Chapter 68 Ripe Mulberries "Don't buy small ones, they'll pinch you."...
A beam of midday sun slanted into the single room, quiet and faint.
Outside the corridor, there were the deliberately subdued footsteps of doctors and nurses and conversations so subtle that they would never have been noticed if it weren't for the extreme silence.
Sang Fu lowered her eyebrows, not knowing where she was staring, but she was not looking at him.
Everyone has a temper, and Sang Fu is no exception. She has a very strong temper, and Zhuang Mowen has always known this.
It's just that she won't lose her temper randomly or for no reason. Her temper is not willful. In other words, it depends on whether it is worth her attention and whether it is worth her getting angry about.
Although Sang Fu was stubborn, she had rarely argued directly with Zhuang Mowen before. He looked at her for a moment, then softened his tone and said in a low voice, "Okay, sit here if you want."
Sang Fu uttered a "hmm," her tone still flat and uneven. After she finished, she stood up and said, "I'll get you some water."
Zhuang Mowen watched her turning back and forth, and went to get some water for him. He took it and drank it all. She looked at the empty cup, said nothing, and went back to get more.
After the second cup, Zhuang Mowen hesitated to speak.
After the third cup, Zhuang Mowen said, "...I can't drink any more."
Sang Fu put the cup on the bedside and said in a very easy-going manner, "Drink it later."
She was worried about something else.
"Would you like to lie down and rest?"
"Has the doctor told you to avoid certain foods these past two days?"
"How do I change the gauze on your body? Will there be a doctor to change it?"
Sangfu's voice was not as clear as usual. It was hoarse, as if she was holding her breath.
She lowered her head, avoiding his gaze, and looked at Zhuang Mowen's arm wrapped in gauze, her movements gentle and careful.
"It's okay." Zhuang Mowen hooked her fingertips with his backhand and emphasized again, "It's really okay."
"I've already slept for a long time, so I don't need to lie down to rest. Just eat light food with less oil. The nurse will change the gauze."
From the moment she came in, Sangfu was a little abnormal. She seemed to be unable to hear what he said, broke free from his hand, and continued to check on her own.
He saw her emotionless face - at least from Zhuang Mowen's perspective, he couldn't see anything clearly. He could only be sure that she was neither laughing nor crying.
He held her hand again, using a little strength to stop her from struggling. She didn't struggle with all her strength, probably because she was thinking about his injury, and soon gave up and didn't move again.
He stroked the back of her hand with the tip of his thumb, and Zhuang Mowen said:
"It's okay."
This sentence was completely directed to her.
"Sanfu."
She paused, without moving or saying a word.
Zhuang Mowen just held her hand and continued, "Do you know what was going through my mind when the accident happened?"
After a long time, Sanfu whispered, "I don't know."
"I was thinking, if I die, I'll break my promise to go back in a few days," he said slowly. "If I'm lucky enough to survive but become disabled, I won't be able to fulfill my promise to go to Tibet with you again."
At the moment of life and death, it happened suddenly, as fast as lightning. Before I could even feel the body's instinctive fear, the thought flashed through my mind.
In fact, it was not as complicated as he said. These were the things he thought about after surviving the disaster and waking up. The main idea was correct. From the time of the collision to the time of coma, her face kept appearing in his mind.
Besides, he had just told her a few days ago that she still had him, how could he go back on his word so soon?
Sang Fu said sullenly, "I haven't even agreed to go to Tibet with you."
"Then I have to be prepared for you to agree." She deliberately refuted, but Zhuang Mowen remained calm and composed, without any hesitation. "Life is so long. Maybe one morning you'll wake up and want to agree."
“…Who said it would take a lifetime?”
Sang Fu spoke, her thick eyelashes trembling slightly, a little awkward. After she finished speaking, she paused and turned away, about to stand up, "I'll go get the nurse to change the gauze for you."
She was about to stand up when Zhuang Mowen raised his hand to hold her back, and she paused.
"Sangfu," he looked up at her and said without warning, "I like you."
She turned her head and her whole body froze slightly.
Sang Fu is introverted and speaks little, but her heart is definitely not one that will be shaken by the wind. Apart from her affluent upbringing, there is actually a part of her personality that is like a weed, which is tough and fearless, able to withstand wind and rain without complaining about herself.
She never showed weakness in front of Zhuang Mowen.
Even when she was in so much pain on the plateau that her face turned pale as paper and she had difficulty speaking; even that night when she mentioned the isolation she suffered in high school, she never showed such a vulnerable expression.
His eyebrows were slightly raised, his lips were slightly pursed, and the corners of his lips were pulled down. His dark pupils were shaking with a faint light.
It's so sad, so sad that I seem helpless.
No wonder she kept her head down, preventing him from seeing her expression clearly.
Zhuang Mowen's heart seemed to be tightly and tightly grasped by a pair of invisible hands. All his breathing and gasping became difficult and painful, and he even felt suffocated for a moment.
"I like you." Zhuang Mowen held her slender fingers and continued, "I want to spend my whole life with you."
Sanfu finally came to his senses and said something.
"I don't like you."
Zhuang Mowen paused. She maintained that expression, the lines on her face a little hard, but her eyes were red and her eyelashes trembled like the wings of a butterfly struggling in the rain.
"You said we are one and must stick together through thick and thin."
"Such a big thing happened, but you didn't plan to tell me and wanted to hide it from me. I'm not happy and I don't like you doing this."
She shook her head. "I'll live in fear like this my whole life. Fear that one day when you're not around, something like today will happen, and I'll be an outsider, unaware of it."
There is such a person who appears in her life. He is a gentle breeze, without a trace of coldness, quiet and silent, and has become an indispensable part of her life.
If something happened to him, if something really happened to him... When she first saw Siming's initial message, she could hardly stop her thoughts from wandering.
That instant of incomparable pain and feeling of emptiness was like a piece of flesh being cut out of the body.
She sat back exhausted, her shoulders drooping, and Zhuang Mowen still held her in his arms. His slightly heavy breath brushed against her earlobe, bringing some warmth.
"I'm sorry," Zhuang Mowen said. His voice was hoarse and breathy, and he said apologetically, "I was inconsiderate and scared you."
Perhaps because her words just now revealed some despair, he put his arm around her back, holding it tighter, as if afraid that she would run away.
"I used to think that being alone was fine, and there was nothing wrong with being alone."
Sangfu grabbed the corner of his clothes, and her voice came up, sounding gentle.
Her voice is very full, and even when she is out of control, it is not sharp. It is like the gurgling of water, which makes people feel peaceful when listening to it.
"I'm used to it. Maybe I was born this way. I don't have the ability to accept other people's enthusiasm, nor the courage to like and love."
"But because of you, everything has changed now."
It was he who led her to open her heart, making her willing to let down her guard and accept and adapt to the emotions that arose.
It was he who told himself that she was not surprised at all; it was also he who asked her not to hide her feelings, and he said he could wait.
Actually, Sanfu doesn't like waiting. When she was little, her parents always talked about "waiting": waiting for them to come back, waiting for a few more days, waiting for a few more weeks, waiting for a few more months...
But she is also more embarrassed to make others wait. She is always the first to arrive at every party. She knows how unbearable the time is, so she doesn't want others to endure it.
But he always arrives one step ahead of her.
It all started with our first meeting in a coffee shop.
He waited silently and patiently.
Waiting for her arrival, waiting for her trust, waiting for her response.
After meeting Zhuang Mowen, some expectations that had been worn away day after day, expectations that she repeatedly told herself should not exist, began to rekindle.
He had been on business trips many times, and she had also worked away from home for a long time. Logically, she should have been accustomed to his departure and their separation.
But this time, she actually looked forward to his return unconsciously, looking forward to the time when they would go from being one person to being two people.
She didn't want these expectations to be dashed again and become endless delusions again.
Zhuang Mowen touched the back of her head. Perhaps because she was anxious, she didn't take good care of her hair today. It was loose, but still very soft. He stroked it gently, feeling heartbroken.
"I..." He wanted to say something, but was interrupted by her next words.
"You have to be responsible," she said.
He was stunned again.
This sentence sounds familiar.
He said this the day after she got drunk. She was so scared at the time that she learned it so quickly and was able to put it into practice.
"...Okay." It was a little funny, but he didn't laugh.
Zhuang Mowen lowered his head and gently stroked her hair. He paused for a moment and answered with the most sincere and solemn tone of his life: "I will take responsibility."
After those words were spoken, the ward returned to silence again, and no one spoke again.
Unlike the previous quietness, the tense atmosphere eased and seemed to be mixed with some other meanings.
Sang Fu sat up from his arms. He was still receiving an IV drip. She tilted her head back and looked at the IV bottle for a while. It was too far away and she wasn't wearing glasses, so she couldn't see the names on it clearly. She only saw that there was half a bottle of medicine left.
"When can you be discharged from the hospital?"
"The doctor came and said everything is normal, but to be on the safe side, let me observe it for another night and see what happens tomorrow. You..."
Zhuang Mowen looked at her, suddenly thought of something, and leaned over to open the drawer.
Sang Fu was afraid that he would move the needle on the back of his hand, so she hurried to help him: "What do you want to take?"
"Mobile phone," he said, "I'll book a hotel for you and you can stay there."
The open drawer was pushed back by her. She was confused: "Hotel?"
"Well, there's a nurse over here. You can go over and sleep. We'll go back together tomorrow after we complete the discharge procedures."
Sanfu said nothing.
Not long ago, she was lying on the hospital bed in the Sino-Tibetan Hospital, and Zhuang Mowen had been staying by her side, taking good care of her.
Now that the roles are reversed, it is neither reasonable nor moral for Sangfu to abandon him.
Thinking of this, Sanfu said firmly: "I will stay."
Zhuang Mowen was stunned and glanced around.
The City Central Hospital is considered to be the ceiling of medical conditions in Yicheng. The inpatient department is still full every day. The single ward only has a narrow and hard folding bed for accompanying patients. After sleeping on it for a night, you will have back pain the next day.
Even though he wanted her to stay, he didn't want her to suffer here.
"It's not easy to rest here, be obedient."
Sang Fu ignored him and said the same thing again: "I'll ask the nurse to change the gauze for you."
Zhuang Mowen: "..."
He finally understood that if she didn't like to hear something, she would just pretend not to hear it.
Zhuang Mowen was both angry and amused, but there was nothing he could do to her.
"The gauze has just been changed. It's not time yet."
"Come back," Zhuang Mowen said again, seeing that she didn't stop, "I'll teach you how to open the accompanying bed."
This time it worked, and Sanfu turned around immediately: "Okay."
…
Sang Fu rushed all the way here and was extremely nervous. Since there was nothing to do at the moment, she curled up on the accompanying bed and took a nap.
When I was half asleep, I heard some conversation coming from the ward. It seemed that a nurse came in. I don’t know what Zhuang Mowen and the nurse were talking about.
When she woke up, she was covered with a quilt. Sangfu thought it was on his bed, but when she turned her head to look at his bed, she found that it was not.
She remembered the vague voice. Could it be that Zhuang Mowen asked the nurse to get it for her?
She turned around and faced Zhuang Mowen.
The accompanying bed is made of iron, so it inevitably makes some noise.
He was also asleep, his eyebrows were calm and beautiful, and his eyelashes were very long.
Zhuang Mowen was still awake when she fell asleep.
He was much better by then. The doctor had visited him once and allowed him to use electronic devices, so he took care of his work. He also had to make a response as he could no longer participate in meetings and activities in Yicheng.
Now mobile phones, computers and other things are placed on the bedside, and he is facing sideways to her. The accompanying bed is next to the hospital bed. When he turns sideways, he can fully see her figure.
Sang Fu looked at him for a while, then propped herself up on the bed and sat up to put on her shoes. The bed creaked again during the process, which probably woke him up. After a few seconds, Zhuang Mowen's casual voice sounded behind him: "Where are you going?"
His sudden voice startled her. Sangfu put on her shoes, tugged at her clothes and replied, "I'm going to the nearby supermarket to buy some toiletries, and then I'll bring you some dinner."
She came over suddenly and brought nothing with her.
"Okay," he said.
"What do you want to eat?"
"It will be all right."
Sang Fu nodded and asked casually, "What do you want to take with me to the supermarket?"
"Yes, bring me some toiletries too."
He was unconscious all night and had no time to eat, so how could he have had time to wash up?
"Oh, okay. So a toothbrush, toothpaste, and a towel...anything else?"
She was afraid that she would forget, so she wrote down everything carefully in the memo on her phone. In addition to these, she planned to wait and see if there was anything else she needed.
Zhuang Mowen was silent for a moment, then said, "...There's one more thing."
"You tell me, I'll remember it."
"I need a pair of underwear."
"Oh, okay, underwear." She typed the words and her eyes fell on the screen. Only then did Sangfu see clearly what the two words were.
Underwear...underwear?
Sangfu's face began to burn, and she looked up and stammered again: "I, I'll buy it for you?"
But who else could it be besides her?
She tried not to look too fussy.
On second thought, underwear is essentially just clothes, everyone wears them! And then again, didn't Zhuang Mowen buy her underwear?
Now that he is injured and inconvenient, she has to take care of him, so buying these is within her scope.
Don't be embarrassed, Sangfu, just treat it normally.
She said to herself silently.
So before Zhuang Mowen could speak, she immediately said, "No problem."
"Then I'll go first." said Sanfu.
She has always been thin-skinned. Zhuang Mowen saw through her but didn't say anything. He wanted to laugh but held it back. He pretended to be calm and said "hmm". "I'll send you the size later."
"OK."
Whether intentionally or not, he added, "Don't buy something too small, it will be tight."
"……OK."
Sangfu had her back to him, her face burning hot. She quickly grabbed the door handle and tiptoed out.
…
Sangfu went to the supermarket and came back after about an hour.
When she came back, she bought some light dinner near the hospital and brought it up with her.
After dinner, it got dark very quickly.
After washing up before going to bed at night, Sangfu stood in front of the cabinet and picked out the bought things from the bag one by one.
She bought a lot. Actually, she is a bit picky. She can't get used to sleeping on a bed outside, so she has to change all her pajamas and underwear. If she doesn't bring anything, she will buy new ones. She also bought small bottles of shower gel and shampoo.
She raised her head and wanted him to take a shower first, but Zhuang Mowen was busy. "You take a shower first, it's okay."
Sangfu paused and said okay.
If she washed first, it wouldn't disturb his rest. In order to save time as much as possible, she didn't say much and went into the bathroom of the ward with her newly bought pajamas and underwear.
After taking a shower, she came out. He probably heard the noise in the bathroom and sat on the edge of the bed waiting. The change of clothes was placed on him. Zhuang Mowen was on the phone. It sounded like the person in charge of this event was concerned about his car accident.
"Well, it's nothing serious." Zhuang Mowen said, "I'm sorry for not being here this time. I'll definitely come next time I have the chance."
He looked up and saw her, said a few words and quickly hung up the phone.
Sanfu walked over and saw the gauze on his body. Suddenly, she realized a question: "Can you take a shower?"
"Hmm?" Zhuang Mowen said, "Do you want to help me?"
She froze in her tracks and quickly explained, "No, I mean, can your wound touch water?"
“What if I can’t touch the water?”
Sang Fu was shocked, and her voice became softer as she spoke: "Then, then I can only wipe it..."
Zhuang Mowen was originally teasing her. He picked up the clothes and walked over. Seeing how scared she was, he stopped thinking and said with a smile, "You can wash it. Just be careful."
After taking a shower, Sang Fu sat on the accompanying bed and chatted with Siming about Zhuang Mowen's recent situation.
[He's much better now, thanks for telling me.]
Siming: [You're welcome. You've already thanked me several times.]
Siming: [He and I are friends, we are friends too, thanking him would make us feel distant.]
Siming: [But to my surprise, he didn't bother me.]
Siming: [Did you say good things about me in front of him?]
Sanfu: [I don’t think so…]
He wasn't even mentioned much.
The sound of the bathroom door opening was heard behind her. Sang Fu turned off her phone and looked back. Zhuang Mowen was walking out.
"Are you asleep?"
She checked the time and the doctor said he needed to rest early and go to bed almost immediately after taking a shower.
"Yeah, sleep."
Sang Fu was about to lie down when Zhuang Mowen came over, held her arm and pulled her up gently: "Come and sleep here."
He meant to let him sleep in a hospital bed.
Sang Fu immediately waved her hands: "No, no, how can I let you sleep on the accompanying bed? It's very hard and it's very crowded for you to sleep on."
The accompanying bed was slightly wider than her shoulders, so she couldn't stretch out at all when she slept. She had been feeling uncomfortable in her waist since she took that nap in the afternoon.
“…”
"You know it's hard, but you still want to sleep alone?" Zhuang Mowen found it funny again. "And why do you think that if you sleep here, I have to sleep somewhere else?"
"I went on a business trip and you kicked me out again?"
"No," Sang Fu waved her hand again: "Because you are still injured, I was afraid that I would crush you..."
"Yeah." He no longer had the IV needle in his hand, so he bent down twice to fold the accompanying bed and put it back, then sat on the bed from the other side and raised his hand to help her who was hesitantly take it down.
"So don't move, just stay in my arms."
Zhuang Mowen was pressed against her back. He was obviously the one who was injured and weak, but until now his body temperature was still higher and warmer than hers.
"Okay," she whispered. "I'll try not to move."
The lights in the ward were turned off.
There is no moon tonight and the night is a little dark.
Sang Fu remained motionless for several minutes, but finally couldn't help herself and broke the silence: "Professor Zhuang."
"Yeah." He wasn't asleep either.
"Can I move a little?"
"Um?"
"My hand was pressed down and it's a little numb."
He was speechless for two seconds: "...Move."
Sanfu pulled her hands out from under her body.
Being pressed for a long time will cause blood circulation problems.
She shook herself twice and was about to change into any position to continue sleeping when the hand on her waist suddenly moved inwards, and then her arm was held in Zhuang Mowen's palm.
He pressed her: "Are you feeling better?"
Sanfu curled her fingertips, "Better."
She was about to say "go to sleep" when suddenly there was a distinct sound of footsteps outside the ward. Sang Fu's attention was drawn to her. "What's going on outside?"
Zhuang Mowen also listened for a while and said, "Maybe the doctor is making rounds."
Sang Fu was stunned: "What...will we check here too?"
Zhuang Mowen paused and said ambiguously: "Maybe."
"Otherwise, I'd better get up first and talk to you after I finish checking."
She felt that no matter what, it was still indecent for two people to lie together and be caught. Sang Fu wanted to get up, but Zhuang Mowen did not let go.
"Then how long do we have to wait?" He said lazily, without any concern for Sangfu. "We are a legal couple, so it is reasonable for us to sleep together."
Sangfu: "But..."
Before she finished speaking, the footsteps were getting closer and closer. It didn't sound like just one doctor, but a group of people.
Sang Fu fell silent.
It is undeniable that Zhuang Mowen's words are reasonable and well-founded, but Sang Fu couldn't get over it. She simply buried herself in the quilt, hoping that even if someone came to investigate, she could still deceive herself.
This bed is softer than the accompanying bed, but it is only this big. Zhuang Mowen is tall, so he has to lie sideways to make room for Sang Fu.
There was nothing else to do. Sangfu didn't care whether it was crowded or not when she slept. She usually held him like this at home. It was just because she was crowded that she shrank into the quilt and rubbed against his arms at the same time.
Soon, the arms around her waist tightened a little, fixing her movements.
His breathing was slightly disordered, and a low voice came from above his head, with a somewhat suppressed hoarseness.
"Didn't I tell you? Don't move."
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The author has something to say: Two-in-one presented to you with both hands!
Red envelope ~ to celebrate Zhuang’s successful confession!
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