The eldest child's cries frightened his younger siblings, and the three children ran over to hug their mother, crying and shedding tears.
Ge Qiuqin crawled over, pulled Zhang Zhicheng into her arms, and hugged him tightly, crying:
"Stop hitting the child. It's all my fault. I won't send money home next time. The child's shoes are worn out, but he still has to go to school. You've scolded him and hit him. You should be over it by now."
Zhang Xinhong, with red eyes, couldn't hear a word and cursed:
"You country bumpkin, if you hadn't followed me, would you have been able to come to the city? You would have rotted in the village long ago. You traitor, always giving money to outsiders."
Zhang Xin kicked Ge Qiuqin twice more, and the four children burst into tears.
Ge Qiuqin hugged the children, afraid that Zhang Xin might accidentally hurt them.
“I’ll stop sending money to your mother this time. Please forgive her for being sick and unable to get out of bed, for giving birth to me and raising me. You came from the countryside to join the army, so please forgive her for the money and eggs my mother brought to see you off at the village entrance to repay that favor.”
Ge Qiuqin shouted, her hair disheveled.
Hearing her words, Zhang Xin's anger subsided somewhat. Seeing the children trembling, he took out 15 yuan from his pocket and threw it on the ground.
"You better be careful with your money. If I see you wasting it again, you'll regret it."
After finishing his rant, Zhang Xin sat down in a chair, wiped his feet clean with a towel, burst through the door, went into the inner room, and went to sleep.
Zhang Zhicheng wiped away his tears, picked up the money from the ground, and stuffed it into Ge Qiuqin's pocket.
Since Chen Yan approached him, Zhang Xin has refused to sleep in the same room as Ge Qiuqin. He feels disgusted whenever he sees Ge Qiuqin's face, especially since her figure has become severely out of shape after having four children. So every time he comes home, he sleeps alone in a room.
Ge Qiuqin comforted the children and wiped the water off the floor. The three children were terrified and it took them a while to calm down. The eldest, Zhang Zhicheng, was the oldest and gradually became more sensible, helping his mother take care of his frightened younger siblings.
...Hospital
Yuan Qiang arrived at the city hospital as it was getting dark. To see Lao Gu, he went on a long detour to the market to buy some fruit, and also brought some for Ding Haotian.
Although his relationship with Ding Haotian was not as close as that with Gu Shaoxuan, they were still comrades-in-arms, and their hospital rooms were next to each other, so it wouldn't be good to only look after one person.
Xia Enruo returned from the washroom with hot water, intending to wipe Gu Shaoxuan's body. Although it was already autumn, the weather was still hot and humid. He was lying in bed all day and couldn't move, which made him even more uncomfortable. If this continued, he might develop bedsores.
She wet the towel in the basin, wrung it out until it was half-dry, and then applied some soap. She slowly wiped herself from head to toe, as if she had just given birth to a baby and was taking great care of it.
Yuan Qiang pushed the door open and came in, carrying several bags in both hands.
Xia Enru stopped what she was doing and went to greet her, saying:
"Brother Yuan Qiang is here. Why did you buy so much stuff? I already troubled you yesterday, and you're spending even more today."
"Sister-in-law, don't be so polite with me. Old Gu is recovering and needs to make sure he gets enough nutrition and vitamins. And you too, I've noticed you have dark circles under your eyes these past few days."
Xia Enruo felt a little embarrassed by what was said. She really hadn't noticed, but she hadn't slept well last night. She glanced in the mirror and sure enough, there were dark circles under her eyes. She had even gone out to visit several places today. How embarrassing!
No, I'll have to cover it up with foundation tomorrow.
Yuan Qiang put the fruit on the ground and saw Xia Enruo wiping Old Gu's body. She was truly virtuous. Xia Enruo had really changed; she was like a fairy godmother descended to earth. In the past, he was genuinely worried that Xia Enruo would just leave after seeing that Gu Shaoxuan was sick.
"Old Gu, how are you feeling today? Does your wound still hurt?"
"Don't worry, I'm much better. Enruo took good care of me, and I felt less pain this afternoon."
Gu Shaoxuan actually called her "Enruo". This was the first time Yuan Qiang had heard him say that. He wondered if this was a case of true friendship revealed in times of trouble.
"It's good that it doesn't hurt anymore, then I'm relieved. Regiment Commander Lu has some things to do recently, and he asked me to tell you to focus on recovering and not to worry about military work for now. I just went to see Lao Ding, his injury isn't as serious as yours."
As the three were talking, the door was pushed open by a young nurse.
"Excuse me, is this Chief of Staff Gu's ward?"
The nurse asked.
Xia Enruo looked at the nurse and realized she was unfamiliar with her; she had never seen her before.
"Yes, is there something you need?" Xia Enruo replied.
"I am the newly assigned ward nurse at the hospital. From now on, I will assist the doctors in taking care of the lord's condition. If you need anything, please find me at the nurses' station at the end of the corridor."
The nurse spoke politely and softly.
"Where is Ma Dandan? Where did she go?"
Xia Enruo continued to ask.
"Ma Dandan was dismissed this afternoon after the hospital leadership held a meeting to discuss her violation of hospital rules. Dr. Qiao Huizhen was given a serious warning. I don't know anything else."
Xia Enruo knew that Qiao Huizhen was definitely not seriously injured. In this era, there were no cameras installed everywhere, so as long as Qiao Huizhen stubbornly denied it, without solid evidence, the hospital couldn't do anything about it. However, a serious warning would at least quiet her down for a while.
After the nurse left, Yuan Qiang asked Xia Enruo, "Sister-in-law, I was completely confused by what that nurse said. What exactly happened? Why was Old Gu being cared for by someone else?"
Xia Enruo told Yuan Qiang everything that had happened at noon.
Upon hearing this, Yuan Qiang became so angry that he punched the bed.
"This city hospital is really bullying people like this. When I get back, I'll tell my parents and they'll go to the city leaders and complain about it. It's really going too far. If Lu Tuan finds out, with his hot temper, he'll definitely come to the hospital to ask the director what happened."
"Alright, bro. Wasn't Ma Dandan fired too? It just shows the hospital's mismanagement. They didn't mean any harm. Let's just avoid trouble."
Gu Shaoxuan gestured to Yuan Qiang not to dwell on the matter.
"Speaking of Sister-in-law Huizhen, you can never judge a book by its cover. I never expected her to do such a despicable thing. She forgot to buy fruit for Lao Ding. I just went to see him. He was eating and drinking without a care in the world and sleeping soundly. He can't even control his own wife and lets her cause trouble everywhere."
You didn't hear what she told me this morning; all she talked about was money, and she didn't care at all about her husband's illness.
Yuan Qiang was truly surprised. The supposedly clever and virtuous woman, Qiao Huizhen, was actually this kind of person—it was utterly despicable. It seemed he couldn't be fooled by appearances when judging people in the future. Old Ding had married a femme fatale and was treating her like the Queen of a Women's Kingdom; he'd suffer for it later.
When Xia Enruo saw Yuan Qiang's indignant expression, she was surprised to find that Yuan Qiang was truly righteous. She thought he wouldn't believe her and praised Qiao Huizhen again.
"Yuan Qiang, let it go. Although Ma Dandan said those things, we have no evidence and it's not appropriate for us to comment. Let's just let this matter pass."
Xia Enruo didn't want this incident to strain the bond between her comrades. She knew from her past life how deep the bond between comrades could be.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
