The most beautiful space

67. Knitting yarn

As soon as Su Tong finished speaking, Lin Zhen fell silent, but Su Tong knew he hadn't hung up. All she could hear was his very shallow breathing. Su Tong thought she was probably a little crazy, because she actually felt that even his quiet, soft breathing had a tenderness and sadness that could bring tears to her eyes.

To prevent herself from getting sick any further, she prepared to end the call, casually saying at the end, "Lin Zhen, if there's nothing else, I'll hang up now. Even though you're very busy with work, you should still take care of yourself and get some rest. Otherwise, our movie star Lin will get sick from overwork, and the fans will worry. I'll also take good care of myself. See you on set in a while."

After Su Tong said that, Lin Zhen still didn't say anything. It seemed that even someone like him, who could get along well with anyone, had run out of things to say to Su Tong.

"Goodbye then, I'm hanging up."

But just as Su Tong was about to take the phone away from her ear to hang up, Lin Zhen's impulsive voice suddenly rang out: "Wait!"

"Is there anything else?" Su Tong was startled.

There were some obvious questions that Lin Zhen hadn't wanted to ask, but now it seemed that even if she pretended not to know and didn't ask, she couldn't stop Su Tong from drifting away. So she decided to ask, "You've been avoiding me lately, haven't you? Or are you planning to stop seeing me altogether after this movie is finished? Or, to put it another way, is it that person's idea for you to distance yourself from me?"

“No,” Su Tong’s voice was calm, soft yet all the more real as it rang in Lin Zhen’s ears, “I like him very much. You are both outstanding and charming, and I don’t want to make him unhappy, so I want to keep some distance from someone as outstanding as you.”

But Lin Zhen smiled and said, "I'm actually relieved to hear you say that, Su Tong. You know, people like us, if we really like someone, we wouldn't say it so casually. When we were on set, every time Xie Chengjing looked at me with such disdain and warning, I really wanted to look back at him like that. But, you know, I'm always very sensible, so I've never let myself act impulsively."

His tone, which had been filled with helplessness just moments before, seemed to have suddenly cleared away the fog before his eyes. His voice was devoid of any sadness, and instead shone with an unprecedented warmth and radiance, like sunshine: "Anyway, I'm glad you haven't fallen for him yet."

Then the phone beeped, and Lin Zhen hung up.

Su Tong stood on the balcony with her phone in her hand, letting the wind gently blow through her long hair. She felt a little lost, wondering if she really didn't like Xie Chengjing.

Su Tong stared blankly at the flower bed outside the ward for a while.

In the center of the flowerbed is a heart shape formed by clusters of beautiful yellow and pink flowers, visible from above. Around it are paths of varying widths, providing a pleasant spot for inpatients to relax and enjoy fresh air. Some children, accompanied by their parents, are out for a walk; the little ones, still in their hospital gowns, happily run and jump around their fathers. Families are pushing patients in wheelchairs, chatting quietly as they go. Other patients from the same hospital walk side-by-side slowly along the path; it all looks warm and joyful.

Then she thought that thinking so much was completely useless. Some of these patients might be on their deathbeds, yet they could still leisurely enjoy their free time. What was so serious about her worries? Su Tong's skin was covered in these marks all over her body, and she would inevitably attract strange looks whenever she went out. So she rarely left her ward. After thinking this through, she decided to go back to her ward and watch TV.

Turning around, she saw Xie Chengjing sitting on the sofa in the living room, still wearing his military uniform, which made him appear even more imposing and aloof, quietly watching her. Su Tong hadn't expected that, during the time it took to make a phone call, perhaps not wanting to interrupt her conversation, Xie Chengjing had quietly entered the ward, and she didn't know how much time had passed.

Su Tong was startled, but she didn't do anything she couldn't let Xie Chengjing know. She went over, picked up the teapot on the table, poured him a cup of tea, and poured one for herself, saying, "Have some tea. It's a refreshing herbal tea that's perfect for summer."

She asked again, "Why are you free to come over at noon today?" Xie Chengjing is very busy. He leaves early and returns late, which is considered a relatively free period. When he is busy, he may not return for several days, or even more than a month, like when Su Tong first arrived in the capital. Unexpectedly, Xie Chengjing gave himself a lunch break today to come to the hospital to see her, the "disfigured" patient.

Xie Chengjing picked up his teacup and took a sip. "I came to see you." He then pointed to a large fabric bag next to the sofa at his feet. "This is what you asked Wang Lu for. He asked me to bring it over."

Su Tong went over to take a look. The fabric bag had a very warm and cute cartoon pattern, and she really couldn't imagine how Xie Chengjing had carried such a large bag that seemed so out of place with him. She unzipped it and saw that inside were the knitting needles and yarn balls that she had asked Wang Lu to help her buy.

Because Li Tian said she was learning to knit and wanted to knit a sweater for her son Xinxin, she strongly invited Su Tong to come along. Although Su Tong argued that it was still summer and sweaters weren't necessary, Li Tian confidently stated that with their skill level, starting now would allow them to knit something passable by winter. However, Su Tong's knitting skills were limited to a half-baked scarf she knitted in college. Her intention was to buy a couple of balls of yarn to practice since she had nothing else to do at the hospital, but this big bag contained many different colors and thicknesses of yarn. She probably wouldn't even be able to use up a single ball of yarn during her stay at the hospital.

Since she had already bought them, Su Tong carefully examined the various colors of the yarn balls. Among them, she particularly liked a ball of yarn with a gradient color from very light blue to true blue to dark blue, and a ball of navy blue yarn with a lot of fluff. While looking through them, she temporarily placed the yarn balls on the sofa and said to Xie Chengjing, "Oh, please thank Brother Wang for buying the yarn, and could you please bring the things over for me?"

From the moment Su Tong faced Cheng Jing, his gaze was fixed on her face. It was rare for him to speak until now, "No need to thank me. But your skin seems to have improved a bit; you should recover soon."

Su Tong couldn't deny it, because anyone who had paid even a little attention to her face could see that the area where the purplish-red bumps were most severe had improved significantly. The purplish-red color had faded, and the area and size of the bumps had also decreased. The doctors and nurses who came to check on her this morning and at noon both said she was better, so she nodded. "It seems you're right. I should get better soon. Maybe if I take another nap today, I'll be completely healed by now, and then I won't have to hide from people anymore."

Given Su Tong's current state, Xie Chengjing doesn't support her going out and meeting people. After all, most people would look at Su Tong with curiosity, fear, sympathy, or disgust. Although that wouldn't interfere with Su Tong's daily life, both Su Tong and Xie Chengjing would feel uncomfortable when Su Tong was being stared at like that.

Xie Chengjing watched as she neatly arranged the balls of yarn in two rows on the sofa, choosing her favorite patterns, and asked, somewhat knowingly, "Are you going to knit a sweater?"

Su Tong thought for a moment, then said in a relaxed tone, "I'm not that skilled yet. I'll start with the simplest things first. I'll knit two scarves, then try knitting a little hat for Xinxin, and then knit one or two sweaters for my grandma. If I knit a lot later, I can give them to my parents and other relatives and friends. But that's easier said than done. This kind of knitting is too time-consuming for beginners. I might not have finished knitting a single one by winter."

"No, I will supervise you and make sure you knit well." Xie Chengjing's eyes were calm.

Because of Xie Chengjing's words, although he never actually asked Su Tong to show her "work" for inspection, Su Tong worked harder than ever before. In just over two days, she knitted a thin scarf for a child. With the dual guidance of Li Tian and online videos, she further refined it, knitting snowflake patterns on the light blue scarf. It looked cute and pretty without being girly. It was on a completely different level from Su Tong's half-baked works in college, which were uneven in tightness and had many knots. She was ready to send it to Xin Xin.

It was evening when the work was finished, and Xie Chengjing finally got a proper look at Su Tong's work. He held one end of the scarf in each hand, gently unfolded the short scarf to take a look, then flipped it over to examine it again, and gave a two-word comment: "Very good."

Su Tong sighed, "This is just a scarf; knitting a sweater is much harder than a scarf."

Xie Chengjing didn't continue the topic. Instead, his expression turned cold as he looked at Su Tong's face, which now only had some light pinkish-red marks and was clearly recovering. He said seriously, "Actually, the test results are already in, but I didn't tell you before because I was afraid you wouldn't have confidence if you heard them. Although I kept saying you would get better soon, I never expected your skin to be almost fully recovered. Dr. Huo said that it's almost a miracle that your skin could recover under the influence of such a powerful substance."

Author's Note: Thank you mff for the landmine!

The last time Li Tian was mistakenly identified as Li Li, it has been corrected. (166 Reading Network)