Chapter 15

In the hospital room, only Su Wan and Chen Yuan were left.

She glanced at the urine bag and, seeing it wasn’t very full, said, “You rest for a bit. I’ll go get some hot water.”

She went to the hot water room, filled a bottle, washed the enamel cup clean, poured some hot water into it, and covered it with the lid.

“Are you hungry?”

Chen Yuan looked at his wife, who seemed both familiar and unfamiliar, and opened his mouth. “I can’t eat…”

“Right, the doctor said you can only moisten your lips with a cotton swab for now. Tomorrow you can have porridge. I’ll cook some congee for you, and when you’re well enough for chicken soup, I’ll make you some to nourish your body.”

Su Wan rubbed her stomach—she was hungry.

After being busy for such a long time, she had actually been hungry for a while.

Seeing that Chen Yuan was still receiving IV fluids, she decided to wait a bit longer.

Suddenly, a strange and indescribable smell wafted into her nose. Chen Yuan’s face instantly flushed red.

It seemed… he had soiled the bed.

He was overwhelmed with embarrassment and didn’t dare to say anything, his face flushed deep red.

“You pooped?”

Su Wan’s sense of smell was fine—of course she noticed the smell.

She lifted the blanket. The top half of Chen Yuan’s body was in a hospital gown, but his lower half was completely bare with a catheter inserted. When Su Wan lifted the blanket, everything was exposed.

Chen Yuan was so embarrassed he wanted to disappear into a crack in the floor.

But Su Wan didn’t mind at all. Seeing that he had messed himself, she rolled up her sleeves and started cleaning him up.

After spending over half a year cleaning pig offal, Su Wan felt she had become desensitized. Though the smell was unpleasant, it wasn’t enough to make her gag.

After cleaning him up, she removed all the soiled padding beneath him, replaced it with clean sheets, and brought over some water to wipe his lower body. Worried she hadn’t cleaned well enough, she even gently lifted his leg to wipe him more thoroughly.

From initial embarrassment to a warmth rising in his chest, Chen Yuan found his eyes growing misty. He hadn’t expected Su Wan to do this for him.

After all, the smell was truly awful. Even though they were married, they had barely lived together—most of their time had been spent on classified missions.

“Thank you.”

Once Su Wan finished wiping him, Chen Yuan said softly.

“Don’t feel pressured. Right now, the most important thing is for you to recover.”

Su Wan pulled over a chair and sat in front of him. “A while ago, I sent a telegram to the family and mailed 1,000 yuan each to our families. There’s 30,000 yuan in the bank now, and over 3,000 left in my bag. Over 2,000 of that is what I earned after saving up, and about 1,000 is your salary and the subsidy the commissar applied for on your behalf. I kept it all for you.”

Chen Yuan looked at her and, with a weak voice, said, “You keep it. I don’t need it.”

Su Wan nodded. “The doctor said now that you’ve woken up, everything should be fine. You just need to rest. The commissar also said you can return to the unit once you’re well. We’re not short of money now. In just over half a year, we’ve reached our goal of becoming three ‘ten-thousand-yuan households.’ You can focus on recovery. Even if you don’t fully recover, I can support us.”

A wave of warmth flooded Chen Yuan’s heart. He looked at Su Wan and was silent for a long while.

Seeing how tired he looked, Su Wan pulled the blanket up over him. “Get some rest. I’ll stay here with you.”

Feeling reassured, Chen Yuan closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. He looked especially fragile lying there.

After he fell asleep, a nurse brought over all of Su Wan’s clothes along with a bucket.

“Comrade, your husband is asleep. You can go eat now. If you wait too long, there won’t be any food left in the canteen.”

“Thank you. I brought some biscuits. I’ll just have a little later. Sorry for the trouble.”

The nurse nodded and, guessing Su Wan might think the hospital food was expensive, said kindly, “The canteen meals aren’t costly. A meal is just 20 to 30 cents. The sesame noodles are only 13 cents a bowl. It’s enough to fill you up.”

“Thank you for the reminder. I’m just worried he won’t sleep well. I want to keep him company a bit longer.”

The nurse smiled and quickly went back to her work.

Taking the clothes into the room, Su Wan changed behind the curtain. She had been wearing light clothing and now put on thermal wear, a wool sweater, and jeans, finally feeling warm again.

But when she turned around, she noticed that Chen Yuan, though his eyes were closed, had ears so red they were nearly bleeding.

She let out a questioning hum and touched his forehead—it wasn’t hot, but his cheeks and ears were burning.

“Chen Yuan…”

Su Wan called softly, and Chen Yuan opened his eyes. “I didn’t mean to look…”

His mind was now full of that smooth, white back. Even when he closed his eyes, the image wouldn’t fade.

“Don’t overthink it. I thought you were asleep.”

Their first time together hadn’t been very pleasant, and Su Wan didn’t want him to misunderstand.

“If you’re hungry, go eat in the canteen. I can manage on my own.”

Chen Yuan had overheard her conversation with the nurse earlier and didn’t want Su Wan skipping meals to take care of him.

Su Wan looked at him with concern. “Are you really okay on your own?”

Chen Yuan gave a small hum. “You can’t stay by my side every minute. Go on and eat.”

“I’ll be right back.”

Su Wan was truly hungry, having not eaten properly. She hurried off to the hospital canteen.

Unfortunately, by the time she got there, they were already washing dishes.

She had to go to the hospital entrance. Even though it was raining, there were still people selling soup outside. On the table was a stove and a pot, with some covered dishes nearby.

“Sister, how much is the food?”

“Rice is 30 cents a portion. Meat dishes are 50 cents. Vegetable dishes are 30 cents. Pigeon ginseng soup is one yuan. Old hen soup is one yuan twenty, and old duck soup is 90 cents.”

These prices were high compared to other places, but considering this was outside a hospital on a rainy day, it was understandable that things were pricier than at typical street stalls.

“I’ll have one meat dish, one rice, and one old hen soup.”

After Su Wan spoke, the vendor asked, “Where’s your lunchbox?”

Having been used to takeout containers in her past life, Su Wan had forgotten that at roadside stalls like this, people needed to bring their own metal lunchboxes. If not, food would be packed in plastic bags.

The vendor seemed to realize she didn’t have one and pointed to the clean aluminum lunchboxes for sale. “The big ones are 80 cents. Smaller ones are 60. Or do you want to use a bag?”

“I’ll take two big ones.”

Oh! A girl who appreciates quality.

The vendor quickly calculated in her head. “That’s three yuan sixty in total.”

Su Wan pulled out some coins from her pocket, counted out 3.60, and handed them over. The vendor then started cooking—she added a bit of lard and some pork, stir-fried them quickly, then added sliced carrots, sautéed it a bit more, added some water, and finished the dish.