Chapter 7: Who Bullied You

“Ping’an, this is Daddy.”

Chen Yunyan hugged her eldest grandson and gave him a few kisses before taking Ping’an’s little hand and walking over. “Qin Lie, wake up and take a look at your son.”

“Mommy?”

Ping’an looked at the man lying on the hospital bed. He didn’t look anything like the portraits or photographs at home.

“It’s Daddy.” An Minghua nodded. “Daddy got hurt, so he looks a bit ugly right now. Once he gets better, he’ll look just like he does in the pictures.”

“Daddy!”

Ping’an suddenly cried out.

Chen Yunyan turned her head away, quietly wiping her tears. Ever since she got the news that her son had been seriously injured, she had rushed over from Beijing. Qin Lie’s condition had worsened day by day. Her heart was tightly clenched with pain.

An Minghua had turned her head to talk to Ping’an, and when she heard him call “Daddy.” she didn’t notice anything unusual at first.

But when she saw the sparkling light in Ping’an’s eyes, a realization suddenly struck her. She whipped around—only to see the man on the hospital bed, those long, sharp phoenix eyes of his now filled with gentle affection as they looked at her.

“You’re awake, Qin Lie, you’re awake!”

An Minghua glanced at the snow-white wall above the hospital bed and suddenly remembered that they didn’t have medical monitors in this era. She quickly ran out. “Doctor! Doctor! Qin Lie is awake!”

In a flurry, the hospital ward was soon filled with people rushing in.

This was a man whose entire body had nearly been riddled with bullets. When they performed surgery on him, everyone had been walking on eggshells. There was a high chance he wouldn’t even make it through the operation.

It had been a relief when he came off the operating table still breathing. But postoperative infections and complications had left the hospital’s top specialists all shaking their heads in regret.

No one had believed Qin Lie had any chance of waking up.

And now, just because his partner came to see him—he woke up?

The group of experts who had originally assumed Qin Lie was having a final burst of clarity before death now surrounded him, running all kinds of checks, then held an excited discussion for quite a while.

Finally, they looked at An Minghua and the other two standing in the corner and delivered the good news: “He’ll need plenty of care going forward, but he’s pulled through!”

The hospital ward, noisy just a moment ago, returned to quiet.

Qin Lie’s gaze remained fixed on An Minghua. Chen Yunyan noticed the way her son stared sticky-eyed at the girl and couldn’t help but smile. She wiped her tears again. “Hua Hua, stay here with Qin Lie. I’ll go get some food.”

After Chen Yunyan left, An Minghua sat beside the bed. Looking at the man whose entire face seemed to light up the moment he opened his eyes, her cheeks turned a little red. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

Qin Lie’s lips moved slightly. His voice was low and breathy, but he managed to ask his first question after waking up. “Who bullied you.”

An Minghua’s nose stung with emotion.

“Qin Muhan bullied me.”

She didn’t go into detail about the things Qin Muhan had said. She only had one husband across two lifetimes, and he had just woken up—she didn’t want to make him angry and risk something happening to him. “I couldn’t beat him. Once you get better, you help me beat him up!”

This girl he had protected since childhood had never hidden her thoughts from him. Qin Lie could see it—Qin Muhan must’ve seriously crossed a line. Her joking tone now was probably just her way of worrying he’d get upset.

He looked at An Minghua with indulgent eyes. His lips moved again, and he softly said: “Okay.”

Ping’an, who had been snuggled up beside An Minghua the whole time, blinked his eyes. He felt like now was finally a good time to talk.

He decisively called out: “Daddy!”

Only then did Qin Lie give his son the first look since waking up.

The son Hua Hua had given him!

That chubby little face looked like a piglet. His eyes took after his mom’s. He was actually kind of cute.

Ping’an had no idea what his dad was thinking. He leaned against the hospital bed, rubbing his soft little cheek against Qin Lie’s hand. “Daddy, I missed you so much!”

“Mommy, why didn’t you tell Daddy that you missed him too?”

An Minghua, already blushing: “…”

With Qin Lie’s eyes full of amusement and anticipation fixed on her, her face turned even redder. But still, she said: “Qin Lie, I missed you too.”

—–

An Minghua came over that evening and stayed in the hospital ward to take care of Qin Lie, while Chen Yunyan took Ping’an back to the guesthouse to rest.

Ping’an was an angelic child—so long as he was with someone he recognized, he rarely cried or made a fuss.

That night, while Qin Lie had once again fallen into a deep sleep, An Minghua secretly fed him two more drops of the diluted healing spring water.

It would help his body recover more smoothly—but not so fast as to arouse suspicion.

By the next day, Qin Lie could already move his limbs with some strength.

On the third day, after intense discussion among the doctors, they concluded that it was safe to remove all the bandages from Qin Lie’s body.

Only then did An Minghua get a clear look at his injuries. Beneath the gauze, there were wounds both big and small—more than a dozen of them.

Once the bandages were removed, it was as if some kind of seal had been broken. The man looked at her and smiled. “Hua Hua.”

“Mm. Do you want some water?”

When the doctors had been changing his bandages earlier, An Minghua had kept her distance—she couldn’t bear to witness such a scene.

Her heart had practically trembled.

She walked over and had just reached for the thermos to pour water when her wrist was suddenly held by Qin Lie.

With a gentle but firm strength, An Minghua followed his movement and sat down on the edge of the bed. In the next second, she was pulled into his arms, her whole body pressed against his chest as he embraced her.

“Your wounds!!!” she cried out.

“Doesn’t matter.” Qin Lie’s voice was still weak and hoarse: “Hua Hua, the moment I woke up and saw you, I just wanted to hold you.”

“This is a hospital ward, Qin Lie.” An Minghua held back from struggling out of concern for his wounds. “If someone sees us, are they going to say you’re being indecent, or that I’m the indecent one?”

“You, of course.” Qin Lie chuckled lowly. “Hua Hua, I’m a patient right now, remember?”

“You don’t look sick at all to me.” An Minghua huffed. “Still strong enough to force a hug—terrifying.”

“A single spark can start a prairie fire! Auntie Xiao Hu, are you off work already?”

From far outside, Ping’an’s voice rang out: “You worked so hard last night! Be sure to get a good rest when you get home!”

Ever since An Minghua arrived and Qin Lie began recovering faster and faster, Chen Yunyan had sensibly chosen to take care of her grandson and keep her distance from the young couple.

Today was no different. After breakfast with everyone in the morning, Chen Yunyan had taken Ping’an out for a walk.

“All reactionaries are paper tigers! Auntie Xiao Zhang, you look so energetic today! The stairs were just mopped, walk carefully!”

Listening to Ping’an’s voice, An Minghua couldn’t help but smile. In just three days, there wasn’t a single doctor or nurse in the ward he hadn’t gotten familiar with.

New brain really worked wonders. As long as he’d met someone once, he absolutely never forgot who they were.

She gave Qin Lie a light pat, and when she felt his grip loosen slightly, she quickly sat up. “We don’t even talk that much, but your son sure does!”

Qin Lie just smiled at An Minghua. No one could talk as much as this girl when she was little. Back when she was around ten, even her good-tempered father-in-law couldn’t take it anymore and had seriously considered getting her drunk so she’d quiet down.

The hospital ward door swung open, and Ping’an ran in excitedly. “Mommy! Look, Grandma bought me chicken biscuits! Let’s buy more before we go home, okay?

For Grandpa and Grandma, Grandpa on Daddy’s side, Little Uncle, Big Uncle, Big Aunt, and Sister Mianmian to try too!”

No need for you to remind me, your mother came all the way to Guangcheng, of course she’s going to buy a bunch of stuff. I still have a whole stack of Overseas Remittance Coupons in my space!

She remembered that due to the political movement, remittance-supplied goods were no longer available and Overseas Chinese Stores all over the country had shut down.

But here in Guangcheng… maybe they were still operating?

An Minghua was caught off guard when Ping’an stuffed a chicken biscuit into her mouth. In her past life, she hadn’t liked them at all and nearly made a face from reflex—but then she instinctively chewed, and her eyes lit up.

So fragrant! So tasty!

Could it be that the “authentic” chicken biscuits bought with the cash power of a CEO’s wife in her past life weren’t the real deal?

Still thinking about her stash of Overseas Remittance Coupons, An Minghua munched as she called out to Chen Yunyan: “Mom, can you stay here this afternoon? I want to go out and take a look around.”

“Go, go!” Chen Yunyan didn’t hesitate in the slightest. She pulled out money and food coupons and stuffed them all into An Minghua’s hands. “You’ve been holed up in this hospital ward since we got here. It’s stifling. Go now. Have lunch at the National State-Owned Restaurant and see if Guangcheng’s food is any good!”

An Minghua took them without hesitation. “Then I’m really going, okay?”

Ping’an nibbled on his biscuit and waved his tiny hand. “Go ahead, Mommy.”

An Minghua glanced again at Qin Lie.

Qin Lie, of course, wished more than anything for this little girl to stay in his sight every second. He hadn’t seen her in years, and he missed her so much it hurt.

But seeing the liveliness shining in her eyes now, he still reminded her gently: “Go. Just don’t go anywhere too deserted.”