Chapter 40 – Aunt Xuan (1/2)

The next morning.

Orthopedic inpatient ward.

The morning sky had just brightened up. It was the start of Autumn and the morning air was fresh. The nurse conducted her morning rounds and woke Dong Xuebing. He yawned and greeted the old man, with a fractured leg, in the same ward. Dong Xuebing slowly makes his way down his bed and poured himself a cup of warm water. He wore his slippers and was about to ask the nurse at the nurses’ station on what other checks he had today when his iPhone 4 rang. It was Qu Yunxuan’s number.

Dong Xuebing cleared his throat and swiped the screen to answer: “Hello?”

“Xiao Bing, where are you? How come you did not return home last night?”

Dong Xuebing was afraid Qu Yunxuan would be worried and did not want to let her see him lying in bed so pathetically. So, he did not inform her and his hospitalization. He called her yesterday and told her that he will be having dinner with his colleagues. “Ah…… We had dinner until quite late yesterday, and I stayed over at my colleague’s place. I had just wake up and is preparing to go to work now.” When he finishes this sentence, a nurse walked in with a few small plastic containers and shouted. “The medicine is here. Take it half an hour after breakfast.”

“What medicine?” Qu Yunxuan asked nervously. “Xiao Bing, where are you?”

Dong Xuebing stuttered: “Nothing…… nothing…… It’s the television.”

“You think I am stupid? Hurry up and tell me the truth!”

Dong Xuebing’s lies were exposed, and he could only tell her the truth. “Errr…… I am at Jiangong Hospital. It’s like this……. Yesterday there was a fire at my workplace, and there were some important documents in the office. I ran in to retrieve the documents and suffered some minor burns. It is not very serious. I will be discharged in one or two days. You don’t need to visit me. I am fine.”

“……”

“Aunt Xuan? What’s wrong? Why are you keeping silent?”

“……”

“Errrm…… I didn’t mean to lie to you.”

“Dooo…… dooo…… dooo……” The line was cut.

Dong Xuebing was sweating nervously. Was Aunt Xuan angry with him?

Dong Xuebing tried to call Qu Yunxuan again, but she did not pick up his calls.

Breakfast was ready, and Dong Xuebing kept his phone. He took out a 10 RMB food ticket bought by Zhuang Zhi yesterday and paid the lady pushing the food cart. After getting his breakfast, he slowly peeled the shells of an egg with one hand. He spent a long time removing the shell. The nurses in the hospital will not care for the patients other than doing their jobs of changing the drips, changing oxygen tanks, taking temperature, etc. They will not do anything extra for the patients. If you need someone to feed you, you will need to hire a caretaker, and it cost tens of RMB a day. Dong Xuebing did not want to spend that money and tried to do everything himself.

Half an hour after breakfast, he took his medicine, and he could hear the sounds of heels down the corridor.

Click, click, click, click, the footsteps were fast and strong.

A person’s figure rushed past the door of the ward, and the sounds of the heels stopped. The person turned back quickly, and push opened the door of Dong Xuebing’s ward. It was Qu Yunxuan.

Dong Xuebing, who was half lying on the bed, was nervous to see her. “Aunt Xuan, didn’t I told you not to visit me?”

Qu Yunxuan’s eyes turn red as she saw Dong Xuebing covered in bandages and burns wounds. She bit her lower lips and did not say a word.”

“Errr……. Aunt Xuan, take a sit.” Dong Xuebing pushes a chair next to his bed.

Aunt Xuan was still not saying anything and was still looking at his wounds.

Dong Xuebing’s whole body was covered with severe and minor injuries. He does not look like the type of men Qu Yunxuan likes now. Dong Xuebing tried to cover most of his wounds with his blanket, leaving only some minor injuries outside. “It is not as serious as you thought. I’m fine. All these are just minor injuries. I will recover in a few days.”

Qu Yunxuan seems to be mad, and she shouted at Dong Xuebing: “It is the job of the firemen to put out the fire. Why didn’t the others from your workplace go and put out the fire except for you? Are you the only person left in your entire workplace?” Qu Yunxuan lifted her hand and slapped Dong Xuebing’s exposed arm. “Try to be a hero? Huh? Who ask you to be a hero?” She slapped his arm more than 10 times.