When the smell of disinfectant mixed with the fishy odor of the tent canvas entered her nostrils, Ling Huanwu's consciousness, like cotton wool submerged in ice water, finally slowly floated to the surface.
The stinging pain in her fingertips made her open her eyes abruptly... There was a needle sticking out of the back of her hand, and clear liquid was flowing into her blood vessel through the thin tube.
But that pain was nothing compared to the agony in her heart. The giant waves carrying mud and sand in the storm surge, the dull thud when Zhou Jiuzhen was hit on the head by a piece of wood, and that hand that had finally grabbed her ankle in the waves and then let go...
"Nine shocks!"
Ling Huanwu pulled out the needle as if she had been burned, and blood instantly gushed onto the back of her hand.
The medic standing nearby cried out and tried to stop her, but she flung him aside like a madwoman: "Get out of the way! I need to see your Commander Zhou!"
She lifted the military green tent flap, making it flutter loudly, and the wind from the mountain camp, carrying sand, blew against her face.
Ling Huanwu walked barefoot on the muddy ground covered with broken branches, oblivious to the bloody cuts that ran down her feet.
Its eyes looked as if they had been washed with water, yet it stared intently at the rows of tents, a whimpering sound emanating from its throat, like a mother beast that couldn't find her cubs.
Someone pointed to a tent diagonally ahead. She stumbled and rushed over. The moment the canvas curtain was knocked open, she saw people lying on cots.
Zhou Jiuzhen's face was still covered in mud and sand that hadn't been wiped off, and his forehead was wrapped in thick gauze, where blood had seeped through and turned black.
His eyes were closed, his lips, which were usually pressed into a resolute line, were bloodless, and the rise and fall of his chest was so faint as to be almost invisible.
“Nine shocks…” Ling Huanwu’s voice was stuck in her throat, as if something was gripping her tightly. She moved over step by step, and when she knelt by the bed, her knee hit the iron frame. She curled up in pain, but didn’t even groan.
Her mother-in-law, holding the child, was already sobbing uncontrollably. Zhou Shuyao rushed over and supported her, asking, "Huanwu, are you alright?"
Ling Huanwu flung him away, her outstretched fingertips trembling violently.
She wanted to touch his face, but then shrank back as if afraid of breaking it, and finally could only gently touch the back of his cold hand.
That hand, which once carried a gun, warmly wiped away her tears, and sheltered her in the pouring rain, was now as cold as ice.
"Wake up..." She finally broke down in tears, starting with suppressed sobs, then turning into a heart-wrenching scream, "Jiuzhen, open your eyes and look at me! You said you'd go get your marriage certificate with me, you said we wouldn't get separated! You said..."
She remembered the last time he pulled her out of the space, using so much force to help her avoid the impact of the wood, but he himself was swept into deeper darkness.
She remembered the calmness in his voice when he said, "Huanwu, don't be afraid," and realized it was all an act.
"You bastard..." She pounded his arm with a light, feather-like force, but tears streamed down her face like broken beads, falling onto his hand and chest. "You lied to me... Get up... Get up and curse at me..."
The medic stood at the door, his eyes red and his head turned away.
The wind slipped in through the gap in the curtain, ruffling the stray hairs on his forehead, but he remained motionless.
Ling Huanwu lay on his chest, listening to the faint, almost non-existent heartbeat. Her sobs gradually turned into desperate whimpers, until finally only a trembling sound remained as she opened her mouth wide but could not utter a sound. Tears streamed down her face, making her nose and chin red, like a child abandoned by the whole world.
"Don't sleep..." She buried her face in the crook of his neck, where the fishy smell of the river still lingered. "Jiuzhen, I'm cold... Get up and hug me..."
But the person in her arms will never again smile and wrap her in his coat like before.
It was pouring rain outside the tent.
The cries from inside the tent were like tearing silk, carrying a heart-wrenching pain, crashing into the torrential rain outside the mountains.
The rain pounded against the trees, weeping and entwining with the rain, spreading in circles through the valley, shaking the very core of one's being...
*
One year later.
A mushy rice porridge, cooked until very soft, was kept warm on the stove, mixed with some chopped vegetable leaves.
Ling Huanwu scooped up a spoonful, blew on it to cool it, and gently pushed it to Zhou Jiuzhen's lips, slowly feeding it in along the corner of his mouth.
After gently wiping him down, she sat on the edge of the bed and massaged his legs, from his knees to his ankles, kneading them repeatedly: "Mom gave me some double-yolk eggs today, I'll cook them for you when you wake up..."
The wind rustled the leaves outside the window, and her words mingled with them, whispering softly in the man's ear.
Two months after Zhou Jiuzhen became a vegetable in the hospital, the doctor said that the chances of him waking up were very small, so Ling Huanwu and her mother-in-law took him home.
She refused to believe that Zhou Jiuzhen would remain in a vegetative state.
In his previous life, the point at which he met with trouble hadn't yet arrived. In this life, he was still full of energy and had earned a first-class military medal.
But in this life, he lay quietly in bed.
If it weren't for saving her, he wouldn't have become a vegetable.
For more than a year, guilt has overwhelmed her like a tidal wave, and every time she thinks about it, she feels unbearable pain.
Ling Huanwu lay beside him, holding the pale-skinned Zhou Jiuzhen in her arms. Tears streamed down her face silently once again, but she smiled as always and told him about the interesting things that had happened that day.
Wang Guihua led her three toddlers over, carrying a rope of freshly baked flatbread in her hand.
Zhou Shuyao stared at Ling Huanwu lying beside his elder brother. Although he had seen this scene many times in the past year, his eyes still reddened.
As usual, he quickly tidied up the house for Ling Huanwu, and then came over to help her turn over and wipe her brother's body.
"Huanwu, can you come out? I want to say a few words to you."
Zhou Shuyao asked cautiously, afraid that she might get angry if he didn't ask.
Ling Huanwu rubbed her aching eyes and nodded, indicating that they would talk outside.
Wang Guihua also wiped away her tears and waved her hand, saying, "Shuyao, you talk to your sister-in-law properly, and I'll talk to your older brother."
After she finished speaking, she also silently wiped away her tears in front of Zhou Jiuzhen's bed.
outside the house.
Zhou Shuyao hesitated for a long time before carefully choosing his words and said, "Huanwu, I want to go to Hong Kong. You know that this year is a good time to develop in Hong Kong. I want you to come with me. Of course, you should also bring my older brother and mother. Maybe the doctors in Hong Kong can cure my older brother."
Ling Huanwu kept her head down and didn't look at him.
With only three months left until the next super storm surge, she cannot leave.
But she thought that perhaps sending Zhou Jiuzhen to Hong Kong would give him a chance to wake up.
"Okay, you're right. Take Jiuzhen to Hong Kong for treatment."
Zhou Shuyao's eyes lit up when he heard this, but he deflated when he heard her next sentence, "I won't go."
"You're not going? Are you abandoning your brother? Or is it because of my harassment over the past year that you're abandoning him?"
"If that's the case, I promise you I will..."
Zhou Shuyao became more and more excited as he spoke, and reached out to take her hand.
Just as Ling Huanwu withdrew her hand with cold eyes, several figures rushed towards the two people at the door.
"Ling Huanwu, where did you take my mother? How can you still have the mind to be having an affair with your uncle here!"
Looking around, Ling Huanwu saw that the leader was Aunt Gao's son, with Song Yaoyao, who was watching the show, beside him, as well as Ling's parents, who had returned to the island at some point!
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