Chapter 17: Are You a Man?

Song Jingzhi’s ears turned red under her gaze. “Be careful…” He saw a crayfish waving at her.

“Oops, almost, almost.” She quickly pulled her hand back. She almost got pinched by the claws.

“Let me do it.” He pushed his wheelchair forward and reached for the brush in her hand, but he touched her hand and retracted it.

“…” Was that necessary? I, a girl, didn’t react like that.

Tang Xiaoxiao was happy to have someone help her. She handed the brush to Song Jingzhi.

Fearing that he would be too high in the wheelchair and it would be inconvenient for him to bend over, she thoughtfully moved a small table from the hall for him. Then, she picked up the scissors and started cutting the shrimp tails.

Tang Xiaoxiao’s spicy crayfish for lunch that day completely conquered the taste buds of the Song family of three. Even she, who couldn’t eat spicy food very well, ate quite a bit.

After lunch, Song’s father went into the room with gauze and medicine, urging Song Jingzhi to go inside. The medicine needed to be changed every three days, and it was time today.

“Time for a dressing change.”

“Okay.” Song Jingzhi was about to push himself into the room when someone else appeared behind him.

“Uncle, let me change the dressing today. I learned some nursing in the disaster area.”

“Uh…” That wouldn’t be appropriate. Song’s father looked at Song Jingzhi.

“I came here to take care of you anyway. Besides, I’ve changed dressings for others in the disaster area.” Tang Xiaoxiao pushed him into the room and took the gauze and medicine from Song’s father.

“Then, then you two go ahead. I’ll go out first.” Song’s father left as if he were escaping.

As he left the room, he glanced at his son’s back. Was his family really going to have a wedding?

“Get on the bed.” She looked at Song Jingzhi, who hadn’t moved for a long time.

“Let my father do it. It’s not appropriate.” He turned his head away, not daring to look at her directly.

“What’s not appropriate? You hurt your leg, not something you can’t look at.”

“But…”

“Why are you so hesitant, you big man? Are you even a man?”

“You…” This was going too far! Song Jingzhi used his arms to lift himself onto the bed.

The pants in those days were loose, so he could roll them up from the bottom without taking them off.

Song Jingzhi had fallen on top of Tang Xiaoxiao and been injured, so he was lying on the bed.

Tang Xiaoxiao knew why he hadn’t recovered in his previous life. There were important blood vessels and nerves in the back of the knee.

The gauze on his leg was wrapped almost from the middle of his thigh to his calf, mainly because he had injured the back of his knee.

She placed the gauze and medicine on the bedside table and gently removed the gauze. Then, she didn’t do anything else.

It was the first time Song Jingzhi had allowed a girl to touch him besides a nurse. He gripped the pillow tightly, trying to appear less nervous.

But the expected coolness of the ointment never reached him. He turned his head and saw Tang Xiaoxiao covering her mouth, tears streaming down her once bright eyes.

“Are you scared? Go get my father…”

His voice rang out, and she cried, burying her face in his back, holding him tightly.

“Why did you save me?”

She sobbed against his back. The moment she uncovered the gauze, her heart almost stopped. What a leg it was!

Besides the long scar from the surgery, the gauze revealed countless large and small wounds, some healed and some not. The back of his knee looked like it had been crushed.

Even in the future, even if he recovered, he wouldn’t be able to return to the army with such an injury.

At that moment, she forgot about the gender boundaries of this era, forgot that they were just strangers who had known each other for a few days. She just wanted to hold him tightly.

They were just strangers. How could he risk his life to save her?

“I’m a firefighter, and I’m also a soldier. Even if it wasn’t you, I would have saved you.” His voice rang out, the firmness in his tone making Tang Xiaoxiao pause.

“If you’re scared…” It was normal for a girl to be scared when seeing such a wound.

“I’m not scared. I can do it.” She got up from his back and wiped away her tears.

She began to change his dressing. Her hands trembled as she applied the ointment, and tears fell but she didn’t dare let them drop on his leg.

Song’s father and mother, who had been standing at the door, exchanged a glance and returned to their room.

After changing the dressing, he sat up against the headboard and looked at her standing by the bed. He reached under the pillow and pulled out a bag of Great White Rabbit milk candies, handing them to her.

“Have some candy. It’s very sweet.”

“Pfft.” She burst into laughter. “I’m not a child.”

“It works.”

“Why did you give Stones fruit candies and me this?” She took a candy from his hand, peeled off the wrapper, and put it in her mouth. “It is very sweet.”

“This one is expensive and delicious. I’ll save it for you.”

Tang Xiaoxiao looked up at him. Sure enough, his ears were red.

He turned his body, opened the bedside cabinet, and took out a cloth bag, handing it to her.

“This is all for you.” He had asked his childhood friend in the village to buy it for him in the city.

“It’s all for me?”

“Yeah.” He nodded. Now, not only were his ears red, but his whole face was flushed.