Chapter 15 His Injury
Gu Qiuyue was lying on the plank bed, but her ears seemed to be pulled by invisible threads, nailed to the sound coming from the thin wall.
That gasp again!
Short, sharp, dull and oppressive, with a sense of the futile struggle of a trapped beast, it was intermittent and infinitely amplified in the dead silence of the night, beating on her eardrums again and again and pounding on her heart.
How badly was he injured?
She sat up suddenly and walked quietly to the thin wooden door that separated the two worlds.
There was no light coming through the crack in the door. In the moonlight, the tall figure was curled up on the narrow plank bed, with one hand pressed tightly against a certain spot under his ribs.
In the end, Gu Qiuyue didn't push the door open, but she couldn't sleep that night.
As soon as the sky was getting light, I opened my eyes and found it was dead silent outside.
She opened the door of her room. The door of the small room was open. She walked in and was stunned.
She hesitated for a moment, but still walked in. When her eyes fell on the bed, she was stunned.
On the bed, the army green quilt that Xie Shiyu had covered himself with was folded into a standard "tofu block" and placed at the head of the bed. The floor was swept clean, and not even a piece of firewood or straw could be found.
She walked into the kitchen. The enamel pot he had drunk water from last night was cleaned and placed upside down on the equally clean stove. The stove mouth had also been cleaned and there was no residual ash.
This man... Gu Qiuyue stood in the middle of the empty kitchen, looking at everything that was too neat, feeling mixed emotions.
"Sister! Is Sister Qiuyue awake?" Mrs. Zhang knocked on the gate.
Gu Qiuyue opened the door, and Mrs. Zhang came in carrying some vegetables: "Oh, you are finally at peace. Yesterday, your Captain Xie's 'exercise' must have smoothed out Captain Wang's firecrackers.
This morning, Captain Cheng called me in and gave me a good scolding like a grandson. I heard I even had to write a self-criticism. That nagging wife, Li Caifeng, was also severely scolded by her husband, Old Wang. I guarantee she'll be behaving like a nobody for the next few days."
As she spoke, she stuffed the vegetables into Gu Qiuyue's hands, glanced at the neat little house, and said with a smile: "Tsk, my sister's housekeeping is no worse than Captain Xie's... It's true that like guests come, like guests come."
Gu Qiuyue forced a smile: "Sorry to bother you, sister-in-law."
"What's the trouble?" Mrs. Zhang had just said this when the truck carrying furniture arrived at the door.
Gu Qiuyue quickly took out the cloth she had prepared in advance and decorated the room, and the cottage soon exuded a simple and warm atmosphere of life.
"Oh, sister, you are so skillful. Once the cloth is spread out, the feeling is immediately different!" Sister Zhao, who came to help after hearing the noise, praised sincerely.
Gu Qiuyue took out the fruit candies stored in the space and shared them with everyone: "Sisters-in-law, you have worked hard. Have some candies to sweeten your mouths."
"Oh, how embarrassing..." Mrs. Sun, who also came to help, smiled widely.
After seeing everyone off, Gu Qiuyue planned to go to the service center to buy a large iron pot for the earthen stove.
At the service center, I met the round-faced Mrs. Chen from yesterday buying soy sauce.
"Comrade Gu, are you here to buy something?" Chen Cuifen greeted her upon seeing her, a subtle concern in her eyes. She had obviously heard the rumors, so she moved closer and lowered her voice, "Sister, don't take it to heart. Those are just heartless gossips. Captain Xie's injury is a glorious mark of battle."
Gu Qiuyue straightened her back and spoke clearly, "My sister-in-law is right. His injury is a medal of honor for defending our country. I married him, I respect him, and I love him even more. You have to live your own life. You can't stop or control what others say. I, Gu Qiuyue, have a clear conscience."
She returned home carrying a large iron pot and opened the gate. She was surprised to see Xie Shiyu squatting in the corner of the yard with his back to her. He had taken off his military jacket and draped it over the firewood pile beside him. He was only wearing a military green shirt, revealing a pair of strong and sturdy forearms.
He was concentrating on repairing a stool that was a little shaky when it was delivered. His movements were skillful and steady, and the knocking sounds were crisp and clear. The sunlight fell on his slightly drooping profile, outlining the hard lines, and fine beads of sweat oozed from his forehead.
Hearing the footsteps, he stood up and naturally reached out to take the large iron pot from her hand: "Why didn't you ask me to take it?"
"I'm strong enough to lift it." Gu Qiuyue tried to keep her voice steady.
"Yeah." He responded and took the pot into the kitchen.
At dinner time, Gu Qiuyue was busy on the stove, cooking porridge. Xie Shiyu silently added firewood, and soon the porridge in the pot began to steam.
Gu Qiuyue stirred the rice porridge with a spoon, but her eyes fell on him involuntarily.
The action of adding firewood seemed smooth and steady, but at a certain moment, when he slightly leaned sideways to reach the firewood a little further away, there seemed to be an extremely slight delay in the raising of his arm, so fast that it almost made people think it was an illusion.
Then, when he lowered his head to fiddle with the firewood in the stove, Gu Qiuyue clearly caught a very brief frown between his brows. The wrinkle disappeared in an instant, so fast that it seemed as if it had never appeared, but it was like a thin needle that accurately pierced Gu Qiuyue's eyes.
She tightened her grip on the spoon, and the taut string in her heart silently tightened another circle.
It was late at night and the courtyard fell into silence again.
Gu Qiuyue was lying on her new bed, but she had no desire to sleep. Her ears were like radar, keenly capturing every movement in the next room.
At first, there was deathly silence.
After being tense for a long time, her nerves were almost beginning to relax and sleepiness quietly came over her.
"Uh, cough cough... cough..."
A painful gasp that was suppressed to the extreme, as if it was crushed and squeezed out from the depths of the throat, followed by several more dull and difficult coughs, as if it was barely suppressed in the chest with all the strength. The sound was broken and torn, with a heart-pounding feeling.
Gu Qiuyue's heart suddenly shrank and was instantly raised to her throat. It was more intense and painful than last night.
"Bang!" There was a slight muffled sound, as if something small was knocked over.
Then came the muffled, heavy gasps of someone getting out of bed. Their steps were unsteady and faltering, groping... towards the table? Looking for medicine? Or pouring water? The difficulty evident in the movement was magnified infinitely in the stillness of the night.
In the darkness, Gu Qiuyue suddenly clenched the thin blanket on her body, her nails almost digging into her palms. The dull cough echoed wildly in her mind. His injury... his injury was definitely not as "knowledgeable" as he showed.
This wasn't just any pain! Was it getting worse? Was it getting worse? What was he hiding?
What kind of sinister truth is hidden under that invisible shadow that is being pressed down tightly?
The thick darkness of the night was like an icy tide, completely drowning her once again. This time, the invisible hook, with its thick and insoluble panic, hooked her heart tightly, dragging her down into an unknown abyss.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
