Two men waited at the door, and soon Yang Ziyun returned happily. The doctor said it wouldn't affect her ability to have children. As long as she took good care of herself, she believed she would get pregnant soon.
The doctor was clearly a shrewd person; his words struck a chord with Yang Ziyun.
Yang Ziyun stepped past the people at the door, came in, looked at her son, and tugged at his sleeve. "Take good care of Ruoke and help her recover quickly. We're all waiting for her to give the Huo family a healthy baby boy."
"Okay. Mom, Grandpa and the others said they're going to Lijing Garden. Do you want to go back with them?" Huo Qingfeng was afraid that once Ruoke woke up, his mother would only focus on nagging the child and hurt Ruoke's feelings.
"No, I'll stay a little longer." Yang Ziyun ran to the door. "Huo Zhixun, you and Dad go back first. I'll stay with my daughter-in-law a little longer. You two go back first."
The general was reluctant to part with his wife, but he obediently left with his father.
Yang Ziyun came to the bedside, bent down and touched the bruises on Ling Ruoke's face. "This guzheng is really bad. Luckily it was found, otherwise it would have been so worrying."
Huo Qingfeng pulled her down to sit and put his arm around her shoulder. "Mom, once Ruoke wakes up, if she doesn't bring it up herself, please don't mention the guzheng either, okay?" Some things should be left to pass, instead of being held in your heart like hatred.
"Mom knows, Mom isn't stupid." Yang Ziyun gave him a disapproving look.
Huo Qingfeng touched his nose, trying to evade the question. "Mom, that's not what I meant. And Mom, I have a favor to ask you."
"What's wrong? You're having an affair and you want your mother to cover it up for you?" Yang Ziyun perked up when she heard her son beg her. Her son had hardly ever asked her for anything in his life. Now that he finally had a chance, she wasn't about to let it go.
"Mom!" Huo Qingfeng was utterly helpless; he knew his mother's mischievous streak was at play again. "I already feel like I don't have enough time to spend with Ruoke, where would I find the time to find other women!"
Yang Ziyun pouted, unconvinced. "That's not necessarily true. Maybe when you told her you were on a mission, you were out fooling around with some other woman somewhere. That's how it's always portrayed on TV, isn't it? You tell your wife every day that you're busy having dinner with some client or something, but you're actually having dinner with a prostitute."
"Mom, am I really your son? How can you accuse your own son like this? If Ruoke wakes up and misunderstands, I'll tell Dad you're seeing someone else, hmph." His mother was being unreasonable, and so was he. Anyway, since Ruoke came along, he'd been shameless countless times.
Yang Ziyun reached out and pinched him. "You brat, how dare you ruin your parents' relationship? Aren't you afraid of divine retribution?"
"So you still want to ruin your son and daughter-in-law's relationship? Aren't you afraid?"
"Wasn't I joking?"
"I was just joking."
"I can joke, but you can't."
"On what grounds?"
Yang Ziyun flicked his forehead, hands on her hips. "Because I'm your mother!"
Huo Qingfeng had nothing to say, so he could only rub his nose. "Alright then, since you're my mom."
"What, are you feeling wronged having me as your mother? You look so unwilling, you deserve a beating!" Yang Ziyun rarely had a chance to bicker with her son, and she didn't want to end it.
Huo Qingfeng shook his head. "How could I dare? If I had the guts, and you complained, I'd be in for a beating. This business would be a huge loss."
"Hmph, you brat! You say you don't have the guts, but you certainly have the desire! God, how could you have given birth to such a heartless scoundrel!" She gritted her teeth and pinched his arm. Unable to pinch his arm, she tried pinching other places.
Huo Qingfeng was speechless at his mother's unreasonable nagging. "Okay, Mom, let's stop arguing. I'm talking to you seriously now."
"What did you say?" Yang Ziyun stopped what she was doing, clearly displeased.
Huo Qingfeng grasped his mother's hand and looked at her. "Mom, when Ruoke wakes up, please don't talk to her about having children, okay? She's not the kind of woman who doesn't want children; she wants them herself. She's been seeing traditional Chinese medicine doctors and searching online, researching all sorts of things. Sometimes when we talk on the phone, she gets quite down about having children. So let's let nature take its course and not keep bringing it up; it'll put too much pressure on her. Didn't the doctor say that a lot of psychological pressure can make it harder to conceive, right?"
"Mom knows, I won't mention it." This time, Yang Ziyun readily agreed. She could tell that Ling Ruo really wanted to have a child and didn't need her to pressure her.
Huo Qingfeng smiled. "Thank you, Mom. You're so kind!"
"Tch! You're so nice to me when you need something, Mom, otherwise you're just an old woman." Yang Ziyun laughed brightly. Although her son had grown up and had his own family and world, what mother in the world doesn't want to be closer to her son? This is perhaps why there are often conflicts between mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law, because both want more attention from their husbands, yet are destined to give some away.
"No way! In my heart, my mom has always been a beautiful and kind-hearted person." Huo Qingfeng was becoming more and more adept at getting along with his mother. His mother was a woman too, and she needed to be coaxed.
Yang Ziyun smiled and poked his cheek, saying nothing more. But she was clearly in a good mood.
The two talked about other things, and time flew by. The person on the bed frowned and groaned, seemingly in great pain.
"What's wrong with her? I'll go call her!" Yang Ziyun suddenly stood up and turned to run outside.
Huo Qingfeng quickly grabbed her arm. "Mom, it's alright. This is a side effect, and the doctor can't do anything about it." As he spoke, he lifted the blanket and skillfully massaged her legs.
"What are you trying to do?" Yang Ziyun looked at him, puzzled.
"The doctor said that massaging her like this would make her feel much better."
"Oh." Yang Ziyun watched for a while, then stood by the bed and massaged Ling Ruoke's arm.
Huo Qingfeng glanced at his mother, his eyes filled with gratitude. Most of the time, his mother was wonderful. It was only occasionally, when she was dissatisfied, that she would become unreasonable and argumentative.
With the mother and son working together, after a while, Ling Ruoke stopped groaning in discomfort.
Yang Ziyun stopped, her arms a little sore. "Oh dear, I didn't expect it to be so strenuous to just massage like this. Those massage therapists are really amazing."
"That's the result of long-term training." Huo Qingfeng kneaded for a while longer before stopping. He then pulled the blanket over her and covered her up.
Yang Ziyun swung her arms, watching her son's careful movements. He was becoming more and more like his father; both father and son were the kind of people who could dote on their wives to the core.
The mother and son loosened their arms, and Ling Ruoke woke up not long after.
"Are you thirsty? Do you want some water?" Huo Qingfeng helped her up and brought the water to her lips.
Ling Ruoke then noticed that Yang Ziyun was also there. She quickly forced a smile and said, "Mom, you're here too."
"Sigh. Get some rest, you'll be fine soon." Yang Ziyun leaned down and sat on the edge of the bed, reaching out to brush the hair from Ruoke's face. "Ruoke, you've been wronged."
“Mom…” Ling Ruoke burst into tears. She felt wronged, her whole body ached, and she felt deeply aggrieved.
Huo Qingfeng hugged her tenderly.
Yang Ziyun quickly grabbed a tissue to wipe away her tears. "Don't cry anymore, it'll make you uncomfortable. From now on, we'll never let you suffer again, okay?"
Ling Ruoke nodded with tears in her eyes, but she didn't cry loudly.
"Come on, drink some water to soothe your throat." Huo Qingfeng turned her face and fed her water again.
Ling Ruoke was indeed thirsty and gulped down more than half a cup. "Okay, I'm done drinking." She glanced at Yang Ziyun, her face flushing with embarrassment. She tried to tug at Huo Qingfeng's sleeve to signal him, but her hand was too weak.
"What's wrong?" Huo Qingfeng couldn't possibly miss such an obvious expression.
Ling Ruoke blushed even more and stammered, "I...I need to go to the toilet."
Hearing this, Yang Ziyun laughed. "You silly child, we're both women, and he's your husband, what's there to be embarrassed about? There are male obstetricians and gynecologists these days, if you really encountered one, wouldn't you give birth?"
"Then we definitely need to find another one!" It was Huo Qingfeng who spoke. He wasn't willing to let a male doctor examine someone else's wife. There were other obstetricians and gynecologists in the world!
Ling Ruoke had no time to deal with this; she was anxious.
"Alright, hurry up and let your wife go to the toilet. Mom's going for a walk outside." With that, she went out and closed the door behind her.
"Wife, should we go for the younger one or the older one?" Huo Qingfeng asked as he lifted the blanket, his face expressionless, as if this was the most natural thing in the world.
Ling Ruoke whispered the word "big," which was also why she was embarrassed. Even if there were urinals in the hospital, men couldn't possibly go into the women's restroom. In the end, they could only relieve themselves in the ward.
Huo Qingfeng leaned down and kissed her, saying, "I'm your husband, what's there to be shy about?" Sometimes when their comrades were seriously injured, they would even take care of their bodily functions, and no one felt embarrassed or uncomfortable about it.
By the time everything was over, Ling Ruoke's face was practically dripping blood. Luckily, the smell wasn't too strong, otherwise she would have been too ashamed to show her face.
Huo Qingfeng sprayed air freshener in the room, and it immediately smelled wonderful. He then went to the bathroom to fetch her a basin of water and carefully washed her face, hands, and feet. "Are you hungry?"
Ling Ruoke nodded. She had eaten breakfast and it was already past noon; she was indeed a little hungry.
"What do you want to eat? I'll go buy it right away." Huo Qingfeng put one arm around her, letting her lean comfortably against him. He squeezed her leg with his other hand.
"Anything is fine." Ling Ruoke felt unwell all over, and actually didn't have a good appetite, but she couldn't just starve herself. If he hadn't been with her, she really would have cried her eyes out. She had always thought that pain was the most painful thing, but she never expected that this feeling of soreness and numbness would be even more painful.
"Okay, then you lie down for a while, I'll go buy it right away."
Just as Huo Qingfeng was about to carry her to the bed, Yang Ziyun came in with some things. "You must be hungry. I bought some food, so eat quickly. Qingfeng, you eat yours, I'll feed Ruoke. I also bought some chicken soup, how about Ruoke has some soup first?"
"Okay." Ling Ruoke smiled. "Mom, thank you."
Yang Ziyun patted her head and said, "Silly child, we're family, why are you always thanking me like this? Here, have some soup." As she spoke, she brought the soup to her lips, and she specially asked the shop staff to warm the soup back to a warm temperature so it would be just right to drink.
"Mom, did you come all the way from B City by yourself?" She had been awake for a while and hadn't seen her grandfather and father-in-law.
“Your grandpa and dad are here. You were sleeping when we arrived, and since they figured you wouldn’t wake up anytime soon and didn’t want to disturb you, they went home first. They’ll probably be here later.”
"Oh," Ling Ruoke responded, her eyes a little moist. It felt so good to be cared for by so many people!
Huo Qingfeng finished his own meal early and took over the task of feeding Ruoke. He could be seen wiping Ruoke's mouth with tissues from time to time, taking good care of her.
Ling Ruoke had a poor appetite; she only drank a small bowl of soup and ate a little rice.
Huo Qingfeng put down his chopsticks and washed his hands. Afraid she would feel uncomfortable sitting for too long, he massaged them for her.
"It's okay, I can handle it." Ling Ruoke felt a little sorry for him as she watched him bustling around. But being pinched like that by him really did make her feel a lot better.
Yang Ziyun smiled and said, "Those soldiers are very strong, why are you feeling sorry for them?"
“I…” Ling Ruoke looked down at the colonel, unsure how to answer.
Just then, a commotion broke out outside the door. A moment later, a small figure rushed in like a little leopard.
"Mommy!" Huo Fu'an shouted, leaping onto the bed like a little leopard. He threw himself into Ling Ruoke's arms, calling out incessantly, "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy..."
Everyone couldn't help but laugh.
Ling Ruoke teased him, "Oh dear, our little Fu'an has become a broken record." She hadn't seen him for a long time and missed him terribly. But now she couldn't move at all, and couldn't even hug him; it was incredibly painful for her.
Fu'an giggled; he knew what a repeating machine was. "Mommy, did a bad person hit you? She's so mean!" The little guy knelt on the bed and reached out to touch the bruises on her face.
Ling Ruoke smiled. "Yes, she's really bad. We'll ignore her from now on. Come on, tell Mommy honestly, do you miss Mommy?"
"Yes!" The little guy hugged her neck and snuggled up to her. "Mommy, why don't you come to see me?" He dragged out the "ah" sound, full of a spoiled tone.
"Mommy was busy and didn't have time to see Xiao Fu'an. Is Xiao Fu'an angry with Mommy?" She gently moved her head and rubbed her forehead against his, the only part of her body she could move.
"No. I love Mommy the most." The little guy has such a sweet tongue.
When Yuan Meng and Huo Zhenbang came in, they heard the little guy saying nice things again.
Yuan Meng said, "Huo Fu'an, you're trying to sweet-talk me again." As she spoke, she walked to the bedside.
Fu'an chuckled; his mother often said that to him.
"Ruo Ke, how are you feeling? I'm so sorry, we've dragged you into this." Yuan Meng grabbed her hand, having also heard that Ruo Ke had been injected with some kind of drug that made her hands and feet numb and weak, so she subconsciously squeezed her wrist.
Ling Ruoke shook her head. "It's alright, it'll be fine after tomorrow. It's not your fault, don't think about it too much. The most important thing is that we're all alright now."
Then she turned to the door. "Grandpa, Dad, you're here too."
Huo Zhenbang chuckled and said, "Grandpa is always so lively and active when I see you. I'm really not used to you being so quiet this time. Get well soon, Grandpa is waiting for you to play chess with me."
Ling Ruoke pouted, looking a little aggrieved, and said, "Grandpa only remembers to ask people to play chess; he doesn't care about them at all!"
"You clever little girl, you're catching your grandfather's grammatical errors, aren't you?" He chuckled and added, "Get well soon, or I'll have to punish you according to family rules."
"Grandpa bullied Mommy, how mean!" Huo Fu'an shouted, his eyes wide open. He knew that family discipline involved beatings.
Everyone burst into laughter. The little guy was still the same as before; no matter who was around, he always protected Ruoke first.
Yuan Meng pinched his little cheek and scolded him, "You can't be rude to your great-grandfather. He was just joking with Mommy. Be good, apologize to your great-grandfather now."
"Great-Grandpa, I'm sorry." The little guy apologized obediently, his big, watery eyes adorable.
Huo Zhenbang, puffing out his cheeks, teased him, "But Great-Grandpa is still angry, what should we do?"
Huo Fu'an's big eyes darted around, then he laughed and exclaimed, "Then I'll play chess with Great-Grandpa, okay? Great-Grandpa, please don't be angry, alright?" He had heard what Huo Zhenbang had said earlier, and he already knew that his great-grandfather liked playing chess.
"That's good, but do you know how to play chess?" Huo Zhenbang was also getting playful. After all, once you reach a certain age, you're still a child at heart.
Huo Fu'an honestly shook his head. Then he said, "Great-Grandpa, please teach me. If you teach me, I'll learn."
This time, everyone couldn't help but laugh again. This little guy is getting smarter and smarter.
With the little one around, bursts of laughter filled the ward, prompting the nurses to come and talk to him twice. If it weren't for his connections and powerful backers, he might have been scolded and kicked out.
After a while of commotion, everyone went home. Only Yuan Meng stayed behind; she still felt guilty.
Huo Qingfeng knew that the two of them had something to say, so he saw everyone downstairs, leaving them alone.
"Don't look so miserable, I'm fine, aren't I?" Ling Ruoke smiled at her. She hadn't even noticed her discomfort amidst all the noise and commotion. Everything would be alright after tomorrow.
Even though she said that, Yuan Meng still felt very sorry for her. She took her hand and gently squeezed it. "I feel so sorry for you both. Before, you helped me raise my child, and this time I've caused you so much suffering. I..."
"This isn't your fault. Don't forget, Xiao Fu'an is also my child. It's only natural for a mother to do anything for her child." She simply couldn't bear to watch him die.
Yuan Meng's eyes were filled with tears as she held Ruoke's hand tightly. "Thank you, Ruoke. It must be a blessing from my past life to have met you."
"Then we'll have to work on our relationship properly in this life, so we can meet again in the next," Ling Ruoke teased her with a smile. However, she genuinely liked Yuan Meng as well.
"Okay." Yuan Meng smiled too. She sincerely hoped for an afterlife, so that she could find her Kaiyi.
When Huo Qingfeng returned, Yuan Meng left the ward. As soon as she stepped outside, her smile vanished, and she let out a deep breath. She walked slowly downstairs, her thoughts drifting.
"Ah—" She almost bumped into someone coming up from below. She lost her footing and was about to fall when she let out a scream. Without thinking, she immediately grabbed the other person's shoulder.
She lowered her head, and the people below looked up, and that's how the awkward situation happened.
Their lips met, and both of them stood frozen on the stairs, as if in a daze.
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