweed-like long hair cascaded down her cheeks. She had become so much thinner; her jawline was sharp and pointed. Her eyes were red-rimmed, and traces of tears still seemed to cling to her thick lashes.

He stared at her in stunned silence.

But she was entirely focused on Ou Chen in the bed, completely unaware of his presence.

His throat felt rough and dry as he raised a hand.

That hand hovered in the empty air. Was he reaching out to grab her, or trying to make her notice him? He didn't know what he wanted to do, only that a wave of chilling cold washed over him, a coldness that surpassed even the feeling he’d had moments before facing death.

Summer of Foam III