Jin He thought he wouldn't be sad. He had always believed that his heart was made of iron after all these years. He knew that his mother didn't like him, and he wouldn't be hurt by a few words of complaint.
Yes, he's not sad at all; he's gotten used to it.
But the short walk back to the hospital suddenly felt incredibly long. Jin He felt his feet were floating, and waves of black mist surged up in front of his eyes. He gasped for breath.
An Yi quickly stepped forward and picked Jin He up in his arms. Jin He did not refuse, but just leaned against his chest and breathed softly. When the doctor came to check on him today, he replaced the oxygen mask in the room with an oxygen tube. An Yi put him on the bed and turned on the machine.
"Need not……"
An Yi silently clipped the pulse oximeter to Jin He's finger. Looking at the noticeably lower reading, Jin He touched his nose guiltily and said, "I thought nothing was wrong..."
“I want to hug you,” An Yi said as he sat down.
Jin He nodded and leaned forward. An Yi carefully pulled him into his arms and ran his right hand along Jin He's back. Jin He was really thin; he was all bones when you touched him, and his shoulder blades were very prominent. There was no flesh at all, and his skin felt hard to the touch.
"Are you tired?" An Yi asked.
Jin He nodded: "A little."
"Then you should get some sleep first. I'll turn off the machine once your readings stabilize," An Yi said, holding Jin He. "You can lean against me to sleep."
"Xiubai and the others in a bit..."
Jin He hadn't seen his teammates for many years. He thought it was goodbye forever, but he never expected to meet them again. His teammates weren't even angry. He was actually looking forward to their arrival today.
But weariness was already creeping in, and he felt his eyelids getting heavy.
"It's okay, I'll call you when they arrive." An Yi patted Jin He's back and said, "Sleep well, Xiao He, you'll feel better after a rest."
With An Yi's comfort, Jin He slowly drifted off to sleep. An Yi waited until Jin He's breathing slowed down and she was sleeping soundly before gently putting her down and calling the doctor to examine her.
"How is he? Will he be able to live like a normal person in the future?"
An Yi called the doctor to the door and asked him, "He gets out of breath after walking just a few steps. Will he continue like this? What should I be careful about?"
“Heart failure cannot be cured without a heart transplant,” the doctor replied. “His body hasn’t fully recovered yet, so his constitution is a bit weak. He’ll get much better after some rest. It’s just some of the usual advice: don’t stay up late, don’t drink alcohol, don’t drink coffee or tea, don’t get emotionally agitated, and don’t do strenuous exercise…”
"What if he can't eat now?"
"Didn't they say the patient has a stomach ulcer?"
“But he can’t eat anything. Tonight he only ate a small piece of corn and a piece of pork rib, and it took a lot of effort for him not to throw it up.” An Yi asked worriedly, “If he can’t eat, how can he be okay? The gastroscopy didn’t show anything abnormal.”
"There's nothing we can do but give him something to stimulate his appetite, since there's no medication that can immediately make him have an appetite."
At nine o'clock in the evening, Jin He woke up groggily. As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw An Yi sitting by the bed. He breathed a sigh of relief and said with a pained expression, "An Yi, I feel a little nauseous..."
Upon hearing this, An Yi jumped up, grabbed the trash can from under the bed, and asked, "Can you hold on a little longer? Jin He, this is all you've eaten today."
Jin He leaned against the bed, breathing heavily. She tried to hold back, but finally couldn't help herself. She sat up and vomited into the trash can. There was nothing in her stomach to begin with; it was all water.
An Yi let Jin He lean against him and kept patting Jin He's back until Jin He couldn't vomit anything anymore. He was coughing and nauseous, and started bleeding from his throat. His vomit contained some blood. Only then did An Yi move the trash can away and let Jin He lean on his shoulder to keep patting him to help him breathe.
"Okay, okay, okay..." An Yi quickly said, "...It's all out, there's nothing left now. Hang in there, Xiao He, you can't vomit anymore, it's too much of a burden on your heart."
Between coughs, a tear rolled down Jin He's cheek. It was unclear whether it was a normal tear or something else, but the convulsions in his stomach were unbearable. Seeing that there was no other way, An Yi had to press the call button to ask the nurse to give him an anti-nausea injection.
The cool medicine entered her bloodstream, and Jin He's condition stabilized somewhat. However, Jin He was huddled in the blankets, her face pale, and she still looked very uncomfortable.
Just then, An Yi took a plastic bag from the windowsill. Jin He heard the rustling sound and listlessly looked up to see An Yi open the plastic bag and take out a popsicle that was half melted.
“Well, I bought this at the supermarket downstairs from the hospital while you were asleep.” An Yi sat down next to Jin He and put half a popsicle to Jin He’s mouth. “We agreed beforehand that you’re as fragile as glass right now, so you can only lick the ice cream once, just once.”
Jin He: "..."
Just one lick?
"Yeah, neither of us should break the rules, we're only allowed to lick once."
Well, something is better than nothing, and the ice cream An Yi bought was grape flavored. A wave of grape fragrance wafted into her nostrils, and Jin He raised her head and opened her mouth slightly.
An Yi also handed the popsicle forward, and just as the popsicle was about to enter his mouth, the door to the ward was opened. Lin Nian glanced up and saw a sharp popping sound:
"An Yi, what are you doing?!"
An Yi's hand trembled, and he threw the popsicle directly into the trash can at his feet.
Jin He, whose mouth was just a millimeter away from the popsicle, thought: "???"
"well?"
"You heartless bastard! Our Xiaohe is still in the hospital, and you're feeding him popsicles! What are you up to?!" Lin Nian grabbed An Yi and slapped him. "He already has a bad stomach!"
“He can’t eat anything!” An Yi took a moment to defend himself.
"If he can't eat, just give him ice cream. What's the difference between that and feeding him a knife?"
Jiang Xiubai walked in carrying a fruit basket and saw the captain punishing An Yi, while Jin He stood by like a little quail, not daring to utter a sound.
Jiang Xiubai stepped over the two people who were entangled together, placed the fruit basket on the bedside table, and Jin He looked at him and called out very softly, "Brother Jiang".
Jiang Xiubai smiled and ruffled his hair: "Good boy."
After saying that, he pulled out a chair and sat down. He skillfully took out a small knife, about the size of a finger, from his pocket, peeled an apple, and even managed to look up and wink at Jin He, saying, "Look at the captain, he's gotten angry again. If you didn't know better, you'd really think he was some kind of gentle captain."
Upon hearing this, Jin He pursed her lips and chuckled softly.
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