Chapter 48

"Stop lying in bed playing on your phone! For your health, for the victory of our country in fighting the epidemic, and for seeing your beloved family as soon as possible, let's all get moving!"

Holding a megaphone and riding a balance bike, Chu Yue shuttled through Zone A of the makeshift hospital.

"District Chief Chu, when can we go out? My nucleic acid test yesterday was negative. What if someone else infects me?"

Chu Yue turned the car around and moved it to stand in front of the worried patient, then played a pre-recorded audio message for him:

"Don't worry, everyone came in at the same time, and the same virus won't cause secondary infection, just like a person with a cold won't get a cold again by taking care of someone with a cold."

Don't worry, we all came in together, it's the same virus, so it won't cause any problems..."

"Young lady, why can't my phone connect to the internet? My son won't answer my video call. Can you help me figure out what's wrong?"

Chu Yue turned the car around and went to the aunt. She took the aunt's phone and studied it. She quickly found the problem and fixed it for her, saying, "You didn't have data on. It's fine now. Try it again."

"Now let's begin the eighth set of broadcast gymnastics, marching in place! One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, two, two, three, four..."

At exactly nine o'clock, the hospital's loudspeakers promptly played the music for broadcast gymnastics.

Chu Yue pedaled hard on the balance bike, accelerating instantly, the wind whipping her stray hairs around her temples. Before the music's intro ended, she circled the edge of Area A, urging everyone on.

"Good health is the foundation of everything! Let's get to the exercises! Grandpa, stop playing on your phone! Student, you can read your book later!"

Just as the broadcast reached the last second of "Stretching exercises, get ready to go," Chu Yue completed a full circle around the field and stood precisely on the leader's platform.

This is Chu Yue's ninth day at the makeshift hospital. Because of her good recovery and her experience managing the company, she was quickly promoted to head of Zone A when volunteers were recruited. Her main responsibilities include distributing supplies, comforting patients, recording temperatures, and encouraging everyone to exercise.

After a busy morning, Chu Yue could finally rest for a while. She had just taken out her phone when her wife called.

"What are you busy with, District Chief Chu!" Ji Mingfei noticed that her face filled the entire screen before he moved the phone away a little.

Chu Yue snorted, "I was just about to video chat with you! But you beat me to it."

"How are you feeling today? Still have a fever? Still have a sore throat? Stop going around shouting through a megaphone all day long. You're just saying the same thing all the time. You can just record it and play it back."

"I did exactly what you said yesterday. I actually used it this morning!" Chu Yue said with a smug look on her face.

"Is it cold in the makeshift hospital? The weather has been warmer lately, so be sure to keep warm in the mornings and evenings and don't catch a cold."

"I know! Where did our June go? Why didn't she come to talk to Mom? When I get back, she definitely won't recognize me." Chu Yue looked around, covered her mouth and whispered, "Yesterday an aunt saw our June and wanted to ask me to be related to her! Our June doesn't want an arranged marriage, hmph."

Ji Mingfei joked, "It must be because you're too flashy that someone has taken a liking to you, their mother-in-law."

"Very likely!" Chu Yue nodded seriously. "So many uncles and aunts like me. If I weren't wearing a ring, they would all want to introduce me to someone!"

"Wow! So only your aunt and uncle introduce you to potential partners? Don't any young omegas flirt with you?"

"We're in Area A, which, as the name suggests, is a concentration of alphas. How could there be omegas here? Honey, you have to believe me, my love is absolutely loyal!"

"District Chief Chu is professing his loyalty to his wife again!" A passing auntie teased her with a smile, walking past her in twos and threes.

"..."

Chu Yue blushed and quickly moved to another spot.

Ji Mingfei couldn't stop smiling. After Chu Yue secretly found a place to talk, she continued, "How long are you going to stay there? What if they think you're doing a good job and don't want you to leave?"

"The doctor told me that if I test negative for nucleic acid for a week in a row, I can self-isolate at home. I have three more days!" Chu Yue was both excited and uneasy, afraid that something might go wrong and she would have to start all over again.

"You used to complain about being bored at home, but now you want to go home and quarantine?"

"Compared to the dormitory, I definitely want to go home. They don't allow showers here. I'm like you when you were in postpartum confinement. I guess I'll wash out a pound of mud by then."

Ji Mingfei said with a look of disgust, "When did I wash off a pound of mud? Anyway, I have to cook. When are you eating?"

"It hasn't arrived yet. Sometimes it's earlier, sometimes later, it's unpredictable." Chu Yue glanced at the time. "Go cook, I'll go check if the food has arrived."

They exchanged a few more words, then said goodbye before hanging up the video call.

Three days later, Chu Yue successfully left the makeshift hospital and was transferred to home quarantine, where she resumed her daily routine of howling out the window.

…

The day of lifting the lockdown has finally arrived.

Chu Yue waited patiently for the seal on the gate to be removed, then rushed out of the building first. She stood on the grass in the community, shielding her eyes from the sun with her hand, letting the light leak through her fingers, and feeling the long-lost feeling of freedom.

"I've heard you singing upstairs every day, and today I finally get to see your face!"

Congratulations! You can finally get married!

"Based on the fragmented information you provide each day, I'm guessing your child is probably crawling all over the place by now."

Amidst the neighbor's warm greetings, Chu Yue suddenly realized she wasn't wearing a mask. As life returned to normal, her past fits of madness and screaming suddenly felt shameful; social despair was a matter of moments.

…

When Chu Yue returned to Tianyuan from Longteng, it was already time to wear short sleeves.

As she approached her hometown, she grew more timid. She cautiously pushed open the door, only to be greeted not by her parents or wife, but by June, who was running around in her walker.

A few seconds ago, June was playing alone in the living room when she heard the door open. Thinking her mother had sneaked out, she pushed her stroller and staggered to the entrance.

June curiously tilted her head back, looked at the strange aunt wearing a mask, and banged on the car, making loud noises.

The shouts attracted Ji Mingfei, who was in the kitchen. She sprinted away with the car and her body.

"Don't go near June! First, disinfect yourself, then go to the bathroom, take off all your clothes, and take a shower!"

Under Ji Mingfei's loud command, Chu Yue slunk into the bathroom like a dangerous individual to thoroughly disinfect herself.

…

At the dining table, Chu Yue, who had washed himself thoroughly, ate heartily the food his wife had prepared.

In June, she sat in her special chair and poked around in the bowl with a spoon.

"Mother!"

Clang!

Chu Yue dropped the chopsticks in her hand to the ground.

She turned her head in shock to stare at June, then excitedly slammed her hand on the table and called out to Ji Mingfei, "Wife, did you hear that? June just called for Mom!"

Ji Mingfei remained unmoved, even showing considerable disdain, saying, "Oh, she's been calling me that for over half a month now. Every day as soon as I wake up, she climbs onto my head and calls me 'Mommy.' It's so annoying."

"..."

What kind of Versailles speech is this?!

"Mom!" June called out again.

Chu Yue's heart melted, and she leaned closer to ask, "What do you want, my little darling?"

"Mommy, Mommy..." June, whose vocabulary is limited to just this one word, can't express anything more and can only keep repeating "Mommy".

As Chu Yue was repeatedly called "Mom," she gradually lost herself.

With a sweet-talking June, Ji Mingfei suddenly felt much more relaxed. As soon as she called for her mother, Chu Yue would immediately rush to the child's side to take care of her needs, leaving Ji Mingfei with no need to worry about anything.

Ji Mingfei thought that she would get tired of this excited state after a few days, but she didn't expect that she would not only do it with great enthusiasm, but also teach June a lot of new words.

Food, water, clothes… although they are all simple reduplicated words, they are very effective for communication. In addition, since June has been able to crawl skillfully, she will bring you whatever she wants and ask you to do it for her.

The happy days went by like this, the only regret being that the pandemic was not over, so Chu Yue's promised grand wedding could not be fulfilled.

Once, they had even tried on wedding dresses and sent out invitations, just waiting for the wedding to take place. Then, an announcement came down, and the whole city fell silent: the wedding was canceled.

Then, Ji Mingfei would wear a beautiful wedding dress and go downstairs every day to get nucleic acid tests in order to fight against this damn life.

At first, the neighbors were surprised to see her wearing a wedding dress while getting a nucleic acid test. Later, when they learned that they had missed their wedding, they expressed their sympathy and offered their congratulations every time they met. Eventually, everyone got used to it and stopped finding it strange.

During the days of repeated lockdowns and reopenings, neither Chu Yue nor Ji Mingfei mentioned marriage again.

With many of the company's projects stalled and Chu Yue receiving a much lower salary than before, she dared not mention resigning again.

However, Shen Qing'an hasn't had time to cause her trouble lately. She heard that during the last lockdown, Qin Zhou happened to go to see her, and the two of them were confined to Shen Qing'an's house for more than a month, seemingly making rapid progress.

Just when everyone thought this would become the new normal, the three-year pandemic ended.

Everything has returned to normal.

Ji Mingfei pulled out her wedding dress from the bottom of her trunk, looking at it with mixed feelings. Having lost the sense of ritual in her life, she suddenly lost those worldly desires, such as getting married.

"Mom, whose dress is this?" June came over, squatted down, and asked curiously while touching the wedding dress.

"mine."

In June, she pulled out the long dress and held it up against herself. "Why have I never seen Mom wear this before? Does Mom not like this dress?"

"This is something I only wear for my wedding; I don't wear it normally." Ji Mingfei didn't plan to explain too much to June, since she wouldn't understand anyway.

"Mom isn't married yet? If I wasn't married, where did I come from?" June's simple logic could only barely connect marriage and children. In her mind, she was already born, so her mother must have been married.

"Your mom and I only got a marriage certificate, we didn't have a wedding ceremony. Legally speaking, we are married, we just didn't invite our good friends to dinner."

June nodded, seemingly understanding, "Then Mommy, hurry up and marry Mommy!"

Ji Mingfei needs to think about this.

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Author's Note:

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, it will be finished tomorrow. I'm finally done!