Chapter 53: Confession of an Old Soldier

I was stunned for a moment and asked, "Grandpa, what do you mean?"
The old man sighed and said, "Don't you understand? Because I opened 404, I heard that strange crying sound..."
What?
He opened a 404?
I stared at the old man in amazement and said, "Old man, you must be kidding... You, you really opened 404?"
"It's already this time, what's the point of me lying to you?" The old man's tone was full of helplessness.
He said - curiosity kills.
Just six nights ago, he was lying in bed tossing and turning and couldn't sleep. He faintly heard someone fighting on the fourth floor, banging and clanging, very noisy. He put on a coat and went out to watch the fun, but strangely enough - when he walked out of the ward, the sound disappeared again.
The old man didn't believe it, so he wandered around the fourth floor, but after that, he really didn't hear any movement.
He originally planned to go back to sleep, but when he passed by Ward 404, he stopped for some reason.
The old man said that there seemed to be a magical power in Ward 404 that attracted him and asked him to open the door.
He did not forget my instructions, but I don't know what he was thinking at the time, his feet seemed to have taken root and he couldn't move at all.
Looking at the dark red door of 404, the old man hesitated for a long time and finally made up his mind - not to take risks. Although he is old, being able to live one more day is always a gain, so there is no need to seek death.
However, just as he was about to leave, a voice suddenly rang out from inside door 404.
"What's that sound?" I couldn't help but interrupt.
"A voice I will never forget..."
The old man said softly.
His eyes revealed a warmth and nostalgia that I had never seen before.
He said it was his wife's voice.
In 1950, he joined the war as a volunteer.
That year, he was 33 years old, his wife was 28, and they had a pair of young children.
He bid farewell to his wife reluctantly and was away for more than two years.
The war is over and we return victoriously.
The old man was thinking of his wife's gentleness and his children's cuteness, and he was eager to go home.
However, he never expected that his wife would fall ill more than a year after he left, and passed away because they had no money for treatment.
The two children, resentful of their father's absence when their mother died, ignored him and held a grudge against him.
The sky suddenly collapsed.
The old man's tone was full of sighs. He said that if it were not for the comfort and encouragement of his comrades, he would have been depressed and passed away long ago.
Many years have passed, the old man is almost ninety years old, and his comrades-in-arms have passed away one by one before him.
Sometimes, he would feel lonely and think of his wife, that still young but gradually blurry face, her every smile, voice and appearance.
The old man said that the country gives him several thousand yuan in subsidies every year. He is very grateful and feels that the country has not forgotten him.
If it weren't for these things supporting him, he wouldn't be alive today.
This life is okay.
Apart from the fact that his children are not very filial to him, he is lucky after all.
At this point, the old man glanced at me and his tone became a little excited: "That night, I heard her voice again! It was still so familiar, so gentle... I seemed to have returned to my youth in my thirties..."
The old man stopped and stared at 404 in a daze.
"Lao Yu, go home for dinner..."
Then, the old man smelled the fragrance of vegetables.
That was the aroma of his favorite fried peas and leeks, and braised Wuchang fish...
His index finger is twitching!
He couldn't help it!
Because that was the dish his wife cooked for him.
So he pushed open door 404 and saw his wife with short hair and a plain long dress, busy in the kitchen.
He walked over slowly, as if he was dazed.
The wife brought the dishes, one plate at a time, and placed them on the table.
Looking at this familiar scene and familiar people, the old man's body trembled slightly, as if he was living in a dream, and tears flowed down his face.
"Eat quickly!" said the wife with a smile.
"Yeah." The old man nodded.
He picked up the chopsticks and was about to start eating.
Suddenly, everything changed!
Blood was flowing from my wife's face!
Eyes, nose, mouth, ears, all oozing with bright red blood...
And the dishes on the table have also changed!
It turned into pieces of wriggling maggots, cockroaches, stones, and leaves...
“Ahahahahahahaha…”
The wife burst out laughing.
The laughter was piercing.
The more she laughed, the wider her mouth split. In the end, it looked like her mouth was cut open by a knife , and it split all the way to her ears...
She walked towards the old man, her eyes full of resentment, and shouted hoarsely:
"Yu Bei, your heart... why are you so cruel? Why didn't you want to come and see me even when I was dying?"
The old man said that he was not afraid at all at the time, but instead felt full of guilt towards his wife.
He walked forward, knelt on the ground, and apologized to his wife while crying.
His wife's curses were like knives cutting into the old man's heart, making him feel miserable.
Thinking about it later, this situation was quite wrong.
Because when I went out to join the army, my wife was very supportive and said that for the sake of the country, she would wait for me to come home no matter how long it took.
Women at that time were different from those now. They had a strong sense of national honor, and most of the time, they were willing to sacrifice their own happiness as long as they could contribute to the country .
And the old man’s wife is such a person.
"And then?" I asked.
"Then I kowtowed and kowtowed until I realized my wife was gone. I went back to the door of Room 404 - I don't know when the door was closed." The old man recalled, "After I went back that night, I frequently heard the cry of a baby... and sometimes, I would hear my wife calling me."
After that, the old man looked at me expectantly and said, "Doctor Tian, ​​is the person in 404 my wife?"
"Of course not, it's just an illusion you saw." I shook my head.
"Yeah, I think so too..." The old man smiled bitterly and said, "Tomorrow, the two unfilial sons at home will come to pick me up. They said that they have been bad to me all their lives, so I have to show my filial piety in the last moments."
I said, "This is a good thing. Go home and live a good life. Don't blame them anymore."
The old man waved at me and said goodbye.
Looking at his miserable back, I didn't know what to feel.
Everyone, in every era, will meet an important person.
The old man is no exception.
Is it really his fault that 404 is opened?
In other words, 404 is a shadow for everyone, a shadow hidden deep in their heart...
I lay in bed, thinking about every word of the old man, thinking about his gentle wife, thinking about Cheng Xiaoyan, thinking about the strange black-clothed baby boy in Room 404...
Before I knew it, I fell into sleep...
The next day, I got up and went to the bathroom. I saw that the bathroom was surrounded by patients. Liu Fuqiang was also standing there, frowning, and I didn't know what he was talking to someone.
I pushed through the crowd, walked over and asked Liu Fuqiang what was going on?
"Still...you should go in and see for yourself."
Liu Fuqiang said bitterly, with an unnatural expression on his face.
My heart skipped a beat and I suddenly had a bad feeling.
I rushed to the bathroom quickly, and when I saw the scene in front of me, I felt as if I was poured with a basin of ice water, and the blood in my body froze...
A person stood in front of me.
No, to be exact, he was not standing, but floating.
His legs were hanging in the air, and there was a rope as thick as a thumb around his neck, hanging from the lamp stand above.
The bloodless face looked down, and the gradually dilating pupils opened wide, revealing a hideous and fearful look...
He is the old man...
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