PDLP Chapter 303 You are Free
Chapter 303 You are Free
After leaving the administration building, Song Huan stood for a while in the corridor between the teaching buildings.
There were no classes in the afternoon, and sunlight filtered through the gaps in the sycamore leaves, falling on the ground in patches of light and shadow.
He thought for a moment, then walked towards the school gate.
Xiaoyunduo Esports is now fully renovated.
Yesterday, Chen Fei called and said that the walls had been painted, the floor tiles had been laid, the lights had been installed, and the computer had been moved in, but he hadn't gone to see it yet.
After exiting from the north gate of Nanjing University, take the shortcut, pass through the old residential area, and make two turns.
In the middle of the alley, the old, dusty fast food restaurant has changed.
The roller shutter door has been replaced with a glass door, which is polished to a shine and has a light blue sign on it that reads "Little Cloud Esports" with a cartoon cloud smiling.
Pushing open the door, a wave of cold air hits you, mixed with the smell of new renovations.
It smelled of wood, paint, and a faint burnt smell, typical of new electronic equipment.
The space of over 70 square meters was re-divided into several areas.
There were two rows of computers against the wall, a total of twenty, with the screens covered by plastic film.
In the middle were several long tables with mechanical keyboards and mice on them, their cables tangled together.
A small office with glass walls and blinds was partitioned off at the very back.
Several disassembled cardboard boxes were piled up in the corner, and styrofoam was scattered all over the floor.
Chen Fei was squatting on the ground, directing the five energetic young men to install monitors on the camera.
The blond-haired guy stood on a chair, holding up the monitor, while the girl with the pigtails below answered, "Left, left, no, right."
The guy with the tattoo on his arm was squatting under the table tidying up the thread, with a cable tie in his mouth.
Two others were debugging the network in the corner, one of whom, with dyed red hair, was holding a cable tester that was beeping.
Chen Fei looked up and saw Song Huan come in. He immediately put down the bundle of network cables he was holding, dusted off his knees, and walked over quickly.
"Boss."
His forehead was covered in sweat, and his collar was soaked. "The equipment is basically installed. There are still a few monitors and the host computer that need to be debugged. The network will be operational tomorrow. The switch is already connected, and we just need to wait for the telecom company to come and activate it."
He pointed towards the office, "Angkor's office has been cleaned up too, and the desk and chairs are all set up."
Song Huan nodded.
Chen Fei then gave a brief report on the electricity bill, internet fee, property management fee, and next month's budget.
Song Huan listened, occasionally humming in agreement.
After Chen Fei finished speaking, he paused for a moment, and the expression on his face changed from reporting on his work to hesitating to speak.
"Boss, there's one more thing."
Song Huan looked at him.
"Angkor has been calling me a lot lately to complain."
Chen Fei carefully chose his words, "He said that he was the only one in the entire company, and he had to do everything himself. He built the architecture, wrote the documentation, tested, fixed bugs, and even swept the floor."
Song Huan remained silent for a while.
Then he sighed, reached out and patted Chen Fei on the shoulder, "Tell Lao Wu, 'When Heaven is about to place a great responsibility on a person, it first tests their will, strains their muscles and bones, and starves their body.'"
Chen Fei was taken aback. "Boss, why don't you tell him yourself?"
Song Huan withdrew her hand and put it in her pocket.
He looked out the window at the crooked sycamore tree; its leaves were already turning yellow.
"I have no face to see the elders of Jiangdong. Let's wait a few days. After we've recruited more people, I'll explain to them in person."
Seeing his worried expression, Chen Fei didn't say anything more.
He stood up straight and nodded vigorously.
"I understand, boss."
Song Huan gave a few more instructions: "Get the equipment working as soon as possible. Once the network is up and running, hold an opening event. Put up banners, posters, and flyers at the entrance, making sure to prominently display the words 'You can make money playing games.' Students near the university town will find it irresistible. Recruit staff as quickly as possible and start making a profit as soon as possible."
He didn't mention that his own finances were already a bit tight.
Shop rent, renovation costs, Wu Tian's salary, housing subsidies and double wages for the five energetic young men—the numbers in his bank account are dropping every day.
Xiaoyunduo Esports' monthly net income of 500,000 yuan, along with its two stores, is currently its only stable cash flow.
This new store in Nanjiang needs to get moving as soon as possible.
Chen Fei wrote them down one by one.
"Don't worry, boss, we'll definitely start making a profit within a month."
Song Huan nodded, turned around, and pushed open the door to go out.
The sunlight shone down from above, warm and pleasant.
He stood in the alley, his hands in his pockets.
A few sycamore leaves fell and swirled on the ground.
He suddenly remembered someone.
I wonder what Lin Yue is doing.
The afternoon shift at the milk tea shop starts around 3 PM.
He waved and hailed a taxi.
"Where to?" The driver glanced at him in the rearview mirror.
Song Huan gave an address.
The car started moving.
The sycamore trees outside the window receded one by one.
Once you leave the university town, the roads become wider and the buildings become shorter.
After driving for a while, the two sides turned into gray factories and old residential buildings.
The driver turned the radio down one notch.
The car came to a complete stop.
Song Huan paid the money and opened the car door.
Raise your head.
The words "Nanjiang City Mental Hospital" are hanging on the front gate.
White background with black lettering, the paint is mottled.
The gate was an old-fashioned iron gate, and next to it was a security booth where an old man in a gray uniform was sitting and reading a newspaper.
Song Huan stood at the door, looking at those words.
Nanjiang City Mental Hospital.
He suddenly felt that the name was very familiar.
It's not just the name.
The iron gate, the old man reading a newspaper in the security booth, the gray-white hospital building inside the gate, and the crooked cedar tree in front of the building—all of these are very familiar.
It felt like I'd been here in a dream, or like a long time ago when I stood here for a very long time.
What the hell? Did I actually spend time inside there?
He frowned, but didn't think about it deeply.
I walked to the window of the security booth and knocked on the glass.
The old man looked up from behind his newspaper, glanced at him, and asked, "What are you doing here?"
"Visit".
The old man sized him up.
They probably thought the young man didn't look like a bad person, so they handed him a registration book through the window.
Song Huan signed her name, phone number, and visitation time in the notebook.
The old man glanced at it, pointed inside the door, and said, "Third floor of the inpatient ward, at the end of the corridor. Don't wander off."
"understood."
Song Huan went inside.
The courtyard was very quiet.
The hospital building was an old-fashioned tenement building with gray-white exterior walls and iron bars on the windows.
There was a smell of disinfectant in the lobby on the first floor, mixed with an indescribable, stuffy atmosphere.
The fluorescent lights were on, making the floor appear white.
The nurse at the front desk is writing something with her head down.
She looked up at Song Huan, her face grim.
"What do you do?"
Before Song Huan could speak, the nurse had already lowered her head and continued writing.
Visiting hours are from 2 PM to 4 PM. It's 3:40 now. Who would you like to visit?
"Zhao He".
The nurse looked up and glanced at him again. This time she looked more closely.
"Who are you to her?"
"Family members"
"Why haven't I seen you before?"
"I was in another city before."
The nurse didn't ask any more questions.
She pulled a folder out of the drawer and opened it.
Zhao He's medical record was several pages long and densely packed with information.
Song Huan took it and looked down at it.
Admission time, diagnosis results, medication records, and expense list.
Zhao He was transferred to this mental hospital during the summer vacation.
I earn three to four thousand a month, sometimes more than seven thousand, and the highest I've ever earned is ten thousand a month.
Lin Yue is just a young girl, where would she get so much money?
Fortunately, Zhao He's condition has now stabilized.
The medical record states, "Entering the recovery period, continued hospitalization for observation is recommended."
He closed the medical record and handed it back.
"I'd like to settle the bill."
The nurse's face immediately changed, from a sour expression to a smile, as if she had seen a walking God of Wealth.
"Please wait a moment, let me calculate it for you." She lowered her head and her fingers flew across the calculator.
The printer whirred and spewed out a long list of expenses.
Song Huan took it and scanned it from top to bottom.
Number of beds, nursing fees, medication fees, treatment fees, and examination fees.
What caused Zhao He's illness?
It seems that it was during the summer after the college entrance examination that Lin Yue was admitted to university and wanted to study.
Lin Suo, that gambling addict, is heavily in debt and wants to "marry" her off to a foreman in his forties in town in exchange for a dowry of 200,000 yuan.
Zhao He disagreed, so Lin Su beat her up.
He was hit on the head, causing intracranial hemorrhage, and was already unconscious when he was taken to the county hospital.
After waking up, my mental state was not quite normal, sometimes good and sometimes bad.
When things are going well, she can recognize Lin Yue, hold her hand, and say, "Mom is sorry."
When things are bad, he doesn't recognize anyone, he huddles in a corner, muttering to himself, all of it Lin Suo's name, all of it cursing him.
Song Huan's feelings towards Zhao He were very complicated.
They were both pitiful and hateful.
She was pitiful because she was a poor rural woman who was beautiful and famous for her looks in the surrounding villages when she was young. However, she foolishly believed Lin Suo's words and married him.
Her married life was a complete mess. Her husband was a gambler, abusive, kept a mistress, and gambled away all the family's money.
She worked three jobs to pay off debts and raise her daughter, while being gossiped about and called a "mistress."
She has never had a single good day in her life.
I hate her because she not only lives a miserable life herself, but also puts all the pressure on Lin Yue.
She wanted her daughter to pay off her debts, drop out of school to work, and "marry a rich man."
In her past life, it was because of that dowry of 880,000 yuan that Song Huan and Lin Yue were separated.
Song Huan stood in the corridor of the inpatient department.
He recalled his past life, when Zhao He received treatment here for one or three years before finally recovering and being discharged.
He dared not think about how Lin Yue got through those three years.
"Sir?" The nurse's voice brought him back to reality. "The bill has been settled."
Song Huan snapped out of her daze and said, "One-time payment, three years."
The nurse's fingers hovered over the keyboard as she looked up at him, her mouth slightly open.
Three years, totaling 350,000.
She paused for a moment, then quickly lowered her head and began typing rapidly on the keyboard.
Song Huan took out her bank card from her pocket and handed it over.
The nurse took it with both hands and inserted it into the POS machine. Song Huan entered the password.
The POS machine hissed and spat out a receipt.
Three hundred and fifty thousand, transferred in one lump sum.
He took the bank card.
In that instant, a feeling I had never experienced before welled up inside me.
It's not about being stingy with money, it's about relaxation and enjoyment!
It was like finally exhaling a breath that had been held in for a long time.
Like all the humiliation and pain of her past life, the arguments in the rented room, her sitting in the dark waiting for him after returning from a ride-hailing job in the early morning, her trembling hand clutching the payment slip in the hospital corridor...
All of this was gently covered up and resolved at this moment by the receipt for 350,000.
He folded the receipt and stuffed it into his pocket.
"Please tell her that if her daughter asks, she should say that a kind person reimbursed her."
The nurse looked at him and nodded strangely.
Song Huan turned around and walked out of the inpatient department.
The cedar trees in the yard swayed gently in the wind.
He stood on the steps and looked up.
The sky is very blue, the clouds are very white, and I stroll along slowly.
He took a deep breath.
Lin Yue, you are free.
You and I are both free!