Chapter 60: Getting to Work?
While bathing Zhou Yao, Chen Yaoan thought back carefully. She hadn't noticed that Xu Jialan was injured, and he hadn't said anything or shown any signs, just like usual.
After giving Zhou Yao a bath and putting her to bed, Chen Yaoan thought for a moment and then went to the living room.
There aren't enough rooms, so Xu Jialan will have to sleep in the living room tonight.
Chen Yao'an stopped in the corridor and didn't go over.
In the living room, Xu Jialan didn't notice her standing there either. His trouser legs were down, so it was impossible to tell if he was injured.
She hesitated for a moment, but still went over.
"My mom said you were injured?"
Xu Jialan looked at her and said casually, "It's nothing, just a minor injury, I just got scratched by a rock."
"oh."
The air grew quiet.
Chen Yaoan stood there, feeling caught in a dilemma.
Seeing that she wasn't leaving, Xu Jialan asked her, "Aren't you going to sleep yet?"
"Go to sleep." Chen Yao reassured him for a moment, then asked, "Did you apply the medicine?"
"It's on."
"That's good." Chen Yao'an silently breathed a sigh of relief. "Then I'll go to sleep now."
"Um."
Chen Yao'an walked towards the room, but stopped halfway there. She should thank him.
After hesitating for a moment, she turned back and said, "Um... thank you for today."
Xu Jialan laughed, "No need to thank me, it's all what I should do."
"What do you mean by 'you should do it'?" Chen Yao'an was somewhat dissatisfied with his words. "We have no relationship, and you have no obligation to do it."
After saying that, he turned and left.
Xu Jialan's smile vanished, replaced by a bitter taste in her mouth.
The rain finally stopped the next day, and it was a sunny day.
In the morning, Chen Yaoan got up to make breakfast and found Xu Jialan sleeping on the carpet. She frowned, wondering if Xu Jialan would catch a cold.
She thought for a moment and then went over to wake him up.
As soon as I got closer, I noticed that his complexion was off; his face was abnormally red.
She quickly placed her palm against his forehead; it was frighteningly hot.
She was startled. Had his wound become infected? Was he badly injured yesterday?
She walked over to his feet and carefully rolled up his trouser leg. There was a wound about ten centimeters long on his calf, with bloodstains visible, but it didn't look infected.
Chen Yao'an was unsure for a moment, so she shook his shoulder and called out, "Xu Jialan, Xu Jialan..."
Xu Jialan was in a daze when he heard someone call his name. He opened his eyes with difficulty and saw the blurry figure of Chen Yaoan in front of him.
"Xu Jialan, can you hear me?"
"Hmm," he mumbled a reply, then quickly closed his eyes again.
Chen Yao'an felt his condition was somewhat serious and decided to take him to the hospital. "Shall I take you to the hospital?"
Xu Jialan did not respond this time.
There was no time to lose. Chen Yaoan briefly explained a few things to Yan Shumei, and then painstakingly woke Xu Jialan up to go to the hospital.
When he arrived at the hospital, the doctor examined his wound and found that it did show signs of infection because it had gotten wet from the rain the day before, but it wasn't a serious problem. The fever was mainly due to catching a chill from being caught in the rain the day before.
The tension that had been building in Chen Yao'an's heart finally eased.
The doctor said they had to stay at the hospital to finish their IV drip before they could go home, and this whole ordeal took until noon, so neither of them had time for breakfast.
At lunchtime, Chen Yao'an specially bought porridge.
Xu Jialan looked much more energetic than in the morning, leaning against the hospital bed.
"Have some porridge."
Xu Jialan glanced at it and then turned her head away, saying, "I don't have much of an appetite, you eat."
Chen Yao calmed him down for a moment and then advised, "You should eat something, at least."
She placed the porridge on the table in front of him and handed him a spoon.
Xu Jialan really had no appetite, but since she had already handed him the spoon, he still took it.
Unfortunately, he couldn't eat any more, and put the rest down after only a few bites.
"You're not going to eat anymore?"
Xu Jialan smiled at her, somewhat helplessly, "I really can't eat anymore."
Chen Yaoan didn't insist on him and put the things away.
After finishing their IV drips, the two went home, and Xu Jialan immediately lay down on the sofa to rest.
Chen Yaoan thought for a moment, then turned and went to the bedroom where she and Zhou Yao slept. She came out a short while later and looked at Xu Jialan lying on the sofa.
In the end, he didn't say anything.
She called Zhou Yao over and said to her, "Tell him to go to the bedroom to sleep."
He pointed to Xu Jialan on the sofa.
Zhou Yao nodded, then turned and ran to call Xu Jialan.
Xu Jialan opened her eyes.
Zhou Yao pointed at Chen Yao'an, "He told you to go to the bedroom to sleep."
Chen Yao'an: "..."
Xu Jialan sat up from the sofa and looked at her.
"I just think you're getting in the way lying here."
Xu Jialan felt a throbbing discomfort on the top of her head, nodded, and stood up to walk towards the bedroom.
When Yan Shumei heard them return, she came out of the bedroom and asked her, "Have you eaten?"
“I ate, but Xu Jialan said she had no appetite, so she just drank a few mouthfuls of porridge.”
"That won't do. How can a person stand just a few sips of porridge? It won't cure the illness."
Chen Yao'an certainly understood this principle, but there was nothing he could do if he couldn't eat her; she couldn't force him to swallow it.
She thought of something and said, "Grandma, why don't you make some chicken soup? We all got caught in the rain yesterday, so some chicken soup will warm us up."
Yan Shumei was displeased. "Why don't you stay up all night? You still have to order this old man around."
"Grandma, I can't."
"When have you ever stopped? It's not like I haven't drunk your chicken soup before."
"Grandma, I'll let you do it just this once," Chen Yao'an pleaded.
"...Alright, this is a good opportunity to nourish Jialan. Yesterday, our family was so grateful to him for carrying your mother and me out. Otherwise, who knows what might have happened to us."
Chen Yaoan listened silently from the side.
Yan Shumei turned back to her and instructed her, "Then go to the market and buy a chicken."
"good."
Chen Yao'an obediently went out to buy chicken.
Yan Shumei couldn't understand the two of them. Ever since they returned from Beijing, they had been arguing, even when they were making chicken soup, they were being roundabout.
When Xu Jialan woke up again, her appetite had returned to a lot, and she could smell the chicken soup as soon as she stepped out of the bedroom.
He walked into the living room and saw Chen Yaoan serving chicken soup in the kitchen. Zhou Yao was already drinking it in the dining room. When she saw him, Zhou Yao waved to him and said, "Come and drink some chicken soup, I made it for you."
Su Jialan paused for a moment upon hearing this.
Chen Yao paused for a moment while serving the chicken soup.
He went to the kitchen and asked her, "Did you make chicken soup for me?"
"You're overthinking it. My grandma made it. She said we all got caught in the rain yesterday, so we should drink some chicken soup to warm us up."
"Oh." A flash of disappointment crossed Xu Jialan's eyes.
They stayed at Xu Jialan's house for another night before returning home the next day.
The house was indeed flooded, but fortunately the water has receded a lot. However, the ground is covered with mud and pebbles, and many things are soaked. It needs to be cleaned up before anyone can move in.
Xu Jialan took them home and didn't leave; instead, she helped them clean up.
Chen Yaoan kept glancing at him while she worked.
His fever had just subsided last night, but he looks perfectly fine today.
Chen Yaoan moved closer to where he was standing. Xu Jialan didn't notice her coming over and bumped into her as she backed away, splashing mud all over her leg with the rag in her hand.
"sorry."
She looked down at her legs, then looked up at him. "If you can't do any work, go back and rest."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." Xu Jialan said, sounding a little aggrieved.
"Really, you should go back. We don't need you here."
He apologized again, "I really didn't mean to, I didn't see you just now."
She simply snatched the rag from his hand, but she didn't control her strength, and the mud and water on the rag splashed directly onto his face, leaving several mud spots on his handsome face.
Chen Yao'an instinctively wanted to apologize to him, but she held back and continued working with her head down.
Seeing that she really didn't want to see him, Xu Jialan had no choice but to turn around and leave.
This rare heavy rain in Dai County caused some damage to almost every household in Yao'an Town.
Besides the houses being flooded, the crops in the fields also suffered significant losses.
No sooner had Chen Yao'an finished tidying up the house than someone came to her door.
Uncle Zheng stood at her door and called to her.
"What's wrong, Uncle Zheng?"
"The trees in your field all fell down and landed in our field. I came to tell you, otherwise I would have helped you clean them up."
"Oh, I'll go take a look in a bit and tidy things up while I'm at it. I won't trouble you any further."
“It’s okay, I’ll just help you with that. Your dad has never let you work in the fields since you were little, how will you manage by yourself? I’ll have my son help you out, it’ll be done quickly.”
"I just don't know where you plan to put those branches and stuff."
"This..." She really didn't know.
Chen Yao'an had indeed rarely been to the fields and was completely unfamiliar with the work there. Besides, her family hadn't farmed for a long time.
Chen Yuandong had already stopped farming when he was still alive. In order to prevent the fields from going to waste, he planted a lot of trees in the fields.
Just as Chen Yaoan was at her wit's end, a voice came from the side, "I'll go get it done."
Chen Yaoan turned to look, and saw that Xu Jialan had taken over the task.
"No need to trouble you, I'll take care of it."
Xu Jialan, a young master from Beijing, would never have said such a thing; he probably hadn't even seen a field where crops are grown.
"Where are you going? You've never done this kind of work before." Chen Yao'an really didn't trust him.
"Even if I've never eaten pork, I've still seen pigs run. I'm quite quick to learn."
"What does this have to do with learning ability?"
Uncle Zheng interrupted them as he watched the two of them going back and forth, saying, "It's fine for him to go; it's better than a young girl like you doing such heavy work."
"Then I'll trouble you to teach me when the time comes."
Uncle Zheng smiled. This young man was quite interesting to talk to. "Okay, I'll call my son and have him bring the tools over."
Zheng Bo's son arrived soon after, carrying a hoe and a saw.
Chen Yao'an was worried and followed them.
Sure enough, the trees in her field were blown about, some even uprooted and fell into other people's fields.
Xu Jialan had never seen such a large field before, and she was a little dumbfounded when she saw it.
Uncle Zheng was also worried. The corn in the field had been blown down and soaked in water, resulting in a considerable loss. Although people no longer make a living by farming, he was still heartbroken.
Zheng Boxian helped them clear away the fallen trees, otherwise they would have been stuck in their fields and difficult to manage.
Chen Yaoan and Zheng Boxian gathered up the thin branches that had been blown down by the wind and piled them aside.
Xu Jialan and Zheng Bo's son went to deal with the thicker main stems.
Some trees may not have been planted deep enough when they were planted, and they were blown askew by the wind, with half of their roots exposed and the other half still buried in the soil.
Zheng Bo's son handed him a hoe, saying, "First, dig out the other half."
Xu Jialan looked at the hoe in her hand, somewhat confused. "How do I use this?"
Zheng Bo's son was also a hothead, speaking without thinking. He immediately shouted, "You don't even know how to use this? I heard you're from the city, you probably haven't even seen this before."
After he finished speaking, he laughed a few times, which Chen Yao'an, who was far away, heard and turned around to look.
He pointed at Xu Jialan and said, "Judging from your appearance, you've never done any work before. Don't end up burying yourself in the ground."
Xu Jialan remained polite throughout, smiling as she said, "Tell me how to use it."
Zheng Bo's son demonstrated it to him, "Just like that, dig the soil to one side."
He bent down and did it the same way, then looked up and asked, "Is it like this?"
"No, you're digging too shallowly."
He bent down and continued working, and after finishing, he went to ask Zheng Bo's son.
Half an hour later, Xu Jialan was exhausted. She straightened up and held her lower back, feeling like she couldn't even straighten it.
After pausing for a while, he lowered his head and continued working.
Chen Yaoan glanced over during a break from work and saw that he was either holding his back or shaking his hands, and the back of his clothes was already soaked with sweat.
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