"Okay, okay."
Uncle Shen gave some instructions, then slowly left with his instruments, not forgetting to remove the IV needle from the patient next to him before leaving.
Only the family of three remained at the clinic. Jiang Yu wiped the sweat from Shen Niannian's brow, looked at the man beside her, and spoke calmly:
"Niannian should be fine now. If you're tired, go back and rest. You can spend some time with Suisui."
"Need not."
Shen Ying thought it wouldn't be safe to leave the mother and child there so late at night. Sui Sui was different; before leaving, he made sure to lock the door and let Xiao Hei roam freely. Xiao Hei was a Tibetan Mastiff; given its wild nature, if anyone came to the house, having a leg bitten off would be the least of their worries.
Jiang Yu didn't say anything more. Seeing that Shen Niannian was supporting himself with one hand, which looked a bit awkward, she found a cushion and put it under his hand.
“Mom, you can’t move around every year. Grandpa Shen said that if the needle gets stuck, you’ll have to get it inserted again.”
His serious expression made Jiang Yu burst into laughter. This little rascal is quite obedient. Seeing her mother laughing at her, Shen Niannian started lecturing her like a little teacher:
"Mom, don't laugh. Grandpa Shen must have his reasons for saying that. It would hurt so much to have to get an injection every year!"
"Okay, okay, Mom won't laugh anymore. But it's okay if you move a little. Otherwise, you'll lose all feeling in your arms after two hours."
Shen Niannian had experienced numbness in his arm while sleeping before, and that feeling was awful. He obediently put his arm back on the mattress, and it was indeed much more comfortable than when he was hunched over.
Children need a lot of sleep, and after settling into a comfortable position, they quickly fell asleep. Jiang Yu and the man didn't have much to talk about, so she propped herself up on her arms and dozed off by the bed.
I was startled awake in the middle of the night and found I was wearing an extra jacket. Seeing it was a man's clothing, I said somewhat embarrassedly:
"Thanks."
Shen Ying had a habit of carrying books in his arms, and he was reading by lamplight at the moment. Hearing Jiang Yu speak, he hummed in response but did not reply further.
Jiang Yu was used to his sparing use of words in his answers. She put the clothes back on the bed, looked up at the IV drip, and realized it was almost finished. She got up to go find Uncle Shen.
"Uncle Shen has gone out, he'll be back in a bit."
Just as Shen Ying finished speaking, Uncle Shen rushed over from outside, carrying a piece of flatbread. The removal of the needles woke Shen Niannian. Shen Niannian felt her stomach pain subside and her hands were free, but before she could even feel happy, Shen Ying carried her home.
Before leaving, Uncle Shen instructed that if there was a next time, his appendix would have to be removed, which frightened Shen Niannian so much that she tightly covered her stomach.
The next morning, Jiang Yu specially steamed egg custard for Niannian and served him a bowl of millet porridge, both light and simple dishes.
Looking at the big meat buns and fragrant tomato soup in his sister's bowl, he was practically drooling. But remembering what Grandpa Chen had said last night about cutting off his stomach, he pouted, picked at his rice, and found it tasteless.
After breakfast, Shen Ying went to the yard to look for the blueprints for building the new house. He saw Jiang Yu holding Xiao Hei's rice bowl and took it from her.
The man placed the bowl in front of Xiao Hei, who eagerly licked the soup, smearing oil all over Chen Ying's hand. He then took a rag from the wall, wiped the bowl clean, and spoke slowly and deliberately.
"I'm planning to renovate the house."
Jiang Yu paused for a moment, seeing the man's serious expression, her mind racing. The house already had many cracks; if a summer storm hit, it would surely collapse. But rebuilding would take at least a month, and not only would the man have to return to his unit in a couple of days, but they also couldn't afford the cost.
Shen Ying seemed to have guessed her thoughts and continued:
“I will ask the military for leave, and I will find a way to solve the money problem separately. You don’t need to worry about these things. At most, you will need to move a few times.”
He had already decided that staying at someone else's house was absolutely out of the question. The best solution was to first demolish and rebuild the collapsed house on the east side, and then demolish his current residence. This would probably take nearly two months.
"I did not mean that."
Jiang Yu's instinctive reaction was somewhat nonchalant; she didn't believe it, let alone the man. In her view, money was a minor matter; the most important thing was not wanting to incur debt. Her plan was to buy a house in the city.
"Then it's settled."
Shen Ying didn't give her any chance to refute, and took out a ruler to start measuring. Jiang Yu didn't say anything more, and picked up paper and pen to help him record the various dimensions.
The east room had been abandoned for a long time, overgrown with weeds. When winter came, it all turned into white, bare stalks. Shen Ying thought cutting it would be too much trouble, so he found some matches and burned it.
Smoke drifted into the sky, giving the illusion of a fire. In less than five minutes, neighbors arrived with buckets of water. After Shen Ying explained, they learned that the family was building a house.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and said to feel free to ask for help if needed.
After the fire was extinguished, Shen Ying washed his hands and prepared to go back to the military compound to borrow some money and also to check out the building materials for building the house.
Jiang Yu tidied up the mess in the yard and searched for any tools she could use at home.
......
At the military compound, Shen Ying greeted the gatekeeper and went straight to his good friend Bai Chen's house. Bai Chen and he enlisted in the same year, and the two had an excellent relationship. They were about the same age and would help each other with anything.
The only difference is that he got married early, while Bai Chen remains single. Sometimes, when Bai Chen sees the original owner writing letters to condemn Shen Ying, he pats him on the shoulder and says:
"Getting married early is just troublesome."
This good brother felt genuinely sorry for his wife, who was such a troublesome woman. If he were still single, not only the girls in the village, but even the female soldiers in the cultural troupe would line up to date him.
At this moment, Bai Chen was lying in the house eating sunflower seeds and watching TV. Hearing the knock on the door, he got up and opened it. He was so surprised to find that it was Shen Ying that his jaw almost dropped.
"It's only the second day of the Lunar New Year, and I've already been kicked out of my house by that shrew. Isn't that just too awful?"
Bai Chen, with an air of enjoying the spectacle, hurriedly invited Shen Ying into the house and even made him a cup of tea.
The man didn't stand on ceremony and casually picked up some melon seeds from the table and started cracking them open. When he brought the tea to Chen Ying, the man spoke lightly:
"Lend me three thousand yuan, I need it urgently."
"How many?"
Bai Chen was as shocked as if his brother's wife were pregnant with their third child. He accidentally spilled water from the cup onto his hand, which burned him and made him wince.
No, what happened? He just asked for three thousand yuan. Does he think he's a rich kid?
"No."
Bai Chen refused without hesitation. He had indeed saved no less than three thousand yuan over the years, but it was all for his future marriage and he couldn't give it away easily.
"Then I'll have to report to the boss about you peeping at other women showering by peeping through the women's bathhouse door."
Shen Ying spat out the sunflower seed shells from his mouth and said leisurely.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
