Chapter 64.2

Indeed, as Jiang Rou had anticipated, not long after the New Year, around the Lantern Festival, the SARS outbreak occurred again. Just as her parents had described, many people transitioned from initially disregarding the disease to gradually recognizing its dangers. This led to widespread panic among the public. White vinegar and Ban Lan Gen were almost completely sold out overnight.

Eventually, vinegar and Ban Lan Gen even reached sky-high prices but were still unavailable.

Schools in the city began issuing notices to suspend classes one after another, all entertainment venues were closed, and universities were locked down.

After a meeting, it was decided to isolate and treat all infected individuals. Jiang Rou was reassigned to a temporary station where her duties included disinfection, public education on epidemic prevention, and temperature checks for the public.

At that time, advanced medical technology was not available. There were no thermometers to be bought from pharmacies or online. Instead, mercury thermometers were more commonly used, and there were not enough to go around.

Jiang Rou was stationed at the South Mountain Road checkpoint. Besides her, there were two traffic police officers. They set up a small canopy by the roadside. In the morning, after arriving, they first donned rural pesticide sprayers filled with disinfectant and disinfected the area.

After disinfection, Jiang Rou would sit under the small canopy, waiting to check people’s temperatures. Those without thermometers at home would come over for a check, and even passersby had to have their temperatures checked.

During her recent internship, Jiang Rou improved significantly in pulse diagnosis while following an experienced traditional Chinese medicine practitioner. Now, when she took people’s temperatures, she would also take their pulses, which served as practical skill training.

In her previous classes, her teacher had advised her to practice pulse diagnosis more, but there were not many subjects to practice on. The entire class had only about thirty people, plus Li Xiao and An An. Now, with no time to review her lessons, she had to learn in this manner.

However, Jiang Rou was surprised when Li Xiao arrived on the first day she was stationed at the SARS checkpoint.

She had called him the night before to inform him of the situation, merely to reassure him. To her surprise, he drove over, especially around eight in the morning, and even queued up at the back.

Seeing him, Jiang Rou’s eyes reddened. “Why did you come here? Hurry and go back.”

Li Xiao did not leave. Instead, he sat down opposite her. Jiang Rou could not ask him to leave and took out a thermometer to disinfect it before asking him to place it under his armpit.

Li Xiao complied. Jiang Rou then removed her gloves and placed her hand on his wrist to check his pulse. As she did, she furrowed her brows. “Don’t stay up late. You need to rest. Have you been smoking recently?”

Li Xiao looked at her without speaking.

Jiang Rou gave him a look of frustration, preparing to withdraw her hand and put her gloves back on. Suddenly, he grabbed her hand. The man looked deeply at her, unwilling to let go.

Jiang Rou looked back at him, her heart softening. She curved her eyes and then used the alcohol disinfectant next to her to sanitize his hand.

As she withdrew her hand, she scratched his palm lightly.

Li Xiao pressed his lips together, pulling back her hand and gripping it tightly.

—o—o—o—

From then on, Li Xiao came to visit every few days. If Jiang Rou had not stopped him, he would have come twice a day—morning and evening.

While everyone united to fight against SARS, on the afternoon of April 1st, around nine in the evening, Jiang Rou returned to the hospital to drop off some documents and collect the protective clothing for the next day. As she walked through the hospital corridor, she heard the crying of several on-duty nurses.

Jiang Rou had been at the hospital for some time. Although they usually wore protective clothing and couldn’t see each other’s faces, they had developed a good relationship. She kindly asked what was wrong.

It turned out that this afternoon, the Hong Kong superstar Leslie Cheung had passed away.

Jiang Rou was stunned upon hearing this. She knew of the star, who continued to have a legendary status in later years. He had once dazzled countless people in their youth. In her previous life, her mother had been a great fan of his, and after his death, she had never followed another star.

The young nurses were in tears.

Jiang Rou comforted them for a while. After leaving the hospital, she couldn’t help but look up at the star-filled sky, feeling deeply moved.

The fight against SARS continued until June when the weather grew warmer, and things gradually improved.

Jiang Rou and the other hospital volunteers who had not been infected had to stay in isolation for a week, just to be safe, before they could leave.

The isolation location was arranged uniformly by the hospital. In March and April, when SARS was at its worst, the hospital had arranged accommodation for all medical staff.

Afterward, Jiang Rou did not return to her old neighborhood.

Once she left the hospital, Jiang Rou first called Li Xiao to ask for the address of the villa. She then drove directly to her old neighborhood, planning to take a shower before heading to the villa.

After such a long time, Jiang Rou had forgotten the address of the villa.

At her old neighborhood, Jiang Rou immediately took a shower and washed her hair, repeating the process twice. She threw her old clothes directly into the trash can.

After coming out of the bathroom, feeling refreshed, she was surprised to find that Li Xiao had come over. Hearing the bathroom door open, Li Xiao emerged from the master bedroom with two large bags—one with clothes and one with books.

He asked Jiang Rou, “Is it okay to bring just these books?”

Seeing him, Jiang Rou’s eyes reddened again. “Why did you come here?”

Li Xiao looked at her and said, “I was worried you might have trouble carrying everything.”

In reality, he just wanted to see her as soon as possible.

Jiang Rou nodded. “Wait for me a moment. I’ll dry my hair and then we can go.”

Li Xiao agreed and went back to tidy up in the bathroom.

While Jiang Rou was drying her hair, Li Xiao crouched nearby, cleaning up the hair on the floor.

After cleaning, he took out the trash bag and then came back to wash his hands. He did not leave but stood by, watching Jiang Rou.

Jiang Rou looked at her reflection in the mirror and then glanced at him. She smiled, her lips curving up.

After drying her hair and unplugging the hairdryer, Jiang Rou left it where it was and turned around to hug Li Xiao.

Li Xiao instinctively wrapped his arms around her. They looked at each other face to face and, unable to resist, began kissing.

At first, they managed to restrain themselves, but perhaps because it had been so long since they had seen each other, their emotions were more intense than ever. Not only did Li Xiao want to pull Jiang Rou into him, but Jiang Rou also clung to him tightly, unwilling to let go.

Eventually, their kissing led them to roll into the bedroom.

—o—o—o—

It was unclear how much time had passed, but after it was over, Jiang Rou breathed lightly, still holding onto his neck and murmuring, “I missed you so much. I thought about you every day, even more than I thought about An An.”

Li Xiao’s nose grew a bit tender upon hearing this, but he couldn’t resist giving her a light pat on the bottom. “I don’t know who it was that told me to find someone else and even wrote out the farewell.”

“……”

Jiang Rou couldn’t let this go easily.

Every time Li Xiao mentioned this, Jiang Rou felt somewhat smaller. She pressed her face against his chest and softly flattered, “It’s not true. I was just playing hard to get. If you really found someone else, I would haunt you as a ghost.”

Li Xiao gently stroked her back and, after hearing this, he couldn’t help but smile slightly.

They both fell silent, enjoying the rare tranquility.

At that moment, Li Xiao’s phone suddenly rang. He was reluctant to answer it, but Jiang Rou picked it up and glanced at the caller ID, which displayed the villa’s phone number, and handed it to him. “It’s from home.”

Li Xiao lazily remained where he was, so Jiang Rou answered the call and held the phone to his ear.

Jiang Rou adjusted her position, resting on his foot and leaning closer to eavesdrop.

On the phone, An An’s babyish voice came through, “Daddy, why haven’t you brought Mommy back yet?”

Li Xiao glanced at Jiang Rou and replied in a hoarse voice, “I’m on my way. We’ll be home soon.”

An An didn’t seem satisfied with this answer. “How soon is ‘soon’?”

“Ten minutes.”

“Okay, then you guys come back early.”

Jiang Rou: “……”

After An An received the answer, she hung up the phone contentedly.

However, as soon as the call ended, her father turned over and began kissing her mother again, showing no intention of getting up.

Jiang Rou, amused, pushed the man on top of her and said with a smile, “Didn’t you say you’d be back in ten minutes?”

Li Xiao kissed her on the nose and replied, “I was just trying to comfort her.”

He wasn’t foolish; he knew that if Jiang Rou came back today, their little one would definitely demand to sleep together that night. At that point, he would end up sleeping on the edge of the bed, and he might not even be able to touch Jiang Rou’s hand, let alone hold her.

Jiang Rou laughed.

—o—o—o—

When they returned home that evening, it was already completely dark. The little one was sitting on the sofa with a fierce expression. As soon as she saw them come in, she stood up angrily and loudly accused, “Daddy is lying again!”

Then she rushed to Jiang Rou, hugging her and crying, “Mommy, I missed you so much.”

Jiang Rou bent down and picked her up. It had been so long since she’d seen her, and she could barely hold her. After picking up An An, she noticed that the little one had not only grown taller but had also slimmed down a bit.

Jiang Rou kissed her little face and, tenderly holding her, went inside, reluctant to let go.

An An clung to her mother’s neck, burying her face in Jiang Rou’s shoulder.

Li Xiao watched the mother and daughter from behind and felt that the house, which had been quiet and lonely for more than half a year, suddenly became warm and cozy.

He couldn’t help but smile.

—o—o—o—

Lucia: Finally reunited again!!