Shen Qingqing rushed to the rooftop.
As soon as she reached the door, she saw the man standing alone on the rooftop. The wind was strong, and she could hear its howling sound even from the doorway.
The man was swaying precariously in the wind.
He looked terrifying, as if he could fall off the rooftop at any moment.
Shen Qingqing said softly, "What are you doing?"
Even though she had lowered her voice, the man seemed startled. He turned around abruptly, his gaze wary as he looked at her.
"Don't come any closer!"
Seeing the man's agitated state, Shen Qingqing feared provoking him further. She stopped and raised her voice, "I won't come near you."
"What are you doing here?" the man demanded.
Shen Qingqing replied, "My family is also hospitalized. I'm worried about him and not in a good mood, so I came up for some air. I didn't expect to see you. What about you? Why did you come up here alone?"
Hearing this, the man's tense nerves relaxed slightly. He gave a self-mocking smile, "Me? I don't even know why I came up."
Shen Qingqing stood up straight. "That's not right."
The man froze.
"Since you came up here, there must be a reason. When your family is gravely ill, how can you do something you don't understand?"
Tears began to stream down the man's face.
He was actually very thin. Despite being nearly 1.8 meters tall, he was skin and bones. His features were refined, but his emaciated face with prominent cheekbones looked quite frightening.
Shen Qingqing calmly asked, "What is your family member's illness?"
She knew it wasn't the right time to bring up family illnesses, but this was the only way to make him talk. Other topics might offend him.
The man finally spoke, his voice choked with sobs, "She's beyond saving. I've used all my savings and tried every method..."
He was overcome with grief and couldn't speak.
"But I still couldn't save her..."
Shen Qingqing nodded. "I understand how you feel. When my child was sick, I was also very sad and tormented."
"Child..." the man choked out, his expression a mix of tears and laughter. "We don't have children. She fell ill before she could even have a child with me. In truth, whether we had children or not, I didn't care. I just wanted her to be well, and for us to be together forever..."
As he spoke, his legs gave out, and he knelt on the ground, too grief-stricken to utter another word.
Shen Qingqing's heart ached. She quietly moved closer, gently reassuring him, "I understand that your thoughts are the same as mine. At times like this, we don't think of anything else but hoping our loved ones are safe and with us."
Her words struck a chord with the man. He couldn't help but burst into uncontrollable sobs, his sorrow and despair filling the entire rooftop.
"But don't worry. Medical technology is so advanced now, she can definitely be cured."
Shen Qingqing finally reached him.
However, the man was startled by her words. He looked up abruptly and saw her standing right in front of him, his expression instantly turning to one of panic.
He hastily stepped back, losing his footing!
"Ah!"
He had been standing there for half an hour, contemplating whether to jump. But when the sensation of falling suddenly hit him, his instinctual fear took over.
He suddenly didn't want to die.
In fact, he didn't fall. Shen Qingqing reached out in time and grabbed his hand.
Gritting her teeth, she yanked him back.
The moment his feet touched the ground, the man's body went limp, and he collapsed onto the floor, his face ashen, panting heavily.
He felt as though he had narrowly escaped death.
Shen Qingqing twisted her wrist, which had been strained by the effort, and looked down at the man. "Are you alright?"
The man couldn't speak and could only shake his head.
Shen Qingqing put her hand in her pocket and said with annoyance, "Do you know that if you had jumped just now, your wife would truly have no hope?"
The man shook his head, tears of sorrow or fear streaming down his cheeks.
Shen Qingqing disliked seeing men cry. She took a tissue from her pocket. "Wipe your tears and stop crying."
The man looked at her with some bewilderment.
At a time like this, shouldn't she be comforting him? Why did she look so displeased, so different from the kind stranger who had just rushed to his rescue?
Shen Qingqing glanced at the snot running down his nose and held up the tissue. "Hurry up. Don't you feel a chill on your face?"
The man finally reacted. He took the tissue and wiped away the sticky feeling on his face, feeling somewhat embarrassed and mortified. "I'm sorry for making a fool of myself, and thank you for saving me."
Shen Qingqing retracted her hand and put it back in her pocket. "Are you calm now?"
The man nodded silently.
"It's good that you're calm." Shen Qingqing squinted at her watch, her hair blowing wildly in the wind. "Then let's go down and talk. It's too windy up here to have a conversation."
The man seemed detached now, offering no resistance to her arrangements and followed her obediently.
Shen Qingqing led him downstairs, wanting to avoid being seen by Director Liu, so she used the fire escape to get to the ground floor and then to a coffee shop outside the hospital.
But as they reached the entrance of the coffee shop, the man stopped. Shen Qingqing looked at him in confusion. The man hesitated, looking at the coffee shop.
"I don't have any money..."
For a grown man to say such a thing was undeniably embarrassing. He lowered his head, his face blushing as if it would bleed.
But it was the truth.
Every cent in his pocket was precious now, meant for his wife, and couldn't be spent on something as trivial as this.
Shen Qingqing sighed. "I brought you here, do you think I'd ask you to pay?"
The man breathed a sigh of relief.
"Let's go!"
At the Lingke Coffee Shop, Shen Qingqing found a quiet spot with few people and ordered two small cakes and two cups of coffee.
"Eat something. Sweets can improve your mood."
The man didn't touch the cakes, but took a sip of coffee. "I don't really like sweet things. Also, I have a question: is your family really hospitalized?"
"Of course, it's true. Why would I lie to you about this?"
"But you don't seem like it." He had seen many family members of patients in the hospital, and without exception, they all looked distressed.
None of them were as cheerful as her.
Shen Qingqing blinked. "That's an interesting thing to say. Who says you have to look gloomy when your family is sick?"
"But if your family is sick, can you still smile?" the man asked, clearly not understanding.
"No," Shen Qingqing said, shaking her finger. "If someone is already sick, try to cure them. Being sad, grieving, and looking gloomy are all useless. Will pretending to be miserable make the illness go away?"
The man was speechless. "That's true, but if you're really worried, how can you..."
Shen Qingqing said calmly, "If they're sick, find a solution."