Artifact Report

Chapter 342 Mai Minghe - Patient Meals
The treatment has been going on for quite a while now.

During this time, Dr. Nate went in and out several times; he took surgical and sterilization tools, disposable supplies, and pushed a machine of unknown purpose into the examination room...

Mai Minghe scrutinized him, sometimes openly, sometimes covertly, but couldn't see anything different about him.

If something really happened, it shouldn't have been so calm and uneventful, right?
To be honest, she had no idea what she would see when the examination room door was finally opened.

Mai Minghe clasped her hands tightly together. She heard footsteps approaching the door and someone open it—she closed her eyes.

Dr. Nate came out and stood in the corridor, greeting the three of them: "Hey, he's awake."

All three were taken aback; none of them had expected that Ivan would regain consciousness so quickly.

“He’s weak,” Dr. Nate said, turning back into the room, his voice barely reaching the hallway. “You’d better buy him a wheelchair, or you’ll have to carry him around.”

Dr. Nate was not joking; he said he wanted Evan discharged immediately, not letting him stay a minute longer. As soon as he woke up, he started arranging to collect money and send off guests.

Mai Minghe steadied his breathing, picked up his handbag containing a change of clothes from the ground, and went into the examination room while Dr. Nate went to get a wheelchair.

The strong, sticky, fishy smell of the sea has now been mixed with the smell of disinfectant and medicine. Stepping inside feels like being punched in the chest.

"...Evan?" She covered her nose shyly, stood by the hospital bed, and asked softly, not daring to open her mouth.

The young man groggily hummed in response and opened half of his eyelids.

Despite Dr. Nate's statement that he had awakened, Mak Ming-ho was still taken aback—the first person in history to see a film and discover that someone in a picture who shouldn't be moving was actually moving must have felt the same kind of shock.

“You are…” Evan opened his bloodless, fleshy mouth and said hoarsely, “You saved me?”

"Can you get up?" Mai Minghe asked with a sliver of hope, "Do you have family? I'll contact them for you."

"I...I can't remember..."

Ivan turned his eyes, his pupils seemingly submerged in yellow water, slowly swimming towards the Maming River. "My memory... is completely blank..."

“It’s possible his brain was impacted after the traumatic shock,” Dr. Nate’s voice suddenly rang out from the doorway. “I don’t think I can handle this; you should take him home to rest—”

As he said this, Mak Ming Ho turned around and saw him pushing a wheelchair in.

As Dr. Nate spoke, he lowered his head, the shadow obscuring the upper half of his face, revealing only his mouth: "...see if it can be restored."

That strange, inexplicable feeling I had just experienced has returned.

What happened to Dr. Nate's mouth?
She couldn't just stand there lost in thought forever, Mai Minghe mentally noted. Seeing Hai Luwei and Ai Meili follow her in, the consultation room suddenly became packed, but she secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

“Then you can stay at my house to recover for now,” Mai Minghe gestured to the leader of the Hai Luwei Gang, and together they helped put Evan in a wheelchair. “I’ll take you back when you remember where you live and who your family is.”

Ivan glanced at her. He was so weak that even the muscles in his face were flattened, and Mai Minghe couldn't discern his expression.

The group of people carried a patient in a wheelchair downstairs, hailed a taxi, and finally managed to get through the bustling city of Blackmores, bringing Evan all the way back to his home in McMurray.

With such a large person, she really didn't know where to put him; the storage room was full of things, and it wouldn't be able to be tidied up in a short time—Mai Minghe had no choice but to put him on the sofa.

Ivan had just woken up and was exhausted from the long journey, so he quickly fell back into a deep sleep. She didn't even have time to ask him if he wanted some water.

"Wow,"

It was a very ordinary old apartment, but Hai Luwei felt like she had entered an amusement park, craning her neck to look at the furnishings in her room: "I've seen this when I was a child! Oh my, this magazine has been discontinued for a long time, wow, it's from 1999... You know what, I've never actually used a phone with an answering machine, I've only seen my parents use them before..."

“You need to have some sense of boundaries,” Amy scolded him.

“We’re sworn brothers, unlike you,” Hai Luwei said with a sullen face. “Didn’t you go inside and get a chair yourself?”

“That’s because I’m staying to keep an eye on this guy.” Amy gestured with her chin toward Evan on the sofa. “I’ll leave when he goes back to his own home.”

Mai Minghe was completely bewildered.

With three more people in the house, there was hardly any room to turn around. If Ai Meili also moved in, Mai Minghe would have liked to move out herself. She pleaded and promised, and even agreed to let Ai Meili bring her weapons later. She even called a locksmith to come and lock the bedroom in front of her. Only then was Ai Meili finally somewhat satisfied.

“Call me immediately if anything happens,” Amy said sternly. “I’ll have the weapon delivered within an hour. Be careful.”

...If she had children and grandchildren, perhaps her children and grandchildren would be like this, looking after her without a second thought.

The moment Mak Ming-ho closed the door, he suddenly felt that he was an incredibly lucky person.

She lived most of her life alone, like a weed gradually withering away in a dusty corner. But at the end of her life, she not only saw the light again and had the chance to live again, but also... should I call them friends?
I don't know. Friends can't treat each other like their own children.

With gratitude in his heart, even Ivan seemed much more comfortable to look at.

Who knows? Maybe after he recovers, he'll be a normal, healthy, and lovable child.

Mai Minghe prepared water and medicine for him, and then made lunch, including a bowl of chicken noodle soup for the sick man; the stove hadn't been lit for several years, but the gas was still working. For the first time since becoming a hunter, she had resumed her daily routine.

After Amy arrived and dropped off a large bag of various weapons—this child wasn't afraid of being caught by the police on the street—an hour or two passed before Evan finally woke up from his slumber. Maming was sitting in a rocking chair, a book open on her lap, but her mind was already wandering, lost in thought; as she sat there, she suddenly felt unwell, a burning sensation on her right cheek, as if ants were crawling on it.

She reached up and touched her face a few times, but there was nothing there.

The sofa was to his right, and Evan was fast asleep on it.

Mai Minghe turned his head and saw that Ivan's eyes were closed and he was not moving.

She didn't move, staring at him for a while.

Under her gaze, after an unknown amount of time, Evan slightly moved his body, groaned, and slowly opened his eyes.

Their eyes met.

"You're awake?" Mai Minghe swallowed back the words he was about to say. "You remember me, right?"

Evan seemed to want to laugh, but his facial muscles didn't contract enough, making it look like a spasm. "I remember... you saved me."

"Do you remember how and when you fell into the water?" she asked hopefully.

The Artifacts Report asked her to help Evan get back on track—could it be that he also needs to regain his memories? Who knows how long that will take?
Sure enough, Evan shook his head and said, "I don't remember anything."

“I’ve made you something to eat, I’ll go get it.” Mai Minghe stood up and said, “There’s water on the table, take your medicine after you eat.”

"……Thanks,"

When she returned, Evan had already sat up from the sofa, one hand tucked into his armband, his eyes following her as she put down the soup bowl, swimming into the chicken soup. "I was just getting hungry."

Although he said he was hungry, he wasn't in a hurry to eat. He picked up his spoon, stirred it a couple of times, and then stopped, still sitting upright.

"Is it uncomfortable to sit here?" Mai Minghe asked.

Because the sofa and coffee table are almost the same height, if a person sits on the sofa and eats at the coffee table, they have to bend over and stoop to eat. She originally thought that Evan's injury prevented him from bending over, but then she remembered that his waist and abdomen were not injured.

"No, it's quite comfortable, I'm fine."

Ivan glanced at the spoon he was holding in mid-air, then looked down at the soup bowl on the coffee table. Finally, he looked at Maming River.

“Then eat it,” Mak Ming-ho encouraged.

Ivan plunged the spoon into the soup, gripping the handle like a knife, and scooped up a spoonful of soup as if digging. He remained sitting upright, forcing the spoon to trace a long semicircle in the air before reaching his mouth.

"Can't you bend your back?" Mai Minghe asked.

Evan, his mouth slightly open, spoon poised in front of his face, glanced at her. "Don't worry about me, I'm used to eating like this."

Mai Minghe coughed and turned to walk back to the rocking chair; it was only a few steps away, and before she could sit down, Evan said from behind, "I'm full."

Mai Minghe quickly turned around.

For a moment, she thought she would see an empty bowl—but of course, that was impossible.

The chicken soup had only been served for a minute or two; of course, it was still a full bowl.

“I don’t have a good appetite, a few bites are enough,” Evan explained, his eyes fixed on her. “It’s probably because of the severity of your injuries.”

Mai Minghe did not try to persuade him.

"Then you take your medicine and rest. I'll go to the kitchen to tidy up."

She carried a bowl of chicken noodle soup that looked untouched as she walked back to the kitchen, making the wooden floor creak under her feet.

The old-fashioned kitchen wasn't an open-plan design; it had walls and a door. She deliberately didn't close the door completely, leaving a crack.

She turned on the tap, placed the pot heavily into the sink, opened a drawer, and tapped a bowl with a fork... Amidst all the noise, Mai Minghe quietly walked back to the door and glanced into the living room.

Ivan remained seated upright on the sofa, slowly opening his mouth.

Then it closed again.

He touched his masseter muscle, thought for a moment, then opened his mouth again and closed it.

This time, his jaw muscles bulged.

Ivan seemed satisfied and nodded, repeating this several more times.

Mai Minghe was stunned for a few seconds, his mind still not quite clear, but the hairs on his body stood on end first—the realization came to him later.

...Evan is practicing chewing.

(End of this chapter)