Wei Guanyi stood in the doorway of the ward with furrowed brow. “Mr Xia, she is not in a stable condition; she’s just fallen asleep. You can go in to see her, though.” 

Xia Lei nodded, and entered the ward. 

It was quiet in the ward. Ning Jing lay on the bed in deep sleep, and did not wake up at Xia Lei’s arrival. 

Xia Lei’s gaze went to the window area. There was an easel there, and an incomplete painting on it. He walked over. 

The painting was of an European village with a church at its centre. It had a tall, majestic domed roof, and around it were Romanesque and Gothic-style buildings, ancient, elegant, and sombre, deeply etched with the influence of the Church. There was not one modern building in the village, and no electric poles, nor large advertisement posters or the like. There were some people in the painting but they were not in modern garb either, but in the garb of the Middle Ages. 

The incomplete portion of the painting featured a house to the side of the village. Behind the house was a stretch of hills, and a river meandered past the foot of these hills....