Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The big, bearded doctor stared at him momentarily. “I would have called the cops to arrest you right now if she were dead, you murderer.”

Reinitz let out a deep breath, raised his head, and looked at the ceiling in the emergency room. He sighed deeply and then turned and walked out.

“Hey! Where are you going?” The doctor was worried. Even though she was still alive, she could stop breathing at any time. Such high blood pressure… In fact, according to everything he had learned at medical school, he didn’t know how she was still alive.

Reinitz did not turn around as he said, “I’m going to make a call. Please wait.” After leaving the emergency room, Reinitz took out his phone, dialed a number, and calmly said, “I want a helicopter. Yes, I have someone that’s seriously hurt. I’ll give you 20 minutes. Come immediately!”

Reinitz put his phone away after making the call. He found the clinic’s administration room and courteously asked the young, fat nurse if he could borrow her phone. His handsome face dazzled the nurse. Although his face had become thin, his chin had stubble, and his clothes were not too neat, she stared at him as if his blue eyes had power. The young nurse did what was asked of her. “Here is the phone. P… p… please use it.” The nurse stuttered and blushed furiously.

Reinitz’s gentleness toward the young nurse wasn’t like his gentleness toward Gu Nianzhi. His attitude was kind, but it had a hint of distance. He took the phone from the young nurse and started dialing. “Is this the Alps’ ranger station? I want to ask you about the fire from two days ago. Did you save Mother Hanna?”

The rangers all knew Mother Hanna and had even eaten her white sausages before. The ranger gave him a definite answer. “Mother Hanna? We saved her. We got her right away, but she was in the basement a bit long. She fainted and had signs of dehydration. She’s still in the hospital.”

Reinitz let out another breath. Thank goodness. “Please transfer Mother Hanna to Berlin’s Saint Joseph’s hospital. Yes, contact them. They will treat her if you tell them my name.”

His hand covered the phone after he finished his call, and he quietly muttered to himself and made another call. This time, it was not a special agency and not a 24-hour ranger station. No one picked up, so he left a message on the phone. “Mr. Hans, I’m sorry, but I quit. I won’t go to work tomorrow.” Reinitz put the phone down after he finished and returned the phone to the young nurse.

The nurse’s mouth dropped, and after a few moments, she said, “Sir, why did you quit? Are you sick?”

Reinitz looked at her, not saying a word. His expression was cold with the hint of an imposing air about him. The young nurse’s heart shook with fright. She didn’t dare ask again. She lowered her head, pretending to be busy with the chart.

Reinitz walked into the emergency room without any expression on his face and saw the bearded doctor still looking at Gu Nianzhi’s data. He pushed the blood pressure machine and the stethoscope away from her. “Since she’s in such critical condition, I’ve already called the Berlin hospital. They will send a helicopter here to get her.”

Berlin, Germany’s capital. It had Germany’s best hospitals, not something the bearded doctor could even compete with. When Reinitz said that, a huge load came off the doctor’s shoulders. He said, “Be careful, her vitals have stabilized a bit, but don’t let her state of mind rise or fall too much, or else the blood pressure will rise even higher. By then, even Holy Mother Mary won’t be able to save her.”

Reinitz was quiet. He sat quietly on a cherry-colored armchair by Gu Nianzhi’s hospital bed. He leaned forward, his elbows on his knees and hands clasped under his jaw. His eyes were fixed on Gu Nianzhi’s pale, snowy face.

Half an hour went by quickly, and the helicopter arrived with a roar. The bearded doctor opened the door and said, “The chopper’s here. How will you move her?”

Reinitz stood up and straightened his clothes. “Someone will come get her.” Before they finished talking, a few people in white gowns and white masks pushed a gurney and nodded at Reinitz. “Where is the patient?”

Reinitz walked to the front of the hospital bed, picked Gu Nianzhi up carefully, and put her on the gurney. “Go.”

The medical personnel quickly put Gu Nianzhi on the helicopter. Reinitz followed. The helicopter moved very quickly in a spiral and flew toward Berlin. An hour later, they landed at the Berlin Charite hospital’s rooftop helipad. The Charite hospital was the best hospital not only in Berlin but in Germany. It was also the most expensive.

Reinitz used a blanket to carry Gu Nianzhi off the helicopter. His face was grave and stern. He didn’t say a word to anyone, went straight to the elevator on the roof, and went down to the 18th floor’s special VIP hospital room. This hospital room had Germany’s most advanced medical technology and equipment. It was on par with the best Johns Hopkins hospital in America.

He carried her to a clean, snowy white hospital bed in the intensive care unit’s number one VIP hospital room. The conditions there were much better than in the little clinic in the village near the Alps. Two nurses walked in and said to Reinitz, “Sir, please leave the room. We need to help the patient change into a hospital gown.”

“I’ll be outside the door.” Reinitz nodded and left the room.

The two nurses took off the habit, the tattered tracksuit, and the underwear off the unconscious Gu Nianzhi. Then they put the hospital gown on her. Actually, it was a striped gown that covered her from head to toe.

After changing, the two nurses opened the door and told Reinitz, “You may now go in.” The moment Reinitz went inside, Germany’s most famous neurologist and neurosurgeon came over to Gu Nianzhi to consult on her case. All kinds of machines were meticulously gathering data about her head, heart, pulse, blood pressure, heart beat, and brainwaves.

However, when the doctors were about to draw some of Gu Nianzhi’s blood, Reinitz stopped them. “That’s enough for today. She’s still weak. Do the blood test when she’s better.” After Reinitz said that, the doctors could only listen.

“Ok, sir.” The doctors looked at the data the machines displayed and felt that it was normal.

“Temperature 100.4 F (38 C), low fever.”

“Blood pressure normal.”

“Pulse normal.”

“Do you want to do a CT scan?”

“Wait ’til she wakes up.” Reinitz wouldn’t let Gu Nianzhi suffer anymore. “Just tell me, what’s her condition?”

“So far, everything is normal. She’s just a bit weak, probably from extreme hunger and dehydration.” The doctors were puzzled. “If I may be presumptuous, is the patient from Africa?” Hunger and dehydration led to malnutrition, and now it was mostly just Africa that had these kinds of conditions.

Reinitz shook his head. “No.” He didn’t explain but said to the doctors, “Give her two nutrient solutions to quickly replenish her electrolytes.” It would be mainly glucose, so she could replenish her energy quickly.

“When will her fever go down? Is it because her body’s infected with something? Does she need aspirin?” Reinitz asked again because he was worried about the persistent fever.

The doctors believed it was probably malnutrition that caused the body’s immune system to drop. She’d recover after her nutrients were replenished, and the fever would then naturally go away. They were all advocates for not using anti-inflammatory medicine if one didn’t need it.

Reinitz looked at Gu Nianzhi and nodded. “Fine, we’ll talk again tomorrow.” It was already two in the morning. The doctors opened the door and left. After the doctors left, Reinitz asked for a change of clothes to be delivered from his apartment. After his change of clothes arrived, he went inside the VIP private hospital room’s bathroom to take a shower.

After shaving his beard in the bathroom, Reinitz remembered the habit Gu Nianzhi was wearing. She had been wearing that dirty and wrinkled habit for two days. The black habit made her face look even sadder.

Reinitz changed and walked out of the bathroom. He picked up his phone and started ordering some clothes for Gu Nianzhi online. He was not very familiar with women’s clothing brands and just randomly looked online. He found a designer brand, Frisur. This woman’s clothing brand was well sought after by young women with high incomes. It had a good cut and design. Every piece was like art, a combination of Scandinavian and German style integrated with practicality. Those pictures looked like they suited Gu Nianzhi’s lively disposition.

He looked through them one by one and smiled heartily. He tapped on his phone screen consecutively and bought Gu Nianzhi dozens of clothes. He almost bought all of Frisur’s new collection for this season’s jackets, pants, skirts, dresses, and matching footwear, scarves, and accessories. Reinitz remembered Gu Nianzhi had a beautiful head of long, glowing black hair with natural waves like seaweed.

He hesitated when it came to underwear, but in the end, he clicked on Germany’s most famous underwear website and bought Gu Nianzhi a bunch of underwear and bras. Reinitz remembered Gu Nianzhi told him she was a D cup, so he bought D cup sized bras and bought the smallest size underwear. She was so thin, her waist was no bigger than his palm. He didn’t even know if this underwear could stay on her waist.

Reinitz suddenly had an urge to buy teenage brand name things, but teenage brand name things were just too ugly. He gave up when they were not to his liking.

After finishing buying clothes for Gu Nianzhi, Reinitz went to a skincare website to buy Gu Nianzhi a set of La Mar’s skincare products. Only then could he relax and sleep.

This time, it was not on the Alps’ grassy fields and rocks, but in Germany’s best hospital room. The long sofa was made by the best custom-made furniture company to conform to the human body better than most mattress. Reinitz slept well. When he woke up, it was already five in the afternoon the next day. The 15 hours of sleep finally let him fully recover.

The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was Gu Nianzhi sleeping on the hospital bed, her black hair against her snowy skin such a clear and stark contrast. They were clearly the simplest colors, and yet it was like she was glowing.

Reinitz looked away and took a deep breath. He rose from the sofa and went over to Gu Nianzhi’s hospital bed. Gu Nianzhi was still not awake and slept like before. Connected to the hospital bed were the machines displaying her vital signs. All was normal. It was as if the blood pressure data he saw in the village’s clinic was an illusion.

Reinitz slowly stretched out his hands to hold her hands. Just as he was about to bend over, he heard the door to the hospital room make a noise. Someone was coming. He maintained his composure and put Gu Nianzhi’s hand inside the blanket. He straightened up and turned to see an old man with a head full of white hair, rosy cheeks, and a good complexion smiling at him. I knew you wouldn’t let me down. Reinitz smiled and gave the old man a little nod. “Li Dexi, sir.”

“Hmm.” Li Dexi walked slowly toward Gu Nianzhi with his cane. He firmly held onto his cane while standing in front of her hospital bed. He looked at her like a person looking at a rare piece of art and said in English, “She’s perfect, isn’t she?”

Reinitz clasped his hands behind him, standing perfectly straight and not saying a word. Li Dexi didn’t want to hear a reply, anyway, and simply sighed. When would she wake up? Li Dexi asked as his eyes looked at the various machines next to Gu Nianzhi’s hospital bed, “How did she become so ill?”

Reinitz answered this time, “They don’t know. It’s still being determined.”

“Ok, take good care of her.” Li Dexi looked at her a bit and patted Reinitz on the shoulder. “I’m gonna go. If something happens, let me know.”

Reinitz nodded and watched as Li Dexi left. Not long after Li Dexi left, the clothes, footwear, and skincare products arrived one after another. Because he choose express delivery and paid the highest rate, it all arrived within one day. Boxes of all sizes were stacked fully on the armchair. She would see it, if only she would wake up.

But Gu Nianzhi slept for three days and three nights.

Fortunately, the best doctors in Germany were looking after her and promised Gu Nianzhi would be fine. Her condition had always been stable. All the data showed her getting better. The malnutrition had been dealt with, her body temperature was normal, and there was no more fever. It proved the doctors’ earlier diagnosis correct. There was no need for penicillin or aspirin. Her fever would automatically go away when her nutrition was normal. The doctors were extremely pleased with Gu Nianzhi’s recovery, and everything was just as they expected.

Reinitz crossed his arms as he stood with his brows furrowed. “Why isn’t she waking up?” She hadn’t regained consciousness for three days and nights. Was she ill?

“According to the data, she’s not ill.” The doctors checked the machines again to make sure the machines were not defective. “She’s sleeping.”

Reinitz looked at them in dismay.

“Reinitz, you have to understand. The human body is like a precise machine, and it works according to its own laws. The body recovers best when it’s sleeping, so don’t worry. This girl is just too weak and tired, that’s why the amount of time she needs to recover is more than most.”

The doctor gave his medical explanation, but Reinitz didn’t really believe it. He didn’t argue about it and nodded. “It better be.”

After the doctors left, Reinitz took his phone out to look at the news as he sat on the sofa. Two things in Munich caused big commotions, and all the media was talking about them. The first one was Munich’s tourist department was having a competition. It was gathering all the video recordings of the Königssee from this month. The requirement was that it must be unedited footage. They said it was to promote Königssee’s tourism.

The second thing was about getting a big reward for spotting two cars. They even showed the license plates. The contest was over, but because the reward money was so great, and a lot of people had gotten the reward money, many of the people who had gotten the reward money confirmed the legitimacy of the competition. It had become a heated debate online, and everyone was commenting on these two pieces of news.

Reinitz’s eyebrows slightly furrowed as he looked at the two cars. His finger stroked his phone for a bit, then he finally opened the link and called the number on it. “When a piece of news is old, just delete it. Are you saving it for Christmas?” He told them without reservation.

They immediately accepted his recommendation and started to get rid of any news, comment, and message related to it, and at the same time, stopped reporting on the two news items. Soon, all of the websites in Germany had no news related to the two topics. Citizens felt like news was supposed to have an expiration date. New news would naturally push the old news aside.

Reinitz continued to flip through his phone and felt like it was much more pleasing to his eyes than before.

…

One the morning of the fourth day, the sun rose, and the first rays of daylight shined into the hospital room, making it look like a room overflowing with golden light.

Gu Nianzhi gradually woke up. The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was the snowy ceiling and the modern, shadowless light. Gu Nianzhi blinked, turned away from the ceiling, and turned to the side. She saw Reinitz sleeping on the sofa across from her bed. He was wearing a dashing hunting jacket exposing the neat white shirt collar underneath. His long black pants wrapped his long legs. He was laying on the sofa. His shirt and pants were already a bit wrinkled, but they didn’t look dispirited. His cold facial features had a kind of beauty that felt like it was a religion, as if all the joys in the world were somehow related to him.

The way Gu Nianzhi looked at Reinitz was like a person admiring a beautiful oil painting.

Reinitz suddenly woke up. He was beautiful, like an ice sculpture that hadn’t had the time to melt. He saw Gu Nianzhi looking at him. Her big black eyes were naturally warm. When he looked at her eyes, the ice melted immediately and became warm like spring.

“You’re awake?” Reinitz stood up as he asked gently. He walked to her bedside and stretched his hand out to touch her forehead. “The fever is gone.”

The corner of Gu Nianzhi’s mouth lifted, and she showed a grateful smile. “Thank you, Reinitz.”