Chapter 3 Seven Fingers

Li Cu’s scream could definitely go down in the annals of First Affiliated Hospital of Peking University, so much so that during the period before he was discharged, he was always called “Scream King”. It was said that even another administrative building clearly heard the scream at that time, and the hospital leaders thought it was some major medical accident or something amazing that had finally come out of the obstetrics and gynecology department.

Li Cu had been trying to tear the gauze off of his back since he had yelled, but apparently the doctor had anticipated it when he originally did the bandaging. The strips of gauze had been crossed over his stomach several times with medical tape, and although he ripped off a large number of them, it was very difficult to tear them off completely. He tried several times without success, but then a harried nurse called several male nurses to come over and pin him to the bed.

Fortunately, the strong men calmed Li Cu down before the age old movie plot of tranquilizing the madman took place.

When he was re-seated on the bed, his mind was still in chaotic confusion. His head kept involuntarily turning as he tried to get another look at the wounds, and his hands stretched back trying to touch. Fortunately, the nurse was as strong as an ox and held him tightly.

At this time, an alarmed doctor ran in and asked, “What’s going on?” But it was clear to see at a glance.

She had been followed by several patients from other wards, so she turned around, pulled the curtain around the bed, and touched Li Cu’s forehead. Li Cu immediately quieted down when he saw the doctor in the white coat.

This was a young female doctor in her thirties, and it was the first time he had seen her. She wasn’t very beautiful, but she had a very slim figure. Li Cu has been enamored with female doctors since he was young. He didn’t know why, but once he saw one, he would immediately feel at ease.

This moment of peace didn’t really calm him down, however, as the pain from his back once again made him feel scared.

“Doctor, what’s on my back?” He shouted at her. “What did that bastard carve on my back?”

The doctor gave the nurse a reproachful look before frowning at Li Cu. “It’s not the right time to talk about this topic. I’ll tell you when you get better and have your father with you.”

“Fuck you…” Li Cu’s mood exploded and he wanted to swear, but when he saw the female doctor in her white coat, he abruptly swallowed the second half of that sentence.

The female doctor obviously didn’t want to say any more, so she glanced at the nurses on both sides. Li Cu immediately realized that with his age, he had no right to speak under such circumstances. If he was tied to the bed, he would be in bad shape.

Even if he thought he knew better than his father how to live his life, others wouldn’t listen to him. This was probably the sorrow of being a child. He suddenly felt very annoyed at the thought of his father’s face. No, he absolutely couldn’t let that guy get mixed up in this situation.

“Wait a minute.” He decided to take some measures and at least fight for it. “I’m sorry, I was out of control just now. But I still want to know what happened to me. With all this doubt, I won’t be able to rest well.”

It was probably this kind of remark coming from the mouth of a young man that surprised the female doctor. She looked at him and said, “It’s nothing, just some scars. You suffered a very serious knife wound, which is likely to leave a permanent scar. We didn’t want to tell you so early so you could rest.”

Li Cu took a deep breath and scolded in his heart: “If you want me to be at ease, then make up a better reason. What I felt just now isn’t the same thing.” Seeing that the female doctor was leaving, Li Cu immediately said, “I don’t believe it! Doctor, my parents are divorced and I’m seventeen years old. I can take care of my own affairs. Please tell me the truth. “

Li Cu spoke this truth very calmly, but also sent up a prayer.

When the female doctor paused and the nurses nearby looked very embarrassed, Li Cu knew he had found the way. He had shocked the adults with these words and continued, “Auntie, please.”

The female doctor sighed and motioned with her hand to the nurse on the opposite side, who released Li Cu’s hand. She said to Li Cu, “Alright then. Come to the office with me. As long as you don’t tear your bandage, I’ll tell you.”

“Thank you, Auntie.” Li Cu said relieved.

“Don’t call me Auntie, call me Sister.” The female doctor went out without looking back, “I admire you for acting so mature at your age. If you say a few nice words to me, I may be able to comfort you later after you see your back and collapse into despair.”

Li Cu stumbled along behind her all the way to the office, the pain on his back making him feel very uncomfortable.

There was no sofa in the office, only a bed, and when the female doctor gave him a look, he had no choice but to sit on it. At this time, he saw the female doctor’s name badge hanging beside a clothes hanger.

Liang Wan.

“Sister Liang.” He asked, “What kind of doctor are you?”

“What do you care?” Liang Wan spoke with a Beijing accent as she took out a big envelope from a drawer and handed it to him. “It’s a picture of your back. Please pull it out slowly and don’t yell anymore. You have to endure it, no matter how strange it is.”

Li Cu nodded and felt his heart uplifted as he thought to himself: was it so ridiculous? Did he have a lump of shit or some kind of crayon graffiti tattoo carved onto his back? If that was true, he didn’t want to live anymore.

Anyway, when you got what you wanted, you didn’t need to worry about manners. He quickly opened the envelope, reached inside, felt a few thin sheets of paper, and pulled them out. They turned out to be some color photos printed on regular paper.

As he was pulling them out, he also looked at the envelope and found that it wasn’t from the hospital, but from the Xicheng District’s Public Security Bureau in Beijing. He couldn’t help but slow down his pace.

No matter how slow he was, however, Li Cu still froze when he saw the photo. At that moment, he didn’t believe it was his own back. He didn’t shout, but the image in the picture firmly caught his eyes, and he could feel a chill rise up from his feet. He suddenly realized why Liang Wan didn’t want him to see it right away.

These photos were obviously taken at the scene. His back was covered with blood and the sheer volume made him sick. He was thin and had almost no meat on his back, which made the wounds look even more frightening, as if the bones had been exposed.

However, he knew that the wound wasn’t that deep. If it was, he wouldn’t have been able to walk just now.

If he were to describe these wounds in detail, there were many things that could be said, but Li Cu’s attention was quickly attracted by the shape the wounds made, and he ignored everything else.

With one glance, he could tell that the entire wound on his back formed the pattern of a hand. And it wasn’t an ordinary hand, but one that had seven fingers. On the interior part of the pattern, he could see countless unfamiliar small characters, but because they were so small and many of the strokes were very simple, they definitely weren’t Chinese characters.

He couldn’t imagine what the man did to him after he fell into a coma, and what kind of pervert would carve so many tiny marks on his back.

“Four hours. He carved this on your back for at least four hours and missed the best chance he had of being saved. It can be said that he died to carve this pattern on your back. “

“This man… was a pervert?” Li Cu murmured, “Why didn’t he just draw the Qingming Shanghe Tu (1) on my back?”

“No, he definitely wasn’t a pervert.” Liang Wan gave him a pitying look. “This person’s identity will make you even more afraid.”

<Chapter 2> <Table of Contents><Chapter 4>

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TN Notes:

(1) It’s a painting by the Song dynasty painter Zhang Zeduan, called “Along the River During the Qingming Festival”. It captures the daily life of people and the landscape of the capital, Bianjing, during the Northern Song.

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TN Note: And we’re off, lovelies!!!!! That’s our good ole Nan Pai San Shu, starting us off with a bang lol. Not sure how many of you bother reading the chapter titles I post on the volume’s main page, but I can’t put the whole chapter title on Vol 10 because it makes the format of my table look stupid and I’m weirdly OCD about that kind of stuff (don’t get me started on my homepage table lol). I also almost had a panic attack last night when I tried to access a page on the daomubiji.org website and got a 404 Error. I was freaking out trying to figure out how I was supposed to find the other stories after Sand Sea was done, but luckily it was fixed this morning. *Cries tears of relief*. Whew, still makes me want to copy everything into a word doc just in case, but I would have to find the time for that ahahahahaha.