"One morning, the male protagonist saw the female protagonist return from a near-death experience the moment she turned around. From then on, the two lived happily ever after and led a shameless life together."

“Impossible…” Ling Huanwu murmured to herself, her voice as soft as a dream.

It's been a year.

365 days.

She wiped his body, turned him over, and talked to him every day, all while staring at his unresponsive face.

Tell me interesting stories about the cooperative.

It is said that Lin Xiaoqin's chickens laid double-yolk eggs.

She said she made him the most fashionable new clothes, even more stylish than the bizarre green outfit he wore when he went to their date.

Sometimes when she got tired of talking, she would lie down by his bedside and cry. After she had cried enough, she would wipe away her tears, smile, and say, "Wake up soon, or your new clothes will become old clothes."

Countless nights, she held his hand, hoping for even the slightest movement.

Even a slight twitch of a finger, a flutter of an eyelash, or just a furrowed brow would be enough.

No, there isn't.

He lay there quietly, like a sleeping child.

She held onto the table, slowly squatted down, and her shoulders began to tremble uncontrollably.

Those grievances, those fears, those moments when she felt she couldn't go on, surged up like a tide, suffocating her.

She wanted to cry out loud, but she was also afraid that it was all just her imagination.

She suddenly looked up at the person on the bed.

Zhou Jiuzhen was still lying there, her eyes closed, her face still pale, as if those marks from before were just an illusion caused by her exhaustion.

She walked over, squatted down by the bed, stretched out her hand, her fingertips hovering above his cheek, hesitant to touch him.

"Zhou Jiuzhen," her voice choked with sobs, thick with nasal congestion, "if you're awake... please open your eyes, okay?"

No one answered.

"Do you think I haven't been tired enough this past year?" She sniffed, and tears finally fell, landing on the back of his hand. "Are you doing all this... to make me guess? Do you know how scared I am? I'm afraid this is just me imagining things again..."

“I talk to you every day until my mouth is dry, but you ignore me.”

Her voice trailed off, filled with deep grievance, "I've been wiping your hands for a year, and you haven't even lifted a finger. Now... now you're secretly doing this to me, are you doing it on purpose?"

The tears fell harder and harder, landing on the back of his hand, burning hot.

"Do you know how hard it is for me?" Her voice began to tremble. "The aunties all said you wouldn't wake up, and they advised me... advised me not to wait anymore. I said you would definitely wake up. Every night I dream that you woke up, that you were talking to me, but when I woke up and saw..."

She choked up and couldn't continue, sobbing as she leaned over the bed, her shoulders shaking with sobs.

Just then, she felt a change in the texture of the back of her hand.

No longer lukewarm and unresponsive, but... a gentle, slightly trembling handshake.

She suddenly raised her head.

Zhou Jiuzhen's eyes had opened at some point.

He looked at her, his eyes filled with guilt, heartache, and a deep, unyielding tenderness.

His lips moved, uttering a very soft, hoarse sound, as if afraid of disturbing something, "Huanwu... I'm sorry..."

In that instant, all of Ling Huanwu's words got stuck in her throat.

She looked at him, at her own reflection clearly in his eyes, at the tear that slid down his cheek, and suddenly burst into tears.

It wasn't a quiet sob; it was a long, pent-up cry of grievance and ecstatic joy, the culmination of a whole year's worth of pent-up emotions.

She cried as she gently pounded his arm with her fist, the force as light as a feather: "You bastard...you big bastard..."

He didn't flinch, he just looked at her, letting her tears fall on his face, while a very faint, weak smile slowly appeared on his lips.

The morning light peeked through the cracks in the window, illuminating the dust motes dancing in the air, and also the tears on her face.

Zhou Jiuzhen's eyes reddened as he pulled her into his arms, wishing he could hold her as if she were his very flesh.

Ling Huanwu nestled in his arms and cried for a long time, until she was exhausted from crying. Only then did she belatedly realize that countless eyes were fixed on the two of them from behind, lingering for a long time.

When they turned around, they were both startled, blushed, loosened their embrace, and moved away.

"Commander Zhou, you've finally woken up! You've been in a coma for a whole year, and Comrade Ling has become as thin as a bamboo pole."

"Hey, Commander Zhou, are you eighteen or twenty-three years old now?"

"Commander Zhou, you'd better get well soon. Commander Zhao came to propose marriage to Comrade Ling, but she couldn't agree. He made a bet that if she could lead our villagers to rebuild their homes and find a livelihood, we wouldn't have to move away from the island. Otherwise, Comrade Ling would have to marry that educated youth Zhao..."

"Yes, we all stand with you and Comrade Ling. Let's work together to run the cooperative well and develop Wantan Island!"

The aunties poured out their stories of the past year, some wiping away tears, others speaking with great enthusiasm and encouragement.

Zhou Jiuzhen held Ling Huanwu's hand, his heart aching as if it were being slowly sliced ​​apart by dull blades.

The thought of her frail body bearing such immense pressure, and the fear and guilt that would haunt him if he woke up any later, filled him with dread.

The clicking sound outside the office went on all day.

The news that Commander Zhou had woken up spread like wildfire across the entire island on the sea breeze.

Zhou Jiuzhen lay on the bed in the office, crying while hugging his mother, then crying again while holding hands with Political Commissar Hao, and finally being hugged and cried by the guards Xiao Wang and the others one by one until he was almost nauseous from being hugged so much.

Finally, at six o'clock in the evening, the cooperative's aunties and a group of shirtless young men carrying goods finished work. Ling Huanwu then finished her work, carried in a pile of blueprints, and locked them in a drawer.

"Why did you bring in those young men to work on the clothes? Fine, they're all working, but why are they all shirtless in this freezing weather?"

Zhou Jiuzhen sat on the bed, staring resentfully at Ling Huanwu's busy back as he asked a question.

Ling Huanwu didn't mind, she just carefully locked the padlock and subconsciously replied, "I can't stop them from going shirtless, but it makes the aunties happy and gives them more energy to work, so it's a good thing!"

When she finished her work and turned around to look at him with a beaming smile, Zhou Jiuzhen was mesmerized.

After a long while, he finally came to his senses, his pale fingertips gripping the bedsheet as he lowered his head. "So you're enjoying watching them work? You're smiling so happily..."

Ling Huanwu took off her coat, put on slippers, and fetched a basin of water, completely unaware of his change in mood.

She smiled, her eyes crinkling, wrung out a towel, sat down next to Zhou Jiuzhen, and immediately started unbuttoning his shirt.

Zhou Jiuzhen was shocked, his face instantly turning bright red. "What...what are you doing?"

"Let me help you wipe your body!"

Ling Huanwu tilted her head to look at him, puzzled. The corners of her upturned lips slowly turned down, and her crescent-shaped smiling eyes transformed into alluring fox-like eyes, staring at him intently. "I've been helping you bathe all year. Do you want to do it yourself today?"