Chapter 26: You’re Warming My Bed?

“You can, sure. What do you need it for?”

At this time, medical waste wasn’t as strictly regulated as it would be in later years. If you wanted to take a needle to play with, you could. A glass bottle was no big deal.

Lin Bingwei said, “The weather is getting colder. I want to use it to hold hot water, like a warm water bottle.”

“Oh, but this bottle is too small. Let me get you a few bigger ones.”

Lin Bingwei quickly thanked her. “Thank you, comrade.”

“You’re welcome. Wait here for a moment, I’ll bring them over.”

“Alright, sorry for the trouble.”

Both Lin Bingwei and Zhang Tingyuan were well-respected at the hospital. The doctors and nurses knew that Zhang Tingyuan had been injured in the line of duty, so his treatment and transportation were all covered. Even the hospital director had come by to offer some words of comfort.

When mealtime arrived, a nurse even brought them food.

Before long, the nurse returned with five bottles.

Lin Bingwei quickly said, “Comrade, I don’t need this many.”

The nurse chuckled. “It’s fine. Take them. If one breaks, you’ll have spares. We have plenty of these bottles at the hospital.”

Lin Bingwei repeatedly thanked her.

With the bottles and medicine in hand, the hospital’s arranged transport took them back to the village.

It was only two miles from the main road to the village, but the path was just a bumpy dirt road. The doctor still recommended carrying Zhang Tingyuan to reduce friction on his wound.

When they arrived, a crowd had gathered outside their house—probably to see whether Zhang Tingyuan was dead yet.

And so, Zhang Tingyuan was carried home with a darkened expression.

“Hmph, these people have too much time on their hands. If only they could go back to those famine years, they wouldn’t even have the strength to gossip.”

Lin Bingwei smiled. “Alright, alright, no need to be angry. Once you’re better and walk around the village, those rumors will disappear on their own.”

“Or what? Should I get up and fight them?” he said, laughing bitterly at himself.

Lin Bingwei found it amusing too. As her mother-in-law Li Yurong put it, that bullet had certainly “tamed” him.

She handed him his documents and the money his unit had sent over. “Everything’s here. I already counted it, but you can check again.”

Zhang Tingyuan said, “If you counted it, that’s enough. Just keep it. From now on, you’ll handle our household finances.”

“Alright.”

It was 3,000 yuan—she wasn’t sure if that was a lot or not.

She naturally stashed the money away, placing it alongside the 888 yuan betrothal gift.

Zhang Tingyuan’s documents, her own documents, and their marriage certificate.

Looking at that small pile of things, Lin Bingwei froze for a moment, suddenly realizing—she had started living with him in earnest.

Everything she had done in this household, all the care she had given Zhang Tingyuan, had happened so naturally. She didn’t feel like an outsider at all.

Taking a deep breath in front of the cabinet, Lin Bingwei turned to glance at the man lying on the bed.

It seemed… living like this wasn’t so bad.

She boiled a pot of water, disinfected the bottles, then filled one with hot water and tucked it into Zhang Tingyuan’s blanket.

“Ow, that’s too hot!” he complained.

Lin Bingwei rolled her eyes. “Are you dumb? Just don’t put it directly against you.”

Zhang Tingyuan grinned foolishly. “Yeah, yeah, I’m dumb.”

Lin Bingwei laughed. “Alright, stop joking. Does it warm up the bed?”

“Mm. But if you warmed it up for me yourself, it’d be even better.”

Lin Bingwei: “…”

“Keep dreaming.”

She kept two bottles for herself and gave the rest to her mother-in-law, Li Yurong.

Now we need to boil more water at night to fill the hot water bottles.

To prevent burns, Lin Bingwei also made protective covers for each bottle using fabric scraps. With the covers on, no one would get burned.

Li Yurong laughed and said, “Weiwei, with one of these in the bed, I feel like I sleep better.”

In the era of planned economy, having money didn’t mean you could buy cotton quilts—you also needed ration tickets.

It wasn’t easy for the Zhang family to save up a few quilts. It was said that they even had to go to the black market and pay high prices for extra tickets.

The quilts on her and Zhang Tingyuan’s bed were new, but the ones on Li Yurong’s bed were made of old cotton. It took half the night just to warm them up. Now, with a hot water bottle, she finally didn’t have to sleep in a cold bed.

…

Lin Bingwei’s main task was taking care of Zhang Tingyuan, the patient. Her mother-in-law took over all the housework. Even when it came to cooking, her mother-in-law would prepare all the ingredients, and Lin Bingwei only had to handle the cooking itself.

Besides preparing three meals a day, there wasn’t much else to do. In her spare time, she used the sewing machine to create samples based on her drafted clothing designs.

Every now and then, she would chat with Zhang Tingyuan, who was lying in bed.

In her past life, Lin Bingwei’s family owned a garment factory. In the early ’90s, Huicheng was still quite chaotic. Her grandfather’s small factory made some money, but it was constantly harassed by local thugs demanding protection fees.

After her father—once a notorious gangster—married into their family, those thugs started avoiding them entirely. With the troublemakers gone, her grandfather’s business flourished.

They caught the wave of economic reform, and the family company eventually went public. They became one of the wealthiest families in the area.

Her grandfather’s success story was his lifelong pride. Since she was a child, she had heard him recount how he built his fortune, how he seized every opportunity, and how he became one of the first to “eat the crab”—to take the risks and reap the rewards.

All she needed to do was follow the same path to success.

The sewing machine buzzed non-stop beneath her feet, and behind her, Zhang Tingyuan wouldn’t stop talking either—saying he was uncomfortable lying in bed and wanted to get up and walk around.

Once she finally finished making a dress shirt, Lin Bingwei went over to help him up.

Zhang Tingyuan smiled. “I want to go outside for a walk.”

“Not so fast. Try this on first.”

She held up the shirt she had just finished against him.

He was stunned. “You made this for me?”

Lin Bingwei said, “In your dreams. It’s just a prototype. I need you to help me test it.”

“It’s cold.”

“Bear with it.”

Zhang Tingyuan: “…”

She helped him put on the shirt. At 1.85 meters tall, with a well-proportioned and athletic build, he was a natural clothes model.

But to be fair, after eating and lying around all day, he had put on a little weight compared to when he first came home.

“Does it look good?” His slightly hoarse voice sounded above her head.

Lin Bingwei was completely focused on her work. She nodded. “Not bad. Looks good. Once I finish the full set, you can try it all on.”

A dress shirt, dress pants, a blazer, and a patterned tie—this was the trendiest outfit among the young men in the city.

Not only was it popular in urban areas, but it was also starting to spread to the countryside.

Nowadays, when young men in rural areas got married, wearing a suit like this to pick up the bride was a big statement.

After taking off the dress shirt, she wrapped him in a thick coat before helping him outside.

He could now barely manage to take care of himself—he didn’t need to be fed, and with Lin Bingwei’s help, he could get out of bed and walk around for short periods.

“It looks like it’s going to snow,” Zhang Tingyuan suddenly said.

“It’s been two or three years since it last snowed here, hasn’t it?”

“Something like that.”

Winters here didn’t always bring snow, and when it did snow, it was never much.