Chapter 62

Seeing Shi Tingyu, Mrs. Zhang immediately pulled her over to have a closer look. “What’s the matter, girl? Your Brother Zhang and I were so worried when we heard noise from your place.”

Shi Tingyu was very grateful that the Zhang couple came over so late at night. Feeling a bit embarrassed, she explained what happened, “A bat flew into the house in the middle of the night… I, I got a little scared.”

Saying she was scared was an understatement; she was nearly frightened to death.

Noticing her embarrassment, Mrs. Zhang empathetically said, “It’s summer, so there are bats. Even for someone like me, they’re still scary. Those things look really creepy.”

Captain Zhang silently watched his wife tell a white lie.

Every time she saw a bat, she would chase it around with a shovel. The same with mice—he had seen her quickly stomp a big rat to death. Worried it wasn’t dead, she even ground it with her foot. The shoe sole was ruined afterward.

Captain Zhang didn’t find it strange that Shi Tingyu was afraid of bats. Most women were naturally more timid. His wife was an exception.

Even among the men, while they weren’t scared, they still found bats disgusting.

Seeing that Shi Tingyu was fine, Captain Zhang said, “Since you’re okay and Xiao Lu is back, we’ll head back.”

Shi Tingyu thanked them again.

Mrs. Zhang waved it off, “Oh, we’re neighbors. This is nothing. If you need anything in the future, just come to me. I’m not afraid of these things.”

Captain Zhang couldn’t help but rub his forehead, silently thinking, “Honey, you just said you were scared too.”

Shi Tingyu clearly heard this, but instead of feeling awkward, she was grateful.

Mrs. Zhang wasn’t really afraid; she just told a kind lie to make Shi Tingyu feel better.

After they left, Shi Tingyu noticed Lu Weiguo’s bag at the door. She struggled a bit to bring it inside and re-bolted the gate.

Lijian, the dog, came over and seeing her struggle, tried to help by grabbing the bag with its mouth.

Shi Tingyu quickly stopped it, “Lijian, be good. You still have a wound on your mouth. I can carry it.”

Lijian looked at her, then used its shoulder to nudge the bag. Together, they awkwardly brought it into the main room.

Shi Tingyu let out a breath. This was more exhausting than carrying the bag alone.

Just then, Lu Weiguo came out of the room.

Seeing that Shi Tingyu had brought his bag in, he remembered the Zhang couple outside.

He asked, “Did you open the door for the Zhangs?”

Shi Tingyu nodded, “Yes, they’ve already gone back.”

Lu Weiguo nodded, looking at her face, which had finally calmed down, his eyes filled with guilt.

“Honey, I’m sorry. Were you terribly frightened tonight?”

Shi Tingyu shook her head, “I’m okay now.”

Lu Weiguo said, “The bat is gone. Do you want to go back to the room to sleep, or wait for me to clean up and then we sleep together?”

He meant nothing special by this, just that she might still be a bit scared to go back alone.

Sure enough, Shi Tingyu said, “I’ll wait for you.”

Lu Weiguo smiled and reached out to check on Lijian.

Shi Tingyu then noticed blood on his hand.

She pulled his hand over to examine it. In the light, she saw his hand was pricked by thorns.

“What happened to your hand?” she asked urgently.

Suddenly, she seemed to realize something, “How did you get in? The gate was bolted.”

Lu Weiguo withdrew his hand, looked at it, and smiled, “It’s nothing, just a few thorns. I can pull them out. My hands are calloused, it doesn’t hurt at all.”

“So you climbed over the wall?” Shi Tingyu recalled the flowers Lu Weiguo had planted around the yard.

Feeling guilty, she said, “It’s my fault.”

Lu Weiguo didn’t know how to comfort her. He could only change the subject, “Honey, you’re meticulous. Help me pull out the thorns.”

Shi Tingyu, forgetting everything else, took his hand and carefully pulled out the visible thorns with her fingers. For the deeper ones, she used a needle to gently extract them.

Seeing the deeper wounds still bleeding after removing the thorns, Shi Tingyu quickly fetched the purple medicine from home and applied it to Lu Weiguo’s hand.

Lu Weiguo teased her, “With this medicine on, how am I supposed to wash up later?”

“I…” Shi Tingyu almost blurted out that she would help him but managed to stop herself just in time.

Noticing her flustered look, Lu Weiguo chuckled softly, “I was just kidding. We already washed up at the camp when we got back from our mission.”

They always reported back to the camp first, showered, and then returned home. This unwritten rule was to avoid scaring their families with the smell of blood unless the mission had no bloodshed.

Realizing the joke, Shi Tingyu didn’t get mad but instead called Lijian over. She asked Lu Weiguo, “Can I use this purple medicine on Lijian’s mouth?”

Lu Weiguo replied, “It should be fine. We used it on soldiers’ mouth injuries before.”

Feeling reassured, Shi Tingyu asked Lu Weiguo to hold Lijian’s head steady while she applied the purple medicine.

Lijian was cooperative and didn’t struggle, letting Shi Tingyu treat its wound.

“Lijian is such a good boy,” Lu Weiguo praised, patting the dog, “This little guy was really worried about you.”

Shi Tingyu looked at Lijian with gentle eyes. “When your mouth heals, I’ll cook some meat for you.”

Lijian wagged its tail happily.

Seeing it was getting late, Lu Weiguo suggested, “Honey, let’s get to sleep. It’s already past three; if we don’t sleep now, it’ll be daylight soon.”

Shi Tingyu, feeling the exhaustion set in, agreed. They went back to their room.

As she entered, the image of the bat flying around flashed in her mind, but with Lu Weiguo by her side, she didn’t feel scared anymore.

Lying in bed, Shi Tingyu reached to turn off the bedside lamp, but Lu Weiguo said, “Let’s leave it on tonight.”

Turning off the light would make the room dark and bring back scary thoughts.

Shi Tingyu readily agreed; she didn’t want to turn it off either.

Curious, she asked Lu Weiguo, “How did you get the bat out?”

Wanting to ensure she could handle it next time, Lu Weiguo explained in detail, “Bats are active at night and are afraid of light. Next time, turn on the lights and open the window. Since it’s dark outside, the bat will fly towards the dark. Once it flies out, just close the window.”

Shi Tingyu listened carefully, knowing bats entering homes might happen often, and she needed to learn how to handle it. She couldn’t always count on Lu Weiguo being back in time.

Satisfied that she understood, Lu Weiguo hugged her and smoothed her hair, “Sleep now.”

Shi Tingyu closed her eyes, feeling the tension and fatigue of the night wash over her.

Lu Weiguo’s embrace was warm, and she quickly fell asleep in his arms.

In the soft glow of the bedside lamp, Lu Weiguo looked at her still slightly red eyes and felt unsettled.

Remembering the scene when he kicked open the door, his heart ached with guilt and remorse.

He couldn’t always be there for her when she was scared, but he had no choice.

All he could do was be even better to her.